Lion And The Falcon (Furry United Coalition) (15 page)

But there was still time to rectify the mistake.
She shoved Nolan at the ladder, but he had to turn all gallant and dodge out of the way. With sweeping hands, he said, “After you.”

“This is not the time to act the gentleman.”

“Who says I am?”

“Then you go first.”

Again, he graced her with the smile that made her heart flutter faster. “And miss the opportunity to see your tight tush going up the ladder?”

The warmth his words sparked at the knowledge he found her attractive almost trumped that of the intrigue at making him go first so she could indulge in the same visual pleasure.
The argument over who would go first, though, soon became moot as the metal hatch of the opening above them clanged closed, and more ominously, they heard a bolt sliding shut.

“Uh oh,” she muttered, the claustrophobic feeling increasing.

“I think this is more of an ‘oh shit!’ moment,” he added nudging her in the side. “Don’t look now, but I think we have company.”

Whirling, she didn’t immediately see any approaching menace
; the tunnels remained clear. “Where?”

“
You need to look down. Check out the water.”

Yup, I definitely
should have stuck to open skies.
The ominous ripple in the dirty murk moved with purpose toward them, and she could almost hear the theme to Jaws as it approached. Was it wrong to hope an overlarge rat left the wake? Or fish? Those she could handle. Heck, she’d eaten them raw for lunch in the field during her training.
But I doubt I’ll be eating anything I find down here, especially considering anything living in here is probably a mutant.

“What should we do?” whispered Nolan
, his eyes fixed on the hump rising from the foul slime. Since running was out of the question, and she refused to scream like a girl, that left them only one real option.

“Sharpen your claws, Sylvester, because I think we’re about to see if you’re as good as you claim to be.”

Gun in one hand, knife in the other, she braced herself. The ripples in the water flattened as whatever approached sank deeper in the sewage. Not exactly reassuring. Tense minutes passed. They waited. And waited, the only sound that of dripping water.
Plop. Plick. Plop. Plick
. Yawn.

Seriously? She shot a dark look at Nolan
, who grinned sheepishly and shrugged. “What can I say, I’m bored.”

She might have hissed a retort
, but apparently, the waiting creature didn’t like his comment either and exploded from the watery depths with a bilious croak. Clarice yelled in shock, Nolan uttered a very impolite word, and chaos erupted as the slimy monster attacked.

Taking careful aim proved
impossible. The thing took up too much space, and given its bloblike appearance, didn’t present a proper bull’s-eye. Exactly where was its heart, or head for that matter? Unable to discern either, Clarice fired her weapon only to see her missiles get sucked into the gelatinous mass. Of more concern, her shots didn’t seem to injure it at all. Not a good sign.

With no other recourse, she dove at it with her knife, slashing at the flailing limbs
, which seemed to sprout from all over its body.

“Argh!” hollered Nolan. “I’ve been slimed.
”

He sure had, she thought with grim mirth as she spared him only the briefest of glances.
Green goo covered Nolan’s impeccable self and he wasn’t happy about it. Her moment of inattention cost her. A tentacle popped out of nowhere and wrapped around her waist. She sliced at it, sawing it off, only to have another take its place. Then another. They wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides, their cold, clammy touch not as worrisome as the fact they slowly squeezed the very breath from her. Was this how her life ended? Underground, hugged to death by a blob? How revolting.

A mighty roar split the air
and she blinked as a big lion crowned by a poufy golden mane appeared in her line of sight. The doctor to the rescue. She watched in fascination as the muscled feline dove at the blob, shredding the jellylike body with its razor sharp claws.
My, what big teeth he has
, or so she noted as his pointed canines ripped gobs of fleshy goo. The tentacles around her loosened as the creature reacted. It dropped her as it tried to retreat. But Nolan proved relentless, grabbing the creature and yanking it further onto the cement floor where he proceeded to systematically dissect it until all that remained were oozing, twitching pieces.

Wide-eyed
and silent, Clarice for once could say she was impressed. The lion wasn’t. Shaking his paws, he tried to dislodge the residual goo, but the stuff clung to his fur. Realizing that, beast morphed into man in a fluid change she envied. Then coveted because despite being covered in slime, Nolan was quite the man. Muscled man. Very naked man. Very disgusted naked man.

“Oh, that was seriously
gross,” he exclaimed, spitting to the ground. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a shower and a toothbrush right now.”

“Would you settle for a towel?” shouted an amused voice from
above their heads. Distracted by the action, neither of them had noticed the hatch overhead opening and the grinning face of Mason peering down. “But first, say cheese.”

And that was when chaos number two erupted as Nolan, with an even mightier roar
than before, leapt up the ladder bellowing, “Erase that picture, bear!”

“
Over my dead body, doc.” Laughter filled his reply.

With a shake of her head, Clarice went to cor
ral her slimy doctor and give her report. She also made a mental note to check the FUC forums for the posted images the second agent on scene took of Nolan’s bare white ass as he chased Mason around trying to get his hands on the camera.

She’d give FUC one thing, they certainly knew how to keep a girl on her toes and entertained.

Stinking of river water
—not by choice, Mason having chucked him in the river to sluice the goop off him—Nolan was understandably irritable. He stank. The spare clothes he’d borrowed chafed. His hair hung wet, stringy, and smelly around his head. And worst of all, he’d failed to impress Clarice.

Didn’t a heroic act like his deserve some kind of acknowledgement? A hey, good job? Maybe a thank you kiss? A quickie around the corner?

Nope. On the contrary, his avian partner ignored him as she gave her report to the agents who showed up to aid them. When she told of his lion tearing the blob to bits, she neglected to add any adjectives like golden magnificence, muscled wonder, or handsome, brave, and selfless.

All that gross work to save her feathery ass and she couldn’t even say thank you.
And what did he get out of it? A picture of him covered in slime, stark naked, eyes and hair wild, posted to the FUC message board. Sigh. He’d never live it down. At least the angle of the camera hid the size of his junk, so hopefully he wouldn’t have to change his phone number again.

Disgruntled, he didn’t say a word to his partner when she straddled the bike and
they left the FUC extermination team in charge of the underground crime scene. They’d found no sign of the other mutants either above ground or below, but just in case, a FUC team was going to investigate the sewer tunnels before gassing them and sealing the entrance up.

At this point, Nolan didn’t care. Given what he’d faced in the dark hole, even he could no longer deny that saving his former patients seemed a los
t cause. The inhuman creature he’d fought couldn’t be saved. Hell, he couldn’t even tell what it was, not without some hardcore DNA testing. Even then, they might never know for sure.

Annoyed at Clarice, he didn’t snuggle her back as they got on the bike. He ignored Mason’s jibes about riding bitch. Screw them all. He closed his eyes and slept.

Or meant to. It seemed he’d no sooner shut his orbs than they sprang open as he slammed into Clarice’s back.

“What the hell?”

“Sorry.” Funny how she didn’t sound contrite.

“Any reason why you tried to give me whiplash?”

“I—um—that is…” She hemmed and hawed, pricking his curiosity.

“Is there a problem?”

“No. Yes. I mean, I know I didn’t say anything back there, but, well, thank you.” Oh, how begrudging it emerged.

He’d never heard anything more beautiful. “My pleasure.”

Her head swiveled and he found himself captured by her gaze. For once, she didn’t appear disparaging or mocking. “No, it’s not. I can tell you’re not a happy kitty. I mean, your hair is a mess and you stink to holy heaven, but what you did back there, saving me from that
thing..
.” Her lips curled into a mouse of distaste. “It was really cool of you. Gross, but brave. And well, thanks.”

“No problem.
” As easily as that, his irritation evaporated. And even when she tried to kill them, taking corners at high speeds, zipping through cars, and giving the finger to a semi truck bearing down on them with a guy three times his size, he didn’t lose his good humor. Heck, even the whiff of his own body and a glimpse of his strawlike hair, which made his stomach roil, couldn’t kill his good mood, and he no longer felt a need to sleep.

Given the adventure earlier in the day, he should have felt tired and in definite need of a nap, however, to his surprise, he
found himself quite energized. Could it have something to do with the adrenaline-fueled fight? Partly. It had been a while since he’d fought a battle where the possibility of him actually getting hurt existed. Could it have to do with the fact he’d had to chase Mason around for half an hour until he caught the darned bear and confiscated his camera, deleting the ignoble image of him standing altogether covered in the most disgusting of fluids? A little. But, truthfully, he thought it had more to do with the way Clarice now regarded him.

Before, she’d eyed him with disdain. O
h sure, he knew she found him attractive, he could smell it. Sure, he’d caught her admiring his physique. But, when he saw her in danger, the blob slowly suffocating her, he snapped. Or as she later called it, “went completely feline on its slimy green ass!” His lion, with no regard for his clothing, burst free and dove into the fray with a fury he’d never experienced.
Hear me fucking roar!

It seemed when it came to Clarice’s safety, nothing would stand in his way, not foul taste or icky slime
, which clung stubbornly to his skin and hair. But the inconvenience? Totally worth the result. She no longer looked at him the same way. Dare he say she even threw him a look of admiration? Not a long one, mind you, but of enough duration, he caught it. In her eyes, he was no longer the useless, pain in her ASS or just an extremely handsome doctor. Now, he was the awesome, courageous, not-so-useless, extremely handsome doctor. A doctor who plotted naughty things for her ASS.

Right after he washed up. She insisted he go first, and he didn’t argue
, not with his hair in a state of horror no lion could tolerate.
Hair emergency!
He did offer to share the large shower, but she declined. A pity. The fun they could have had with hot water and some soap…

As he made us of the various cleansing lotions and solutions, he placated his disappointment with the knowledge that while her mouth said no, her body said yes. She might not realize it, but he could smell it every time he roused her interest. Scented the musk that made her a liar. Why she kept denying her att
raction, he wanted to find out.

First
, he tried a frontal assault. Wearing just a towel, he emerged from the bathroom, hair wet but shiny clean, upper torso bare and moist. He caught her off guard and she froze mid-sentence on the phone.

“I—uh—sorry, can you repeat that?” Clarice turned her back to him and he pursed his lips.
How long could he stand there before his actions came across as intentional instead of casual?
This is my place. Who says I don’t wander around in a towel all of the time?
With a feline prowl to his step, he entered her line of vision, but pretended to ignore her as he headed for the fridge. He also strained to hear who she spoke to.

“Things are fine. I’m currently staying with a team member who requires a protective detail.”

What? He frowned at the shelves in his fridge. He’d proven himself capable of taking care of himself and her. Didn’t he deserve the title of partner?

“I’m hoping to wrap things up within the next few days and come home.”

So soon? For some reason, the idea didn’t sit well at all. He slammed the jug of milk on the counter, slid over the cookie jar, and plopped down to chew on chocolate chip goodness while sipping the creamy brew. He also didn’t even bother to hide the fact he watched her pacing, doing her best to ignore him.

“Listen. I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back tomorrow.” She hung up the phone.

“Who was it?” He might have asked a little more tersely than he’d meant because she arched a brow.

“Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “Who says I do?” Now who was the liar?

“Just reporting my current status back home.”