Lion And The Falcon (Furry United Coalition) (26 page)

“
And why did you want that?” Nolan expected the answer, but figured the longer he kept Lester talking, the more time he had to find a way out—or hope for rescue. Lion strength or not, the damn monkey knew how to tape a man. Must have watched some Dexter.

“
I wanted my chance to get you, of course, doc—tor.”

“But why?” Nolan asked as he wiggled his fingers
, testing the tightness of his bindings and hoping the chimp didn’t notice the claws popping from the ends of his digits.

“Because you had to pay!”
Lester raised his hands and Nolan didn’t like the fact he clutched a fistful of syringes in each hand.

“
Why do I have to pay? I’m not the one who hurt you. Mastermind did and she’s dead.”

Spittle flew as Lester replied, his crazed, bloodshot eyes rolling.
“All doctors must pay! Evil creatures with your needles.” Jab. “And your blood taking.” Poke. “Always wanting to run more and more tests.” Lester foamed at the mouth as he ranted and inserted hypodermics at random in Nolan’s poor, trussed up body.

“I just wanted to help you.”

“Help me? Help me! Look at me! I am a monster!” Lester screamed. “This is what helping me did? And now, you will suffer too.”

The
misshapen creature, more beast than man, loped around the table pushing at the needles sticking up from his skin, and Nolan winced, each pinprick a mini torture. To think people paid acupuncturists for the same kind of treatment. Then again, Nolan would take a little needlework any day over the sharp knife Lester pulled out when he tired of his pricking game.

“What are you
planning to do with that, Lester?”

“
You took away my life. Took away my looks. And now, I am going to return the favor.” He cackled and Nolan bunched his muscles, readying himself to flex in the hopes he could break free.

“Can’t we talk about this some more? Maybe over coffee? Or a box of Cracker Jacks?”

“No. I am done talking. Done listening. Done letting you ruin my life.”

And Nolan was done playing nice.
“Don’t make me bring the lion out.”

“Go ahead,”
Lester taunted. “I dare you to try. One of the needles I gave you had a suppressant in it. Your lion is probably sound asleep by now. Amazing what you can find on the streets these days.”

Despite the chilling words,  Nolan tried. He
called for his feline. Ordered it to take over his body. Bellowed in his head for it to wake up, but only a hearty snore met his demands. It seemed his furry self wouldn’t come to his rescue.

The psycho danced around his bound body laughing. “Told you so. Told you so. How does it feel to be a
helpless patient, doc—tor? To know you’re at the mercy of someone else? Time for some cosmetic surgery. Prepare to suffer.” Lester grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked Nolan’s head back. A moment later, Nolan bellowed.

Forget waiting for backup, the moment Clarice heard Nolan’s cry, her booted foot came up and kicked in the storage room door. The sight that met her rapier gaze took a moment to digest.

Nolan lay atop a table,
trussed up tighter than a turkey at Thanksgiving. Silver tape wound around him in a cocoon while his body bristled like a porcupine as needles of varying lengths protruded from his body. Dots of blood peppered him, but it wasn’t that which made her lion scream in misery. No, the reason proved more horrific than that.

As the psycho bounced away from the table, in one hand a gleaming knife, in the other a hank of hair, Nolan moaned, “No, not
my mane!”

Later, she’d surely find time to snigger, probably when she wielded the scissors that would be necessary to even out her kitty’s less than professional haircut, but for the moment, she needed
to take down a psychotic menace who stood between her and happiness.

“Drop the knife,” she ordered
, her training kicking in.

Around whirled Lester, his bloodshot eyes facing in opposing directions
, which sent a shudder down her spine. “Here, chicken, chicken,” cooed the crazy chimp. “Come closer so I can make you into nuggets.”

“Are you for real?” she asked with a snort. She took aim and before
the lunatic could rush her, put a bullet in his pea-sized brain. Down went the menace. An anti-climatic moment for the merry chase he’d led them on. Sure, some people would have talked for a while, attempted an arrest, maybe engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But this was real life, not the movies, and Clarice didn’t spend hours on the shooting range just to miss when the crucial time to act arrived. So, she shot to kill and ended the psycho’s reign of terror.

“Clarice! You came for me!”
Nolan sounded so happy and he smiled widely.

She almost blushed.
“Well, someone had to.”

“
I’m glad it was you, but you couldn’t have arrived a few minutes earlier before he maimed me?” Nolan added on a mournful note as she held up the shorn hunk of hair after rescuing it from the chimp’s clenched fist.

Down to the scalp, it would take more than a comb
over and a haircut to hide the damage. “Poor, Sylvester. Don’t worry. It will grow back. Eventually. ”

Nolan scowled
, probably in reply to her smirk. “This isn’t funny, Clarice. A lion’s pride is his mane.”

“So you’ll have a Mohawk for a few weeks. Just think of your mother’s face when she sees it.”

“She’ll hate it, won’t she?”

“Most definitely.”

“How did you know where to find me?” he asked as she sawed through the duct tape binding him.

“
As I flew back to rescue your hairy butt,” which she did in record time, despite the travel bag of clothes and weapons she wore around her neck, “I had time to mull over the few things we knew about the case. The one thing all the crime scenes Lester visited had in common was popcorn.” Not only did those with a good sense of smell note the out of place odor, they’d found a few kernels and crumbs. They’d just not understood what it meant.

“The guy loved the
fluffy stuff.”

“It
was then it hit me. Where was the one place he could get tons of it? A place currently abandoned because of an ongoing dispute with the city over a renovation permit?”

“The downtown movie theatre.”

“Bingo. Acting on that assumption, I came straight here and called for backup as soon as I was sure.”

“You asked for help?”

A scowl in his direction didn’t wipe his incredulous look. “I did. I wasn’t taking any chances with your safety.”

A smug smile crossed his lips.
“Because you care.”

She didn’t answer.
Couldn’t. Despite what Brenda said, Clarice wasn’t ready to admit anything. Or at least not first.

With a rip, Nolan tore the partially sawed bindings holding him down and made quick work of those around his legs.
As he freed himself from the table, Clarice watched, unsure of what to say. Unsure of what he’d do. What would happen next? What—

Forget finding out anytime soon.
A wave of FUC agents, with their guns drawn, poured into the tight space, shouting out orders. Nolan wasn’t the only one whipping his hands up screaming don’t shoot. Thankfully, no one got trigger happy, and despite the obvious, began asking questions. People jostled in front of her, tending to her lion, and feeling in the way, Clarice slipped out the door, unsure of what she should do or where she should go.

A roar made her look back
, but she couldn’t see Nolan with all the agents in the way.

“Clarice!” Nolan bellowed again. “Don’t you dare fly off on me again, woman. We need to talk.”

Leaning against the wall, she didn’t reply, just waited, and sure enough, a tousled-haired man with wild eyes came bounding out, wearing only boxers, with needles still sticking out at random. She winced at the reminder of his torture. “You should let a doctor take care of that.”

Peering down, Nolan growled as he tore the syringes out.
“I am a doctor. And I’m fine. Or will be as soon as you and I clear something up. Why did you leave me?”

“It was getting crowded in there.”

“Not now. Before.”

She lifted a shoulder. “My office ordered me back.”

“So you just left without saying goodbye?”

“It seemed like the best thing at the time.”

“Best thing? All the time we spent together, the things we shared, the things we felt, and you left without even talking to me.”

“I
left a note.”

Nolan crossed his arms
, but didn’t look impressed.

Not
icing the curious eyes peeking through the door, she shifted uncomfortably. “Must we discuss this here?”

“Yes
, we must. See, I’m not taking the chance you’ll just fly off again. Not before I’ve said my piece.” He took a deep breath and she braced herself for another harangue. “I love you, Clarice.”

She gaped at him.
Did he just say what I think he said?
“What?”

“I said. I. Love. You. As in, I
-want-you-to-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-with-me love you.”

Her heart thumped madly.
“But you’re a cat. I’m a bird.”

“
So?”

“So, your mother will never stand for it.”

“Don’t care. I love you. I want you to come back to me.”

“Even if your family hates
me?”

“They don’t hate you.”

“Then why does your cousin Yanna keep emailing me stuffing recipes?”

He grinned. “Because you keep sending her the different Cat Chow commercials with that stupid jingle.”

Clarice’s lips curled in amusement at the reminder. “I won’t promise to sit at home like a good girl. I’ll probably want to work for FUC as an agent.”

“I’m good with that.”

“I won’t pick up your dirty socks.”

“What a coincidence. Neither will I.”

She glared at him. “If we’re going to be together, then you can’t expect the women of your pride to keep taking care of you.”

“Fine. I’ll clean up after myself if you learn how to cook.

“On second thought, those felines are nothing but mischief when they’ve got too much time on their paws. Maybe we’ll let them keep doing some stuff. But I won’t have your mother meddling and sticking her whiskers in my business.”

“Good luck with that. I’ve been trying for years.”

“I also might still succumb to the urge to tell bad Garfield jokes and buy her cat toys.”

“And I look forward to the entertainment of you driving her wild.”

“I won’t change.”

“
No one’s asking you to. The only thing I want from you is your love. Can you love me, Clarice?”

Looking at her toes, all too aware of the audience watching and listening, Clarice really wanted to flee, flap her wings and leave, fear of giving her heart still so strong. A finger tilted her chin up and Nolan’s steady gaze caught hers. “I won’t ever leave you, Clarice.
Nor do I want you to be anything less than who you are. Trust in me.”

Tears threatening, and her throat stupidly tight, she whispered the words she’d never said aloud for anyone. “I love you
.”

She barely heard the cheer
that erupted as his lips swooped in to claim hers in a searing kiss. She clung to her lion—
yes, my lion
—and wondered how she could have ever walked away in the first place. How could she not have seen the signs of his love?

She could have kissed him forever, but the back thumping and congratulations got to
be intrusive and they separated, reluctantly. Even though they couldn’t continue to kiss, or leave quite yet, Nolan refused to leave her side. His fingers remained meshed with hers at all times as they answered questions, and she fought not to blush whenever he shot an intimate smile her way.

At one point, she lost her grip on him as his mother bullied her way past the agents and drew him into a
bone-crushing hug. Clarice rolled her eyes as Brenda ranted and raved over the damage done to her poor baby boy.

When it got to the point she felt her lunch might come up, she interrupted.
“Sylvester, I realize you’re bonding with Mommy, but do you want to cut the apron strings so we can go home, or would you prefer to suck the teat a while longer and keep me waiting?”

Nolan choked. Mason doubled over. Jaws dropped everywhere and several bystanders took a few steps back, clearing the area.

Clarice smirked at Brenda, waiting for the explosion.

“
Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?” His mother beamed. At her. “You are going to make my son a wonderful wife. We’ll plan for a spring wedding.”

Excuse me? What just happened?
“What did you say?”