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Council’s bitch anyway.” Her tight smile didn’t come close to hiding the morass of emotions tangled inside her. “I’m glad you’re here, Cat,” she said sincerely. “I was worried when I heard what Raymond was capable of. I always knew he wasn’t a nice person, but evil such as he carried inside him is always a shock when you learn it’s someone you associate with often.”
“He hated Lobo.” Cat sighed heavily. “He hated having Breeds in Window Rock and the protections the Nation afforded them. It was always difficult to turn down your invitations, Khi, but it was better for us as well as Lobo that I did so. It kept him from focusing too much on the trouble he could have caused if he wanted to.”
“Lobo would have decimated him.” Khi gave a bitter little laugh. “He was always having to deal with Raymond’s roadblocks and ignorance anyway. But I rather guessed why you refused them. No hard feelings.”
And there weren’t any, Cat sensed. She rather guessed Khi was too busy trying to navigate the internal hell she was going through herself. Whether or not Cat accepted an invitation probably hadn’t kept her up at night.
The reality Khi had to face daily was one Cat guessed made sleep extremely difficult if the dark circles under the other girl’s blue eyes were an indication. There was also the strange, very subtle scent that lingered around Khi, one Cat couldn’t quite make sense of. A very elusive trace of a Wolf Breed, but not a mating scent. It was almost two distinct scents that made it impossible to identify.
“So, I understand you and Graeme have a bit of history.” Khi wagged her brows as she broke the silence between them.
Leaning forward, the other girl shot her a teasing little wink. “Come on, dish up the details there, girl. What is it about you that makes that tough-assed Bengal get all gooey-eyed?”
Graeme? Gooey-eyed?
“You must be mistaking gooey eyes for that death stare he has,” she guessed, though she had no idea how anyone could mistake it. “Trust me, Graeme doesn’t get gooey eyes for anything or anyone.”
The very thought of such a thing was laughable.
“Trust me, gooey-eyed,” Khi assured her with a light laugh as she relaxed back into her chair and watched Cat curiously now. “I’ve known him for a year and every time your name’s been mentioned he has this little pause, and whatever rage burns in his eyes seems to dim a bit.”
Cat shook her head, denying any thought that Graeme had such tender feelings for her. Not anymore.
“I’m his own personal experiment,” she revealed. Khi knew the truth of who and what she was, she’d announced that when Cat stepped into the house. “His intelligence, even in the research center was frightening. The geneticist that created him allowed him to design the therapy used to save my life from the disease I was born with. If he has any softer feelings for me, then it’s no more than one a scientist has for a favorite lab rat.”
Khi’s crack of laughter was filled with disbelief. “Honey, you keep telling yourself,” she stated, barely holding back more laughter. “Right until the minute that bad-assed feline is fucking you silly.” The smile that filled Khi’s expression was one of genuine amusement and when she spoke of Graeme, the scent of an almost sisterly fondness was clear. “I can’t see him getting all hard and hungry for a lab rat, no matter how fond he might be of it.” The laughter she was holding back nearly escaped once again. “Thanks for that little moment of amusement though, I needed that.”
No doubt she did. Still, Cat narrowed her eyes on the still far too amused woman. “You’re strange, Khi,” she stated. “And you have some very strange ideas.”
The other woman did give another light, clearly genuine laugh at that. “Naw, I’m complicated, there’s a difference,” she assured Cat with such satisfaction and pride in herself that Cat nearly laughed herself. “Ask anyone. I’m very complicated.”
“And you enjoy encouraging that belief,” Cat guessed with a smile.
“Of course I do.” Widening her eyes with charming innocence Khi batted her lashes demurely. “What would be the point in beginning the rumor otherwise.”
Shaking her head, Cat finished her tea then watched as Khi refilled both glasses. She didn’t miss the subtle little addition Khi made to her own glass. The scent of the strong liquor wasn’t in the least subtle. Cat didn’t comment on it, rather she merely filed the information away to broach another day.
For now, she let Khi find what relief she could from the emotions Cat sensed were far too confusing for the young woman filled with them. Who was she to judge what solace another could find from their demons? She only wished she could find a bit of solace from her own. Because she could feel the confrontation with her own personal demon nearing, and she was terribly afraid there was no preparing herself for it.
• • •
She was incredible.
His little cat.
Slipping into her bedroom through the open balcony door the next night, Graeme couldn’t help but marvel at the young woman she’d become.
Twenty-five years before, when Phillip Brandenmore had laid her in his arms and informed him coldly that her survival was his responsibility, Graeme had never imagined the exceptional creation she would become—even the arrogant Brandenmore hadn’t realized. Graeme had ensured it. Every therapy, every drug, every second in that godforsaken hellhole had created this wondrous creature.
Long, burnished gold and deep earth brown strands of silky hair spilled over her pillow and around her face, framing the dark cream flesh of her face perfectly. Her features were feline enough to give her expressions a shadow of mystery, the tilt of her eyes hinting at the exotic.
Her lips. They were sweetly curved, tempting, and made him want to taste.
The need, the hunger to taste her had tormented him since finding her. It haunted his dreams, his fantasies. It kept him aroused, iron hard and ready to mate.
There were days he hated her for that need to possess her, the certainty that once he had her, protecting her would become more hazardous than it had been in the past.
She was a weakness.
