“Can you walk after a spanking? I mean, the one time my daddy took a belt to my ass, walking was not in the picture.”
“What did you do to deserve a belt to your ass?”
“I ran out in front of a car,” I admitted. “It was the first and last time I earned the belt. I am one of three kittens to have earned the belt, and for some reason, it always involved us running out in front of vehicles. He only got the belt out when we participated in potentially lethal activities. I’d say I didn’t experience any lifelong trauma from the belt, but I check four times before crossing the street now, and once I’m across, I check again to see if my father caught me and approved of my caution, so it obviously left a lasting mark.”
“I would be more concerned about your general inclination to kill people for money, personally.” Sebastian returned to the bathroom with the cheese box in one hand and the gift basket in the other. “And I really doubt your father spanking you for running out in traffic led you to become an accomplished bounty huntress.”
“I’m a lynx. We’re murderous, furry little freaks by default. One of my brothers became a land shark.”
“An attorney?”
“Land shark.”
“I bet he loves when you call him a land shark.”
“He really doesn’t, which is why I do it.” As I’d neglected my gift basket earlier, I rummaged through it, discovering several more wrapped boxes at the bottom. “More presents!” I sat on the tub’s dais and took out the first box, which was slender and thin, tearing at the paper to discover what was inside. A white jewelry box lurked beneath the paper, and I lifted off the lid.
To maintain my cover as beyond poor and scraping to get by, I’d never purchased a watch for myself, although my brothers had a tendency to pin me to the floor to acquire my various sizes, including wrist, ring, and neck so they could give me trinkets for the holidays. Like me, most of my brothers kept any gift giving to small or inexpensive things.
Nothing about the watch counted as inexpensive, although it was small and delicate enough I worried I’d break it. I liked the sapphire blue watch face and the moon and star motif decorating it. At a loss, I showed it to Sebastian. “I know nothing about watches.”
Sebastian took the watch from the box, turned it over in his hands, and examined it. “How long have you been planning to come to this spa?”
“For a while. Months, actually. I had to get time off work, so I started making plans a year ago when I won the days off. I told my family I’d be coming here then.”
“This watch cost somebody several thousand dollars, and it has your name engraved on the back of it, so it’s definitely meant for you. This was not a random addition to your room, although the cheese box could have been acquired on short notice, same with the Champagne and flutes.” He smiled and returned the watch to its box. “They probably assumed you’d think it was cheap so you’d wear it. Wear it anyway. These are built to last, and they have really good warranties. Just don’t wear it when you’re planning on making a hit requiring bloodshed. Blood is a bitch to get out of a watch.”
“Spoken like someone who knows.”
“Well, I am a lion. Sometimes, someone pisses me off, and I just swat. With claws out. And then people complain because I don’t wear a sign around my neck warning them I can turn my nails to claws at my whim.”
“You’re a hybrid?”
“I’m predisposed to hybridism, but I do not have the hybrid form at this point in time. I can transform my hands into partial paws with claws. This is enough predisposition to count for the law enforcement exemptions, so I’m happy with that. I suspect my boss is hoping I’ll develop full hybridism after mating because of the associated virus spike.”
Nice. I’d scored extra with him. “I get my own pet lion, and he might one day become a fluffy hybrid for my enjoyment?”
“And if I develop hybridism, you might, too, especially since your brothers are predisposed.”
Hmm. Did I want to confess the truth, or did I want to save the truth for some evil surprise? The cat in me wanted to surprise him sometime later. I’d get scolded by the CDC for hiding my status, but unmated hybrid females were hunted. My new status as mated would prevent being hunted by anyone other than Sebastian.
My virus wanted Sebastian to pounce and continue his trend of having his way with me. As my nail polish would survive the transformation, thanks to magic and the nature of lycanthropy, I held out my hand, smirked, and shifted it to my humanoid paw covered with fur and armed with extra-long claws, perfect for shredding through prey. “I’m sorry, Sebastian, but I’ve been naughty. You should reward me for not letting anyone know I have fairly refined control of my transformations. Honestly, I didn’t want it in my file I could, because I had enough trouble with unwanted males sniffing around on my turf.”
I shifted my hand back to human, checking over my polish. I smiled at the bright red perfection.
“You clever, sneaky little kitty. Do you have the complete hybrid form?”
I smiled at the admiration in his voice. “Not quite, but I can transform my legs and my hands, and I get ears and a stubby little perfect tail. Not quite full fur coverage on a good day.”
“Will you show me?”
“You just want me to get naked for you.”
“I absolutely do want you to get naked for me, but I want to make sure I make our future plans accounting for all of your natural weapons.”
“After dinner arrives,” I promised. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you, but I don’t trust the CDC with that status. Until now. The unmated part of things was the problem, really.”
“I get it, Harri. In your shoes, I’d hold that secret close to my chest, too. You told me when we talked about it, and that’s all I care about. We’ll just say you recently discovered it post mating. Mating makes virus levels spike substantially, so they won’t think twice about it when we update your file. But until this serial killer is bagged, we won’t update your file. I don’t want any unnecessary risks during this job.”
“Is that because you’re an overprotective lion in your boss capacity or you’re an overprotective lion in general?”
“All of the above. I won’t lie, I wasn’t planning on letting you do that job by yourself, even if you rejected my advances. It’s too dangerous, and the risks to you are too high. This guy is probably a rapist on top of being a serial killer. Add in the possibility there are children we have to rescue? No chances at all with this guy. Part of the problem will be tracking him down. All I know is that there are some leads in Detroit, where two of the killings took place. Milwaukee had two killings, as did several other smaller cities and town. He seems to hit in pairs before moving on, and he is hunting in the general Great Lakes area. It has been six months since the last set of killings, and the killings are usually ten to twelve months apart.”
I did the math. “We have four to six months at most until more bodies, probably two, turn up? Of women believed to have been pregnant and forcibly stripped of their babies and their reproductive organs. So, you’re in a hurry because you want these two women to survive their pregnancy. And only four months because it takes time to get a woman pregnant unless the rapist asshole gets lucky with his timing or he is part sex demon and can control her fertility.”