Page 52 of Flesh and Fury
Ari chuckled and was about to say something when both Binks and Chris shifted. They looked cute as hell as they tumbled out of the now oversized clothing. Chris, another orange tabby had disappeared under his big cowboy hat, tail swishing madly as he tried to wriggle out from under it, looking offended and indignant as only cats can do. But he stopped laughing as all three cats turned to face him, backs up, and hackles raised. Binks was a sleek, streamlined, black cat, smaller than the other two, and outflanked by the big tomcats. All of them had glowing, purple eyes and had turned on the rest of them as if what Alo said had challenged their manhood to the point of distraction.
“All right. All right,” Alo said, holding up both hands in a placating manner. “I didn’t mean anything by it. No offense, little cats.”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because Chris suddenly ran forward and leapt into the air, claws outstretched as he went for Alo’s face. Just like that, the big tribal police deputy, sidestepped the cat who landed behind him, grazing him on the arm as he flew by, opening up four bloody slashes in his sleeve.
“Fuck!” Alo cried out as the other cats began running toward them.
Before Ari knew what was happening, all the shifters were in their animal forms, torn clothing lying all over the alleyway as he and Eoghan stared at each other in disbelief. A second later, he nodded at him and then they were running, tearing out of the way of the housecats who were hurling their much smaller bodies against the large shifters’ bodies.
They’d seen the two grizzly bears, Joe and Alo, before, but seeing Rana in her gigantic lizard form, and Andy as a black panther, really freaked Ari out. He glanced over at Eoghan as he flattened himself against the building, knowing he’d gone white as a sheet when Andy let out a panther snarl. The sound of it was like nothing he’d ever heard before and it caused a visceral panic deep down inside Ari, making him want to run, and at the same time, knowing it would be impossible.
The bears growled, and Rana, perhaps the most frightening of all in her monitor lizard form, stood placidly on four sturdy legs, watching the goings on with glowing, purple eyes. The thin, black, vertical pupils in the eyes freaked Ari out. As much as he liked Rana in human form, he was terrified of the massive Komodo dragon. He’d never liked reptiles of any kind and she looked just like she could have walked right out of his nightmares. She was massive, a giant, gray reptilewith a foot-long tongue darting in and out of her mouth and a swishing tail which made her resemble a prehistoric monster. He’d seen pictures of a similar dinosaur ancestor in books and on TV but seeing one standing only fifteen feet away, made him tremble like mad.
“What the hell?” Eoghan said as he pressed himself close to Ari.
“Stay back, Eoghan. This isn’t a fight I want to try to break up.” Ari watched the four big shifters surround the three small domestic cats in a perfect square. Seeing the seven creatures all human only minutes before, now in their animal forms, was a mixture of terrifying and fascinating. He absently knew they shouldn’t be fearful of the outcome of this encounter since none of the larger creatures had any reason to hurt them. In fact, they were all colleagues. But animals had been known to act purely on instinct alone in their animal form and not always with a human’s best interest in mind. There had been plenty of times when he’d been playing with his childhood dog only to have the animal accidentally nip him as he tried to take a ball away from him. There was always remorse and lots of sympathy-licking filled with regret afterward, but he had no intention of literally poking these bears, friends or not.
Ari watched the cats in the center of the circle hiss as they all backed up until their asses were touching as the four shifters slowly circled them. The grizzly bear law enforcement officers kept their noses low to the ground as they kept the three contained. They made no sound at all except the shuffling of their large paws and the scrape of their long claws on the asphalt.
The big dragon did much the same, freakily darting her tongue out over and over as if to test the temperature and scent upon the air as she also walked slowly in a circle around the cats who constantly hissed and howled.
The panther, Andy Red Crow, was the only animal who overtly made noise, keeping up a litany of growls that raised the hair on the back of Ari’s neck. Every time he let out a snarl, Ari felt like he wanted to crawl away and hide. It was terrifying to know that he was only steps away from what could be a vicious predator capable of ripping his throat out in an instant with three-inch-long fangs, should he want to. When the cats all sat in an enormous puddle in the center of the circle at the same time, all four shifters changed back into their human forms.
“What the hell?” Eoghan asked, prompting everyone to turn and look in their direction.
Aside from the fact that they were all naked as the day they were born, the whole thing was ridiculous. “Does anyone want to explain to me what the show of strength was all about?” Ari asked, standing with his hands on his hips. “There was no way of getting them to see reason without all of you turning into your animal forms?”
“Ari,” Eoghan whispered under his breath. “Not now, buddy.”
“No,” Rana said, turning toward them fully naked and seeming unbothered by it. “It’s perfectly fine to ask why we shifted the way we did.” She looked over at Red Crow. “Andy here, is a big cat. He had to establish dominance over the domestics because of his feline status regardless of the fact that he’s a big cat. He’s still the Panthera genus which only means he has big cat dominance.” She nodded in his direction.
Andy shrugged. Ari noted his body was perfect and except for a momentary slip, made sure his gaze remained focused on his face and nothing else. “Rana’s right,” Andy said, “it was up to me to make sure that someone brought the brats under control.”
“Are they?” Eoghan asked.
“The domestics?” Andy asked, glancing over at the three who still huddled in a massive heap. “Yeah. They’ll behave now. You can ask them anything you want and chances are, they won’t be a problem. Was there something other than the disturbance in the bar that you wanted us to deal with or should I let them—encourage them to change back?”
“No, I—” Eoghan began.
“Make them tell you whether Binks was or is in any danger,” Ari blurted out.
“Are you—” Andy started to say when all three shifters changed back into their human forms.
“Chris and Roy never put me in any danger!” the bartender said.
Ari had to admit to himself that he didn’t mind how cute the young man looked fully naked as he stood with the others. “Are you sure?”
Binks stepped closer to Chris and then beckoned Roy to join him. The other tomcat moved closer, putting his arm around Binks at the same time Chris did.
“Yes, I was resistant,” Binks said. “Chris has always been my everything. I never wanted anyone else.”
“It’s my fault,” Chris said. “I met Roy a few years ago on the rodeo circuit. He tried to get me into kitten chasing when he spotted Binks in the stands one day.” He turned and looked at Binks, shooting him a loving glance. “When Roy found out that Binks was my boyfriend, he asked if I’d be open to sharing him.”
“I heard about that and told Roy he could stuff it,” Binks said. “As much as I love Chris, I’m no one’s property.”
“I moved on,” Roy said. “I didn’t want someone who didn’t want me. Besides, there were plenty of buckle Bernies around the circuit.”
“Buckle Bernies?” Eoghan asked, sounding highly amused.