Cat on the Fence (9 page)

“Ooh, ah,” Alex said, breaking the silence as he squirmed on
the bed, trying to get comfortable. He unbuckled his pants and pushed them down
to his legs before kicking them off. “Why do I hurt all over?”

“From so much shifting in such a short amount of time,”
Karabi said, lying down on the bed next to him.

“How do I get better?”

“Just stop shifting for today. Get some rest.”

“What if I don’t want rest?”

“What do you want to do?”

“You.”

She turned to look at him and met the hunger in his eyes. “I
thought you said you were in pain?”

“I am,” he said as he pushed himself up and crawled on top
of Karabi. “But not enough to stop from wanting you.”

“My goodness, you’ve got a one-track mind.”

“I don’t, not normally. But you’ve had me going for days
now, and I
really
need the release.” He gripped Karabi by her waist and
moved her up farther toward the center of the bed so that he could better
position his body over hers. He wasn’t wearing anything except his boxers but
she was still fully clothed, so he started by lifting her knitted turtleneck
off her head.

“Unless you don’t want me to take you.”

She grinned mischievously, then pushed him off her and
rolled on top of him. “I’m going to be the one to take you.”

Alex flipped them both over so that she was on the bottom
again. “No ma’am—I’m taking charge this time.”

Karabi pursed her lips. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“But I’m going to like it.”

Karabi wiggled out from under him and tried to turn him
over. “No, you lie down!”

But Alex refused to budge, so they wrestled playfully on the
bed, tumbling over each other, laughing and grunting. When he paused to catch
his breath Karabi was on top of him, panting and shirtless, looking absolutely
tempting with her hair spilling forward onto his chest and her breasts dangling
in her white cotton bra. The fight completely left him as his hunger took over.

“You’ve already stressed your body out enough for the day,”
Karabi said. “Just lie there and let me do all of the work.”

“Are you going to let me come this time?” His question was a
soft plea and complaint at the same time.

“Yes, yes, I’ll let you come,” Karabi said. She smiled down
at him with lusty eyes.

Alex grabbed her head and pulled her face down to his and
kissed her fiercely. She returned the kiss and they attacked each other with
their mouths and tongues. No matter how many times he kissed this woman, he
simply couldn’t get enough.

He wondered if he would
ever
get enough.

While they were heavily making out, he unsnapped her bra and
tore it off her shoulders, then he pushed her long denim skirt and cotton
panties off her hips together, down her thighs. Karabi shimmied the rest of the
way out of her clothes, with Alex never letting her lips escape his. When she
grabbed at the band of his boxers he raised his hips so she could easily pull
them off. His penis sprung upward as soon as it was freed—full length, rock
hard and throbbing.

She took a second to look at it, tracing its length with her
fingers. “I love that you’re always ready to go,” she said.

He grew even more erect under her admiration. “Only for
you,” he said and he waved it at her.

Karabi laughed. Then she moved down and licked along the
entire length of his penis, moistening him with her tongue. He cried out in
pleasure when she suddenly took him into her sopping-wet mouth and sucked him,
lubricating him fully. Her mouth felt so good but he was afraid he’d come
quickly and right in her mouth if he let her continue. That wasn’t how he
wanted this to go. The tiger inside him roared silently, demanding to copulate
with this woman. Alex felt that if he didn’t get to penetrate her right then
and there he was going to completely lose it like he did that night of the
ball.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and gently but firmly pushed
her off him. “I really want to be inside of you,” he said.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and reached
over to open her nightstand drawer. She pulled out a condom, unwrapped it and
placed it on the head of his penis. It slid on easily with him being so hard
and lubricated.

Alex looked up at her with aching anticipation as Karabi
straddled him, placing the opening to her sex right above the head of his cock.
She sat down on him nice and slow, letting him slip in inch by inch. He tried
to be patient but he couldn’t help but grip her by the waist and pull her
quickly down onto those last two inches. She closed her eyes and moaned once
she seated him. The sight, sound and feel of her adjusting to sitting on his
cock almost sent him over the edge but he closed his eyes and sucked in his
lips in an attempt to remain in control.

Karabi started off by bobbing up and down on top of him,
with her tightness easing to give way to his girth and length more and more
with each reentry. When Alex opened his eyes again, her breasts were bobbing up
and down, her lips were wet and swollen and the scent of her pheromones
overwhelmed him. His vision started to blur again and he could feel the tiger
trying claw its way out. He couldn’t hold it much longer.

“Karabi,” his voice was hoarse and desperate. “I’m sorry,
but I need to come. Now!”

He gripped her hips tight and held her in place while he
pumped into her with hard, deep, rapid-fire strokes. Karabi gasped and clutched
at his shoulders as she tried to maintain her posture while he power-drilled
into her but soon she gave in and fell down on top of him, moaning into the
side of his neck. Alex held on to her waist even tighter, grunting loudly as he
bounced her up and down the full length of his cock, all the way out, then
slammed her all the way in repeatedly. Soon he was coming—or rather more like
erupting—and filling up the condom, cursing under his breath.

For a second he was embarrassed. He
never
came that
fast. But then he saw how close she was to her own orgasm and he quickly pulled
his still-spurting penis out of her and replaced it with his index and middle
fingers. With her still on top of him he fucked her with his fingers while
rubbing her clitoris with his thumb. She humped against his hand
enthusiastically, whimpering and gasping, until he felt her orgasm clutch at
him. She almost slipped off him but he held her to him and continued to strum
her sex while she jerked and moaned in his arms.

“Alex, please. That’s enough,” she sighed. He removed
withdrew his hand and she slumped on top of him, still shuddering.

He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair tenderly.
“Sorry,” he said. “I guess I got a little carried away. I wanted to make sure
you were good.”

“Believe me, I’m good,” she said with a snort.

“Thank you for the release. I needed that. It was just in
time too. The tiger was coming.”

“So, the man needed to come in order to stop the tiger
from…coming?”

Alex laughed and nodded. “Sounds crazy, I know, but it seems
to work.”

“Interesting,” Karabi said. “My pleasure to be of
assistance.” She lifted her head and kissed him under the chin. He turned and
planted a tender kiss on top of her lips. How easy it was to just be himself
with Karabi. So easy. The woman brought out parts of himself that he hadn’t
even known existed before.

“The pleasure was all mine,” Alex said.

“Now will you get some rest?”

“Now I can get some rest,” he said. He was knocked out
within seconds.

* * * * *

Alex awoke to loud knocking on the door. His newly enhanced sense
of smell told him that Karabi had left the bed a long time ago. He could hear
her now in the shower. The knocking on the door grew more urgent. Alex sat up,
put on his boxers, slipped the t-shirt Karabi had given him over his head and
left the bedroom. But by the time he got to the hallway he could hear a key
entering the lock.
Who in the hell?
Alex bounded to the door just as the
person on the other side was opening it. An Indian man of average height with
bushy eyebrows stood there.

“Who are you?” The man looked Alex up and down then stared
particularly hard at the t-shirt he was wearing. Realizing that this must be
the ex, Alex scratched the back of his head. Why the hell did he have a key?

“Um, I’m Alex. I work at the zoo with Karabi.”

“Right…” The man turned his head to the side as if he couldn’t
look directly at Alex anymore. “Is she here?”

“Yeah, but she’s in the shower…right…now.” The way the man’s
eyes narrowed with each of Alex’s words made him speak slower and quieter. “Who
should I, um, tell her is looking for her?”

“Rao. The owner of the shirt you’re wearing.”

“Ah. Okay, I’ll tell her you’re here.” Alex tried to close
the door but Rao stopped it with his hand and slipped into the apartment.

“I’ll just wait for her here. I used to live here. That’s
why I still have the key.” Rao went over to the couch and practically made
himself at home.

Alex ran a hand through his hair, unsure how to respond to
this. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, pal.”

“I don’t care what you think, and I am not your pal.
Shouldn’t you go put on some pants?”

“Shouldn’t you get out and come back when you’re invited?”
Karabi said. Alex turned to see Karabi standing against the wall, tying the
belt around the thick, fuzzy robe she was wearing.

Rao jumped to his feet. “Karabi,” he said. “I’m sorry to
come by unexpectedly, but I need to speak with you.”

“About what? Is it urgent?”

“It’s personal,” Rao said, eyeing Alex irritably. “I need to
speak with you alone.”

Alex walked over to Karabi and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Should I leave?” he asked.

“No, this will be quick,” she said. “Could you just wait in
the bedroom until I’ve finished here with Rao?”

“Sure.” Alex went into the room and closed the door.
Although he could hear their voices much better now than he would have been
able to a few days ago, he knew he’d be able to hear even better as a Cat. Too
bad he was still a bit too sore to shift again just yet. He stood right next to
the door, opened it slightly and listened.

“See, I knew you were seeing other people,” Rao said.

“Of course I am, now that you and I are no longer together.”

“We just took a break, and you already have another man
sleeping over.”

“What are you talking about? We broke up a month and a half
ago!”

“This is exactly what I was talking about. See now why it
was hard for me to trust you?”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore now, do
you?” Alex had never heard Karabi sound so angry. “We’re no longer a couple.
And you no longer live here, so I can have whomever I want sleep over. So
please, get out.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. You are free to do whatever you
want. I just—I was just very surprised to find someone else here. Just a few
weeks ago, I was living here. Also, he’s wearing my shirt. Why is he wearing my
shirt?”

“I get it, Rao, you were caught off guard. The shirt was
here, his was dirty, I didn’t think that much of it. But honestly, you don’t
live here anymore. You don’t have the right to just barge in. May I please have
the key back?”

“Fine, here,” Rao said, sounding defeated. “Can we still
talk?”

“I can’t right now, I have company. Remember?”

“Then when? You keep avoiding my calls.”

“What is there to talk about?”

“You told me we were taking a break. How long are we on a
break? We should discuss this.”

“Didn’t we already clear this up?” Karabi’s voice was
shrill. “Okay, fine, let’s talk. The truth is, you and I were never right for
each other. It’s over, for good. I have moved on, and so should you.”

There was a brief silence and when Rao spoke again there was
a quiver in his voice. “Is it because of that tall guy in your room? The one
wearing my shirt?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous! Our breaking up has nothing to do
with anyone but us.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Seriously, Rao? I really can’t do this right now. Please
leave.”

“But we’re not done talking.”

“Yes, we are.”

“No, we’re not. You just need to—”

At this point Alex left the bedroom and headed toward the
front where Rao and Karabi were. “You heard the lady,” Alex said. “She asked
you to leave. Don’t make her have to ask again.”

The bushy-browed man huffed but he turned and left the
apartment.

“Charming guy,” Alex said with a smirk.

Karabi threw him an exasperated look. “That was painful.
Thanks.”

Alex leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and eyed
Karabi. “So why’d you two break up?”

“He didn’t trust me.”

“Why not? Aren’t you trustworthy?”

“I am, very much so. But if he doesn’t believe that then we
shouldn’t be together. What’s a relationship without trust? He didn’t even
think he could satisfy me. Right before we broke up, he told me he wasn’t sure
he could give me what I wanted.”

“Wow,” Alex said. “Why not?”

“According to him, I don’t really know what I want.”

“Is he wrong?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Do you really know what you want?”

Karabi stared at him for a few seconds then averted her eyes
as she started down the hall. “Right now, I really want to get dressed and
finish my hair,” she said before going into the bathroom.

Alex remained against the wall for a moment, trying to determine
how to process her response. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t exactly
worrisome. It was too soon for either of them to know anything, really. So he
decided to let her expert dodging of the question go.

For now.

Alex stared at the spreadsheet on his laptop screen but he
was seeing everything with double vision. He wasn’t sure if there was something
wrong with his eyes or if he was simply unable to mentally focus. Last night
was his first time sleeping at his own apartment since the incident the night
of the ball. After three days of staying at Karabi’s apartment, his own place
had felt especially empty and he hadn’t slept very well. And it wasn’t just
because he was lonely—no, he was far more than lonely last night. All he could
think about was having Karabi underneath him, plunging his cock into her over
and over.

After three days and two nights of hot sex with her, one
would have thought Alex would be sated. After all, he’d redeemed himself—and
then some—for his quick nut that first night at her place. More than a few
times. But he still felt far from satisfied. It seemed the more of Karabi he
got, the more of her he wanted. Needed. And last night his tiger had been
furious at being denied. He’d shifted involuntarily all night long and each
time the Cat had woken up thirstier, hungrier, more agitated and more savage.
He wasn’t sure if this was a normal consequence of being a shifter or if
something else was terribly wrong.

He’d almost called off ill but he’d taken too many sick days
already. So he came into work, half alive, with his hair all wild and his tiger
on edge. But it wasn’t even noon and Alex felt as if he were ready to explode.
It was going to be impossible for him to make it through the day like this.
There had to be something that could help him. He picked up his mobile phone
and called Karabi.

“Alex?”

“Hey. Where are you?”

“I just put Musaka back into habitat. What’s up?”

“I don’t know, I feel like I’m really slipping right now.
The tiger wants to come, and I’m having a hell of a time stopping it.”

“You’ve got to learn to put the Cat back in its cage, Alex.
I was hoping you’d have this down by now.”

“I never said I was a quick learner.”

“Alex …”

“Karabi, please.” His voice was gravelly and broken. “Help
me.”

“I’m coming, Alex. Hold tight, I’ll be right there.”

Just hearing her voice affected him. It somewhat soothed the
tiger but awakened the man. Alex clicked the phone off and held his head in his
hands as he sat in front of his desk and concentrated on being human as he
waited.

It only took four minutes for her to arrive but Alex nearly
lost it while he waited. Holding the tiger in felt a lot like trying to hold in
a massive turd while running to the toilet. The spot on his chest where the
Werewolf had bitten him tingled a little and Alex unbuttoned his shirt to take
a look at his chest. The wound had completely closed already but it was still a
very odd swirl of colors. Perhaps the tingling sensation was a normal part of
the healing process, he figured. He started to button his shirt back up when
the muscles in his arms began to spasm and he saw the hair on the back of his
hands begin to extend. Right at that moment Karabi came bustling into his
office.

“How are you doing?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

“Shitty,” he said, taking off his shirt. “I don’t think I
can stop it—I’m going to shift!”

“Want to get out of here? Go someplace where you can shift?”

“Not enough time, I think I’m going to do it right here,
right now,” he announced as he fought with the buckle of his pants and stood.

Karabi rushed over to him. “Let me help,” she said, pushing
Alex back into the chair, kneeling in front of him and unzipping his pants. But
instead of pulling them off him she reached in and pulled his cock out through
the opening in the front of his underwear. “Stay a man for me, Alex,” she said
as she took the head of his already semi-erect penis into her mouth. She licked
around and up and down him, getting him wet and slippery all over while at the
same time building up saliva in her mouth. It was all so unexpected he cried
out in both pleasure and shock.

She looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. “Want me to
stop?” she asked.

“No,” he rasped. “It’s a good idea to keep the Cat from
com—ah!”

Karabi had taken him completely into her mouth, and her lips
were around the base of his cock, near his balls. He was so deep in her throat
his eyes watered a little. Then she lifted her head, sliding her wet mouth up his
cock only to crash upon him again. She continued to bob her head up and down,
licking him on the way up the shaft and sucking him on the way down.

Suddenly she paused and went stiff, which sent Alex into
alert mode. It was then that he too heard the footsteps coming down the hall
toward the office. Alex inhaled deeply to get a good whiff.

“Shit, it’s Kevin,” Alex said, buttoning up his shirt. “My
door doesn’t have a lock.”

Karabi looked at him with wide eyes. “You can tell who it is
without being in Cat form?”

“Yeah, I can smell him. Can’t you?”

“No. Cats have enhanced senses but our ability to smell
isn’t usually
that
elevated,” she said. “But never mind that—just act
normal. He won’t see me under this desk.”

“But—”

“I won’t let the Cat come,” she said. She slid completely underneath
the desk and pulled the chair in. And then, much to his shock and delight, she
put him back into her mouth and continued to suck him. At that same moment
Kevin opened the door.

“Hey, McClellan,” Kevin said. “Do you have a minute?”

“Green! Um, sure,” Alex said, leaning forward on his desk.
Do
they not teach people in Chicago how to knock?!
He swallowed hard and
focused on keeping his eyes from rolling in his head in rapture.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. That
fundraiser last week was an unbelievable success,” Kevin said.

Alex engaged in chitchat with the Operations Manager while
straining to keep a straight face. He put his elbows on the desk and folded his
hands in front of his nose. Karabi’s mouth and tongue were doing things to him
that he didn’t even fully understand. He badly wanted to push back in his chair
and look down at what she was doing but he didn’t want to tip Kevin off that
something was going on. The tiger began slipping further and further away as
his climax grew closer. At one point Karabi started sucking him with so much
force that a deep moan escaped Alex’s throat—which he quickly morphed into a
cough. But the cough made his body jerk forward, pushing him even deeper down
Karabi’s throat. For a moment he swore he was seeing stars.

“Are you all right, McClellan?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he said. “Still a little bit of, um,
an ache, in my midsection, from the um, food poisoning at the ball.”

“Oh right,” Kevin nodded. “I bet it was that fish they
served. Looks as if whatever it was did a real number on you.”

“Hell yeah it did.”

“All right then, I’ll leave you be. Later, McClellan. Hope
you feel better soon.”

“Thanks, Green. Bye.”

As soon as the door closed behind Kevin, Alex fell back in
his chair, panting.

“Miss Karabi Minstry.” He couldn’t help but say her name
with a title. She’d earned it. “You’re a very,
very
bad kitty.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She grunted her agreement with his cock in her
mouth, the vibrations from her vocal cords making him growl in response.

He grabbed a handful of Karabi’s hair and humped against her
face. She gripped the base of his cock with one hand and cupped his balls with
the other and sucked him with all of the enthusiasm she could muster. This went
on until finally he was bucking against her face.

The Cat was no longer coming but the man sure was.

With a long, wailing moan, Alex shot streams of hot cum down
Karabi’s throat. He fed her spurt after electrifying spurt and she drank it
all. When he thought he’d finally emptied his complete load he pulled out of
her hungry mouth with a long sigh and rolled back from the desk to look down at
his lover. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and grinned at him as
she got to her feet.

“Looks like that worked well,” she said. “The tiger didn’t
come.”

Alex couldn’t help but snort at the irony of that statement.
“I’m not so sure of that,” he said. “What you just did was so amazing, I think
the man and the Cat both came and went,” he said.

She laughed. “Oh no, I didn’t mean to scare away the man
too.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He grabbed her by
the hands and pulled her toward him so he could plant a warm kiss on top of her
lips. “But damn—if I’d known that’s the kind of treatment I’d get, I’d let
myself lose control every day.”

“You don’t have to wait until your tiger demands it to lose
control with me,” Karabi said. She gave him several lip-smacking,
strawberry-flavored kisses that were warm and sweet yet sultry. “Just come by
my place whenever you’re feeling like getting wild.”

He circled his arms around her, holding her to his lap as he
squeezed her tight with a warming embrace. “You know I’m going to hold you to
that, right?”

“That’s was I was hoping for,” she said. She wiggled out of
his lap, then nodded at his crotch. “But for now, will you put that thing up?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re a monster, I swear!”

Alex looked down at his still-exposed penis, shocked to see
that it was growing erect again
already
. He was still trying to shove it
back into his underwear and pants when Karabi left his office, giggling as she
closed the door behind her.

But for the longest time after she’d left, even though he’d
gone right back to work on his boring spreadsheet, his erection raged on and he
had to fight the urge to find Karabi and take her in a second round almost as
hard as he had to fight the tiger.

For a brief moment the thought occurred to him that perhaps
he
was
turning into a monster.

* * * * *

Nine days later Alex was absolutely certain something was
wrong. He questioned whether or not the Werewolf bite could have impacted him
but they’d gone through some information she’d had in an old textbook from
school that mentioned Werewolves, as well as what information they could find
online, and as far as they could tell, Werewolf bites had no effect on Werecats.
Yet he was frequently out of sorts. He felt agitated, horny, on edge and on the
verge of shifting to a tiger
all
thetime. Karabi agreed that
this wasn’t normal but that maybe Late Bloomers just needed a little bit longer
to adjust to being a shifter. Or maybe it was just him.

At first, seeing Karabi every night after leaving the zoo
was helping. They were doing it each night and each morning before work. Then
he’d also needed to bang it out with her in the middle of the day during lunch
breaks. But for the past forty-eight hours even that didn’t seem like enough.
Thinking it was all just due to his own failure to master his own Cat, Alex
hadn’t told Karabi that he was still struggling so hard. He really didn’t want
to her to start thinking he was weak.

But today he was in serious trouble. Alex paced back and
forth in his office at work, his hands balled into tight fists, his brows
knitted in concentration. There was a meeting he was supposed to be getting
ready to head to but there was no way he could go and sit in front of a group
of people. His hands were shaky, his face sweaty and his throat and tongue dry
with thirst. His double-vision issues came back twofold. All he could think
about was being the Cat. Out climbing a tree. Running free, with his big paws
pounding upon the ground. Stalking and then biting into the flank of a deer. Or
a woman. Or even a man.

The idea invoked an enthusiastic roar from his rusty throat.

Alex rushed over to his desk and grabbed the bottled water
he hadn’t brought himself to drink even though he was parched. He put the
nozzle to his lips and tried to drink but he couldn’t swallow the water and
ended up choking and sputtering as he spit the drops he’d gotten into his mouth
all over his desk.

Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Perhaps it hadn’t been
smart to let Karabi think things weren’t as bad as they really were. He needed
help. Probably more than Karabi alone could give.

The area where the wolf had bitten him was itching and he
scratched at it like crazy. He wanted to go full tiger so he could rip into his
own flesh with his claws. It was then he noticed his hands had morphed into
paws against his will.

Shit. I have to get out of here. Now!
He cursed under
his breath and closed his eyes, willing them to become hands again just long
enough to open the door and race out of the office, out of the building. He
kept on going until he left the zoo. He wasn’t sure where he was going or why
but the tiger knew, so he followed it. Somewhere along the way Alex tore off
his clothes and shifted, with thoughts of hunting, of making a kill,
overrunning all other rational thought.

The last thing he remembered was thinking that he wasn’t
just Cat anymore. He was damn near
rabid
.