Cats Meow (4 page)

“I did,” Weltman responded.

“I-I don’t understand.”

Seeing Weltman grip her arm so tightly made
the anger swell. “Let. Her. Go,” he roared.

“Now, now, Lasiter. Don’t go getting
yourself upset. Remember what happened the last time?”

Too late. There would be no stopping his
transformation. Possessive rage grew, urged on by protective instincts. “No one
touches her!” The words were spoken in a soft, deadly tone.

Weltman didn’t heed the warning. Instead,
he pulled Becca tight against his side, held her shackled to him and started
dragging her toward the door.

The change hit him fast, altering his body
before his mind could object. As before, his senses sharpened. The acrid smell
of fear polluted the air, covering the purity of Becca’s wonderful scent. Her
shocked gasp hit him as hard as a punch to the solar plexus. A heartbeat later,
she fainted, slipping to the ground. Weltman let her go.

“Don’t shoot,” his boss told the guard. Concerned
only for his own hide, he made a hasty retreat, slamming the cell door behind
him with a resounding clang.

“You’re just going to leave her in there,”
the guard objected, “with that…that animal.”

“I’m late for a meeting. And I’m sure as
hell not going to fight him for her anyway. She’ll be fine. After all, he’s the
reason she’s here.”

More likely it served some purpose only
Weltman was aware of.

Under the animal’s control, Micah followed
its instincts. He moved to Becca and stood over her, shielding her body with
his. He stood rigid and immovable until the other men left, removing the
threat.

Lying down next to her, he licked her face
then rested his head on her belly, safeguarding the woman the lion claimed as
his mate. Regardless of how much the idea frightened the man, the beast had
made its choice. The die had been cast.

There was no going back.

Chapter Four

Her body was sore in wonderful places from
muscles unaccustomed to such vigorous activity. Rebecca should be satiated and
sound asleep but her lover shifted positions and one solid thigh moved between
her splayed legs.

She wanted more of him. After all, they had
not done everything. There was still a great deal of uncharted territory. This
time she wanted to take the lead, be the one in control of their lovemaking.

Careful not to wake him, not before assuring
she got what she desired, she rolled Micah to his back. Mmm…what a sight. All
that bare male flesh—solid muscle divided by deep chiseled indentations. The
difference between his hard masculine sinew and her soft curves were
delightful, and deserved thorough investigation.

She started at the thick column of his neck,
trailed her tongue over the length, across his clavicle, dipping into the
shallow depression at the center before traveling south. The straight line
separating his pectorals didn’t hold her focus for long. Not once she spotted
the darker flesh of his nipples. Rebecca’s course veered sharply.

The first wet flick brought the tiny nub to
life. The second puckered the areola. On the third, he moaned and shifted. She
held her breath and remained still until he settled before resuming her
explorations.

She teased and tasted every muscle over his
washboard abdomen. Pleased to discover he had an inny, she circled his navel
then thrust into the tiny recess. Moving lower, as she sucked the head of his
cock past her lips, he woke with a rough groan.

“Damn, baby. That feels so good.”

Rebecca took more of his length, bobbed a few
times, then released him with a soft pop. “Yes, but I want to ride you.”

She attempted to sound bold, but the slight
waver in her voice gave her away. Thank goodness he ignored the slight falter.

“Well then, cowgirl, come on up here and take
what you want.”

His generous nature had her heart jumping for
joy as she slid up his body, slow and salacious.

“Lock those pretty thighs on my hips, Becca.”

He helped her into position and held his cock
upward, never losing patience as she took her time finding the right angle
before easing down his shaft. Awkward at first, it took a bit of trial and
error to find her rhythm but once she got going…oooh yeah.

Being on top was turning out to be her
favorite position. Controlling the pace, depth and angle of each thrust put her
in command of her pleasure. His too. And with her on top, the broad head of his
cock had a farther reach, tapping against her cervix.

Her orgasm built fast and arrived in a
powerful blast, exploding over her body. The long, sustained rapture shook her
from head to toe. Micah joined her in ecstasy, the hot splash of his cum
washing over her womb extending the earth-shattering elation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Awareness returned in the form of someone
lightly smacking her cheek, bringing an abrupt end to memories of a night she
held dear.

“Stop that,” Rebecca grumbled. “I’m awake.”

Even if she didn’t know what had happened.
Wasn’t too sure she wanted to know, either.

“Come on, Becca. Open up those pretty green
eyes for me, baby.” The deep masculine voice made it past the layers of fog
clouding her mind.

Becca?
Only one
man had ever called her Becca. Someone she left behind more than four weeks
ago, sleeping among rumpled sheets that failed to cover miles of sexy, hard
muscle and tan skin. A fallen angel who gifted her with one amazing night of
pleasure beyond her wildest dreams.

But he couldn’t be here, in the mountains. In
the top-secret research laboratory she’d been touring with Mr. Weltman, head
honcho of Nanotech. She remembered her new boss’s brief explanation of the work
being conducted. Gene manipulation, a cocktail blending the DNA of humans with
that of predatory animals. Surgeries to make it stick.

“Refusing to open your eyes isn’t going to
change anything.”

No, but the delay gave her a chance to gather
her composure. She compromised, opened her eyes the barest fraction, just
enough to see the gorgeous man who’d invaded her dreams, before slamming them
shut again.

She didn’t want to face reality. Rebecca would
rather be a coward, pretend to be asleep. But the hard, cold surface she lay on
was not her bed. The man leaning over her was not her imagination. This was no
dream.

And the object of her desire had turned into a
lion.

She skittered away from the man she’d once
trusted with her body, seeking safety, moving until running into a wall. With
her knees tucked up against her chest, she fought to calm her breathing and
figure out what on earth was happening.

“W-why am I here? I’m not a genetic scientist.
Mr. Weltman said that’s what they’re doing in this lab.” She coughed, choking
on the words. “I’m a freakin’ zoologist, for crying out loud. I work with—”

The words echoed in her head.
I work with
big cats. Tigers, jaguars, leopards—

And lions. Oh Jesus!

A light bulb snapped on, illuminating the
darkness. She’d been hired because Nanotech had been testing their insane
genetic concoction on humans—

On Micah.

And he’d turned into a lion.

She slapped a trembling hand over her gaping
mouth and stared.

He didn’t appear any different. Same dark
blond hair bound in a ponytail. Same hard features and observant brown eyes.
Same sexy mouth that had done such wonderful things to her body. And the same
tall, muscular body she touched in her dreams every night. The same gorgeous
man who had brought her to multiple screaming orgasms.

Had they done this to him before the night
they’d met? Had she slept with an animal?

Oh my god!

On the heels of that thought came another,
more distressing concern as she remembered how her morning had started. With a
pregnancy test.

Her cycles had never been regular so being
late had not been a concern. Not until her period was two weeks overdue. Last
night she picked up a test kit at the local pharmacy. This morning she peed on
the stick. When a blue plus sign showed up she raced back to the pharmacy and
bough two more kits, different brands to be sure.

One showed two hot pink lines.

The other spelled out the dreaded word
“pregnant”.

As she toured the facility with Mr. Weltman,
Rebecca had barely paid attention. There was so much she had to think about,
figure out. Her number one worry, the father. Micah.

Should she try to find him? He deserved to at
least know about their child, whether he chose to be a part of either of their
lives or not. But how was she supposed to break such life-altering news? She
didn’t even know if he wanted children or where he lived. She didn’t know much
about Micah at all.

And what about the child?

Rebecca swallowed hard. Forget wondering if it
would be a boy or girl. Concerns about the child’s health. If Micah’s DNA had
been altered before she slept with him—

She didn’t want to think it, but would have to
get answers. Was it even possible for a human woman to carry an animal fetus?
Would the baby be human, lion or able to change form, same as its dad?

She searched her memory for facts on pregnancy
in lions. Gestation for lion cubs was around fifteen weeks. And lions birthed
litters of one to four cubs.

Could she be carrying more than one fetus?

The room spun, her vision narrowed and
Rebecca’s consciousness wavered for a few seconds.

Were you? Did they? Before we?

She couldn’t bring herself to say the words
out loud. She decided to start with the basics. “What’s going on, Micah?
Please, help me sort this out.”

He seemed reluctant, gave a heavy sigh and
finally began speaking.

“I worked covert ops in the Army. Got shot and
had to retire. When I got out, I took a job as head of security for Nanotech.
Figured it was an easy job. Guard some scientists, secure their research.”

He paused, rubbed at his temple. Rebecca took
a closer look, noting the new lines of fatigue along his brow and bracketing his
eyes. Signs of stress.

Hah! Wait until she sprung her news, then he’d
know the real meaning of stress.

“I blew out my knee trying to catch an
employee stealing information. That may have been weeks ago. I don’t know. It’s
hard to judge time in here.”

He extended his arm indicating the caged-in
room. She glanced around. No windows or clocks. Just bare walls, narrow cot,
exposed sink and toilet, steel bars, and mounted high on each wall, security
cameras. Tiny red lights blinked menacingly from the devices.

They’d locked Micah in a cold prison cell,
watched his every move, allowed him no privacy. In essence he was a prisoner.
In a research laboratory? Good Lord, what was Weltman hoping to achieve?

Hell, she was a prisoner now too. God forbid
what would happen if her new employer learned of her pregnancy and who sired
the fetus, or fetuses.

She scooted closer, wanting to offer comfort,
maybe receive some in return. But she was still very frightened and held back.
He continued to talk, telling her about the operations and extent of damage to
his knee.

“My body was getting older, weaker. I’ve put
it through a lot over the years. With this latest injury.” He shrugged. “I
would not have been able to keep working. But I can’t even imagine being
retired. I need action. I’d go stir-crazy within a week. Give me a month and
I’d be climbing the walls. I could take a desk job—”

“But it wouldn’t satisfy you.”

He nodded and some of the tension eased from
his broad shoulders.

“Weltman came to the hospital, told me he
could help. Told me they’d perfected a procedure that would make me strong
again, stronger than ever before, able to keep doing the kind of physical work
I love. Once he gave me details of what they are doing there was no turning
back. I knew too much.”

And now, so do I.

His story made it sound as if this had all
happened since she’d last seen him but she had to be sure. Rebecca kept her
gaze averted as she asked the question she dreaded. “So all this happened after
we met?”

“Yeah.”

Thank goodness!
A
wave of relief surged through her. There would be no litter of lion cubs, no
child able to change its form. A huge weight lifted off her shoulders. She’d
still have the normal pregnancy worries, but those were easily manageable in
comparison.

She’d edged close enough that when Micah
reached out, he touched her arm. Rebecca took the comfort he offered, thinking
only of her own bleak situation for a moment. She was trapped in more ways than
one.

Tremors assaulted her and she shook
uncontrollably. Micah pulled her into the shelter of his strong body, made her
feel protected, soothed some of her fears. They were joined now in this and no
matter what happened, they’d face it together. Be strong for each other and
their child.

“It’s called the Predator Project. They
started out kidnapping homeless men and women from the streets, people no one
would miss.”

Rebecca gasped. “But there are safeguards in
place, rules governing how research is conducted. You can’t leap from
conception of an idea to clinical trials on humans. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Nanotech has circumvented the safeguards,
ignored all legalities and moral principles of ethical research practices. The
project started out innocent and with good intentions.” Micah sighed. “I don’t
know what motivated the change. Greed, ambition, an external
influence—something made them deviate from the initial objective and took the
project down a different path.

“I’m their first real success. Weltman himself
injected me with the altered DNA. Since then they’ve done multiple surgical procedures
altering my body to accept the changes. No one expected me to turn into an
animal. The scientists were almost as shocked as I was when it happened.”

A barrage of questions raced through her mind.
Was he able to change into the lion at will? If not, what brought the shift on?
Was his metabolism higher? When he was the lion did he still have the man’s
rational thoughts and intelligence? Would he have to fight the natural
predatory instincts of the lion? Would he attack her, eat her? Try to mate her?
She whimpered.

Micah’s warm palm rubbed soothing circles on
her back. “Shh, baby. I don’t know much about being the lion. It’s only
happened twice, and both times seem to have been triggered by intense
emotion—frustration, anger, fear. We’ll figure everything out together. I’ll
make sure you’re safe.”

And for the time being, she’d make sure their
child remained safe. She decided not to tell Micah. Not until they figured out
how to deal with what had been done to him. They would tackle the pregnancy
issue later.

The man amazed her. He was the one who’d had
his entire existence reshaped and here he was comforting her. She’d been
brought here for him, probably to help him adjust since she had a better grasp
of felines and their behaviors than she did for people, but she knew one thing
for certain. Micah needed her support and knowledge.

She sat up straighter, determined to see him
through this bizarre situation. “Tell me, I’m dying to know, what’s it like?
Does the change hurt? Are your senses different when you’re the lion? Are your
thoughts still human?”

His smile was tentative, but she sensed his
relief over her acceptance.

“I can help you, Micah. We can both get
through this, together.” Sure, there would be an adjustment period. It would
take time for the shock to wear off and for her to come to terms with the
overwhelming circumstances. She was certain of one thing, she would not turn
her back on him. Rebecca had to come up with a plan and get him out of the lab.
This time, there would be no walking away.