Chapter 27
As the three of them took the steps, Rome scented Kalina and his chest constricted. Not only was she here, she was in full acordado.
Her scent was different, heavier, tinged with a sultry floral aroma that permeated his senses, putting every muscle in his body on full alert.
“Let me go first,” he whispered to Nick and X, who nodded behind him.
They climbed two flights of stairs, each of them with guns in hand. The intent was to fight this battle the human way, to use the weapons of mass destruction that seemed to be so accepted, it was no wonder the murder rate in this country was so high. It would have been easier to come in jaguar form fighting and ripping everyone in this place to pieces, but Rome refused to do that without provocation.
They were on the third floor of the row house walking down a narrow hallway, following Kalina’s scent. Just a few steps from the door every part of Rome’s calm, human plan fell apart as a scream ripped through the walls, traveling down his torso to settle in heated despair in his midsection.
Rome broke into a run and kicked in the door without hesitation. Never in a million years would he have been prepared for the scene that confronted him.
Kalina screamed in pain again and again.
Every part of her body hurt as heat engulfed her and pressure assailed her bones. Her clothes felt heavy and sticky, agitating her skin. Ripples ran beneath, pressing painfully against her limbs.
Her chest constricted and she struggled to breathe. Everything around her was changing. As she inhaled, scents became acutely stronger, one after the other pushing against each other in a tug of war for her attention. Her tongue felt thick, dry as her gums ached. Teeth seemed to fill every corner of her mouth.
She convulsed, feeling the chair shaking beneath her as the ropes that bound her stretched and popped. Her breasts tingled, hanging full and aching on her chest. In her ears she heard everything from dogs barking outside to hissing and cursing in this very room. At first it grew very dark; then she closed her eyes, opened them, and felt as if someone had dumped sand into them.
Just as quickly her vision cleared, the darkness becoming crystal-clear. She searched for him, needed him to be there, but didn’t really understand why. Kalina saw Rome bust through the door, saw his cat’s eyes in the face of his human form. Inhaling deeply, she latched on to his scent and clung for dear life.
Her heart hammered in her chest, arms extending before her and shaking almost uncontrollably. Something was happening, something big was happening, and Rome knew what it was. In his eyes she saw knowledge and understanding; in her mind she heard him comforting her, reaching out to her to let her know she would be okay. He was here to save her, again.
Then again, that other part of her, the one she’d ignored for so long, stood inside and roared. She didn’t need to be saved this time. This time it would be her who did the rescuing.
She felt the motion, the swaying of the room as she fell from the chair. Her jaw ached and her head pounded. With stinging fingertips she lifted her arms, looking down to see why her skin itched so badly. Waves of golden-yellow fur raced down her arm. She opened her mouth to scream but instead her jaw locked, teeth elongated, sharpened, extended. Her skull felt like it would explode as she heard cracking and felt her entire spine bend and contort. Rolling over she pulled herself up on fisted hands and wobbly knees. Her back arched and there was a series of cracks as her body contorted. More fur spread along her back and the pain in her head thumped to a sickening crescendo.
Screaming wasn’t an option any longer. The sound coming from her opened mouth this time was guttural; it was primitive and rocked the entire room as it rumbled through her.
“Shoot that bitch!” she heard a male voice roar.
“No!” another sounded, but it was too late.
There was a gunshot and Rome lunged for the tall shifter who’d fired his gun. Flattening the guy with his body, Rome pulled back, pounding a fist into his face. The shifter attempted to fight back, tossing heavy blows of his own.
“Get her and let’s go!” another voice yelled.
X moved quickly, crossing the room to where Kalina’s cat form, still a bit wobbly, struggled to stand on four legs.
A female screech tore through the air as a redhead leapt from the shadows reaching for X but was quickly dispatched by Nick’s blow to the side of her head. She crumpled to the floor just as Darel struck out at Nick.
Pulling his own gun from behind his back, Sabar turned and aimed at Rome. Kalina saw his intentions and pushed her now much larger and stronger cat’s body past X. Jumping up on hind legs, she tackled Sabar, knocking him to the floor and sending his gun across the room.
The fear in his eyes as he turned to face her made her heart race. Baring her teeth she growled loudly in his face, heavy paws on his chest.
“My mate,” he said, a sick smile spreading over his human lips even as his eyes shifted to cat.
Beneath her she felt his shift, the connection of his fur against hers causing an eerie warmth inside. She backed off. The man who’d come to her house and stared at her with orange eyes now stood in front of her in his full cat form, baring his teeth and heading straight for her.
In a blur of black, Rome pounced on Sabar, knocking the other cat into the wall. There were cats all over the room now, all growling and thrashing against one another. Kalina couldn’t tell who was who. Instead she felt dizzy, heat still running through her body like a blazing fever.
Glass broke as cats rammed against the window. The scent of blood filled the air and Kalina choked. Backing into a corner she thought about Mrs. Gilbert’s cat, the one that had scared her so badly for years. Her legs wobbled, and she felt herself going down.
Her head hurt like hell, images of cats blurring with humans. Confusion racked her mind as heat continued to tear through her body. She blinked and blinked, breathed in and out hoping to calm this wave of emotions and physical changes going through her, but there was no use. It was too much and she finally fell back, closing her eyes to it all.
When she opened her eyes again it was to see a blur of spots moving fast and ferocious in front of her. They were fighting, big cats that belonged in the jungle were fighting, breaking everything in this medium-size human room.
Instinctively the cop in her came to full alert. Kalina scrambled her human legs across the floor, reaching for the gun she saw lying there, and grabbed it with human fingers. She looked down at her hands holding the gun. They were normal again, four fingers and a thumb on each, creamy butter-toned skin wrapped around a cold black gun that she was now lifting and aiming.
How to tell who was who? She took a deep breath as she stood, her human legs not necessarily accepting the quick shift she’d apparently made, but cooperating just the same.
Rome was the black cat, his green eyes and dark rosettes like a beacon to her in this room full of felines. She would not shoot him. But the cat he was fighting, the lighter one with black rosettes set far apart, was the enemy. She remembered his eyes from the night at the party and she squeezed the trigger happily.
The bullet tore through the fat skull of the cat, and it fell back away from Rome’s clutches. Next, she turned to a thinner yellow-gold cat that was swiping at a reddish brown cat with her heavy paws. Kalina knew this one, too.
The yellow-gold cat was Melanie, the lying backstabbing so-called friend Kalina had believed like some naive schoolgirl. The woman had tricked her; she’d known all along who Kalina was and why she was there. She also knew something Kalina didn’t. They’d mentioned it several times when they thought she was asleep. Kalina was Sabar’s mate, whatever that meant.