Page 43 of Cats Never Fly

Andit wouldn’t require either of us getting up before sunrise.Althoughthe waySimonspoke about his mother, with equal parts love and fear,IdoubtedI’dbe breaking him away from his family’s unnatural breakfast ritual any time soon.

Mystomach grumbled.

Whenwas the last timeIate?Thekidnappers hadn’t fed us whileIwas there.Theymust, though, because those other supes in the cages didn’t look like they were starving.

Andthen, onceSimonhad summoned me,I’dbecome preoccupied with giving my statement to the police, making plans for my return to the cage, and getting to know the cute kitty cat.Thiswasn’t the first timeI’dforgotten to eat becauseIwas distracted, but nowIregretted not going withSimonto his family’s place for breakfast.

Itidied up the bed, folding the extra blankets and returning them to the hall closet.Nowwhat?Itwasn’t likeSimonhad a lot of stuff to snoop through.Iglanced around the sparsely furnished living room.Thisspace didn’t work at all.Hedeserved to be surrounded by pretty things…Softthings…Yeah,Ineeded to fix this.Hewas now mine to pamper and spoil.

Iespecially wanted to see him covered with jewels from my hoard.

Therewas so much to do.

Bothour lives had been upended.Butfor me,Ihad a whole life to uproot and relocate toWillowLake.Thethought of takingSimontoAspenBayfilled me with a wrongnessIcouldn’t shake.Andnow thatI’dfelt the energy inWillowLake,Iwasn’t sureIwanted to live without it.Howthis place wasn’t fifty times larger and teeming with supes was beyond me.

Okay.Ineeded to make a list.

NormallyI’ddo that on my phone, butIdidn’t know where mine was.Hadmy kidnappers taken it?Orwas it still sitting in my car whereI’dleft it whenI’dgone for my swim?

Iitched at my arm again.Thebump hadn’t gone down overnight.Maybethe hellhound was right.Maybeit wasn’t natural.Ifrowned.

Thosebastards could have done almost anything to me whenI’dbeen unconscious.

Maybemy kidnappers’ plan wasn’t about trafficking, but something else?Yeah.Ineeded to go to that doctor, because now that the thought was in my head,Ineeded to know if they’d done any alien probing or whatever.Dragonswere regal creatures.Wewere not supposed to be probed without our consent.

Mystomach growled again.Itried to distract it by clawing throughSimon’sdrawers, looking for a pen and paper, but he had the most anemic looking cupboardsI’dever seen.Wherewere the pens stolen from hotel rooms?Orthe promotion pads of paper that businesses liked to give away?Forfire’s sake, he only owned two sets of mismatched cutlery.

Thestate of his cupboards made my eyebrow twitch.Itwas good he summoned me.Heobviously needed my help.Unfortunately, though, without a pen and paper, my shopping list would need to wait.

Withnothing else to do,Iwent to the bathroom and took a shower long enough to make the warm water turn icy cold.Thecold water didn’t bother me, butIdoubted his neighbors would be happy when they jumped into a cold shower to get ready for work.

Oops.

Inour new place,I’dmake sure we had a big hot water tank and a big shower, because this one was inadequate.Ineeded space for everythingIwanted to do to my little kitty.

Whatif he didn’t want to live together?

Mychest ached at the thought of being separated fromSimonfor too long.Wasthat another facet of our bond?Myfingers tightened around the towelI’dbeen using to dry myself.

Hewould want us to live together, wouldn’t he?

Givenhow our magics had merged,Ididn’t thinkIcould go too long without having him close.Theintensity of the connection made me wonder if our coming together like we did wasn’t part of something bigger.Couldthe whistle have caused all of this, or was he maybe my fated mate too?

Thelink we’d formed through the whistle wasn’t rightsomehow.I’dheard a bond between mates was intense and beautiful and joyful.Ourbond wasn’t like that, but it also felt deeper than a transactional arrangement.

Sowhat did that mean?

Ipondered that question asIpulled the ugly necklace with the tracker over my head again.Ifthis was going to be a long-term situation,I’dneed to go to the jeweler.Thispouch the hellhound had given me was hideous.ThatIwore it was a testament to how much waking up in that cage had rattled me.Seeingthe pouch resting right over my heart made my situation impossible to ignore.Istared at it in the little mirror above the bathroom sink until my jaw ached from clenching my teeth.Iwould find out who had abducted me.Iwould.AndwhenIdid,Iwould help all those other supes.AndthenI’ddestroy my enemies.

Withrenewed purpose and conviction,Istraightened and lifted my chin.Thebastards wouldn’t know what hit them.Imight prefer to sing songs about love and happiness, butIwas still a dragon, and dragons were naturally badass.Iwas, of course, no exception.Butsometimes, even badass dragons needed a reminder of that.There.Considermyself reminded.

First, though,Ineeded clothes.

Istrutted naked throughSimon’shouse to the bedroom.Earlier,Ihadn’t paid much attention, but this room was just as bare as his main living space.Itsmost redeemable quality was that it smelled like him.Iinhaled deeply, drawing in his scent.Itdanced a seductive tango across my tongue.Iwanted to taste him, every bit of him.

Wonderful.Ishivered in delight.

ThenIturned to his closet, which was the reasonI’dcome in here to begin with.