Page 10 of Feline Good

“I missed you guys.” Her voice broke as one of them, Tubbi, turned to stare at her. “I’m so sorry I left. I won’t do it again. I promise.” She hugged his chunky little body to her and cried, for her mistakes, her sorrows, her apologies… everything.

A memory flashed through her mind, a day she had trained with Malak. At the time, she had been young, and so confused as to why she had to learn to fight, staring at the stick in her hands with disdain. Malak had stood across from her, showing her the proper way to hold the weapon and telling her how to stand.

“Your parents told me to prepare you, so that’s what I’m doing. It won’t always be easy, but when we’re done, you’ll be ready for anything. That’s rule number one. Always be ready for anything.” Uncle Malak’s voice rang through her head like a warning as she stared around the vacant, silent bar, tears tracing her cheeks as she cuddled the cats.

“I don’t think I’m ready for this, Uncle Malak.”

Chapter Three

Amir watched Maya’s ass sway as she charged up the stairs. When the apartment door slammed, August winced from across the table.

“Do you think we were too hard on her?” Asher asked, pausing the napkin doodle he was enthralled by. Though, from the looks of it, his scratch art looked like something to hang in a museum. He was sketching a likeness of Maya.

Shaking his head before Asher could even finish the question, Amir answered. “No. We saved her ass, she brought us out of that damned cat form, finally, and she just had too much to drink. She’ll be fine in the morning.”

I should know. I taken care of your drunk ass more times than I can count.

Shaking the negative thoughts of his brother from his head, he focused on the problem at hand. Maya had to accept her bloodline, otherwise Amir didn’t know what he would do. They needed her for what was coming. No, he didn’t know exactly what the impending threat was, but he needed to be ready for all possibilities, and that included readying Maya as well.

Amir was a bit of a stickler for control, and he couldn’t exactly alter that part of his personality. Not after thirty-nine years. Staring at his two brothers across from him, he studied their faces that had once been as familiar as his own. It pained him to admit, but after fifteen years stuck in cat form, he’d almost begun to forget what they looked like.

August had grown up from the nerdy little high school kid he vaguely remembered to a handsome young man, with long brown hair that framed his face well. Asher still looked the part of a heart-throb, but Amir was glad to know his man whore days were behind them. In theory.

It was nice to finally walk on two legs again. To hold a glass of beer in his hand. To be on the same level as Maya,

Now, it seemed, they all had something to protect, cherish, and look forward to.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t fuck it up.

“It’s nice to be back, guys.” Amir declared, taking a sip from his beer to hide the emotions he knew played across his face.

“I know, brother. Finally.” Asher spoke, and Amir recognized what he thought sounded something like resentment in his tone, but he decided to ignore it for now. They’d spent fifteen years analyzing and talking shit out. Amir was ready for a break from it all.

Fuck, he needed a vacation, but instead, Asher and August looked to him from across the table.

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight. Now what?” August asked.

It was an innocent and warranted question. But even so, it rose the hackles on Amir’s neck. They always expected him to step up— to take care of things himself. With a sigh, he got up from the table, throwing back the last of his beer before heading towards the back with a grumble.

“Where are you going?” August asked.

“To fix the back door.”

Like I fix everything else.

* * *

Lips trailed across her collar bone, pulling a sigh from her own at the gentle teasing. Maya reached down, sliding her hands through dark strands of hair. His kisses moved lower, making room for… another man to lean in and take her mouth?

I can get behind this. Two? Alright, alright, alright…

His kisses came rougher than the first male’s, and he claimed her mouth with reckless abandon. Their tongues clashed, passion heating between them as she gasped into the kiss.

The first man worked his way down to her breasts, placing teasing nips along her skin until he sucked a hard nipple into his mouth. Maya pulled back, needing to put names to the men apparently eager to pleasure her.

A frown tilted her lips down as she discovered it was none other than Asher and August. Before she could protest, August moved lower, his amber eyes burning into hers as he worked sin into her flesh one kiss at a time, down her torso until he landed between her thighs.

Tossing her head back when he finally licked a long swipe up her lips, she caught sight of Amir in the chair next to her bed. Asher trailed down to tease her nipples with his lips and practiced fingers. Suddenly, Maya didn’t care who was watching.