Page 33 of A Violet Obsession

There’s a good sight line. That’s something, at least.

I’m cataloging the different escape routes from the building when a banshee scream erupts from directly above my head.

Something heavy, furry, and clearly deeply committed to violence launches off the top of the kitchen cabinets and lands squarely on my chest with the force of a small cannonball. My arms clamp around the thing on instinct ready to fling it away, just as what feels like a dozen razor blades sink into my hoodie.

“Hera!” Lily shrieks.

The creature yowls again—a sound better suited to a nature documentary about apex predators than an urban apartment—and I realize my attacker is an enormous orange tabby with murder in her yellow eyes and all four sets of claws hooked into me like she’s rappelling down a rock face.

“Fuck—ow!” I try to pry her off, but the beast digs in deeper, hissing so hard her whiskers vibrate. Her back legs kick against my stomach, and I swear she’s trying to disembowel me.

I have been in actual combat zones. Been shot at by trained operatives. None of them were this aggressive.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry—hang on, don’t pull, you’ll make it worse.” Lily shoves an arm under the cat’s belly and uses her free hand to gently extract each claw from the fabric. Her bent head is just below mine, and my nose is full of the scent of her. But worse, as she works to free the animal, the front of her dress dips, and I’m looking down the front of her dress… again.

Do not get hard. For fuck’s sake.

But the sight of lace cupping the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen might be too much for my body to ignore.

Lily croons to the animal, a sweet, seductive sound that brings out goosebumps on my arms.

I’ve never heard her sound like that before.

She has definitely never used that tone with me.

You want her to, the unhelpful part of my brain supplies, dark and insistent. You want her to use it while she’s spread naked under you, looking up with those wide eyes.

I swallow hard, jaw tightening as I shove the thought away. But it lingers, thick and hungry, curling through my veins

“My poor baby. You’re so brave.”

One by one, the beast retracts her claws with obvious reluctance and allows herself to be cradled against Lily’s chest. The transformation is instant—from feral assassin to purring lump in under two seconds. She tucks her massive orange head under Lily’s chin.

“Such a good girl.” Lily buries her face in the cat’s fur, pressing kisses to the top of her head. “Best bodyguard ever. Were you up on the cabinets? Were you playing panther again? Hunting the scary man?”

Hera opens one lazy eye to look at me from the safety of Lily’s arms. The contempt in that single eye is staggering. I swear I think it’s laughing at me.

Something in my chest shifts watching her love on her pet. Lily’s face is open and unguarded, all the tension I’ve seen dissolved into something achingly soft. She nuzzles the cat’s ear, and Hera bumps her head against Lily’s chin with a rumbling purr.

“She’s not used to people in the apartment,” Lily says, setting Hera on the kitchen counter and scratching behind her ears. “She’s not great with strangers.”

“Can’t imagine where she picked that up.”

Lily’s hand stills on the cat’s head, then the corner of her mouth lifts. Just barely.

I examine the damage. There are several tiny holes in my hoodie and a scratch on my hand that’s actually bleeding, as well as a tuft of orange fur clinging to my chest.

“She’s protective.” Lily’s eyes are bright with affection as she watches Hera lick one paw with casual indifference to her audience. “I found her behind a dumpster when she was a kitten. She’d been out there for a while. The vet said she probably wouldn’t make it—she was the tiniest, saddest little thing.”

Hera chooses this moment to yawn, revealing a set of teeth that could puncture a tire.

“She grew.” I deadpan.

Lily giggles. “She really did.”

Hera fixes me with one more withering glare, then leaps from the counter to the floor with surprising grace for something her size and strolls away, tail held high.

Lily’s phone buzzes on the coffee table, and her expression changes. The softness evaporates replaced with worry.