Kat Simons [Simons - The Trouble With Black Cats and Demons

THE TROUBLE WITH BLACK CATS AND DEMONS

Copyright 2019 by Katrina Tipton

Cover design: EJR Digital Art

Published by: T&D Publishing

T&D Publishing: http://www.tanddpublishing.com

Kat Simons Website: http://www.katsimons.com

Kat Simons Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/OxQQL

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N ot again. Cary Redmond ducked as another fireball clipped over her head. You dont think fireballs are a bit over the top, she shouted up at the ceiling then had to duck again as a dagger whispered past her ear.

Close. Her heart pounded. Way too close.

She needed to find the damned cat and get out of here. She scanned the apartment from her dubious cover behind a table piled high with unopened mail. Fireballs, daggers, gusts of preternatural wind, freezing hail and the occasional lightning bolt dropped around her, roaring through the living room in a bright cacophony of magical mayhem.

The lightning bolts flashing in the small confines were pretty spectacular. If they hadnt been trying to fry her, she might have enjoyed the show.

Jaxer, Im going to kill you for this.

Normally, this kind of thing was just part of her job. She was a Protector and literally got paid to run around keeping people safe, mostly from magical bad guys. Not that shed asked for the job, but that was another story. It was her job, so she faced off against dangerous stuff because her bosses told her to.

Tonight, however, was not an official assignment. Tonight, she was doing a favor for her demented faery mentor. The bastard knew exactly how to get to her. All he had to do was mention a defenseless little black kitty cat and she was done for. How could she refuse to help a kitty? People did rotten things to black cats on Halloween.

Jaxer had forgotten to warn her about the fireballs.

She screeched through her teeth and dove behind the couch as one of the aforementioned fireballs barreled toward her. She cursed Jaxer as she took a quick look under the couch for the cat. Where the hell was it?

Shed called out to it when shed first entered the apartment but hadnt gotten any irate kitty responses. After her lurching hunt of the living room and kitchen, the only place left was the bedroom.

She pulled in a deep breath as she contemplated the long space of unprotected ground between her hiding spot behind the couch and the bedroom door. Once she found the cat, this would be easier. When she was actively protecting something, very little of the magical dangers could get to her, and nothing deadly would touch her. She just had to find the cat first. And quickly. They had to be out of this cursed apartment before midnight. Before the wizard got home and all hell broke loose.

Again.

She ducked flying objects and ran to the bedroom, squealing when a lightning bolt hit the ground right behind her. Crossing her fingers there were no nasty spells waiting for her, she lunged through the half-open door and cringed in anticipation of magical repercussions as she fell onto a red-carpeted floor. She held perfectly still, waiting. When nothing happened, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and shook her head.

All this for a cat. That bastard Jaxer had a lot to answer for.

She rose to a crouch, trying to calm her racing pulse, and froze.

In front of her sat a huge bed, which she barely noticed because the naked man lying in the middle of the enormous mattress stopped her heart.

Holy hell.

He was absolutely magnificent. Tan skin, well-defined muscles, thick, black hair hanging down over his forehead. He was lying against a giant headboard with his head hanging forward so she couldnt get a good look at his face, but his golden eyes seemed to glow up at her from under his brows. Piercing and stunning and breath-stealing.

Cary swallowed. Hard. Because even the captivating gold of his eyes wasnt enough to keep her gaze from wandering over the breadth of his naked chest, the corded muscles of his shoulders and arms, the flat expanse of his stomach. It took a great deal of will power not to follow the line of dark hair arrowing down his abdomenlower.

The man straightened and Cary heard the clink of chains at the same time as she got a look at his neckand the thick, metal collar covering most of it.

What the hell had Jaxer gotten her into?

Whore you? she asked, breathless and embarrassed.

Who are you?

His voice carried a deep reverberation that made her spine tingle. Oh boy.

Im looking for a black cat, she said, knowing the explanation sounded inane. Jaxer had told her about Sheldon the wizard, but this? This was something else all together. What was this guy doing here? He wasnt Sheldon, she was sure of that, but then who was he? And where was the cat?

She blinked and a black leopard lay on the bed where the man had been. She sucked in a sharp breath, blinked again. And the man was back.

Whoa. Cary swallowed. Youre the black cat I came to rescue?

Oh, she really was going to kill Jaxer now. He hadnt said anything about a fully grown man who happened to be a leopard shapeshifter. Hed made sure she thought she was after a little, harmless kitty cat, not a deadly dangerous big cat who shifted into a beautiful, naked, very large man.

The faery was dead. Not that she knew how to kill him, but that was beside the point.

Jaxer sent you? The mans eyes narrowed and his features took on a dangerous edge. He hissed a curse under his breath and shook his head. Stupid.

Hey! She stood, the better to face his gorgeous disgust. No one should look that good while insulting you. You could have done worse, buddy.

She took a step toward the bed, wiping damp palms on her jeans. The chains shed heard earlier linked the collar on his neck to the headboard, which was brass twisted into a scrawl of symbols she didnt recognize but looked like they might mean something if she stared at them long enough. He wasnt bound anywhere else that she dared peek, and the chains appeared flimsy enough. So the power keeping him confined must be in the collar.