Wild Wishes: A Happy Effin Valentine Page 9

  God, she loved to hear him talk about her ass!

  She snickered as she remembered the way he would caress it, lick it ... fuck it. That was really exciting and taboo, and had just about put her down for the count.

  Masataka had always made her feel special and protected.

  He’d rejected her sister when he’d first met Monika, when her sister had been riding high from her glorious date with Effin’s ex, and ...

  He had rejected her sister, her beautiful and perfect sister!

  He hadn’t bothered to look at another woman the whole time they were together; in fact, he’d clung to her more as he saw the females that were out on the street.

  He didn’t care if she couldn’t bring the rain or have any powers.

  He appreciated her for what she was. And what she was, was an idiot!

  “Nuts to this,” Effin breathed as she rose to her feet. One quick phone call to her office and she had the next two days off.

  Then she threw on some old jeans and a sweater, grabbing her umbrella on her way out the door.

  She was going to find her man!

  She was going to apologize and get him back to his human self, if she had to take on the very Japanese gods themselves!

  Her neko was not going to get away!

  And if she couldn’t make him human again ... Gods, that thought hurt. But if she couldn’t get him human again, she would see to it that he lived like a king.

  And not because he was a good luck neko or because he doled out orgasms like the Easter bunny gave out chocolates, but because he made her feel like a queen, he always made sure she came first. He’d showed her that she mattered. And that was good enough for her.

  She nodded, her confidence coming back as she made for her Jeep, thankful that it had four-wheel drive as she was pounded by the deluge. She was going to get her neko, come hell or high water, and nothing had better stand in her way.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Effin cursed as her Jeep rumbled over the wet roads in Dundulk, looking for a landmark of any kind that would remind her where she had met her pretty kitty.

  She knew it was near some warehouses and that there were vents around, but she was not sure, and the darkness brought on by the rain was not helping matters any.

  Finally, she drove to a spot that looked familiar, hoping that her kitty had made his way back here. Hell, she hoped that this was the place he called home.

  Pulling off to the side of the road, she extended her umbrella, hoping it would block out some of the driving rain and improve her view, as she began climbing down the steep embankment.

  “Masa!” she called as she searched the ground, every ditch and under every scraggly bush. “Masa! Where are you?”

  She was so intent in her search, moving further and further away from the safety of the road, that she never even noticed the purr of a high performance European car pulling up beside her Jeep.

  * * * * *

  Masataka sulked.

  Okay, maybe sulked was too childish a word.

  He brooded.

  Masataka, lost in a nest of his castoff baby blankets, stared indolently out at the rain and wondered what had happened.

  Things had been going so well! He had found his female, he was having sex, he was in human form, and then all of a sudden, poof! It was all gone!

  It made no sense.

  And it was entirely that stupid sister’s fault!

  Effin’s sister was so good at playing games she could be a kitsune. If the bitch weren’t so sneaky, then none of this would have happened.

  Masa knew that Effin’s attitude sprang from years of abuse at her sister’s hands, and a low self-esteem that apparently her jealous sister had helped create. A weekend with him was not going to change how she felt about herself very much.

  But Effin needed to realize that there was more to her than the dependable accountant, the sister who was all forgiving, the friend who was a pushover, and a lover that was easily cast aside.

  He had watched as the scars on her soul had begun to heal, and he’d watched as her sister’s actions had torn all those wounds open again.

  He sighed as he burrowed deeper into his nest, realizing that it was not as comfortable as the comforter Effin kept on her bed. He’d seen the moment that she’d made her damning wish, saw the shock and desire to take those words back, but it had been too late.

  Without any fanfare or outward display, Masataka was back in his neko form, and mad as hell.

  He felt betrayed, felt as if he were being punished for someone else’s misdeeds. It wasn’t fair! He knew that Effin was not a hateful person, nor a person to wish ill upon someone. Still, the moment he had been forced into this shape again, he had seen red.

  In anger, he had fled Effin’s home, not allowing her to take the wish back or make a new wish, or even explain herself. He’d seen regret in her eyes, knew that she didn’t mean it, but what if he was stuck in this form forever? Sure, it gave him the ability to lick his own cock, but unless Effin was into diminutive bestiality, there was no way a relationship between the two of them could work.

  And he was really getting to like her, too.

  He could still picture her, heavy with his kittens down the road, and he sighed, depressed as he realized that that half-formed dream would never even have a chance of becoming a reality.

  So, he’d returned to his territory and his warehouse, climbed in his warm blankets still by the exhaust vent on the second level, and brooded.

  Maybe if he brooded long enough, an idea would come to him.

  Snorting at his own fancifulness, he closed his eyes and tried to blot out the sound of the storm raging above. Before, he’d had a reason to dislike the rain. Now, he absolutely hated it.

  * * * * *

  Effin, ass up and nose to the ground, followed a path around a bush near a warehouse that didn’t look like it was in too much disarray.

  She had hoped that her kitty would hear her call and come out to meet her ... or attack her. Either way, she could get his little kitty tail out of this storm and explain what had happened.

  She was about to move back to her Jeep and travel a bit further up the road to search anew when she bumped into something hard and warm.

  Jumping up, she turned and realized that she was looking at Buster the stock boy with a duffle held over his shoulder.

  “Buster, what are you doing here?”

  She rolled her eyes as she backed away from the man.

  After talking to Christa, she was sure that the yahoo was nothing more than a wannabe gangsta with delusions of grandeur. There was no way that he could be the killer they were looking for. She was sure that the “Buster cap her in her ass” was contrived to make her feel uncomfortable and him big.

  But one could never be too cautious. She backed up and started to move around him, never taking her eyes off his body.

  “Who the fuck is Buster, lady?”

  “Whatever,” Effin groaned, still backing away. “What did you do, Buster, raid the stockpile at the office and get a stolen load of staplers?”

  She took a step back and Buster took a step forward, dropping the duffle off his shoulder as it if were meaningless.

  The muffled grunt that came from the bag, however, sent shivers of fear down Effin’s spine.

  Lightning flashed, and for a moment she could clearly see that this man was not poor, deluded Buster! This man had a darker visage, an evil menace that surrounded him.

  “Holy shit!” Effin breathed. “You’re the serial killer!”

  His response was a slow grin that froze the blood in her veins.

  Tossing reason to the wind and her umbrella at his face, Effin turned tail and ran.

  She tried to make it back to her Jeep, but Psycho ran around in front of her, trying to knock her to the ground, cutting off that avenue of escape.

  “What you gonna do now, bitch?” he growled.

  In reaction, Effin let out a shrill, piercing scream and took off in
the opposite direction.

  Uncaring of the rain or what she was running through, Effin’s fight-or-flight mechanism took her racing toward the warehouses, hoping against hope that she could lose him in the maze of buildings.

  * * * * *

  Masa jumped, sure he’d heard his female’s voice.

  She sounded like she was upset about something.

  But that couldn’t be right. His Effin was supposed to be at home, snuggled up in her big comfortable bed, doing whatever women did when they kicked their lovers out in the cold.

  He hoped that she had celebrated at least a little about kicking her sister’s ass; the hooch deserved it.

  He closed his eyes, thinking that maybe it was his imagination, when he heard her voice again. And this time she sounded scared.

  Climbing to his feet and leaving his nest of blankets, Masataka made for the side exit of his home, peering out into the rain to see what was going on. Curiosity was the one trait he had, human or neko, and his whiskers were buzzing with the need to investigate.

  He stalked outside, ears cocked to the side, listening and hearing only pouring rain, when the scream came.

  Shit! It was his Effin! And she was in danger!

  Taking off through the rain, he lifted his nose, cursing the liquid falling from the sky as it attempted to mask her scent. But her adrenaline was racing so much that it was easy for him to track her.

  Leaping over rocks and abandoned machine parts, Masataka saw something that nearly cost him one of his cat’s reported nine lives. There was a huge man chasing his female, and the scent the man gave off was pure evil!

  Knowing that he was virtually powerless in this form and that teeth and claw would not work well against his evil, Masa suddenly came up with an idea.

  His heart raced as he zipped through the buildings, keeping his ear out for his female as he raced to intercept her.

  * * * * *

  Effin raced ahead, trying to keep her screams at bay as she heard death following her.

  She was growing desperate and tired, soaked to the skin, her breath rasping, her heart slamming in her chest. She was beginning to slow, a stitch developing in her side, when she saw what had to be a cat’s form keeping stride.

  The cat separated from the shadows and nearly clipped her, but it paused to lift his paw and kind of wave at her, then it was off.

  Cultural differences! That “come on” wave was the one that Masa had showed her!

  Her pretty kitty was alive and trying to save her!

  Instantly putting her trust in the neko, Effin changed directions and followed the cat through the shadows of the tall warehouses.

  Around and around he led her, scrambling under fences and around boxes until they reached a brick wall, literally.

  “Damn it, Masa! This is no time for revenge!” she panted as she lost sight of the black cat in the shadows the wall cast, even in the rain.

  There was a little mew to her right, and Effin realized she had to get low and wiggle into some kind of crawlspace her kitty had found.

  No sooner had she squeezed into the small access chute than her cat was off and running.

  Effin watched in horror as he leapt onto the psycho’s head, scratching and spitting, before he leapt off, leading the man in the opposite direction.

  “Masa!” she breathed, but could not leave the safety he had led her to. She hoped that he knew what he was doing, that he would not be hurt, and she prayed to God that her kitty would not die before she had a chance to apologize.

  * * * * *

  “Patooie!” Masa hissed as he tried to spit the taste of the serial killer out of his mouth, along with a portion of the psycho’s ear.

  But his little love bites had done what he’d intended; the maniac was following him instead of chasing Effin.

  And now that the bastard was pounding in the mud behind him, it was time to let his luck come into play.

  Twisting in mid-jump, in a move of astounding aerial acrobatics, Masataka reversed his position and headed for a warehouse that he knew stored dangerous chemicals.

  Knowing that the psycho would follow, seeking revenge for his ravaged ear, made it childishly easy to lead the menace right into the laser eye that ran across the doors at what would be considered human height and trip the silent alarm.

  That done, he just had to keep the son of a bitch occupied long enough for the cops to get there.

  Gotta love paranoid chemical companies that produced bleach and ammonia cleaning compounds. They were so terrorist shy that they’d recently redone all the alarms, both audible and silent.

  His little kitty whiskers trembling in excitement, Masa made another pass at the psycho, this time raking razor-sharp nails across his chest, forcing a roar of rage from the killer’s throat.

  This was almost fun.

  Masataka danced around the man, getting his strikes in where needed and amusing himself as the hunter never realized that he had become the prey.

  So lost in his play was he that he never saw the shadow that crawled out from behind some boxes and started toward the serial killer and the cat.

  * * * * *

  “Effin, you are a coward!” Effin berated herself as she listened while the crazed lunatic chased after her neko. He had led her to safety and then led the monster away from her.

  She was such a fool.

  Masa would never risk his life if she was just a casual fuck, and she knew he was at risk with his smaller size.

  She gritted her teeth as she heard a roar of pain and blanched at the thought of the man actually getting his hands on her Masataka! The monster would kill him, and then go back for whoever was in the bag.

  It was not right, Masataka risking his life for the woman who’d trapped him in this form and for a victim he didn’t even know about.

  A second roar reached her ears, and with that, her hands stopped trembling and her resolve firmed.

  Effin crawled from her hidey-hole and followed the sounds of struggle. After running around several buildings, Effin saw something that would have taken at least one of her lives if she had been a cat.

  Her neko was leaping and tearing bits out of the serial killer, leaving the man running in circles as he attempted to catch the attack cat.

  Seeing that the man was distracted, Effin picked up a huge rock in both hands and tried to sneak up behind him.

  She was about to slam the rock on his head, when he turned and grabbed her by the neck.

  “Call off the cat, bitch!” he growled, shaking her roughly and making her drop her makeshift weapon. He noticed that the cat paused in its frenzied attack.

  “Call it off or I will snap your neck.”

  Masa! Effin screamed in her head as she watched her kitty stare worriedly up at her.

  “So, sic a cat on me, will you? I’ll teach you to play games.” The man leered as one hand left her neck to cup her right breast through her sopping wet sweater. He grinned evilly as he let his hand trail upwards, over her jaw, his fingers fanning over her cheeks. He gently wiped the water from around her blinking right eye. “You cost me an ear, so I’m going to take an eye.”

  Before he could move, Effin was shrieking, “No! Masa!”

  The man turned to see a ball of black fury hurtling through the air toward his face.

  Instinctively, he let Effin go to shield his neck and eyes, and that’s when the police lights hit him full in the face.

  “This is the police! We have you surrounded! Get your hands up and keep them where we can see them!”

  Effin wilted, literally sinking to her knees as police swarmed the area. A helicopter suddenly appeared, shining lights overhead, and several deputy U.S. Marshals raced onto the scene.

  Before Effin could blink, someone wrapped her in a blanket and began leading her away.

  “Wait!” she called out, before she could get too far. “Where’s my cat?”

  Before people began to think that maybe the strain of being attacked was too much for her, a smal
l, bedraggled black kitty leapt into view and into Effin’s arms.

  “What were you doing out here?” a police officer asked as she was led to an ambulance and swaddled in towels.

  “I ... I was looking for my cat.” Effin looked down at her neko and swore she could read relief in his little kitty eyes. “I got mad at him about something stupid and he got out. I was coming to get him before he got hurt.”

  Hearing that, Masa began to purr and nuzzle under her chin. A grinning paramedic handed her a towel to dry her kitty.

  “Hold onto that kitty.” The police officer reached out a hand to stroke Masataka’s head. “He saved your life. He made mincemeat out of the perp and ...”

  Just then, the perp in question was led away in cuffs, cursing and screaming about demon cats and witch women who control them.

  “He is special,” Effin agreed. “I just got him, but I think I can easily fall in love with him.”

  Smiling, the cop walked away, presumably to begin filling out reports, and Effin was left to answer questions.

  When she told the cops about the body that had grunted in the bag, they backtracked to her car and began to search the area. They found the bag, but no body inside. They chalked it up to the victim freeing herself and making haste away while the attack cat dealt with the serial killer.

  Finally, Effin was released, told to not leave town, and allowed to take her Jeep home. She and her kitty had a lot to discuss.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Pretty kitty,” Effin purred as she wrapped her favorite pussy in a thick plush towel and gently patted his fuzzy coat dry.

  The first order of business was for her to get her pussy clean and dry.

  Masa hadn’t protested the bath, seeming to love the cleansing wash that she had given him in lightly scented water.

  He especially loved the fact that she was naked in the tub with him.

  But thoughts of kitty sex were too much even for Effin, and the bath was strictly for warming and cleansing.