be treated this way. I could kill that stupid bitch for doing this to me.
“Mave,” I scream out in my head for the thousandth time today,
turning back to face the women. My cage is hard and too cold. I
can’t get comfortable enough to stay in one spot for any length of
time. A small hiss escapes my feline lips at the thought of that
witch, and the woman sticking her hand into my cage pulls back
slightly. I try to look at her apologetically, feeling guilty for my
behavior, but I know she can’t understand me.
Mave continues to ignore me. The stupid witch. Maybe if I call
her a bitch enough times she will answer. “Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.” Nah,
she’s too used to people calling her that for it to faze her. “I know
you can hear me, you crazy hag.”
On the other hand, maybe she can’t. I only have limited control
over my powers. Maybe I can’t project my thoughts to her. I sure
wasn’t able to project them to the people who found me this
morning.
The fact that I risked exposure is a testament to how pissed and
desperate I am to get out of this form. I didn’t have a choice. I’m a
damned cat for crying aloud. Twenty-four hours ago, I was a man.
Okay, technically, I’m not a human man. Being able to shift into any
animal I want to means that I’m not completely human.
Nevertheless, I’ve never been a cat before. At least not the cute,
fluffy kind. Mountain lion, tiger, cougar; I’ve been all three, but I
have never degraded myself and shifted into a common house-cat
before.
I hadn’t meant to insult her. The witch, not the woman now
stroking my fur. I should have known better than to make promises
to a witch. In my defense, I had been drunk. Really drunk. She
should have known not to believe anything a drunk man says. All
women know this. We say and promise many things we don’t mean
when we are trying to get some. Very asshole of us, I know. Trust
me, I will never do it again, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
The pack had been celebrating the purchase of a large chunk of
land in the mountains of Tennessee. Being mythical creatures and
all, we did use a little magic with the help of a friendly witch to
make the buyout happen, meaning it wasn’t a complete surprise.