Feline the Heat (The Firehouse Feline Book 1) Read online

  When at last my cat grows bored and heads toward the house, my heart aches. But instead of going up the tree and into my room, she takes the branch in the opposite direction. I find myself in a darkened room.

  Will lays on his bed, his shirt off, his muscles visible beneath the moonlight. But he’s sitting up, arms behind his head, staring off into the darkness, his expression troubled.

  When I leap onto his bed, his gaze goes to me, and it gentles a little.

  "Back again? I guess we’re going to have to make you our official firehouse cat."

  I move up to him, and he drops his hands and starts petting me gently.

  His voice is soft when he says, "It seems neither of us have any common sense at all. Because if you did, you wouldn’t come to me. And if I did, I would’ve let that man die tonight."

  My heart aches again, but this time for a completely different reason. Does Will think he did the wrong thing tonight? Saving someone’s life could never be wrong.

  I wish I could tell him that.

  I’m used to rude Will. To cocky Will. To sexy Will. But I have to say, I think my favorite version of him is this vulnerable man right here.

  He lies down, and my cat curls up beside him. He smiles and pets my body, closing his eyes.

  "I guess I can’t be too bad if you like me."

  My cat purrs as if to say she agrees.

  When her eyes close, and I relax against his warm body, I’m surprised to feel myself sliding into sleep. I don’t normally like sleeping beside someone else, in my cat or human form, but it seems this town has changed more than just my cat.

  Chapter Eight

  Hank

  The intense urge to pee wakes me first. Then I realize my dick is jammed hard into the mattress since I'd fallen asleep on my stomach.

  I blink at the alarm clock. It's only five in the morning, and I don't want to get up and pee. I want to sleep. Rolling over, I try to ignore it and drift off again, but no dice.

  Moaning, I roll out of bed and shuffle out the door, toward the bathroom. As I step into the hall, I hope Sugar is sound asleep. No sense in her seeing the massive erection tenting the boxers I'd worn to bed.

  The door to Will's room opens, and Callie slips out, stark naked. My jaw drops, and I freeze.

  "Damnit," she whispers as she turns and sees me. She's got one arm across her chest, blocking her nipples from view. I have a great memory of them, though, to sustain me.

  Her other hand covers her crotch area. A small part of it, anyway.

  The rest of her curvy, soft, unbelievably gorgeous skin flushes pink with embarrassment. "I was trying to sneak out."

  Her eyes stray to my chest as she prances on bare feet.

  I spend a lot of time at the firehouse with nothing to do. Will, James, and I do a lot of working out in our spare time. It wouldn't be easy to save someone from a burning building with a flabby body.

  When her eyes dance down my stomach, I know she has to be admiring my abs, so I flex them for good measure.

  The movement of my muscles makes my dick twitch, reminding me of the intense discomfort radiating from my morning wood.

  If only the erection was because a beautiful woman stood naked in the hallway. Nope. I just have to piss.

  Callie's eyes continue south and widen when she sees my predicament.

  "It's not what you think," I blurt.

  She arches an eyebrow.

  "Hey, you're the naked one. In my home," I point out, not bothering to cover my hardness.

  Her attitude crumples. "You're right."

  She brushes against me as she darts past, and I have to stop myself from reaching out to touch her. That would be way too creepy.

  "I'm sorry," she calls as she disappears around the corner.

  I start to run after her, but my rock-hard dick swinging back and forth stops me. Peeing is my number one priority.

  As soon as I relieve myself and the erection disappears, I return to my room and throw on my standard uniform. After quickly brushing my teeth and combing my hair, I head out the door and straight to Callie's. Lights are on all over the house. As I raise my hand to knock, I hear her talking, but I can't quite make out the words. I trickle a little magic into my ears to make them extra sensitive. Filtering out the noises of the night around me, I hone in on Callie's voice.

  "Why do you keep doing this to me?"

  Nobody answers. I try to peer in the window, fully aware that if anyone sees me, they'll call the cops. But I can't bring myself to knock until I hear who replies to her.

  "You never take responsibility," she continues. "You just sit there, silent and judgey." Kitchen noises interrupt her speech. It sounded like she was making coffee. "Now I've woken up over there not once, but twice. Do you know how awkward that was? And of course, of course, I ran into Hank again. And he had an erection. Do you realize what sort of predicament you've put me in?" More banging and clanking. "No, you don't care."

  "What the hell are you doing?" James's voice blares in my ears, the magical amplification unable to stop his voice from being loud as well. Though, it had been able to ignore the sound of his approach.

  Yanking the extra magic away from my eardrums, I whirl to face him. He walks up her stairs with a judgmental look on his face.

  "She was in Will’s room," I say accusingly. "Naked."

  "I don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't give you the right to spy on her."

  Rolling my eyes, I hold up my hand to shush him. "Calm down. I was about to knock when I heard her talking. I wanted to see if we could figure out what she knows. And I wanted to check on her after she ran out naked. Again."

  James shook his head in disbelief. "If you say so. Since it's you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. If it had been Will..." He raises an eyebrow.

  "Yeah, he's a horndog. That's not why I'm here." I turned and knocked firmly on her door. After several seconds, the sound of the latch turning preceded her throwing open the door.

  "You know, my sleepwalking doesn't give you an open invitation to my house." She keeps one hand on the door, cocking a hip and blocking us from entering the house. She's put on a robe, but I'd bet my powers there's nothing under it.

  "We wanted to check on you," I say. "Make sure you're okay. And make sure the alarms on the doors are working."

  "They weren't," she says flatly. "I double-checked them when I came in, but I've got them set now."

  James and I exchange a look. I'm reluctant to leave her, though I'm not sure why. "Why don't we-" I cut off, trying to think of what to say to prolong the time with her. "Can we take you to breakfast?"

  She looks at me with a focused expression on her face, thinking. "Yes. I'll be ready in ten."

  Shutting the door in our faces, she leaves me and James on the porch like a couple of chumps, but I'm not mad. I grin at him and turn, ready to head to the firehouse and wake Will. As much as I'd like to leave him so I'll have more flirting time with Callie, he had a rough night. He'll need the company. Plus, if he's alone he's more likely to be attacked by the witches.

  "Let's go get Loverboy up," I tell James and skip off the porch. He follows me, calmer than I am, but then, he always is. I assume it's his British nature coming out, making him calm and polite.

  Or, as I like to tease him, stuffier.

  I head straight for Will's room, launching myself on the bed. He sits up with a strangled yell. "Hey, careful," he chides, patting his blankets. "You'll hurt the cat."

  "Was it here again?" I sit up and look around, but it doesn't seem to be here now.

  He blinks several times, his eyes pulling into sharper focus. "She was. I guess she ran off in the night."

  "I'd say Callie scared her off," James says from the door.

  "Callie?" Will rolls over, cocooning himself in his blankets, staring at us with big eyes. Uh-oh. He was falling into sad-mode.

  "Yeah, she snuck out of here this morning." I bounce the bed a few times.

  His jaw drops
open. "She was naked. In my room. And I didn’t even know it!"

  I laugh. "Yeah, I think you might be losing your touch, man."

  "Fucking hell!" he groans. "Maybe we should go check on her?"

  "I did, and now we're taking her to breakfast, so get up."

  He perks up a little at the idea of taking Callie to eat. "How'd you manage that?"

  "Well, she doesn't know you're coming, so you can jump in the truck at the last minute." I hop up from the bed and tug on his blanket. "Come on."

  "Okay, I guess. But we probably should figure out what I'm going to do about the witches. I made sure they won't blame you two, but I'm going to have to come up with a game plan. It won't take them long to retaliate."

  He stands and yanks on his uniform as he talks.

  "I know, but what the hell are you going to do?" I turn toward James with my arms outstretched. "Any ideas?"

  "There's only one witch this could be." He shrugs. "At least that lives in this area. And she's hard to get to."

  "You'd hide, too, if he was your son," I reply. "But I didn't think she was dark."

  "If it's not her, it's someone new. Nobody else in town is that powerful." Will pulls his boots on and looks up at us from his bed. "Unless there's a new player."

  "I don't—" James is cut off by Callie's voice out in the bay.

  "Hello?"

  All three of us rush to squeeze out the door, but James beats us since he was already standing in it. Will and I jam our shoulders together, struggling to outmaneuver each other and get to Callie first.

  I duck and dart ahead of Will, making it out of his room first. Ha.

  He follows hot on my tail, and we burst out into the bay area to find James with his hand on Callie's elbow, helping her up into the truck.

  She's grinning like a maniac. "I didn't think we'd take the truck," she exclaims.

  "Oh, yeah, we like to take it out when we can," he says as he shuts her door. Walking around to the driver's seat, he shoots us a triumphant grin. "Boys."

  I narrow my eyes on him and scramble into the back of the truck.

  "Tell him to wait two minutes," Will says. "I've got to brush my teeth before I go out in public."

  He runs from the room as James fires up the truck. I put on the headset. "Will said he can't go."

  James turns and gives me a sharp look. "Are you sure about that?" he asks. He doesn't believe me for a second, but I nod my head anyway.

  "Yep." Shooting him a big grin, I point to the garage door. "Drive on."

  He hits the button for the door, which rises slower than the speed of smell. I know Will's going to come running when he hears it, which is mostly the point.

  Sure enough, the opposite door opens and Will clambers in, carrying a backpack, just as James puts the truck in drive. Will jerks on a headset and gives me a nasty look. "I told you to wait on me."

  "You've got toothpaste on your chin," Callie says, twisted around in the front passenger seat.

  James and I burst out laughing while Will uses his thumb to neaten himself up.

  "You declaring war?" he asks. We'd had prank wars over the years bad enough to get us injured, in trouble in school, in trouble at work, and once in trouble with the police.

  "No," I say as I laugh. "I was trying to lighten your mood a little."

  "By making him mad?" Callie grins at me.

  "Oh, true. Well, maybe I was lightening my mood, then."

  "So, Callie," James cut in. "Have you tried any of the local restaurants yet?"

  "No, the only place I've been so far is the supermarket, several times. I keep finding things I don't have at home."

  "That's a hazard of moving."

  She looks out the window. "This is pretty cool." She speaks softly because I barely hear her on the headset. "I guess you guys get used to it, though?"

  "Not really," I answer. "Sugar still jumps for joy when we get to take the truck somewhere."

  "How'd she get that name?"

  James chuckled. "Good question. Ask her sometime."

  She looked between the three of us quizzically. "Okay. Where is she?"

  "She sleeps late whenever possible. Usually skips breakfast."

  "I wouldn't think that would be allowed on a fire shift."

  "As long as the supplies are well maintained, the rig is ready, and the place is sparkling clean, the captain doesn't care what we do."

  James pulls into the grocery store parking lot a few blocks from the station, parking at the end, close to the diner. The truck doesn't fit in the diner's lot. We know from experience.

  "This work for you?" he asks.

  "Sure," she says, peering around. "Do they have good breakfast?"

  "They have good everything," I say, removing the headset. "You can come here anytime and expect a good meal."

  I jump out and open her door before she has a chance to do it herself. Holding out a hand, I help her slide out of the truck. Will walks around the front in time to see me hold her hand a second longer than was strictly necessary.

  James heads toward the restaurant's front door and Callie follows, leaving Will and me to walk together.

  The host seats us immediately, but on the way, we spot a local witch that's relatively friendly with us. My parents, by virtue of being warlocks, spend a lot of time with witches, though they aren't a part of their inner circles.

  "You're in a lot of trouble," the witch warns Will. "The whole community is talking about it."

  I widen my eyes at her and give Callie's back a pointed look. It hadn't escaped my notice that Callie stiffened when she heard the witch's voice.

  "I did what I thought was right," Will says. "But this isn't the time or place."

  We walk past her, sliding into a booth a few rows down. James scoots to the inside and Callie sits beside him. I shove Will in first so I'm in front of Callie.

  The look he gives me promises retribution.

  Then Will puts the backpack he was carrying onto the table. "I found this that day you took off..."

  Callie’s eyes brighten. "My backpack!"

  She snatches it, opens the top, and starts to dig through it like a crazy person. Then she pulls out some clothes and searches the pockets. At last, she pulls out a piece of paper but frowns at it.

  "What’s wrong?" Will asks, an edge to his voice. "I didn’t mess with your stuff."

  She turns the blank paper over and over again. "Nothing."

  With a frown, she shoves the paper in her pocket, then puts everything away and sets the backpack next to her. For some reason, she seems disappointed.

  "No fairy tales?" Will asks.

  She glares. "I don’t write fairy tales."

  The perfect segway into finding out more about this human woman!

  "So, Callie, tell us more about your blog," I say brightly, ready to try to dig deeper into what she may or may not know.

  "Oh, so you all three know about that, do you?"

  We nod, and she moves her gaze between the three of us, scrutinizing. "I know something is off here."

  James shrugs, a perfectly innocent look on his face. "What do you mean?"

  She's stopped from answering when a server walks up to take our order.

  Will and I both order omelets, James orders the special, which is whatever the cook feels like making, but Callie must be hungry.

  "I'll have the country omelet, a side of bacon, side of sausage, side of ham, and large milk. And keep the milk coming. It kills my stomach, but gosh I love it." She lifts her purse and shakes it. "I have a pill I take so I can drink as much as I want."

  "Will that be all?" The server looks at her with an amused look on his face.

  "I think so. I might change my mind though?" She hands him the menu, then claps her hands together. "Oh, please, a big cup of coffee, as soon as you can."

  It doesn't escape my notice that she got all meat. "No potatoes?" I ask.

  She smiles. "Nah, I'm a big meat eater. I have a great metabolism, and eat a lot." When t
he waiter is out of earshot, she narrows her gaze onto Will. "What sort of trouble are you in?"

  "Why? Do you want to write about it in your blog?"

  "Only if it's of the paranormal variety," she shoots back.

  "It's nothing. Remember me telling you there are some powerful people in this town?"

  She nods, but her brow is furrowed like she's not buying it. "Yeah."

  "I pissed them off last night." He changes the subject indelicately. "Speaking of yesterday, are you going to apologize for running off on me?"

  Callie sticks her small nose into the air. "Nope."

  "Well, if you decide you want to explain why..." Will leans forward, halfway across me and the table. "You left your clothes, you let me know."

  My head swings back and forth between the two of them, as does James’s.

  "Clothes?" he asks.

  "Yeah." Callie tucks her hair behind her ear and looks supremely uncomfortable. "I tried to ditch Will, here, and..." She grabs the coffee as the server returns with it. "Thank you," she murmurs appreciatively.

  He sets all our drinks down and leaves again. None of our eyes leave Callie the whole time, each of us eager to hear her explanation. "Your clothes?" I ask pointedly.

  "Right, so I changed clothes." She nods as if that explains everything.

  "Why did you change? And then leave your bag?" Will leans back in the booth. "This ought to be good."

  "No particular reason," Callie says defensively. "I had sand in my clothes, so I changed, then I felt like Will was crowding me, so I took off."

  "Leaving your stuff?" Will is like a dog with a bone. He won't let her out of explaining.

  Sighing, she gives him a murderous look. "You know, I don't have to explain myself to you."

  "I think in this case you kind of do," I say gently. "That’s odd behavior from someone that has turned up in our place naked twice."

  "When I was heading out the window, I thought I heard him coming in, so I sort of panicked, and my bag fell, so I left it and took off."

  It was a piss-poor excuse. If I had the first whiff that she was a shifter, it would all make more sense, but she wasn't.

  "I think there's a certain paper in the bag you were especially interested in," Will says. "Unfortunately, I was distracted by a call last night and didn’t get a chance to look at it."