Chapter 1

The eyes of the cat were unblinking as she watched the men below her resting place. She longed to escape, to run into the gracious arms of the forest and disappear from sight. But doing just that had left Tippin to the nefarious ideas of the men.

They'd fire at her twice, their guns loud and scary, almost as scary as watching Tippen fall, two darts buried in her front shoulder and the top of her hind legs. The men had surrounded Tippen, one reaching out to pull away their darts. But Tipping didn't react.

Instead, they'd wrapped her in booties that would protect them from her claws and then muzzled her, the strap cutting cruelly into her face. It took mere minutes to turn a predator of grace and beauty into little more than a domestic cat.

I shook that thought away. That had happened last week, these hunters weren't the same.

She could sense nothing of her sister on these men. It gave her a feeling of relief. She might be able to get away from these men. Even as she thought that and let her relax a bit more in the cup of the tree she was lying in, there was a shudder and then the sound had the movement of her body on the bough was all it took.

The crack was loud, almost as loud as the guns that the hunters used. The men turned at the sound and the leader grinned. He raised his shotgun, aiming carefully and pulling the trigger before I had chance to get out of the maze of branches that had held up there for years. Now it was like I was being punished.

The dart hit my left flank and I yipped, turning my head to pull the dart from my flesh, but it was too late. The medicine left in that dart had flowed into my blood stream and my eyes grew heavy. I lost all desire to speak or to escape. I lay back, ignoring the branches as if they weren't there. I let my eyes close and it was all it took for the medicine to work.

I could feel them working around me, lifting my unresisting body. They lifted me up, grabbing my four legs to haul me away from the branches and out onto a flat piece of land where their truck was located.

I could hear the man talking about me. "She didn't give us any hassle."

"Nope, she knows how to be a good pussy." He slapped me on my flank and I wanted desperately to reach out my razor sharp claws and teach him what a good "pussy" I actually was. I felt the straps that they'd wrapped over my body, hooking it all to the muzzle that slipped over my face.

It happened so quickly and I was having a hard time understanding what was going on. I felt them lift me again, this time carrying me between two of them to reach the truck. The smell in there was almost enough to make my retch. Dried blood covered the walls, blood from the animals that had been kept in there before. I felt a shudder rip through me and wondered if any of those smears were from my own litter mates

With my eyes closed, I could see Tippin again, her soft golden fur, the black that covered the tips of her soft ears. I could smell her and I thought I would scream out loud as the pain of her loss and my own capture ripped through me. How could this be happening? Would anyone even notice that I was missing? Would they come looking for me?

I barely looked up as the truck I was in started off with an almost painful lurch. The canvas cover on the back hadn't been tied down and I could see my home passing behind me. The tires squeaked over the ruts and ridges and I was bounced around, feeling the bruises that would have been terrible in my other shape.

Staring up and into the clear blue sky as I was being ripped from the home I'd known since birth I made a vow. I would be back. I would find away to get away from these terrible people and I would go back. Tears streamed down my face, wetting down my fur but I couldn't help it. I was terrified, more so because of the secret my family had hidden for millennia. If they found out what I could do, they'd never give me a chance to escape. They'd do testing to see what it was that made me so different.

I sighed, using one of the paw coverings to wipe at my eyes. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking nerves. Should I try now? The weight and thickness of the muzzle on my face stopped me. The heavy leather would definitely cut into my throat and I would be helpless like that.

I could hear the people in the cab of the truck and they were arguing in their thick accented voices. I tried to understand what they were saying, but it was in a language I didn't understand. Instead, I crawled closer to the back of the truck, staring out at the growing darkness of the day and the jeeps that followed us. If the jeeps hadn't have been there, I would have been gone.

Now I knew why Tippen hadn't gotten away. They never gave her a chance to get away.

By the time that the truck stopped, I'd laid down to sleep. There was nothing I could do, not trapped in leather like I was. I woke when the back end of the truck was let down and I growled at the two men that stood there.

One of the men waved a stick under my nose before pressing the trigger and letting me see how electricity flashed at the tip. I knew he would do it, I had no doubts. I lay back down, allowing them to take me with no resistance. But I stared into their faces, memorizing every feature. If I could get away, those men would pay for their part in kidnapping me.

"She's going into isolation?" I felt his hard hands pulling me toward him. "Don't he usually want them in isolation?"

"Well, she's going there to start. He's got something of a hard on for this cat. He wants her checked out tonight and then brought to his quarters when she's been given a clean bill of health."

"Is it me, or does it seem as if he's gotten a bit stranger in the past few week?"

"Our's is not to question why, our's is just to do or die."

They picked me up between them and carried me into a tent where they took off my leather binding and my muzzle before quickly slamming down the door and trapping me in a small cage that I could barely stand in.

I roared my rage, the sounds of my screams sounding eerie in tent around me. I pushed at the walls of the cage, roaring again when I couldn't make them open or find the clasp of any kind to open the door. By the time I had exhausted myself, another two men were coming into the tent.

"Look at her. Ain't she the prettiest cat you've ever seen?"

The other man looked me over, walking around the cage. He was making me feel extremely nervous, as if he knew my secret and he was going to use it.

"Yeah, Spence. But is she one of them?"

"You were the one that always demands to do the testing, Randolph. Far be it for me to take away you're pleasure. Except this one isn't for you to play with. Mr. Caster wants to do this one himself."

"So what the fuck am I doing out here getting fucking destroyed by mosquitoes?"

"Well, you are the vet and an expert at the shifters. Of course he wants you to make sure she's not going to die like the last one did."

My ears perked when he mentioned the last one and I had a scary feeling that I knew who that was. I snarled at the two of them, striking at them with my sharp teeth and claws.

The man whose name was Spence held up a new cattle prod. He didn't touch me with it; just let the electricity arc between the nodes at the end. I growled at the damn thing, wondering if I could strike fast enough to take that damn thing away from them before he would be able to use it on me.

"Your eyes give you away, sweetness." Randolph laughed at the way I snarled at him. "I say you have two choices. One, you keep up this behavior and my friend, Spence here will shock you until you submit. Two, you give up and let us do what we have to do and then we'll take you where you can rest, no electricity to be used at all. So which is it to be, baby?"

I so badly wanted to tear off his head and take the prod out of Spence's hands to use on him. How would they like it? How would they like not having control over their own lives? Instead, I lay down on my side. But I kept my head up, ready for any chance that I might get to get rid of the two.

Randolph moved closer, reaching between the bars. He looked into my ears and my eyes then lifted my lip to look at my teeth. I hated this, I felt like a cow at auction time. His hand was so close to my mouth, I was drooling. I had an almost overpowering desire to bite off the damn thing and spit in Spencer's face.

Randolph must have been reading my face again because he moved away from my face, stroking his big hands over my chest and stomach.

"Well, she hasn't had kittens yet. Her stomach is beautiful."

I snarled again and felt the prod touch my neck. I relaxed a bit more while Randolph finished his perusal of my body. I jumped when he pushed fingers where fingers shouldn't be, growling loudly as he moved them inside of me. Then he moved back, pulling off a set of rubber gloves. "I'd swear Spence, she virgin."

"Virgin?" Spence laughed and I could feel the fear building in my stomach. It was like a coil, one end digging deep in my belly, the other at my mouth and I thought I was going to be sick. When I heard Spence's voice again, saying the words that I'd been terrified I would hear.

"Well, we've got to know for sure and there's no way to tell for sure unless she'd human." Randolph took the cattle prod from Spence, bending close so that I could hear his words. "I hate to do this to you. You are such a beautiful mountain lion. But the boss says and we've got to do. I hope you'll forgive me."

I curled into a ball at the farthest point of the cage that I could, but it wasn't far enough. I had no defense against what that electricity would do to me. I snarled, batting at the damn prod with my claws, trying to get it away from him and use it on him. But I had no chance. Randolph was fast and he was sneaky. Before I even realized it, the first freezing pain swept through me.

I fell to my side on the ground of the cage, my body spasming as Randolph gave me another jolt. I could feel the change coming on and I screamed in pain and denial. I felt my fur retract and my ears changing. My face grew more human, even as my teeth lost their points. My black hair fell from my head in long waves that reached my waist. I could still feel the amber colored eyes of the cat and I blinked heavily.

Then I was human, using my hair to help hide my body from the two men that stared into my cage, enraptured by the change. I wanted to speak, to call them horrid names and issue virulent threats but the only thing that would come out of my mouth was high pitched squeaks.

Randolph handed the prod back to Spence and then went to a small bucket of water and lifting the ladle into his hands. I could see the water; I could almost smell it and feel it. More than anything else, I wanted that water.

I held my hand out, staring at Randolph with pleading eyes. He smiled and moved closer to the side of the cage. He handed the ladle to me and I gulped it down eagerly, feeling it sooth my dry mouth.

"More?" I rasped and Randolph took the ladle and filled it again, handing it to me to watch as I drained it down.

"Better?" he asked, grinning down at me.

I nodded. "Thank you," I said, my voice barely louder than a whisper.

"You're welcome." He dropped the ladle into the pail and then came back over to me, reaching through the bars to snare my hand. "Up you go sweetness. We need to do a thorough check up before you meet the boss."

I had very little strength left to fight him and I let him drag me up. He turned me before I could reach the cage and he wrapped one large arm against my stomach. It was his other hand that had me kicking and screaming. His fingers pushed between my thighs and I could do little about it. He pushed up against the opening of my vagina and I felt a spurt of pain that was quickly over.

"I was right. The boss is going to be so happy he might even give us a bonus."