Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(60)

“Calm down, kitty cats,” Nik said, after retreating back to Elena’s yard and closing the gate. “We’re just looking for someone.”

The first guy stood erect, pieces of cat pelt sloughing off his naked body. Yep. The neighbors were going to freak out for sure. She expected to hear sirens at any minute. Two more naked men emerged from their cat forms.

“Uza,” she managed to say. “I need to talk to Aunt Uza.”

“You were not announced,” the center guy said.

She kept her eyes on his face, trying not to check out his thin, muscular form. God. She knew this cat, too. He was the calico that always sat in her lap when she and Aunt Uza watched Dr. Who reruns. She repressed a shudder. “I lost my phone.”

The taller one closest to him spoke next, pulling the remains of the Siamese pelt from his shoulder. “You brought enemies.”

She stared at the man’s face. This was the cat that always rolled over to have its belly scratched. Unable to help herself, her eyes dropped to his ridged abdomen and then flitted back to his face. Yep. That belly. God, this was so messed up. “They are not my enemies, which means they are not Aunt Uza’s enemies. Please tell her I need to talk to her.”

“She is not in,” the third one said. She recognized this one from the longhaired, bright pelt shreds at his feet. He was the big, blond Persian cat that cried to be fed all the time. He had a golden beard and was much stouter than the other two.

“Hi, Elena!” her neighbor, Mrs. Prescott, called from the sidewalk in front of the house, little dog in tow. She approached the chest-tall fence and placed her forearms on the top of it. “Isn’t it lovely weather tonight?”

Holy crap. There were three naked men in her aunt’s yard, and this woman wanted to chat her up about the freaking weather?

Ah. The cat boys were under the Veil. The women couldn’t see them. But she could see Elena. Why? She was immortal now. “Um. Yeah the weather’s great.”

The small white dog at the woman’s feet yapped, and she picked it up. “Was just giving Chester his last potty call before bedtime.” The dog growled low in its throat at the men, and one of them hissed. The dog fell silent. “Your aunt and I are going to the Friends of the Library meeting tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to join us?”

It was bizarre to see all these powerful men put totally on hold by this woman wearing a terry cloth bathrobe and baby-blue Crocs. “Thanks for the invite, but I can’t.”

The dog growled again, and she set it down. “Uza needs to try to keep some of these cats indoors. The neighborhood committee has received a couple of complaints. She’s only allowed to have four pets. And they need to be neutered and have their rabies tags, too.”

The murderous expressions on the cat shifters’ faces were so comical when Elena looked back she laughed out loud. “Yeah. Neutered for sure. I’ll tell her.”

Ms. Prescott nodded and wandered back across the street to her house, and the big shifter with the gold beard took several steps closer, growling low in his throat.

Nikolai’s sword made a shing sound as he pulled it out of the sheath on his back. “One more step, kitty, and I’ll neuter you here and now.”

The man opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the slam of the front door.

“Well, run me down and call me road kill! Ellie baby is back.” Aunt Uza grinned from her porch. She threw both arms up in the air. “And hallelujah, she brought a hottie along.”

Elena looked over her shoulder and saw only Nik, and then Stefan straightened from where he’d been crouched behind the fence.

“Woo!” Aunt Uza wolf whistled. “Two hotties! You go, Ellie!”

At her puzzled look, Stefan shrugged. “I’m visible in both planes, but I cannot cloak myself under the Veil. I thought it best to conceal myself from the neighbor.”

“Oh, speaking of concealing… We don’t want Fydor’s flying monkeys to swing in, now do we?” Uza raised her arms over her head and shut her eyes. A rumbling sound like the echo of thunder rolled in Elena’s head. “There. You’re undetectable in your house for a while. Didn’t have juice for much else.”

The shifters lost their hostile stances and relaxed, acting like it was normal to be standing naked in the yard. Maybe it was. Normal for Elena was a moving target these days.

Aunt Uza shuffled in her housecoat and slippers through the side yard toward her. “Why don’t you sweet kitties go on inside and I’ll be with ya in the span of a flea hop.”

The one in the center nodded, and they followed her instruction, including the ones still in cat form lurking in the bushes and on the porch. As Uza passed the thickest one with the beard, she patted him on the backside, and Elena swore she heard a purr. Holy crap. Elena shook her head to clear it.

“Figured you’d turn up soon,” Uza said, passing her and opening the gate between yards. Stefan held it for her. “Ah, a foldy hottie. Good company, Ellie baby.” She winked at Stefan, who gave a shallow bow.

Uza stopped and stared at Nik for a moment. “Mercy. I might melt.” She grinned at Elena. “He’s like birthday and Christmas dipped in Nutella and rolled around in powdered sugar, huh?”

Elena was too stunned to respond. Her aunt had always talked in terrible colloquialisms, but never about men before. It was a bit shocking, actually.