Walker (Bowen Boys, #1)(55)

He saw red. Nothing else at that moment mattered to him but to kill her. And he would too. Reaching for her, he felt his fingers move around her throat and he squeezed tightly. She was going to die and he was going to enjoy it.

But something moved…shifted, under his hands. Before he could let go he was holding onto nothing and she was… Jerry couldn’t move.

The large black panther had its jaws wrapped around his own throat and he was terrified. His bladder let go and he could smell the hot urine that was pooling under his hips. Something trickled down his neck and he knew it was his blood. Still, he didn’t move anything but his eyes. He looked at Warren, who didn’t seem the least bit surprised by any of this.

“You might want to be very still, Jerry. Caitlynne hasn’t been a cat for very long and I’m afraid she isn’t used to her extra strength just yet.”

Jerry looked at the cat who held him. Her eyes were as blue as the sea.

“I know what you’re thinking. Caitlynne? No way. But I assure you, it’s her. Isn’t she beautiful? I don’t think even the Bengals that I run with are as beautiful.”

Jerry stared at him.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that? I’m a tiger. A rare white Bengal. My parents were very pleased when I was born.”

Jerry felt her mouth tighten and he was sure she was laughing. He looked at her again and decided that he was dreaming. This would all be gone as soon as he woke up. He started to shift on the floor when the pain in his groin nearly had him jerk from her tight mouth.

“Careful there, honey. You don’t want to claw his dick off. Though it might be preferable to what he has in store for him later.” Warren stood up and scratched the cat behind the ear. “I’d ask her to shift, but when you tried to kill her instinct took over and she shifted. Her clothes, sadly, were not as lucky as you were in that she has some control over her cat. Clothing seems to be the least of your problems now, doesn’t it? What do you say we have a little talk while Caitlynne here holds you until her husband shows up?”

Warren reached over and took the cell phone and then looked to his left, beyond where Jerry could see. Suddenly the phone rang and Jerry just caught himself from reaching for it. Warren had turned it on to speaker after pushing a few buttons. It was Jackson.

“You mother f*cking prick. When I get out of here, I’m going to hunt you down and cut your f*cking head off. Do you have any idea how much money I’m losing by sitting here in this f*cking jail cell? Millions. And you want to know something else? You’re going to pay it all back to me.” The phone went dead again.

“That was from earlier. It was a voicemail that we intercepted before his own phone was taken from him. He isn’t any happier now than he was when he left this for you.” He handed the phone to someone and sat back down. “Caitlynne, dear, your husband is here with your extra clothes. Why don’t you go and change so that we can continue our conversation with Jerry? He will behave from now on, I’m positive of that.”

The jaws released him and he still didn’t take a deep breath. She stood over him, just watching him with her blue eyes. When her massive head leaned toward him again, he whimpered and flinched. Then she was gone.

“She’ll be right back. So why don’t you tell me what you know about the arms deal that you and Jackson had planned? We have some of the details, but not all.”

He stared at Warren as if he’d never seen him before. Which, from what he’d just learned, he hadn’t, not really. He turned his head to the left and looked at the panther sitting there licking his lips. This one was nearly twice the size as Caitlynne had been. Jerry looked back at Warren.

“That would be Caitlynne’s husband. Mate, really. But it doesn’t matter. He’s going to be staying here helping with controlling you until we finish.” Warren leaned forward slightly. “And he does have control over his cat and will not only rip your throat out if you so much as raise your voice to her, he will eat you for his dinner. I believe he would enjoy that, too, for all the problems you’ve caused his mate.”

Jerry believed him. The cat yawned then settled down on his belly when Caitlynne walked in. She was wearing a pair of lounge pants and an oversized sweat shirt. He glanced over at the panther on the floor to assure himself that this hadn’t been a dream.

He was pretty sure that the cat on the floor and the woman standing before him were as real as it got and that by the time they left he was either going to be dinner for one of them or he was going to tell them everything they wanted to know. He didn’t really have much choice in the matter now. He was a dead man either way he looked at it. He looked at the cat again and then at Caitlynne. She smiled and blew him a kiss. When he flinched from it he knew what he had to do.

“Jackson would set up the deals with all the men overseas and send the orders back to me. I had three men that worked for me that would do some creative ordering so that it never came back to us.” Jerry continued talking until his throat was raw and even after when they brought him a bottle of water. He told them everything he knew. Everything.

~~~

Walker walked around the house. He had tried twice now to say something to Caitlynne, but frankly, he was overwhelmed. No, that wasn’t right; he was freaked the f*ck out. When they entered the fifth or sixth bedroom, he pressed her against the wall and covered his mouth with hers. It had the desired effect of shutting her up.