Hi everyone! AkaneKitty here. This is the second part to Twenty-One Shots.

As the night wears on, Feral and Callie play a very interesting game of cards to pass the time. Is this game just one more piece to Feral's plans?

Author's notes: This was supposed to be one big chapter, but it got too big. So, I split it in half.

Feral is a bit manipulative in this series. I don't know why he turned out this way...This seems like it would be a better fit in my Dark Feral story called "Dark Edge". But, characters write the story, so we'll see how it goes. Callie hasn't complained too much yet...and this sets up a very unique story later on.

I already know he 'softens' a bit in the third story of this Callie/Feral mature fic series

Thanks for KS Claw for reading and Ulyferal for being so patient. Sorry, UlyFeral.

As always, send any comments or questions to my e-mail, or PM me at Enjoy!

Thanks!

AkaneKitty

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Twenty-One Shots

Chapter 2

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"Mmm..."

Callie turned over in bed, tried to resist the feeling of her consciousness clawing its way to the surface. She gathered the sheets around her body, enjoying their softness, and wanting to stay like that for just one more minute. But, it was too late. The early morning light had already reached her face, and was acting like a natural alarm clock. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Where the heck...Oww!"

It took a moment, but Callie slowly began to recognize her surroundings. She was in a very nice room in The Grand Hotel. By the slow throbbing in her head, the effects of the numerous shots of tequila she drank last night were probably still lingering. She thought she was being smart by selecting a drink that she thought she had a high tolerance to.

Callie slowly sat up, and then realized something was wrong. She immediately lay back down, hiding her face with her paws. A recollection of last night's events bubbled to the surface. She sighed.

She was naked under these sheets, and it didn't take much to figure out why. By the lack of a body next to her, it was apparent that the culprit had disappeared for the moment. Anger fought with the throbbing in her head.

Feral.

That kat knew what he was doing. He played the game well, even thwarting Callie's own attempts to even the odds. Callie was sure he was out of bed somewhere in the suite. Apparently, the tequila didn't affect him as badly as it did her.

He was going to pay for this.

In a burst of energy, Callie began to look around the bed for her clothes. Again, she remembered grimly that she didn't come to bed with many clothes, a consequence of the weird, but grudgingly fun game she and the Commander played last night. She shook her head to clear it.

After a few moments of searching, Callie came across her slip. Quickly slipping it on, she slowly rose to feet and proceeded out of the bedroom.

The first scene she came across the table the played host to Twenty-One Shots. There was an empty tequila bottle, saltshakers, shot glasses, and a mess of cards all over the table. She sighed again. She was going to kill that kat.

Suddenly, Feral exited the bathroom. He didn't see the she-kat as her proceeded to a full-length mirror, adjusting his sleeves as he went. Now was her chance.

Wrapping her claws around the empty tequila bottle, and checking it to see if it had adequate weight, Callie grasped it tightly as she slowly crept up behind Feral. As the Commander busied himself by buttoning his sleeves, Callie slightly raised the bottle.

"Your technique needs work, sweetheart."

"Eh?"

Spinning around, Feral grasped both of Callie's wrists and pushed her up against the nearest wall. Startled, Callie nearly dropped the bottle.

Feral smirked. "Good morning, Calico."

"You!" Callie didn't try to struggle. "How did you..."

"The floor creaks when you walk on it. I also felt the vibrations..." Feral leaned in closer. "And I saw your reflection in the mirror."

Callie sighed. Although her hangover was subsiding, she still had the lingering affects of an alcohol-induced headache. Feral gently plucked the bottle from Callie's paw.

"And what do I owe for this kind of wake up call?"

"You deserved it!"

"To be brained?"

"Yes, you do!"

"I do? Or are we mad at something else?"

"What do you mean?"

Not letting go of the she-kat, Feral looked deeply into her eyes. A smoldering look, as Callie now remembered, worked wonders on her last night. Feral's smirk dissolved into a warm smile. It was a smile she wished she saw more often.

"Like the fact that you didn't like how you lost control last night? The fact that we actually had fun?" Feral leaned in to whisper in Callie's ear. "The way I pinned you to the bed...twice?"

A small purr involuntarily left Callie's lips as other more intimate memories of last night's excursions bubbled to the surface. She may have lost control, but that didn't mean she didn't like or didn't want it. Maybe that was part of their problem: Two control freaks that always needed to be in control. She relaxed slightly.

As the she-kat continued her purr, Feral relaxed his grip. That'll teach him not to take the Deputy Mayor so lightly again. He almost was brained. Not that he didn't deserve it, he had to admit. Ferals had the tendency to become seducers, and that it could catch up with them at times. She's purring now, but he almost hated to expect what her reaction might be when they returned to MegaKat City.

Still...Feral took a moment to look admiringly at his new lover. Her slip, acting more like a nightie, clung to her hips seductively. Even though he had seem what was underneath that slip recently, it was the way most clothing clung to she-kat's figure that made her look very alluring to him. The smirk returned.

Callie noticed. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking..."

"Yes?"

"We're not finished yet."

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The previous night...

"...And, once again, I find myself suck with you. Great."

"Do I detect sarcasm, Ms. Briggs?

"Indeed you do, Commander."

Callie couldn't figure out how she got into these messes. Here she was, dressed to kill in slinky dress, standing in a suite of a posh hotel...

...as Feral's 'date'.

When the kat came around asking if she minded accompanying him to a charity event held out of town, with the chance of gaining new business contacts for the city, she said yes...even though she was still angry with him.

Now, due to Mother Nature deciding to unleash her fury and causing massive flooding, she was stuck.

Callie impatiently tapped her heel. All this for some business contacts.

Feral joined Callie at the window. "At least we have better accommodations this time."

"True. But, it isn't Viper's mutations trapping us this time, it's the rain." Callie looked up at him. "By the way, I heard you beat David quite handedly at the poker table."

"I beat him with a bad hand, too. He didn't like it at all."

"Too bad I missed it."

"Well..." Feral felt the pack of playing cards in his pocket. "How about a card game to pass the time?"

Callie sighed. "I don't feel like playing poker."

"I wouldn't suggest that. I'm thinking of a game called Twenty-One Shots."

"Twenty-One Shots? What's that?"

"It's a game from my early days. It has Blackjack, Truth or Consequences, drinking, stripping..."

"...Stripping?"

"It was created by a group of bored kats. What did you expect?"

Callie crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know..."

"Hey, you're the one going stir crazy." Feral produced a pack of playing cards and tossed them onto the table. "But, if you don't trust me, check the deck."

Callie gingerly opened the pack as cards as Feral left the room. "Where are going?"

"To raid the mini bar."

"I see...Bring the salt and the tequila."

Feral smirked at that. "I assume that you're going play?"

"...Why not? So, how do you play this game?"

"Twenty-one Shots plays like simplified blackjack. The first one to get to twenty-one or close to it without busting wins that hand. Winner gets to ask the loser a question. Loser must answer, or strip and take a shot." Feral appeared at the table with the tequila, salt, and glasses. "Winner also gets to take off the article of clothing if they want to."

"You just added that!"

"I did not." Feral sat down at the table. "Just shuffle the cards."

Callie glared at Feral, but shuffled the cards. She placed them at the center of the table. "Your move, Commander."

Feral drew two cards from the deck, and Callie followed suit. After checking his hand, Feral drew another card, and then tossed his cards onto the table.

"Seventeen."

Callie checked her hand, and then tossed them onto the table as well. "Eighteen."

"Figures." Feral sat back. "What would you like to know?"

"A simple question: Why do you hate the SWAT Kats so much?"

Feral looked at Callie bemusedly and opened the bottle of Tequila.

"Hey! What's wrong with that question?"

"Nothing. It's just that you should know the answer to that by now, Ms. Briggs." Feral poured himself a shot and then reached for the salt. "So, do you want me to take something off, or do you want to do it?"

"If I do, does this mean you'll take something off of me when I lose a hand?"

"Of course. But, if you don't want to-"

Callie reached across the table and loosened Feral's tie. "Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Callie took off the tie and Feral slammed his shot. "Round two, Commander."

Both drew cards from the deck. Feral drew again and smiled. "Twenty one."

"No way!"

Feral tossed his cards onto the table. Two tens and an ace.

"Fine." Callie crossed her legs. "Ask away."

"Where was the weirdest place you've had sex at?'

"What?"

"The Tower doesn't count."

Callie couldn't believe her ears. "Why in the world would you ask me something like that?"

"Just something I've been wondering about since the Tower." Feral shrugged. "Now, will you answer or not?"

Callie turned away slightly. "...What do you wan to take off?"

Feral smirked and passed Callie the bottle. "The stockings."

"I knew it!"

"Just checking to see if you're all healed up." Feral stood up and walked to where Callie sat. He kneeled in front of her.

"Then you should have asked me that, you tom!"

Feral smirked and reached under Callie's dress. "I could have, but that's no fun."

Callie reddened and picked up her glass. Very familiar feelings arose within Callie as Feral removed one of her stockings. Trying to suppress them, she poured herself a shot. Feral's paws lingered on her thighs. He traced the light scar the thorn had made with a retracted claw.

Feral knew exactly how to touch a she-kat, Callie admitted to herself.

"It seems like you healed nicely."

"I suppose."

Feral took off Callie's other stocking. "But, I'm rather surprised..."

"About what?"

"No underwear?"

Callie's faced turned bright red and she grabbed the tequila bottle by its neck. "Feral, if you don't get up..."

"Fine." Feral stood up and walked back to his chair. "Don't forget to drink up."

Infuriated, Callie smoothed her dress down and drank her shot. "Let's draw."

Both drew their cards. Callie drew one more as Feral tossed his down onto the table.

"Eighteen."

"Twenty."

Feral glanced at Callie's cards to confirm it. "You win. Ask a question."

"Okay, Commander." Callie leaned onto the table. "Where was the weirdest place you've had sex at? Tower doesn't count."

"Hmm...Recently or in the past?"

"Huh?

"Let's see...Recently, it would have to be when I went the Commander's Conference. Rejoined the mile-high club with a cute flight attendant."

Callie blinked. "But...That conference was three months ago!"

"Mmm, hmm." Feral chuckled, obviously recalling the moment. "Then again, there was that time with that ER doctor..."

"T-That's enough! You've answered the question just fine!"

Feral smiled and drew a card. "You wanted to know."

"True. And it proves that you are a playkat!" Callie also drew from the deck.

"You wound me, Ms. Briggs. If anything, it just proves that I like professional she-kats...like you." Feral looked at his cards and smiled. "Nineteen."

Callie grumbled and grabbed another card. She sighed. "Busted. Let me have it."

"Easy one. Why did you break up with Balinese?"

"...David? Back when the City was heavily courting Mr. Young, I met him when just came back from one of his overseas ventures." Callie sat back in her chair. "He seemed interesting enough...until I found out he was attempting to use our relationship to secure a personal deal with his other interests. So I broke up with him for that...and other reasons."

"Other reasons?"

A small smile lit up Callie's face before she returned her attention back to her shot glass. "Let's just say that your performance in the Tower under highly stressful conditions lasted much longer than David's on a good day."

"...I'm flattered." Feral couldn't help but smirk. "A minutekat, huh?"

"You could say that." Callie reached for the tequila.

"Hey, you don't have to take a shot, you know."

"I know. But, we're talking about David." Callie poured herself a shot and then sprinkled the salt on her paw. "I need the drink."

"I see." Feral forced himself to look away as Callie licked her paw and took two cards.

Callie finished her shot also took her two cards. "Blackjack!"

"...Great. What's the question?"

"Simple." Callie folded her arms on the table. "Did you have ulterior motives for this evening?"

"I-" Feral started to answer, but leaned back instead. "Pass me the bottle."

"Ah, so you won't answer?" Callie pushed the bottle across the table. "For shame, Commander."

"Why? You wouldn't believe me either way."

"What do you mean?"

"It's simple. I could say no..." Feral poured himself a double shot this time. "Or, I could say that I wanted to fuck you on this very table. Which one would you believe?"

"Seeing how you are now, the later."

"Maybe...but it's still too early for that."

"I see."

Callie slid over to where Feral sat and slowly set upon her task of unbuttoning Feral's shirt. Might as well enjoy it, she thought.

An odd silence had settled over the room, broken only by Callie's and Feral's breathing. As Callie reached the last button, Feral cleared his throat.

"Never thought I'd go through something like this."

"Why do you say that?" Callie asked, still fussing with Feral's shirt.

"I thought we would always be too...antagonistic...towards each other to get to a point like this."

Callie paused. Was the Commander showing his paw? Did he always want something like this to happen?

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing..." Smiling to herself, Callie peeled off the shirt and admired Feral's physique. "Muscled and scarred...I like that in a kat."

Feral grunted. "Sure...She-kats like scars..."

"Complaining?" Callie smirked and pushed the tequila bottle over to Feral.

"I am not! I'm proud of my scars, but I have to remember the pain that went along with them!"

Callie quietly laughed as Feral poured himself another double shot of tequila, skipping the salt entirely this time. "So, how far are we playing to?"

"Hmm..." Feral's eyes got a mysterious glint to them as he slammed his drink. "Your last garment is your slip, so how about all or nothing?"

"...How do you know that?"

"I checked when I removed your stockings."

Callie reddened, either from embarrassment or from the tequila beginning to set in. Feral couldn't which. She cleared her throat.

"What about you?"

"I at least have boxers on...unlike you."

Callie's blush deepened as anger replaced her embarrassment. She was going to show this kat.

"...Fine. All or nothing."