Chapter Eighteen
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
As day passed into night, an orange tabby Saraha walked into the safe house he and others of his team were sharing till their mission in the city was completed. As he entered, he was nearly run over by two of his teammates. Their faces showed worry and panic filled their voices.
"Kazuma, something really bad has happened!" Karel said grabbing the older tom's arm with both of his paws and squeezing it so hard Kazuma feared it might fall off.
"Yeah, Urabe came home some hours ago and went straight to the basement then we heard loud banging sounds and fear she's trashing the place!" Antonio added hiding behind the SIC.
"Whoa, wait! Just slow down and speak more calmly..." Kazuma began before a loud crash cut him off.
"See! See! What did we tell you! Something has really pissed her off!" Karel exclaimed.
Kazuma took a deep breath and let it out slowly; he could understand why the pair could be so frightened of Urabe. She was, after all, head of their village and had received harsher training than any of them so was far more deadlier as a result. It didn't help that she had a formidable temper as well but she usually had better control than this so he did wonder what could have shaken her this badly. Sighing, he thought it best to go down and see what had so disturbed his commander that's if he could detach Karel's death grip first.
Grimacing, he carefully forced the tom to let him go then walked past them toward the kitchen, passing through to reach the basement stairs. As he descended, he could clearly hear objects being tossed about, hitting walls. Three steps before the bottom, he halted and stared in shock.
In the center of the room was an angry and sweaty Urabe, huffing to catch her breath, and around her were the remnants of what had been their office. Desks, chairs and paperwork were scattered about as if a hurricane had struck.
"So? Feel like talking about whatever it is?" Kazuma asked cautiously staying where he was just in case he needed to run back upstairs.
Urabe turned her head slightly letting him see one glowing, angry eye before she reached out to pick up an untouched desk and heave it with great force across the space.
'Whoa, whatever happen today seriously upset her!' Kazuma thought.
"Why?" Urabe spoke so suddenly Kazuma wasn't certain she had said anything.
"Why what?" Kazuma asked confused.
"Kazuma, have I done something wrong?" Urabe huffed turning to look at her friend.
"Could you please explain why you are asking these questions? It would help you know," Kazuma asked, totally at sea. Since she was calmer now, he risked going down the last few steps to the basement floor and walking up to her.
Urabe sighed. How could she expect him to help her if he didn't know what was going on? She chided herself. She knew she should have called him about Raina when it happened but with her own encounter upsetting her, all she could think about was getting out some of her anger and frustration. So she came home instead and proceeded to trash their basement office.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry or…"Urabe paused and looked up at the ceiling where she was sure Karel and Antonio were still huddled, no doubt scared to death because of her, "... or scare them."
"You can be quite scary when you want to be but especially when you're mad about something. So, care to tell me what you're angry about?" Kazuma asked reasonably, finding a chair not damaged and sitting in it.
"When I went into town today to pick up a few things, I got a text from Raina saying she would be spending the night with Jake rather then come home…." She began, reluctantly.
"I can see where that would make you upset but…" Kazuma paused to look around the basement for a moment before going on, "…not to this extreme."
"You're right, of course. That wasn't what set me off. It was what happened at the store and who I met there that did." She paused to grit her teeth a moment at the memory. "Chance was there."
Kazuma tilted his head, his expression puzzled. Yes she didn't like the sandy tom much but not enough to cause such a disturbance in her unless...an amusing thought came to him and set him laughing.
"Let me guess, he hit on you!" He said highly amused, bringing his arms to cross his chest as he eyed her intently, waiting to see if his assessment was right.
Urabe snorted and shook her head. "If only it were something that simple but it was much worse and not his fault really."
"Huh? Wait? You wished he'd hit on you? Urabe, you feeling okay? Last time I checked, you'd throw a party if something bad happened to him."
"Yeah, well…that was before today," she admitted a blush flushing her face.
Kazuma blue eyes narrowed as he took a really good look at her, studying her body and what it was saying to him.
Urabe watched as those blue eyes widened and body stiffened as Kazuma guessed what she wasn't saying aloud. Shock made him sit up straight and drop his arms to his side.
"Holy…!"
"Quiet! I don't want Karel or Antonio to know about this…not yet anyway."
"How?"
"I don't know! I'm just as confused about this as you. Considering how often we butted heads with those two, fought against them even, I just can't fathom why I'm reacting this way now to him. It wasn't until he touched my arm..." she let the sentence trail off, totally mystified as to why she should feel such things about the irritating tabby.
"Hmm...When I met Amber, I only had to look into her eyes and we just knew we were mates," Kazuma recalled.
"The same was true for my brother and Raina," Urabe agreed. "But that isn't how it happened to me."
"Maybe because his eyes were normally covered with that mask?" Kazuma hazarded a guess.
Urabe shook her head, "No, because at the store I stared him straight into the eyes and nothing happened..."
"Until he touched you," Kazuma finished for her, surprised and confused about this different method of knowing someone was your mate.
"I must have done something in a past life to piss off the higher ups and now they are punishing me," Urabe moaned.
"Or perhaps the bond between you two is different then mine and Amber's or even your brother and Abi's," Kazuma suggested, watching Urabe lower herself to the floor, a disheartened look on her face. This is so not good, he thought, worriedly.
He knew Urabe would do her best to avoid Chance until the mission was completed that's just how her family line was...very stubborn, however, she truly needed to bond soon as avoiding her mate-to-be would cause her to be distracted and uncomfortable as the need to bond grew stronger.
"Chi-chan," Kazuma said, using her nickname to get her full attention. She turn her head up to look at him. "You can't fight this, you know what will happen if you do."
"I know! I know!" Urabe growled, annoyed and stressed out. She brought her paw to her face and rubbed her cheek. "But I simply can't deal with it right now. The mission is more important and there's far too much involved with setting Megakat City to rights to be distracted with this business now."
"It's doesn't matter how important the mission is. The longer you try to ignore your body's desire, the more urgent the need becomes. You know this! And what will you do if he begins trying to seek you? You know he will because he can't help himself now," Kazuma pointed out bluntly.
"I'll have to avoid him that's all. As for myself, I'll have to keep pushing it aside as I get what needs done completed. It's all I can do! Please, let's talk about something else. I can't deal with that subject any longer." Urabe sighed. She knew he was right but there was nothing she could do about the issue right now...afterward would have to do no matter how much discomfort she'd have to endure until then. "Let's discuss what you plan for testing Abi," she said more firmly.
Kazuma sighed in defeat. He felt he'd done enough reminding her of what she was facing waiting. He was willing to move on and the subject of Feral and Abi was of primary concern as the couple would be returning soon.
"I came up with the perfect test. As curator of the museum, Abi has access to all the belongings of the Pastmaster; his books, the box he had been sealed in, and possibly the spell that kept him sealed up. Her task will be to see if she has that spell and if not, find it then we'll be able to lock that evil thing up for all eternity again," he told her smiling with relish at his ingenuity in solving two problems at once.
Urabe stared up at him, pleased and surprised. "Excellent...the perfect test alright and solution to getting rid of him. Any other tests you plan to spring on her?"
"Other then that truly difficult one, nothing yet. I wanted to see how she did with it first before coming up with any others, if its even necessary," Kazuma said giving her a lopsided grin which quickly vanished as he brought up another difficult subject. "And Raina? What about her situation?"
"She's spending the night with Jake." Urabe said, moving to stand up, dusting her backside off. "What happens after that is her affair. We can't interfere. So, mind giving me a paw? I need to clean things up around here after my…."
"Hissy fit?"
"Alright, let's call it that. So?"
"Yeah, I'll help then I'll let Karel and Antonio you have calmed down," he smirked. She rolled her eyes and picked up a chair, setting it to rights.
~0~0~0~0~0~
A pair of amber eyes watched hungrily as a fawn colored she-kat danced with abandon to the music pounding through the club they'd come to enjoy. He'd left the dance floor to buy them some water.
Jake was enjoying himself tremendously, especially during the times he and Raina danced very close together, letting him feel her body move against his own to the rhythm of the music. Her scent filling his nose told him she enjoyed his company too.
Not far away, another pair of eyes, green-blue in color, were eyeing Raina closely. They marveled at the graceful way her body swayed and moved to the music, the way her hips swung from side to side, and the graceful movements of her slim arms as she allowed the music to flow through her. With a predatory grin on his face, the white with silver tips and blue-green eyed tom, weaved his way through the dancers until he reached Raina. Dancing behind her, he reached out his arms and wrapped them around her waist, pulling her tightly against his chest.
Raina's nose instantly realized this wasn't her date, nor were the arms holding her, familiar. Turning her head, she hissed at the stranger and jerked herself from his arms. Her fur rose as she whirled around to face him, flashing fangs to show she wanted nothing to do with him.
He blinked, surprised she would react so violently to his advance. "Feisty one aren't you?" he said, recovering and feeling pleased about making a move on such a beautiful she-kat.
Fighting back her primal self's desire to snap this tom in half for daring to touch her, she settled for warning him about a different danger. "I already have a date. If you're smart, you'll leave me alone before you regret it."
The tom snorted derisively. "Believe me, I've seen your date. I have more to offer than that pip squeak, seeing as how he's so short and skinny looking."
"Looks can be deceiving as you'll learn rather quickly if you don't back off," Raina warned him again.
Before the white tom could say or do anything more stupid, he was surprised by a pair of strong paws grabbing his arm and pulling it painfully behind his back while the other arm came across his neck. As if that wasn't scary enough, a deep, threatening growl sounded way too close to his ear.
"I believe my date told you to get lost." Jake jerked his arms more tightly making the white tom wince in pain and gasp for breath as the choke hold tightened.
"Hey, hey, take it easy!" The tom managed to gasp out, shocked at how strong the little guy truly was. It felt like he was being held in the grip of a constrictor. He could feel nothing but muscle and steel from the paws holding him firmly despite his efforts to get away.
"Not until you apologize and then promise you won't come near my date again," Jake hissed, coldly, flashing his fangs to show he meant business.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for bothering you and I promise to stay away!" The white tom said frantically, sensing something far more dangerous about this guy than just his threats.
Raina eyed her mate worriedly. Jake could easily kill this tom if he was offered any resistance. This was a direct result of them not being bonded as yet and this extreme protective behavior would only get worse the longer the bonding was held off and with someone as skilled at fighting as Jake was, he could snap at anytime and damn himself for his loss of control if he truly did hurt or kill someone. She couldn't allow that to happen.
So she did the only thing she could. Stepping close to the pair, she leaned near to be heard over the music and shouted in her mate-to-be's ear. "Jake! Stop it! He promised and apologized! Now let him go!"
Jake turned his head and stared at her. The look of worry and concern in her eyes made him release the tom immediately.
The white tom stumbled a ways from the smaller tom then turned around while he rubbed his injured neck and stared at Jake with anger and a little fear.
"There was no call to be that rough!" the male spat, upset the smaller tom had bested him so easily. It was embarrassing. When he saw the beautiful she-kat come in with the skinny dude, he thought he could intimidate the tom to give up his date. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought the little shrimp could be so dangerous. Even now, staring into those fierce amber eyes, something about that tom made him shudder inside.
Jake frowned at the male but didn't respond. He was more disturbed by his own behavior than the hurt feelings of the other male. He'd never lost his cool like that before. Normally, he was laid back and preferred keeping his abilities under wrap for security reasons. But his reactions to Raina being threatened were all over the map and he had no idea why.
All the eyes and people pointing and whispering took him back to his high school days where he'd been harassed a lot for being small and nerdy. For just a moment that feeling of humiliation surged forward nearly making him want to turn and run. But he was no longer that person.
He was a hero and strong enough to stand up for himself. However, that also meant he knew he was dangerous and had to maintain control over himself so as not to hurt anyone so he was mortified he'd behaved the way he'd had in public like this. So why had he? And why had he wanted to kill that guy so badly? He had dated before and truly cared about his past lovers but never had his protective instincts been activated this strongly about anyone but Chance. None of his behavior made sense.
Unable to come up with any answers and still disturbed, he decided leaving would be the appropriate response right now. Gently, he took Raina's paw and tugged her toward the side exit and shoved open the door into the night air. Away from all the staring eyes and whispering voices, he tried to regain control of his emotions and calm himself. He could sense within himself this intense need and desire to completely possess Raina, something no one else had stirred within in. She was testing his self control to its limit and he had no idea why.
Raina pulled her paw away and hugged herself. "Jake I'm sorry. This was all my fault."
'Stupid me for suggesting we go to a club, what was I thinking,' she berated herself. 'I knew how he would react if such a situation occurred but blindly ignored it.'
Jake blinked in surprise and turned to stare at her. She sounded so upset and unhappy. "What? No, Raina it's not your fault! What happened back there…"
But Raina cut him off. "It is, you just don't understand."
Jake frowned, confusion filling his amber eyes. Tears were streaking down her face and her auburn hair was in wild disarray. Her yellow eyes looked miserable as she stared at him through her glasses.
"Raina, what are you talking about?"
Raina shook her head. She didn't want to have this conversation right now. They both needed space for a bit. She looked away as she answered him. "I'm sorry, really I am, however, I think it best if I go home now."
Before Jake could respond, she turned away abruptly and ran back into the club leaving him in the alleyway, stunned and alone.