Stray Cat Strut

By Asha King

The third novella in Asha King’s exciting Cats & Conjure series!

Adelaide Deveraux has escaped her enemy’s compound along with her tiger-shifter lover, Erik Wells, but the home that had once been her sanctuary is now gone, burned to the ground and leaving them with no choice but to go on the run.

At least Erik knows a thing or two about running; he’s been doing it for most of his life, and he’s determined to keep Addie safe. Between their handful of allies and Addie’s growing magic, he thinks they just might have enough resources to survive, and, for the first time in his life, sees a future for himself and the woman he loves.

But the powerful sorcerer on their tail has more than owning Addie in his sights. Now he’s also out for revenge and not everyone will make it out alive...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asha King
• Release date: Sep 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310704628

Asha King

Asha King likes good-looking men and hot books, and often strives to combine the two in contemporary, paranormal, and suspenseful romantic stories. She lives in the exotic land of Alberta, Canada, where she doesn’t ride a polar bear to work but does drink vast amounts of locally brewed beer and watches hockey. She loves connecting with readers and you can keep up to date with her online at www.AshaKing.com, where you’ll find a list of her books as well as what she’s working on and potential release dates.

Book preview

The third novella in Asha King’s exciting Cats & Conjure series!

Adelaide Deveraux has escaped her enemy’s compound along with her tiger-shifter lover, Erik Wells, but the home that had once been her sanctuary is now gone, burned to the ground and leaving them with no choice but to go on the run.

At least Erik knows a thing or two about running; he’s been doing it for most of his life, and he’s determined to keep Addie safe. Between their handful of allies and Addie’s growing magic, he thinks they just might have enough resources to survive, and, for the first time in his life, sees a future for himself and the woman he loves.

But the powerful sorcerer on their tail has more than owning Addie in his sights. Now he’s also out for revenge and not everyone will make it out alive...

Stray Cat Strut

Cats & Conjure #3

Asha King

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Midsummer Suspense Tales Vol I

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Year of the Cat (Cats & Conjure #6)

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Beast: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Gold: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Red: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Stray Cat Strut

Copyright © 2015 by Asha King

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Edited by Adrienne Jones

Cover Art © 2015 by Asha King

First Edition September 2015

SMASHWORDS EDITION

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this or any copyrighted work is illegal. Authors are paid on a per-purchase basis. Any use of this file beyond the rights stated above constitutes theft of the author’s earnings. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by seizure of computers, up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 per reported instance. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material.

Your support of my livelihood is appreciated.

Need a recap?

Since the last Cats & Conjure story released December 2013 and there has been an unfortunately long gap to the next one, I’m offering a recap over at my website. Visit here or AshaKing.com to download your copy and get a refresher before reading Stray Cat Strut.

Special thanks...

...to the readers who buy my books. I am sorry for the delay in Cats & Conjure releases but your support is what makes my work possible.

Chapter One

Adelaide Deveraux felt like they’d been running for days.

It had been more like twenty-four hours, and they hadn’t been literally running the whole time. In fact, they hadn’t been just walking, either. She and Erik had taken their time picking through the woods the day after finding her home—her Sanctuary—a smoking ruin. She knew they had to keep moving but she was exhausted. Despite working as a bellydancing instructor—God, that seemed a lifetime ago, she thought—and a high fitness level, she was unaccustomed to the lengthy travel on foot required by them, especially in someone else’s sneakers that didn’t fit.

Erik, on the other hand, likely wanted to keep up the pace, but thankfully had remained silent and not pushed her. In fact, he’d barely spoken at all. They’d stopped for a few hours midday so she could rest, and she’d immediately fallen into restless sleep while he stood watch without a word. When she’d woken, he’d waited patiently before they’d gotten moving again. Aside from the occasional inquiry about whether or not she needed a break, he’d said almost nothing to her—quite the contrast from their hours together while captive before breaking out.

Something was bothering him but she was too tired, too grief-stricken, to inquire. Her heart ached at the thought of her home being gone—everything of her grandmother’s, the one place she was safe, burned to the ground. The mere remembrance of it brought fresh tears to her eyes even when she didn’t think she could possibly cry any longer.

We have our lives, she thought. But for how long before that psychopathic sorcerer Lincoln found them?

We’re nearing people, Erik said in a low voice, breaking the silence as they walked.

Addie glanced up at him sharply, her neck twinging from the movement. Every muscle she knew she had and several she wasn’t aware of ached. People-people, or...?

Normal humans. He breathed in deeply, his amber eyes focused ahead. And vehicles. A motel, probably. I don’t think we’re near a highway, but some kind of main road if there’s a motel.

God, the thought of sleeping in a real bed—of taking a shower—had her nearly weeping with relief. Except there’s the minor issue of us not having any money and we look like we’ve been in a car accident.

Erik walked silently for a few moments, seeming to chew on that; she sensed words hovering there that perhaps he didn’t want to speak.

There was a bond between them greater than love that had developed weeks ago when he stayed in her home as she nursed him back to health—some kind of ethereal cord that connected them, allowing her to feel what he felt, share his dreams. And he’d put walls up during the past day, likely to protect her from him in case things went badly and they had to fight again—she knew how much he tried to hide the coldblooded killer he’d been forced to become to survive—but she felt enough to know when he wasn’t being honest.

I can... He paused, took a deep breath. "Acquire some things. It would be faster if I went on my own, but—"

I’ll be fine, she said swiftly. She hadn’t the first clue how to go about stealing clothes and money, and she had no doubt she’d slow him down.

He didn’t argue, simply nodded, and they continued to walk in silence. About ten minutes later, he cautioned her to wait while he ran ahead, his powerful form slipping between the trees and disappearing from sight.

Addie dropped to sit, her back against a tree, and drew her knees to her chest. She hugged herself and let her eyes close, breathing in the heady mixture of scents from the woods. The sun was well on its way to the west and her stomach gave a sudden painful twist—she was hungry. Starved, in fact. They’d found water from a stream a few hours ago but that was all she’d had in her gut since the night before and now she felt ill.

A breeze danced over her skin, this time warmer than it had been, coating her bare arms in heat and rustling her hair. It almost felt like the canopy of leaves overhead had broke, as she felt sun beating down on her black hair and shoulders.

Addie tilted her head back and blinked a few times, the sun almost blinding, and then gasped as her gaze settled again.

The forest was gone; in its place, the desert.

She’d had a dream of this place a few nights ago—the sun beating down on her, the heat rising in wet waves from sand that stretched on in all directions. Gone was the tree at her back, and Addie looked up and up to see a tall statue instead. The body of a human woman was carved into stone in a long robe that pooled at her feet. Instead of a normal face, however, the statue had the head of a cat.

Then the statue’s eyes blinked open suddenly, stone gone and replaced by a cat’s, bright green with slit pupils.

Addie yelped and scrambled back, got to her feet in a hurry. Little by little, the stone crumbled from the statue and a giant beast of a cat emerged, all sleek black like a panther, any semblance of humanity gone.

I’m dreaming, Addie thought. Just dreaming again.

Yes and no, came the voice all around her, and by the way the big cat stared at her, she knew