Ouachita Mated(19)

Magic pressed his lips together, nodding, and she sobered.

“Wait. You’re a werecat? You don’t expect me to believe that do you? I mean, I said you needed to cut loose, but I didn’t expect this.” She laughed. “How many of you are in on this prank, huh? Is this why Beth wanted me to—” She clamped her mouth shut, but then a giggle slipped out. “Was that part of the joke? The pregnancy? Get me to agree to it and then, ‘Oh, did I mention he’s part cat?’”

Magic tried to follow her words but they were smashed between sounds of disbelief and strangely tuned laughs, and there was just no understanding her.

“Pregnancy? What pregnancy?”

“Cat-men,” she murmured, her smile fading. “You heard me tapping.” She stood abruptly, and started pacing the small room. “The vision… the accident… Oh, shit. Ohhhh, shit.”

Her eyes found him, and they held so much emotion, he couldn’t name a single one. But like everything else about her, he recognized it. Her gaze swirled like a storm. A dark storm, twisting and tearing, just like the one from his dream.

“You have to go,” she breathed. “Right now. You have to leave.”

“What is it, Josie? Talk to me.”

She shook her head, her eyes wide in disbelief. “No. No… this isn’t right.”

Again, the blinking started, a repetitive motion that took her away from him in that moment. He fucking hated it.

“Josie.”

He reached for her, but when his hand brushed the skin of her arm, she gasped like the dead rising. Tears sprung from her eyes. “Don’t. Don’t touch me. Not now.”

Magic jerked back. What was happening? Did she think him a monster simply because he was different? Was Josie that shallow? He couldn’t see it.

“I would never hurt you,” he said quietly.

She stared at him, her expression aching. “You already did.” Squeezing her eyes closed, she shook her head. “No, not me. Someone… I can’t… do this. Just go, okay?”

Her hands gripped her skull as she hunched over at the waist.

“Josie, please. You’re safe here. None of us would harm—”

She dropped to the floor before he could reach her, twitching and jerking, her body twisting in impossible ways.

“Josie!” Magic fell to his knees beside her, but he was no help.

All that was visible was the whites of her eyes. Her jaw was clenched tight, and gurgling sounds came from her throat.

A seizure.

His heart locked up his chest, refusing to beat properly. His cat pawed at him to do something, to save her.

Mine. Mine.

Magic jerked at the animal’s declaration, shocked. It was impossible for him to bond with another female, but his heart refused to deny it. With her like this, hurting and helpless, it was everything he could do not to fall apart.

The panther roared, demanding him to accept it. Miiiiine.

Had he caused this somehow? Had he hurt her by telling her the truth? Her words haunted him.

I won’t hurt you.

You already did.

There would be time to figure it out later. Figure out why his chest felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. Right now he had to get help for her.

Carefully, he turned Josie onto her side, and ran for the door, throwing it open to yell down the hall.

“Gash!” His tone echoed off the walls, a command. He didn’t care if he woke up the entire place.

The door to the security room flew open and the cat stepped into the corridor. One look at Magic’s face, and he was instantly on high alert, his entire countenance changing into something fierce.

“Boss?”

“It’s Josie. Something’s wrong. Get Doc Davis. Now,” Magic barked. “And Bethany.” Spinning, he ran back to Josie’s side, kneeling over her and cradling her head to keep it from banging against the hardwood floor.

“Shit. Hang on, baby. Doc’s coming.” Tears pricked his eyes, and he realized it was the first time he’d felt this much since Mandi died.

He let his big hand brush over Josie’s hair as she continued to twitch. He was helpless to do anything but wait, and feel the cat trying to shred him from the inside.

“I’m right here,” he murmured. “Hold on.”





Chapter Six



Things were clicking into place faster than Josie’s mind could comprehend them. With every thought, she was three seconds behind. The information kept slamming into her and piling up until she was buried under it and suffocating.

It all started with her accident. The night she’d had her first seizure. The one that sent her driving into a lane of oncoming traffic. The one that almost killed her. Did kill her. For a life-changing thirty seconds.