Chapter 31
Angel swatted the giant lever-style handle of the door at the end of the hall and it swung open to a large, narrow room that went up and up.
The largest play run I’d ever seen in my life took up the far wall, going up a good fifty feet.
Dozens of ladders, carpet walls, clear tunnels, and several curving slides led to a ball pit the size of a swimming pool and several layers of padded mats.
The space was made for climbing, jumping, crawling, and overall play.
One wall stretched high with windows and a half dozen hammock-looking things attached to the glass, giving large cats a place to lounge. I could make out at least one lion, and possibly a panther, as the cat was all black with paws as big as my head.
“Is it okay for me to be in here?” I asked, wondering if the others would be bothered by a non-shifter in their space.
Angel huffed, backed up, and took a flying leap over my head. He landed on a riser a good fifteen feet up.
“Holy fuck!”
He tilted his head, staring down at me as if waiting.
I scrambled for the ladder and climbed up.
Each section of landing had a heavily padded layer of carpet stapled in place to extra thick boards, though I could still see gouge marks in some sections as if the cats had gotten a little rough.
Angel led me through the tunnel and around a corner, then up.
We played for a while, him leading, me following, until I decided to go in a different direction and popped up a half dozen yards away, grinning at him as his kitty head gazed over the top of a tunnel.
“Hi,” I said, unable to stop smiling. I hadn’t done this sort of thing since I was a kid and Grandpa and Grandma had taken me to a play place.
Angel wriggled through the opening in the tunnel, climbing on top of the plastic tube.
“Woah, kitty! Careful!” I said as he tightrope-walked his way toward me. His graceful movements assured me he had no intention of falling and could probably land on all four feet if he did. I jolted for the next set of ladders, racing upward as if I could outrun him.
Halfway up to the next level, he flew over my head and landed on that ledge. He leaned over as I climbed up, head resting on his giant paws, as if waiting for my slow ass to take all day.
“Brat,” I said as I crawled up, surprised when I glanced back and found myself suddenly dizzied by the height. When had we gotten so high up?
Angel caught my t-shirt in his teeth and tugged me further onto the platform. He gave me a funny, deep, chuffing lecture, and nosed me back toward the wall.
“Okay, okay. I’ll be careful. You too!” I told him as I headed for the next riser.
We passed a few other cats playing, racing from tunnel to tunnel.
More than once, I plastered myself to the side of a bubble to let a cat with zoomies pass.
It made sense that it would be mostly cats up this high, as they loved to climb, and canine varieties couldn’t.
The most surprising part about the entire space was how quiet it was.
Beyond my laughter as Angel and I played, the only other sounds were tiny chuffs from sleeping cats in the hammocks beyond, or someone else running through another tunnel.
The highest riser housed the top of the largest spiral slide, leading to the ball pit below.
The lack of guardrail beside the slide opening made me queasy, and had me clinging to the wall.
“Wow, this is high up,” I told Angel. And I remembered I hadn’t seen Ivan at all.
Was he in here somewhere? “Is Ivan in here?”
Angel let out a little yapping growl toward the window. A half dozen kitty faces popped out of their hammocks, one of them the tiny black footed cat I knew was Ivan.
“Ivan,” I said, and waved. “Hey buddy. How’s it going over there?”
He stood, stretching, as he yapped something, sounding annoyed, even in his cute little cat form.
I looked at Angel. “Was I supposed to understand that?”
Ivan balanced on the edge of his hammock as if he planned to jump the thirty feet to the ground.
“Oh, no!” I cried, terrified he’d get hurt.
But he jumped, landing with barely a divot in the padded mat below, on all four feet.
He shook out his fur and glared up at me, as if I’d interrupted his jump.
I sank to my knees with my hand on my chest. “I’m gonna have to get used to that, aren’t I?
If I were a cat, I’d have just lost one of my nine lives. ”
Angel leaned over the edge and did his own little yapping lecture. Ivan stared at him with disinterest.
“Wait there. I’ll be right down,” I said.
I climbed into the slide, thinking it had been a long time since I’d been on a slide.
I pushed off, and after the first circle, picked up speed until I knew I’d made a terrible mistake as my body turned and the oversized tube spit me out faster than Taco Bell after drinking all night.
I flew, full-on airborne for a few seconds, until I landed in a heap of plastic balls and padded mats. “Holy fuck,” I said, lying there, staring up at a half dozen amused cat faces lingering in their hammocks above.
“Note to self: supernatural slides are designed for supernatural reflexes,” I wheezed.
Balls ping-ponged over me as Angel landed beside me, his grace keeping him from ending up a mess of limbs too. He snorted over me, sniffing.
“I’m fine,” I said as I slowly sat up. Ivan sat on his haunches on the mats beside the ball pit, staring at me. “That was both awesome and terrifying.”
Angel climbed up onto the mat and sniffed Ivan, who wasn’t amused and swatted at him.
“Hey,” I said to my brother. “Be nice. We came to play for a while before heading home. Are you hungry?” I had no idea what time it was anymore.
And honestly didn’t care, as I couldn’t recall a time when I’d had more fun than running around in this crazy, adult-sized playroom.
I floundered my way out of the ball pit as the plastic bits came up to my waist, but landed beside Ivan and couldn’t help but lie there and laugh. “That was awesome.”
Ivan crept toward me, and I raised a brow, but didn’t run him off. My laugh faded as he crept up to lean on my shoulder, his face inches from mine. Angel chuffed and wandered to my other side, sitting down beside me.
“Did you have a good day?” I asked Ivan.
He purred and tucked his paws under him. He was so tiny and cute this way. Calm, I realized. A lot less stressed than he’d been when I had rescued him from our parents.
“Can I pet you, or is that weird?” I asked.
Ivan tipped his chin up and I took that for the invite it was and scratched him.
Angel sprawled along my side, and rested his head on my hip.
I took that as an opportunity to trade between petting them both until their vibrating purrs sank through me.
I could have napped there. How amazing was it for anyone to lie in a big kitty pile and snooze?
I stared upward and realized there was a giant number-less clock on the wall above the door, and it was after seven. “Holy fuck!” I jolted upright, unseating both cats. “Sorry. It’s really late already. I gotta get you fed.” And it was a nearly forty-five-minute drive home.
Angel stood, stretched, and chuffed. Ivan glared at him, but finally moved when Angel nudged him with his nose.
The two looked adorable together, coloring similar in cat form, though Angel was darker and much larger, and Ivan very fluffy.
I climbed to my feet and followed them to the door. Had Ivan borrowed a room?
I opened the door and held it for them. Angel waited for Ivan to exit first. The little cat made his way to a door on the far right, waiting, though I suspected he could reach up and tug the handle if needed. “Want me to open it for you? Do we need a key?”
The room swung open when I pushed the handle, and Ivan slipped inside. “I’ll be right across the hall,” I told him as I tugged it shut.
Angel smacked the doorhandle of our room and it opened.
“Why did we need a key?” I asked.
He gave me some chuffing grumbles as I followed him inside and closed it behind us, locking it before making my way to my bag.
The day had passed fast, and I had yet to figure out what to do about Ivan.
What about school? He couldn’t spend his teen years napping in a cat hammock, no matter how much he might want to.
My other shirt, covered in cum and sweat, was not going to work.
But I pulled my jeans on as Angel changed.
His shift was a thing of beauty, fast and flawless.
I stood there for a few seconds, pants half hanging off my hips, staring at him as the fur receded and his naked, tattooed skin shone on display. He was so fucking beautiful.
He gave a few little stretches before leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.
“You said it only hurts a little?” I asked as I finished pulling up my jeans.
“Yeah, and fast. The more I change, the less it hurts,” he said as he tugged his jeans on, pulled his hair back into a ponytail, and yanked his shirt over his head.
“And you’re you, while a cat?” Did that question make sense to anyone outside my head.
“Yes, and no. I hear and understand you, but the instincts are baser, louder. In my other form, it helps to have a goal while I’m working; like, pick out a scent, or protect someone. Without a set goal, it’s more about what the cat wants than the human side of me.”
“And your cat wanted to play?” I asked about the giant playroom.
“Chasing you, yes.”
“Oh,” I said after a few seconds. “Like prey?”
“I did eat you before we went out there.”
My face lit on fire again. Fuck. Why did everything this man say and do turn me on?
He leaned in to slide his cheek against mine. “I’ll gladly do it again.”
I sucked in air as I willed my stupid dick to stop dancing a jig at the thought. “I gotta feed Ivan.”
Angel stiffened, and I thought he was mad I was putting him off, but someone knocked on our door. Was it Ivan? Angel shoved me behind him and opened the door. Xavier stood there, arms crossed, looking like a giant again.
“Peace, Angel,” Xavier said, uncrossing his arms and holding out a folder. “This is for Jude.”
I reached for the folder, taking it, though Angel remained between us.
“It’s information about Ivan. Schooling stuff, security stuff for his variance.
” Xavier stepped to the side. Ivan leaned against the door across the hall, human and dressed, looking bored.
“He’s agreed to continue online schooling, keep up a certain level of grades, and come here a few times a week for training.
” Xavier gazed at him; his expression softer than I expected.
“Okay,” I said. “Is that what you want?” I asked Ivan.
“I want to stay with you,” Ivan said, which shocked me. I’d been worried he’d want to remain here, in a fun place where his cat could go wild. But maybe Xavier’s wild aura put him off too. “If that’s okay?”
“Yeah, Ivy,” I said, using Grandpa’s nickname for him. “I’d like that. But I think school is important.”
“We can work out a transport schedule,” Xavier said. “Ivan is old enough to get a license, but I wouldn’t advise it until he has better control of his cat.”
Was it dumb to ask why? I glanced at Angel, who answered, “Our vision is a lot better in cat form, but the spectrum of color is limited.”
“So, it’s hard to see lights and signs, and stuff?” I asked.
“And easier to see tiny distracting things that could take focus off the road,” Xavier agreed.
“Wild,” I said. “I’m learning a lot. Are you okay with all this, Ivy?”
“Yeah.”
Okay, then. I offered Xavier my hand to thank him, but he stepped back, his power locked down hard as I couldn’t feel him at all. Angel stood at my side, hand on my hip, possessive, though it didn’t bother me.
“I should get Ivan home and fed.” What time should teens go to bed? Was there a pamphlet in that folder on ‘How to Not Screw Up Your Magical Little Brother’? Or Managing Teens With Shifter Abilities For Dummies? Maybe I’d have to hit up the bookstore.
Xavier pointed at Ivan. “Call if you need something.”
Ivan nodded. Xavier nodded in our direction and left.
“Let me grab my bag and we can go,” I said, rushing back into the room to stuff everything in my bag and bury the dirty shirt on the bottom.
I hated the idea of calling it a night, but also had to take care of Ivan.
Being an adultier adult sucked. “Maybe we should pick up food on the way home? What sort of things do you like, Ivan?”
“How about you take Ivan home and I meet you there with food?” Angel offered.
I looked back at him, surprised he wasn’t tired of me, but also sort of not wanting the evening to end. “Is that okay with you, Ivan?” Fuck. Was it dumb to ask my kid brother if it was okay if I had my… what? Boyfriend? Lover, over?
“Thai?” Ivan asked Angel.
“Sure, I know a place. How spicy you want it?”
“Extra,” Ivan said.
“Oh.” Well, if they were going to get along okay, I was all for that.