Chapter 143 Chapter 143
Forcing his cat body to stand there for a moment, to make sure all the others had changed, he took time to memorize scents. He went around the van toward the women standing there. Nichelle came out from behind one of the bigger trees, stuffing clothes into her backpack. Zipping it she put it on her back and then paused and smiled at him.
“You’re pretty.” She said with a grin.
Blair snuffed, trying to show his dislike of being called that. Pretty—why did women say that about his cat? He was one of the largest males in his clan in cat form. How did that even come close to pretty?
He chuffed at her again, and she smirked.
“Daisie…”
Daisie didn’t care that he was a large animal. She came right up to him and looked into his eyes. “It is you.” She said, then smiled. Leaning forward, she rested her forehead on his for a second. “You’re Kobie’s opposite.” She grinned at him again and then took her mothers, hand and walked away.
Blair had no idea what that could mean. While she’d been all up in his face, two other cats had come around the tree. It took no guessing to figure out the dark orange female was Mika. It matched her hair perfectly. The other one was darker, almost brown in areas that had to be Franki. Blair assessed how she was walking. No limp. The shift had solved that gash problem on her arm.
When the last cat came out from behind the trees, Blair had to work hard to not gape at her. Did cats even do that? He had no idea. Where Blair was mostly white with black stripes, Kobie was black as night with white striping. He glanced at Daisie, who nodded at him and smiled. The child was right; they were exactly the opposite coloring. She was long for a female, but then she was pretty tall in human form as well.
Kobie looked at the two female cats and chuffed twice then looked in the direction they were going. Both turned and bound into the trees. That made it easier for Blair, he had been trying to figure out if he should scout or hang back with the others.
Kobie walked over with the serene grace of a cat and paused a few feet from him. She was giving him the same appraisal he’d given her. With a whisper-quiet yowl, she took off to his left to check that area.
Blair has to override his cat, who wanted to follow the intriguing black tiger she-cat and romp around in the forest with her. He watched the others move. That’s what he didn’t need, his cat interested in Kobie’s.
It impressed him how he couldn’t hear any of the girls walking. They had been trained well. He lifted his head and scented the air, checking for anything that was wrong.
He started following the others, keeping his ears tuned in to the surrounding sounds. Sure, Kobie was an interesting woman, was unlike any he’d met before, but a female was off the list of things he needed to be thinking about right now. He stopped and checked the air around them again. Then he just stood there when he realized he hadn’t been mooning over Kelsey in hours. Chuffing quietly, he started walking again, been a little busy to stop and mope, idiot. Mika came bounding back from the left and he realized she’d gone in a full circle. She followed alongside him. Giving her a quick look, he moved faster. He needed to see for himself what was up ahead, no more surprises, this day had had enough of those.
He wasn’t sure how much time had gone by. When they came to a creek, he stopped to get a drink. The women on two legs opened packs and offered drinks and a snack to the others. Nichelle followed Kobie over to a darkened area. A few moments later she came back out. Blair checked all around them and then turned to see Kobie, in jeans and a t-shirt. His t-shirt. She took the bar and water Torrey held out. Then went over and got the map and compass from Cortney and sat down on the rock near him. “I’ll check how we’re doing.”
Daisie came over to him and held up his phone. “No messages or calls.” She informed him.
He had enough time to see how long they’d been walking before she stuffed it back into her pack and went back over to her mother.
“We’re still on track.” Kobie said and took a bite, “still a way to go yet.” She looked over at him. “Think they’ll message us? The clan we are meeting.”
Blair trusted she could read a map. He chuffed softly at her. That was the plan and reason he’d messaged Devin the location of the van, so he knew when they left.
Kobie looked around them. “I don’t know, Blair, my gut says something is off.” She stood up and motioned to Franki to go look around. The she-cat bound away from the creek.
Blair didn’t want to admit it, but even in cat form, he was antsy. Getting up, he went over and nudged her leg with his head, then looked in the direction they’d come.
“You going to double-check we’re not being followed?” She nodded. “I’ll keep us moving in the right direction. Be safe.”
That she understood him made this simpler. Blair inhaled deeply, then regretted it. Shit, she smelled appealing to his cat, even in human form. Fuck. No time for that, he thought quickly and then took off to backtrack where they’d been.