Cat Style (Stray Cats) Read online

  Ascher gripped the letter from Hildegard tight in his hand. Between him and Joel, they’d scoured the Internet for the last three hours looking for their brothers. Pages on a computer screen alone weren’t going to be enough to find their siblings. Still, the place he’d spent his first two months had been destroyed. Only a pile of rotted wood planks, shingles and twisted metal siding rested where the house had been. Weeds hadn’t started to grow around the debris yet but grass overtook the driveway.

  “So the house is gone?” Ascher stared at the location where Hildegard’s house once stood. “I thought you said it was still here. Maybe in the last couple of days it collapsed?” His heart ached for the past and the memories lost in the destroyed building.

  “Two days ago, it was.” Joel folded his hands in front of his mouth. “I don’t understand.” He strode back and forth in front of the pile. “Why destroy the house?”

  “Someone doesn’t want you to find your siblings.” Penelope wrapped her arms around Ascher. “Or they’re trying to send you a message to forget about them.”

  When Joel shot her a dirty look, she shrugged. “I’m not being fatalistic. I’m being realistic. If one person is trying to kill you for your blood, it stands to reason others would try it, too.” She shivered. “I wish they’d leave you all alone.”

  Ascher kissed her temple. She’d become his rock, and he thanked the Goddess every moment for his mate. “She’s right. We can’t let our collective guard down. Where there’s one, there has to be a hundred. Roman and Adrian need us to focus.”

  “You’re right.” Joel stopped pacing. “I’m not going to let them die because a monster wants to drain them.”

  Hayden curled her arms around his bicep. “We’ll find them.”

  Ascher tamped down his fear. He didn’t know what had happened to his brothers. If Hildegard’s letter was true, the others had been adopted. They could be safe -- but he needed to be sure. So did Joel.

  “You said you found me by my scent. It wafted in the wind?” Ascher asked.

  “Hay has a blanket we slept in.” Joel waved his hand. “We’ll use that. Ready? It won’t be pretty, and it will probably be dangerous.”

  “I’m ready.” Penelope tucked tighter to Ascher’s side. “Let’s do this thing.”

  The three of them looked at Ascher. He finally nodded. “You bet.”

  All he’d ever wanted was someone to love him. He’d found that in Penn. With Joel back in his life, he’d found his family. Time to bring the rest of them together -- cat style.

  Megan Slayer

  When she’s not writing the stories in her head, Megan Slayer can be found luxuriating in her hot tub with her two vampire Cabana boys, Luke and Jeremy. She has the tendency to run a tad too far with her muse, so she has to hide in the head of her alter ego, but the boys don’t seem to mind.

  When she’s not obsessing over her whip collection, she can be found picking up her kidlet from school.

  She enjoys writing in all genres, but writing about men in love suits her fancy best.

  Megan can be found at:

  www.menagerieauthors.com (Megan’s current site)

  http://theauthormeganslayer.blogspot.com (Menagerie Blog)

  http://menagerieauthors.blogspot.com (Megan’s personal blog)

  http://twitter.com/#!/MeganSlayer (Megan on Twitter)

  http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000938063999 (Megan on Facebook)

  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Menagerie-Authors/180690948613536 (Menagerie authors Facebook fan page)

  http://www.changelingpress.com/author.php?uid=161 (More books by Megan at Changeling Press)

  Table of Contents

  Cat Style (Stray Cats)

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Epilogue

  Megan Slayer