Page 14 of Feline Good

She pretended the ease she felt with their story had nothing to do with the ease she felt with them. Maybe it was the fact that they had been her cats for fifteen years before, but she was more comfortable with them than Maya ever had with anyone.

Asher brushed his hair back, distracting her for just a moment from her thoughts, but her musing picked back up. I feel strangely at ease with them. How much of that is because I’m their Guardian, whatever the hell that entails, and how much of it is real? Can I even trust this feeling?

This comfortableness was already more than anything she’d felt with Alex, and she’d been ready to marry the guy. Well… that was before he’d put her in the hospital a few times. Her gaze trailed to the scar on her forearm.

Refusing to think about that particular asshole, she followed the directions on her GPS to the address that Asher had typed in. It seemed they didn’t know where the Keepers’ home was located. Something about secrecy within the bloodline. She’d scoffed at first, but the address had been attached to the key inside the safe deposit box, and it led them about forty minutes away. When they pulled in, one question sprung to mind.

“Are you guys fuckin’ rich or what?”

House was too common a word to describe the... mansion they’d pulled up to. The driveway was a long paved expanse of concrete lined by trees on either side that ended in a circular drive— of course— with a water fountain in the middle. Two frosted panes of glass framed the huge front door, accented with colored glass. The entire mansion was brick, with black shutters and gold light fixtures.

A slow whistle pulled her head to the right and she turned to see Asher’s mouth dropped open. She arched a brow at his expression and asked, “Is this not what you were expecting?”

August answered her from the back, next to Amir. “I don’t think any of us expected this.”

In unison, they shook their heads in disbelief as the pea gravel crunched under their feet. The three cat-men deftly avoided the sprinkling fountain, and she chuckled as they circled with a wide berth.

Amir spoke again, his smooth, deep voice like silk brushing over her skin. “Not at all. We grew up in a... modest home with our family, and this residence is specifically reserved for the Keepers of Time. Since we’ve been cats from the moment we became the Keepers, this is the first time we’ve laid eyes on it.”

Her mind swirled, a range of emotions washing over her. Maya never even considered, too caught up in her own crisis, that they had suffered too. Spending fifteen years as a cat, with no control over their own life, destiny, or actions? She shuddered at the horror.

“I’m sorry— I didn’t realize how difficult this was for you guys.” Her eyes trailed to the ground, staring at her feet. They stopped before the door as shame overwhelmed her.

A single finger brought her chin up, and she swallowed at the emotions she found in August’s golden eyes. “Never be sorry for the path our pasts led us to. After all, it brought us to you, no?”

At his words, her shame was swallowed up by a blush, and she avoided his gaze for a completely different reason. August smiled, his white teeth bright against his beautifully tanned skin, and he tugged at his shirt, billowing it out in front of him. It was unusually warm for a wintery February, the sixties creeping high into the seventies today as the sun beamed down on them. It was an odd combination with the scraggly fingers of the tree branches reaching to the sky.

A chill crept down her spine, and unease slithered over her skin. “I think we should hurry, I don’t have a good feeling all of a sudden.”

“Well, I’m trying. But I’m not seeing a keyhole for this key.” Amir’s grumpy words reached her ears, and she frowned.

“Are you sure? Why would they leave you a key to a door with no lock?”

Could nothing be easy?

“You’re probably not doing it right, let me see it.” Asher reached for the key, and Amir grumbled again.

“I’m not dense! I know how a key works!”

“Well, obviously not if you can’t get it in the right hole.” Asher leaned around Amir and paired a wink with his double entendre.

Maya simply rolled her eyes, content for the moment to sit back and watch them bicker. She could most certainly tell they were brothers.

A harsh curse sounded, and she sighed as their argument continued. While they searched for the hole, she’d backed up and stood below them on the gravel as opposed to the brick step. A breeze blew, sending blond tendrils flying into her face, and she sighed at the sight of August’s hair flowing in the wind too.

Well... at least they’re pretty, right?

Shaking herself from her appreciative thoughts, she stepped forward. ”Here, let me see if I can find it. Sheesh!” She batted their hands away and stared at the door, to find that there was indeed no key hole. “This is stupid. It can’t be a key if there’s no lock!” Holding the key up to study it, she noticed it seemed a little heavier than a usual house key. It was just a regular shaped key, like something you would find at a hardware store. It even had a little cat decal on it, and she chuckled before eyeing the opulent mansion again. “This key is way too ordinary for a house like this, don’t you think?”

August chuckled behind her, mumbling something that suspiciously sounded like, “alohomora” but she ignored it. Instead, she waved the key around the area where a lock would normally reside and waited until the tale-tale tug of a magnet— ah, yes. Maya let go of the key, and the metallic snap of it sticking to the door brought a triumphant smile to her face that made Asher groan.

Just as she turned to sass off about how much of a genius she was, a scraping came from their left, and as one, they turned their gazes to see a brick that was... not really a brick. It slid away to reveal a glass screen lit with a blue light.

“Are you shitting me? Your mansion has biometric readers?”

“Well, the ancient Egyptians were the most advanced of any empire. It would make sense for even now, our bloodlines to go the extra mile.”

“Yeah, they’re extra, all right.”