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“Tyler,” I said distractedly. “Tyler Blackwood.” My brain is spinning with everything being dropped on me, and peeping through a hole at this gorgeous naked criminal splayed out against the wall like Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man isn’t making things any easier.
“Tai…lar…” he says, like it’s the most exotic thing he’s ever said. “A very odd name.”
“Yeah? And what’s yours?”
“Kalistratos.” It sparkles on his tongue.
“Talk about odd names,” I say.
Kalistratos sinks back into the shadows, and before he can reply, a dark shape slinks past the front of my cage. I gasp. First giant frogs, now giantrats?No—it’s not a rat. I relax as I see the two green eyes staring back at me, the pointed ears, the long, swishing tail.
“A cat!” I say. “Hey, kitty. What are you doing here?”
The black cat turns away from me, and I see it’s carrying something in its mouth—a stick with its end twisted into a spiral.
“Finally,” Kalistratos says. “Alyx, where the hell have you been?”
Through the gaps in the wall, I watch as the cat shimmies through the bars of Kalistratos’s cell, pads through the muddy water to him, and scales his body like a mountain goat. It perches on his shoulder, and to my amazement, pushes the spiral stick into the lock holding Kalistratos’s left wrist against the wall. It pops open, and Kalistratos quickly frees himself from the other binds.
“Apologies,” a voice says. “I was delayed.”
I jerk my head back and forth, expecting to see someone else outside of the cell, a young man by the sound of it. But there’s no one else here.
“Don’t tell me you were chasing birds,” says Kalistratos, rubbing his wrist. He steps forward into the light. Oh, he’s naked, alright.
Then it dawns on me—it’s the cat. The fucking cat is talking.
“It’s not easy getting past a group of Erpetosi in themiddle of broad daylight, thank you very much,” he says as he flicks muddy water from his paws with disgust.
“Do you know where the map is?” Kalistratos asks.
“They have it held in a chest, along with their other plunder. Including your gear.”
“By the gods, I might make it to the phoenix temple after all.” He quietly unlocks his door. “Let’s go.”
“What about the omega?” the cat asks.
“What about the omega? We’ve got no time to waste.”
“H-hey! You can’t just leave me locked up in here,” I protest.
Kalistratos pauses with his back to me. His body is framed in the light. It’s the kind of physique that only men who do real hands-on work have—cut, practical, and incredibly powerful. A guy who spends his day swinging around a hammer or an ax… or maybe a sword. Just what does this guy do?
“Dammit,” he groans. “Alyx, keep watch.”
He sloshes through the mud to my door, and I do my best not to stare at what he’s packing down below. I immediately feel guilty for thinking he’s hot, like I’m being unfaithful to Jeff. But, dammit, I need to remember that Jeff and I arenottogether, no matter how badly I want us to be.
But I can’t help it… Even here, in this insane fever dream of a situation with talking cats and frog monsters and naked buff guys, I’m still thinking about how much I want to be in a relationship with Jeff.
Kalistratos thrusts the key into the lock and frowns as he wiggles it back and forth. “It’s not opening.”
“Did you put it in the right way?” I ask.
“I know how to put in a key,” he mutters. “Must be a different one for your cage. Alyx, were there other keys?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Let me try it,” I said. “I’m a security guard, I know my way around a key.”
