Angel/Hiss (Bayou Heat Box Set Book 7) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Page B

shoulder at her, his watery blue eyes moving from her face down her body. “Oh, you’ll get yours, sweetheart.”
    She shivered in the overlarge black smock that came to just above the knee. It wasn’t all that alluring, but to socially awkward, oversexed guards it might as well be lingerie.
    “Why is she not being fed?” Hiss demanded.
    Gia turned and gave him a shake of the head. Don’t .
    He ignored her. He was at the front of his cage, thick fingers wrapped around the bars. “If you’re short a bowl,” he ground out, “she can have mine.”
    The guard had finished passing out bowls now, and was making his way back to Gia’s cage. He took out his keys.
    “You’re coming with me, sweet thing,” he said, strangely not using her lab name, Ca35.
    “Why?” she asked, her insides starting to hum with anxiety. They never took her blood this early.
    “Save your questions for the doc,” he said. “Now, are you going to be a nice kitten? Or does Dax have to use the cuffs on you?”
    He looked like he really wanted her to act up. He was such a disgusting prick. She glanced over at Hiss. He was at the bars of her cage now, looking as feral and as close to a puma as she’d ever seen him. Her heart lurched. It was glorious. She wished she could see him in his cat form.
    A cold, clammy hand wrapped around her wrist. Dax was in her cage, behind her. He shoved her toward the door.
    “Don’t touch her,” Hiss snarled, banging on the bars. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”
    “It’s okay,” she called back as Dax laughed. “I’ll be okay.”
    But as she was being led away, toward the elevators, Hiss’s feral cries continued. They followed her. She could hear him, slamming himself against the bars. Stop , she wanted to scream. You need your strength too . But he knew, as she knew, that this was no cavy run.
    She watched as Dax hit the third button. They always went to two. Never higher than that. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
    “Someone’s in heat over you, sweet thing,” Dax said when the elevator door closed. “Can’t say I blame him.”
    Gia refused to look at him. He made her sick to her stomach.
    “Why do you act like you’re better than any of us, sweet thing? Us guards. Who take care of you. Feed you.” He took a step toward her. “You’re not.”
    He took another step. “Get away from me,” she warned.
    He laughed, his crooked teeth on full display. “If I wanted to, I could keep you in here all day.” He came at her now, and didn’t stop until she was pressed against the metal wall. Then he leaned in, near her ear. “On your back. Legs spread. I love Pantera pussy. So much sweeter than the human bitches I have to make due with.”
    Gia tried not to breathe him in. If this piece of human trash ever ventured into the Everglades, to her Wetlands, her cat would rip his fucking throat out and toss it to the gators.
    But her cat was inside her, pacing furiously in a cage of its own.
    The guard licked the shell of her ear. “And then you’ll return the favor. I may not be as hung as those males you’re used to, but I can make the back of your throat burn.”
    “Oh, me too,” she growled, then without thinking, brought her knee up between his legs. Hard. “And a few other parts as well,” she ground out.
    He dropped back instantly. Then doubled over, wheezing. His head came up just an inch, and his eyes were wide and tear-filled as he stared at her—like he couldn’t believe what she’d done.
    Gia was having a hard time believing it too. Right now the bastard couldn’t get any air in, but what happened when he was breathing right again? Forget cuffs, he’d do something ten times more vile to her as payback. She knew it.
    The elevator door opened on three, and without even a look in his direction, she scrambled out and took off down a hallway. It reminded her of the hospital ward in Miami, and was deserted, thank Goddess. But only that first one. The minute she turned the corner,