Cat on the Fence by Tatiana Caldwell

that he was in her
bathroom, inside the place she lived, added a new layer of intimacy between
them that made her pulse race with excitement. He was watching her with sleepy
yet acutely aware eyes. He seemed both fragile and predatory at the same time.
    Karabi looked at the wound on his chest. There was an
oozing, angry black, blue and orange swirl where one of the Werewolves had
chewed into him. She’d never seen anything like it. “Does it hurt?”
    “It stings. Itches a bit. It’s more irritating than it is
painful. I was fine earlier. Why do you think it started bleeding again?”
    Karabi shook her head. “I don’t know. It looks more like pus
than blood. Maybe there was something poisonous in the Werewolf’s saliva. I
think your body is trying to rid itself of an invasive substance.”
    “Is it infected?”
    She touched her hand to his forehead. “You don’t have a
fever. If so, it’s unlike any infection I’ve ever seen. I may have to see if I
can find some information about Werewolf bites online. I’m just going to
disinfect and dress the wound for now.”
    “Isn’t there someone you can call for advice on this?”
    “Not really,” Karabi said quickly.
    Alex raised his brows. “Where are all of your Werecat
friends?”
    “I don’t have any.”
    “You don’t know any other Werecats?”
    “I know of plenty of others,” she replied haughtily. “I’m
just not friends with them.”
    “Why not? You seem to play well with others.”
    “I just don’t want any. They’re Werecats, and so it’s
complicated.”
    That seemed to give him pause. “What about family? Do we Werecats
have shape-shifter relatives?”
    “I don’t talk to my family.”
    “Not often?”
    Karabi grunted. “Not at all.” She finished bandaging Alex
and put away her supplies. “I’ll wash your shirt. My ex left a t-shirt here
that you might be able to wear in the meantime. Let me go get it.”
    He followed her to the bedroom, not willing to let the
subject go. “Are your parents Werecats?”
    “Yes. Both of them are.”
    “Why don’t you talk to them?”
    She opened the drawer, pulled out a t-shirt and tossed it at
Alex. “Because I don’t want to.”
    “Why not? Because they are Werecats, and so it’s
complicated?”
    “Yes, that’s exactly why,” Karabi replied angrily. “You sure
do have a lot questions!”
    “Karabi, I just found out that I am a goddamn shape-shifter
with an infected Werewolf bite, and you’re the only clue I have as to what is
going on right now. Hell yeah I have a lot of questions. So please, humor me
and clue me in on some answers.”
    She sat down hard on the bed and sighed heavily. “I wouldn’t
talk to my parents even if they weren’t Werecats. My father is just so strict
and so… ‘Traditional Indian’. Growing up, there were all of these rules and
restrictions and ridiculous customs enforced upon me. And on my mother too,
because she’s female. ‘It’s a woman’s place to cook and tend to the kitchen. A
woman doesn’t get loud. A woman doesn’t defy her father or husband.’ Lots of
patriarchal, gender-biased bullshit like that. Mum obeyed because she loves him
and doesn’t have a choice, but I saw every day how broken she was in spirit.
She was always only happy on the surface. ‘Fake happy’, I call it. I don’t want
fake happy, I want real happy. I want to be me.”
    “It sounds like it’s your father you’re upset with,” Alex
said. “Why don’t you talk to your mother?”
    “I’m upset with her too. She didn’t defend me enough. Didn’t
defend herself enough. All my life, Papa tried to force me to be someone I’m
not. When Papa discovered my bisexuality and shunned me for it and started
treating me differently, she just pretended not to notice. Not once did she put
him in his place, not once did she stand up to him and tell him how wrong he
was!”
    Alex sat on the bed next to her with Rao’s shirt still in
his hand. “Did your father hurt