Suffering & Salvation Read Free Page A

stacked against another. By all appearances, Brand basically lived in an efficiency apartment at the shelter. She nibbled her lip, wondering if she could take advantage of the bath and washer and dryer. Mostly the really nice tub. One she hadn’t had the use of in quite some time, making her want to bathe that much more.
    Screw it. Strange place or not, she took what the man had said at face value and sprang into action. Simi dug through dresser drawers and found something to change into before starting a small load of laundry, and then blessedly went to the bathroom, but more importantly, the bathtub.
    She took a quick shower first, getting the grime of the streets off of her skin and out of her hair, scrubbing until the water ran clear. Simi’s hair was a deep gold, mimicking the color of Cougar’s fur, and now that she was clean, she could see hints of that shade returning as the marvelous feel of water cascaded over her.
    With the dirt washed away, she filled the tub with hot water, steam wafting from the surface, tempting her. Cougar purred and paced and impatiently waited, delighted by the prospect of clean water gliding all over her skin and fur. Oh, yeah. Simi felt the same way.
    One foot at a time, she slipped into the heat, allowing it envelope her before letting Cougar out to play. Magic shimmered and danced around them, the glitter and sparkle of power, signifying the change, overtaking her human form. There was no distress…simply joy. Elated at being released after so much time in confinement, at being finally set free.
    Malcolm never let her shift. He didn’t allow her to do anything. Unless it was to please him. Oh, at the beginning of their relationship, it’d been different, she supposed. When she was young and impressionable, when he’d managed to convince her she was going to be his. And sadly, to her detriment, she’d accepted him…like a doe-eyed, little girl. Cougar’s instincts be damned. Hell, as if she’d even had the choice.
    Then came the hitting and the name calling and everything else no woman or animal should ever have to live to endure… She could only look back and thank god that though she was with him, the two had never formed that special bond of true mates. Never marked one another with the bite.
    Simi had dealt with all the punishment he could dish out. Until she’d hit her boiling point. It was either death by his or her hands, or leave and give themselves a second chance. She chose to fight.
    Oh, but Cougar…poor Cougar hadn’t been out in so long. It wasn’t fair for her to be cooped up like that. Her animal was meant to be wild and free, not kept in a cage.
    Fur rippled through her skin and her body reshaped, taking her animal and bringing it forth, letting it have a bit of happiness in this sorrow-filled world of theirs. Simi’s consciousness melted away as Cougar’s sprang out into the open.
    Before long, Cougar had all the control, the power, and Simi let go, floating to the back of Cougar’s mind, watching her animal play and slap at the water. Cougar rolled over and over, slipping and sliding against the fiberglass tub, tail flinging droplets of liquid all over the bathroom floor. Simi laughed, indulging in her animal’s joy, not caring about the mess she’d be cleaning up later.
    Cougar was over the moon. It’d been years, if not their entire lifetime, since they’d been this genuinely happy. Because they weren’t under Pride’s rule…or the tyrannical control of that son of a bitch named Malcolm.
    Cougar listened to her thought, then went back to playing, dunking her head beneath the surface, only to come up and shake it free of the bathwater. Again and again Cougar did this, frolicking, milking it for all its worth.
    A noise. A shuffle. Something caught Cougar’s attention and the fear came roaring back. Cougar growled and hissed, sensing what Simi could not.
    Quietly, so quietly, Cougar left the tub, water dripping all over the floor, waves lapping