Onyx Night (Catnip and Cauldrons 1)

1

Professor Radcliff has the sexiest smile.

Onyx’s fingers twitched. What would it be like to run her fingers through her professor’s slightly messy chocolate-brown hair?

That was her last coherent thought before drifting off into steamy daydreams about her sexy Medieval History professor. She might have chosen River Edge University because of their Classical Culture and Society program, but Cole Radcliffe as her faculty advisor sealed the deal. Not only was he unbelievably gorgeous, but he was intelligent and kind. This was the third class she had taken with him.

She slowly dialed back the daydream. While he provided lovely visual eye candy, failing to pay attention to his lecture was just rude. She may have lusted after him, but she also respected him.

Mrs. Clark, assistant to the dean of students, stuck her head in the door and interrupted class. “Professor Radcliff, I have a message for one of your students.”

The pause in the lecture gave Onyx time to enjoy the confident way Professor Radcliff walked to the door to confer with Mrs. Clark. His body was incredible. His legs. Sheesh, should professors have legs that looked so ridiculously sexy under dress pants? No, they should not. It didn’t stop her from mentally undressing his tall, muscular frame as he bent his head down to speak with Mrs. Clark.

A pained look crossed his handsome face. He paused and glanced around the room until his cobalt-blue eyes fell on her. “Ms. Knight, please accompany Mrs. Clark.”

Cold fear claimed her insides. Who would need to contact her while she was in class? They wouldn't pull her out of class unless it was bad news. Mom and Dad. As quickly as possible, she gathered her notebook, pens, and books. Professor Radcliff put a reassuring hand on her shoulder when she reached the door. Any other day she would have thrilled at his touch, but she was too sick with worry.

Mrs. Clark gently pulled her into the hallway. As she passed by him, Professor Radcliff leaned down and whispered in her ear. “If you need anything, let me know.”

His voice sent a warm shiver through her body. Not surprising since she fantasized about having his hands and mouth all over her body at least ten times a day. She shook off the odd inappropriate feeling and followed Mrs. Clark.

“Sweetie, your Aunt Marie called. She said there's been an emergency and you need to come home right away.”

“Home? Now? I still have two more classes left.”

“I know, dear, but it sounded important. I'll let your other professors know. I'm sure they will email you any work you miss.”

“Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Clark.”

Commuting to college sucked. Onyx hated how hard it made it to bond and make friends with the other students when she lived so far away. But now it meant she had a tense forty minute drive home worrying over all the things that could be wrong. All her life she longed to break out of her tiny town of Catcall Falls, where everyone knew everyone. But her parents paid her tuition and gave her a car on the condition she live at home and get good grades

Living at home did have its perks. Her mother still did her laundry and was a phenomenal cook. It made it easy to be a straight A student.

Why would Aunt Marie—who wasn't really her aunt, but her mother's best friend from childhood—call her instead at school? She hoped nothing had happened to her father at the steel mill where he worked. The work was dangerous and she’d worried about him ever since her best friend’s father died in an accident at the steel mill when they were in grade school. Max Knight was the strongest, most capable man Onyx knew. Worrying about him seemed absurd. But he was so important to her, she loved her father so much, she couldn’t help it. And while she had several close friends, there was no one Onyx was closer to than her mother, Jade.

Before she knew it she was swinging onto her road. There were too many cars parked around her house. There was Aunt Marie's red sedan and Uncle Wilson's truck, a police car...her stomach churned with fear. She threw the car in park, without regard to how she left it in the street and ran into the house.

“Oh, Nyxie!” Marie greeted her at the door, hugging her and smoothing her hands over her hair.

“Onyx Knight?” A tall, older police officer asked.

She nodded. This was bad. Bad. So bad.

The officer shifted and looked her in the eye. “We're so sorry, but your parents were killed in an auto accid

ent this morning.”

“No. No. No.” The room spun and went out of focus. A sob tore from her throat. Not her parents. Please, no. They were too young to die. She needed them. No.

Marie held her tight. “Shh, darling it's okay, it's okay. We're here for you. Thank you, officers, but I better take her upstairs.”

“Of course, ma'am. We're deeply sorry, Miss Knight. Mr. Edmunds, if you don't mind coming down to the station...”

Their words trailed off. Onyx wasn't aware she was moving, but suddenly she was sitting on her bed.

“Take deep breaths, Nyxie. In and out,” Marie coaxed in a soothing tone.

“Noooo,” she wailed and her tears broke loose.

“I know, baby. This isn't fair. It's not right. There were no two better people on this earth than your parents.”

Onyx listened to the comforting words from far away. Her body sizzled. Felt funny. Out of focus. Her world narrowed, changed, spiraled into something much smaller. A tingling, itchy sensation spread over her skin. Heat infused her cheeks and forehead. So hot...she was positively burning up. Without thinking about it, she rubbed her tongue over the roof of her mouth. An odd texture prickled over her tongue. It didn’t hurt, but—

“Aunt Marie...I don't feel very good.”

“Oh baby, I hate that your mother can't be here to explain this to you. You'll be twenty in a few months, and she would have explained it all to you then.”

“Explain what?” The words came out garbled because suddenly her mouth wasn't working right. She felt like she was being turned inside out. She was hot. So unbearably hot, she'd never felt heat like this before.

When she came to, she was on the floor, looking at her room from a different and much lower perspective.

“Nyx, it's okay.”

“Mwarrrr.” What. The. Hell? Where is my voice? She looked down and almost died. She was looking at big, fat, fuzzy, black kitty feet. They seemed to be attached to her. She looked over the rest of her. Yup, black fur. She swished her back end and a long, sleek black tail came into focus. She skittered over to the full-length mirror behind the bedroom door.

A beautiful black cat stared back at her. Except it was her. The cat was her.

2

“Nyx, it's okay.” Marie tried to encourage her.

Now, why the hell could she understand Marie, but she wasn't able to communicate back? A miserable “Mwrawrrrrr” was all she could coax out of her vocal chords. She padded over to Marie, and butted her head against her legs. Tell me, tell me, what's happening to me! Marie lifted her and put her on the bed. Onyx bristled at the indignity of being so easily manhandled.

“Onyx, listen to me. You're a shifter. Your parents were werecats. Your uncle and I are werecats. Everyone in Catcall Falls is a werecat. This is your clowder.”

Huh? If we're having chowder, it better be clam. She was too stunned to speak, besides, what was the point? Clearly she had gone insane. She really hoped she would wake up soon, because this dream was a bitch.

“Normally, you would first turn on your twentieth birthday. But, if both parents die before then, it happens almost immediately. That's why I needed you to come home right away. You can change back now. Just focus. Picture yourself getting ready for school in the morning, staring at yourself in the mirror, brushing your hair, looking at your reflection...”

Whoosh. She was back to normal. Well, except for being naked. She hurried to cover herself. Marie had the decency to look away and handed her the clothes she had been wearing before she turned into a cat. Turned into a cat?

“This can't be real.”

“I assure you it is very real.”

“Why lie to me my whole life?” Onyx hated the whining note in her voice, but she couldn't help it.

“No one has lied to you. Did you ever ask your parents if you were a werecat?”

“You're kidding, right? Well, I guess this explains all the stray cats in this neighborhood.”

Marie frowned at her and then let out a sigh. “We always turn at the full moon. We mate then too.”

“Gross.”

“Nyx, unless you're on hormones or spelled by a sorcerer or witch, it will be excruciating. Of course you can solve this problem by mating.” She raised her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Ew!

“Aunt Marie. I'm not...what am I supposed to do, fuck the first cat I see? That's disgusting!”

Marie frowned at her coarse language, but Onyx didn’t apologize. “The plan was for you to be mated with Deniz eventually.”

“Whose plan?” Onyx demanded.

“Ours and your parents. We adopted Deniz from another clowder to bring fresh blood into ours. He was always meant to be your mate.”

“What? Does he know that?” Denny had been her friend for as long as Onyx could remember. He was two years older than her, so he must already know about this cat stuff. She shuddered at the thought of mating with him. He wasn't unattractive, quite the contrary. But he was more like a big brother than anything else. There wasn’t one person in her town she’d ever been attracted to in that way. Worse, her best friend, Bess Verga, had been in love with Denny for years.

No. Absolutely not. Mating with him would be weird. Or wonderful. No, weird.

“Does Denny know this?” she asked again.

“Of course he does.” Marie waved her hand in the air dismissively.

“Why not Bess? She loves Denny. In that way.”

Marie wrinkled her nose. “Our clowder has a hierarchy. Your uncle is the Alpha. Your father was the Beta. Bessie's family is much farther down in rank. Now, we don't fight to the death to maintain our ranks like, say, the wolves or bigger cats, but we still do things a certain way.”

Wolves and bigger cats? Where would this insanity end?

“I know it's a lot to take in, but why don't you get some rest? You've been given more than anyone should have to bear in a short amount of time. You're going to need your strength for the funeral.”

Funeral. Oh god, it was real. Her parents were gone, and she was now part of this new, strange world where nothing made sense. She was supposed to mate with Denny?

She was a virgin. Her parents kept a tight leash on her, and she wasn't allowed to date. Now she understood why.

I bet Denny's been allowed to tomcat around for years. Somehow she just knew her clowder wasn't feminist-friendly.

“If you want me to, I'll call Bessie and have her come over to talk to you later. It might feel good to talk to someone your own age about all this.”

That's right, Bessie turned twenty last month. How could her best friend have kept a secret of this magnitude from her for so long? And Denny. He'd kept this from her for at least two years now. She couldn't help but feel betrayed by her two closest friends. She needed to be alone. Marie needed to leave so she could process all of this.

“I'll call her later. Right now, all I want is sleep.”

“That's a good girl. Sleep. Rest. I'll leave you be. If you want something to eat later, come downstairs,” Marie said as she closed the door.

Eat? As if Onyx would ever be able to eat again. She couldn't ever be in that kitchen, her mother's kitchen, eating food someone else had made. The tears started hot and wet. By the time she finally drifted to sleep, her pillow was soaked.

3

She woke to loud voices. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but they were loud enough to have intruded on her sleep. Frightened, she felt herself start slipping away, until she had fully changed again.

Damn it! She was going to have to be careful not to do that in school.

She stretched and yawned in her new body. Feeling it. Testing it. The voices were still loud, but now she understood them better.

“No. She has no idea.” That was Aunt Marie.

“Well, keep it that way. And find that damn book before she does.” That was Uncle Wilson.

What book? Were they talking about her? Footsteps sounded on the stairs and she leaped back int

o her bed. She took deep breaths and tried to focus fast on becoming herself again. She pulled the covers up tight to her chin just as the door opened. Onyx wasn't sure who was checking in on her, but she suspected it was Marie. The door clicked closed and Onyx sat up to slip her clothes back on.

What book were they talking about? Had they even been talking about her, or someone else? Why did all of it feel so damn ominous?

The funeral was horrible. The day was gray and overcast, just as it should be for burying two of the most vibrant, alive people who left this earth far too early.

Onyx sat between Marie and Denny, completely numb. Denny held her hand, and wept openly. He had been close to her father, had spent many nights at her house while they were growing up. He saw her watching him and quickly dried his eyes and tried to smile for her. It touched her that he was so affected and he wasn't afraid to show it. Real men have emotions and aren’t afraid of them. She could learn to love Denny in that way in time, couldn't she? She leaned her head against his shoulder. He squeezed her hand harder. Bessie sat on the other side of Denny and she reached over to squeeze Onyx's knee, letting her know she was there for her too.

After the funeral, Onyx managed to escape everyone and go home alone. She lingered in the kitchen thinking about all the chats she and her mother had shared over the years. Her mother taught her how to cook in this kitchen, listened to her stories about school...Onyx realized she was crying again and decided to head upstairs. Her bedroom had always been her refuge and she needed the peace and comfort now more than ever.

On her bed, she found a large box. She opened it to find a dozen deep-purple roses inside. They were the saddest, yet most beautiful thing she had ever seen. There was a card on the outside and she opened it.