Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella by Georgette St. Clair Page A

forward.
    “You can’t object to your client
answering a question, you fool,” the moderator snarled.
    Raymond attempted to stand up, but the
moderator barked, “Sit down! You know the rules! She has the right
to question you.”
    Raymond sank back in his seat, sweat
beading on his forehead. He glanced frantically at his attorney,
who gestured helplessly. His bodyguards shifted unhappily on their
feet. The rules of the council were strict, and with so many eyes
watching them, there was nothing they could do.
    Belle continued relentlessly. “Did you
pay my aunt and uncle $50,000 so they’d sell me to you for an
illegal forced marriage?”
    “Yes, I did.” Raymond gasped again,
and clapped his hands over his mouth. He scrambled to his feet, and
the moderator banged on the podium with his gavel.
    “Sit down, or I will have the
Enforcers sit you down,” the moderator snapped.
    Half a dozen panther shifter Enforcers
strode up to Raymond’s chair, surrounding him. He glared at them,
and sank back in his seat.
    “Did you find me held prisoner, tied
down and naked, with a copper collar on my neck, in my aunt and
uncle’s house?”
    “Yes, I did.” He choked the words out,
face reddening. The audience buzzed with fury.
    “Did you then threaten to cut my face
with a copper knife, and then take me out of the house to your
limousine using threats of force?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “Did you plan to murder me for my
inheritance after I gave you the cubs you wanted?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    The audience was shouting, his
bodyguards were shouting…the moderator pounded furiously on the
gavel.
    “This is highly irregular,” Shifter
Council Member Rosemary Dover cried out. “I move we adjourn
immediately.” Several of the other council members began nodding
vigorously.
    “How many council members are secretly
on your payroll?” Belle cried out quickly.
    “Four,” Raymond said, and the room
broke into pandemonium.
    “How much do you pay Rosemary Dover to
always vote your way?” Belle screamed over the din.
    “One million dollars a year!” Raymond
howled, and desperately tried to squeeze his lips shut with his
fingers.
    Rosemary and three other council
members leaped from their seats and scrambled over each other in a
desperate attempt to flee the room. The enforcers swarmed on them,
restraining them quickly with copper handcuffs.
    When the moderator finally managed to
restore order, Belle turned to the television cameras.
    “Raymond agreed not to kidnap me and
force me into marrying him if I got him a little artifact called
the stone of truth. But when I gave it to him, I forgot to read him
the warning label. Once you touch the Stone of Truth, its effects
last forever. Everyone who touches the stone of truth with their
bare skin is compelled to tell the truth to any question asked of
them…forever.”
    And that was why Griselle had been so
willing to let Belle give the stone to Raymond.

Chapter Nine

    “Are you happy, my love?” Axel growled
into Belle’s ear.
    “No. I’m ecstatic.”
    Axel had his arms wrapped around
Belle’s waist, as they stood on his grandparents porch and watched
the sun sinking into the horizon in a lake of fire.
    “I can make you even happier.” He ran
his tongue over her ear and she shuddered in pleasure.
    “Get a room!” Agnes cried out. “Jeez,
Belle, you went from virgin to hussy in like no time flat.” But she
was smiling as she said it.
    Lucas, sitting on a rocking chair on
the porch, winked at Agnes. She winked back. The two of them were
dating, but Agnes insisted it was nothing serious, and it probably
wasn’t. Agnes went through a lot of men. Belle doubted Lucas would
be heartbroken; some day he’d want to settle down with a
shifter.
    Raymond had been taken into custody
right after the council hearing, and police were questioning him
relentlessly. He was revealing where bodies were buried, and the
names and bank account numbers of every politician and police
officer