The kitten claims her mate (complete)

Marked

He growled as he woke up, catching the scent of an unknown trespasser in his room. Shit, it was on him! He sat up, his growls becoming more ferocious as he scanned his room. Whoever it had been had scented his damn chest without him waking up.

He jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats. It was a feline scent and had come through his window. He growled again, thinking of a damn cat being in his room- curled up on him and marking him. What the hell?

He stalked through his townhouse just to make sure there wasn't anymore scent trails. When he caught that cat he was going to wring its neck. How dare it come in his territory and mark its scent on him?  The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He could feel his blood pressure hitting the roof.

"Hey, Jax! Come play Call of Duty!" His brother was stretched out on the couch with a bowl of Cheetos on his lap and was clutching a remote in his hands. His shaggy brown hair was rumpled and he was surrounded by beer bottles and orange soda cans.

"Not now, Jason!" He barked at his brother. He walked past the living room and sniffed around the hallways. He returned to his room and double checked. The trail went straight from the window, which was opened up just a crack, to his bed. From there it was as if the cat had disappeared into thin air. What the hell?

He stalked back to his brother and turned off the TV.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing? I was -"

"Jason, not now!" He rubbed his forehead with one hand, trying to regain his composure. "Were you here all night? Did you hear or smell anything out of place?"

Jason tossed the controller and cocked his head. "Nope. You look pissed off, what happened?"

"Just alert me if you scent any trespassers. I want all windows locked from now on."

He continued to bark orders, he was the Alpha after all, but Jason had stopped listening. He sniffed the air again and walked up to his brother, a confused frown on his face.

"Why do you smell like cat?"

"Shit! I need to wash this off before anyone else smells it."

"Seriously," he leaned in closer and sniffed Jax's chest. "She marked you bro. Are you doing freaky things in there?"

"No!" He growled and then paused. "It's a she? How can you tell? They all smell the same to me."

Jason shrugged a shoulder and said, "Just a hunch. I'm rarely wrong. You want me to track her?"

They went outside together and found her trail from his window to the townhouse across the common yard. They scented around the house but didn't find any evidence of a cat shifter.

"This is just weird, Jax. I know the cat went from that window to your window. But there's no other signs of a cat. It hasn't marked its territory (other than you) ....Ow!! Stop hitting me, I'm trying to figure this out," Jason complained while rubbing his shoulder.

"I. AM. NOT. HER. TERRITORY!" He bit out. He was beyond angry and just wanted to teach this cat her place- which was far away from him and hopefully at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

"Well like I was saying, the woman that lives here is not a shifter. She smells 100% human. She was recently on her period, late twenties, no family or friends that I can tell, and no pets. It's as if that cat just appeared and then disappeared out of thin air."

They both turned their heads when the front door opened and a woman stepped out. She was pretty average, a little too plump for his tastes, but he didn't do humans anyways. She had dark blond hair that couldn't decide between being curly or straight. It was unruly and needed whatever it was girls did to their hair to make it styled.

Her clothes were borderline slovenly. She wore a man's shirt that advertised Jurassic park and a pair of faded jeans with holes in them. Her shoes were old sneakers that looked like she'd owned them in her teens. Jax sniffed the air, but didn't smell the cat on her.

"Are you sure she's the only one living there?" He asked his brother. His nose was telling him it was the truth, but no one had a better nose than Jason.

"Just her. She hasn't had any visitors either."

"Well damn. Tonight we lock the windows and keep alert. I don't like surprises."

He cussed under his breath when he saw Luke and James on his porch. Fantastic- now everyone would know about him getting marked by a cat.

Laughter followed the men into the house.