Enter the Cat Chapter 1

Chapter 5

I hear Rosy’s distinctive footsteps in the hallway, light and quick, as she heads for the bathroom. Slowly everyone settles lazily into comfortable spots around the room and I relax as I lean back in the chair and stretch my legs out in front of me. When Rosy comes out from her shower I watch as she enters the room. She is just about to settle herself in a chair when Doc starts talking to her. She clearly is not in a co-operative mood, refusing to allow Doc to take blood for DNA testing. Doc changes tactics and asks about her parents instead. I realise her distrust of males goes back even further than she is probably aware of as she talks about her parents. She talks about her mother and a man who had either abused her mother or had gotten her pregnant then abandoned her to face her cuckolded husband by herself. The Christian name of her mother is familiar but I can’t place it when Rosy lets it slip.

"Who’s Jeddah?" Doc asks.

"Jeddah MacIntosh, my mother. Harry called her Miss Molly," Rosy says sounding as if she has had enough of his questions.

"I don’t…!" Sam exclaims.

"Sam! Be quiet," I snap as I recognise the name with a start. Could it possibly be? Surely there couldn’t be a werecat and a woman both with exactly the same names.

"Do you know the name of her husband?" Doc asks in a strained voice.

"Ray MacIntosh," Mitchell says and Rosy instantly turns towards him with a hate filled snarl.

"How do you know the low down cunt’s name?"

"He’s our father," Sam says getting to his feet. "Jeddah was our mother’s name."

"That’s fucking crap! I was an only child! My mother never had any other children and she would never have left them if she did have other children! Hell, both Doc Caruthers and Harry said she was so paranoid about something happening to me she never let me out of her sight! Harry said the only reason I wasn’t with her when she died was because she went out to get something to eat." Rosy is snarling angrily as she watches Sam.

Mitchell says something I miss as I watch the variety of emotions flicking across Rosy’s face - disbelief, fear, anger, desperation, and terror.

"What? You’re saying I was born to a werecat! That’s fucking bullshit! I didn’t change until after a cat attacked me! I was human," Rosy yells her eyes wide with disbelief and panic.

I am aware that Doc is trying to soothe and reason with her but I can smell Rosy’s panic rising with each second.

"I wasn’t born like something out of a fucking freak show! I was born normal! I just got turned into a fucking freak," Rosy screams almost incomprehensible. She is moving from foot to foot in agitation.

"Rosy, a simple blood test can clear this up. Potentially two brothers and a father to cross match against…" Doc offers gently and without meaning to makes it worse for her.

"No! No! I am so out of here! I am not listening to any more of this shit," Rosy yells in outrage.

What happens next is too fast for me to intervene. Edwin says something in a whisper just behind Rosy and grabs her. Her scream of terror is animal like and I realise she is in a blind panic as Edwin and his team wrestle her onto the lounge. She is putting up a hell of a fight but is no match for the four battle experienced toms. I see Doc hurriedly drawing something into a syringe and grimace as he quickly injects it into her thigh. Mitchell heads for Edwin but Sam grabs his brother from behind keeping him well back from the lounge. I can see how upset both of them are, there is no longer any doubt in my mind that Rosy is related to them.

I curse Edwin for a fool and an idiot. He was stupid grabbing Rosy like that. She may have run off for a period of time but she probably would have returned once she had time to calm down. She would not be able to resist the pull of the sibling bond, even if they had just one parent in common. All Edwin achieved was to ruin the trust she had in us and terrifying her half out of her mind. I listen as Mitchell worries over Rosy. Sam is still restraining him and I know Mitchell is as likely to lash out at Edwin as try to soothe Rosy as she becomes unconscious. Doc looks my way then glances down at Rosy where she is barely moving.