Free Off Leash (Freelance Familiars Book 1) by Daniel Potter Page A

it’s chomp ! Worst thing that happens to me if I stop paying attention is I wake up with my mouth full of nuts and my paws all muddy." He shot an accusing look at both Oric and me, the angles only made possible by his wide-set eyes.
    "One must always be aware of one’s instincts," the owl agreed. "Now, Thomas, I'd didn't expect to find you here and not at Sabrina's, but this will work out just as well."
    Rudy's face lit up at the mention of Sabrina. "Oh! I got a message for you. She's a bit cheesed off at you. That's kinda standard if you’re breathing, but yeah, she and Cornealius are working on something at the moment. So you can either wait here for her to finish or come back to her place well after dark."
    "Or?" I asked.
    Rudy made a palms-up gesture. "She'll probably hunt you down, zap you unconscious and stick you in a cage until she hands you over to Oric here."
    My ears went flat as I looked to the owl. "You're one of the TAU guys, aren't you."
    "Thomas, Oric is the TAU guy. He started it like a millennia ago."
    "One and a half centuries is hardly a thousand years, Rudy." The owl puffed up slightly. He didn't look that old, unless this particular species of owl wasn't usually pure white. "Anyway." He turned his attention to me and smiled, even though he didn't have lips to smile with—a part of the talking spell, I supposed. "You and I have a bit of business to discuss. An expedited alternative to cages and shocking."

 

Chapter Ten
     
     
    I hunkered down, digging my claws into the floor. A tiny voice in my head shrieked about my rental deposit. "I'm not joining the TAU."
    "Oh, kitten, we actually get that a lot from ex-humans." A new, sultry voice came from the prettiest cat I'd ever seen as she waltzed in from the bedroom. Her fur, pure white fur framed and ice blue eyes that froze my gaze onto hers.
    " W -who, uh, are you?" My tongue felt loose, as if the speech spell was slipping off as the white cat strutted closer.
    "I'm Cyndi," she purred, pressing herself against my forelegs, sending my entire body prickling with heat. "I'm TAU's regional representative. The boots on the ground, so to speak. How do you do?" she asked, encircling my paw with her long, very elegant, very attractive body, with a soft tail that just brushed the underside of my chin. I felt like a thirteen-year-old who suddenly found himself locked in a closet with a naked supermodel.
    Rudy’s chattering laughter broke the spell. My eyes strayed up from Cyndi to find the squirrel on his back, convulsing with laughter. "You should see your face!" He sobered for a brief moment to do an impression of me, hanging his tongue out the side of his mouth while widening his eyes so far that I could see the whites of his black beady eyes. "Oh, Cyndi!" He clasped his paws together and sighed before collapsing back into his laughing fit.
    My ears started to burn as my brain replayed the last few moments. Cyndi made a mew of protest as I jerked my forelegs away from her and scooted backwards down the hallway until both her and Oric were in my field of vision. Cyndi, still pretty, looked put out and made a show of grooming her paw. "Sorry," I said, not entirely sure of what I was apologizing for, as I mentally tried to stuff many thoughts I had about her back into mental boxes that I should not possess. I was human, temporarily in the body of a cougar. Even so, a house cat should be on the menu, not someone you imagine eating spaghetti with like Lady and the Tramp . I tore my gaze off Cyndi and fixed my eyes on Oric. "What business?"
    "Well, it’s more of a question really," the owl said as if he was reading from a long memorized script. He craned his neck towards me and tilted his head a disconcerting ninety degrees. "And the question we need to answer is: Who are you?"
    "What the hell is this? Some sort of life-affirming seminar?"
    "The question is a little rhetorical. But the fact is you are not the man who dwells in this house." He opened his wings