I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 68: To Die

There was a turtle. I blinked. I'd fallen asleep evidently because I didn't remember there being a turtle. So this was either a dream or a weird thing that was just happening.

I sat up, slowly. Alisha was behind me and everything else looked right so this was probably real life.

There was just a turtle crawling along the floor.

Why was there a turtle?

It was struggling a bit to keep going. Should I move it…? Did it need to be let outside?

No. How would a turtle get in? Turtles weren't exactly capable of darting through an open door and The wasn't the kind of person that would leave a door open for too long. It must be a pet. It had a pretty coloration with red and yellow stripes and markings.

Alisha shifted behind me and started to sit up, seeing I was awake.

“Kippen?” she mumbled.

“Hm?”

I looked behind me.

“‘You feeling okay?” she asked and rubbed her eye.

I nodded. “I'm okay,” I told her.

“Good,” she said. She blinked at the same sight that had been confusing me. “When did he get a turtle?”

I looked at the little reptile puttering along. “Tye is an animal person,” I observed.

“Oh yes. He takes in a lot of the strays that clean up needs to get rid of. Otherwise…”

I didn't need to ask. When someone needed to simply disappear, that included their pets.

The turtle dragged its shell a little further before giving up and flopping down again.

Tye came from the back part of the house then, fully dressed and awake. The black cat was behind him, once again freezing at the sight of us and then staring curiously.

I put a couple fingers down at the floor and the small thing approached, eyeing the turtle warily before reaching my fingers.

I could feel the little breaths as it sniffed and then pushed its head into them.

“So cute,” I said and looked up at Tye. “What's their name?”

“He’s Toothy,” Tye answered and opened his fridge.

“Toothy,” I repeated, controlling the amount of excitement I showed in my voice.

Alisha was smiling, amused by my antics.

I wondered why he had chosen ‘Toothy’ as the name as the little guy flopped onto his side to show me the soft belly fur. I brushed my fingers down his side, and then found something sharp and pointy clamping down on my hand.

That was why he was named Toothy. Still, it was a warning bite and didn't even hurt. I gave the cat some space as he groomed the section I had just been touching.

“I don't have any coffee, otherwise I would offer some,” Tye informed us and instead pulled out the orange juice.

“That's fine. It's not like this was expected.” Alisha pulled me close again.

I looked down at the bandages encasing my hand. There was a soreness under them now: healing pains and the burning of disrupted nerves.

At least, I determined after flexing it a few times, I still had full use of it. The cut was pretty deep so it wouldn't be that surprising if something important had been severed.

“Uhm…” I started. “You're guard… yesterday.”

Alisha nodded, going rather serious at this.

“I never knew his name,” I said. “And I feel a bit bad about that.” Tye came over and handed us each a glass of juice.

“He was very quiet,” Alisha told me. “He preferred to be out of the way and left alone. But his name was Brett.”

I nodded. “I'm so sorry I didn't say anything sooner.”

Tye pitied me, I saw on his face.

Alisha gave me a comforting hug. “That wasn't your fault. I should've assumed Nico wouldn't go quietly. And nobody else would have smelled that. You have a very powerful olfactory sense, I've noticed.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Your sense of smell and taste,” she explained. “You rely on them a lot.”

I hadn't noticed. “I can't smell or taste anything at the moment. Is that normal?” The juice in the glass tasted a lot like vague syrupiness. And that was not what orange juice tasted like.

Alisha nodded. “But you will heal. We got you all checked out for any major complications.”

“I'm glad,” I said.

“We do need to figure out what to do going forward,” Alisha said.

“Matteo said your house is in the clear. No one's approached it or anything. Not that it would be smart to make a second attempt on your life so soon,” Tye informed her.

“Mm. Criminals aren't always known to be particularly smart,” Alisha commented and took a sip of juice. “But that's good either way. We can be out of your hair tonight then.”

Tye was observing again, silently watching. He did that a lot. When the turtle finally reached a doorway and started to scratch at it, like it wanted in, he went over and picked it up and opened that door to bring it inside. I saw more aquariums there, brightly lit with various lamps.

He set the turtle in one of those tanks with just a few inches of water, a log, and a bright lamp on it. I didn't want to know what his electricity bill was like running all of the heaters and lamps and water pumps. There was also a squawk from some kind of bird in there upon seeing him.

“Are you looking for Nico now?” I asked Alisha.

She nodded. “Only listening though. We haven't put a contract on his head as of yet. As far as anyone knows, we just disappeared for the moment. And knowing Nico, he expects to be welcomed as the don if he successfully killed me.”

“But…” I looked at Tye. 

“That's not official and even so…” Alisha said. 

“I wouldn't want that job anyway,” Tye finished.

“I see. So right now, are you going to go into hiding?”

Alisha contemplated this for a long moment. “The only people that know I'm alive are either in this room or I trust them. Our doctor isn't even associated and he takes doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously.”

“Matteo sure the hell won't say anything either,” Tye filled in. His cat had gotten up to lurk around his feet. “In fact this might be a good time for you to get a much needed vacation.”

“Hm,” Alisha grumbled. “Right after my bikini figure was ruined.”

Tye made a gesture. “When was the last time you went twenty four hours without someone pestering you about something?”

Alisha was quiet.

“It's been like a decade, right?” he pushed.

She shrugged.

“So… if you ‘die,’ then you can take a day or two to let the players reveal themselves. Matteo and I can keep an eye on things and let you know when Nico comes out of hiding. This'll also give us time to assess Sergei's position and the other old family captains.”

Alisha contemplated. I settled next to her and gave her my support. “I don't think it would hurt to take some time off. But I also don't know what the implications would be from that.”

“I'm more concerned about Tye and Matteo,” she said. “Because Nico knows they’re close to me.”

“I can handle myself,” Tye told her. “You forget I was raised with the old family watching over my shoulder at all times. I know how to keep them content.”

“But… will they trust you at all?”

Tye shrugged. “Hiding won't make me look any better,” he said.

Alisha sighed and looked at her phone. I gathered she hadn't messaged anyone since the incident.

And then she held it out to him. “Spread the rumour,” she said. “Kitten and I will find somewhere to hang low.”

“May I suggest a few cities away,” Tye suggested. “Where you can be a little more relaxed about not getting seen.” He took her phone and powered it down.

“But then I can't get here fast enough. And if the old family tries to purge the new family, and I'm not there then–”

“Alisha,” Tye cut her off. “The one that they'd send to do the purging would be me or one of my people. You don't have to go all the way to the West Coast or anything like that. Even if it's just two hours away, they won't be able to cover that much search area.”

Alisha sighed and swirled her juice much like she would a glass of wine before drinking a little more.

“I'll be with you,” I told her. “I was supposed to be with you when– the bomb happened, so it would make sense I'd be dead too.”

“You know that means you'd be stuck at my side with absolutely no contact with anyone else?”

I nodded. “And I know I'll have to carry a weapon the entire time.” I looked at Tye, who nodded.

“You'd be on your own without security,” he agreed. “So if something happens, it's just the two of you. Should Alisha get hurt…”

It was my responsibility to get her to safety, no matter the cost. I nodded my agreement to this.

“Kitten…” Alisha stopped herself before saying what was on her mind.

“I'd say we should teach you proper shooting form but we don't have time. We need to get the two of you transportation out of here without drawing attention.”

“But any vehicle we have access to has a risk of getting noticed,” Alisha followed.

“Maybe a bum car?” Tye suggested. “Or the chop shop might have something not entirely broken down, if we get a paint job…”

Alisha shook her head. “Nico probably has eyes and ears everywhere. So any of our resources are going to be questionable.”

“Maybe… could I rent a car?” I offered.

“Rent… a car?” Alisha repeated. “Like… that we wouldn't own?”

“I don't think you're planning on using it illicitly in any sense of the word,” I told her. “And you would know if any of the rental places had associates in them, right?”

“Yes… I do technically own a truck rental company and a car rental company.” Alisha was skeptical of this plan.

“I'm talking about something like FreqRent. At the airport. They can't disclose customer information so as long as Nico doesn't pull an employee from every car rental place in the city and beat the crap out of them, then there's no way for him to know.” And since Alisha and Tye both seemed unsure of this like it was an exotic new kind of vegetable, it was not something Nico would believe her to do.

“It could work,” Tye agreed. “But will they accept cash? Any of Alisha’s company cards can be tracked.”

“But not my private debit card,” Alisha told him.

“They might try,” Tye pointed out.

“I have accounts that have never been touched,” Alisha said. “And they're not credit lines so there isn't public record of them. Only private.”

He considered this. “Yeah that would do it. Then with some burner phones and some cash, you should be all set for a few days.”

Alisha let this sink in. It wasn't a flawless plan, admittedly. But it was better than going back out there and waiting for the next bomb or a sniper or any number of other assassination attempts by Nico.

Alisha and I were both very fortunate that we had been standing where we had been when that bomb went off and she still had a nasty injury to her back. I probably got away as well as I did because she was standing in front of me.

Finally, with a sigh Alisha said, “alright, Kitten. Let's take a little vacation. Just you and me.”

I nodded. There were still a lot of feelings about the incident that had yet to surface, and probably more panic attacks that would just happen seemingly randomly. But that didn't mean we couldn't have a little enjoyment while we waited.

Note: if there's any vacation fluff you really want to see, let me know in the comments because the plot things that need to happen aren't going to need to be in super specific situations and these two really need some good positive memories I would love to give to them.