Cas jerked awake suddenly, sitting straight up. Something had disturbed him enough to wake him up. He quickly and quietly scanned his immediate surroundings, his darting around as he looked for danger. Cas wasn’t real familiar with what kind of life forms were on this planet but he knew some sort of predator was out in the darkness watching him.

He could feel hungry eyes roaming over him, watching him, waiting.

Cas made sure that he had his knife close at hand then reached out and added another handful of twigs to the dwindling fire. Hopefully, whatever animal was out there would be scared off by the growing flames.

The snap of a twig off to one side of him had Cas swinging around, the knife held high in the air. His heart started beating a little faster in his chest, his palms sweating as fear climbed up his spine and wrapped around him like a blanket.

Cas swung back around when he heard another twig snap, this time from the other side of the small clearing. He peered into the darkness, trying to see what was there but all he saw were shadows.

“Who’s there?” Cas’s voice was barely above a whisper, fear and apprehension stripping away the rough tone he had hoped to use. He wasn’t a small man but he wasn’t huge either. If he could intimidate whatever was out there, maybe he could scare it off.

The sound came from his left again as if whatever was taunting him moved quickly from spot to spot, circling Cas, studying him. Or maybe there was more than one. But more than one what, he didn’t know.

Cas swung back around when the sound came from behind him. He was going to start to get dizzy here pretty soon if he kept swinging around in circles. And he probably would because there was definitely something moving through the trees.

“Go away!” he shouted, hoping whatever was out there would be scared off if he yelled loud enough. Cas did not expect the thunderous roar that he heard or the blur of cinnamon colored fur as something bigger than life rushed out of the darkness right at him.

Cas glanced down at the knife in his hand then up at the massive beast running toward him. He glanced at the small, pitiful knife again…

And ran for his life.

He barely had time to take more than a few steps before he was hit from behind and taken to the ground with a painful thud. Whatever had him, shook him until his fingers went numb and he dropped his knife.

Cas screamed as he tried to fight, tried to hit out with his fists, but his arms were quickly pinned over his head. He tried to kick out with his legs, but they were pinned just as quickly as his arms had been. He struggled as he was rolled over, a heavy weight blanketing him from behind.

Every movement ceased when he heard a low rumbling growl in his ear. The sound was so close that he could feel hot breath blowing out over the side of his face. Cas gulped, just knowing he was about to die.

He had gone from one hell right into another one.

Cas closed his eyes, not wanting to see his death coming. A long, sandpaper like tongue licking up the side of his face was not what he expected—unless he was about to be eaten. Gods, was that a tongue?

Was he being tasted?

Cas refused to open his eyes, not even when he felt something soft and furry rub against his cheek. The fur was buttery soft in some places and course in others. Under normal circumstances, Cas wouldn’t have minded rubbing the softness all over his body.

These were not normal circumstances.

Cas started to open his eyes to see what was pinning him to the ground until he heard another low growl. It was a primal sound, one that made Cas shiver with fear and dread and something he really didn’t want to examine at the moment—because there was no way in hell he was getting turned on by something growling in his ear. 

He snapped his eyes closed again.

Cas felt something sharp move against his skin. It was so close that he could feel the impression of it against his flesh but it didn’t cut into his skin. It cut into the regulation gray bodysuit he wore.

When Cas started to struggle, he heard the low growl again. Cas swallowed hard, not having a fucking clue what was going on but slowly coming to the conclusion that whatever had him was some sort of humanoid. And that meant maybe it could be reasoned with.

“Uh, my name is Cas,” he said as he opened his eyes and turned his head just enough to see movement behind him. Cas pressed his lips together when the growl grew louder. Apparently, talking was not a good thing.

Cas tried not to cry out as his bodysuit was shredded strip by strip, and pulled from his body. He tried not to struggle when hands as big as boulders moved over his flesh. The touches were gentle, as if whoever had him was curios and didn’t want to hurt him, but they still freaked him the hell out.

Cas even tried not to struggle when he was flipped over onto his back and stretched out onto the ground, the large form of whatever had him moving over the top of his body until he was covered from head to toe in soft fur.

He waited several minutes for it to move or bite him or do something, but when nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes. Cas eyelashes fluttered wildly as he tried to make sense of the fact that he was staring up at what could only be considered some sort of cat man. The guy had a light layer of cinnamon colored fur over his face—hell, his entire body—a slightly protruding nose, pointed ears, and teeth.

Really big, sharp looking teeth.

“Nice kitty.” At least, Cas thought it was a kitty…cat...feline…whatever.

The damn thing was purring.

Cas swallowed again as his head was forced back. He heard a small chuffing noise then a wet nose pressed against his skin. “Okay, the sniffing thing is a little weird. I’ll admit that, but it’s better than—Hey!” If Cas had been in his right mind, he would have thought twice before smacking the beast on the nose. Obviously, he had lost his mind. “No biting.”

The deep, chest rumbling growl that followed that small swat made Cas wish that he had kept his hands to himself. He squeezed his eyes closed when hot breath blew out across his face and the upper side of his chin.

Oops just didn’t quite cover it. Cas didn’t think saying I’m sorry would work either. He didn’t even know if the creature understood him. He just hoped if he kept his mouth shut and didn’t smack the beast again, he wouldn’t have his throat ripped out.

“Hey!” Cas shouted when he was suddenly flipped over, totally forgetting his promise of a moment before about keeping his mouth shut. “I’m not a frigging rag doll. Don’t toss me around like—whoa!” Cas’s eyes suddenly rounded. “Dude, that does not go there.”