A Cat Called Kat

Chapter Eleven - Council of War

When I woke, the next morning, I was lying on my side and Master was wrapped around me in the world's best ever snuggly sleeping position. All the stuff had been taken off me, apart from my collar, of course

"How was it?" he asked me when he noticed that I was awake. He gave me a gentle kiss on the back of my collar.

I had to have a little think about that but his hand was stroking me gently between the legs so I didn't feel in any particular rush to answer.

"I'm glad I tried it but my body liked it much more than my brain," I told him at last. "It was a bit too intense for me and I'm not sure I really like anyone else having their hands on me in that way."

"So, to be reserved as a punishment," he said.

"Yes, Master," I agreed. I didn't really have any choice. Besides, I didn't want to disrupt his stroking hand. With a deep sigh, I sort of melted back into him.

It took us a while but, eventually, we made it down to breakfast. I sort of had to stay with Master on the steep stairs but he managed them all by himself - the first time he'd done that. He was, of course, ridiculously smug about it.

I left him propped up on a chair on the terrace and disappeared out back to get on with my lettuce polishing duties. I gave Terri a hug as we passed - she was on her way to the front of the restaurant to deal with the morning rush.

And, once the rush had died down, Caroline appeared. She gave me a bit of a funny smile when she saw me, of course, and I was almost certain it was her that had got her hands on me the night before...

Almost.

But, of course, I was never going to find out!

But then she started doing her conditioning training thing to Terry and me. I would have  thought that the fact that Terri was there would have taken a bit of her concentration off me but it didn't...

Well... not noticeably!

And when we were done and showered and shiny, we all kind of automatically gathered together for a bit of a Council of War or something. "Right, is everybody ready?" Mr Bossy asked, encouraging everybody to settle down.

I mean... of course, without even thinking about it, he'd taken over the meeting. That's just the way he is. But I could see that Terri wasn't happy about it - and I could sort of tell that this could grow into a real problem and so, I realised, I was going to have to sort it out straight away. "Excuse me a moment," I said to him, then I turned to Terri.

"Sister," I said gently, taking her hand, "do you really think you're up to running a major operation like this?"

She thought for a moment and then gave a bit of a sigh, "Not really, I suppose."

"Then I'm afraid that you're just going to have to resign yourself to the fact that, if Mr Bossy is within quarter of a mile of a meeting, he's going to take over! That's just the way he is. You know that, don't you? I don't call him that for nothing!"

Terri gave a resigned little nod and he reached over and gave my thigh a little squeeze - but I could tell he was teasing rather than being properly grumpy.

But I ignored it and turned to look him in the face. "And do you accept that Terri has the right to veto any of your instructions?" I asked, trying to keep my voice formal and serious.

"Except where it directly impacts my people and resources, I do, Catherine," he answered in the same slightly formal tone.

He gave me a little smile that told me that he appreciated my peace-making thing then carried on. "So, the first thing we have to decide is, are we going to go after Slimeball? Remember that he now has his hands on all the levers of your family's power. Attacking him is not without risk."