In Cat’s Meow, the first in Tampa area erotic romance author Nicole Austin’s Predator Project series, she introduces Micah Lassiter, a retired soldier, and Rebecca Southerby a timid zoologist, when they meet and have a hot one-night stand. Neither one would have ever dreamed of what happens before they meet again!

But then Micah, head of security at Nanotech Industries, is injured in the line of duty and accepts a proposition that will increase his strength and endurance exponentially. Dr. Rebecca Southerby is then brought in to deal with his newfound attributes, and is shocked to find the man she slept with is now able to change into a lion at will. But no one told poor Micah that was going to be the end result, nor that the twisted head of Nanotech was going to keep him locked up.

Rebecca’s been dreaming about Micah since that night and so takes it as her duty to help him. If they can renew their interrupted budding relationship, all the better. If she can bring herself to find out when the change in Micah took place and how it effects the baby she’s carrying thanks to that hot night, all the better. Can she get him out of Nanotech’s clutches? Will the he-man/half-lion Micah blow a gasket and head for the hills when he finds out what Rebecca’s hiding? Or can they actually save the other test subjects in the Predator Project, can they keep their hands off each other long enough to do that, and will they be able to make something resembling a life together?

You’ll have to read to find out.

Overall, I would’ve liked to get a little more of the science fiction part of the story—the genetic manipulation going on at Nanotech, how the other forced participants took it, the subterfuge behind it all—and though in all honesty, secret baby stories aren’t my favorite, I enjoyed the (ahem) rip-roaring tale in Cat’s Meow very much. If you like shapeshifter tales, I think you’ll really enjoy Cat’s Meow so do check it out. It’s out now in an omnibus edition of the Predator Project, in a paperback under the title of Predators (and Nicole Austin herself graciously provided me with my review copy), which you can find at the Ellora’s Cave website, here. Or separately as an ebook, also via Ellora’s Cave, here.