I glowered, but there really wasn’t all that much choice. He really did have me over a barrel, but I couldn’t just give in unconditionally.

“Counter-offer. You get everything you got before, except the sticky parts, for a year. Then you let me go,” I offered.

“And what can you give me that would make me want to just throw away one of my prized possessions?” he replied with a smirk.

“A litter of neko kittens, including your precious Nadia. Way I see it, if you have him eat me, you get nothing, so I’m betting you would rather not have it come to that.”

He raised an eyebrow, seemingly intrigued. “You have a better grip on the realities of the situation than I would have expected. Deal,” he replied, and then glanced to one of the security guard accompanying the tiger. “Take her down to Security and get her IDs updated, then get her set up in one of the guest suites.”

“Guest suite?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as well.

“Restricted access. You’ll understand if I don’t feel comfortable leaving you unguarded.”