Portend

Tony shuddered as a black cat crossed his path, certain that it portended trouble for him. Generally cats stayed far away, recognizing him as lesser royalty and knowing better than to interfere with him. He had too much power to attract the common cats, but not enough power to attract the sycophants either. If the cats were approaching him that meant that something terrible was happening at home to change the power structure. When he spoke of home, he didn’t mean his apartment in DC. No, he referred to his real father’s kingdom, which was technically in another dimension.

He felt himself being forced to change into his true (feline) form and being pulled into his father’s kingdom with a cringe. In cases like this, he hated being right. While nicer than Senior, his real father was still nothing to write home about as he placed the good of the kingdom above everything including his family and morals. Tony wasn’t entirely sure how his real father had managed to have such loose morals while still showing more care to his kids than Senior had ever shown to him.

That’s right, his real father had had multiple children. In fact, Tony shouldn’t have been pulled back into this kingdom ever as he was the absolutely last one in the line of inheritance for the throne. So when he’d chosen to live his life as a human in the human dimension, he’d expected it would be the last he’d see of his father’s kingdom knowing that his oldest brother would likely take the throne and marry and then it would pass on to his children completely skipping Tony.

Even if his oldest brother hadn’t taken it, there were 5 other brothers and a sister in between him and the throne and as soon as one of them married and had a kid the inheritance would completely skip over Tony. Sure, he would have been invited back for a wedding, but that wouldn’t have forced the change. Only losing all other candidates to the throne could force him to automatically change into his true form with no way for him to stop the transformation.

As he looked around his father’s kingdom, he couldn’t help wondering what had happened. The castle reeked of destruction. Looking around, he wondered if anyone had lived through whatever this was. His question was soon answered as he heard a softly mewed, “Prince Anthony?”

Turning to look at the little kitten that approached him, Tony confirmed, “Yes?”

“Oh. Thank god. For a minute, I thought they’d gotten to you, too.” The little kitten scampered closer, circling him to inspect him and make sure he was unharmed.

“Can you tell me what happened here, miss...?” Tony trailed off, not knowing what to call her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m Sammy. Pleased to meet you.” The little kitten lowered her head out of respect.

“Stop that. We can’t stand on ceremony, right now. Now, what’s going on?” Tony demanded.

"Your father’s enemies have killed the royal family and all their heirs except you. Even the other heirs that were in the human dimension were found and killed. It is believed they missed you only because you left the kingdom when you were so young and then had a falling out with your adoptive parents. However, I’m sure they will be back especially once they realize that the power of this kingdom has not transferred to them. You must be prepared,” the sweet little kitten warned.

“What about the kingdom?” Tony queried.

“Well as you can see the castle is quite the mess, but there were few casualties outside the royal family. You’ll have to pick an advisor before you’ll be able to leave for the human dimension again. Your first priority after that should be finding your mate and procuring an heir.” As the kitten explained this, a number of other cats gathered around the kitten and prince Anthony.

Tony wanted to rub his eyes and head, but in this form that really wasn’t recommended. This sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. He definitely did not want to be responsible for a kingdom. “Anything else I should know?”

“You do remember that in order to claim your mate, you must manage to attach your bell to them without their knowledge, don’t you? Also, it’s highly recommended that if you choose to return to the human dimension you take a different form than the one you’ve been using as your father’s enemies have probably already found your previous alias.” One of the older cats spoke up.

Tony sighed. “Thank you, Sir …,” Tony prompted wanting to know who had been offering him advice as he’d probably make one of them his advisor.

“Rupert, Prince Anthony.” The older gray cat, who had previously spoken, murmured softly.

“Would you be willing to take on the role of my advisor, Sir Rupert?” Tony questioned needing to get back to the human dimension as fast as possible. It was where he belonged in his eyes.

Sammy mewed sadly, surprised that she hadn’t been offered the advisory position after she explained the most and was the one to find Prince Anthony.

Tony hated hurting the sweet kitten’s feelings, but he had other plans for her, so she couldn’t be his advisor.

“I would be honored, Your Majesty.” Rupert quickly accepted before Prince Anthony could change his mind.

“Great. Your first job as my advisor is to set up the heir adoption trials for young Sammy, here. She showed great courage today and I believe she will make an excellent heir to this kingdom. I would like to get this set up as fast as possible, so that I can return to the human dimension to find my mate without worrying that the kingdom will fall into the wrong hands should I die.” Truthfully after so many years in the human dimension, Tony already knew who his mate was and he was eager to return to him in any way he could.

One Leroy Jethro Gibbs, wily bastard and boss, had been his mate for a long time, but he hadn’t been ready to explain his alternate form. He knew Gibbs would eventually end up seeing it if they became intimate. It was impossible to hide it during the true joining of emotional and physical intimacy and thus Tony had made no move on the man. He also knew that it would be difficult to get his bell onto Gibbs without him knowing, but he was damn sure he’d have fun trying.

All cats had to earn their bell when they came of age. Once earned, the bell stayed looped around their neck like a collar, though there were charms that all cats could use to hide it. Once they found their mate, they then attempted to move their bell to their mate instead. It had to be done without their mate knowing as cats were naturally alert and it was considered proof that your mate was comfortable around you if you could get your bell onto them without them noticing.

If it’s a true match, their mate’s bell will automatically appear around their neck after their bell is on their mate. Many cats though settled for the first cat they could get their bell around not wanting to take the time to find their true match. He remembered his human mother telling him stories, fairytales really, of cats placing their bells around unsuspecting humans and ending up mated for life when they thought they were just going to have a bit of fun since humans didn’t have bells only for the human’s bell to appear around their neck anyway as a sign of true mating.

Of course, he knew those were fairytales. There was no way that he’d get a bell from Gibbs around his neck. Not even, once he succeeded in getting his bell around Gibbs. However, there also would never be anyone for him other than Gibbs, so he would accept whatever he got even though the true mating would never complete.

Rupert stared at Tony in shock, he could tell this ruler was going to turn the kingdom upside down. “But sir, those trials haven’t been held in forever.”

“I know, but they’re still legal and the chances of me having an heir the natural way even in the future are slim to none. Plus, these guys have already killed off all of the royal family except for me. This kingdom needs some backups in place. Now shoo. I need to find my mate as soon as possible.” He knew that time ran differently in this dimension compared to the human dimension. He only hoped to return before Gibbs realized he’d been gone. He wasn’t looking forward to payback if he ended up missing work.