Leopard Girl

Chapter 1

Jill Wallings tugged the neck of her turtleneck up again as she prepared to start her lecture. The thirty one year old assistant professor did not usually wear something as casual as a turtleneck to class but she needed to hide the bruise on her neck and she couldn't come up with any other reasonable way to do it. She was, however, regretting her decision not to wear a jacket or sweater over it. Even though it was too warm for either of those things, they would have at least concealed her body a little better. As it was, every feminine curve was clearly on display.

The students most definitely did not mind her choice of clothing. The boys all lusted after the beautiful professor. The girls were a mixed bag. Some envied her for her beauty and the effect she had on the boys. The others lusted after her just like the boys. Even some of the ones who considered themselves to be straight would have readily jumped at the chance to bed with her.

Regardless of whether they felt envy or desire, they all adored her. She was everyone's favorite teacher. She was bright and lively. She took a genuine interest in each of her students. And she was always available to help them.

She started her lecture on the cultural history of south Pacific island tribes and every eye in the classroom was on her. After about ten minutes of speaking, she noticed that nobody was taking notes. Most of the students had their eyes roaming over her shapely body. Quite a few were fixated on her large breasts. And one girl was just gazing dreamily into her deep blue eyes. She vowed that she would never wear anything so form-fitting in the future.

She managed to get through the hour and handed out the homework for the next class. After the last student had left, she disappeared into her attached office, closed and locked the door, and collapsed into her chair. She groaned as the thought about her predicament. Her personal life was a mess.

She was happily married and had been for the past five years. That was not her problem. She adored her loving husband. But an indiscretion had turned her life and that of her husband upside down.

She thought back to the past weekend. It had once again been humiliating. While all of her friends had been having picnics or going sailing on the beautiful Saturday, she had been running naked through the woods with people chasing her. And that was not the first time. About once a month, she was hunted like that.

Jill was with a club on that day. She was not a member of the club but her owner was. The club members consisted of a group of wealthy dominant people, fairly evenly split between males and females, who liked to share their slaves and subs. She and her husband had, unfortunately, become slaves due to her indiscretion.

She had not done anything bad. At least in her mind it had not been bad. As a professor, it was common for her to write grant proposals and she was very good at it. In fact, she had won more grant money in the previous year than anyone else in the sociology department. It all supported valuable research, like her current study of the south Pacific tribes.

She and her husband had bought a new house a couple of years earlier. They were both doing well in their careers and decided to go a little more upscale; nothing extravagant but something a little nicer than the little bungalow they had been living in. They also anticipated starting a family soon and wanted more space to raise the children.

But when they were ready to close on the new home, their old home had still not sold. They needed the money from the old home as a down payment for the new one. And with both homes in their names, the mortgage company wouldn't even loan on the new home because they thought that the couple would be over extended.

So Jill borrowed some of the grant money. It was just a temporary arrangement. They planned to finance the new home with a mortgage once the old one sold. And then they would pay the money back. Nobody would be harmed and the money would be used for what it was originally intended.

One of her coworkers discovered the missing three hundred thousand, though. She remembered that discussion vividly.

"So good of you to come, Jill," he had said as she entered his office.

"What is it, Professor?" Jill asked. "I have a class in less than an hour and I have some things to prepare."

"This won't take long," he replied. "And I keep telling you that you should call me Hal."

"Sorry, Hal," she said. "Just force of habit." Jill had earned her PhD at Gulf States University where they now both worked. Hal Bascomb had been one of her professors and was her mentor while she was writing her dissertation.

Hal opened a folder on his desk and studied its contents for a moment. Then he looked up at her. "As the chair of this department, one of my responsibilities is the oversight of our grant monies. There seem to be some irregularities with one of your grants."

"Oh, I can explain that," she said readily. And then she laid out the events that led up to the loan and how she planned to pay it back.

"I see," he said. "But we have a problem. Misuse of federal funds is a federal offense."

Jill's face blanched. She never thought of what she did as a crime. There was to be no harm done to anyone. "Oh," was all she said.

"And it is a very serious offense," he continued. "It is punishable by twenty years in prison. And of course, expulsion from Gulf States would be automatic."

"Oh god," she muttered.

"But have no fear," he smiled. "Based on what you have told me, I'm sure that we can come up with a solution. Now why don't you run along to class while I think about this. Come back later and we can get this all sorted out."

After class, Jill called Hal's secretary and scheduled an appointment with the chairman of the department. It was near the end of the day when Jill returned to Hal's office.

"Thanks for your understanding, Hal," she said as she sat down in the chair facing his desk. "Have you come up with anything?"

"I think so," he replied as he looked at her. This woman is remarkably beautiful, he thought. And then he realized that he had that same thought every time he looked at her. "The best way to handle it is to return the money. Then we can create a document for the file, describing how it was temporarily used for some reason or other."

"But I already told you that I intend to return the money."

"Oh, but I mean return it now. I had a chance to speak with an attorney this afternoon and he said that this was the only way to limit exposure."

Jill sighed. "I don't have that kind of money, Hal. I can't do that until we finance the house. And we can't do that until we sell the old one."

It was Hal's turn to sigh. "Yes. Quite right. You did tell me that earlier. Most unfortunate. But there is another way that was suggested by the attorney. Read and sign this and I will make the deposit back into the account on you behalf."

"Oh, Professor," exclaimed Jill with a sigh of relief. "I mean Hal. That is very kind of you but that is too gracious of you. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"My dear," he said, "You may not have a choice. It's fortunate that I was doing my own checking of the grants yesterday because I learned this morning that the Feds have stepped up their audit programs and that a physics professor at another institution was indicted just last week for something very similar." This was all a fabrication but Hal knew that there would be no way for Jill to know that.

"So I'm afraid that either, I put the money in there myself or you go to prison and I have to find a new sociology professor." He pushed the document toward her and then sat back. "So which will it be?"

"Okay, okay," she said as she picked up the papers. "Well thank you again for all of your kindness."

"Not at all," he smiled. She started to read the document and a frown started to appear on her face, followed by a furrowed brow. Then, all of a sudden, her jaw dropped.

"This is a joke, isn't it?" she asked, bewildered.

"Not at all," he said again. "This is a legal contract to memorialize our arrangement."

"But this would virtually make me you slave," she said incredulously.

"There would be nothing virtual about it, my dear," he replied. "You would literally be my slave, as would your husband."

"This is outrageous!" she protested. "It's preposterous!"

"It's the only way," he said, "unless you can come up with the money."

"Surely there must be another way," she said indignantly. She was getting angry but was trying not to show her temper.

"Take it home. Talk it over with your husband. Perhaps the two of you can come up with a third alternative," he said. "I'll give you until tomorrow morning to decide. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the auditors are scheduled to be here tomorrow?"

Jill blanched for the second time that day. She felt trapped. By this time tomorrow, life as she knew it could be over. She picked up the papers and excused herself. She would have to come up with another way.