She wound her arms around his neck, pressing her body tightly against his. “If you sent all the males away, you have no security. It’s too important to have guards around you, Gorya. You know you’re a target. I know you’re trying to protect me, but you can’t forget the people in this lair want you dead.”
“We can handle them if they come after us,” he assured her with complete confidence. “I appreciate that you think you need to guard all of us, Maya, but for now, let the three of us watch over you.”
Gorya lifted her, standing smoothly, as if the leopard’s heat didn’t affect him in the least. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her over to the window. She rested her head against his shoulder, her heart soaring.
Wraith, are you certain you want to do this? Rogue? This won’t be easy.
It was such a sacrifice. She was supposed to take care of them, not the other way around, yet the three of them, Gorya, Rogue and Wraith, had come together to protect her. No one had done such a thing in her entire life—except when Gorya and Rogue had when she was a child. Tears burned behind her eyes, but this time it was from sheer happiness. She did have a family. She did have a partner. Three partners.
I love you so much, Gorya. All of you,she amended.
Gorya reached around her to shove open the window while setting her on the windowsill. He kissed her quite thoroughly.
I love you too. Let Wraith have fun. Remember, female leopards do this all the time in the wild.
I hope you know what you’re doing.It was going to be such a relief to shed her human body and allow her leopard to emerge. The fierce sexual burn was too much, even with Gorya distracting her.
Right there on the windowsill she let go of herself and allowed Wraith full ownership of their form. Wraith easily slid into her long, thick fur. She was small, with her frosty undercoat and wider-spaced rosettes. Her coat was quite beautiful. Brilliant frost-blue eyes shone out of her face. She tossed her head, swished her long tail, leapt from the branch and raced into the underbrush.
Maya felt her joy of freedom. Not just of her freedom, but of her ability to be in the wild and call to other males. To declare she was fit and strong and looking for partners to see her sensual, alluring, very playful self.
She raced over fallen logs and through shallow creeks,heading away from the house as fast as she could to put as much distance between her and Rogue as possible. She wanted freedom while she could get it. She wanted a real chase. He should have to work to get her. She deserved that much from him.
Maya found herself smiling at Wraith’s images and emotions. Hormones wreaked as much havoc in the leopard as they did in the human. Wraith had turned almost entirely into a leopard of the wild, rushing into the swamp to announce her lovely presence to as much of the world as she could with a loud, sawing call and spraying the trees with her scent to entice any male who might be in close proximity.
She splashed through shallow creeks and dashed around two termite hills and then playfully rushed up a slope, marking two more trees before rolling in a thick pile of leaves. She sent them scattering in every direction before she was up and running again along a narrow game trail.
Wraith became aware of the big male coming up slowly behind her. He was silent. Stealthy. He was worthy of her attentions. She made certain to show herself to her best advantage.
Maya found herself sharing her laughter with Gorya at the female’s antics.She’s so impossible. What a terrible little hussy she is.
She felt so different to be out of her human form and allow Wraith to take over. The relief was tremendous. She hoped it felt the same to Gorya.
She is, isn’t she?There was amusement in his voice to match hers.
She loved sharing with him. She’d never really had that before. It was the little things others probably took for granted, she decided. Laughing together. Gorya consoling her, holding her when she was terrified of letting the other three down. Feeling safe with him. She’d never had theluxury of feeling safe before. Neither had Wraith. They’d depended on each other, but they lived so carefully and lied so much to everyone, she’d forgotten what telling the truth was until she’d made the pact with Gorya.
The relief on my body is tremendous, Gorya. Thank you for thinking of this.She hesitated but had to know.I hope you’re feeling that same relief.
I am. It also helps to see how joyful Wraith is with her newfound freedom. She likes running wild.
Maya could honestly say she’d never felt Wraith’s happiness the way the leopard was now experiencing the rush of independence and coquettish, kittenish behavior. She deserved to prance around like a wild, free leopard. The cat had been forced from near infancy to be a warrior, a killer, just as Maya had been. They had been shaped into warped killing machines at an early age just to survive. Maya loved feeling Wraith’s joy at the new experience of just being able to have freedom to be a leopard.
Thank you, Gorya. I love this for her.
Gorya flooded her mind with such tenderness and love, she would have dissolved into tears all over again if she had her physical body. She couldn’t remember being so emotional. All the hormones racing through her. She was putting it down to the unfamiliar leopard’s heat—that and the completely unfamiliar feeling of care that another human shared exclusively and seemingly unconditionally with her.
I’d like to take all the credit, but Rogue and Wraith were in on the plan. Rogue and I talked it over, and then he consulted with Wraith. He didn’t want her afraid of him if he had to fight off any other males vying for her attention.
Maya would have bitten down hard on her lip if she was able to while she contemplated what Gorya had told her. She turned that information over and over in her mind. Itwas almost as if Rogue expected to have to fight off other rivals.
I thought you sent the males away.She didn’t want Rogue to fight any of the male leopards who worked security for them. Those men were Gorya’s friends, or as close to friends as he had. They were men willing to risk their lives for him. In the fury of a battle for a female, Rogue could easily kill one of them.
I sent away our males, baby,he soothed.Her call is loud. The night is carrying it far. It’s possible other leopards will be drawn to her.
Gorya didn’t sound as uneasy as she thought he should be.Gorya, if other leopards come to fight Rogue, he could be injured.She had seen the leopard fight. Few, if any, could defeat him, but she didn’t want him killing male leopards unless they were enemies.
Rogue is too fast and too skilled. Right now he’s a little indignant that you would think he could be injured by another leopard.
