This was what Shan wanted to know, too. It was clear something was wrong. Leonie had insisted they all go to the office, where they could speak in private. Now they were there, however, she seemed in no hurry to talk.
Leonie stirred creamer into her coffee, avoiding her sister’s eyes. Her own were back to their usual shade of deep amber. It was the color they’d been for most of the time he’d known her…and yet somehow, it kept catching him by surprise. Odd, how quickly he’d become accustomed to seeing her with those other, golden eyes.
“The lion and eagle didn’t want to separate.” Leonie cupped her hands around her mug. “I had to force them apart.”
He’d suspected as much. “I take it that is not normal.”
“No. It always takes a bit of effort to split them, but not that much.” Her hands trembled, coffee spilling over the sideof her mug. She set it aside untouched. “For a moment, I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to do it at all.”
She still looked pale and shaky, as if she were recovering from a bad bout of flu. Lola, in contrast, seemed...stronger. She’d been dynamic enough before, but now she practically blazed with vitality. It was like some vital force had drained out of Leonie, transferring to her sister.
“Huh,” Lola said. She kept rubbing absently at her chest, as though she had heartburn. “That must be why the eagle is so restless. It’s trying to get back to you.”
His heart sank. Lola might be willing to give him a chance. Her animal, it seemed, was not so easily won over.
“Then this will keep happening?” he asked Leonie. “If we try to complete the mate bond, the eagle will return to interfere?”
“I’m…not sure.” Leonie hesitated, looking at Lola. “I want to try something. But it might be risky.”
Lola snorted. “Catbutt, I jump into forest fires for a living. Risky is my middle name. What do you want me to do?”
“We’ve never tried to swap animals while one of us was shifted.” Leonie held out a hand. “Let’s see if we can.”
Lola’s eyebrows rose. Her form shimmered, blurring into the shape of a huge golden eagle, at least twice the size of any natural bird.
The eagle hopped up onto Leonie’s arm, wings half-spread for balance. Leonie closed her eyes, forehead furrowing in concentration.
Nothing happened.
After a long moment, the eagle cocked its head. It clicked its beak, making a questioning sound.
Leonie let out her breath. She opened her eyes again, a relieved smile spreading across her face.
“I thought so.” She lowered her arm, letting the eagle hop back to Lola’s chair. “I can’t reach the eagle when you’reactually shifted. It’s like pushing against a solid brick wall. The connection’s just not there.”
The eagle shifted back into Lola, now crouched with both feet on her chair and her arms half-spread. She slid to a more normal sitting position, looking thoughtful. “Huh. So, if I’m shifted while you two are getting busy, the eagle won’t be able to rush back to get in the way?”
“That sounds like a solution,” he said slowly. He looked at Leonie. “Yet you said we had a problem.”
Her smile slipped away. “It’s not a problem, exactly. But you’re not going to like it. You have to promise me you aren’t going to get upset.”
“No,” Shan said flatly.
“I’m liking you more and more,” Lola informed him. She folded her muscled arms, glaring at her sister. “Catbutt, tell me you’re not about to say what I think you’re going to say.”
Leonie rubbed her face. “I know why my lioness flipped out and pulled the eagle to me. And why they fought me when I tried to split them apart again. It’s not because they don’t like you, Shan. Or because they don’t want us to mate. They’re frightened. They don’t want to be separated.”
His unease deepened. “But they are accustomed to being apart.”
“Not like this.” Leonie was still pale, but there was a determined set to her jaw. She had the look of a woman who had made up her mind and would not be easily dissuaded. “The mate bond isn’t just between you and me. It’s between our animals, too. My lioness will end up linked to your qiongqi. But the eagle won’t be. It’ll be…left out.”
“Shit,” Lola muttered. Her yellow eyes went distant for a moment, as if she was focusing on some internal conversation. “They won’t be able to merge. No more griffin.”
“And a shifter can’t have two different animals.” Leonie took a deep breath. “Once I’m mated, I won’t be able to sharemy lioness any more. And I won’t be able to take back the eagle. We’ll be the way we are now. Permanently.”
Horror gripped his throat. He stared at his mate, unable to speak.
He’d been so frightened that he would hurt her. That it was in his nature. That he could not help but destroy her, just as his father had destroyed his mother.
