She stared at him, shocked to the core by his words and the underlying anger in them.
He laughed without warning, and that made her frown harder.
“I might try to shift and then have a swim,” he said, changing the subject.“Will you swim with me?”
“I can’t swim in this.”She indicated her wrap.
“Take it off.No one comes to this beach apart from my family.They know we’re here and they won’t interrupt us unless it’s an emergency.”He stood and extended his hand.
She took it, and he hauled her to her feet.Deft fingers untwisted the knot at her breasts and before she could gather a protest, the silky fabric fluttered to the sand, leaving her naked.
“I’m going to shift now,” Leo said.“Fingers crossed that everything goes as it should.”
Betrys stood back and watched Leo.The transformation from humanoid to feline seemed to take even longer than the first time she’d seen him shift.The sounds of bones cracking and reshaping made her wince.Then, Leo stood before her in leopard form, his sides heaving with exertion and his maw open wide while he panted.
“Do you want some water?”
He grunted once.Once for yes, she recalled, and reached for the water bottle.She was unsure of what to pour the water into then noticed the shallow bowl in the basket of food someone had packed for them.She poured water for Leo and waited while he drank his fill.
The solar star was hot on her bare skin, and when Leo ambled into the jade water, she followed him.
“It’s cold,” she shrieked.
Leo grunted and he gamboled around her, splashing her with more cool water, his mouth open in a kind of a feline smirk.The expression on his face, the humor in his familiar green eyes reminded her of her son.For once it was a good memory, one of fun and games, and she laughed out loud and scooped up water in her hands to splash him in the face.
He let out a strange, yet heart-warming bark of laughter and burst into a frenzy of movement, splashing them both.
“Right,” she said.“This is war.”
They played and giggled and splashed each other until they were both soaked and Betrys warded him off with raised hands.
“Enough,” she said, still chuckling.
Leo exited the sea and shook himself with vigor.
“Hey!”
Leo flicked his tail and trotted up the beach to where their belongings lay on the sand.Betrys paused to release her hair from its scraggly bun and wrung out the excess water.
“Hurry up, slowpoke,” Leo called.
Betrys glanced in the direction of his shout.“You shifted.”She hurried across the sand.“Are you all right?How do you feel?Do you need to take more painkillers?”
“I’m fine.”Leo cupped her face and smiled.“Saber was right.I feel much better after my shift, and the transformation was much easier just now.I’m starving.Do you want something to eat?”
He grabbed her hand and tugged her onto the blanket they’d spread out earlier.His gaze wandered her bare shoulders and followed the progress of a droplet of water as it dripped off a tendril of hair and rain over her collarbone and down, down across the curve of her breast.
“Or maybe we’ll eat later.”He leaned closer to lick the bead of water off her skin.
Her breath caught and caught again when his mouth shifted to settle on one nipple.Instead of sucking, he delicately licked, his tongue a brand on her senses.
Betrys clutched his shoulders and clung, her head tipping back as she thrust her breasts forward in a silent demand for more.“Leo.”She followed up with a verbal entreaty.“Please.”
He lifted his head, his eyes doing a weird shift to partial feline.“I do please.”And he pushed her back onto the blanket and rose over her.“I want you.I always want you.”
“You do?”She bit her lip on hearing the insecurity in her tone, but the truth was Iseult had dented her confidence, made her doubt herself and wonder about Leo’s intentions.She tried not to dwell on things outside her control.Yes, once Ricci was safe she could move on and create a new, safe future for both of them.
“One day you won’t doubt me.”Leo’s voice took on a hard edge.“I understand more than you think, which is why I’m willing to give you a chance to accept this, us.”
