The woman's smile was warm but carried an undercurrent of mischief. "Oh yes, I saw your advertisement in the restaurant window down the street. I thought I'd swing by and see if you were as fierce in person as your picture and advertisement suggested."
Jade frowned. The flyer she'd posted at Murphy's Diner was basic—a picture of her executing a side kick to an invisible opponent, her dojo's name, class schedules, and contact information. Nothing personal or boastful. Certainly nothing that would give this stranger insight into her fighting ability.
"Well, are you looking to sign up for a class or a private lesson? Both options are available."
"Oh no, dear." The woman waved a perfectly manicured hand. "I'm just passing through town. But I may have a unique opportunity for you. Something a woman of your caliber might find challenging and intriguing."
Every instinct Jade had developed over years of reading opponents told her this conversation was heading somewhere unexpected. "What kind of opportunity?"
The woman's eyes definitely flashed gold this time, though it happened so quickly Jade almost convinced herself she'd imagined it. "There's a man on the planet Nova Aurora looking for a strong warrior to train and help with some local missions. Temporary, of course."
Jade blinked, certain she'd misheard. "I'm sorry, did you say?—"
"Yes, an alien planet called Nova Aurora. Their jungle territory can be quite dangerous, and General Raikar is in needof a strong warrior. He specifically requested someone with exceptional skill."
The words hung in the air, impossible and yet spoken with such casual certainty that Jade found herself taking them seriously. "Why wouldn't he just find someone there? Seems much more convenient."
"Sure, General Raikar is a panther shifter who has plenty of options on Nova Aurora," the woman continued as if discussing the weather. "But he's looking for true strength paired with dedication and competence. So he reached out to me to help recruit here on Earth. He said if I found a suitable candidate, I should bring them to Nova Aurora immediately."
Panther shifter.
The words should have sounded insane, but something deep in Jade responded to them with recognition rather than disbelief. As if part of her had been waiting her entire life to hear something exactly like this.
Mara's eyes lit up. "Jade, this is exactly what you need right now. This sounds like the kind of challenge that could actually push you. Life-changing doesn't even begin to cover it."
Jade shook her head, though the motion felt automatic rather than decisively dismissive. "My life and my dojo are here. I can't just abandon everything to train with some panther shifter and help with missions on another planet."
But even as she spoke, something powerful stirred in her chest—a pull toward adventure and purpose that she'd been trying to ignore for months. Her soul seemed to be reaching toward this opportunity with desperate hunger.
The woman nodded understandingly. "If you can't do it, that's perfectly fine. But I should mention that this opportunity is once in a lifetime and quite time-sensitive. If you don't go now, you won't get this chance again."
Mara shot Jade a look that spoke volumes—do it, reach for more, stop hiding behind safety.
Jade felt the weight of the decision pressing against her ribs like a held breath. Every rational thought told her this was madness. She had responsibilities, students who depended on her, a life she'd built with careful precision. But underneath the logic, something wild and hungry whispered that this was what she'd been searching for without knowing it.
"Alright." The word escaped before she could stop it. "I'll go to Nova Aurora and train with General Raikar. But only because it's temporary."
The woman's smile could have powered the entire valley. "Excellent! You won't regret this decision. Meet me at the diner tomorrow morning at eight. Oh, and by the way, I'm Gerri."
She turned and walked toward the door with the same purposeful stride she'd entered with, leaving behind only the faint scent of vanilla and something that reminded Jade of lightning.
Mara was practically vibrating with excitement. "Jade, do you realize what you just agreed to? This is incredible!"
Jade stared at the closed door, her heart hammering against her ribs. She'd just made the most impulsive decision of her adult life, agreeing to travel to another planet to train with a panther shifter she'd never met. It went against every principle of careful planning and controlled risk she'd built her life around.
"We'll see about that," Jade muttered as she moved to her desk in the corner of the space to gather her purse.
Mara gathered her gear and headed out of the dojo with a final encouraging nod as Jade moved to secure the dojo's heavy oak doors and activate the security system. The familiar ritual of locking up felt different tonight—heavier, more final. She'd performed these same motions hundreds of times, but now theclick of the lock and the beep of the security system seemed to echo with the weight of goodbye.
The mile walk to her ranch house had always been her decompression ritual, a chance to let her muscles cool and her mind settle. Tonight, the Wyoming valley stretched before her in the golden hour light, mountains rising like protective guardians on either side. The air carried the crisp bite of early autumn, tinged with pine and the distant promise of snow.
Her boots crunched against the gravel road as her thoughts circled back to Gerri's impossible offer. Panther shifters. Another planet. A general who needed her skills for jungle missions. Each detail should have sounded more ridiculous than the last, yet something deep within her responded with a strange recognition rather than skepticism.
But the unanswered questions nagged at her. Gerri had been frustratingly vague about specifics. How long was temporary? What kind of missions would she be helping with? And what exactly made General Raikar request fighters so urgently?
Raikar.
The name rolled through her mind with an odd resonance, as if her body recognized something her brain hadn't caught up to yet.
