Page 60 of Remington’s Mate

She put the knife down, and he came slowly up to the bed. He rose on his hind legs and put his forelegs on the bed, patting her gently with one paw. No claws.

He really was gorgeous. White fur, black spots, pretty pretty cat eyes. She reached out cautiously and petted the top of his head. He rubbed his cheek up against her hand and started to purr.

“Well, you’re really just a softy inside, aren’t you,” she said. “So what was that growling and pouncing about?”

It had really looked like he was out of control. That was not good. She petted him some more. “Can you Change back?” He just blinked at her again.

Oh, hell. Was he stuck? That kind of made sense, she realized. If this wasn’t his dominant animal, maybe he’d never even been a leopard before. Maybe their bonding had made something go haywire.

She’d dealt with stuck shifters before, anyway. The cubs in the pack, when they were very young, sometimes Changed and couldn’t get back.

She put her hands on either side of his head. “Look at me,” she said. “I want you to try to be human, like me. We’re going to be the same, okay? You can make us be the same.”

She looked into his eyes. Faintly, like an echo in her mind, she heard, The same? We will be the same?

Without warning, she got a vision of a field and a forest and a fairy-tale cottage. In front of the cottage was a mass of energy, like a ball of fog.

Jaeda felt a sudden sense of recognition from the fog, and then a surge of sheer joy. The fog flowed toward her, faster and faster, until it rushed into her, filling her up.

And her body exploded.

For a minute, all Remy could see was white light. Then his vision cleared, and he was on the floor of Jaeda’s room in the safe house.

He was in leopard form.

And in front of him, on the bed, was the she-leopard. Here. In the flesh.

Holy fuck. He’d turned Jaeda into the she-leopard.

He felt like his feet were rooted to the floor. She rose clumsily to her feet and jumped off the bed. She gazed at Remy, then began sniffing the perimeter of the room.

She reached the full-length mirror mounted on the wall, caught sight of her reflection, and stiffened in shock.

Her tail fluffed up and she turned so fast she almost overbalanced, looking at Remy again.

As if that had unlocked his brain, his leopard said, It’s her! We brought her here! He pounced on Jaeda, yowling, and they rolled over, knocking into the furniture. He tried to lick her face and she snarled at him.

From the hallway he heard a deep voice rumble, “What the hell? Is everything okay?” They bumped into the dresser and a lamp crashed to the floor.

The door burst open, and Squatch was staring down at them. They froze.

“Oh, shit,” Squatch rumbled.

The shock of Squatch busting in brought Remy back to human. He scrambled to his feet. Jaeda, still a leopard, immediately began washing herself as if she’d had nothing to do with any commotion that might have ensued.

“Oh, shit,” said Squatch again, staring at Jaeda.

“I heard you the first time.” Remy found his shorts and pulled them back on.

“I can’t think of anything else to say,” Squatch said. “You Turned Jaeda. Into a leopard.”

“I didn’t Turn her,” Remy said. “In the official sense. She just… turned. Herself.”

“But her DNA is wolf. How did she become a leopard?” He glared at Remy. “You must have done something. Put her back.”

“I can’t put her back! I don’t know how.” Jaeda was now rubbing up against his thigh. He fondled her ears. “Yeah, I love you too. Change back, okay?”

She just looked up at him.