Page 63 of Remington’s Mate

Remy tuned him out, talking softly to Jaeda. About how beautiful she was, and how badass. Her eyes. Her hair. How amazing she looked in her business suit, and in her sexy date clothes, and in her birthday suit.

Kitty said, “We do not need to hear that part.”

Squatch put his hand on Remy’s arm, and suddenly he could see Jaeda, in the spirit world. “Come on back, babe,” he told her. “You can do it. You can be human. Like me. Like all of us in the room.”

He felt the leopard trembling. Her body shimmered. With a slow crack of bones, she began to shift.

It took an excruciating amount of time, but finally, Jaeda was curled on the ground in front of him, human and beautiful. And naked.

She looked up at him, her eyes drunk. “I was a kitty-cat,” she told him, very seriously.

“Yes you were.” He braced himself for anger, fear, recriminations.

She sat up and rubbed her arms like she was cold. “I had fur. And whiskers.” She held out her hand and stared down at it. “And paws.”

“I know you’re scared—” he began.

She looked up at him. “It was fucking awesome. Can I do it again?”

“No!” everyone said in unison.

Callie got up and found Jaeda some sweats, and she put them on and snuggled into Remy’s armchair with him.

“You sure I can’t do it again?” she whispered.

Brandon glared at her. “Not until we understand how it happened.”

Jaeda was frowning thoughtfully. “I have a question.”

“What?” Brandon asked.

“I was a leopard.” She turned to Remy. “You were a leopard. You’re not a leopard. You’re an owl.”

Everyone looked at each other guiltily. They’d forgotten she didn’t know, Remy realized. He and Colt were only registered with the Shifter Council as having one animal each. No one could know they’d experimented with accessing their non-dominant animals—and that they really didn’t have them under control.

Jaeda looked from one twin to the other. “You’re both,” she breathed. “Oh my god, you have two animals.” She turned to Remy. “And you gave me one. That was nice.” She frowned again. “Does that mean you don’t have it anymore?”

Hell. He hadn’t thought of that.

Of course not, his leopard said. I’m not going anywhere.

I was afraid we weren’t going to be that lucky, his owl said.

Remy sighed. “Nope. Still got mine.”

Brandon said, “Which is why we can’t tell anyone about this.” He fixed the alpha gaze on Jaeda. “Including your family. If the Shifter Council finds out about Colt and Remy, we’re all screwed. They’d be prosecuted, and probably locked up until they could prove their animals are under control. Which they’re not.”

He added, “And I have no idea what they’d do about you, but I’m pretty sure they’d also lock you up for a good long time, until they figured out what your deal is. I’m not having my crew decimated because people can’t keep their mouths shut.”

He was right, Jaeda realized. At the very least, it would mean months of medical experiments to figure out exactly what she had inside her. The thought of being without Remy—and the crew being torn apart—made her shiver.

That couldn’t happen. Separating a bonded pack—crew—for that long could drive them all insane. Literally.

Kitty said, “Isn’t there anyone we can call to help us figure this out? Someone we can trust? What about Tristan?”

“Maybe,” Brandon said doubtfully. Tristan Barnes was a healer and an honorary Bad Blood, but he was also their parents’ generation. Remy knew Brandon was wondering if Tristan would respect his authority as alpha, to make the final decisions for the good of his crew.

“What about Brock?” Colt said. Brock Reilly had a unique ability to sense and talk to shifters’ inner animals, and to see and hear spirits. He was also their own generation, just a few years older than Brandon.