The Snow Leopard's Mate: BBW Snow Leopard Shifter Paranormal Romance (13 page)

She could smell the forest around her, the thick scent of plants and the tantalizing trails of animals, and just a hint of snow and ice, wafting down from above. She could hear the birds in the trees and the squirrels running around.

And she knew her mate, next to her. She could see him, hear him, and smell his masculine scent, but she could also
feel
him, even stronger than when she was human—that pulsing connection, a spark of his own essence inside of her.

He paced around her, scenting her. He was checking to make sure she was all right, Alethia knew, that she wasn’t panicking at the change.

Then he sat back on his haunches and opened his mouth in an obvious grin, before trotting off toward the woods.

Alethia grinned to herself and followed him.

As she caught up with him, he lengthened his stride, and soon they were running together through the forest.

It was truly exhilarating. Alethia was able to run faster and jump farther than she ever had before, and she was absolutely silent when she moved. Grey led her on a hunt for some rabbits, and then shot off toward some rocks in the distance. They played, leaping from rock to rock, and trying to hide from each other. Alethia learned that no matter how well-camouflaged they were, they could always find each other.

Mates.

Alethia wanted to stay in leopard form forever, but after a couple of hours, Grey led the way back to his cabin. He shifted back in the driveway, and Alethia followed suit.

Immediately she was human again. It was almost disappointing, leaving her leopard behind.

But she was there, inside Alethia's chest, a fierce and powerful cat. Alethia knew that she'd never be without this source of strength again.

Grey took her hand.
Two
sources of strength. Her leopard, and her mate.

***

Grey was amazed at how well Alethia had taken to her snow leopard form.

Or maybe
amazed
was the wrong word. She'd behaved like the snow leopard had been inside her all along, waiting to come out...and Grey was certain that that was the truth.

They were mates, after all. Her snow leopard had just needed Grey, to bring her to the surface.

Now, they were human again, tucked together in a chair in front of his fireplace. He wrapped her in his human arms and held her close, certain that they would be running together for the rest of their lives.

"Grey," she said into his ear.

He pulled back. "Yes?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

He frowned, concerned. She looked serious. "What is it?"

"I didn't want to say it before, because...I suppose I was afraid of what might happen. But I'm not afraid anymore. My ex-boyfriend..."

"What about him?" He kept his voice steady, although rage was rising inside of him at the mention of the man who had hurt her.

"He's Matt Finch. He was the one who told me we were mates. You saw him in the diner earlier."

Grey heard a growl rising in his chest.

Of course. If
any
shifter in this town was so amoral and insensitive, as to have told an innocent girl that she was his mate just to get her in bed, it was Matt Finch.

Ali Parker ain’t no lady
.

The growl escaped his chest. “He isn’t getting away with it,” he told Alethia. “He’s paying for what he did.”

“Good,” she said, and her eyes were fierce. “I want him humiliated. I want him to see what he lost. I want him to understand that you’re stronger than he ever was, and now
I’m
stronger than he’ll ever be.”

“You always were,” he told her.

Her eyes warmed at that, and he kissed her, tasting her fierce heat. He wanted to bring her inside and make love to her for hours.

Her phone rang.

She sat back. “Hold that thought.” She got up to go answer it, while Grey contemplated the evils of cell phones.

“Paul?” Alethia said, and he sat up, alert.

“So what?” she said into the phone. “You want to know where I am? Well, it’s none of your business because I’m a grown woman, but I’ll tell you: I’m at Grey Landin’s cabin. Yes! And you can try and come drag me home if you want, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Sure, bring whoever you want. It still won’t work.”

She hung up with a violent gesture.

“Company coming?” Grey asked mildly.

“I think so,” she said.

He couldn’t wait.

***

He had to, though. It was almost forty minutes before he heard the telltale sounds of a car outside. Someone was pulling off the road into his driveway.

He took Alethia’s hand, and they went out to face them together.

When he opened the door, there was a rusty pickup truck coming to a stop just outside. Grey and Alethia went down the steps to confront Paul Parker and Matt Finch.

“Found out where you live,” Matt sneered at him.

Grey looked at the pickup truck, looked back at his cabin. “Was that what you came to tell me? Because I figured it out when you pulled up, you didn’t need to actually say it.”

“Don’t be smart,” Paul said. “We’re here to teach you a lesson about what you did to my sister.”

Grey stepped forward. The leopard inside him was flexing its claws, eager to get out. “What
I
did?” he asked, low and dangerous. “How about what
you
did?”

“What
we
did? We haven’t done anything to her!” Paul’s voice was genuinely confused.

“Really?” Grey asked. “You haven’t belittled her? Treated her like she’s worthless? Insulted her?”

He turned to Matt. “And
you
didn’t lie to her, betray her, and break her heart?”

Paul looked bewildered, as though he’d forgotten about it.

But Matt smiled. “Oh, yeah. We dated a little while when we were kids. She got the wrong idea. You still hurt about that, baby?” he asked Alethia. “You sure got around after we broke up. I thought you were fine.”

Grey saw red.

His fingers were lengthening into claws when he heard Alethia’s voice behind him. “You know exactly what you did.” Her voice was steel. “You just don’t care.”

“But the kitty cat cares.” Matt’s voice was mocking.

Paul was watching Grey nervously. “Ali, get over here,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re going to get hurt.”

“I will go wherever the
hell
I want to, Paul, and I don’t want or need your protection. And if you don’t get out of here right now, there’ll be consequences.”

Pride swelled in Grey’s chest. Alethia sounded fierce and confident—like she truly didn’t care what Paul and Matt were saying about her.

“Oh, there’ll be consequences,” Matt said, and now his voice had a low growl running underneath it. “But they won’t be for us.”

Finally, he shifted.

Grey instantly shifted too, and faced off against the smallish black bear that was Matt. He was no more than 250 pounds at most, Grey judged.

Grey’s snow leopard form wasn’t quite as big, but he wasn’t worried. When shifted, he could take down animals up to four times his own size. Snow leopards weren’t the biggest of the big cats, but they were the most powerful for their size, compact and dangerous.

Taking his time, he prowled around Matt, forcing the bear to turn so as to keep him in sight.

As he’d expected, Matt got bored of this after only a few minutes and charged him, growling. Grey leapt easily aside and then, as Matt was wheeling around, pounced.

He got in a good solid bite to Matt’s shoulder and retreated, waiting.

It was clear that Matt didn’t know how to handle himself in a real fight. He’d probably never spent any time in the wilderness, dealing with actual dangerous animals. He’d probably just postured with other shifters in the area. Grey had seen fights like that, with young idiots swiping at each other for fun.

Grey intended to show him the difference between fighting like boys and fighting like men.

Matt seemed surprised that Grey had actually managed to hurt him. He growled again and advanced, coming up on his hind legs when he got in close.

It was a move meant to intimidate, and it was stupid. Grey went for his exposed underbelly with vicious precision, and Matt howled in pain, retreating.

“Don’t kill him!” Alethia’s voice rang out behind him.

Grey backed up a few paces, glancing back at Alethia in acknowledgment. He didn’t intend to kill Matt. Just teach him a lesson.

A hard lesson.

Matt was angry now, which made him even sloppier. He roared and charged Grey, but he wasn’t far enough away to get any momentum. Grey met this charge head-on and dug his claws into Matt’s forelegs before they could reach him, dodging the snapping mouth and sinking his own teeth into fur-covered flesh.

Matt recoiled from the pain, now bleeding in several places. He’d reared back on his hind legs again. This time Grey used his powerful hind legs to fuel a driving leap forward, knocking Matt onto his back.

Grey closed his teeth around Matt’s throat and waited.

A long minute passed. Grey tightened his jaw.

Finally, Matt’s form shivered underneath him as he shifted back to human.

Grey released his throat and backed up a few paces, waiting to make sure Matt wasn’t faking him out before he shifted himself.

Paul was standing off to the side with his mouth open.

“As the lady said,” Grey told Matt and Paul. “Consequences.”

Paul went silently over to help Matt to his feet. Matt was bleeding in several places, but was well enough to angrily shake off Paul’s helping hands and haul himself to his feet on his own.

“This isn’t over,” Matt snarled as limped toward his truck.

There was a shiver of movement in the corner of Grey’s eye, and he turned to see Alethia.

But not the human Alethia. She stood on all fours in her snow leopard form, her teeth bared.

“
Whoa
!” Matt stumbled backward.

Paul was staring. “Ali!” He turned to Grey. “Did you do that to her?”

“No,” Grey said coldly. “I did that
for
her.”

Alethia snarled. Matt and Paul both jumped.

She prowled forward, and they retreated toward the truck.

“Alethia is telling you that it
is
over,” Grey told him. “And if you’re too stupid to figure that out, I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.”

The doors had barely closed before the truck tore away down the driveway.

Grey turned to Alethia. “Was that the sort of consequence you wanted?”

She was glaring after the truck, but at his words, she shimmered back into her human form, and turned to him. “Yes. Thank you. And thank you for holding back. I wanted to see him humiliated, and I got that in spades.”

“I wouldn’t have killed him,” he reassured her. “I have more self-control than that. And he wouldn’t be worth so much trouble, anyway.”

That made her laugh a little. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “After all, he doesn’t matter anymore, does he?”

“Nope,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Come on, let’s go back inside.”

***

Ali had never had anyone do anything like that for her before.

Grey had fought Matt because he’d hurt her. And he’d do it again if she was hurt in the future. She knew it in her bones.

After they got inside, Grey sat down in the big overstuffed chair in front of the fire, and tugged her until she sat down on top of him with a squeak. “Wait, that can’t be comfortable, I’m too heavy.” 

“Are you kidding?” Grey cupped her hips in his hands. “You can sit on my lap any time. You’ve got just the right curves to hold onto like this.”

She smiled helplessly, her self-consciousness melting away, and turned to kiss him.

“Mmm.” Grey kissed her back, again and again before he pulled away. “Ready to leave this town? Ready to come up north with me and find our own place together?”

Ali pictured leaving Prescott. Just picking up and leaving it behind. Her crappy job, her judgmental relatives, her bad reputation. All gone.

And in their place, Grey Landin, who was looking at her with warm silvery eyes, lit in the firelight.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes.
Yes
!”

Grey wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her fiercely. “Thank you,” he whispered against her lips.

“You know,” she said. He pulled back to listen. “When I was with Matt, I thought I knew what love was. It was this desperate wish to be noticed. It was this feeling that I wasn’t good enough, and I had to be better so he’d love me back.”