Chapter 8 #2
“What did he say?” Evie asked Malek, pointing toward me as suspicion creased the space between her eyebrows.
Malek looked at me.
I looked back.
That you're bossy, Malek told Evie, choosing only the least interesting half of my statement while his tail moved once through the leaves.
“I heard that part. There was more,” Evie told Malek, folding her arms and waiting with the stubborn patience of someone who had no intention of letting the subject disappear.
I appreciated that.
I said I like you, I told Evie myself, sitting a little straighter while I watched to see what she'd do. Evie blinked, looking genuinely surprised for a second before one corner of her mouth lifted.
“Well, at least someone around here is straightforward,” Evie told me, lowering her arms while her smile became more obvious.
I immediately looked at Malek.
His ears went backward.
Excellent.
A quiet sound came from Luca's direction, drawing Evie's attention away from us.
Luca hadn't moved closer. He remained several yards away beneath the trees, sitting with his front paws neatly placed in front of him while he watched her with the patience he'd somehow been born possessing and I'd somehow been born without.
Evie looked between us.
“And you're the polite one?” Evie asked Luca, lowering herself into a crouch while leaving the space between them entirely up to him.
I stared at her. She'd known Luca for perhaps forty seconds.
How had I already become the problem?
Compared to him? That isn't difficult, Luca told Evie, glancing toward me before returning his attention to her.
Evie laughed.
My ears flattened.
I'm sitting right here, I complained to Luca, turning toward him while my tail hit the leaves behind me.
“I like him. He has manners,” Evie told me, pointing toward Luca as though she'd just produced undeniable evidence in a debate I hadn't agreed to have.
You've known him for less than a minute, I told Evie, standing because sitting suddenly felt inappropriate given the level of disrespect occurring.
“And he's already winning,” Evie told me, smiling widely enough that I finally realized she was enjoying herself.
So was I.
That was mildly inconvenient.
Luca glanced toward Malek, and something passed between them that neither bothered explaining. I'd ask later.
Evie's hand moved toward the larger camera hanging against her chest, but she stopped before lifting it. Her fingers rested near the body of it while she looked directly at Luca.
“Would you mind if I took some pictures?” Evie asked Luca, leaving the camera lowered while she waited for his answer.
Luca's ears moved forward.
You ask first? Luca asked Evie, watching her more closely as the leaves above him shifted and scattered narrow patches of light across his coat.
“Of course I ask first. Just because I want a picture doesn't mean you have to want one taken,” Evie told Luca, lowering herself onto one knee without moving any closer.
I glanced toward Malek. He'd told us she asked.
Seeing it was different.
Evie's entire career revolved around photographing wildlife. Most humans presented with three leopards in one clearing would have started taking pictures before any of us had time to object. She waited, and Luca studied her for several seconds before rising.
You may, Luca told Evie, stepping out of the deeper shade and into a patch of cleaner light near the creek.
Evie's face lit immediately.
“Thank you,” Evie told Luca, lifting the camera as she adjusted the settings with quick, practiced movements and shifted several feet sideways.
I watched her for roughly two seconds before walking directly into the frame.
Evie lowered the camera.
“Really?” Evie asked me, staring over the top of it while I sat neatly beside Luca and arranged my paws in front of me.
You're photographing leopards. I am a leopard, I reminded Evie, lifting my chin because the logic seemed perfectly sound.
“You have an attention problem,” Evie told me, raising the camera again while she visibly fought a smile.
I liked that description. Luca looked considerably less impressed.
For the next several minutes, Evie moved quietly around us while sunlight shifted through the canopy.
She photographed Luca from one angle, changed position, and took several more.
When I adjusted my own position so I was visible again, she lowered the camera.
“Could you not?” Evie asked me, looking at me over the top of the camera while exasperation competed with amusement on her face.
The light is better here, I told Evie, sitting in the brighter patch I'd selected while Luca's ears slowly moved backward.
“You're ruining his picture,” Evie informed me, pointing toward Luca while he remained exactly where she'd asked him to stay.
Then photograph both of us, I told Evie, settling more comfortably beside my packmate as though I'd solved the problem for her.
Luca turned his head.
You don't have to be in every photograph, Luca told me, his patient tone carrying the warning he was too polite to state directly.
Why wouldn't I be? I asked Luca, genuinely curious while Evie's shoulders began to shake behind the camera.
She was laughing.
I liked that too. Eventually, Evie lowered the camera and looked toward Malek, her eyes moving from him to Luca and finally to me.
“Actually, can all three of you stay there?” Evie asked us, backing toward the creek while she adjusted the lens.
Malek stood, and Evie's camera immediately followed the movement.
Interesting.
He crossed the clearing and settled between Luca and me, larger through the shoulders than either of us even in this form. I bumped him with mine.
Malek shoved me hard enough to move me several inches.
I pushed back. Luca sat on Malek's other side and gave us both the exhausted stare he normally reserved for situations he considered beneath his involvement.
Evie's camera clicked repeatedly.
For the next few minutes, I stopped interfering long enough to watch her work, and that explained something else about Malek. Evie didn't simply enjoy photography. She became absorbed by it.
The woman who'd been laughing and arguing with us moments earlier narrowed down to the camera in her hands and whatever she saw through the lens.
She crouched close enough to the creek that one knee darkened against the wet ground, shifted whenever the light changed, brushed loose hair away with the back of her wrist rather than lower the camera, and muttered quietly whenever something didn't work the way she wanted.
There was an intensity to her that I hadn't expected. I didn't care about cameras, but I cared that she cared that much.
I stood.
Evie's camera immediately dropped.
“Seriously, you are making this unnecessarily difficult,” Evie told me, staring while I circled once before resettling.
I was uncomfortable, I told Evie, moving one paw a few inches until everything felt noticeably improved.
“You moved half a foot,” Evie informed me, gesturing toward the barely visible difference between my old position and the new one.
Better, I told Evie, raising my head with complete confidence in my decision. She stared at me for another second before turning toward Luca.
“Does he always do this?” Evie asked Luca, tilting the camera toward me as though presenting evidence at a trial.
Yes, Luca told Evie, folding one front paw calmly over the other while he looked directly at me.
I stared at him.
Traitor, I told Luca, offended by how quickly he'd abandoned his packmate for a woman he'd known less than an hour. Evie's laughter rang through the clearing again.
Worth it.
By then, the caution she'd carried when Luca and I first appeared had faded. She moved around all three of us without watching our every motion and even turned her back while changing lenses, spending almost a full minute digging through her bag while three adult leopards sat behind her.
Malek noticed.
So did Luca.
I found myself oddly pleased by it. Less than an hour ago she'd known only Malek, yet she was already comfortable enough around us to stop keeping track of every paw and tooth in the clearing.
Evie eventually stopped taking photographs long enough to sit beside her bag and review them.
Her thumb moved quickly across the display before she enlarged one image and smiled.
“Oh, these are going to be incredible. Do you three have any idea how rare it is to get a group of leopards cooperating like this?” Evie asked us, stepping closer as she tilted the display toward Malek.
I moved in immediately.
Probably very, I told Evie, stretching my neck toward the camera so I could see what she'd taken. She moved it out of reach before my whiskers touched the screen.
“You have no concept of personal space,” Evie informed me, holding the camera farther away while she gave me a warning look.
You keep saying that like it's a flaw, I told Evie, following the camera as she shifted it to the other side.
“It is absolutely a flaw,” Evie replied, pressing one hand against my forehead and pushing my face away from several thousand dollars' worth of equipment. I let her. Her hand was warm, and the annoyed crease between her eyebrows was entertaining enough that I had no desire to move.
I turned my eyes toward Malek.
She's touching me willingly now, I informed Malek, making sure our Head Alpha appreciated the remarkable progress I'd made in less than an afternoon.
Malek's face went completely blank.
Do not make it strange, Malek warned me, narrowing his eyes while Luca's whiskers shifted beside him. Evie immediately removed her hand.
“What did he say?” Evie asked Malek, looking between us with the suspicion of someone who had already learned that conversations involving me should never be trusted.
I opened my mouth.
Malek's gaze snapped toward me.
I reconsidered.
Nothing useful, Malek told Evie, keeping one eye on me while his tail moved across the ground. Evie's stare traveled between us.