Chapter 12 #4
“Don't you dare,” I warned Gentleman, keeping my finger aimed at him despite how ridiculous the sentence sounded.
Gentleman shifted anyway. By the third transformation, I'd run out of useful reactions.
The darker leopard became a man slightly shorter than the other two, although still tall, with warm golden-brown skin and long dark hair falling around his shoulders.
His build was leaner than Cat's but clearly strong, and small scars marked one forearm above capable, callused hands. His green-gold eyes hadn't changed.
Gentleman retrieved clothing from another hidden section of the ruins and dressed as I tried to reconcile the three men standing around me with the animals that had slept outside my camp the night before.
“So—” Menace began, shifting his weight as he lifted one hand.
“No,” I told Menace, pointing toward him before he could get any farther. He shut his mouth, but Gentleman's lips pressed together as though he was holding something back.
“Don't,” I warned Gentleman, turning toward him before whatever he was thinking could become words.
“I didn't say anything,” Gentleman replied, his human voice warmer than I'd expected but still unmistakably his.
“That is somehow worse,” I told Gentleman, watching his eyebrows rise before I turned toward Cat.
Cat remained silent. At least one of them understood self-preservation.
Then the memories started arriving. Cat beneath the roots while I cleaned his wound and lectured him about infection.
Me bringing him raw chicken. Sitting beside him for hours because talking to an animal had felt easy in a way talking to another person rarely did.
I'd told him about work, Mara, my mother, pack expectations, my apartment, and the fact that I never stayed anywhere long enough for anywhere to feel much like home.
Except I'd said all of that while looking at a leopard.
I'd never had to think about how much I was telling him because there hadn't been any reason to feel self-conscious about it.
Cat already understood me. I'd known that.
What I hadn't known was that the leopard listening to everything could stand up, turn into a man, and remember every personal thing I'd said to him.
“Oh my God,” I whispered to Cat, staring at his human face as heat started creeping into mine.
“What?” Cat asked me, his brow drawing together slightly as he waited for me to explain.
“I told you everything,” I told Cat, waving one hand between us as one conversation after another came back with an entirely different context. “My mother. The pack stuff. My job. All of it.”
“You did,” Cat answered, keeping his voice quiet as he watched me.
“Because you were a leopard,” I told Cat, pressing my fingertips against my forehead. “I mean, obviously you could understand me. We were having conversations. But there wasn't supposed to be a human man sitting there remembering all of it later.”
Cat's expression softened.
“I wasn't going to repeat any of it,” Cat told me, remaining where he was instead of coming closer.
“That is really not the part I'm struggling with right now,” I told Cat, dropping my hand as another memory surfaced. The creek. Me sitting there with my camera, telling him he was beautiful because there hadn't been anything embarrassing about saying that to a leopard.
Until now.
“Oh, this just keeps getting worse,” I muttered to myself, closing my eyes briefly as I already knew Menace was going to enjoy this far too much.
“What?” Menace asked me, curiosity immediately taking over as he leaned slightly toward us.
“Nothing involving you,” I told Menace, opening my eyes long enough to point at him before turning back to Cat. Menace's mouth twitched, but he wisely kept whatever comment he'd been considering to himself.
“I called you beautiful,” I told Cat, feeling my face grow hotter as I stared at the man attached to those familiar golden-brown eyes. “To your face.”
One corner of Cat's mouth moved.
“You did,” Cat replied, the hint of amusement in his expression making the memory considerably worse. A muffled sound came from Menace's direction.
“One noise from you and I will throw something,” I warned Menace, pointing toward him without looking away from Cat.
“I didn't say anything,” Menace replied, pressing his lips together even though his shoulders were doing a terrible job of hiding his amusement.
“You don't have to,” I told Menace before focusing on Cat again. Cat was still trying not to smile.
“You enjoyed that,” I accused Cat, narrowing my eyes at him as I remembered the amusement I'd noticed even when he'd still been lying beside the creek in leopard form.
“A little,” Cat admitted, the small curve of his mouth finally appearing.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered to Cat, covering my face for a second before another memory pushed its way forward.
The storm. Sleeping beside him beneath the roots because I'd trusted him enough to close my eyes with a massive predator lying only feet away.
That part didn't embarrass me. Not really.
What bothered me was how completely I'd let my guard down because I'd believed there was a clear line between us.
I hadn't needed to wonder what he thought of me as a woman or worry about whether something I said sounded too personal. He'd been Cat.
Except Cat was apparently also a man who could turn into a leopard.
“I told you things I probably wouldn't have told you if I'd known,” I said to Cat, quieter now as my hands dropped back to my sides.
“I know,” Cat replied, whatever amusement had been in his expression disappearing as he watched me carefully.
“I wasn't trying to hide those things from you specifically,” I told Cat, struggling to explain why it mattered without making it sound like I regretted trusting him. “It was just different when I thought you were only a leopard.”
“I understand,” Cat said, his voice staying low and steady as he gave me room to work through it. I exhaled and folded my arms across myself, the embarrassment settling enough for the larger problem to come rushing back.
“I still would've liked to know I was talking to a man,” I told Cat, looking toward the other two as the full extent of what they'd kept from me settled in again. “All three of you let me think you were just animals.”
“We are animals,” Menace offered, raising one hand before apparently realizing halfway through the gesture that he was making the situation worse.
“What did I just say about the point?” I asked Menace, turning toward him as his hand slowly dropped again.
“Right. Still not helping,” Menace admitted, shifting his weight back with considerably less confidence than he'd had a few minutes earlier. Gentleman moved forward only far enough to enter my line of sight without crowding me.
“We should have told you sooner. We weren't trying to make you feel foolish,” Gentleman said, keeping his voice calm as he deliberately left several feet between us.
“Well, that part didn't exactly work out,” I told Gentleman, irritation sharpening my words even though I noticed that he was giving me room.
“No. It didn't,” Gentleman admitted, his mouth tightening briefly before he looked back at me.
The response sounded so completely like Gentleman that some of my anger faltered.
I was still angry, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to look at the men standing in front of me without seeing the three leopards I'd already gotten to know.
“What are you?” I asked Gentleman, letting my arms fall as I looked between them.
“Leopard shifters,” Gentleman answered, keeping the explanation simple as he waited for my reaction. I glanced toward the ruins, then back at them.
“And humans don't know you exist,” I said to Cat, piecing together the secrecy on my own.
“No,” Cat answered, remaining where he was as he let me work through the implication.
“So that's why you didn't tell me,” I told Cat, feeling some of the anger settle now that at least part of their decision made sense.
“That's part of it,” Cat replied, his golden-brown gaze staying on mine.
“Then why talk to me at all?” I asked Cat, looking between him and the other two when all three of them reacted. Menace looked toward Cat. Gentleman glanced toward Menace. Cat continued watching me.
There it was again.
“Oh, absolutely not. You do not get to have one of those silent conversations now that I know you're people. Use words,” I told all three men, pointing between them as Menace coughed into one hand and Gentleman came dangerously close to smiling.
“You could hear us,” Cat explained, keeping his answer simple as the other two turned back toward me.
“The animal thing,” I replied to Cat, gesturing vaguely toward myself because explaining the nature spirit was going to require considerably more energy than I currently possessed.
“You shouldn't have been able to,” Cat told me, his attention sharpening on my face.
“So I was interesting,” I said to Cat, folding my arms loosely again.
“Yes. Very,” Menace answered before Cat could, brightening as though this was finally a subject he could safely participate in. Gentleman gave him a look, turning toward the other man as a faint crease appeared between his brows.