Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EVIE
“You have a name.” I lifted my gaze from the damp leaves scattered between my boots and fixed it on the only man in the courtyard who had somehow escaped introducing himself.
I was still sitting on the fallen section of stone where I’d ended up after the reveal, my boots planted on the uneven ground and my forearms resting loosely against my thighs.
It had seemed like a perfectly reasonable place to sit when three leopards suddenly became three men. I hadn’t moved much since.
The afternoon had shifted around us while I tried to rearrange everything I thought I knew.
Cat remained several yards away, still giving me the space I’d wanted after the reveal.
My brain continued trying to connect the broad shoulders, dark scruff, and very human face with the massive leopard I’d spent days talking to beside the creek, but his golden-brown eyes hadn’t changed.
Neither had the patient stillness that made him perfectly capable of standing there until I decided what happened next.
Tavian’s mouth twitched the moment I spoke. Luca glanced toward Cat, then back at me, and something about his expression suggested he’d been waiting to see how long it took me to realize one introduction was missing.
“I do.” Cat answered in the same maddeningly calm voice he’d used when he had four paws and a tail, making absolutely no effort to help me beyond that.
I waited.
He waited too. A cicada started buzzing somewhere behind him. Becoming human hadn’t made him any more cooperative.
“Are you planning to tell me what it is?” I straightened slightly on the stone and narrowed my eyes at him.
“Malek. My name is Malek.” Cat’s mouth shifted at one corner, the movement so small I might have missed it when he was covered in fur.
Malek.
I studied him more carefully, fitting the name to the man standing in front of me.
It suited him irritatingly well. Solid. Uncomplicated.
Much more appropriate than the nickname I’d given a wounded leopard who had refused to identify himself while I knelt beside a creek trying to stop him from reopening his side.
“Malek.” I tested the unfamiliar name aloud, trying to attach it to someone who already felt far too familiar.
“Yes.” Malek inclined his head once, as though we’d just completed a perfectly normal introduction instead of one that had arrived nearly a week late.
“And you let me call you Cat this entire time.” I stared at him as fresh irritation pushed some of the lingering shock aside.
“You seemed committed to it.” Amusement finally showed around Malek’s eyes now that I had a human face to read. A laugh escaped Tavian before he could stop it, and he brought one hand to his mouth far too late to hide the sound.
“Don’t.” I turned my stare on Tavian as his amber eyes brightened with entirely too much enjoyment.
“I didn’t say anything.” Tavian lowered his hand, though the grin still pulling at his mouth ruined the defense.
“You were thinking it.” I gave Tavian a brief look before returning my attention to Malek. “And you could have corrected me at literally any point.”
“I could have.” Malek folded his arms loosely across his chest without looking remotely sorry. I stared at him for another second before lifting one finger in his direction.
“Fine. Malek when you’re behaving. Cat when you’re annoying me.” I made the decision before he had a chance to object.
“I assumed Cat wasn’t going anywhere.” Malek lowered his arms again, accepting the punishment with far too much ease.
“Good. We’re caught up.” I let my hand fall and took in all three men.
“Now I need actual answers.” The humor helped more than I wanted to admit, but it didn’t change what surrounded me.
A leopard had been carved into ancient stone behind Tavian, its weathered body half-hidden beneath moss.
Thick roots had split one wall beside Luca and pushed several blocks outward until they leaned at angles that looked impossible.
The narrow path beyond the courtyard disappeared beneath hanging vines and led toward a hidden sanctuary I hadn’t known existed until today.
Somewhere deeper in the forest were maintained buildings occupied by people who could become animals. My camera currently held photographs of the edge of their home.
“How many answers are we talking about?” Tavian shifted his weight onto one leg, his grin fading as he realized I was done joking for the moment.
“All of them eventually.” I tapped the radio clipped at my hip. “But preferably not so many that I miss my check-in with Mara because I got distracted learning how much of the world I’ve apparently been missing.”
Mentioning Mara pulled the ordinary part of my life sharply back into focus.
The radio was still where it belonged, my camera battery had dropped another bar during the hike, and my map remained tucked into its waterproof sleeve.
None of those things stopped mattering because Tavian, Luca, and Malek had turned out to be supernatural.
I checked the time. We had room before we needed to head back, but not enough for me to interrogate them about every creature or hidden community that might exist outside normal human knowledge.
“We’ve got a few hours.” I secured the radio again and rested my forearms against my thighs. “Try not to ruin the rest of reality before dinner.”
“That seems manageable.” Luca leaned one shoulder lightly against the weathered wall, warmth returning to his expression.
“Start with the obvious. What exactly is a leopard shifter?” I swept one hand between him and the other two. “I understand the part where you turn into leopards. I watched that happen. I need the part I can’t figure out by looking at you.”
“We’re born this way.” Luca stayed close enough to talk comfortably without making me feel surrounded. “Human and leopard are both natural forms for us. Neither is something we learned later.”
“So you aren’t humans who discovered some spell that lets you turn into animals.” I tried to separate one impossible possibility from another while watching his face for any sign I’d misunderstood.
“No. We’re shifters.” Luca shook his head, and a few loose strands of dark hair slipped over his shoulder.
“Born as human babies?” I asked Luca because that distinction suddenly felt important enough that I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night wondering about it.
Tavian made a strangled noise beside the wall.
Malek’s face barely changed, but Luca pressed his lips together firmly enough that I knew he was trying not to laugh.
“That is a legitimate question.” I looked from one man to the next when nobody answered quickly enough. “I learned your species existed less than an hour ago.”
“Yes. Human babies.” Luca finally let a little amusement show in his green-gold eyes. “Our first shifts happen later.”
“Good.” I nodded once as I absorbed the answer. “I really didn’t need to spend the rest of the day wondering if leopard shifters were born as kittens.” Tavian laughed openly now, rubbing one hand over his mouth before dropping it again.
“I like the way you ask questions.” Tavian straightened away from the wall, still grinning.
“You like anything that makes Malek uncomfortable.” I glanced toward Malek, who appeared determined not to participate in Tavian’s entertainment.
“That too.” Tavian spread one hand without even pretending otherwise. Malek ignored him with the ease of someone who’d had years of practice.
“Are there more of you?” I shifted my attention back to Malek.
“Yes. Other leopard shifters. Other kinds too.” Malek’s humor faded as he gave me his full attention again.
“Other kinds meaning what?” I folded my arms, already suspicious of how broad that answer might become.
“More than we can explain this afternoon.” Malek glanced briefly toward Tavian and Luca before looking back at me. “And probably more than you want all at once.”
I searched his face for some indication that he was exaggerating and found none.
“That is extremely concerning. Are we talking vampires, witches, people who turn into giant snakes—” I glanced toward the vegetation beyond the courtyard as though some new species might choose that exact moment to wander past.
Tavian drew breath immediately.
“No. Do not answer that. I changed my mind.” I lifted one hand before Tavian could make my afternoon worse. Tavian closed his mouth again, disappointment appearing so quickly that Luca’s lips curved.
“Most humans genuinely don’t know any of this?” I turned toward Luca, choosing the man least likely to list every supernatural creature he knew just to watch me react.
“Most don’t.” Luca shifted his shoulder against the stone and loosely crossed one ankle over the other. “Some humans grow up connected to supernatural communities. Others find out later because someone trusts them enough to tell them. Mixed families exist too.”
“Mixed families?” I caught on the part of his answer that felt considerably more relevant.
“Humans and shifters.” Luca’s expression softened slightly as he watched me absorb that. “Human partners can know.”
“Partners.” I repeated the careful word, letting it sit there between us.
“Mates.” Tavian supplied the more specific term, his amber eyes settling on me with entirely too much interest. The glands beneath my jaw gave a small, inconvenient pulse.
I pretended they hadn’t.
“So humans can mate with shifters.” I kept my tone deliberately matter-of-fact as I looked at Tavian.
“They can.” Tavian’s mouth tipped upward when he clearly noticed how carefully I’d phrased the question.
“Do not make that face.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What face?” Tavian widened his eyes in an attempt at innocence that failed immediately because I’d already seen the leopard version of that exact look.