"Hi there, sweet girl," Harper cooed, keeping her voice low and gentle. "You're just beautiful, aren't you?" She carefully stroked the soft fur between Jill's ears. The jackalope leaned intoher touch, eyes half-closing in contentment. Her fur felt like silk beneath Harper's fingers, and a tiny sigh escaped the creature as Harper found a particularly good spot to scratch.
Nathan watchedas Jill gave Harper's fingers one final lick before hopping toward her food dish in the corner. The soft thump of her feet against the hardwood floor made him smile - he'd grown to love that sound over the past months.
"Would you like something to drink?" he asked, turning to Harper. "I have wine, coffee, tea... or water, of course." He moved toward the kitchen, hyperaware of her presence behind him.
"Maybe later," Harper said softly, her amber eyes darting toward the hallway. "Is there somewhere I can...?" She gestured vaguely, a blush coloring her cheeks.
Nathan couldn't help but laugh, not at her discomfort but at the delicate way she approached the subject. "The bathroom's down the hall, second door on the left. And don't worry - I know about the clothes thing. I learned that at the vet clinic, that first day."
Relief flooded Harper's face, and she gave him a grateful smile before heading down the hallway. The soft click of the bathroom door echoed through the quiet house.
Nathan released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His hands trembled slightly as he straightened a throw pillow on the couch, then straightened it again. He was about to meet Harper's fox - Reyna. The thought both thrilled andterrified him. What if he did something wrong? What if he scared her?
The closed bathroom door seemed to mock his nervousness. He forced himself to stop fidgeting with the pillow and sit down, though his leg bounced with nervous energy.
A few minutes later he heard the door open, and the next minute, a blur of red rushed into the room. Suddenly his lap was full of furry red fox. He sank back into the cushions, laughing, as the fox licked his face, squirming in joyous abandon.
"Wow," he breathed. "You're beautiful." He ran his fingers through her thick fur. "Well, hi, there. I'm happy to meet you, too."
Mate, Reyna said.Happy.
Nathan's hands stilled. "Did you just... speak in my head?"
Reyna stilled on his lap, rearing her head back, her intelligent amber gaze on his face.Mate?
He stared at her in awe. "I can hear you!"
Reyna writhed in ecstasy... her mate could hear her!Mate, mate, mate, mate, mate! Heeheehee!she chanted. Her joy was too great to be contained, and she slid off his lap to the floor, chasing her tail and laughing in the way of foxes.Heeheehee! Mate, mate, mate, mate, mate! Hehehe! Heeheehee!
Nathan had never known a fox could laugh, but this fox was laughing! It sounded eerily like human laughter, and so infectious, Nathan found himself laughing along with her. She leaped back onto the sofa next to him, rearing up to ecstatically lick his face again.
Mate!
Nathan cleared his throat cautiously, quickly thinking over what he knew about shifters. "When you say mate, do you mean, er, like, Chosen? Like Katerina and Troy?!
Reyna danced in delight, her slender black paws beating a rhythm on the sofa cushions.Chosen! Mate! Yes, yes. Chosen!
Thrilled that he understood her, her joy once again overcame her and she chased her brushy tail in a circle right there on the sofa.Heeheehee!
A bit stunned, Nathan had no idea what to think about that. Since he'd first been admitted into the secret of the paranormal beings that lived amongst them, he'd taken to reading some of the paranormal shifter romance novels in hopes of further elucidation. He'd read about fated mates, and had asked Katerina about that, and she'd simply laughed and shook her head, and told him not to believe everything he read. He'd taken her at her word, but now wondered if she'd been giving him a non-answer.
By now Reyna seemed to have chased off her happy energy, and lay on the sofa beside him, her head resting on his thigh. Her cute fox face was tilted upwards, her amber eyes fixed on his face. She whined, and her tail thumped. Nathan ventured a question.
"Do shifters have fated mates, like I read in some stories?"
Fated mates, no.Her mental voice sounded regretful, making him grin.Chosen, yes. Chosen mates.
Well, that was clear as mud. He abandoned the subject, figuring he'd have to ask Harper when she Changed.
"But we only just met."
Yes. Met mate!
O-kay. He wasn't touching that one until he could talk to Harper. The fox's long, slender nose nudged at his hand.Mate, she repeated, then somehow managed a hopeful tone,kit? She turned her head, pointing with her nose at Jill, who was holding perfectly still in the farthest corner of the dining room, watching them, her little nose quivering.
"That's a jackalope," he told Reyna.
No, kit!she insisted, standing up and leaping gracefully to the floor. She looked at Nathan, then back at the baby jackalope,then back at Nathan.Kit?There was a hopeful inflection to her mental voice, and a touch of yearning.
