"I know," Katerina laughed, her wild black hair shaking with the movement. "You should have heard my business manager when I finally pulled myself together, Changed back to human, and called her."
“A mutual friendwas throwing a dinner party.” Her eyes danced. “I knew Troy was going to be attending, so I pulled out all the stops.”
"I met this fascinating woman," Troy said, his voice warm with the memory. “She was gorgeous, and I could hardly take my eyes off her. We danced, and talked, and I asked her out that very night. I couldn’t get her off my mind for days.”
Katerina laughed, winking at Marianna. “He came home and told Cat all about this woman he’d met.”
Nodding, Troy reached out to take Katerina’s hand. “I did.”
Marianne turned to Troy. "How did that revelation go? Finding out your girlfriend could turn into a cat?"
“I spent weeks fussing and fretting over how to tell him,” Katerina admitted to Marianne. “I knew by then I wanted to be with him, but I had this huge secret, you know? It’s not so easy to just up and say, ‘oh, and by the way, I’m also your cat,’ you know?”
“I can imagine,” Marianna said, looking fascinated. “So how did you?”
“There was an intruder… a housebreaker,” she explained. “As a cat, I knew they were there, outside the house, but there was no way for me to communicate it to Troy, or get him to understand the danger we were in. So I Changed.” Spreading her hands, she made a helpless gesture. “I had no choice.”
Marianna leaned forward, her fascinated gaze on them. “How did he take it?”
Katerina wrinkles her nose. “About as well as you could expect,” she said in a wry voice.
“It was a little traumatic,” Troy admitted. “I mean, one minute my cat is there in front of me, the next minute there’s Katerina standing in the middle of my living room.”
Katerina took up the tale. “He was in shock, I was half dragging him up the stairs, trying to explain about intruders and shapeshifters at the same time, and a housebreaker was crashing through the front door.”
“It wasn’t until we’d barricading ourselves in my room, dragging the dressers and bed over to the door, and we were waiting for help, that I had a chance to grasp that it was real.” Troy nodded.
“I understand you’re now married,” Marianna said. “So it clearly worked out.”
“It was a win/win situation for me,” Troy said with his deep chuckle. “I got the lady, and my pretty kitty.”
The audience chuckled, and Marianne laughed as well, clearly captivated.
Harper felt Nathan shift beside her on the couch. "I had no idea about any of that," he murmured, his eyes still fixed on the screen. "To find out that way, and the housebreaker, I mean. That must have been terrifying."
"Oh, it wasn't just a housebreaker," Harper whispered back, reaching for more popcorn. "It was all over the shifter forums for weeks when it happened. The intruder turned out to be a rogue shifter who'd been stalking Katerina."
Nathan turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "A rogue shifter? How did they get away?"
"Jacinth saved them," Harper explained, keeping her voice low. "I'll tell you the whole story later, but Jacinth called Kieran - he's a Djinn prince - and he teleported the rogue straight to the Shifter Council."
"A Djinn prince?" Nathan's eyes widened.
"Later," Harper told him, and they both turned their attention back to the television, where Marianne had turned her attention to Melanthe.
"And Melanthe, I understand you have something to share with us as well?"
Melanthe's smile was gentler than her sister's, but no less warm. She reached into the covered double stroller beside herchair, her movements graceful and unhurried. "Yes, I do. I'd like to introduce you to my children."
From beneath the light blanket, she lifted two Maine Coon kittens, their fur thick and luxuriant. One was a smoky gray with white paws, while the other was a rich brown tabby. Both kittens blinked sleepily at the sudden brightness of the studio lights, stretching and yawning in their mother's gentle hold.
The studio audience let out a collective "aww" as the kittens' tiny pink tongues showed in their yawns. The camera zoomed in on their sweet faces, capturing their tufted ears and innocent expressions as they gazed out at the crowd with wide, golden eyes.
Harper couldn't contain her delight, squeezing Nathan's hand. "Aren't they adorable?" she whispered, enchanted by the sight of the drowsy kittens.
Nathan squeezed back, his eyes fixed on the screen. "They're incredible," he murmured. "So hard to believe they're also human babies."
The studio lights and excited murmurs from the audience caught the kittens' attention. Their golden eyes widened, ears perking forward with interest. The gray kitten squirmed in Melanthe's gentle hold, while the brown tabby stretched, tiny paws reaching toward the floor.
