Page 20 of Remington’s Mate

She glanced at him, then away. You are a cat.

His leopard hesitated. He didn’t want her to go away and play with the wolves instead of him, but he didn’t want her to be sad, either. Finally he said, You’re not. You’re like them.

She gave her body a shake. No I’m not. They don’t want me.

Why? Are you dangerous?

She turned her head to look at him, and her voice grew teasing, the way he liked. Maybe. I thought you liked dangerous females.

I do.

Remy tried to take control, to pull himself out of his leopard’s consciousness, but he couldn’t. He felt weak and dizzy, though his leopard didn’t.

They rubbed up against the wolf. She still smelled good—just not as good as when she was a cat.

She shimmered, and turned into the she-leopard. His leopard butted her with his head in a surge of joy.

The she-leopard growled and slapped at him with her paw, but her claws were sheathed so he knew she didn’t mean it.

He pounced on her and licked her ear, and she rolled him over and scrambled to her feet. She ran a few feet and then turned, looking back at him. Are you coming?

They ran through the ever-changing landscape, stretching their muscles. This time, when they reached the sunny cliff, she said, Tell me about your pack.

Leopards don’t have packs.

But you have one anyway.

Remy’s leopard finally let him share control, and Remy told her about his crew, and about him and Colt. She-leopard rubbed her cheek against his and said, You are sad. You miss your brother.

He turned his head away. Sometimes.

You need someone to run with. A female.

I have you.

But I’m here, and you’re there. Unless…

He waited.

You could stay here. For always.

His leopard asked him, Could we? I would like that. Remy felt a stab of alarm, and looked for the tethers that bound him to the Wild Bloods and to Colt—blue lines of magic.

He could barely see them—they were fading fast. He had to leave, but he couldn’t just leave her. Let’s fly home, he said.

She wrinkled her nose. I don’t know how.

Yes you do. We’ve done it before.

I don’t remember.

With the last of his strength he called to his owl. In moments it appeared overhead. We need to get the hell out of here, he told it privately, so she-leopard couldn’t hear.

We should stay, his leopard said.

The owl folded its wings and dove. Without stopping, it dove right into Remy’s leopard and filled their skin. He merged with it and burst out with his wings.

I remember! She-leopard changed to owl form, and suddenly it was night. They flew through moonlit skies, their wings silent and strong.