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Speaking of bonfires… “Will we see the flames from here?”
“No. They have several ceremonial groves, and we are farthest from the one they are using now. It would not serve our camouflage if my eyes caught the light. They will have shifted well before they run past here, below us, through that meadow.”
“How lucky the moon is full.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it.” He propped his head on his fist, and she could feel him looking at her. “The wolves are obsessed with the moon.”
“Some would make that common knowledge. For example, I have been loaned one of Mrs. Anchoretta Asquith’s novels,The Ravishment of Miss Leticia Everington at the Hands of the Duca di Luperno.If one knows how to read between the lines, it is quite dangerous for your sort.” It also seemed to be based on Felicity and His Grace’s societal scandal; if that truly was the case, the lady author had produced the volume nigh overnight.
“Not precisely my sort,” Llewellyn corrected her. “She is as fixated on the wolves as the wolves are on the moon.”
“Have your sort traditions you uphold in this fashion?”
“No. Again, the wolves are the only ones with numbers to make such things impressive. And Lowell gathering all these species under his protection makes him almost impossible to match.”
“Is it a competition?” She lay her head on her crossed arms.
“It is, if you ask our prince regent. Thanks to the death of those like Castleton, who upheld the old ways, this new breed of wolves is going from strength to strength, from Dover to Aberystwyth to the Hebrides. And beyond. The farther their reach, the more influential their customs.”
“Is there nothing the lions call their own?”
“Felines resist falling in with anyone too easily.” He leaned back up on his elbows. Even in his shabby coat, the long line of his back was…long. “We have our ways of doing things, even unto the highest and most sought state of being among allversipelles.”
“Vera amoris.” When Felicity had explained it, the contradiction it awoke in Tabitha was unlike anything she’d known. How would one engage in such a thing and not lose one’s self entirely? Was it only for producing young? It seemed almost too easy, this scenting and deciding and bonding. But she knew little of love; it could very well work that way for humans too, with fewer fangs.
The duke nodded and reached out to run a hand through the tall grass. “It is known amongst all our kind. But Shifter felines are not so obsessed with populating the world, unlikecatcats, and so we do not put restrictions on what is considered a proper couple.”
“Or a conventional one.”
“Better said. Amongst us lions, this bond can go deeper.” He hesitated and sent her another one of those impressively lashed looks. “You may not know that thevera amorisbond requires the fated couple to build a pack or a sleuth or a pride around them. They must cleave unto each other and to a homeplace. But felines have another facet to this legend that we hold in the highest regard, a rare occurrence that only happens once a generation, if we are lucky. It amplifies the bond to the degree that the mated pair may move throughout the world as…as an Alpha pair for all. Those who are isolated or lost or the last of their kind may find the same comfort in them as they would in a pack or a herd or a clowder. It is known as thecon—”
A rush of sound like thunder, a clamor of hooves and paws, of cries and growls and barks and ululation, drowned out the duke’s speech. Thecursioflowed into the meadow right beneath their ledge, and Tabitha wanted to shout with glee. She reached out and grabbed the duke’s arm, unthinking, felt him tense then relax into her grasp.
It was as breathtaking as Tabitha had hoped: theversipellesmoved in concert, sweeping around and around the meadow, the moonlight gleaming off fur and feathers, whiskers and tails. Even as high as they were, she could see the smallest clearly: for while murineanimalis purawere tiny, a Shifter mouse was rather larger. She saw Mary Mossett with other mice, whom Tabitha could not name. She saw His Grace and Mr. Bates take it in turns to shore up those in the back of the crowd, those with smaller legs and slower pace. A brook ran around the edge of the field, and fish leaped in and out of the rushing water.
She saw Mr. Coburn strutting after a sheepdog who was intent on going against the flow of the run; she saw the feline footman who was Felicity’s usual messenger…and several other cats whose human forms she did not know. Was it that she recognized the animal Shape if she knew the person?
“Interesting. I—” She turned to the duke, who instead of watching thecursiowas watching her watch it.
“It is. Even for one such as I.” His Grace narrowed his eyes. “But you?”
“I, what?” It likely wasn’t very insightful, or he would find it boring, a pedestrian observation. When had she gotten so uncertain in her opinions?
A rumble issued from his person, not unlike the growl he let loose back at the cottage. “You have that look on your face that either presages an insight or a story you would like to tell but fear it will bore the listener.”
“That is ridiculous—” No, it was not, it was exactly right. “Yes, well, I realized I can tell who is who, but only if I have met them in their human skins.”
“Can you?” Llewellyn sounded astonished. “I have never heard of ahomo plenusable to see in that way. Beyond the humanity to the very essence of aversipellis.”
Maybe it was interesting after all. “Obviously there is only one rooster about the place, but there are several mice, and there goes Mary, oh, she is wonderful, she’s taking no nonsense from that cat.” As large as the mouse was, the feline was larger, and the little maid was not having any of his cheek. She used his greater breadth against him and slipped underneath his belly, causing him to flip over on his back as he twisted to pursue her, a pursuit that was put to an end with the intervention from Mr. Gambon, who was surprisingly intimidating in his boarskin when he was so gentle as a man.
“And one can ascertain which is Lowell and which is Mr. Bates by their coats alone. Oh, may I speak so? It seems a very personal comment—”
The duke clapped his hand over her mouth the very instant that Lowell looked up at their eyrie. Llewellyn removed his hand to slip out of his overlarge, dull brown coat and swept it over their heads. She cowered into his side, stunned by her reaction which she acted on without thought: She must hide and make herself as small as she could. She must find protection however she may. The duke lowered his arm around her and tucked her closer.
Through a very small opening between the lapels, she could see the Alpha wolf cant his head, ears pricked. His Beta joined him, sniffing the air and showing his teeth; the light of the moon caught every bristle of hair that stood up on his back. He made to leap forward, but his Alpha swept his paws from beneath him, and both started to tussle. If it could be said theversipellescheered this new development, they did: the mice squealed and the birds crowed and the sheep bleated, each species to their own expression.
“Are you quite all right?” the duke whispered in her ear. Tabitha could smell his soap, earthy, rich, with a top note of bergamot, and his lips tickled her skin. She nodded and yet did not move her head from his shoulder.
