Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Ivan gave a curt nod. “I can take him out without doing any permanent harm. That won’t be the case with Nathan. If I come up against him, it’ll be a battle to the death.”
So make sure it doesn’t come down to that, was the unspoken warning.
Gut clenched, she went to drop her hands to the bottom of her sweatshirt and peel it off over her head when she caught a movement in an upstairs window at the back of the house.
She halted, frowned. “Do you see that?”
Ivan followed her gaze. “My night vision isn’t as acute as yours, but yes, I can see movement.”
“It’s a child.” Her eyes widened. “Good grief, he seems to be dropping a rope of knotted sheets out the window.” Mouth falling open, she watched as a small and nimble body scrambled carefully down the rope before jumping to the ground and waving to the other face that had appeared at the window.
That body came down far more slowly and with care, nowhere near as confident as the first. But they weren’t done yet. Number three followed, this child even more hesitant, but they were encouraged on by big gestures from the two below and by whoever it was that remained at the top.
When the third child finally made it to the ground, they were caught by small helping hands. The most confident one patted the child on the back, clearly telling them they’d done a good job.
Her heart melted. Naughty cubs were a sight she’d missed so much.
Then came another sleek, fast little body scrambling down the rope.
She watched in silence as the four small bodies streaked toward the climbing frame. And she saw that they were all in pajamas, their feet bare and their hair tousled.
Giggling softly, the four began to clamber up onto the frame.
Right as a much smaller feline raced unexpectedly from around the side of the house to join in the fun. A housecat, she realized, even more astonished. It appeared the housecat was a pet, because it was stroked and petted, and welcomed. A housecat kept by leopards, she thought with a shake of her head, wondering if she wasn’t in some childhood storybook.
“The sensor lights should’ve come on,” Ivan murmured, his eyes on the children. “The Ryders would never permit the twins and their friends to be so unsupervised.” He looked toward the back window from which poured golden light, said, “The parents are watching.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. “That’s why the external lights haven’t come on.”
Her heart twisted again at the idea of two indulgent leopards letting the cubs believe they were getting away with such innocent mischief. The children just playing long past their bedtime. But … it was more than that, she realized slowly.
The two confident ones—little boys with dark hair—were encouraging and helping the other two, even though at least one of the other two looked to be a fraction older. The boys were whispering that the other children could do it when they tried something, and they were cheering them on when they succeeded.
The night was still, quiet, and she was so overwhelmed by the mischievous beauty of the moment that it took her a long time to understand what she was seeing. It had been eighteen months. Children grew an enormous amount in eighteen months. Their hair grew longer or was cut in different ways, and their bodies changed from pudgy and baby soft to longer and more angular.
She still couldn’t believe it, her blood a roar in her ears … until the night wind shifted and blew across multiple scent threads. Leopards, small and tangled in the same web of scents that surrounded Tamsyn, but below that and not as dominant were scents that sang to every part of her ocelot’s heart.
“Razi and Natal.” The names whispered out of her, so quiet that she wasn’t certain how Ivan heard her.
But he did, and he said, “They’re yours?”
She nodded in a jagged burst. “The tallest boy, and the girl.” Happy and healthy and alive, and playing with their two impish leopard cub friends.
She knew she should stay in place, knew she should think this through, but her cat had been patient far too long. And it had been alone far too long. Shoving up to the surface of her skin with no argument from the human side of her, it took over in a shower of light. Her clothes disintegrated off her. A matter of moments and she’d shed her human skin, and now stood there in her ocelot form.
She looked up, met the frost and stone of Ivan’s gaze.
She half expected him to try to stop her, but he just melted back into the dark. She knew that he would watch and if she was under threat, he would intercede. Ivan would always protect her. It was in her bones, that knowledge.