Chapter Fifty-Four--That's A Jaguar!

Chapter Fifty-Four--That's A Jaguar!
The muscle climbing over his shoulder quivered. His arms snapped, and elongated. Lola screamed, no doubt from the way his face contorted, which I viewed only from his profile. The series of snaps churned my stomach. Made me glad I hadn’t changed yet. This had to be painful.

Shock glued me to my seat as he fell to all fours and arched his back. His shorts shredded, fell in pieces to the hard wood. A tail uncoiled, feet crunched into compact paws.

All the while, Syber allowed Lola to beat him, but he didn’t let her go. Or close her eyes. He whispered for her watch, to learn.

Kalvyn sat back on his haunches, his fur brushing my calves.

Lola stopped punching Syber, and hiccupped.

“Oh no,” she said to Syber. “What did you put into my breakfast? Is it the same drugs you’re giving her?”

Oh, good. Now I was reduced to a her.

“Not a damned thing but eggs, milk and bread,” he said gruffly.

“That’s a jaguar.”

“Yes,” I replied hoarsely. “It’s Kalvyn.”

“That’s the jaguar that saved us from the Grizzly bear.”

“Yes, that would also be Kalvyn. The blue eyed one was Syber. The other green eyed one was Quinn. The cougar was Carmen.”

She shook Syber off, batting him away when she took a step forward. I held my breath as she approached him, arm outstretched. Her hand hovered over his head, fearful to close that last inch, until he bounced into his touch, as cats are prone to do. Her arm snapped back to her side.

“He feels real.”

“He is.” My heart rate calmed.

“Like an honest to God cat, dude.” She paled. “And I’m not crazy.”

“Neither am I.”

“Yes, you are! You’ve been banging a cat.”

“Ahh, well not while in this form. That’s disgusting.”

Kalvyn choked up a hairball or something. Syber hide his smile behind his hand.

“And what about Syber?”

Syber cleared his throat, staring at his feet. “We haven’t slept together.”

Interesting.

She zeroed in on me. “Then explain why did he drink your blood, dude?”

“Stop calling me that. I almost prefer Katrina,” I chided. And here came the next difficult part. “Right before you saw me, I was attacked by Bianca and Sadie—who are also cats—out of jealousy. They were waiting for me to leave the campsite.” Her guilty expression made me carry on quick, before she burst into another bout of tears. “The rest of them showed up right before the two of them succeeded in…ending me. Carmen had no way to save me. The only way to save my life was to change me. If not for them, I’d be…dead, Lola. Don’t hold any grudges or flip out on them anymore.”

“So, I’m supposed to congratulate them on stealing you?”

“They didn’t steal me, Lola. The reason I’m telling you any of this, is so you understand how much danger we’re in right now.”

“Because of your mom.”

I hesitated. “Yeah, amoung other things.”

“You mean me?” She went back to her visual tennis match between Kalvyn and I. “You think I’m going to go running into Harbor and start a witch hunt?”

“Aren’t you?” Syber murmured.

“I would never risk my girl’s life, unlike some people I know.” She glared at Kalvyn. “I hope you can understand me right now. If it wasn’t for you, Bianca wouldn’t have gone after her. Your issues fucked up our lives. You better appreciate the forgiveness my girl is giving you. She doesn’t trust anybody, she certainly never forgives. You think I hold onto grudges? You’ve barely scratched the surface of Katrina.” She paused, lighting up with fury that paled Kalvyn’s. “So now, I know, and yeah, I have no choice to but believe, at least some of it. And I’m sticking around. I’ll be the burr on your ass, tagging your every move. Shifter or no shifter, I will end you if anything else happens to her. I don’t give a shit if she makes excuses for you. I don’t trust you, and I don’t like you. You got a long way to go before I care if you live or die. Now, change back. You’re point has been made.”

She whirled, and stomped from the room, tossing a disdainful glance in Syber’s direction.

I barely paid attention to Kalvyn shifting. I shared a look with Syber.

“Give her space.”

He jerked his head. I hadn’t a clue if he agreed or not, but he left in the opposite direction she had.

“He will have his hands full.” Kalvyn sat at my feet, naked as the day he was born.

“If he hasn’t figured that out after two weeks of her being locked up in his house, he doesn’t deserve her. I don’t want her there anymore.”

“He would die to protect her. And you heard her, it hurts to be away from him.”

“Still. As she said, we’re in new territory here. She needs stability.”

“With the hunters out there, stability doesn’t exist until they’ve been exterminated.”

Time for phase two of shocking the people who cared about me. “I want to see them.”

“See who?”

I rolled my eyes. “The hunters.”

He stretched. “You’re not talking to them.”

“The English language is pretty straight forward, Kalvyn. See and talk have two separate meanings.”

“You want to spy on them.”

“Duh.”

“Do not duh me. You aren’t ready.”

“Take me, or I’ll go myself.”

His teeth gashed together. “I am not talking you out of this, am I?”

“Not a hope.”

“Fine, I will arrange a team, and we shall go in the morning.”

I pushed off the couch, and headed for the front door. “No. I’m going now. Come or don’t. There’s something I need to see for myself.”

"Can I get dressed first?"

Katrina snickered. "If you want."

Kalvyn rolled his green orbs. "I want."