He settled on a branch, his thick tail hanging down.
She shook her head in amazement. “You’re beautiful.” She wasn’t sure if he would hear so far up, but his ears flicked at her words, and she knew he had.
He climbed down from the tree with the same apparent ease as he’d gone up it, and came back to sit next to her again. She reached out to pet his head, and felt the warm-roughness of his tongue as he licked her hand. It tickled, and she smiled.
He got up again and trotted away, looking back over her shoulder. She trotted after, keeping a careful eye on the unfamiliar ground, and sped up as she got more confident.
She wished she could run like he could. She wished suddenly, passionately, that she’d been born a shifter like Paul had.
For so long, she’d thought that she’d never want to be an animal, especially not a black bear like her brother. Nothing had seemed further away from the pretty, made-up, well-dressed girl she wanted to be.
Now, the idea of being able to run around the forest as though she belonged was something that awoke a longing in her chest.
And to be something as gorgeously graceful as a snow leopard…
She shook off the idea. She hadn’t been born a shifter, after all, and even she knew that shifters almost never bit anyone to change them on purpose.
She’d watch Grey run, and maybe that would satisfy a little bit of the ache in her chest.
Grey stopped at the very edge of the house light’s reach. Ali could see a rocky outcropping stretching up into the darkness, a chunk of mountain reaching up out of the forest to make itself known.
Next to her, Grey gathered himself, and in an explosion of movement, his powerful hindquarters propelled him upward toward the rock. She saw him land perfectly on a narrow ledge, and then he leapt again and disappeared into the shadow.
She scanned the rock, but he was completely hidden. “Where are you?”
For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a piece of the rock seemed to move. Grey emerged from the shadows and leapt back down to alight next to her on the ground. He shimmered, and suddenly Grey the man was standing next to her.
“That was amazing!” Ali exclaimed. “It looked like you just completely disappeared.”
“Camouflage coloring.” Grey smiled, a hint of the fierce excitement he’d shown as a snow leopard still visible in his eyes. “Snow leopards are designed to blend into rocky areas. In the mountains, we’re basically invisible as long as we stay still.”
She shook her head. “That’s amazing. I wish I—” She stopped herself before she could say, I wish I could do all of that too. She couldn’t say anything that made it sound like she was angling for him to bite her. “I wish I were half as graceful as that.”
“You’re pretty impressive in those shoes,” he pointed out. “I was worried when you started to run after me in heels, on uneven ground. I thought for sure you’d fall. But you were as light as a cat yourself.”
“I am amazing at walking in heels,” she replied, without false modesty. It was true. “It’s my one athletic talent.”
“It takes grace and strength,” Grey said seriously. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Ali knew she was blushing, but hopefully it was dark enough that Grey wouldn’t be able to tell.
The cold air would cool her cheeks down soon, anyway. The early spring night was chilly, and now that Ali wasn’t distracted by Grey’s amazing feats, she shivered a bit.
“You’re cold,” Grey said. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
Ali followed him back toward the house. He stuck very close to her, but didn’t offer her his arm or try and help her walk.
She didn’t stumble once.
***
Grey didn’t know what had come over him.
His days of showing off were long, long behind him. Sure, demonstrating his powers for anyone he wanted to impress had been a lot of fun back when he was nineteen, but now he preferred to talk to people to get to know them.
But Alethia’s interest was different. It seemed like she wanted to see his leopard because it was a part of him, not just because it was cool.
And, he had to acknowledge to himself, he did want to impress her. Some of those stunts outside hadn’t been necessary. He’d just gotten carried away in the moment. He’d wanted her to see everything he could do.