The two leopards stared at one another, Remy not giving an inch. It wouldn’t be difficult to bite down and suffocate the smaller male if he made one wrong move. His leopard raged at the control he was imposing, furious that the intruder had challenged him for his mate. His mark was on her, his scent. There was a code of honor within the lair, and Robert had ignored it. He was within his rights under their laws to kill the challenger.

Movement to his left had him biting down a little harder in a threat. He hadn’t smelled Robert’s brother Dion, but they were rarely separated, although he’d noticed that more and more Dion had seemed upset by his brother’s bullying ways. His gaze shifted for just one moment. The little female watched intently, curled up to make herself smaller. Bijou had risen closer to the surface, and he could scent fear along with the female’s excitement of the courtship rituals. The female trembled, her coat damp.

There was no way to reassure her in his present form. Killing Robert in front of her wouldn’t give her cause to trust him either. Beneath him, Robert’s leopard suddenly relaxed and submitted. Remy held him that little bit longer to warn him not to be stupid. It took everything he had to hold his leopard back from the kill.

Disgusted, his leopard dropped the golden leopard’s throat and backed off, snarling as he did so. Twice he charged the smaller male, roaring as he did, swiping his enormous paw in the grass and leaves, sending vegetation into the air. It took a few minutes for the leopard to settle enough that Robert could get up cautiously and slink off into the heavier brush and sprint away.

The moment he was gone, the female leopard took off in the opposite direction as if running for her life—and maybe she felt as if she were. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for Bijou to discover at such a late date that she had an animal form living inside of her. She didn’t know how she could move between forms, how she would come to control her leopard and keep the animal’s emotions from affecting her too much. Her leopard was probably just as confused and scared as she was.

Once again Bijou had headed away from the Inn and he circled to get in front of her, needing to drive her back. She halted abruptly when he appeared in front of her, baring her teeth, ears flat against her head, signaling her displeasure with him. He approached her carefully, and she slapped leaves and twigs at him. He rushed her, hitting her with his shoulder, turning her back toward the Inn and springing away before she could retaliate.

The female leopard hissed at him, whirling around in a circle, trying to get past him, but he blocked her every way until she took the only out left to her and headed in the direction the male wanted her to go. This time she didn’t run from him, clearly already tired from trying the impossible—fighting the demands of her hormones and the urgent need to mate.

Again, he was careful, keeping a safe distance, but this time he paced alongside of her, testing the air to ensure they were once again alone. Every now and then, the female would rub along the trees. Eventually the action became more frequent and she would roll in the vegetation almost playfully, submissively, but when she crouched for the first time and he approached her, she spat at him and leapt away.

Remy retreated farther to allow the female leopard more freedom. No other leopards—or humans—appeared to be in the area, and clearly Bijou had withdrawn once again to allow her female her time. Her buff-colored coat with the dark rosettes allowed her to nearly disappear at times as she padded on her silent paws through the vegetation and trees. Every few feet she would stop and crouch, but if the male got to close, she would rebuff him.

The rebuffs became less and less threatening and her actions more and more enticing. She lured the male closer still, with tantalizing chemical messages, vocal calls, seductive rolls and sensuous stretches, all directed toward the large male. The male became more aggressive and possessive as she crouched again, this time blanketing her, driving his teeth into the back of her neck to hold her in place.

Hours later, exhausted, both cats broke apart, the little female retreating to the shade of the trees as the dawn began to break. The male lay close to her, watching over her and resting for a few minutes before getting to his feet and nudging her up. Reluctantly she obeyed, too tired to fight him as he pushed her onward.

The male leopard retreated enough to allow Remy to think logically. He was exhausted, and Bijou had to be as well. The two leopards had had sex for hours, over and over as their species did. They still had to make it back to the Inn before they could be seen.

It took only a few minutes to make it to the edge of the swamp and circle around to the lake where the back of Saria’s property stretched out in front of them. Remy kept them inside the grove of trees as long as possible, testing the wind and air for signs of human activity before they sprinted across the open grass for the Inn itself.

He leapt up to the branches of the tree closest to her second-story balcony, showing her the way back to her room. The next leap took him onto the railing and then to the floor of the balcony. The smaller leopard followed him, head down, sides heaving, barely making it over the rail to flop down onto her side.

Remy shifted to his human form, opened the French door and stepped back to allow the small leopard into her bedroom. “Shift back, Blue,” he encouraged. “Just let her go, take your form back.”

The cat looked at him. There was something in her eyes that made him uncomfortable. He could shift fast enough to protect himself if she launched an attack. Her leopard was exhausted—hell—they both were exhausted. Bijou would barely be able to move once she returned to her human form. That first shifting was exhilarating, but it was definitely draining. Instead of launching herself at him, the small female leopard walked past him, nose in the air. He’d never seen an animal look so haughty and regal and dignified.