Shifting Snows by Brynn Paulin Page B

gloved hand over her face. She had to stop making things difficult. This was sex. She was here until the snow cleared enough for her to pass. Period. The end.
    Shaking her head at herself, she left the stand of pines that hid the opening in the rock face. She waded between two large drifts, quickly seeing the truth in their determination that the mountain was impassible. She’d just decided to turn back and walk around the trees when a menacing growl raised the hair on the back of her neck. A trio of wolves emerged from an outcropping of boulders.
    Her heart leapt into her throat as panic froze her.
    “Macy!”
    She swung around at Sorin’s voice. He and Danel ran from the trees, leaping past her. She swung back around as electricity sparked the air around her, accompanied by sickening pops and tears. Where her men should have landed, two snow leopards dropped to the ground, planting themselves between her and the wolves. Their teeth bared, they hissed.
    The wolves growled, hunching and backpedaling as the larger animals advanced.
    They wouldn’t let the others at her, but as her terror receded, her mind grappled with what she was seeing.
    Sorin and Danel.
    Huge snow leopards.
    That first day…there’d been a leopard….then…Sorin…
    Many of the villagers were from Sorin’s “homeland” where he’d said they were “hunted”. She knew they’d come from the Himalayas, and she knew snow leopards were indigenous to that region, not Colorado.
    They were shifters.
    She watched them stalking forward, their gorgeous smoky-gray coats with black rosettes mesmerizing her as they walked. Their long, thick tails swayed slightly as they moved, barely sinking into the snow when they crossed it as easily as if they wore snow shoes. Wait…
    Sorin and Danel had tails…
    She gasped as the truth hit her again then she did the only thing her brain commanded her to do. Run! Just run! Run, run, run!
    Behind her, she heard the screams of the cats as they attacked the wolves that had come after her and the yelps and howls of the injured canines. And she ran, moving as quickly as she could through and around drifts.
    Her lovers were something that shouldn’t even exist; an impossibility. Part animal. And she had to get away. She’d never outrun them, but maybe she’d find somewhere to hide. A crevice somewhere… Just a week ago, she’d had the same thought before Sorin had taken her down.
    He was the cat. This was what they’d been keeping from her. This was the vulnerability she’d seen in Sorin and the frustration Danel had silently communicated to him. Danel had wanted to tell her.
    And Sorin had refused. He’d known exactly how she’d react. She slowed as her thoughts rolled faster, and she replayed everything they’d said the past week. How they’d often called women “mates” instead of wives. How they’d spoken of male mates and female mates. The way they liked to chuffle at her. How dizzy in love she felt when they kissed her—it had to be pheromones.
    Macy stopped. She dropped to her knees, hunching forward and burying her face in her hands. What was she going to do? It wasn’t just when they kissed her that she felt in love. It was all the time. She just didn’t want to believe it; it was so fast. Well, and they were cats.
    She took a deep breath. Did that really matter to her? Could she live with it? Did they even want her to? Maybe they didn’t feel the same about her as she did them.
    A headbutt to her side knocked her over, derailing her thoughts. A huge paw pinned her shoulder while pale green eyes stared down at her. Almost afraid his huge teeth would take off her hand, she reached out and touched the pure white fur beneath his neck. Her fingers sank into his thick fur. To her surprise, he nuzzled her arm and a vibrating purr rumbled against her palm.
    “Sorin,” she said, looking into those soulful eyes as he pressed his face closer. Another head pushed in and she recognized Danel’s gray eyes.