Marie Harte - Rachel's Totem

But what struck her the most about the past few days was how much she’d come to care for Burke. She wanted to belong to him—to his pride, she hastily amended . Oh hell.

If I can’t be honest with myself, who can I be honest with? I love him, and it scares me to death.

“Baby, you okay?”

Her nerves must have shown on her face, and she hurried to cover her exposure. She shot him a broad smile. “Okay? My body feels like rubber, my brain like Jell-O, and I finally have you all to myself. What could be better?”

He began purring—God, how she loved that—and she found herself joining the rumbling sound. That quickly, contentment settled, her fears fading to the back of her mind. The pounding of Burke’s heart increased in volume, and she instinctively sniffed, trying to understand his emotions.

“Oh, yeah.” He chuckled and stroked a hand over her hair. “You’re ready to shift, Rachel. By marking you we finally woke you up. What say we go outside and give you some space. The first change is going to be hard, but I’ll help you through it.” He rose, heedless of his nudity, and pulled her with him. “Dean and Grady are going to be pissed they missed this.”

She followed him blindly, her attention caught by the myriad scents pressing to be identified. Gerald’s fragrance lingered in the house, subtle underneath Grady’s, Dean’s and of course, Burke’s overpowering marker. Like a heady cologne, Burke’s scent made her want to rub her face and body all over him. Taking him into her, as if claiming him as her own.

Burke opened the back door and took her with him, and she had a moment’s hesitation at being naked on the back lawn.

“Don’t worry. I don’t sense anyone else around. It’s just you and me, two cats ready for a good time.” His wide, satisfied grin made her smile. “I am so fucking happy right now. You have no idea.”

His joy was contagious, and she leapt into his arms, hugging him close. “Maybe I do.”

Burke’s happiness deepened into something more, and his body hardened in excitement. “Damn. Sorry about that. With you, I can’t stop myself from wanting sex.”

Right. Sex. Nothing more. Not that love lingering in his gaze, or the pitter patter of loving anticipation fluttering in my belly. Just sex.

Rachel disengaged against her protesting glands and took a deep breath. “Okay. So show me how to shift. Or change, turn. Whatever it is that you do. Show me.”

“Don’t be nervous. Just do what I do. Follow with your eyes and your mind.”

She frowned, not quite understanding. But as Burke slowly shifted, she mimicked his movements. And then she began hearing soft commands in her mind that she accepted as well. Her skin itched and her bones ached. She moaned as unfamiliar stretching caused pain, and as her bones and muscles realigned, her moans turned into soft whines, feline cries for help.

Instead of Burke’s voice, however, she heard his thoughts in her mind and read impressions from his body language that spoke so plainly she couldn’t believe she’d never noticed how expressive a cat was before.

“Let it come. Embrace your inner beast. Easy, love. Just relax.”

He’d done that last night too. Called her “love”. Her attention diverted, she found it easier to do as he said and fell into the changes in her body with little resistance, accommodating the pain.

“Very, very nice.” Burke rubbed his head against hers, and the press against her whiskers made her want to sneeze. “Sorry. You’ll learn to recognize shifts in pressure and scents, so pay attention to those whiskers and that powerful nose. Open your mouth, baby.”

She did and managed a yawn of sorts that felt wider than anything she’d managed as a woman.

“Beautiful set of teeth.” He grinned, his eyes slanting and his lip curling slightly.

“Sarah will be so jealous. You can tear her up with one big bite if you want.”

“So does raptor taste like chicken?”

Burke chuffed, the feline equivalent of a laugh. “By all means, when you chew her up, let me know.”

“Maybe I will.” Having tasted and shared sex with Burke, Rachel felt more than possessive. Burke was hers now, and Sarah Duncan had better learn to keep her hands, talons, and whatnot off Rachel’s lover.

He pushed her with his head toward the bordering woodline near his property. “Let’s run for a bit and let you adapt to your new body.”

Minutes turned into an hour as Rachel ran on four paws, her tail a balancing guide as she played, racing in the woods with Burke. Overjoyed to be sharing this first with him, she shared with him everything she experienced.

“It’s like a rebirth, this feeling.” She meant the shift, but she realized much of what she felt she could attribute to Burke, to his genuine spirit and selfless devotion.

“It is. I remember the first time I shifted.” They settled around a small stream that widened into a watering hole. “I had just reached my thirteenth year. My voice was changing, my body was gangly and reed-thin. But my senses were on overload, you know?”

Did she.

“And when I shifted, it was as if I’d been given a special pair of glasses, like I could see so much of life that had until then been passing me by.”

“That’s nice. The perfect way to describe what I’m feeling. You know, Burke, you have these great moments of poetic clarity that just don’t seem like they should be coming from a six-four ranch hand.”

He laughed. “Yeah, my brothers like to give me a hard time for being so insightful.

Drives them nuts, me always being right.” He gave her a shrewd glance. “Nothing much throws you, though, does it? Not this shifting, the marking last night or even the knowledge that this town and the people inside of it are real.” He shook his head . “You’re amazing, Rachel. And I’m not the only one who thinks it. You might just have ruined my brothers for any other women after last night.”

The embarrassment she should have felt didn’t come. The beast within her acknowledged the marking she’d received as her due. “Oh?”

His eyes glinted and his scent rose to cover her. “Yeah. You were so damned sexy under us, taking us inside you. But mostly they sensed your giving heart, your willingness to help others. It’s that caring that gives you great power. That love that even your dickless ex couldn’t stomp all the way out of you. You’re Charlotte’s niece for sure. ”

She warmed all over, and her heart took another dip in his direction. “I just hope I can live up to her, and your, expectations.”

“You will, baby. Hell, you already have.” His gaze at that moment looked entirely human in a cat’s body. “Rachel, I have to tell you something. I—” He stopped and stared over her shoulder, his eyes narrowing. “Stay by my side unless I tell you to go back to the house. We’ve got company.”

As he said it, a foul odor assaulted her. Foreign canines intruding on her land. She growled low in her throat, wanting them gone. Spores of threat contaminated her peace, breaking this meaningful interlude with Burke, and her anger grew.

“Damn, Rachel, tone it down. That mean streak in you is a serious turn-on.”

Shocked that he could tease in the face of danger, she snorted in response but felt her fury subside a little. “You’re not helping my inner beast that wants to rip their throats out.”

“You’re right. I’m helping you control yourself. This isn’t the way I wanted to introduce you to your wild nature. But when threatened, your instincts prevail. Just remember, you’re catamount. These fucking dogs are nothing more than leftover hamburger.”

She smacked her lips and he chuckled .

“Don’t let them throw you. Stand strong, right next to me, and we’ll get rid of them.