Read Online Shifting Snows by Brynn Paulin - Free Book Online

Though it still freaked her out a little, she appreciated that they were beautiful animals. “Danel,” she acknowledged, petting him, too. “I don’t know how to deal with this.”
    Danel growled quietly then dropped heavily to the ground with a loud huff of air. He rubbed his large face into the side of her head, neck and shoulder, purring loudly. Standing over her, Sorin did the same.
    “Seriously?” she asked, dryly, her shock completely fading at their primal behavior. “You’re marking your ownership? Now?”
    Sorin lifted his head and stared down at her, and she was sure if a cat could, he would have been smirking down at her.
    Okay, so they wanted her. “This is a lot to take in,” she protested. “Even if I can accept this and it is convenient having guard cats—hey!” she exclaimed as Danel headbutted her. “Even if I understand this, you live on a mountaintop. I have to go home sometime.”
    Both leopards pulled back. Their fur lifted as they bared their teeth and hissed, eloquently communicating their displeasure.
    Okay, so they wanted her, and they wanted her to stay.
    Sorin looked at Danel who stepped away then Sorin sank his teeth into the shoulder of her coat and started dragging her up the mountainside toward the village. Danel bounded ahead of them and neither listened to her screeching demands to release her.
    Abel and Calin stood just inside the village entrance as Sorin hauled her inside. An embarrassing amount of others watched as well. No one moved to help her.
    “Sorin, let me go,” she pleaded. This time, he released her then transformed while standing above her. She would have needed to close her eyes to avoid the sight, but she couldn’t and in seconds the man stood over her, his arms crossed over his chest.
    “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.”
    “Very funny,” she snapped scrambling up. Ignoring Danel, who now stood nearby, she stormed into the house. It would have been very satisfying to stomp into her room and slam the door, but she didn’t have a room of her own. She shared with Sorin and Danel. She wasn’t sure what she was so mad about anyway—well, except for Sorin hauling her back to town like some prize elk he’d taken down. Frankly, she understood the secrecy and somehow, she’d come to terms with the shifting. The pack mentality suddenly made so much more sense.
    She was standing in the middle of their bedroom when the two came in behind her.
    “We’re sorry we didn’t tell you,” Danel said.
    Her shoulder lifted, but she didn’t turn. “I understand why.”
    “But you were leaving anyway,” Sorin accused. “Before you even knew.”
    At that, she swung around. “I was thinking, not leaving. I can’t think when I’m with you, except to wonder when we can have sex again—stop smirking!—and I needed some space to clear my head. It wasn’t until a few minutes ago that I realized you’ve been blasting me with pheromones.”
    “Not really,” Sorin replied. “Only just that first time when we met on the outside.”
    “What did you need to think about?” Danel asked.
    She sighed and pushed her fingers through her hair as she walked away.
    “Macy…” Sorin chided.
    “It’s embarrassing.”
    “Turning into a Snow Leopard isn’t?”
    He had a point, though she doubted it was embarrassing. “I was considering my place in this relationship. You two love each other so much—it’s obvious. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”
    “Baby,” Danel exclaimed. He pulled her to the edge of the bed and sat, tugging her to take the place beside him. Sorin stood in front of them. “You’ve heard us talk. Sorin is my male mate. We’ve never found a suitable female—until you. It’s not one or the other. Yes, we love each other; we’ve been together since we were sixteen, but we’ll love you just as much.”
    “How can you know that?”
    The side of Sorin’s mouth lifted. “A snow leopard knows. We can scent our mates a mile away. Why do