Page 48 of Storm Echo

Her ocelot allowed its muscles to soften.

Ivan turned toward her right then, a cobweb of stars in his eyes. It was gone the next second, that silvery network that both haunted and protected her, and he was nudging her to move on. They didn’t talk, but she never lost her awareness of Ivan, the lethal stealth of him a love song to her cat.

A glimpse of light through the trees.

Her pulse was a racehorse by the time they hit the final edge of trees, beyond which lay a large yard. On the left was a garden lovingly tended that held thriving vegetables with large leaves and rounded fruits, while to the right sat a wooden climbing frame full of ladders and ropes and all kinds of other things that rambunctious cubs would appreciate as they learned their bodies and their skills.

When she went to go that way, Ivan snapped out a hand, clasped her forearm. “They’ll have cameras watching the back of the property.” Not an ounce of emotion in his tone, but his grip on her told a different story. “Motion-activated lights are a guarantee.”

“I need to see if there’s a scent on the play equipment,” she whispered. “It’s the best possible spot.” She tried to think, but her mind was in chaos, because tonight, she would know. Good or bad or crushing, she would know.

“You’re much smaller in your ocelot form.”

The haze cleared. “Yes. I’ll shift.” God, she could kiss him right now. “I may not set off the sensors and even if I do, all they’ll see is a small feline shadow they might dismiss as a large housecat.”

“If an alarm does go off, you’ll have a very short window of time.” He paused. “We may be able to slip out if you run back to me theinstantthe lights come on or you hear an audible alarm. Nathan Ryder won’t leave his family and cubs unprotected to chase after us, and the young soldier on duty is someone I can handle.”

Soleil hesitated, looked at him. “You won’t hurt him?” He was just a boy, one who’d been given a duty to perform and who was probably incredibly proud of it.

Ivan gave a curt nod. “I can take him out without doing any permanent harm. That won’t be the case with Nathan. If I come up against him, it’ll be a battle to the death.”

So make sure it doesn’t come down to that, was the unspoken warning.

Gut clenched, she went to drop her hands to the bottom of her sweatshirt and peel it off over her head when she caught a movement in an upstairs window at the back of the house.

She halted, frowned. “Do you see that?”

Ivan followed her gaze. “My night vision isn’t as acute as yours, but yes, I can see movement.”

“It’s a child.” Her eyes widened. “Good grief, he seems to be dropping a rope of knotted sheets out the window.” Mouth falling open, she watched as a small and nimble body scrambled carefully down the rope before jumping to the ground and waving to the other face that had appeared at the window.

That body came down far more slowly and with care, nowhere near as confident as the first. But they weren’t done yet. Number three followed, this child even more hesitant, but they were encouraged on by big gestures from the two below and by whoever it was that remained at the top.

When the third child finally made it to the ground, they were caught by small helping hands. The most confident one patted the child on the back, clearly telling them they’d done a good job.

Her heartmelted. Naughty cubs were a sight she’d missed so much.

Then came another sleek, fast little body scrambling down the rope.

She watched in silence as the four small bodies streaked toward the climbing frame. And she saw that they were all in pajamas, their feet bare and their hair tousled.

Giggling softly, the four began to clamber up onto the frame.

Right as a much smaller feline raced unexpectedly from around the side of the house to join in the fun. A housecat, she realized, even more astonished. It appeared the housecat was a pet, because it was stroked and petted, and welcomed. A housecat kept by leopards, she thought with a shake of her head, wondering if she wasn’t in some childhood storybook.

“The sensor lights should’ve come on,” Ivan murmured, his eyes on the children. “The Ryders would never permit the twins and their friends to be so unsupervised.” He looked toward the back window from which poured golden light, said, “The parents are watching.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. “That’s why the external lights haven’t come on.”

Her heart twisted again at the idea of two indulgent leopards letting the cubs believe they were getting away with such innocent mischief. The children just playing long past their bedtime. But … it was more than that, she realized slowly.

The two confident ones—little boys with dark hair—were encouraging and helping the other two, even though at least one of the other two looked to be a fraction older. The boys were whispering that the other children could do it when they tried something, and they were cheering them on when they succeeded.

The night was still, quiet, and she was so overwhelmed by the mischievous beauty of the moment that it took her a long time to understand what she was seeing. It had been eighteen months. Children grew an enormous amount in eighteen months. Their hair grew longer or was cut in different ways, and their bodies changed from pudgy and baby soft to longer and more angular.

She still couldn’t believe it, her blood a roar in her ears … until the night wind shifted and blew across multiple scent threads. Leopards, small and tangled in the same web of scents that surrounded Tamsyn, but below that and not as dominant were scents that sang to every part of her ocelot’s heart.

“Razi and Natal.” The names whispered out of her, so quiet that she wasn’t certain how Ivan heard her.

But he did, and he said, “They’re yours?”

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