Page 94 of Storm Echo

It was only when Ivan sucked in a breath that she realized he was standing there watching her—and his eyes were flames of ice. Smiling, delighted, she padded over to him on bare feet, her skin touched by sunshine and shadow as her unbound hair brushed her back. Bracing herself up against him, she nibbled at his throat, pressed a kiss there.

His hands slid down to squeeze her buttocks with the same frank pleasure he’d shown before. It shocked her a little all over again—in the best way. She loved that her outwardly sophisticated Psy was so bluntly carnal in his sexual tastes.

Soleil shivered at the contact but drew away before they got distracted. “I want to see the aerie!” She shifted in a shower of light, her cat soon shaking its fur into place.

He’d seen her before, of course, but she still preened for him, showing off the arch of her ears, the strength of her tail, the way her markings looked in a beam of sunlight.

His expression was one of wonder as he crouched down to run his hand over her back. She flowed like liquid under him, showing him exactly where she wanted to be petted and adored, and knew that there’d be nights when she’d curl up beside him in this form and let him just stroke her. Because she was changeling, the cat as much a part of her as the human.

When her eyes threatened to go heavy-lidded, however, she pulled away and bounded over to the tree. At the bottom, she glanced back and waited. Getting the message, he jogged over to the rope ladder and put his hand on the step above his head.

Then he looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Laughing within, both parts of her so pleased with him, she jumped up onto the tree and they raced their way to the very top. Though ocelots prefered the ground, they could climb with the best of them.

She beat him, of course, but he was very fast, this man who held her heart. He pulled himself up onto the verandah high above the ground with liquid ease—where she’d waited so they could explore their home as a couple.

Then together, cat and man walked into the aerie.

The human part of her mind stirred to the surface, the cat not as interested in internal things. A number of large and colorful cushions sat on the floor, while pretty curtains of scalloped white fabric hung at the windows. When she poked her head into the small bedroom, she saw a large futon-style bed with a simple bedspread of white with tiny green leaves on the edges.

A hand-knitted blanket, the color a soft mint green, lay folded at the bottom and when she sniffed at it, she whimpered. It carried Yariela’s scent. Her mentor had knitted this, and someone in DarkRiver had made the effort to move it here so it would welcome Soleil home.

“What’s the matter?” Ivan crouching beside her, his hand on her back.

She used one paw to pat at the blanket, an image of Yariela at the forefront of her mind, and love spilling over into her blood.

“She loves you.” Ivan had picked up the image, she realized, understood the depth of her emotions.

He petted her until she found her feet again, could keep on exploring.

Noting the blank walls and bookshelves empty of anything but a single potted plant, she realized the aerie had only been furnished up to a point. There was enough here to make her and Ivan comfortable—but not enough that it was as if someone else had decorated the space for them.

The most personal thing in the aerie was Yariela’s housewarming gift.

A stir in the air, Ivan moving to the bookshelf. Sliding a hand into his pants pocket, he took something out and put it on the shelf. Curious, she bounded over the bed to land beside him … and looked up to see the cat planter she’d given him sitting beside the potted plant.

Oh, he was wonderful. And sneaky. He hadn’t had it on him while driving, so he must’ve grabbed it from his duffel while she stretched out the kinks after getting out of the car.

Home, he was saying he was home.

Soleil’s feline heart ached. She’d pounce on him but a little later. For now, she rubbed her body against his legs as she went to nose around the rest of the place.

She discovered a kitchen area that flowed off the living room, sanitation facilities placed right in back of the aerie, and when she jumped up onto a desk by the window in the bedroom, she saw a quickly sketched plan laid on it that would add another room to the place.

A second sketch sat beside it: a small cabin at the foot of the same tree, with a notation that it would be wired for full comms and have a touch-activated door and floor that would send an alert to the aerie at the slightest sign of a visitor.

Tilting her head to the side, she considered the oddity … then understood on a tide of emotion. Her pack was telling her that if she liked this aerie, she could make it her own. She could have a home, a true home, where she was welcome and where the cubs and Yariela and all her packmates could visit her, stay overnight if they wanted.

The cabin would be for the babies who couldn’t yet climb so high, and elder cats who didn’t want to bound up to this perch … and because she was a healer, her home needing to be accessible to all. Especially wounded packmates who might not be able to use the comms.

That was why Tamsyn and Nathan didn’t live in an aerie, she realized. Maybe Soleil would one day make the same choice, but for now, she loved the option she’d been offered—to have the aerie above and the specially configured cabin below. But most of all, she loved that she had a place that she could make into a haven for her mate, a man who wanted to protect her so much that he might forever break her heart.

IVAN was a creature of cities. Yes, he liked his own space, but he liked that in the midst of cities, with the constant buzz of life outside. He’d been born in a city, had been raised in one, and though he’d spent time in more isolated situations—such as when he’d stayed with his grandmother at the Sea House—that wasn’t his natural milieu.

So this treehouse in the sky should’ve made him uncomfortable, should’ve felt like a scratchy coat on his skin. It didn’t. As he walked around the living room, bending down to check out the large cushions meant to function as seating, then going over to the verandah that had railings on only three sides, he found the tension just melting out of him.

The way the tree leaves rustled, the way the wind blew softly, the way the sunshine speared through the clouds, it was all an extraordinary beauty. But he knew his contentment had nothing to do with that. It had to do with the sleek cat who was currently exploring the bedroom area.

---