by Kallie Frost
Now, however, sunrise was too close. There was no way I was getting out of here through either of the doors, and probably not the windows. The human obviously wasn't going to let me out, either. I decided to change back a couple minutes early, as it would be a lot less painful for me, and less traumatizing for the human, than if I was forced to shift against my will. I wasn't entirely sure when the shift started, but I knew the moment the change became visible, as the human looked at me and stepped back in alarm.
“What the hell?!” he demanded, taking another step back.
I tried to reassure him, but it seemed that I had already shifted too much to speak telepathically. “Sorry,” I said again. It came out a semi-terrifying meow. Abruptly, I shot up off the floor and to my full human height. He nearly fell over himself, scrambling back away from me. At last, it was over.
“I am so sorry,” I said. “Don't be afraid.” Belatedly, I realized that I was naked, and quickly cupped my hands in front of myself. “I won't hurt you!”
“You… you were… how…”
“I know this must be really freaky for you,” I said. “I promise, I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I got stuck out in the blizzard, and I just happened to find your door. I have a hotel room, and as soon as the snow stops, I'm gone and you'll forget all about me.”
He kept gaping at me. “Is this really happening?”
“Yes, but I'd really like if we can just pretend it’s a dream.” Great. My first day of my year away and I had already let a human see me change. Maybe I should find another town…
“Hang on, you’re just going to leave?”
“I… yes?”
The human glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you telling me that you're not here because of… fate?”
“… No?”
“So, you expect me to believe – after all that stuff I was telling well, you about cats showing up whenever something big happens in my life – that this is a coincidence?! And that a cat showing up on my doorstep minutes after I finish finding out that my shop is going under, not to mention that cat then turning into a human, is a total coincidence too? You're not here to deliver some earth-shattering news or help me save my coffee shop?”
“Sorry?” I offered. “This really is just a… an accident?”
We stared at each other in silence. Me, feeling like an idiot that I had just let this happen. And him, well, glaring daggers at me. You'd think he'd be more upset about the fact a cat had just turned into a human in front of his eyes, than the fact I wasn't there to help save his coffee shop. Wait a minute: coffee shop? Coffee shops weren’t exactly out of my realm of expertise. I looked around, finally taking stock of where I was. I was so relieved to not have frozen to death, then so frantic to escape before sunrise, that I really hadn't thought about where I was, aside from the fact that there was a human here. I was indeed in a coffee shop. And, judging from the numerous pictures of cats hanging up, one that wasn't all that dissimilar from my own.
“Why is your shop failing?”
His glare intensified. “Now you care?”
“I was about to freeze to death,” I pointed out. “And I was kind of freaked out about you seeing me change but, if it's still snowing I can't exactly go anywhere... So, I figured I’d ask.” It may not have been fate, but maybe I could do something constructive during my year away, like help out someone. It was only fair, considering that he saved my life. As I thought about it, I reached up and rubbed at a sore spot on my shoulder, before rotating my arm and stretching.
“Doesn't matter,” he muttered.
“Look, if you can get past the ‘I’m a cat’ thing, I'm in town for the next few months… And I know a thing or two about coffee shops.”
“Really?” He sounded skeptical, but hopeful.
“Actually, I own a coffee shop down south.”
“You do?”
I nodded. “It's called Felines and Fine Grinds.” I wouldn't say it was exactly a world-famous shop, but it was pretty well known.
Nevertheless, I was surprised when his eyes flew open in recognition. “You own Felines and Fine Grinds?!” he demanded.
“You've heard of it?” I said, stupidly.
“That's the shop my mom went to! The one that inspired her to open this place!” His look of shock turned into one of anger. “You own the shop that inspired this one, and you're telling me you're not here to save it?”
“That’s not why I came here,” I confessed. “But, now that I know you have a coffee shop that’s in trouble… Well, I do know how to manage a successful one.” For some reason, I felt compelled to help the human. Never mind that I was here to get away from a coffee shop; ideas were already forming as I looked around. “I’d like to help.”
“How long are you here for?” he asked, skeptically.
“A few months.”
“Long vacation.”
“It’s more of a uh… sabbatical.”
The human raised an eyebrow with a frown. “From a coffee shop?”
I chuckled. “It’s a long story. The important thing is that I’m here for a few months and willing to help you.”
“I do need help,” he admitted grudgingly. Then, he laughed. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Cambry.” I extended a hand to him. “Cambry Silvanus.” His eyes dropped briefly, reminding me that I was naked. I cleared my throat and angled my hips away from him. I sometimes forgot that humans usually weren’t as comfortable with nudity as shifters.
He looked embarrassed, but nodded gratefully, before grasping my hand. “Louis Tabie.” His hand was warm in mine; I was almost sorry when he let go.
“Nice to meet you. I – tabby?!”
Louis rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched into a fond smile. “One b, and an ie.” The spelling correction rolled off his tongue with ease, and I had a feeling he had this conversation a lot, especially considering the feline nature of his café.
“I like it,” I chuckled. “And thanks, by the way, for saving my life, I owe you one.”
He smiled and gestured around. “Help with my shop and I’ll call it even.” His eyes flicked down again briefly. “I don’t suppose you can um… conjure yourself some clothes?”
“Sorry, no.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “What can you do? Is turning into a cat it? Not that turning into an animal isn’t pretty uh… unique in its own right.”
Shit. What had I been thinking offering to help with his shop? An innate magic that protected us would erase his memory of the cat incident, but that seemed to be the whole reason he trusted me. It was going to be tough to hang around and let some of his memory fade, while making sure he let me be involved in the shop. If I left for a while he’d forget me entirely, and there was no way he’d accept my help after that.
“I can’t uh… answer that,” I said. The less I told him about shifters, the faster his memory would go, and the harder it would be for him to get it back. Of course, if I told him he’d lose his memory, he’d be able to resist. I bit back a sigh; that complicated things even more. Surely, he wouldn’t take my non-answers without pushing back. “You’re human, you know?” I hoped he’d leave it at that.
His glare faltered a bit, and he shrugged in acceptance. “Should’ve figured. I guess you probably have to keep it a secret.”
“Sorry.” My slightly insincere apology turned into a yawn. “Excuse me.”
“You must be tired, after all… that.” Louis shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot. “Let me get you some clothes and uh… why don’t you get a little sleep? I’m afraid the only place to sleep is my bed…”
I was about to decline the offer to use his bed – I had a hotel room, after all – but instead of protesting, I heard myself say, “That would be great, as long as you don’t mind.”
His brow creased a little, as if he did mind, but he only nodded. “Go ahead.” He gestured for me to follow and led me u
pstairs. “I guess you’ve already been up here…”
“Sorry, I was looking for the key, so I could get out; I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Louis gave me a sideways glance, clearly recalling that I had been a cat not too long ago. “Why were you so desperate to get out, anyway?”
I didn’t want to keep reminding him of the ‘cat’-astrophe, but I knew I couldn’t just ignore all of his questions either. “I can only stay a cat for a certain amount of time,” I said vaguely. “I was trying to get out so that I wouldn’t change back here. I’d have to uh… wait to change again, and didn’t really have anywhere to hide as a human.”
“Makes sense. I mean, as much sense as turning into a cat can make…” He shook his head slightly at the thought, then began to dig through his dresser. “Here.” He held out some clothes. “Make yourself at home.” Louis glanced around his room. “And thanks for not totally trashing it… it actually looks mostly like I left it.”
“I tried not to disturb too much. You’re welcome.”
With a nod, he left me alone. For the first time since shifting back, I realized it was really cold in the café. I quickly pulled on the clothes. Louis was quite a bit smaller than me, and his boxers were hardly comfortable. I kicked them off and decided to just go without. I wasn’t planning on being away from my hotel room for that long anyway. The sweatpants must have been baggy on him; they just barely reached the tops of my ankles. They probably looked a bit funny, but the waist was loose enough to work. Like the pants, my borrowed t-shirt was probably one of his larger ones. In fact, it was even big on me. There was an image on the front of a cat drinking coffee with the caption The Caffeinated Cat – Port Canard, ME. Ah, must have been some extra stock. I was usually up to my ears in unpopular sizes.
Fully dressed, I slid back the generous pile of blankets and climbed into the bed, staying on top of the top sheet. My whole body relaxed as the blankets fell back around me. I was pretty sure it had been at least forty-eight hours since I last curled up in a bed. The bus ride from Half Moon took hours, and I hadn't even touched my hotel bed yet.
I rubbed my face against the pillow, as if I could just envelop myself. There was something about near-death that made everything seem better. I doubted the bed was really that heavenly, but it felt sinking into a cloud. It even smelled incredible. I buried my nose in the pillow, inhaling. What was that scent? There was coffee, of course. I knew from experience that the scent permeated everything in the café. But this was something more…
I caught myself purring, and laughed. My brush with mortality sure had me freaked out. I was lucky as hell be alive. Lucky, that I managed to find my way to the coffee shop. I laughed again, and rolled over to relieve the pain caused by pressing my shoulder into the mattress. Luck didn't even begin to cover it! No wonder Louis thought that it was fate.
Of course, it wasn't that shifters don’t believe in fate; we just had our own special brand of fate, that related specifically to our true mates. That, as far as I was aware, was the only kind of actual fate that we ever encountered. And there was never a question that's what it was. Brooks, Carrick's true mate, had basically thrown a dart at a map and ended up in our town, playing hockey on Carrick's team, the very last year that Carrick was planning on playing. Not to mention, that Brooks happened to be in the parking lot with Carrick when a werewolf hunter showed up and tried to kill him! That was fairly convincing of fate, if you asked me. And, of course, Rion and his true mate had been paired up by an apartment hunting website. I could think of half a dozen more fun stories like that from my family. I hoped that when I met my own true mate, if I were ever so lucky, I would have an equally good tale.
I rubbed my collarbone again, cursing the sudden discomfort, and then jerked bolt upright in the bed. How many times had I seen Carrick rubbing his collarbone, just like this? The soreness was in the exact same spot where my true mate would mark me.
The exact same spot and the pain only appeared after meeting a true mate. Luck? Was I insane? Was my brain frostbitten?! I chose this town as randomly as Brooks had chosen Half Moon Island. I got stuck in a blizzard, found my way blindly to a coffee shop – one that existed solely because the previous owner had come to my own shop, no less – and then was rescued by a human, who not only wasn't freaked out by the fact I was a shifter, but who proclaimed to me that he was sure I was there because of fate!
I let myself fall backward onto the bed, uncertain whether or not I could keep sitting up. A cloud of his scent washed over me as I hit the comforter. That's what I had been inhaling. Not just the familiar scent of coffee: Louis. I took another deep breath and felt my dick strain against the borrowed pants. Sore collarbone? Check. Arousal at the scent of him? Big check. It even explained my unusual desire to help him save his coffee shop, even though I just met the man. I laughed, as everything just started to fall together. It was more than coincidence. It was more than luck. It was fate. I had just met my true mate.
I sat upright again and started pacing. My God! What did I do? What did I say? I couldn't believe this was actually happening! No. Don't get too excited, I told myself. Maybe I was just being hopeful. Well, there was no way I was going to figure out if he was my true mate pacing around up here. I was way too keyed up to sleep now. I headed downstairs to find him.
~~~*~~~
Louis was sitting at his counter, nursing a cup of coffee. He took a sip and made a face. My true mate hates cats and coffee. Maybe I was wrong… I took a nervous step back upstairs. True mates were supposed to be perfect partners. We were supposed to have the same likes and dislikes. And if any of our tastes did differ, they were supposed to complement each other. I was supposed to eat the pickles that he didn't want and enjoy doing the chores he hated to do. My entire life revolved around my coffee shop and I wasn't sure how a true mate who hated coffee could fit into that. Not to mention in order to become my true mate he'd have to agree to let me turn him into a cat. How could someone who didn't like cats agree to become one?
Before I could get back up the stairs and put a little more thought into things, Louis saw me. My heart raced a little as our eyes met, and I could swear that my cock gave a little jump. Surely, I wasn’t reacting this way just because I thought he was my true mate. The attraction had to be real.
“Can't sleep?” he asked.
“I was thinking,” I said. “I realized, that you're right.”
“Okay…”
I realized that I hadn't even told him about shifters yet. I should probably start there, before I launched into declaring he was my true mate. “So, I'm a shifter.”
“What?”
“I'm a shifter. That's what we're called. And I’m a cat shifter. I can change into a cat at will anytime between sunset and sunrise. That's why I kind of panicked this morning. Obviously, we're not supposed to let humans know that we exist. And it started getting close to sunrise and I was trying to get out of here before I was forced to change back.”
“Why are you telling me all this now? You said you couldn't tell me anything.”
“I thought that. But I realized that you were right. There is reason that I'm here. I thought it was luck. But, there's no way that I ended up here, in your coffee shop of all places because of luck. I feel like an idiot for not realizing it faster. But now that I know, it changes everything.” My words came out in excited rush, and I knew he was having trouble following, but I just couldn't contain myself. “And I can save the shop!”
“Why the sudden change of… perspective?”
“Because I realized that there's a force that has brought me here, to you. There's a reason I'm here.”
Louis looked at me, his expression a mix of confusion, and just a dash of hope. “And that reason would be?”
“Fate.”
Chapter Four
Louis
“You said fate didn't send you here,” I said skeptically. If it weren't for the fact that I saw this guy change into a human from a cat with my own eyes, I prob
ably would have thought he was crazy by now. As it was, I was feeling slightly crazy from having witnessed the whole thing.
“There are signs…”
“Of what?”
He sank into a stool by the counter. “How to explain this… I’m doing a terrible job. We're soulmates,” Cambry blurted.
“Wait, soulmates?” I asked. That was so not the direction I was expecting this to go.
“Well, that's what humans call it. We call it true mates. And it's not the romanticized vision of soulmates that humans have, it's… it's real. We've been brought together by a force, a magical force, that has chosen us for each other.” I'm sure I looked skeptical, because Cambry began explaining in earnest. “You share a bond with a true mate, that you can't share with anyone else. No love between shifters can compare with the love you experience with a true mate. And they're more than a lover, they’re a friend, a best friend, and a confidant, and… everything.” He waved his arms in the air for emphasis. “You'll never get sick of them, you'll never stop loving them, you complement each other in every way, and… you just live a perfect, blissful life together. Forever. And I didn't recognize the signs at first, but even though it's only been a short time, ever since meeting you…” Cambry trailed off and watched me, waiting.
I wasn't really sure what to say. In all honesty, it sounded kind of great. Except for the fact that it also sounded the slightest bit insane. “So, what are these signs?”
“The most obvious one is that aching in your collarbone.”
My hand flew unconsciously to the sore spot. Holy shit. “Why does it hurt?” I saw the slightest flicker of satisfaction his eyes, relief maybe. As if he hadn't been sure what he was saying until I confirmed that my shoulder did indeed hurt.
