by Zoe Chant
Being intimidating while holding a baby wasn’t the easiest task, but going by the look on George’s face, he was succeeding.
“I came to get the rest of my stuff,” Leah said. “You haven’t gotten rid of it yet, have you?”
“Well....” George drew out the word. “No, not exactly...”
Leah narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, not exactly?”
A door down the hall opened. “What the hell are you—Leah?”
Leah stared. “Rob?”
Rob. Jeff knew that name.
Leah took a step forward. “What are you doing here?”
Rob was staring at her like she was a ghost. “You...you left town. George said you were going to live with your mom.”
Leah took another step forward. “I was. Because I didn’t have any money. Because you abandoned me and your daughter.” Her voice got angrier and angrier with every word. “Have you just been waiting all this time for me to give up and leave so you could come home?”
Rob scowled at her. “I didn’t want that kid and it’s probably not even mine, anyway.”
“How dare you.” Leah stalked up to him and slapped him across the face.
His face turned ugly. “Who the hell do you think you are, you little—”
“Hey.” Jeff came forward fast. He handed Emily to Leah, who clutched her close, and got up in Rob’s face.
Rob tried to close the apartment door on him. Jeff caught it.
“Hey,” said George’s thin voice from behind him, “we don’t want any trouble, here—”
Jeff took Rob by the collar and shoved him up against the wall.
George’s whiny voice faded into the background as Jeff looked down at the asshole who had abandoned Leah and Emily, who’d put that shuttered, exhausted expression on Leah’s face. His leopard growled.
His fingers were twitching with the need to let out his claws and teach this guy a real, permanent lesson.
“Jeff.” Leah’s voice cut through the bloodthirsty haze.
Jeff tracked Rob’s movements as he twisted in the iron grip holding him against the wall. “What?”
“Don’t hurt him. He’s not worth it,” Leah said. “And I have a better idea of what to do with him, anyway.”
It took almost more effort that Jeff had to force down the rage, the desire to hurt the man who’d hurt his mate. But he made himself do it, for Leah.
Rob protested as Jeff hauled him away from the wall, turning to Leah with a hint of his usual good humor. “We’ll do anything you want. Is there a cliff nearby that we could toss him off?”
Leah’s mouth quirked in a smile as she looked Rob up and down. “I can think of something that would hurt more.”
***
Leah would never get tired of watching Jeff’s transformation. The way his muscles rippled and his figure blurred, the way the smooth fur of the snow leopard emerged from the shifting form.
And the snow leopard was so beautiful. Leah thought about the coming winter, wondering if Jeff would mind transforming some snowy evening, so that she and Emily could curl up against his furred midsection in front of the fire. She thought about Emily playing in the snow with the leopard...and having this powerful predator protecting her and her daughter for the rest of their lives.
Just like he was doing now.
Rob shivered and whimpered, clutching at a tree. They were in a little wooded area just past George’s building, where no one could see them from the road.
“I wouldn’t run,” Leah advised. “He’s fast.”
“What is he?” Rob whined.
Jeff growled. Rob jerked back in fear.
“He’s the one who’s going to come after you if you don’t get yourself to a courthouse,” Leah said. The words filled her with immeasurable satisfaction.
“After we set this up, I don’t ever want to see your face again,” she said. “But you are going to pay for what you did to Emily. And I mean that literally. Or you’ll be seeing him again.”
Jeff padded up to Rob and bared his teeth. Rob pressed himself back against the tree, as if he was trying to disappear into it.
Leah couldn’t understand what she’d ever seen in this man.
Fortunately, it looked like she wasn’t going to have to see anything of him anymore.
“Are you going to do this?” she asked.
Rob couldn’t take his eyes off Jeff’s teeth. “Yes,” he whispered.
“Then move it.”
Rob moved. Leah met Jeff’s leopard eyes, alight with satisfaction, and smiled.
***
The drive back was blissful.
Leah remembered making this exact drive just days ago, how downtrodden she’d felt. She’d been so sure that the next years of her life were going to be desperate and miserable. That she’d be looking frantically for jobs and childcare, working as many hours as she could at whatever work she could find, while her mom was loudly disappointed and disapproving in the background.
And meanwhile, Emily would start growing up sleeping in her Pack-n-Play in a living room, with a mommy who was barely around and a grandmother who disapproved of her existence.
But now...
Now, the most wonderful man she’d ever met was driving her and her daughter home. And home meant a cozy little house right next to one of the most beautiful places in the world. And she and Emily were going to live there.
And Jeff loved them both. And for him, that meant forever.
They stopped and picked up pizza in town, just before they made it home, and then Leah helped Jeff unload the trailer—which mostly meant helping to balance some of the larger and more unwieldy things. Jeff was strong enough to lift everything they’d packed up all by himself.
“Whoof,” said Jeff, once they were done. “I say we set everything up tomorrow. It’s my day off, so there’s plenty of time.”
“I second the motion,” Leah said, yawning and lifting a hungry Emily from her Pack-n-Play. “There’s pizza to eat.”
Jeff built a fire, and they took turns feeding Emily and scarfing down pizza while it crackled away. Watching Jeff do “here comes the airplane!” with Emily’s little spoon made Leah’s heart grow in her chest. At this rate, she thought, pretty soon there wouldn’t be room for it in there.
“What are you smiling at?” Jeff asked, grinning over from the other side of the table.
“You and our daughter.” Leah smiled back.
Jeff’s grin transformed at that, from something silly to something...joyous. He looked like he was glowing with happiness.
“Ah ah ah!” Emily said, smacking her hand down on her high chair’s tray.
“What’s that?” Jeff asked, turning back to her. “You want Daddy to feed you? Well, it’s your lucky day, because Daddy has some food right here.” He held out the spoon again.
“I love you,” Leah said, without even meaning to, like the words came straight from her heart to her mouth without her brain needing to be involved at all.
Jeff looked back at her and smiled. “I love you, too.”
After dinner, it was bath time, and bedtime. Jeff disappeared into the kitchen to do the few dishes they’d used, and once Emily was sleeping peacefully, Leah steeled herself for one final task and went to find her phone.
She dialed, and waited. When the call was answered, she took a deep breath. “Hi, Mom. I have some news.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Leah hung up and rubbed her eyes. Jeff, who’d been watching sympathetically from the sofa, came over and wrapped her up in a hug. “That didn’t sound like fun.”
Leah shrugged. “She’s never going to think I’m making a good decision. Once she calms down about that, I think she’ll be happy that I’m not showing up on her doorstep with a baby, but...” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe when you’re still around after ten years, she’ll change her mind about this being the biggest mistake of my life, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
“I’m sorry,” Jeff said in
to her hair.
“It’s okay.” Leah looked up at him. “It’s really okay, because you’re my family now.”
Jeff kissed her deeply. Leah opened her mouth for it, and pulled him in, letting the phone call fall away in the face of her mate’s obvious love for her.
They kissed for a long, long time, and somewhere in there, clothes started disappearing. Soon, Leah was panting into Jeff’s mouth, desire flooding her body.
“Naked,” she told him. “Come on.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, grinning, and stripped off the rest of his clothes while she did the same.
She thought about leading him to the bedroom, but the fire was still burning next to them, and the way the light rippled over his body, leaving his muscles alternately lit and shadowed, was hypnotic.
She wanted him right here. Surprising herself with her own assertiveness, Leah pushed Jeff down onto the carpet in front of the fireplace, straddling him and leaning down to kiss him.
Jeff groaned into her mouth. “God, you’re beautiful. Look at you.”
Leah looked down at herself. The fireplace was lighting her up as well, making her skin look luminescent gold, and highlighting her breasts, her hips, and her thighs. And the effect was...sexy.
For the first time, Leah could look at her own body and see a hint of what Jeff saw.
It gave her the confidence to keep going. She kissed Jeff again, slow and deep, and then started exploring his body, like he’d explored hers the first time they made love.
She was surprised at how sexy she found certain places she’d never thought about before: Jeff’s forearm was corded with muscle, and a kiss to the inside of his wrist made him groan with pleasure. The line of his collarbone was gorgeous, and the long muscles in his thigh tempted her to bite lightly. That got a surprisingly loud noise out of him.
After teasing for what felt like too short a time, but was probably forever for Jeff, she took pity on him and moved to his cock. He was so hard it looked almost painful, and his cock jerked when she touched it.
“Leah,” Jeff said, his voice low enough that she almost felt it in her bones.
Leah wrapped her hand around him and bent down to take him in her mouth.
He shuddered under her, and she was struck with how powerful this felt, how Jeff was helpless underneath her while she did this. That he was choosing to give her this power, letting her take the lead. The thought filled her with heat.
She tongued the head of his cock, then sucked very lightly, and finally stopped teasing and set to work, her hand and her mouth moving in tandem. Jeff’s hand threaded through her hair, not putting any pressure on her at all, just touching, and she sucked harder.
“Okay,” he said, his voice sounding strangled. “Leah, you have to stop, I’m not going to last.”
She lifted her head. Her mouth was full of the taste of him. “Do you have a condom?”
He threw an arm out to snag his jeans, and searched through the pockets. “Right here.”
She put it on him, which was an unexpected turn-on, and then straddled his hips and slowly, slowly lowered herself down.
His back arched as she took him in, his hands gripping her hips. She shuddered at the feeling of him, big and hard and filling her completely. When she was totally seated on him, it felt like he was deeper than he’d ever been before.
“God.” His voice was wrecked. “Leah. You’re amazing.”
She moved experimentally, and then gasped as pleasure shot through her. Just shifting her hips left her feeling almost helpless. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t, I don’t think I can—”
Jeff’s hands tightened on her hips, and then, almost before she realized what was happened, he rolled them over.
Leah bit back a yell of pleasure. The change in position had driven him right up against that spot inside her, and she felt herself clench around him as the feeling overwhelmed her.
“I love you, Leah,” Jeff was whispering, as he braced himself with one hand, held her hip with the other, and started to move. “I love you so much.”
“I love you,” she gasped. “Oh, God, I love you, I love you, Jeff!” She spasmed in pleasure as he drove into her hard, her orgasm ripping through her like a storm.
As she clamped down hard on him, Jeff shuddered, and thrust once more, twice more, and kissed her hard as he came, too.
They stayed twined together as they came down from it, Jeff stroking his thumb over her shoulder while she caught her breath.
“I do love you,” he said after a while. “Forever.”
“Forever,” she echoed, and smiled.
Epilogue
“Thank you so much for having us over,” said Grey’s wife Alethia.
“I’m so happy you came!” Leah smiled nervously. “Come in, come in.”
Leah had made cookies that morning while Jeff put the crib together, and they were cooling on the counter. She put a plate together and offered Grey and Alethia drinks.
“Actually,” Jeff said, glancing at Grey, “I think Grey and I were thinking about going to take a look at my car—we’ve been wanting to upgrade the engine a bit.”
Alethia smiled. “Boys. Sure, go on.”
Jeff and Grey disappeared with alacrity, leaving Leah frowning after them. “What’s that about?”
Alethia rolled her eyes. “They think they’re subtle. Working on the engine. Grey’s not even a car guy, he’d rather be hiking or fishing than standing in a garage looking under a hood.”
Leah raised her eyebrows. “So they’re leaving us alone for some nefarious purpose?”
“They want us to be friends.” Alethia took a cookie, and bit into it. “And if these are on the table every time I come over, hi, friend!”
Leah laughed. “I can’t guarantee cookies every time, but I would like to be friends. But,” she hesitated, “not if you aren’t—I mean, I don’t want you to be pressured into hanging out with me because our...”
“Mates,” Alethia supplied around a mouthful of cookie.
Leah repeated, “Because our mates are friends.”
Alethia was wearing a trendy, slightly daring dress that showed off her curves, high heels, and more jewelry than Leah ever wore. Her hair was styled and her makeup was perfect. She looked way, way too cool to ever want to be Leah’s friend. Leah wasn’t wearing any makeup today at all, and she was dressed in out-of-style jeans and a loose T-shirt. She looked like a mom. Alethia looked like anything but a mom.
“No way,” Alethia said. “Grey doesn’t pressure me into anything.”
Looking at the firm tilt of her chin, Leah could believe it. Well, she should remember that you couldn’t tell everything about a person from their clothes. “That would be wonderful,” she said. “I don’t have any friends here yet, apart from Jeff. Although I don’t lead a very exciting life, I should warn you.”
Alethia raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow. “Excuse me, Grey told me you had some kind of crazy adventure getting here? It sounded exciting as all get-out.”
Leah smiled. “Okay, yes, you got me there.”
Alethia leaned forward. “Tell me all about it.”
Haltingly, Leah started the story. Before long, though, she was caught up in it. Alethia was right—it was exciting. The most exciting thing that had ever happened to her.
And since Grey was a leopard too, she could tell Alethia all the details.
“...and we dragged him off to the courthouse,” she finished.
Alethia’s eyes were wide. “Wow,” she breathed. “That’s like a movie.” She gave Leah an impressed look. “That was brave of you, taking care of your daughter on your own like that.”
Leah shrugged, a little uncomfortable. “It wasn’t really brave, it was just that or live with my mom, and I didn’t want to live with my mom.”
“I hear that.” Alethia’s mouth turned down. “I used to live with my brother and sister-in-law, and it wasn’t good. Sometimes the family you’re born into isn’t right for you.”
Leah nodded. “Now I have my family right here.”
Alethia smiled. And as if on cue, Emily started to cry from the other room.
“Just a second, sorry.” Leah got up and went to get her from her crib.
When she came back out, Alethia turned, and her face went soft when she saw Emily. “Oh, wow, she’s so cute.”
“Thanks.” Leah smiled. She sat down with Emily in her lap; Emily put her fingers in her mouth and stared at the new person.
“Hi, baby,” said Alethia. She waved. “Hi.”
Emily stared for another long minute, then pulled her fingers out of her mouth and waved back.
Alethia’s face transformed into a big grin. “She waves!”
Leah nodded. “She’s just learning. You’re so smart,” she told Emily. “Good job!”
“Anyway,” Alethia said, “I really do hope we can be friends. And not just because your baby is adorable.”
Leah laughed. “I hope so! Although I promise that when I’m not getting snowed in, I’m pretty boring. I take care of Emily, and that’s mostly it. Other than gardening.”
“Gardening is a useful hobby,” Alethia pointed out. “My hobbies are mostly centered around hair and makeup and clothes and things like that.”
“I wish I was good at things like that,” Leah sighed. “I’m not stylish at all. Even before I had her. And now I just look like a mom.”
“Hey,” said Alethia. “There’s no reason a mom can’t be stylish and sexy. Do you want any tips? We could go shopping...?” She looked hopeful.
Leah had never really had any close girlfriends to go shopping with or do each other’s hair. The idea of doing a girl’s day out with someone as fun as Alethia seemed to be was dizzying. “I’d love that,” she said honestly.
“Great,” Alethia said. “I bet Grey would babysit. He wants practice.”
Leah raised her eyebrows. Alethia blushed, and smiled. “Hopefully soon we’ll have one of our own,” she said. “Not sure when yet.”
The door to the garage opened, and Jeff poked his head in. “Forgot my, uh, tools,” he said. “How’s it going?”
