Tempted by the Jaguar #1: Transformation (Riverford Shifters) (2 page)

A wave of what felt like the biggest muscle spasm she had ever had washed
through Kylie’s entire body a split-second before every inch of her began to
contract and expand as though she was a balloon being inflated to the brink of
bursting. For a painful beat, the ropes around her wrists, neck, ankles, and
thighs cut excruciatingly into her flesh before inexplicably snapping as though
they were made of straw. Her strange keening also began to change in pitch, to
expand until the roar of an apex predator filled the once eerily silent night.

Rage, fear, and a sense of blood lust filled her mind. An enemy was
here! An enemy was hurting her! With a deafening roar, Kylie lunged at the
figure that had fallen back onto his ass, that was frantically trying to scoot
away from her. She could now see him as clearly as though it were twilight. She
felt huge; she felt powerful as two large paws of golden, black-spotted fur slammed
onto his chest, claws sinking past layers of cloth that felt as flimsy as silk and
tearing into that soft, soft flesh as her enemy was flattened to the ground
with a shriek of pain.

The coppery smell of blood and another acrid scent of something she had
never smelled before filled her nostrils, and the rage that saturated her every
pore instantly doubled until all she could think about, all she wanted was the
taste of that blood on her tongue. She opened her jaws wide and went for her
attacker’s throat just as what felt like a battering ram hit her squarely on
the side, causing Kylie to tumble uncontrollably off the bleeding body until
she landed in a heap onto her side.

With a roar, she scrambled onto all fours, hunching low into a
defensive stance and her tail lashing sharply like the crack of a whip behind
her. Her mind was so lost to the rage, to the fear of being attacked that she
didn’t even stop to wonder why she was on all fours, that she roared, or that
she actually had a
tail
to lash behind her. Her entire world had
narrowed down to the large spotted feline standing challengingly between her
and her prey that was currently staggering off into the protection of the trees,
its eyes flashing with a bit of night shine as it stared her down but did not
try to move closer.

Kylie lashed out at the much larger great cat, swatting at the air
between them warningly with her claws, before backing up a couple of steps and
resuming her defensive stance with a series of sharp chuffs. That was
her
prey! How dare the other, one of her own
brethren
, try to take it from
her!

She let out another angry chuff and clawed the ground. The other cat
blinked its large eyes and then tilted its head in a manner that her senses
were screaming was utterly
wrong
—unnatural.

Slowly it sat back onto its haunches and then before her alarmed eyes,
the spotted cat’s entire body began to ripple in an utterly unsettling way
before the mass of its body began to shrink down and rearrange itself. Spotted fur
rapidly melted into smooth, human skin until everything settled and the body of
a man crouched in its place.

Her mind in its current state just could not comprehend what it had
just seen. A naked, black-haired man now crouched before her, but he still
smelled the same. He still smelled like the great cat of before.

The man stared back at her warily, moving to sit with his knees bent
up, and then he carefully rested his arms onto them.

“It’s all right,” he said softly in a deep, nonthreatening voice. “Be
calm. Be calm. I’m not angry. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Kylie snarled at him and took a cautious step back. What was he saying?
He attacked her! He let her prey escape!

“You’re okay,” he cooed in that same, soft voice. “There’s no danger
here. I just want to help you. Will you let me help you?”

Help her? Some of her rage subsided as utter confusion began to creep
into her mind. What had just happened here?

“Can you shift back now? So we can talk?” the man asked, his eyes wide
and imploring.

Kylie paused in the process of baring her teeth, the word “shift”
tickling the edges of a distant memory even as a surge of fear washed over her,
effectively snuffing out the uncontrollable rage of before. It was
him
,
she realized suddenly, this stranger who had turned from cat to man before her
very eyes. It was him she was afraid of, afraid that he was going to find out
about—

—that I’m a—

Her eyes flickered down to the ground, to her two spotted paws with
claws fully extended and the fur matted with blood, and she abruptly let out a
sound of dismay that did not at all sound like something that should have come
out of any kind of feline’s throat.

Shit! I’m a jaguar!
Kylie suddenly screeched in utter shock within
her mind, a mind that was now once again completely her own. She scrambled back
in a panic until her rump hit a tree, looking with horror at the unknown naked
man who had suddenly jumped to his feet.

He saw! He saw!

“No—don’t—!” he exclaimed, taking a step towards her, but she didn’t
wait to hear the rest.

Kylie bounded off into the night, running as though the Devil, himself,
was on her heels, dodging trees and brush and jumping over exposed roots with
an almost preternatural grace even as her mind was in full-blown freak-out
mode. She had
shifted
! Another shifter had
seen
her! How had this
happened?

Like a mantra, those thoughts ran through her mind over and over as she
raced through the dense forest with no destination in mind except
away
. She
ran as fast as she could even though she couldn’t tell if he was following her,
couldn’t tell if his scent was among the thousand different scents that she
drew in as she panted. The assault of unknown smells almost overwhelmed her,
fueled her fear and panic, and Kylie had no idea how to separate herself from
it.

So she just ran until she could hear the hum of various vehicles
zooming down what she hoped was the east highway out of Riverford and could see
the faint flashes of their headlights through the trees as they drove past. By
now, her breathing had become severely labored, and various muscles were
beginning to scream with pain in places she was not used to.

She slowed down to a more manageable pace and turned west to run
parallel to the road but still well hidden by the trees and the darkness.
I
have to get home! I have to call Paul!

Never mind that she had been attacked and abducted by what was probably
a serial killer or that she had been seconds away from ripping out his throat.
The only thing that mattered now, that
could
matter, was that she had
shifted
and had been seen by another shifter.

She had to get to Paul. He was the only chance she had now.

Kylie dashed across the highway and back into the cover of the forest,
making it across before any more cars managed to come around the bend. The way
her heart pounded within the chest of her new form felt utterly unfamiliar and
scary, but she knew now was not the time to freak out about it. She had no way
of knowing if she had managed to lose the black-haired man back there in the
forest, or if he had even decided to give chase in the first place. She would
have plenty of time to fall apart once she made it back to the relative safety
of her apartment.

This area was thankfully familiar. The road was definitely the east highway
out of Riverford. She moved through the trees as fast as her waning strength
could sustain, heading north along the perimeter of the city towards a children’s
neighborhood park that skated along the edges of the forest. It was only a few
blocks from her apartment complex.

It was still the dead of night, so hopefully no one would be out to see
the large jaguar moving through the shadows. Being shot by a frightened
neighbor on top of everything else she had already endured that night would
just be the rotten cherry on top of a sundae gone sour.

By the time she reached the park, Kylie’s entire body trembled with
exhaustion. She was unable to even prevent her tongue from hanging out of her
mouth as she panted. Her bones also ached in a strange way that made her feel
as though she had injured them somehow and they were dangerously on the verge
of shattering. Even so, she only paused long enough behind one of the trees
along the edge to take in a few deep, wheezing breaths while her eyes swept the
length of the park within her field of vision, looking for any signs of
movement among all the swing sets, slides, and jungle gyms.

Only when she was satisfied that section of the park was empty did
Kylie shoot out from the cover of the trees as though she had been fired from a
cannon and raced across the grass to the street and the first apartment
building to the right. Keeping to the shadows, she slunk along the building to
an alleyway that she hoped would offer her more protection than moving through
the residential streets.

As Kylie bounded down the alley, her once sharp vision began to blur,
and she could no longer see the far end of the dark alley as clearly. Then
something that felt like the worst muscle spasm she had ever had rolled across
her entire body, starting from her shoulder to the tip of her tail, causing her
to stumble and fall onto her belly just when she emerged from the alley into
the street.

For one, panic-filled moment, Kylie couldn’t get up, all four limbs
shaking as though she was starting to seize. Shit! Was she starting to shift
back?

“Whoa! What the hell!” a young male voice suddenly yelped, causing
Kylie to instinctually turn her head and snarl in the direction of the voice.

A surge of adrenaline shot through her veins, and Kylie was instantly
back on all fours before she had even made the decision to move, crouching
defensively as a pair of teenaged boys stood frozen along the curb of the
street a mere five feet away. That same acrid scent she had smelled after she
had attacked her abductor back in the forest filled the air, and it was then
that Kylie understood what it was she smelled.

Fear. Pungent and sharp and exciting, it was not a sweet scent, or even
a meaty, organic scent. The scent of fear did not even remotely resemble
anything she had ever smelled as a human. The aroma was almost an emotion, one
that the feline part of her understood
very
well.

It was then that the urge to lunge at the two boys nearly overwhelmed
her, and only the small part of her that was still completely human, the part
that realized the horror of what she was on the brink of doing, managed to turn
her body just as she started to pounce on the nearest boy who had suddenly
become prey and sprang off in the opposite direction instead. With her own fear
and disgust spurring her on, Kylie ran down the street with a renewed vigor,
her control hanging by a thread.

She had to get home. She had to get home before she accidentally ran
into someone else because she wasn’t so sure she would have the strength of
mind to run away a second time. That fear drove her down street after street at
a speed she should not have been capable of as exhausted as she was, a large
shadow just a bit lighter than the surrounding night that could very easily be
mistaken for a large dog to anyone who may have caught a glimpse of her.

At the first sight of her apartment building, Kylie couldn’t help the
whine of relief that burst out from deep within her throat. Her vision was already
losing its feline acuity, and the strange spasms of before were once again
spreading across her body. She made it a few feet across the parking lot before
her body simply collapsed mid-lope. She fell onto her side, and her body began
to violently seize, causing her to accidentally bite down hard on her lolling
tongue. The salty, coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as she felt various
parts of her body tighten, then stretch until she felt as though her muscles
were about to tear.

Kylie opened her mouth to roar, but a very human cry of pain shattered
the silence instead. Startled, she opened tear-filled eyes and saw her once
again human hand, her fingers stained dark, lying on the asphalt near her face.
She shuddered, with both the chill of the night air and the lingering spasms
that still rocked her body and drew in an equally shaky breath. However, when
she tried to lift her head, a wave of utter exhaustion washed through her body
so powerfully, so heavy, that for a few terrifying moments, it was almost too
much effort to breathe.

Fighting off panic, Kylie forced herself to relax completely and
concentrate on merely breathing, trying not to think of the utter mortification
she would feel if she passed out right then and there and someone stumbled upon
her naked, unconscious body in the morning. However, instead of going away, her
exhaustion only seemed to be getting worse and her eyelids heavier, and Kylie
realized being found naked was exactly what was about to happen if she didn’t
somehow manage to drag her butt over to her parking space where she prayed to
everything holy her car, and more importantly her backpack with her key to the
apartment, would be. She still only had vague memories of her head being bashed
against the doorframe of her car, but she wasn’t altogether sure it had
happened here in this parking lot.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to roll over onto her stomach.
Then drawing a deep, steadying breath, she managed to climb onto her knees even
though it felt as if someone had dropped a hundred pound weight onto her back.
How ironic that she was now forced to move on all fours while in her human
form.

It was slow going, but Kylie finally made it to the end of the lot without
incident and literally felt tears well up in her eyes when she saw her little
black sedan parked next to her neighbors’ SUV. At least now she knew where she
had been attacked.

Thoughts of her attacker, of the pain of the rope cutting deeply into
her flesh suddenly flooded her mind, and Kylie viciously cut off that line of
thinking. She couldn’t handle any of that right now. She would fall apart, and
she could
not
allow that to happen again, especially out in the open
like this. Losing it had already caused her to involuntarily shift. What if it
happened again and some of her neighbors happened to stumble on her?

Maybe the universe finally decided to take pity on her because as Kylie
dragged herself between the two vehicles, her eyes immediately caught sight of
her keys just a little ways beneath her car. She had been afraid that they had
been lost somewhere in the trunk from hell she had awakened in, and seeing them
there lifted just a little bit of the enormous weight on her back, enough that
she was able to force herself upright onto her knees on the first try.

Please let it be there…

Kylie tugged on the handle of the rear driver’s side door and found it
unlocked. On the floorboard was the item she sought. Leaning farther into the
car, she grabbed her backpack and unzipped the small pouch in the front.
Pulling out her cell phone was like finding the prize after running a marathon.

She could finally call Paul. He would know what to do.

Her windows were tinted pretty dark. It would probably be okay for her
to hunker down in the backseat of her car for the twenty or thirty minutes it
would take him to drive to her apartment because she really didn’t think she
had the strength to make it to her door, even though her apartment was on the
first floor.

Using the last dregs of her strength, she thrust herself onto the
backseat in a sort of dive, pulling the door closed after she had wiggled
around and was situated. Just that simple exertion caused her head to swim and
her breathing to become as labored as though she had been running for hours.
Her energy reserves were nearly completely depleted. How long before her body
just said “screw it” and just shut down? Skipping dinner today was seriously
coming back to bite her in the ass.

Kylie took a couple of deep, calming breaths and quickly turned her
phone on to call Paul. After the fourth ring, a bit of panic began to surface.
Had he forgotten his cell phone in his office again? Like her, he did not have
a landline, his reasoning being that he was seldom home. If she managed to
survive this horrendous night, then maybe they should both rethink the matter.

On the fifth ring, the phone went to his voice mail, and Kylie hung up
with a curse. Leaving him a message was absolutely out of the question. She slowly
turned towards the apartment building with a look of despair. She wasn’t sure
she could make it to the building, much less her apartment. She looked down at
her phone. Did she dare call one of her friends? But—how in the hell would she
even begin to explain what she was doing sitting in her backseat naked and
seconds away from passing out.

No. No one except Paul could know
anything
had happened to her
at all. It was too dangerous. It was also too dangerous to stay in the car. If
she passed out and someone found her before she managed to get a hold of Paul…

Her phone’s ringtone suddenly went off, nearly scaring her half to
death, the sudden adrenaline surge making her chest constrict painfully. For a
couple of seconds, Kylie had to fight off the blackness that had begun to enter
the edges of her vision before she was able to clumsily tap the “talk” button
on her phone and bring it up to her ear. For a split-second, she had a
momentary panic when she realized that she had answered before checking to see
who was calling, but then a familiar deep voice said her name anxiously, and
relief like she had never felt washed through her like a balm.

“Paul…” she said, her voice cracking as she very nearly lost her hard-fought
battle against her threatening tears.

“What happened? Are you hurt?” Paul demanded, fear making his voice
sound deeper than normal.

“I can’t—can you please come to my apartment?” Kylie pleaded, hating
how young and pathetic she sounded. Now was not the time to fall apart, dammit!
“Too much has happened. Just please come.”

“Kylie…” Paul replied, sounding anguished. “I’m not in Riverford. I’m
in Dallas for the conference, remember?”

Her heart instantly sank. She
had
forgotten. Kylie glanced at
the clock on her phone. Ten after five. It was much later in the morning than
she had thought. Even by plane, he was at least a little over an hour away. It
would take a miracle for him to reach her in less than two, and by then,
probably three-fourths of her apartment complex would be heading to the parking
lot for work or school. There was no way she wouldn’t be seen before Paul could
get to her.

“Paul—I
shifted
,” Kylie told him urgently.

She could practically hear his shock in the sudden silence on the other
end. “Did someone see you?” he demanded, the fear even more blatant in his
tone.

“Yes,” she admitted in a small voice.

“Another shifter or a human?”

“Both.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m in my car in the parking lot of my apartment building.”

“Why are you still—no there’s no time. Listen to me, Kylie. Get inside
your apartment, and turn your phone off. Don’t call
anyone
. Don’t answer
the door unless you hear me say the secret word. I would tell you to destroy
your phone, but not having one would be worse. I’ll be there as soon as humanly
possible.”

Kylie glanced out the window and zeroed in on the faraway door of her
apartment that was, at the most, the length of a football field away but might
as well have been miles. Why oh why did she have to live in a complex where the
parking was all the way in the back for everyone? Nevertheless—there were no if
ands or buts about it. She would just have to make it on her own. Paul was on
his way. She would have to draw strength from that thought alone.

“I’ll be waiting,” she said with as much determination as she could
muster before hanging up immediately, sure she would start crying if she heard
his voice again.

There was no use adding to his worries just yet. Kylie had a feeling
everything would come crashing down soon enough.

Kylie wasn’t sure how, but after at least thirty minutes of alternating
between short spurts of dragging herself and pausing to fight off the darkness
that was threatening to overwhelm her mind, the door to her apartment was
finally before her. She let out a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh. For one
terrifying moment, she had very nearly teetered over the knife-thin ledge she
had been moving along into unconsciousness halfway there, but by some miracle,
she had managed to hold onto consciousness by the skin of her teeth.