Tempted by the Jaguar #1: Transformation (Riverford Shifters) (6 page)

His smile instantly disappeared as he turned to glance at her briefly
with a completely unreadable expression in his eyes.

“Is the thought of turning into an animal really so horrible to you?”
he asked.

“No,” she answered without hesitation, “but the thought of accidentally
ripping someone’s throat out because I might not be able to control that part
of me is.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, to be honest,” he said,
his voice returning to its earlier friendlier tone. “You didn’t lose control
even a little bit when I startled you outside your apartment. We’ll test it
some more, of course, once we meet with the elders.”

“Why do I need to shift at all?” Kylie asked, genuinely curious about
how he would answer. “Do shifters get sick or something if they don’t change at
least every once in a while?”

“Time’ll answer that question better than I ever could. As I said
before, don’t think of shifting as being possessed by an animal. Part of you is
human, yes, but the jaguar is equally who you are. Your nature is both. Once
the shock of all this wears off, you’ll likely find yourself longing to run
through the forest, to hunt, as a jaguar.”

Hunter paused for a long moment, then glanced over at her, his
expression thoughtful.

“After your business with the elders is finished, I can take you on a
trial run through my personal patch of forest if you want,” he offered a bit
hesitantly.

“Don’t you have better things to do than to babysit me?” Kylie asked
slowly.

“I think hearing about a couple of stopped up toilets and the latest
sob story about why so-and-so’ll be late with next month’s rent can wait until
tomorrow,” he said with a grin. “Unless it’s something you’d rather do alone…”

Kylie really wished he wouldn’t smile at her like that. It made her
want to trust him too much, and that was something she could ill afford right
now. However, she also couldn’t afford to offend what could turn out to be a
good ally.

She offered him a tiny smile. “I’ll think about it.”

The moment Kylie stepped inside the architectural firm, a wave of scents
came crashing down on her, making her head swim so much that she had to grab
onto Hunter’s arm for a moment in order to steady herself.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Hunter asked, his brows knitting in concern as he
pulled her off to the side.

“Ugh…how can you stand it?” she muttered, closing her eyes for a moment.
“It’s like walking into a perfume store after a tornado in here. Is it because
there are a lot of shifters here? The smells weren’t nearly as in-your-face
earlier when I was in the restaurant with my dad!”

“Your body must still be adjusting,” he soothed. “Everything should
balance out within a few days. Until then, when you’re around a lot of people,
try breathing shallowly.”

Kylie nodded. It was a testament to how overwhelmed she was feeling
that she didn’t even try to pull her hand away when he took it. It was even a
bit steadying.

They took the elevator up to the top floor. The doors opened up to a
large reception room that was surprisingly empty except for the lone
receptionist at her desk in the center of the room. Her expression was openly
surprised.

“Mr. Rivera, we weren’t expecting you and your guest for at least
another couple of hours,” she said, glancing at Kylie curiously.

Kylie mentally snorted.
“Guest” my ass!

“We can leave and come back if the elders aren’t ready for us,” Hunter
offered.

“No, no,” the receptionist said quickly. “If you both will just have a
seat, I’ll inform them that you’re here. It shouldn’t be long.”

“I should’ve asked earlier, but how many elders are there in the jaguar
clan? Or is it the same amount in all the clans?” Kylie questioned as they sat
down.

“Every clan is different,” Hunter replied, “and while only the members
of each clan truly know how many elders govern them—and sometimes even
they
aren’t completely sure of the whos and how manys—the jaguars currently have
ten. I hesitate to call him the head honcho, but Donald Gaither is the elders’—voice,
I suppose is a good way of putting it. Step out of line or if there’s anything
important to report, then it’ll be him you’ll likely be talking to.”

“He’s rumored to be cold and unfriendly.”

Hunter smirked. “Tell him that and you’ll make his day. If he were a
wolf shifter, then saying his bark was worse than his bite would’ve been the
perfect description of his personality. He’s just really aloof, and that’s
saying something when talking about jaguar shifters. Socialization isn’t very
high on our list of pastimes. With the exception of our mates and children,
it’s just our nature to walk alone.”

“I love to hang out with my friends. Now that my jaguar half has
been—activated, will being around a lot of people start to irritate me?” Kylie
asked worriedly.

“I don’t know about irritate, but you might start to feel
uncomfortable. Surround a cat with potential enemies, and the first thing he’ll
want to do is find an escape route. Or a door in a shifter’s case. That being
said, it’s just an instinctual feeling and is not so strong that you can’t
easily ignore it. Like all the new things you’ve smelled today, it just takes
some getting used to.”

The receptionist returned, and Hunter instantly rose to his feet,
leaving Kylie to scramble after him. “They’re in the largest boardroom.”

“Good. That means we can sit,” Hunter said, smiling at Kylie. “Follow
me.”

He led her through a set of double doors to the left of the reception
desk into a narrow hall lined with what were probably individual offices. They
walked to the end, and Hunter knocked soundly on the door once before he opened
it without waiting for a response.

Kylie swallowed against the knot of anxiety that had suddenly formed in
her throat and reluctantly followed Hunter into the room. Her eyes immediately
did a sweep of the room, noting that there were six women and five men seated
all along a long table of cherry oak, before her eyes fell on the somewhat
familiar graying man that was seated at the far end. She had seen him a few
times at some of the fundraisers she had accompanied Paul to over the years.

“You’ve caused quite the stir, young lady,” Donald Gaither said in lieu
of a greeting, his dark eyes boring into her as Hunter and she stood behind the
empty chair at the other end of the table.

“Not by choice,” Kylie replied stiffly, not daring to break eye contact
with him.

He nodded. “Given the circumstances, you should be applauded. The
police have had some time to look into your attacker. That human was quite the
piece of work. However, we’ll get to all of that soon enough. I think
introductions are in order first.”

One by one, all the elders introduced themselves by name and occupation.
One, Kylie was startled to realize once she got a good look at him, was a
History professor she’d had at the university as a freshman. The husband and
wife duo sitting next to him were elementary school teachers. Another woman was
a police detective. The rest represented a variety of careers from mail carrier
to business owners like Mr. Gaither.

Rather than some kind of elite club that Kylie had totally expected,
the elders were a surprising group of individuals that truly represented the
different types of people within a community well. Kylie felt some of the
tension ease from her shoulders.

“You were one of my students, were you not?” Professor Martinez asked
after Kylie had introduced herself.

She nodded. “Intro to World History, yes.”

“Interesting. You never once gave off the scent of a jaguar or else I
would have noticed. We sometimes get a few Jaguar shifter students from Mexico, South and Central America, or Arizona, but not so many that you, as an unfamiliar face, would
have been overlooked. I enjoy chatting about the differences and similarities
in our clans.”

Kylie shifted her feet uncomfortably. He was showing much more interest
in her than she would have liked. A history professor could prove to be
especially dangerous, more so if he saw her as a puzzle to be solved.

“Indeed. That such a trauma could awaken your dormant jaguar soul from
such a near absolute human state,” Mr. Gaither said, looking every bit as
interested as the professor.

Kylie swallowed thickly. Or was that suspicion? Suddenly it felt way too
hot and confining in the room. She briefly wondered if they would chalk it up
to being so new to shifting if she followed all the instincts that were
screaming for her to get the hell out of there and darted from the room just
like Hunter had mentioned earlier.

“Have you shifted again since?” Professor Martinez asked.

“No. Everything’s so crazy right now that I haven’t even considered
it.”

“
Can
you do it again?” Gaither asked shrewdly.

“I don’t know,” she answered, feeling that it was best to be honest
here. “I have no idea how it happened in the first place.”

“There’s nothing to it,” Hunter said, speaking for the first time since
they had entered the boardroom. “Desire to be the cat is all you need. Just
thinking about shifting with genuine intent behind it will usually do it.”

“We wish to see you try,” Mr. Gaither said. “Hunter, please take Miss
Moore into the office next door so that she may remove her clothing and shift
in privacy.”

“Come on,” Hunter said with a contrite smile, ushering her towards the
door with a hand lightly pressing against her back.

“What will they do if I can’t shift?” Kylie asked once they were back
in the hall and Hunter had closed the door.

“I don’t think that will happen, but on the off chance that it does, they’ll
probably just ask you to come back next week to give it another go. After all,
none of us really knows what to expect with a Returner. Now, I’ll be just
outside the door. When you shift, give it a
whack
with your paw, and
I’ll know it’s okay to open it.”

With my paw…
Kylie didn’t think she would ever get used to
hearing things like that.

After making sure the blinds were drawn across the huge window, Kylie
began to undress, feeling utterly exposed. It was as though she was being
initiated into one of those strange secret societies. She could only hope that
all her discomfort would be worth it in the end.

Once naked, rather than dwell on all her fears of failure, Kylie took
to heart all of Hunter’s advice, got down on her hands and knees, and thought forcefully,
I want to shift!

Immediately, her muscles began to quiver, and before she could gasp in
surprise, Kylie felt her body stretch and contort familiarly in that huge
muscle spasm she had experienced last time. It was over in a matter of a few
seconds, and the first thing she noticed was that she could smell Hunter as
keenly as though he was standing right next to her. Looking down, she was met
with two black-spotted, gold and white paws.

A strange, chuffing sound came from her throat, the feline equivalent
of a laugh, she supposed since she was as giddy as a teen on her first date. It
was a completely strange experience to feel herself absently lashing her tail
behind her. She was also surprised to find herself itching to go for a run, the
walls of the office feeling a thousand times stuffier and more confining while
in jaguar form.

Kylie instantly put the breaks on those kinds of thoughts. Her human
mind was in control now, and she didn’t want to risk losing control again by
thinking like a jaguar. Besides, Hunter and a room full of elders were waiting
for her, so any further explorations of her knew form would have to wait for
another time.

She trotted over to the door and gave it a sound
whack
with a
paw. The door immediately opened to reveal a grinning Hunter.

“I told you, you didn’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

Kylie chuffed in agreement as she followed him back to the boardroom.

“Excellent,” Mr. Gaither said as soon as they entered. “I’m happy that
there aren’t going to be any problems on that front. As long as you can shift
back into your human form just as easily, then we can consider the matter
resolved. Hunter, regarding that other problem you mentioned the last time we
spoke, do you have any spare units in the building you reside in that you can
offer her?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We’ll arrange movers to take care of the transition on Saturday.
In the meantime, put her up in your guestroom. Under no circumstance should she
return to that apartment for longer than it takes to grab a change of clothes.”
Gaither’s eyes turned back to Kylie. “You can return back to the office to
shift back now. When you return, we’ll discuss the human who was the cause of
all this as well as the laws within our clan.”

Had she been in her human form, Kylie would have been hard-pressed not
to make a face. Looks as though she wasn’t as off the hook as she had thought.

***

“Sorry,” Kylie said as Hunter and she left the office building a little
over an hour later, “but right now I’d rather you just take me home. Having to
tell them everything about that awful night and then having to listen to all of
them drone on and on about shifter laws and etiquette the way they did was
exhausting.”

“Kylie…” Hunter looked down at her pointedly.

She sighed. “I know, I know. The big bad bears might eat me. Just drop
me off by my car, and I’ll go stay over at my dad’s tonight. I’ll tell him that
there’s a problem with the sewage line in my apartment. That way, he won’t be
so surprised when I move over to your building. I just need some time to myself
to process all of this. Then tomorrow you can take me to meet everyone the
elders ‘suggested.’ My last class ends at five, and I should be home by
five-thirty.”

“…okay,” he relented. “I’ll pick you up around seven. And after that,
how about we take that run in the forest I suggested earlier?”

Kylie couldn’t help smiling. He was so incorrigible.

“Maybe we can do that too.”