Shane laid his head beside hers and whispered, “I love you. I’ll stay with you to the end. You won’t die alone.”
She had no breath to reply, but some of the fear went out of her eyes. The extraordinary woman he loved was dying, and all he could do for her was give her that small comfort. He squeezed her hand and stroked her hair, his heart cold as a lump of stone within his chest. Shane had known her for such a short time, but he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live without her.
The part of him that was pure predator thought, Maybe I won’t have to. Once she dies, I’ll kill as many of them as I can before they take me down.
A hand descended on his shoulder. Shane knocked it away with a hiss.
Distantly, he heard a man yelp in pain. Then Dr. Elihu stepped into his field of vision, flapping his arms to get Shane’s attention. From the rasp of his voice, he’d been shouting at Shane for some time without Shane hearing him.
“Bite her!” Dr. Elihu demanded. “What are you waiting for? It’s the only thing that might save her life!”
Shane stared at the doctor, jarred out of despair. “I thought she’d been bitten already, before you did the process. Your other shifter—”
“Wouldn’t do it,” the doctor replied. “Bite her, or she dies.”
A wild hope sprang up in Shane. He turned back to Catalina. “Should I? It could kill you—”
She gave him a look that didn’t need words: Yes, you idiot.
The next instant, he was a panther. He was sitting on the floor
with his huge black paws resting on the bed, one of them pinning down Catalina’s wrist. Shane bent down and bit her hand.
When he became a man again, he could still taste the copper of her blood. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then slid one arm beneath her shoulders, gazing into her glassy eyes. Waiting.
It happened fast if it was going to happen. Either way, it happened fast. One second Elizabeth had been standing with blood soaking into her boot, and the next she was a leopard, holding up one crimson-stained paw and lashing her spotted tail.
One second Mason had been wincing and applying pressure to a bite wound on his forearm, and the next he was dead on the floor.
“Shane...!” Catalina’s voice was hoarse but strong.
It’s working, he thought, his heart pounding. I hope...
A sudden weight pressed down on his arm and shoved at his chest. Thin cloth over smooth skin became soft fur over lithe muscle.
A magnificent leopard sprawled over the bed, its emerald eyes bright and alert. She nuzzled his hand, and he rubbed behind her ears. As Shane kept stroking her, a rumble filled the room. She was purring.
Fur smoothed into skin, and Catalina lay nude on the bed. She hastily grabbed the sheet and yanked it back up.
She had the strength to pull the sheet over herself. Her color was better. She was breathing easily.
Catalina wasn’t going to die. She’d already gone through the ultimate predator process, and she wasn’t dying.
His mate would live.
His mate would live.
“I was a leopard,” Catalina said, her eyes filled with wonder. Excitedly, she added, “And I’ll have super-powers now, right?”
Shane had to smile at how thrilled she sounded, when thirty seconds ago she’d been dying. That was his fearless mate. “The powers come later. It might take a couple days.”
Catalina reached up to stroke his hair. “I knew you’d come back for me.”
Shane held her in his arms, resting his head against hers. He closed his eyes, reveling in the ease of her breathing, the steady thump of her heart, the warmth of her skin. He’d thought she was lost to him, but here she was. He didn’t care that they were once again imprisoned or that he’d missed the chance to alert his team. Nothing mattered but that Catalina was alive.
An annoying voice penetrated his awareness, speaking louder and louder. Shane paid no attention to it, not even enough to listen to what it was saying. But it finally reached such a pitch that, without opening his eyes, he snapped, “What?”
Catalina cleared her throat. “I think Dr. Elihu is trying to tell you to put on some pants.”