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“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.

There was a rip of fabric as the denim of her jeans ripped at the bottom near her feet. She glanced down and stared at a shocking area of white fur where her feet should be. But when Hunter sucked in a breath and his eyes widened in shock, Neri shook her head.

“Now’s not the time to freak out, panther.”

Even to her ears, the words weren’t as clear as she wanted to make them. At the last word, she realized it came out as a growl. Before she blinked in surprise, she found herself with four feet planted on the carpet of Liv’s living room and the tingle stopped. As she opened her mouth to speak, her tongue brushed against a gigantic tooth and she stumbled backward, landing on her ass with a huff.

What the absolute fuck is this, Hunter?

Angel, do you feel okay?

Neri took a deep breath, and she inhaled every scent in the room at once. Vanilla, apple, pine, citrus, cedar, and more she didn’t have time to identify.

Okay, inhaling is a bad idea.

Hunter laughed. She looked up and tried to glare. Instead, she gasped when she spotted how tall she’d grown. She understood on some level she was sitting on the floor, but there was no way her head should be even with Hunter’s waist.

Closing her eyes, she didn’t inhale this time. But she readied her mind for whatever she would find when she reopened her eyes. Fuck it!

Like ripping off a bandaid, she opened her eyes and glanced down to see furry white arms and four huge white paws. She noticed pale pink pads underneath her two huge back paws. Not believing she had shifted into a…

What am I?

You’re a white panther.

Huh, that explains the fur.

Hunter, not helpful again, laughed. When she opened her mouth to chastise him, a growl, low and deep, escaped instead. The result was the same; Hunter sobered.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Beautiful, we talked about this.”

“No, Reaper, it’s been four years, and it still takes me ten minutes to shift. Neri wasn’t evenawareshe could and there she is, a gorgeous white panther.”

Gorgeous? Thank you.

Everyone in the room froze. Aware of the change in the room, Neri stood and cocked her head to the side and concentrated on listening to any changes outside to see why they were on alert.

What?

Can you hear me?

Axel?

“Holy fuck, yeah she can hear me.”

Okay, I’ll only say this once and if Hunter laughs one more time… I don’t know, but I’ll think of something. What the ever living fuck is going on?

Liv moved closer but Neri spotted her hesitation. In order not to scare her, she planted her ass back on the ground. Not that it helped, her head was even with Liv’s chest.

I didn’t mean to scare you.

“Oh, no sweetie, you didn’t. I noticed you grabbed your arm before your eyes glazed over and I’m wondering if you knew why?”

Neri closed her eyes and remembered back over the conversation. When she opened them, Liv was smiling at her.

“You have exquisite gray eyes flecked with bright blue when you shift.”