Loyal Leopard: A Friends to Lovers Shifter Romance (Full Moon Protectors Book 5) Read online

  And the Protector meeting had been as fruitless as my workday but with less squabbling. Aside from the ebb and flow of testosterone between us, none of the group had anything worthwhile to relay. Basically, we’d met for nothing a text message couldn’t have told us but rules were rules. Our monthly meetings were meant to be upheld.

  Now, as I sprinted through Pilot Butte Neighborhood Park, I paused to shift into my human form on the outskirts before I could be seen by an astute townie.

  There was still one more place I had to be that night but this was a meeting I had been looking forward to all day. It was the only thing that had gotten me through the gruelling day.

  And I get to stay close to home so when all this is done, I can just fall into bed.

  I got a slight shiver as I thought about who I might like to have fall into bed with me but I dismissed the thought as quickly as it came on.

  Stop it. She doesn’t look at me like that.

  I wished my logical side would have a conversation with my irrational heart and get it in line. This entire unrequited love thing was getting tiresome for me.

  My car was parked in the lot and I considered running to Big Sky Park where I was to meet the leap but I changed my mind last minute and jumped into the Infiniti. I’d done enough running around for one day.

  The drive took less than ten minutes and at that time of night, there was no traffic. I recognized some of the other cars as I got out and checked to ensure I wasn’t being followed. Over the past couple years, we’d become extra cautious, following protocols to ensure that Anticlaw wasn’t on our trail. Ending their reign of unprovoked terror was still our highest priority but they seemed to be growing in numbers as we fought an endless battle with shadows. We’d had some victories, of course. Several of the leadership types had been felled only to be replaced with new ones instantly as if they were being 3D-printed in some warehouse. It defied reason that there were so many humans that hated us when all we wanted was to exist in peace. Sometimes I wondered why we bothered battling Anticlaw at all. I imagined that was what the feds felt like taking on drug gangs and mob bosses. It seemed easier to just step back into the shadows and let them burn out. Or hope that they eventually turned on each other.

  Of course, that was an unpopular opinion I kept to myself. I had no doubt what everyone would make of such a suggestion and frankly, I’d gotten on Nia’s bad side enough for a lifetime. Anyway, I didn’t think it would be that simple and I didn’t want to see any more lives lost than had already been claimed. It was part of my job to ensure that no more were hurt—and I took all my jobs very seriously.

  I made my way through the park entrance, toward the thick of trees where I was sure my leap would be waiting. I wasn’t late but they were always early. In the scheme of leaps, I was lucky, but I suspected that had something to do with my leadership. I was good to them and they returned the favor.

  “It’s about time,” a voice rang out, thick with mock exasperation. “What the hell took you so long, Big Boss?”

  I felt a shiver slide through me and I laughed as Rachel stepped from the shadows, her glittering hazel eyes shining in the darkness.

  “Big Boss, huh?” I mused. “I could get used to that.”

  “If you’re gonna be the Boss, Tony, you’re going to have to prove it,” Rachel jeered.

  “Now, wait a second—” I started to say but before I had a second to respond, she shifted into her sleek leopard form and bounded deeper into the trees.

  “Rach!” I hissed out after her, looking around for signs of anyone else. “Rach, we don’t have time for this!”

  I didn’t want to be caught frolicking around with Rachel Drake. That was how rumors got started.

  Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I could think of worse things than people thinking I’m with Rachel.

  I forced myself to focus on my AWOL leap member.

  “RACHEL!” I hissed louder but she was long gone. As always, she was expecting me to be on her tail and really, what choice did I have but to prove that I was, in fact, the Big Boss? My ego wouldn’t have it any other way.

  I fell forward, landing seamlessly on my paws, and darted through the brambles in the direction I’d last seen her go. My nose raised to the air, I sprinted onward, trying to pick up her scent. After a few minutes, I paused to catch my breath, a slight concern overcoming me.

  Where did she go now? We really don’t have time for this.

  But try as I might, I couldn’t muster any annoyance for the unruly redhead. She had extinguished any of my irritations when she’d stolen my heart, however long ago that was.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised that she was missing. Rachel was somewhat of a free spirit… or a loose cannon, depending on who you asked. Marcel certainly saw her as the latter but then again, he had good reason for that. I preferred to appreciate her zest, her spontaneity, and her passion. I just wished she’d turn some of that on me.

  I raised my profile toward the trees, engaging my night vision to search for Rachel in the treetops, but as I turned my head, a figure fell on top of me, wrestling me to the ground. I should have seen that coming too. Rachel was predictable in an unpredictable way.

  Over and over we rolled, tails swooshing outward as we both struggled for the upper hand until finally, I gave up and let Rachel pin me down. I didn’t even know why I fought in the first place. I was quite cozy underneath her, staring up at her feline face.

  She grinned back down at me, her fangs shrinking back as her body morphed into her human frame. She remained on top of me, straddling my gold and brown body, her thick auburn hair falling over her cheeks. She’d never looked so beautiful to me as she did in that moment. Or maybe I was just exhausted.

  “Not such a Big Boss now, are you?” she teased. I gnashed up at her playfully and she jammed her arm directly in my mouth, causing me to choke on my tongue. I shifted and pushed her off me, laughing disgustedly.

  “Ew,” I sputtered as she giggled, jumping to her feet.

  “What’s the matter?” Rachel mocked me. “You can’t even beat a little girl like me? I thought you Protectors were supposed to be the best of the best.”

  I snorted.

  “I think we both know that you’re no little girl,” I told her, accepting her outstretched hand as I, too, rose to my feet. She grinned at me and we dusted the forest debris off our bodies, turning back to head toward where the rest of the leap was waiting for us. I didn’t speak as we ambled through the foliage.

  “You seem grumpy tonight,” Rachel commented, casting me a sidelong look. “Something wrong?”

  I shook my head and managed a smile.

  “I’m exhausted. Work was hell and then there was a Protector meeting and now…”

  I waved my hands around dramatically.

  “And now you have to deal with me,” Rachel sighed, batting her eyes demurely.

  “Honestly, it’s the thing that’s been keeping me going all day,” I replied with so much candor, it humiliated me. But as always, Rachel brushed off my real meaning and laughed.

  “Aww,” she cooed. “Isn’t that sweet? Now what do you want from me? Money?”

  I smothered a sigh, wondering why I even bothered to try with her. She would have to be blind or dumb not to know how I felt about her, which meant she didn’t want to pursue things between us because she blatantly ignored my hints. I was a big boy. I could handle rejection and I certainly wasn’t going to risk our friendship by trying to push it.

  Yet a part of me still wished that one day, Rachel might wake up and realize that maybe we were meant to be together.

  I really was exhausted, imagining ridiculousness like that. I needed to regroup and refocus before I made a complete ass out of myself.

  “How’s work going for you?” I asked before I could make things any more awkward for myself.

  “Oh, you know,” she sighed. “Still going for all my clinical hours. I feel like I’ve been a student nurse forever.”

  “You’ll be graduated in no time,” I assured her. “Vivian says you’re the best student she’s ever seen at St. Charles Bend.”

  “She has to say that because we’re friends,” Rachel joked but I could see that the compliment pleased her. It wasn’t flattery—everyone in the leap knew that Rachel was extraordinary at her job. She was often sought out for medical advice, despite not being certified. She had all the makings of a perfect nurse. The world truly was Rachel’s oyster.

  “Have you thought of a specialization yet?” I asked, wanting to get as much alone time with her as I could squeeze in. I could already make out the shapes of the leap, lounging about in various stages of shifting on the massive boulders inside the forest. In a few more steps, our private time would be over.

  To my surprise, Rachel stopped walking, as though she had read my mind, and she turned her wide eyes on me.

  “Do you ever feel like you’ve been working toward the wrong goal your whole life?” she asked. I blinked my deep brown eyes.

  “You mean nursing?” I asked dubiously. “You love nursing and it suits you. And you’re great at it.”

  Rachel smiled but there was a wistfulness about it that pulled at my heartstrings.

  “I do love it,” she agreed slowly. “I just wonder if maybe there’s something more… something I never thought to pursue until now.”

  “Well,” I offered, unsure if I was helping or hindering as I spoke. “You could go to medical school, become a doctor if you want to do more. Or you could go for your PhD and teach. I mean, there are so many directions you could take now, Rach.”

  She gave me an odd look, a strange smile on her face.

  “Yep,” she sighed, turning back toward the group. I realized that I hadn’t given her the answer she needed and I
stifled a groan.

  “Wait,” I called out quietly. She paused and glanced back at me. I joined her side.

  “What’s up?” she asked. “We’re going to be late.”

  I ignored her warning and put my hands on her shoulders, looking her squarely in the eyes.

  “There’s nothing in this world that you can’t do, Rach,” I told her earnestly. “I have never known a more resilient, intelligent, capable leopard in my life.”

  Her eyebrows raised and she laughed lightly but I thought I saw her cheeks tinge pink.

  “What?” I asked, confused by her laughter.

  “I thought you were going to say ‘woman’,” she confessed.

  “What?” As much as I adored Rachel, I sometimes felt like she was talking me in circles.

  “I thought you were going to say ‘resilient, intelligent, capable woman’,” she explained.

  “Oh.” I shrugged. “Yeah, that too. I forgot you were one of those.”

  Yeah, right. As if I could ever think of her as anything else.

  Rachel giggled again and threw her arms around my neck, kissing me sweetly on the cheek.

  “That’s why I love you so much, Tony,” she told me, pulling her head back to look at me with sincerity. “You’re my biggest cheerleader.”

  “Oh, I get it,” I sniffed. “You keep me around to feed your ego.”

  She smacked my arm and jumped back onto the path.

  “Damn straight. What other use do I have for you?”

  I could think of a few.

  “Come on, Big Boss,” she said teasingly. “Your minions await you.”

  I let her go ahead, pausing to catch my breath slightly. My body still felt the vibration of her lean form against me, the sensation sending shivers through me. I could still smell the scent of Rachel’s shampoo in my nostrils. I was afraid if I moved, all the sensory memory would disappear too. I permitted myself one quick minute of insanity, closing my eyes to memorize the feeling.

  I need to stop hoping that Rachel will come around, I told myself firmly. If it hasn’t happened by now, it’s not going to happen.

  Sighing, I opened my eyes and shuffled toward the others. But even as I joined the group, Rachel’s words still reverberated in my mind, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else. I couldn’t meet her eyes when her voice sang through my head on a loop.

  “That’s why I love you so much, Tony.”

  I loved her too, from afar. I hadn’t lied to her when I told her that I thought she was the most incredible being I’d ever known. If only Rachel could open her eyes and see what was right in front of her.

  But I wasn’t holding my breath. If I did, I would have died of suffocation a long time ago.

  2

  Rachel

  I sat myself on a boulder as the rest of the group settled in for our monthly leap meeting. Some of my peers had chosen to shift into their animal forms and most nights I would have too. There was something freeing about being in your animal skin, something that human flesh could never quite provide. I often wondered how humans managed to live with only one set of skin. They really didn’t know what they were missing.

  Tonight, I stayed in my human skin, at least for the time being. I often had some quip to add to Tony’s addresses and gauging by his somewhat sullen mood that night, I wanted to cheer him up, the same way he always did me. After the little joust we’d shared, I was feeling more relaxed. That was hardly surprising; Tony always had a way of calming my nerves, even without me noticing. Simply being around him had a serene effect on me and I tried to spend at least a few hours a week training with him.

  In a lot of ways, I considered him my touchstone. If I had a bad day, I could always count on him to join me for a free run in one of the many forests that enshrouded our picturesque area of the country. Never did he ignore my calls or brush me off when I needed to blow off steam and I’d learn to depend on him with my stressful job, especially over the past couple years, with the rise of Anticlaw. He never refused, even when he was tired.

  And he was tired tonight. It was etched all over his face.

  I felt a modicum of guilt as I studied his ruggedly handsome features, wondering if I’d busted his chops too much earlier. He had stared at me so strangely, it gave me a slight shiver to think about it.

  There were times when Tony and I were together that I thought he looked at me in such a way that I wondered what he was thinking. It confused me but I never questioned him, maybe because I was afraid of what he might say. Perhaps I was worried that he might cross a line that we’d never be able to return from.

  Or maybe he’d open up a door to a world you would never have known otherwise.

  I dismissed the crazy thought and fixed my gaze on Tony but he carefully avoided my eyes and focused on the others, calling them to order. The din settled and all eyes moved on him as he got down to business.

  “Okay, kids,” he said brightly, leaning against a Douglas fir to fold his arms over his strong chest. Inadvertently, I found my eyes traveling over his long, lean body as if seeing him for the first time.

  It would be a blatant lie if I said that Tony wasn’t attractive. In fact, the first time I’d ever seen him, I’d found it impossible to stop staring into his almost-black eyes. It was easy to get lost in the soulfulness of their depths, like there was another galaxy within the orbs.

  He was tall but not towering, his muscles easy to see beneath the black t-shirt he wore. A pair of blue jeans accented his well-formed hips and tapered legs. As my eyes trailed back up again, my gaze rested on the fine lines of his face. He was unmistakably a leopard to anyone who knew one, a fact that Ari had picked up on. Like me, he had the elegant bone structure that only us cats possessed, his ebony hair framing the near olive of his complexion.

  He’s such a hottie, I thought with a combination of affection and unease. Why hasn’t he found a mate yet?

  The question bothered me although I wasn’t sure why. He had been weighing heavily on my mind for the past week or so and I wondered if there was something going on that I didn’t know about. The feeling was a lot like intuition and I always trusted my gut. The only problem was, in this case, I had no idea what it was telling me.

  “So,” he went on, forcing my full attention to his full lips as he spoke, “I just got back from seeing the other Protectors. You know what’s happening. I’m sure you’ve all heard about the most recent attacks.”

  There was a slight mumble of consensus around the circle.

  “Two wolves and a panther were injured this time, in case you were unaware,” Tony sighed.

  I was well aware. I had treated the panther at work and one of the wolves had come in when I was off but Vivian had informed me all about it.

  “This was supposed to be under control by now,” Jasmine muttered angrily. “How much longer are we supposed to be hypervigilant because of those idiots?”

  Tony’s eyes narrowed as he fixed his gaze on her.

  “As long as it takes,” he growled.

  “How long will that be?” Kelsey insisted. “Our entire lives have been turned upside down because of this. What is the Council doing? What are you doing as Protectors?”

  Tony’s frown became a scowl as he regarded the leap and I felt a pang of sympathy for him. I knew he and the others were doing everything they could to see this through. The problem was, their best just wasn’t enough.

  “You know what?” he barked, his eyes turning black. “Pretend that we’ll never catch Anticlaw.”

  “What?” Jasmine asked. “Why the hell would we do that?”

  “Because I want you always to live your life as cautiously as possible. Even if we take out Anticlaw, there will always be threats to you—to us. So live your lives accordingly.”

  I cringed, knowing how that announcement would be received. It was time to run interference for Grumpy Gus.

  “I’m more concerned about the human interference in all this,” I piped up before anyone else could jump down his throat. It was my way of giving him some reprieve from what was certainly about to become a full-on attack of accusations. We’d been down this road before and I couldn’t bear to watch it, not when Tony looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion already. The man had a full enough life without the leap to worry about. Reluctantly, everyone turned to me, their eyes glowing in the darkness.