Epilogue: One month later
“Are you ready?” Wilson held both of Mavis’ hands in his, looking into her eyes.
Mavis smiled. She felt more than ready. She wasn’t nervous at all, just happy. “Absolutely.”
Wilson’s body shivered and shifted, and she let her hands fall away. Standing in front of her now was a sleek, powerful snow leopard.
Soon that’ll be me, she thought.
Off to the side, Nina was almost bouncing on her toes. “You can do it, Mom.”
Mavis gave Nina a dry look. “I don’t think it’s going to take a lot of skill on my part.”
“It takes heart, though,” Joel spoke up unexpectedly. “You have to have a shifter’s heart. But you do, so.”
They’d debated whether this should be private, between Wilson and Mavis alone, but in the end it hadn’t seemed like something that needed to be concealed. Mavis wanted her daughter there, and Wilson had loved the idea of the whole family witnessing something this special.
Mavis held out her hand, feeling like she was participating in some kind of ancient ceremony. Wilson closed his teeth around it, and suddenly there was a tiny, sharp pain.
When she drew her hand back, there was a small nick on it, barely more than a paper cut. Mavis smiled. Wilson had been—not reluctant; he’d wanted to change her as much as she wanted to be changed. But he hadn’t liked the idea that he had to hurt her to do it.
Mavis had assured him that she could handle a small nip like this. But Wilson had promised her he would make it as tiny and painless as he could.
And he’d followed through, because the cut only stung a small amount. He shifted back with concern in his eyes, and Mavis smiled in reassurance.
But the little pain was quickly taken over by something else. Like a wild rush inside of her.
Like something waking up, lifting its head, filling her chest with a sensation unlike anything she’d ever known.
A snow leopard.
Her snow leopard. Rising inside her, lifting its ears as it awoke.
This was what Nina had been for her entire life. This was what Wilson was. Her mate and her daughter—and now her, too.
It was an astonishing sense of power, of ferocity, but also of true connection. She could feel that she and Wilson were mates, on a deeper level than before. Her leopard knew his leopard.
And her leopard knew Nina, too.
Mavis had been afraid that shifter instinct would be somehow...dependent on biology. That Nina wouldn’t—smell like her daughter, or something, because she was adopted.
But no. She could sense the connection between them like a strong cord, vibrating with love. Daughter. Family. Pack.
“It worked,” Nina breathed. She must be able to sense it, too. “Can you shift, Mom?”
Wilson was looking at her with a fierce love in his eyes. Her mate.
Mavis took a deep breath, let the leopard rise in her chest, and shifted.
It was like—like nothing she’d ever felt. As though she merged with the leopard inside her, and when she took her next breath, she was changed.
She had teeth. She had claws. She flexed them, watching in wonder as they extended and retracted.
She had a tail.
She felt so utterly powerful, so graceful. She was used to her human body being a bit weak, older and less capable than it had once been. And she’d never been much of an athlete.
Now, though, she looked around and she knew she could climb one of the mountains around them. She could scale a tree with no effort at all.
She felt her tail lash with excitement. And as though that had been a sign, Wilson, Nina, and Joel all shifted too, and they were together: four snow leopards, ready to run.
A family of snow leopards, all together.
Wilson looked at Mavis, seemed to understand that she was ready, and bounded forward into the trees. Mavis shot after him, with Nina and Joel right on her tail.
They ran together, up the mountainside. Mavis marveled: she was so fast. So strong. She bounded over rocks that she would’ve been hard-pressed to climb in her human form. She could leap astounding distances. She felt like she could race along forever.
After a while, though, Joel circled around in front of them, tossed a playful look back, and leapt up to climb a tree.
Maybe it should’ve seemed childish—Mavis had probably last climbed a tree at age ten—but she immediately picked another one and started up it herself. She found she could dig her claws in and climb it as easily as if it were a ladder.
That started a round of playing. The four of them chased each other up and down tree trunks, leapt from branch to branch, hid behind rocks—Mavis was reminded forcefully of games she’d played with Nina as a little girl.
They’d had so much fun. Nowadays, although there was so much love between them, there wasn’t nearly as much fun as there used to be. The years of sadness and separation stood between them and the lightheartedness they’d used to have.
But her leopard didn’t care about that. That was in the past. What was important to a snow leopard was the now.
Eventually, they were all tired out, and Wilson led the way to a bunch of sun-warmed rocks where they could flop down and rest. Mavis was full of a humming contentment.
Wilson stretched out next to her and nuzzled her ear. She felt a burst of warmth in her chest and turned to nuzzle back.
It was overwhelming, how happy she was. Here with her family.
She’d hoped that Wilson would get along with Nina, and in the last month, her hopes had been exceeded. As Wilson had packed up his life in Washington, putting in his retirement, he’d spent as much time as possible out here in Montana, and he and Nina had developed a kind of a deep-running affection that warmed Mavis’ heart to the core. They went on hikes together, and exchanged outdoor survival tips—Nina had spent much more time living rough in the mountains than Wilson had, but Wilson of course had had the intense survivalist training from the Marine Corps.
Mavis was grateful—she always had a hard time talking to Nina about her time living alone, traveling through the mountains in snow leopard form, passing from town to town. The guilt and shame she felt was too strong.
She listened if Nina wanted to talk, of course, but she couldn’t be easy about it no matter how hard she tried. So Wilson was a blessing: someone who could talk to Nina about her experiences from a different perspective. The perspective that experiences like that could make you stronger, hardier.
Wilson and Joel had also started to bond. Joel was a bit shyer about it than Nina, though. Mavis privately found it adorable, though she wouldn’t ever say anything like that to poor Joel. But he’d latched on to Wilson a bit, asking about his time in the Marine Corps, about being in the service with so many other shifters. Every time Wilson called him “son,” Mavis thought she could see a faint flush of happiness on his cheeks.
Eventually, they all collected themselves from the sun-warmed rocks and made a more leisurely stroll back down the mountainside. When they got to the clearing where they’d started, Mavis shifted back, and everyone followed suit.
Nina immediately flung her arms around her. “Oh, Mom,” she said. “I’m so happy.”
“Me too, baby,” Mavis said into her hair. “I used to wish I could be like you, when you were gone, so I could’ve followed you when you left and we could’ve been together. And now it’s true.”
Nina held on tight, and Mavis blinked away tears of happiness. Inside her, there was a purring sensation—her leopard, she thought with a sense of wonder. Her leopard was purring.
They split up after that, Nina and Joel each heading off to work, while Mavis and Wilson went back to her apartment.
Though they wouldn’t be there much longer, because they were looking for a house in the area—something small but well-constructed, with a beautiful view. Mavis couldn’t wait.
Inside, Wilson caught her up in his arms with a growl. “You have no idea,” he said, his voice vibrating against her neck and making her shiver, “how hard it was for me to hold back just now.”
“Why did you?” Mavis gasped.
“Can’t scandalize the kids.” Wilson’s hands were under her shirt, cupping her breast, his thumbs at her nipples, making her gasp.
“I—suppose—you’re right.” Mavis could hardly remember what they were talking about.
She’d never thought of herself as a sensual, wanton person, but with Wilson—with Wilson, it was like he only had to look at her, and she was ready to throw her clothes off and find the nearest flat surface. She felt sexier now than she had when she’d been twenty, and it was fantastic.
They were moving into the bedroom, devouring each other’s mouths, pieces of clothing dropping off here and there. Mavis could feel the new power in her chest, the leopard’s strength and stamina, and she shivered at the thought of how much more athletic their sex life might get now.
For now, though, she was too eager. The feelings of Wilson’s mouth rough on her skin, his hands under clothes, was setting her body on fire. Her pulse throbbed in her clit, and she grabbed at Wilson’s shirt.
The fabric tore in her fingers.
They froze, staring at each other.
Then Wilson started to laugh. “That’s shifter strength for you.”
Mavis stared at the ripped shirt. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I had no idea that I’d—Hulk out and ruin your clothes.”
Wilson shrugged out of the shirt, tossing it aside, still chuckling. “It was cheap,” he said. “And seeing you so eager for me that you’re literally tearing my clothes off was definitely worth the price.”
Mavis started to laugh, too. “Well, I’ll try to avoid a repeat performance. Where were we?”
“Hmm, here, I think.” And Wilson tossed her onto the bed.
It was still a gentle toss, but it was the sort of thing that would’ve startled her before, maybe provoked a little shriek. This time, Mavis felt it coming, and it didn’t cause her a moment’s hesitation; she had her jeans and panties stripped off by the time he joined her on the bed.
Wilson caught her close and kissed her again, hot and hungry. Mavis wrapped her legs around him and twisted her hips, asking without words for what she needed. She could feel him hard against her thigh, and she was pulsing with need, wet and open and aching.
He pressed against her entrance, a long moment of teasing, until Mavis couldn’t take it any longer and she—growled.
That was the only way to describe it. It was a hungry noise, coming from her chest. Hearing it seemed to kindle an answering hunger in Wilson, and finally he thrust, with a long, low groan.
Mavis shuddered at the feeling of him filling her up. He didn’t give her any chance to adjust, either, just pulled back and thrust again. And again, and again, until she lost track of anything but how he felt inside her, against her, all around her. Right from the start, he was stroking over that spot inside her, the spot that made her feel like she might just explode from pleasure.
She thrust back against him, and was surprised at how easy it was to speed up their rhythm, how strong she felt—like she could keep it up for hours. Wilson made a startled noise above her, which quickly fell into a deep growl. The sound of it hit her in the pit of her stomach, and she clenched hard around his cock, shoving up against him.
He sped up, thrusting harder, deeper, right to her core, and Mavis threw her head back in helpless ecstasy as he caught her right—right there—
She came violently, crying out loud with pleasure, clutching at Wilson as he thrust in one final time and gave in to his own orgasm.
Together, they slowly came down from it, holding each other as they shuddered in fading spasms of climax.
Eventually, Mavis caught her breath and turned to meet Wilson’s eyes. He was smiling. “Here’s to the rest of our lives,” he murmured.
Mavis held out her hand, and he took it, twining their fingers together. “To the rest of our lives,” she sighed in happiness.
The End