himself into her even as he bit down on her shoulder to make the connection between them complete.
Nothing could have prepared him for the emotions that came to him. And her memories. He could see them, running through his mind like a fast moving movie. Too fast to make out, but he knew that they were his now, too. When she came again, screaming out his name in his mind, Chris let his own body release, feeling the climax through every cell in his body.
Kate came twice more as they drank from each other. He wanted to come again, his body filling again to do just that, when he felt through their connection that she was close again. Her thoughts were his; her emotions—and there were plenty of them right now—bombarded his. As he lifted his head, he looked at her, watched her face while she came, his body becoming not just hers but a part of them both. Even as he emptied into her again, feeling her tighten around him as she released as well, Chris knew that he was in love with her and would be forever. He knew then that Pella had been nothing at all to him.
Dropping atop her, he felt the pain in his arms. Then his back. He knew what it was…he was being marked again. But when she began to thrash under him, he remembered that she would be marked too, and lifted his body from hers to hold her while the pain took her.
Her screams tore at his heart. Blood covered them both as they were tatted by some unknown force. Wings, he knew, were being formed. Markings would proclaim them as one, and magic that would only be theirs would also be formed. As she continued to be inked, all he could think about was that if he could, he’d take the pain into his own body and bear it for her. Chris held her while she sobbed and told her how sorry he was.
When she fell into a fitful sleep, Chris got up to change the bed linen. As he washed up, keeping an eye on her the whole time, he wondered what had happened to Remy and Skylar. He knew that they too would have gotten some of the markings that he and Kate now had.
As he made his way back into the bedroom, Chris made a sort of observation that the room was different. It was bigger for one thing, and he now had two closets instead of just the one. Even the linens that were forever in plentiful supply in his closet were now doubled, and he thought the towels were a little larger and more plentiful. As he pulled the bloodied sheets off the opposite side of the bed from the one she was on, he thought of other things as well. Like what would happen to his cat now.
Almost as if he’d called for him, his cat stirred along his body. He’d been there his whole life, saving his ass more times than he wanted to admit, so when he stirred, almost becoming a part of his skin, Chris paused in what he was doing and looked around for a mirror. He looked at Kate when she said his name.
“He’s there. I see him.” Chris nodded, too stunned to think what she meant by that. “I mean, it’s like he’s a separate part of you, like another being. Don’t you think?”
“He feels that way as well. I need to shift.” Kate sat up on the bed, pulling the dirty sheet over her when he let his cat take him. Chris knew there was a difference there, too.
“You’re beautiful. I never...you are different, like you said. Were you always this big?” She was sitting up now, leaning against the back of the bed and watching him. “I mean, even your coloring is more intense. Like you.... Never mind. I’m being silly.”
No. I was larger than a regular panther, but I feel...I feel fucking huge. She laughed and told him he was. And stronger too.
When she got up, pulling the sheet around her, he was disappointed but watched her walk to the closet. He was ready to tell her that there wasn’t a mirror there, but as soon as she opened the door, he could see one. Moving to it, careful not to knock things over, he looked at the cat staring back at him.
She was right about the colors. His dark coat was a blue black