“It’s okay.” I edged closer on my knees. “You did it! I knew you could.” I didn’t play cheerleader for just anyone, but I was hoping the pride and enthusiasm in my voice would be contagious.

The tabby said nothing. She only stared at me with those huge eyes, her chin resting on her knees. She looked shocked. Terrified. And not just of what she’d done. She looked horrified to find herself naked in front of a stranger. That was not the typical werecat response. Not even after a first Shift, though that couldn’t possibly have been her first. She’d had to get into cat form somehow.

I knee-walked a step closer, and my leg came down on something sharp. “Ow, shit!” I looked down to find a cocklebur stuck in the denim over my knee. What the hell? I plucked it out and dropped it on the wood floor, where it landed next to another just like it. Glancing around, I found several more, and only then did I understand. They’d fallen from the tabby when the fur tangled around them receded into her skin.

Huh. Look at that.

Wary now, I scooted around the litter of cockleburs. As I drew closer, the tabby squeezed her legs tighter to her torso, her fingers going white under the strain. Her gaze skipped to my left, and I followed it with my own.

The bed. She was looking at the bed. She wants the blanket.

Of course she wanted the blanket. She was naked, and probably cold. I stood slowly to keep from frightening the tabby with sudden movements. As I pulled the top blanket from the mattress—fortunately not the one Colin had slept on—I deliberately turned my back to her, hoping she recognized—at least subconsciously—the demonstration of my trust. A werecat almost never turns his back on someone he doesn’t trust. To do so can get you killed.

I held the blanket high as I turned, showing her I meant no harm. She let me approach, but her eyes didn’t leave mine until I draped the blanket over her and left it for her to arrange it as she saw fit. The bulk of the quilted material pooled on the floor around her, and she huddled beneath one small section, looking impossibly small. Impossibly young.

“Are you warm enough?” I sat cross-legged on the floor, several feet in front of her. The tops of my feet itched, and I rubbed them, surprised to find the imprint of the wood grain still there from when I’d sat on them.

The tabby nodded, even as her teeth started chattering. I wasn’t cold in the slightest. But then, I was neither underweight nor naked. “Just a minute. I’ll send one of the guys to get something of mine for you to wear. We’ll get you something new as soon as you decide what you want. Okay?”