She stretched as roped muscles and strong sinew formed and reshaped her, as she became fully leopard. At once the female cat rolled sensuously, rubbing her head along the ground and batting the air playfully with her paws. She looked at Drake’s male leopard with teasing eyes, rolled again as he began a slow, cautious circle around her. Her cat leapt to her feet. She rubbed along trees, sliding her fur over the bark, leaving her tantalizing perfume everywhere for all males to scent. Her call sign. Her signal of readiness.

Drake’s male made certain all males knew he was in the vicinity and no one would come near his female without a fight to the death. He followed the female as she went through the swamp, staying close enough to watch over her, but far enough away to keep from getting swiped by one of her paws should she think he was trespassing before she was ready for him. She was playful, then amorous, calling to him, rolling and stretching, each movement more seductive than the last.

They moved through the swamp, deeper into the interior until he spotted the cabin Remy had told him about. He left his mate long enough to get rid of the pack around his neck and then padded after her down to a stream. Vines tangled and knotted over the ground, and moss hung from the tree branches, swaying slightly in the breeze. He saw none of it—yet all of it. He had attention and eyes for his alluring mate, reading her every signal.

His leopard had waited years for his mate, and even now, when she was finally with him, he took his time with her, rubbing along the length of her, not pressing her, waiting for her to signal her readiness. She crouched twice, but both times when he approached, using caution, she growled a warning and leapt up. He simply backed off and continued their amorous games.

She rolled again and stretched, this time coming into a crouching position, her hindquarters raised, tail to one side. The male leopard was on her instantly, blanketing her bod nuzzling her gently, calming her with his teeth along the back of her neck as he entered her.

They spent hours together, the male taking the female repeatedly, over and over, every twenty minutes. In between, they lay together, rubbing sensuously along each other’s body. The sun set with the two leopards twining around one another, mating and lying together for short periods of time. Long into the evening the cats continued.

The moon had managed to emerge from behind a growing wall of clouds and then begin to recede when Drake once again took control, forcing his cat to push the female back toward the cabin. Once on the porch, he surfaced, shifting back into human form. Breathing hard, he managed to shove the door open before turning back to the female leopard.