Ice Blue [ Book One ]

17 // Normality

You're in my blood, you're in my veins, you're in my head (I blame)
You're in my blood, you're in my veins, you're in my head

I'm saying it's you, babe
And I'm a sucker for the way that you move, babe
And I could try to run, but it would be useless
You're to blame (you're to blame)
Just one hit of you, I knew I'll never be the same
It's you, babe

• • •

As the next couple of weeks passed, my heat started getting more manageable. I was able to stay conscious for longer periods of time and I ate my food without so much as a stomach ache. The window in my bedroom had been fixed so I was eager to be moved back into it and give Princeton his space back, despite his protests that he was fine sleeping in a guest room.

Princeton was . . . He was doing better I think. As my heat began to slowly ebb, so did his bad temper. I, thankfully, never saw the temper that his mother and sisters would tell me about. Whenever he was around me, his attitude seemed lighter though I still saw some tension he held in his shoulders. He carried it like he was carrying a curse.

I managed to drag myself out of bed and clean myself before exiting the room. Hermès eyed me and said, "Your heat — "

"Is manageable. It's almost over and I'm getting cabin fever so I'm going on a walk," I responded, glancing over my shoulder. Hermès and Costa shared an uneasy look, and then they looked back at me again nervously. "You can come with me if it'll ease your worries."

"We're not worried about you — rather we are worried about the ways your mate will be skinning our pelts from our bodies," Hermès muttered in response, lifting one of his heavily scarred hands and raking it through his thick tresses of hair.

"Oh, please, you're being dramatic. I won't let Princeton skin you alive." I smiled at him, turning on my heel to face them properly despite the beast wanting to turn and run — just run. Soon, I promised myself. Soon I would shed human skin and let Feline run if it means being in trouble later.

Costa snorted quietly at my response. "If anyone can control Princeton and put him in his place it's Rivera. We're her sworn guards, so if she goes then we shall as well."

"Good, then." I nodded. "I plan on shifting and letting Feline get a taste of freedom. It may be easy for you wolves to not shift for long periods, but shifters of felines are not trained to contain the desire for long periods of time."

Without waiting for their responses, I turned again and hopped down the stairs without stealth or quiet. My guards followed behind me at a respectful pace, never releasing me from their sight and careful inspection but not hovering.

When I found the closest door to the outside and forest behind the house, my Feline could no longer allow me to keep her in check.

Before I had the ability to remind her that we needed to be slow and let me undress so I don't destroy my clothing, she forced my shift right there only feet from the door and inches from my guards. Pain greeted me, enveloping me in a cocoon of agony as my bones broke and formed and shattered again to adjust to the new body. Prickling heat danced along my skin as fur sprouted and I felt teeth poke my lips. Soon, my human body was no longer.

I shook my thick coat out, my large paws sturdy as I stood back up. I had no human trait left to be seen — all that was in my place was the snow leopard who had broken free after weeks of isolation and being locked up.

My claws had managed to get hooked in the remains of the clothes that had been shredded to mere fabric slices.

"You're stuck," Costa snickered softly, edging forward to me.