Page 135 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

None of the Protectors could negate what I said. If they didn’t make an adjustment for extreme circumstances, who knew what would happen? I was also hopeful that things would change long-term as well as short, and maybe that would have a ripple effect to other nests. I knew many older people were resistant to change, and shifters lived so long they got set in their ways, but that didn’t mean they were incapable of change.

“You’re getting bold,” Yelena told me as we left the meeting.

“Feels like I have to be.” I shrugged. “I never was before, not really, but the whole life and death situation doesn’t really allow me the luxury of pussyfooting.”

“Fair enough.”

“I wasn’t just an accountant before. I also fostered neonatal kittens. I know it’s not the same, but I got pretty good practice with making sure they had proper enrichment in an enclosed space. A lot of people don’t like to acknowledge it, but people are animals, too, and I think we might need to apply the same measures.”

I nodded. Most objections to being compared to animals stemmed from humans’ treatment of them, and the assumption that they were less intelligent, their lives less rich. But humans knew so little about the world around them. Shifters were in a unique position to know how bright and blessed the lives of animals could be.

“Do we have any spare carpet?” I asked.

“Probably somewhere in the basement. Why?”

“I want to make a climbing wall. At least for the felines. I’m trying to think what we have in the nest that could beeasily modified.” I stopped short. “Should we be talking about Protector stuff without the others?”

“It’s fine, precious. They know the general plan. I’ll help you execute the rest.”

“What do you think about a leaderboard?”

“Explain.”

“A competition would encourage participation, and that’s what we want. I don’t know what sort of prize would be at stake, but we could assign points to different activities, obviously with a bonus if someone won a particular one, have a public leaderboard, so everyone can see where they stand. The ones who are really competitive will participate in extra things trying to win.”

“That’s a good idea, precious. There’s no shortage of competitive spirits here.”

I beamed at her acceptance. “The official grounds aren’t enormous, but I think we could set up something really fun to help people stretch their legs. You said that the Protectors would participate?”

“Yes,” she said. “I think that would get things rolling nicely.”

“Does that mean I get to see your lion form?”

“Precious, if you wanted to see my pussy, you could just ask.”

I laughed and sputtered at the same time, ending up choking on my own spit, while Yelena laughed and opened the door to her suite.

Caden was right there, tugging me into his arms. Seth was sprawled on the bed in his panther form with Haru tucked against him, both of them lifting a lazy head to look at us.

“How did the meeting go?” Caden asked.

Once I had recovered enough to breathe, I answered, “Better than expected. Do you think you could help me re-create some of the things we had at home for the kittens?”

He looked completely confused, but nodded anyway. “Sure. What for?”

I explained the premise of our plan, and Haru hopped off the bed, giving a luxurious stretch before shaking every inch of himself. It took a lot of willpower to not say “oooh, big stretch!” out loud.

I suppose this place would feel a lot bigger if I spent time in my small form. It feels a lot more doable with everyone else doing that as well. Less threat.

I wanted to ask to see his small form so badly, and I was pretty sure that was obvious to everyone based on the way he let out a snort-huff I had learned with his expression of humor.

Don’t be shy, witch.

“You’re safe in here, right? Could I see what your small form is? Just for a second.”

Haru sidled up against my legs, his plush fur brushing over my skin. I watched with wild glee as they shrank down into something that looked approximately like an Alaskan Klee Kai. Haru looked up at me with their big brown eyes.

Happy?

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