Leopard's Prey

glaring as she looked around. “Some kind of strange Cajun curse on anyone stayin’ here and they turn into the Rougarou. What other real explanation is there?”
    She looked down at her body. She was bruised, but there was no fur. When she looked in the mirror her teeth looked like perfectly normal teeth. Bijou sighed and ran a brush through her thick, wild hair. That’s what she got for going to bed with wet hair. There was no taming it, but on the other hand, she had hair, not fur. It was black, not covered in rosettes.
    She walked down the stairs a little reluctantly. There were so many questions she had, but more importantly, she had to apologize to her friend and offer to leave if she’d been flirtatious inadvertently with Saria’s husband. Whatever had put Saria on edge had to be her fault and she wanted to make certain they were okay. She didn’t have a lot of real friends, and she definitely didn’t want to lose Saria.
    The moment she pushed open the door to the kitchen, the aroma of coffee hit her. She went straight to the coffeepot and poured herself a mug, aware of Saria putting plates on the small table in the kitchen. It was far more intimate than the guest dining room and ordinarily, Bijou much preferred it, but knowing she had to apologize made her even more self-conscious than normal.
    She turned slowly, leaning against the counter as she faced Saria.
    Saria flashed an encouraging smile. “I’ll get the food out of the warmer.”
    “Before you do, I just want to say how sorry I am. I know you’ve been upset with me and I honestly—I
swear
to you, Saria—I didn’t realize how flirty and awful I’ve been. I’m not usually like that, I had no idea I was doin’ anything that might disturb you or Drake.”
    Saria’s eyebrow shot up. “What are you talkin’ about?”
    “You’ve been upset with me. Don’ deny it. And you’re not like that, so I had to have been doin’ something to get you riled.” Bijou ducked her head. “My father was some sort of sex addict and it colored my life. I didn’t want to be like him so I stayed away from men. Bodrie always made sex seem so cheap. And then I came here and . . .” She shook her head as her eyes stung and burned and the lump in her throat grew so big she couldn’t talk around it.
    “Bijou, don’ be silly. You’re not at all like Bodrie. Not for one moment.”
    Bijou took a deep breath to try to stop herself from crying. “You didn’t see me with Remy, Saria. I was a crazy person. Worse than Bodrie ever was. And I figured out that you must have noticed me flirtin’ with Drake, but if I was, I didn’t know it, I didn’t mean to do it.”
    “Bijou, seriously, you didn’ do anything at all. I’m pregnant. I told Drake this mornin’ and he’s on his way home.” Her voice changed, the laughter fading. “I was jealous. You look so beautiful, and I had no idea I was pregnant. But your leopard was comin’ into heat and my leopard was crazy, which made me that way.” Her words came out in a little rush. “I didn’t have any idea you were leopard or maybe I would have put the two together, but instead I had my jealous pants on.
I’m
the one who’s sorry, Bijou. I hope you can forgive me. When you needed me most, I was actin’ silly.”
    Bijou allowed herself to breathe again. “You’re pregnant? That’s so awesome, Saria.”
    Saria smiled. “It kinda is, isn’t it? I’m still gettin’ used to the idea.”
    Bijou carried her mug to the table and put it down so she could finish setting the table while Saria got the food. The relief she felt that everything between her and Saria had gotten back to normal was tremendous. She placed flatware carefully and added napkins before sitting down to finish her coffee.
    “I turned into sex pants and that’s far worse than jealous pants,” she admitted. “It was horrible. And we destroyed your room. I’ll pay to have it fixed, Saria.”
    Saria burst out laughing. “My brother has already taken care of it. He and Drake can put it all back together. His leopard was the crazy one, rakin’ the walls.”
    “Not exactly.” Bijou felt compelled to be strictly honest. “I definitely helped, and there was no leopard involved.”
    “
You
are the leopard, Bijou,” Saria pointed out. “I know it’s difficult to take in . . .”
    Bijou scowled at her. “Difficult?” She interrupted. “Insane. Impossible to believe. The memory is tryin’ to fade. I’m tryin’ to convince