(6 months later...)
Her shift had ended slightly early tonight, so the female Enforcer decided to pay a visit to her strange friends. As she drove toward the Megakat City Park, Felina thought back on how she met the pair of shape-shifters. It had been a hard, bloody several weeks back then, but thankfully everything worked out in the end. Unfortunately, vampires now roamed the city, and she knew that there could be other things out there as well.
As she pulled into an empty parking lot a few blocks away from the park, Felina locked her car and walked off into the shadows of a nearby alley. Sarita had expanded her Den Realm to almost 28 square miles, mostly toward the south. It would still be a mile walk through the thick rainforest, but Felina now knew where the path was, even at night. Sarita had managed to bind three spirits and 'attune' them to Felina, Chance, and Jake so that they now could enter her Den Realm on their own. They still couldn't enter the Umbra as the shifters could, but that was just fine with them anyway. Felina placed a hand to her arm, where the tattoo was hidden beneath her Enforcer uniform. Jake had opted for the original fetish, a strange pendant Sar had ritually made and bound the spirit into, but Felina and Chance had both decided on the other option instead. Sarita called it a 'scar fetish', and she herself had two which she had made for different reasons.
As Felina concentrated on the spirit bound within the glyphs hidden in the jaguar-shaped tribal tattoo, she could feel herself starting to slip between the two realms. As she continued to walk, everything blurred around her as the bound spirit pulled her through the Gauntlet and into Sarita's Den Realm. The dark alleyway with it's brick walls melted into moonlight tropical rainforest. She hiked along the narrow trail until it finally opened into the large clearing not far from the lake which was both in the Den Realm and the physical world. Nakela already stood there in her human form waiting.
"Hey, Felina. You're getting a lot better at passing the Gauntlet."
"Yeah, but it's still not something you just get used to."
"No kidding. Took me a few years once I finally learned how to get over the dizziness of it."
"A few years?"
"Heh. Yeah, well that's passing straight through into the Umbra itself. You don't go that far, only part-way."
"Yeah. Anyway, where's Sarita?"
"Oh. Uh, she's in the den for now."
The she-kat noted the strange tone in the were-dragon's voice.
"Is something wrong? She okay?"
"Umm... Well, technically she's fine."
"But...? What's wrong?"
"That's actually kinda difficult to explain. Okay, keeping in mind that shifters are as much animals as people... well.. how much do you know about jaguars? The animals I mean."
She shrugged. "Not much, honestly."
"Well, they're most dangerous during mating season."
Felina couldn't hide the look of surprise on her face. Now she kinda knew what Nakela was talking about, but it was still a difficult concept to fully grasp.
"You mean she's...?"
"Well, Sarita's a metis, so she was born sterile. When the Spirit gave her the ability to have kits, She kinda over did it."
"Dangerous huh? Should I maybe come back later, then?"
Nakela laughed at the comment, the tone showing no actual worry or concern.
"Oh no. It's Chance I'd really be worried about stopping by anytime soon."
The dragon-changer gave a wry smile and Felina couldn't help a soft laugh as well.
"Yeah, I would guess that."
They walked together toward the five trees which held the dens hidden within their branches thirty feet above. Climbing the spiral staircase in the trunk of the massive central tree, Nakela reached the upper platform of branches just before Felina. Nak stepped aside as Felina reached the top of the stairs. The she-kat saw the powerful golden-furred jaguaress in her felis form laying at the edge of the platform, her tail hanging over the side and her head on her paws. Her ocean-blue eyes were slitted as they looked out over the jungle and she was breathing very heavily.
"You sure she's okay?"
"Oh yeah. Hey Sar! We got a visitor."
The jaguar opened her eyes a little more, glancing over toward the human and kat. She then slowly lifted her head. Felina got a chill from the strange look in the Balam's deep eyes. Sarita had always had an eerie presence to her, but this time she looked down-right frightening. Apparently Nakela was right. Even what seemed to be a blessing from the spirits, could also be a curse as well. Nothing in the Spirit World came without a price.
.
That next morning, Felina decided to go and visit the guys before work. The gate to the salvage yard was already open, even though the garage wasn't yet. She pulled up outside and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Jake opened it.
"Oh! Hey Lieutenant. Need something?"
"Not really. Just thought I'd drop by for a bit before heading to work. Got an early shift today."
"Oh, okay. Well, come in then, I guess."
The ginger kat stepped back so she could enter, then he closed the door behind her.
"Chance is down in the hanger. We're working a bit on the plans for the new missiles before opening the garage."
"You mean the ones for use against vampires? You sure they'll work?"
"I sure hope so. But it's slow going. Imitating pure sunlight isn't quite as easy as simply using UV radiation light bulbs."
He led her over to the hatch hidden in the break room that went down to the hanger below. They both climbed down the ladder and into the underground hangar. Chance looked up from where he had been adjusting a loose panel on the side of the Turbokat and waved to Felina as she came down. She nodded back.
"Hey Chance. Just came by to see how you two were doing. I stopped by the Den last night so see Sarita and Nakela."
"Really? How are they? I haven't been by in a couple days. Been thinking about going over tonight to see Sar."
She gave a soft laugh and leaned against the wall nearby, folding her arms over her chest as she did so.
"Umm.. you might want to reconsider that."
"What? Why?"
"Well... Let's just say the animalistic side of her is kinda out right now."
Both the male kats were a bit confused. Jake glanced up from the work table where he was pulling out the blueprints for the new missile.
"What are you talking about? It's not full moon again for at least another week?"
Now Felina really had to laugh. They hadn't a clue, and it was going to be quite the surprise.
"That's not what I'm talking about. Okay, how should I put this... Chance, you're jaguar girlfriend is in serious Heat right now."
The tabby was completely struck dumb from the comment. Jake however, burst out laughing, both at the way in which Felina had worded it, and at the look on his best friend's face. Chance then shot the smaller kat a cold glare.
"Hey, at least I'm not the one dating a stripper!"
Felina put a hand over her face in both embarrassment, and to stifle her own laughter. They all knew well that Nakela, now able to take the form of a kat, had chosen to take up her old 'profession' from her home world. It was still difficult to imagine the were-dragon as an exotic dancer, but the club in which she chose to apply was apparently the type frequented by vampires in her world, and she believed the same might hold true here.
The retort caused Jake to stop laughing, and return the glare to Chance as the tabby now had one his usual sarcastic smirks.
Felina shook her head with a smile.
"Laugh it up, Jake. Nak's been talking about wanting to have a kid soon too."
Now it's Chance's turn to laugh at Jake's shocked expression.
"She WHAT?"
