Out of Chances (Taken by the Panther, #2) Read Free

Tara asked weakly. “Chay showed me how fast shifters heal.”
    He smiled. “Very, very quickly.”
    Right.
    Tara had a sudden surreal feeling. Here she was, discussing birth control options with an actual elf because she kept turning into a big cat at the drop of a hat.
    Why was it that she’d thought she probably wasn’t crazy, again? She was having a hard time remembering.
    “Okay. So, I should get rid of the IUD,” she said. “What can I use, then?”
    “Most women prefer oral birth control,” Dr. Torrhanin said as if he were having the most ordinary conversation in the world. “You would have to make sure to be in human form to take it on time, though, so in your current state, that might not be the best choice. The ring is soft, so it’s an option, but again, it doesn’t work if you spend more than an hour or so in your shifted form at one time. Shots are generally foolproof. DepoProvera is quite effective, though we prefer a better slow-release version that we’ve developed specifically for shifters with fewer side effects. Essentially, any drug that exists in your bloodstream will survive a shift.”
    “Does that mean that the panther will be on birth control, too?” Tara asked with a horrified kind of fascination. “If she...you know ....”
    Dr. Torrhanin gave her a severe look. “I recommend that she not.”
    “But if—”
    He cut her off. “Your menstrual state is not synced with that of the cat. For your shifted form to achieve estrus, you would have to spend some months in cat form without ever shifting back to human.”
    “I’m not really sure what that means,” Tara admitted.
    “Heat,” he said bluntly. “When you shift, you will always return to a form that is months from going into heat. The panther may seem like an actual animal to you, but let me assure you that it is a multidimensional biological construct. Its mind and body are real, but they are not natural. If you remain in the panther form long enough to go into heat, there would be nothing of your human mind left. Therefore, I do not recommend it.”
    “And if she’s not in heat—” Tara asked tenaciously.
    “No panther sex, and no panther babies,” he said. “She—or you—will not be interested in intercourse in that form. Directly,” he added.
    Directly, because the panther sure as hell was interested once both she and Chay were human.
    Please, kill me now, Tara thought.
    “All right, then,” she said aloud. “I guess I’ll choose the shot, if that’s the most foolproof. But I’d rather have, you know, a woman doctor.” A woman elf doctor? Tara assumed that there were female elves, but at this point, she probably shouldn’t take anything for granted.
    “That will not be a problem,” the elf said, setting the black bag on the table next to her tray of lunch. “Are you ready now? The sooner the IUD is removed, the better.” He flipped the latch on it, and it fell open.
    “I’m ready, but I said a woman doctor,” Tara repeated. “Not a man doctor.”
    “I know,” he said, pulling something from inside the bag.
    “Then what are you doing?” she asked, belated alarm rising within her.
    The elf looked at her calmly, holding up an oblong object. “Ensuring the safety of my staff.”
    And before Tara could do more than curse, his hand darted out and the autoinjector got her in the arm. The elf steadied her easily as she wobbled on legs suddenly too rubbery to hold her up.
    “You’re not putting a radio collar on me, you know,” she managed thickly through the darkness that was already gathering before her eyes.
    The elf’s chuckle was the last thing she heard before the world went black.

Chapter Three
    “A nd they call me a fox,” Annie said as Chay entered the spook shop.
    Chay treated her to his best quelling glance, but Annie was immune to any attempt at intimidation.
    “I needed to get myself a fan, watching that,” she continued, waving her hand in front of her face.
    “No one said you