"I heard you gave Bethany quite a whooping yesterday." Jeff was beaming with curiosity as he offered Azura a beer.

She found herself in the giant man’s kitchen. It was modern and only recently done so Azura guessed it was done when they moved in. Black cupboards combined with a dark wooden countertop and steel accents made for an industrial look. Together with light-colored walls and floor with a few big green plants made for a spacious and inviting kitchen. The ebony-haired woman glanced at the clock, which told her it was four in the afternoon before she accepted the beer and took a sip from it.

"Me? It was Lucas who threw her out of the house. I just wanted to beat her pretty little face."

Well, more than beat-in but that was something Jeff didn’t need to know. The feelings she had felt and what had come over her were not things she wanted to experience again, and she wasn’t exactly proud of it either.

The giant man laughed so loud, Azura was afraid the windows wouldn’t hold. He had invited her to come over after running into her at the supermarket. She had hesitated at first, not knowing Jeff all that well, but he had quickly convinced her to drop by seeing as he lived only a few feet away. The warmth and homeliness he emitted was so calming Azura couldn’t refuse.

"No really,” she continued, “I don't know why she was acting like that. I've never met her before and she became sickly obsessive over him without any reason. Like a badly written love story... It's not like I have a problem with him taking women home for some fun time, but it is kinda my home now too. A little respect would be nice."

"Beth and he have a strange history. She’s had a crush on him since they were kids. They dated for a while back in high school but she was way too clingy and he wanted to be free to do as he pleased. Lucas has always managed to keep her at a distance since then but that never stopped her from chasing him whenever she saw an opportunity. My guess is that he was drunk and hurt over Rose and she probably took advantage of that."

"Isn't it a little unhealthy to have such a long crush on someone?” Azura scrunched her eyebrows together. ”Sounds like 'obsessed' might be the right word."

"Might be, but it never came in such extreme forms-" He was interrupted by loud knocking on the door and excused himself to open it.

A sudden sneeze caught Azura off guard and from the living room she heard a ‘bless you’ being shouted at her by the big male. Azura smiled and took another sip of her beer. Normally she wouldn’t drink this early but he had offered it to her and it wasn’t like they were getting wasted. If anything, it made her feel a bit calmer and at ease for some reason. She did not have to pretend to be something she wasn’t.

The front door closed and Jeff walked back in with Rose trailing after him. The short woman just entered the kitchen before engulfing Azura in a tight hug. She was surprisingly strong for a woman her size.

"Azu! It's all my fault! I'm so sorry!"

Jeff and Azura both looked puzzled as Rose spoke, but Jeff was the first to ask the question that was lingering on her tongue as well.

"What do you mean by your fault?"

"I had a short awkward talk with Lucas the day before yesterday. He actually wanted to try again but I turned him down definitively. He didn't take it too well..."

"But that doesn't explain why something is your fault." Azura interrupted Rose when she paused for a moment.

"You think it's your fault because Lucas didn't take the message too well and went off drinking and made stupid decisions?" The women turned to Jeff as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Lucas is a grown man," he continued, "No one is to blame for this. You were honest with him and that's that. He'll recover soon enough. I've known him long enough to tell you this is quite a normal response after a breakup."

Rose gave him a thankful nod and tried to grab the pair of keys he was holding in his hand. Before she was able to, he raised his arm out of her reach and his laugh roared through the room.

"Oh come on Jeff!" Rose put her hands on her hips and gave the giant man a stern look.

"I'm gonna be late for my shift! I might get fired. My boss is a real dick you know." She joked.

Jeff dropped the keys in her hand, amusement in his voice “If you keep talking about your boss like that in front of your boss, you might actually get fired, yes.”

Rose completely ignored him and turned to the other woman. "Sorry it was so short, but I forgot my keys for the hall again and when Jeff told me you were here, I just had to see you real quick. Will I see you at the hall tonight?"

"I'll be there. See you tonight!"

Azura waved as Rose left and Jeff sat back down, grabbing his beer. "A darn shame they didn't stay together. She was a good match for him."

"Yeah, I have to agree, even though I only saw them together for a short while."

She finished her beer and Jeff gave her a new one without asking. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Why is everyone so excited over a couple of leopard tracks, by the way?" She suddenly blurted out.

When she and Lucas had found the tracks, he had insisted on going home straight away. He had moved so fast she had trouble keeping up and when they arrived back home, he left for the city straight away to inform other people about the tracks. Azura was left worrying about what was going to happen, but she’d been too afraid to ask too many questions. Jeff looked a bit startled by her sudden topic change but shrugged it away.

"Uhm well... I don't know where to start so I'll do my best to give you a brief explanation."

Jeff repositioned himself so he was facing her, then started talking slow and careful, as if he was overthinking every word he said.

"We have snow leopards around. We know their area of movement, yet these tracks were not from one of them. On top of that, they were found too close to the city. There hasn't been a new leopard around in a long time so the city gets quite excited. Bollocks if you ask me."

"So what happens now?" If her inner turmoil was showing on the outside, Jeff did not respond to it.

"Hmmpf. They'll try to track it, see where it went, etcetera, etcetera. But they won't succeed because the tracks were too old as I've heard."

"Right... I remember Lucas telling me that as well."

"His father would have loved this, he was always performing some kind of research on snow leopards. All the records are still here in the office, but Lucas hasn’t gone through them yet."

The front door opened and a curly red-haired woman came in. She was a tad taller than Azura and some would consider her a little plump but her body was well proportioned. Her green eyes had a lively sparkle in them as she walked in and gave Jeff a loving kiss. If you would put fifty people in one room and had to guess who were together, you would pick them right away. Azura couldn't help but smile as she saw them together.

“Oh, you must be Azura! I’ve heard a lot about you! So good to finally meet you!” She beamed as she walked over and gave the thin woman the biggest hug.

Azura was a bit taken aback by the big gesture of someone she didn’t know. Not a big fan or personal contact with people who were foreign to her, Azura had only initiated physical touch with people she was really familiar with in the past. So far, everyone she had met here did not go by those same rules. If she had to be honest though, she actually didn’t mind as much as she thought she would.

Sheila was the warmest, most caring person Azura had ever met. She was only three years older than herself but Azura felt like an oblivious teenager next to her. She had wanted to know everything about her and Azura told them most of her life story, leaving out certain details and gruesome parts. It was a pleasant conversation and Sheila made sure she felt right at home.

Their conversation was cut short when a loud abrupt knock sounded on the door. Sheila and Jeff exchanged a brief glance at each other before he got up and opened it. Three men entered without even greeting them and turned their attention to the big man.

"We have a situation, Jeffrey." The oldest looking of the three spoke, he also happened to be the shortest. Neatly dressed in a suit with a big gold chain around his neck while the other two also wore suits, one of them almost as tall as Jeff. They looked serious and Azura could tell something was wrong.

"Mayor Reed. A pleasure to see you here. Nathan, Oliver." He gave the two other men a nod as he went forward to shake hands with the mayor.

"No formalities this time, Jeff, there has been visual contact with a snow leopard."

As if that was her cue, Sheila got up and urged Azura to get up herself. The three men hadn't even looked their way yet but were suddenly aware they were not alone.

"We shall leave you to talk quietly. If there is anything you need, just let me know please." Sheila gave them all a courteous nod and gestured for Azura to follow.

"Thank you, Sheila." Mayor Reed gave her and Azura a polite smile. His gaze lingered on Azura before she felt a tug from Sheila, urging her to follow. As they left the room the men started talking again. Azura only heard a small bit, but what she heard made her blood stop running.

"It's a snow leopard...blue eyes...spotted this afternoon... A threat."

The door closed on them and Azura turned to Sheila. She felt like she had seen a ghost. Part of her wanted to rush back in to hear what was going on, but she was also terrified of what she would hear.

"What's going on?"

"Just some guy talk, I wouldn't worry if I were you." Sheila smiled warmly at her, trying to pretend nothing was wrong

"That's not just some guy talk, Sheila, and you know it. Who are they?" Sheila let out a small sigh.

"The oldest is the mayor of the city, Ben Reed. He is a stern but good man. He has his heart in the right place, but he can be very intimidating despite his size. The other two are with the city council. The biggest one is Nathan, and the other is Oliver. Nathan is alright, a bit reserved to new things and changes but alright, also the right hand of the mayor. Oliver can be a snake. I swear people with pointed noses like him usually are." She let out a soft laugh and continued.

"Jeff is often consulted by them even though he is not in the council. They do take his opinion as important as Jeff is a well-known man in town. Apparently, something urgent has come up and it's not our place to hear it. If needed they will inform the city later."

Azura just nodded and looked at the kitchen door. They heard the back door slam shut and waited for Jeff to come out. He never did though and after a while, Sheila walked into the kitchen to find all four men gone.

"It must have been a rather pressing matter for them to leave like this." Azura had followed Sheila in and leaned against the doorpost. Sheila remained quiet, a flash of concern spread on her face.

*

"It wasn't me! I swear. The pawprints were, but I was at Jeff's place when they spotted the snow leopard."

Dr. Jensen looked worried. It was her fifth appointment after the time he had discovered she was a blue-eyed snow leopard. He paced around the room nervously as she sat in the chair. Azura bit at her lip anxiously as he was clearly not the calm man he normally was. She felt the tension in the air but also in her own body. Her heartbeat was racing ever since he gave her a call to meet him asap.

"This really concerns me. You had been careless going out and shifting, as they had found your prints, but I am more worried about that other snow leopard they saw. Apparently, they only saw a glimpse of it, but enough to know it had blue eyes as well." He was still pacing around the room, hands behind his back.

"But isn't this a good thing? At least now we know I'm not the only one."

He stopped pacing and turned to her.

“I never said you were the only, Azura. I don't think it's such a good thing. When we met in the past, it only led to bloodshed. The ones we’ve met, they are ferocious, but we haven't seen one in ages."

A look of defeat spread across Azura's face as he said it. "You think I'm like that?"

He finally sat down as he felt her anxiety flare up.

"It's why we're working on that temper of yours. I don't want to lie to you, Azura, but I can see that trait in you, that untamed wild side. It can be disastrous if you don't know how to control it, but I do believe you can. You have made a lot of progress already."

It was as if he’d just hit her right in the face. He was basically calling her a wild animal. She wanted to become angry but lacked the spirit to do so. Instead, she just sat, defeated, staring blankly ahead. He felt her discomfort and let her simmer on it for a short while before he spoke up.

"It's not your fault, it's in your blood. But, because you have been raised without this knowledge, you do behave differently. You're a normal person with a big bad temper, that's all."

"Who enjoys killing and bloodshed." She sarcastically added.

"Only when you lose control, otherwise you detest it."

"It's still me though!"

"A side of you which you have to accept."

"It's a side I don't want to accept! I don't want anything to do with it!"

Do you really now?

Azura froze as their short fast-paced quarrel stopped. Nicolai noticed her sudden change and observed her closely. She went from being defeated to angry during their exchange, but in a split second, she had become scared. She had grabbed her head with both hands and it was almost like her eyes bulged out of her skull.

I think you rather enjoy those moments. Why would you want that part gone if it gives you so much pleasure?

A chill ran across her spine. Her hands dropped as if the palms were getting sweaty, then she clenched them into fists. She felt everything in her body tense up and her mouth slightly twisted as she recognized what was happening.

"I have to go... I have to go..."

Her voice was soft but fast. Azura started reciting it over and over again as she started to rock back and forth in her seat. Then, as if stung by a bee, she got up and headed to the door. Her eyes were bewildered, her body shaking relentlessly. She kept muttering to herself and seemed to have completely forgotten Dr. Nicolai was still present.

"You're not going anywhere!" His voice reverberated through the room, making Azura cower just as she reached the door. She fell to her knees and kept rocking back and forth while biting her knuckles.

"Please, I have to... let me go..."

It was merely a whisper coming from her lips, not meant for his ears but for her own. He came closer, every footstep made a gigantic sound, blasting at her eardrums. She desperately covered them with her hands while chanting to let her go. Tears were falling down and she was drooling, seemingly to have lost control of her body.