Karla gave him a cool, appraising look. 'Apparently this was one of those mornings all the 'between-job' types decided to sleep in.'
'Ah.'
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then suddenly turned and retreated to the kitchen.
When she returned about thirty seconds later, she carried an ornate ceramic cup. Wordlessly, she pushed Lightstone's coffee cup aside, set the steaming cup in front of him, walked around to the opposite side of the table, sat down with her chin resting on her interlaced fingers, and commanded, 'Drink.'
Henry Lightstone's brows furrowed in confusion as he stared into the woman's gold-flecked green eyes for a brief moment, then into the cup.
'Tea?'
'That's right.'
He smiled in sudden understanding. 'Are you serious?'
'Very,' she answered in a voice that offered no compromise.
After shrugging agreeably, Lightstone cautiously brought the steaming cup to his lips, and winced.
'It's hot.'
'Drink it anyway.'
He allowed his gaze to settle on those seductive gold-flecked green eyes for another brief moment. Then he obediently brought the cup to his lips, drank the hot tea in several long sips, and set the ornate cup back on the table.
He felt the warmth of her hand radiating across his when she reached across it to slide the ceramic cup to her side of the table.
As Henry Lightstone watched in fascination, the sensuous young woman scrutinized the remaining contents carefully, stuck her index finger into the cup, stirred gently, waited a few more seconds, and then apparently considered results for a very long time.
Finally, she released a deep sigh that caused Lightstone's heart to thump in his chest.
He waited for her to say something, but she simply sat there with her chin resting on her interlaced fingers, staring down into the small cup.
'What's the matter?' he asked cautiously.
Startled, she looked up, shook her head as if to clear it, and fixed Lightstone with a long, appraising stare.
'Do you really want to see her again?'
Henry Lightstone hesitated, intuitively aware that whatever he said could significantly affect many things… his future among them.
Finally, he nodded his head. 'Yes, I do. I wanted to see both of you again.'
As Lightstone watched, Karla briefly closed her eyes, then looked down into the cup one last time, took in a deep breath, released it slowly, then silently got up and disappeared into the inn.
Two minutes later, she returned with the panther at her side, the cat's eyes seemingly unfocused and her ears partially down as she swung her massive head slowly from side to side.
In the daylight, she looked even more stunning… and more intimidating.
They both do, he thought, and then recoiled subliminally when the alarm bell in the back of his head started up again. He continued considering the possible implications of that subconscious reaction as the woman and cat approached him.
'She has her collar on, but take it easy anyway. She's acting a little weird this morning,' Karla warned.
The panther stayed close to her human mistress's side until they came within a half dozen feet of Lightstone. Then, the big cat suddenly stopped, turned her velvety head sharply in his direction, emitted a spine-chilling yowl, and lunged.
Once again, Henry Lightstone found himself pinned by a mass of claws, muscle, and gleaming fur while two huge glowing yellow eyes stared intently into his own. He could feel her breath — and her coarse, bristly whiskers — tickling his face. Although the daylight made her appear visually intimidating, this time he didn't feel anywhere near as startled or frightened.
Some analytical portion of Henry's brain tried to correlate the initial visual data he'd accumulated about the big cat — her close attachment to the woman, her head swinging slowly back and forth, partially flattened ears, and eyes seemingly unfocused — with the fact that now the panther's ears stood erect and her eyes definitely focused on his. But he knew little about animal behavior, and even less about a predatory creature like this.
But then the huge cat began to rumble contentedly, dug her claws into his arms, and rubbed her muzzle hard against his chin and jaw, and suddenly all of the data fell into place.
'My God,' he whispered, 'she's blind.'
'She has spots,' Henry announced in surprise when the panther lost interest in him a short time later and he noticed the dark patches in what he'd originally thought was a solid black coat.
'Panthers are part of…' Karla hesitated for a split second, '… the leopard family. She's actually a very very dark brown leopard with even darker brown spots.'
'What's wrong with her eyes?' Henry asked as he studied the cat with the hidden spots lounging in the sunlight next to the table, her head resting on his boot.
'The zoo vets had no idea how it happened,' she explained as she sat beside Henry Lightstone at the table and observed her fearsome companion. 'There was no sign of trauma to the outer or inner eye structures. The skull X-rays look fine. All of the neurological data were unremarkable. The most likely cause was a spontaneous mutation that occurred prior to birth.'
'You got her from a zoo?'
Karla nodded. 'Her mother wouldn't feed her. A lot of captive animals have lousy maternal instincts. Or it could've just been one of those instinctive reactions. You know, don't waste any effort on a defective cub. The zoo director was a family friend, and I'd spent a lot of time in the nursery when I was a kid. He told me they planned to put her down because they couldn't afford to keep her, and none of the other zoos wanted her. So he offered her to me.'
'Sounds like a lot of work.'
'I already had my wildlife rehabilitator's certificate and was.. between jobs' — she smiled evasively — 'so I took him up on it. Sasha was still young enough to imprint on me, and now she thinks I'm her mom. Well, her queen, really.' Karla smiled at Lightstone, obviously relishing the scientifically correct term for a mother cat.
'I'm surprised that no one around here complains,' Lightstone commented.
'You mean like to the government, for example?'
Lightstone nodded.
'The State Fish and Game people weren't exactly thrilled. I was fortunate that the zoo director was well connected… but I guess that's pretty much how government operates anyway, isn't it? It's always who you know, not what you know,' Karla added with a cynical twist to her voice. 'However, I guess I should be grateful because they finally did give me a permit, as long as I agreed to keep her collared and within my range of control whenever she's out of her enclosure.'
'I'm not much of a fan of government, but you can kind of see their point. A creature like this is bound to terrify people if she's running around loose,' Lightstone remarked, feeling the cat's rib cage rhythmically rise and fall against his outstretched leg. Even asleep, she was such an awesome creature, he couldn't imagine her unable to defend or feed herself.
'And then, too,' he added thoughtfully, 'I suppose it probably goes both ways. A blind panther probably wouldn't stand much of a chance out in the wild.'
'She'd have a rough time on her own, but if she could get close enough to the prey before she attacked… or had a protective mate.' Karla shrugged as if to say 'Who knows.' 'But the fact that I raised her, rather than another panther, would probably undermine her chances as much as her limited sight.'
'Then she's not really blind?'
'Not totally. Like most cats, her vision is more motion- than detail-sensitive. But as best we can tell, anything beyond two or three feet probably looks like a blur to her.'
Lightstone frowned. 'That's strange. I got the impression she saw me from farther away than that.'
'No, I think she smelled you.' Karla smiled again. 'It may have something to do with your friend's cattle
