Simon gave her an evil grin. “Fine. Let’s see if it’s strong enough to stand up to a full grown male Puma jumping up and down on the roof, shall we?”

“You are not breaking my brand new VW Bug, Simon!”

“Oh, even better. Cats love to play with bugs.”

“ Simon! ” She reared back in surprise. His green shirt had turned an interesting shade of brown. She frowned and poked a finger at his chest, wondering what the hell was going on. She looked and caught a glimpse of her face in the rear view mirror. Her eyes had turned gold.

Oh. So that’s what things looked like through the Puma’s eyes. She turned her head and looked out the window, wondering what else looked different.

“She’s changing.” Max exchanged a look with Simon she couldn’t interpret.

“I bit her last night, and she’s pretty strong willed. I’m not surprised she’s taking to it so fast.” Simon was watching her with an expression of mingled worry and pride. “She should be fully changed within a day or two.”

She looked at Simon and noticed his shirt once again looked green. “Great. I get to join the Fuzzy Club and buy stock in Nair. Can we eat now? I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving,” Emma muttered.

Simon laughed. Becky grinned.

Max pulled up outside of Noah’s with a groan. “Don’t feel bad, I’m starving too.”

Emma laughed as she climbed out of the SUV, much to Max’s obvious disgust. Becky tried to follow her friend, only to find herself pulled out of Simon’s door instead. He looked down at her and winked.

She made a face at him and allowed him to tow her along behind their friends, the heels of her violet pumps clacking on the sidewalk.

Oh, thank you, God. Belinda’s not working. The redheaded hostess smiled warmly and led them immediately to their seats. Simon held out her chair and helped her sit before taking his own seat next to her.

Things were fairly quiet as the four of them stared at their menus. Becky thought about getting the chicken marsala, but the lasagna the waiter carried past their table smelled so good she had a hard time deciding between the two.

“Stop biting your lip.”

Becky looked at Simon over the top of her menu to find him grinning at her, and let her lip go.

“What’s the problem, baby?”

“I can’t decide between the chicken marsala and the lasagna.”

“Share?”

“Sure!” Becky’s stomach rumbled.

“Share what?” Emma looked between them, confused.

“Our dinner.”

Emma looked at both of them and pursed her lips. “Oh.”

“Actually, that sounds good.” Max looked over at Emma. “Emma, you want the seafood alfredo?”

“No, I think I’ll go with the shrimp primavera. You?”

“Chicken parmesan.”

“Yum.”

They placed their orders with the waiter, all four of them deciding on wine with their dinners.

“So, why did Simon’s shirt turn brown, anyway? I thought cats were color-blind. Shouldn’t it have turned gray?”

She watched while Max smiled. “Cats are color-blind. They’re just not completely color-blind. They’re protanopic.”

“Proto- what- ic?”

“They lose the red-green spectrum. Everything either red or green looks kind of brown to us. Dogs lose blue-yellow. Grass to us is the color of spicy mustard. To a dog, it’s shades of blue.”

“Huh.” She looked at Simon with delight. “So on your front door, the cat’s head has green eyes.”

“Which look golden brown when my eyes change.”

“Clever.”

“I thought so.”

The topic turned to work as their food was delivered. “Simon, you have to have that sun catcher for Jamie ready to go by Thursday.” Emma waved her fork menacingly at Simon. The effect was somewhat ruined when a piece of shrimp fell off it to land on the table with a soft plop. She looked around furtively before picking it up and plopping it in her mouth, much to Max’s obvious amusement.

“Geez, Emma, I’m working on it, okay?” Simon practically whined, but Becky could see the smile he was trying so hard to hold back.

“You’d better be, or Jamie’s gonna have our heads. If it’s not done in time for his anniversary, Marie is going to be hurt. Then Jamie will be seriously hurt in a full body cast sort of way.”

Simon snorted. “It’ll be done.”

“Good.”

Simon turned to Max, his expression turning serious. “Oh, hey, Max, I forgot to ask. Did you get the e-mail from Sheri?”

“No, I haven’t checked it today. What did she want?”

Emma turned and stared at Max, one brow raised in demand. “Who the hell is Sheri?”

Max winced. “Remember I told you there were two women I’d changed over the years?”

“Yes,” Emma drawled, arms crossed over her breasts.

“Sheridan Montgomery is the other one.”

“The one whose story you couldn’t tell me?”

“Right, because if I told you I’d have to kill you.”

Emma frowned. “If you kill me you aren’t getting any nookie.” She wrinkled her nose. “And if you are that’s really sick.”

Simon snorted, nearly spitting wine across the table. Becky, giggling, pounded him on the back.

“ Emma!” Max groaned, laughing. He turned back to Simon. “So what was it she wanted?”

“She’s petitioning to join the Pride.”

“Did she say whether her problem was still a problem?”

“She hoped not, but I’m not as optimistic.”

“What’s the problem? And don’t tell me you can’t tell me, because you’re the one who brought it up.”

The two men looked at each other and grimaced. Simon shrugged. “Sheri was abused by a former boyfriend who’s still chasing after her. She’s seeking sanctuary with us. Max and I want to offer her a place in the Pride, instead.”

Becky and Emma looked at each other, wide-eyed. “Why wasn’t she already a part of the Pride?”

Emma frowned.

“She refused. Said she didn’t want to bring us her troubles, and since Jonathon was Alpha and agreed with her there wasn’t much we could do about it.”