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An aftereffect of her sudden transformation was that Leila was sapped of all her energy. She couldn't even muster enough to let James know where in the clearing she was. She didn't really need to worry about that, though. Luscious, having the perfect night vision that all cats have, padded straight up to Leila's huddled body and nipped at her ear. Leila groaned and tried to shift enough so she could push herself up, but she didn't get too far before slumping back to the ground.

Leila accepted the towel and held it around her shoulders like one of the blankets emergency workers give people at accidents scenes, although she was still clothed just as full as she'd been before the change. That was the one thing that never changed. Whatever she was wearing before always stayed the same, simply baggier on her smaller form. She barked out a humorless laugh. "I told you I could look different, didn't I?" she said, referring to his question earlier that day about whether she always looked like a boy.

Leila shivered, but not from the cold. It was more from shame than anything. She didn't even look at James when she answered his tease about werewolves. "Werewolves only change when the moon is out and full. I become this when the moon is full and when there is no moon, and I stay this way through the entire three days and nights of each." She shied away from his touch. She'd heard concern like that in her past masters' voices when they found out about her transformation, but it soon became something different with all of them. "I'm fine," she said gruffly. "I can walk on my own." She leaned against the olive tree for support as she stood, but she slid back down after a moment. Tears streaked her face as she began crying. The tough, controlled persona she had normally had completely disappeared. "L'Azazel! Ani shoneim zeh! Shoneim zeh! Kharah, kharah, kharah!" she sobbed.

Leila nodded. "Thank you," she whispered. She knew that, by morning, she would be back to her normal strength. At least, physically she would.

Leila wiped the tears from her face and nodded to James as he left. Luscious's caring actions made her smile a bit. "Thank you, Mihaneh, she whispered, stroking the cub's sleek fur. Then she picked him up and moved him from her lap to the ground beside her. Placing the pillow James had given her on the olive tree's roots, she lay down and pulled the tiger demon cub closer to her.

Leila also woke early. It was habit after having so many masters. She picked up the still-sleeping Luscious and carried both him and the pillow and quilt into the house. She put them in her room and looked around for something that might fit her better than the clothes she was still wearing from the night before, but it was obvious that no women lived her before her. She shrugged and headed to the kitchen, where she found James already there. Unlike the day before, she lingered in the doorway, fidgeting.

Leila nodded slowly. She hadn't reverted to the attitude she'd had before the sun went down the night before. Instead, she seemed nervous. As if she might be hit if she did anything without being told to. Most of her past masters had liked this change of personality because it took away her watchdog attitude and made her "easy pickings" in some ways.