I pushed open the bathroom door.  Vanilla/oak/coconut steam obliterated the room. Somehow the moist heat made a low rumble of pleasure trickle up my throat. The sound of pulsing water beat bown on flesh and tile. I crouched down. Instinct guided my steps. I followed the scent of my mate.

Mine. I thought. Mine.  I stilled at the thought.

There was a sound from the shower of skin squeeking on tile.

With out even thinking about it I was moving again. I reached out and opened the shower door. I slipped in side and shot the door behind me.

Beth whipped around with a tiny scream. The scream cut off when she saw it was me. She started to smile but sucked in a breath. She stepped back, her foot slipped. I caught her and pulled her too me.

It didn't even cross my mind that I still wore the sheet as a makeshift toga.

I lay my lips on hers. She pushed at my shoulders. I tightened my grip around her waist. 

My fangs pressed into my lip so I forced them back. I deepened the kiss. She moaned as I slid my hand over her back. The other hand I moved over her hip and down the curve of her bottom.

She tasted of water mixed her own unique taste. Her skin was slick, warm, and soft under my hands.

I knew I should stop. We hadn't really spoken in a week if the transformation had lasted that long. We needed to talk before I let my passion take over.

I just couldn't stop. She felt too good. She tasted too good. The little moans that escaped her made my heart pound in my chest. Even the smell of the water mixed with her scent sent my pulse racing.

Her tongue thrust out and slid past my lips. With a growl I pushed her against the tiled wall.

I ripped at the bindings of the toga. It fell in a puddle of wet fabric. I could barely think enough to remember to kick it way from the drain.

       ***

Beth and I followed the smell of sauteed beef, bell peppers, onions, broccoli and carrots into the kitchen.

My hair hung in long dark damp strands. I pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Beth had her hair wrapped in a white towel but a few tresses hung from the end of the twisted fabric. 

"That smells really good, Jeremy. I hope you made enough to feed an army because I'm starving."  I told him as I released Beth's hand and climbed up on a stool at the bar.

"Of course I did." Jeremy said. His tone was light and teasing. He wrapped a hand towel around the handle of the pan, moved it to another towel that acted as a trivet.

"Good. Cause I wasn't kidding. I'm starving. You can just pile all the meat on my plate." I told him only half kidding. I propped my elbows on the bar and rested my chin on my hands.

"Is there any juice?" Beth asked from the stool beside me.

"Apple, grape, and pineapple orange." Jeremy moved around the kitchen with an assurance that most people couldn't find.

Beth stood and moved around the bar. She poured some juice into clear thick plastic cup. She sat back down at the bar and started sipping her pineapple orange juice.

Jeremy sliced large mushrooms.

"When will everyone get home?" I asked.

"They said they'd be home around six or seven." Beth told me.

"Breea called while you were in the shower. She's meeting the chief of her clan at five thirty and isn't sure when she'll be in." Jeremy supplied as he placed the mushrooms in the saute pan. I looked at the clock above the door. It was six now.

Werecats didn't have traditional packs as werewolves. They had clans spread out over the city, town or state depending on the size of the area or number of members.

I nodded. I knew I would eventually have to meet with the clan chief.  The fact that was a vampire were hybrid didn't absolve me of the werecat laws. I now had to follow both sets of laws. Laws I didn't know but would have to learn.

I wasn't looking forward to it, any of it. My stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly.

Both Jeremy and I froze. That was not a sound normally associated with vampire physiology. Beth continued to sip her juice oblivious to the tention.

I stared at Jeremy's eyes.

It's only been two hours. I yelled through the link. I thought my need for blood would go back to normal after the transformation.

Calm down, Alexis. Listen to your body. He said.

I tried to do as he said. I dropped my hands to the counter. I couldn't feel the call of blood. I was hungry. But I wasn't craving blood. The smell of the strips of beef in the pan made my mouth water.

I had loved the the taste of human food, I don't remember ever craving it like this as a vampire. Even as a human I only felt this hungry when it had been days since I had eaten. In the last part of my human existence that had been a continuous struggle.

This felt... human? It had been so long since I had been a human this feeling was hard to define, to place. But I'm not human, I thought.

My stomach growled again, this time loud enough for Beth to hear.

She looked over at me, quirked an eyebrow then giggled. She covered her mouth with a hand.

"Sorry." She whispered. She looked embarrassed.

I was embarrassed. Shame heated my cheeks.

"I can get you a blood bag." Beth said and started to get up from the stool.

"No. Um. I'm not, I don't need, er." I slid my fingers through my wet hair. I didn't know what to say. The fact that she had offered to help was intoxicating. I was caught off guard by her lack of disgust and my apparent need to consume human food.

"Here, I think we can start without them." Jeremy said and placed the food from the pan in a ceramic square serving bowl. Tiny green ivy worked it's way around the dish.

Beth and I both stood and helped him carry the dished of food to the dinning table.

I stoled a slice of beef as we sat the table. I popped it into my mouth I chewed it slowly. My stomach growled in anticipation. I groaned when I swallowed it.