The gash on her shoulder blade was huge and deep in her flesh. Luckily when Eteran stitched it up Jayda was unconscious. When he was finished he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. His panther wanted to nuzzle her with his head, to wrap his scent around her. He knew that she would turn into his kind, half panther half human, soon. She was the woman of his dreams, literally. He hoped that Jayda had dreams about him too, because it would mean one thing: they were soul mates. Jayda began to stir and she opened her eyes. It was like a purple ocean, waves seemed to crash down and spiral in her eyes. She groaned.
"It's okay, you're safe here." Eteran said, trying to keep her calm, he didn't want her to panic.
Jayda looked at around the room with terrified eyes. She frantically looked for escape but her eyes rested on Eteran and she smiled.
***
She thought she was just having another dream again, he was beautiful. His green eyes seemed to study her. Oh those eyes, Eteran's eyes didn't have a round pupil like human's eyes, he had a vertical line as a pupil, like a cat's eyes.
"This was a good dream." She murmured to herself.
"This is no dream... what is your name?" Eteran asked, moving closer.
"Jayda. This is nice."
She turned to prop herself up on her elbows but gasped, her arm burned with pain. She moaned and gently lowered herself back onto the bed, he was right, this was no dream. Eteran moved even closer and touched her arm; both could feel the tingle that shot through every inch of their bodies. She moaned again, except this time in pleasure.
"So what's your name?" She asked, still a little dazed that he wasn't a dream.
Eteran replied softly. "Eteran."
Reality struck like a snake, Jayda's eyes widened even more. "Oh my god, Garun!" she looked around, half expecting he'd come barreling into the door with his bloody nose and grab her by her arm and drag her back to his hut to finish what he started.
"You mean the man who tried to kill you?" Eteran questioned.
"Yea, him!"
"He's gone."
"What? Where? Is he coming back?"
"Nope... he's dead..." Eteran said regretfully.
"DEAD? I didn't kill him did I? All I did was kick him in the face... and in the stomach."
"Well, I killed him."
Jayda looked at Eteran with horror. She was talking to a murderer, sure, Garun was a bad man, but killing him?
"Sorry, animal instinct." Eteran shrugged.
"But you're not an animal..." Jayda said, a little scared of Eteran now.
"That brings me to my next subject..."
Eteran told her everything. Of her past, of who she was. Of who he was. Jayda took everything in quite well, although she didn't quite believe him, and she told him that.
"I'll show you then." Eteran stepped back a little hesitantly and morphed into a panther. His tan skin became covered with silky black fur. He bent forward and his fingers shortened and expanded into paws. A tail uncurled from underneath him and two panther ears sprouted from the top of his head. The only thing that stayed the same was his eyes. He expected Jayda to faint with shock or scream with horror, but Jayda did neither of the two.
"Wow." She breathed. She was couldn't keep her eyes off of him. When he padded up to her cautiously she sat up using her left arm, not to hurt her right one, and reached forward and touched his face and stroke his head.
"Your eyes are the same." She said, amazed at the color of them.
They were green, with gold flecks sprinkled over the green. She watched as he reversed his change and stood up fully human.
"When will I become what you are?" She asked in a whisper.
"Soon. Very soon. Probably in the next few days."
Jayda was terrified, was the change going to hurt? She was also excited. Becoming a panther, to be free like she'd always wanted to be.
* * *
Eteran's heart skipped a beat when she thought she was having another dream of him, which meant she'd had dreams before of him. He left Jayda to ponder about her new life and went on a run. He ran faster then he'd ever ran before, the jungle air was cooler then usual and he felt like he would never grow tired. He black fur glistened and the jungle birds seemed to call joyfully when he went by. He had found her, he had a soul mate! Being soul mates meant that they had been with each other in previous lives, that they were destined to find each other yet again in this life. He wanted her badly, to touch her, to feel her, to be with her, but he would wait for her to come for him. He turned around and headed back to his home, he found the tree with the markings he had put there the day he built the house in the tree and climbed to the top. When he entered he found Jayda waiting for him.
"You didn't tell me this house was in a tree!" She spouted.
She almost died of shock when she went out the door only to see the jungle floor hundreds of feet away.
Eteran just smiled at her.
That night Jayda slept on the bed and Eteran slept in his panther form curled up on the floor. Jayda woke first and shrieked in delight.
Eteran jolted awake, changing into his human form. "What's wrong?" He panted running to her side.