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after all."
    "You still don't get it," I sighed heavily. "I'm a reah and—"
    "So you actually told that guy Yuri that I was your mate?"
    "Can we focus, please?"
    His smile was huge as he shook his head. "You're such a dumbass. All they hafta do is look at me to know I'm not a semel."
    "But hopefully they won't get the chance to see you."
    "I see, so you were just stalling for time."
    "I was."
    He nodded. "You know, I was told once that maybe one semel in a thousand ever finds their reah. You're so rare, Jin."
    "Yeah, great. Can we go?"
    "Don't you ever wanna find your mate?"
    "No," I said before I started jogging.
    He kept pace with me as we headed home.
    "Can I ask you another question?"
    "Can I stop you?"
    "What are you gonna do someday if one of the guys you meet is your mate?"
    "Never happen." I sped up so he had to work to keep up with me. I didn't want a mate, so God willing, I would never find one.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    When we finally reached our apartment, we were stopped when Crane almost tripped over a guy crouching on the second floor landing.
    "Oh," he said as he stood up. "Sorry."
    "It's okay," I said, seeing his badge, wondering what a policeman was doing in front of our apartment. "Can I help you, Officer?"
    "Are you Jin Rayne?"
    "Yeah. Is there a problem?"
    "No, Mr. Rayne, we're just out here following up on a complaint from your neighbors."
    My neighbors were complaining about me? How was that even possible? I was never home. "Am I in trouble?"
    "Or me?" Crane asked.
    He squinted at us both like we were stupid, and his tone suggested the same thing. "No, neither of you are in trouble.
    I'm from Animal Control."
    I saw the badge more clearly and saw the words on it, actually looked at what was embroidered on the parka he was wearing. Not a policeman, not there to cite me for God knew what, instead he was investigating some kind of animal concern.
    "You see these?" he said, moving aside to point at the ground. "How long have you guys been seeing the tracks around the stairs here?"
    "Tracks?"
    He scowled then. "You have noticed the tracks, haven't you?"
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    I must have looked as lost as I felt, because he let out a quick breath.
    "They're all over your stairs here, Mr. Rayne," he said as he knelt down.
    "I guess I'm not crazy after all. I told everybody that I've been hearing something out here at night," I said to the officer. I had to come up with something plausible before he started thinking that I was acting weird, which I was.
    He looked up at me from his crouch. "So you've heard noises, but you haven't noticed the tracks? How is that possible?"
    "These are the first tracks I've seen." And I wasn't lying. I had never noticed anything out of the ordinary, but there, outlined in the snow right outside our apartment, were paw prints—huge paw prints, which could only have been made by a very large, very heavy panther. There were claw marks, urine stains and traces of hair where it looked like a cat had been rubbing up against our front door. From coming and going only in the dark for the past few weeks, I had missed seeing my place in the light of day. I realized now that my feline visitor was not new but had been watching both Crane and I for a while.
    "Well, everyone else has reported seeing the paw prints before."
    "That's funny."
    "Funny is not what I'd call this, Mr. Rayne. As far as I can tell, you folks have a serious cougar problem here," he explained, rising to stand in front of me. "And it looks like he's marked your apartment as his territory."
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    The news just got better and better.
    "Okay," I said, starting to get cold. "What should I do?"
    "Well unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do. I haven't seen a cougar around here for years, so.... I mean, we'll watch it; I'll come by when I can, but...just if you see it, don't do anything but call us and stay inside," he said, pulling a card from the inside breast