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all that was left unresolved. “Our females give birth in animal form, which often means multiple births. Also morphs mature faster than humans, so we reproduce faster. Twenty-five years into the project every research facility they’d built was bursting at the seams. They were faced with a moral dilemma. Genocide or deception on a global scale. They could destroy all evidence of their overambitious project or convince the world morphs were produced by a naturally occurring genetic mutation.”
    “That’s when they came up with the colony idea?”
    He nodded, patiently searching her gaze. Did she believe any of this? “The political controversy surrounding the DNA Registration Act gave them the perfect opportunity to avoid destroying us. They claimed DNA registration inadvertently exposed the existence of shapeshifters hiding among human populations all over the world.
    “They offered us amnesty for our nonexistent crimes if we would turn ourselves in and submit to genetic testing. Of course we refused, so they had no choice but to round us up and incarcerate us for the ‘safety of the general population.’ Riots ensued and the rest is history. The morph colonies were fortified, and all technology within the boundaries was prohibited. Now the colonies are basically maximum security quarantine areas inside which we roam free.”
    “Inside which you’re completely dependent upon them for your very existence.” She shook her head, disgust clear in her expression.
    He smiled and consciously released his tension with a deep breath. “They like to think so, but we’re not as helpless as they imagine. Game is released at their discretion, but fish is still plentiful. Most of our parents spent their lives in cages. This isn’t so bad.” Her familiar scent soothed him more than it should have. He spent too much time in the trees tracking her, following her when she had no idea he was there. “I didn’t tell you all this so you’d feel sorry for me. I told you so you’d begin to understand the world around you. You didn’t even know the difference between a jaguar and a leopard.”
    Sasha refused to be baited by the insult. Her head was still reeling from all he’d said. “It’s a common mistake. Jaguars are bigger, but the two look very much alike.”
    How could she verify the information Grayson had dumped at her feet without becoming a target herself? Her instinct, that voice deep inside, told her he spoke the truth. The morphs had never seemed hostile to her. They had seemed frustrated and disgusted and demoralized, but not dangerous.
    Well, some of them were definitely dangerous. Or they could be driven to acts of violence. Like what she’d witnessed in the forest.
    “There are only three jaguars at Alpha Colony and all three are male. As soon as you saw Sheila in human form, you should have known she was a leopard. It’s simple inventory.”
    “You’re right. I haven’t done my homework. I don’t know nearly as much about you and your people as I should.” They lapsed into silence and she stared beyond him. She needed his touch, needed to understand the feelings churning within her. She was naked and restrained, and yet she felt no danger. He could do anything he wanted with her. Why wasn’t she afraid? “Will you teach me what I need to know?”
    In the span of a heartbeat he was in front of her again, hands framing her face. “Are you sure you’re ready to learn?”
    He wasn’t human, but he was no mindless beast. It might be wrong to want him, but she had never felt this way about a human male, never hungered for one, ached to feel them moving deep inside her while the rest of the world faded away.
    “I’m ready.”
    “We’ll take it a step at a time. You give me something I want, and I’ll give you something you want.”
    “That sounds fair.” Even though she was chained at the foot of his bed, he wasn’t leaving her helpless.
    “Kiss me, really kiss me, and I’ll tell you about