The last thing Raju Bhandari expects on the night of his first leopard shift is to find his mate. He is ready to start training for the endurance test that will determine his place in the leap. But the son of the alpha has a different plan in mind. Sujan Malakar, son to the alpha of his snow leopard leap, has found his mate. On the night of Raju’s first shift, he goes to Raju’s home to tell him how he feels. But Raju doesn’t acknowledge their mating bond. For the first time, Sujan is rejected. Not one to back down from a challenge, he continues to pursue Raju to show him they are meant to be together. Raju’s pride keeps him from seeing the truth in Sujan. Everyone says they can see their attraction to each other, so why is he the only one who doesn’t? This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. Dear Author, I am a kitten, well not those small baby kittens, but a Snow Leopard kitten. As a shifter we can live for a long time, way longer than humans as due to the Shifting of muscles and cells when we Shift, our cells remain young and healthy. My first shift has just occurred, at 18 years old, so I am still a kitten within the Pride. The Alpha’s son is looking for a mate and I have caught his eye. I am not going to give in, but I can’t seem resist his charms and attention… Photo Description: In this black and white photo, two men embrace passionately. They are both nude, and the smaller of the two is in the throes of passion. His head is thrown back and he’s grasping the bigger man’s head. The male on the left is marking his partner on his neck, and he’s holding him so his partner arches his back. His hand is supporting the man on the right’s neck. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.