The slave's lips parted as her breath hitched, caught in her throat for the sudden hard squeezing of her breasts. "I... I can't control the change, mistress," she swallowed with downcast eyes as her thighs were brushed. "I am not myself when I am my tiger. I am truly an animal. But I can assure you, it is only to do with the moon. I can manage it, and as long as I am permitted to take time off the week of the full moon, there is no trouble for anyone."
Her fingers flexed where they were loosely curled at her sides, wanting to touch the woman in return, to prove she would be valuable. But she hadn't been permitted. "Please don't make me go through the auction house, mistress. Those places don't care who I end up with, what I need or how I'm treated." She would be handled like a criminal at auction, bound and put under guard. Like a murderer. Assuming anyone still wanted to buy her, it would be for something insultingly low - and what kind of master would treat such a slave well? She wet her lips. "I know what I am, mistress. I know I don't deserve any better than the lowest of them. But I can't risk what happened last time."