New Reality, New Life

     When the alarm went off, she groaned. When the big cat draped across her knees began kneading with massive paws, she shrieked. Within fifteen minutes of the time she was supposed to get up, Kearna Tierney had hauled herself from the nest of cashmere blankets and was sleepily rubbing her eyes. Glancing at the clock, she groaned again, flipping it off and diving back under the covers.

     "Um…didn’t your alarm go off fifteen minutes ago?" The voice of her ever-present and irritating house mate brought the green-eyed cat up from her den of soft, fluffy warmth. Sierra Masters, a cowgirl with a wry grin and attitude stood in Kearna’s bedroom doorway, holding a cup of coffee and the morning paper.

     "Go…to…hell," Kearna muttered, snuggling deeper into her blankets. Bagheera, her panther, yawned and stretched, oozing off of the bed with liquid movements.

     "There’s coffee if you want some," Sierra said, shifting her weight to allow the panther clear passage. She’d never quite gotten used to Baggie, despite being kin to the tiger-shifters.

     The redhead gave a pointed glare to the steaming cup in Sierra’s hand. "What, that freeze-dried crap you like? Ugh."

     "Forgive me, my lady. I forgot you won’t "soil your palate" with the stuff us normal mortals have to endure."

     "Damn right," Kearna said, blearily feeling for her slippers with pedicured toes.

     Sierra looked down at Kearna’s feet and rolled her eyes. "Do you always have to have your nails match your toes? It’s kind of weird."

     "Just because you like looking like a peasant," the cat retorted, yanking on her crimson silk bathrobe. She shuffled past her friend, glaring over her shoulder. "If you’d care to pour out that swill, I’ll make some real coffee."

     Sierra wasted no time in dumping her coffee cup out into the bathroom sink, hustling down the stairs after Kearna. The gourmet coffee made by that stuck-up cat was absolutely nothing to joke about; it was the best stuff she’d ever tasted, and Sierra never, ever turned down a chance at good coffee.

     It was a new day, in a new reality, and Brandenburg was waking up once more.