A Judgment of Dragons

The main characters are Khreng and Prandra, members of a race called the Ungrukh, who are leopard-like creatures with reddish fur, paws better adapted for manipulating objects (though no opposable thumbs), sentience, and a high incidence of ESP ability. The latter makes them valuable to the Galactic Federation. Khreng & Prandra, a mated pair, are among the first Ungrunkh to work for GalFed. In the first story, they run afoul of a time vortex set up by an alien Qumedni in a 19th-century Polish village, and have to defeat it. In the second, while Prandra is getting her ESP-ability tested at GalFed HQ, they are framed for murder. In the third, they attempt to break drug-runners' hold on a planet whose inhabitants are not capable of successfully opposing them. In the fourth, they confront the Qumedni responsible for creating their race (from Earth leopards), and the Qumedni intent on stealing the secret of how sentience is bestowed.