My lips parted in shock as I heard bones breaking and fusing back together. The fur I’d felt moments before sprouted from the silver specks all over his body—black fur spotted with gold. He whipped around, a growl rumbling from deep within his chest.
Cas…
Had shifted.
Into a cave cat.
I had to be hallucinating.
But there was definitely a very large cave cat prowling across the bed, the fur along his belly grazing my legs.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as he crouched, his ears twitching as he sniffed the air.
“What…?” I whispered, his ears flicking again as his tail swished across my stomach. I froze at the feeling of his fur.
It was…soft.
I blinked once and then twice, but the cave cat was still there. I rose onto my elbows, the shock beginning to wane. “What. In. The. Actual—?” My volume increased with each word until I screamed, “Fuck! Are you kidding me?”
Casteel jerked at my screech. I’d startled him. Probably not wise, but honestly, I couldn’t care less.
Because he was a fucking cave cat!
I jerked upright. “A cave cat! Oh, my gods!” I shrieked, this time causing Reaver to jump. “The fur! The fucking fur. And Kieran…that asshole didn’t—”
“Poppy,” came Reaver’s dry, gravelly voice. It irritated me. Deeply.
“What?” I yelled, my hands balling into fists.
“You might want to take it down a notch,” he advised. “Or five hundred.”
“He’s a cave cat!” I shouted.
“I can see that—”
“And he shifted before I did?” I leaned forward. “What in the fu—?”
“Don’t!” Reaver stepped into the chamber from the doorway. “Don’t grab at him.”
Casteel sank lower, lips vibrating as he let out a snarl of warning.
“I’m not here to hurt her,” Reaver said.
“Of course, not,” I exclaimed. “He knows that—”
“He doesn’t know shit right now, other than he wants to tear my throat out.”
My gaze snapped back to Casteel. His chin had lowered, and he bared his really big, reallysharpteeth.
This motherfucker was a cave cat!
“Yeah, I see them, big boy,” Reaver said. “Mine are bigger.”
The rumble deepened, and muscles rolled and flexed under his thick fur.
“I’m warning you.” Reaver unfolded his arms. “You come at me, you’ll regret it.”
Casteel’s ears flattened as his claws dug deep grooves into the wood of the footboard. I knew I should do something, but the part of my brain that was still functioning on logic recognized that he wasn’t actually a cave cat, even as I stared at the thick, spotted black fur. He’d only just shifted into one. Thevadentiatold me it shouldn’t be possible. Only true Primal gods could shift after Ascension.DeminyenPrimals were more like Ancients. It took time for them to gain the kind of power needed to shift one’s being. Not days, weeks, or even years. It should takecenturies. And it wasn’t just the Joining that’d enabled this. I wasn’t surewhathad. It felt like I was missing a key piece of information, but I couldn’t focus on that right now.
