“A fluffy orange cat with big green eyes. You must have shifted in your sleep.” Spiro took my hands in his and stroked his thumbs over my knuckles. “Breathe, Kitten. Did this happen to you before?”
I shook my head. “Not like that. So I didn’t have human parts at all?”
“A cat through and through. Did you do anything differently from the times you couldn’t shift?” Spiro’s tone was gentle. He knew this wasn’t an easy subject for me.
I tilted my head and closed my eyes, recalling the emotional journey of last night. An involuntary smile spread across my face. “I was happy. That’s what happened.” I couldn’t add that it hadn’t been momentary joy but the dream of having more moments like these with Spiro. Which was something I wouldn’t get. I had held some hope until the last moment, but if he hadn’t asked me to go with him yesterday, he never would have. We were done.
“How are you feeling now?”
“I need to be alone. I’m sorry.” Rolling off the bed, tripped on a towel on the floor, then ran to my room.
My emotions were all over the place. Not from the shift but from what it meant. Spiro was my fated mate. I’d ignored all the signs. The compatibility, our dreams about each other, but not me accomplishing something that had been impossible before. I was fucked through and through. In a bad way. We were scheduled to fly out tomorrow, so I had to survive one more day looking at Spiro and knowing he didn’t want me.
Would I survive the goodbye? Hugging, shaking our hands? What the actual fuck?
My phone had been charging on the nightstand since yesterday, so I unplugged it and called the one person who might want to listen.
Cillian picked up immediately. “Hi babes, what’s up? I’ll be picking you up tomorrow evening, yeah?”
“I fucked up.” I whispered into the phone.
“What is it? Are you okay? Kaos?” He was worried.
“Yes. Fuck. It’s just that…I shifted when I was asleep on top of him.”
“Whoa. That never happened to you before. What changed?”
“We were fooling around, Spiro took a picture of me on the bed, then we had a bath, it was all so perfect. Then I dozed off and woke up in cat form.”
“Waitaminute. You let him take naked pics of you?”
“Oh that’s what you got from what I said?”
“You’re an influencer. You can’t do that! What if it gets out?”
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “I trust him. He would never do anything to hurt me. Not consciously.”
“Right. You sound like you’re in love.”
“It feels more intense and like I’m tethered to him, being pulled his way.” I sighed. “I think he might be my fated mate. That link and the comfort it provided were what prompted the shift.”
“Shit, Kaos. This is serious. You’ve never believed in that, but now you’re convinced. Do you really want to leave him?” A rustle sounded on his end, and I imagined he sat on his bed.
“No. I don’t know. But he’s going back to his life and me to mine. It’s decided.” I wrapped my tail around my waist and kept pacing.
“Have you discussed it?”
“Not lately. But we agreed on a sex-only arrangement at the start.”
“Clearly, stuff changed. Would he want to stay here with you?”
“No, that’s out of the question. His entire world is in Greece, and his future is all thought through.”
“Why don’t you follow him then?”
I released an indignant gasp. “My entire life is in California.”
“Honey, no offense, but what life?”
