“One of me sisters didn’t shift until she was nearly ten,” Badger said. “We’d honestly thought she’d never shift. Then, one mornin’, she trots out o’ the bedroom she shared wi’ me other sisters and lets out a howl. She’d shifted in her sleep and couldn’t figure out how to shift back. Took her three days.”
Duncan smiled. “I remember hearing about that.”
Before Joaquin could ask more about it, Dewi and Tamsin emerged, naked, with blankets wrapped around them.
With a grunt, Badger lowered himself to the floor next to Bebe. “Now, listen, wee one.” He threw his head back and howled, which drew a deep belly laugh from Bebe. She threw back her head and howled in response.
He pointed at Duncan, then Peyton, and Joaquin, for them to all howl in turn.
Bebe’s grin widened and she clapped her hands, enchanted and howling with them.
He looked up at Dewi. “Ye’re next.”
Dewi and Tamsin sat in front of the toddler, and Dewi howled. Bebe giggled and replied. Tamsin finally seemed to be wearing an authentic smile and her howl sounded a little different, but Bebe still giggled and howled.
“Tamsin, ye shift first, if ye please.”
She did, Duncan reaching over and picking up the blanket for her, where it was now draped over her back.
Bebe gasped and stood. “Auntie Tam!PUPPY!” She threw her arms around the oversized corgi’s neck and hugged her.
Tamsin softly chuffed, which Joaquin knew meant amusement.
Joaquin cleared his throat. “Badger, can I ask a stupid question?”
“Because I don’t want to scare her, right?” Badger said. “Nothin’ wrong with seein’ nekkid people, of course, but she’s not raised like a shifter to know it’s normal.”
“Gotcha.” That had been exactly what he was going to ask, why just Tamsin and Dewi.
“Now Dewi,” he said.
Dewi leaned over and booped Bebe’s nose with a finger. “Hey, watch me, sweetie.” Dewi shifted, and Peyton took her blanket.
Bebe’s eyes widened and a delighted albeit ear-splittingsqueemade the men wince. “Auntie DewiWUFFY!” She threw her arms around Dewi’s neck, hugging her.
Dewi arched an eye at Badger.
He sat there, scowling. “I know, lass. Give it a minute, eh? Do it a couple of times.”
Dewi shifted back and forth three times, ending up as a wolf again.
Then Bebe petted her on the head, turned to Badger, and burst into tears.
“Hey, now. What’s the matter, princess?” He reached for her, sitting her in his lap.
“I WANNA BE PUPPY WUFFY! MAKE ME PUPPY WUFFY!” she screamed.
“Uh, oh,” Joaquin muttered.
“Quiet,” Badger said to him. “Sweetheart, shh, that’s why we’re here. Do ye feel like ye can turn into a puppy?”
She sniffled and shook her head, then threw it back and let out a mournful howl that made the hair stand up on the back of Joaquin’s neck.
“Dang,” he said. “If she’s not a shifter, she’s sure got the lungs of one.”
Peyton stood there with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her. “We are going tohaveto figure out a way to get her out of preschool. We need to have someone watch her who’s family. She might not be a shifter, but until she’s old enough for us to be certain, we can’t risk her being in a school with human kids.”
“You can’t Prime her?” Joaquin asked.
