“Spicy or just a hot meal?” I ask, and she shrugs. “Either. I don’t mind, I’m not all that fussy.”
I scroll through the options, stopping on one of my favorites. “What about Italian? We can order a couple of dishes and share.” You can’t go wrong with pasta, right?
Her eyes light up, and my heart thumps harder as she beams at me. “How did you know that carbs are the way to my heart? Surprise me, but can we get cheesy garlic bread? It’s my favorite.” I quickly put in an order and place my tablet on the side. I’ll have to keep an eye on the delivery because they often get lost on the way to my house, though most of the regular drivers have been here before. I really don’t cook for myself—why bother when there is an app right at your fingertips?
“Alright, done. Now movie or games?” I ask, turning on the television, excited to spend more time with Colbie.
“Hmm. What do you have?” she asks me, and I chuckle, waving my hand at the large amount of game cases.
“Most of them,” I admit, and I see her brows furrow.
“Do you have Shifter Quest?” Again, my heart jumps for an entirely different reason, and my enthusiasm is replaced with worry. Does she know what I am?
“Ah, yeah?” I reply, and she blushes prettily.
“My staff was raving about it the other day, and I had never heard of it. I kind of want to know what the big deal is.”
I almost huff out a huge sigh of relief but keep it in. “Sure, I’ll load it, and we can get started while waiting on the food.” I turn my back to her and grab the right game.
“Oh good, my friends were telling me about the different shifters you can play, and I desperately want to be the pegasus.”
I drop the remote in my hand, and it clatters onto the floor, missing one of the rugs I have on the hardwood.
“Are you okay?” Colbie jumps up and hurries over, bending down to pick up the remote before handing it to me.
“Ah, yeah, sorry. It slipped out of my hand.” I take it back from her before clearing the surprise from my face and turning to look at her.
“Why do you want to be a pegasus? Wouldn’t one of the more apex shifters be better?”
She shakes her head. “They are so majestic and beautiful. Who cares if they can’t breathe fire or have sharp teeth or claws? I bet they make up for it in other ways. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there really were pegasus and unicorn shifters? I bet they would have other special kinds of powers.” She sighs wistfully before shaking her head. “Sorry. That was silly.”
“Huh, no, that isn’t silly. So you don’t know much about shifters and the different types?” I turn back to the machine and load the game, and I hear her return to her seat.
“Does any human? They are super secretive. I know there are wolves and tigers, I’ve seen them in the neutral zone, but that’s pretty much it, though I was told the other day that there is no such thing as a penguin shifter.”
I chuckle with amusement at the wonder in her voice before grabbing the second controller and returning to the sofa. “No, there isn’t. Could you imagine it? I bet they would be as useless as pegasus and unicorn shifters,” I mutter, and she elbows me, growling playfully.
“Hey, don’t put down my soul creature.” Sure enough, when we get to the character selection page, she scrolls through and finds the pegasus and unicorn. She has trouble deciding.
“The unicorn is so pretty with all those different color options, but I want wings like the pegasus,” she grumbles and finally selects the winged horse in the end. “If only they came in different colors.”
And just like that, I fall instantly in love with the little human, but it’s followed by such heartbreaking regret because nothing will ever be able to happen between us.
Chapter
Twelve
Colbie
Ispend the rest of the afternoon and late into the evening hanging out with Nox. It was not what I planned for my day, since I was totally going to wallow in my misery, but it turns out it was exactly what I needed. I was able to switch off all my worries and ignore all the drama in my life for a few hours in the company of a handsome, interesting man.
Shifter Quest was awesome. You would think it would make all the current drama in my life swirl around in my brain, but I was so busy doing quests and trying to level up that everything else became unimportant. I can see how people can become addicted to video games.
The two of us worked well together as a team. Our characters blended seamlessly with one another and the other avatars that were on our team, and together, we were able to push back the rebel forces and defend the castle and shifter nation. We didn’t make it all the way to the end, but we were reluctant to give up, so I’m going to come back tomorrow and hang out a little while in the afternoon again after he’s finished his work for the day.
The food was delicious, and the storm raged on outside, but eventually, I had to go home, so he offered to drive me. It was too wet and dangerous for me to scramble back over the boulders.
On the car ride home, we’re both quiet, lost in our own thoughts, but it’s not uncomfortable at all. He pulls up to my grandparents’ place, and I really don’t want to get out. Sighing, I unbuckle my seat belt and open the door.
