For a heartbeat, he didn’t move. Then his eyes filled with awe, as though I’d just handed him something priceless.
“Just know you don’t have anything to be afraid of. My cougar would never hurt you. He’d protect you with his life.”
He hadn’t given me any reason not to believe him. A fragile hope unfurled in my chest, and then all coherent thought vanished when he shoved his pajama pants down his legs.
At my shocked look, he grinned. “There’s nothing supernatural about my clothes.”
“Oh.” My cheeks heated as I tried my best not to stare at his dick…and remember how it’d felt to have him inside me. Now wasn’t the time, so I forced my gaze up again.
Garner took a slow step back and gestured toward the center of the room. “Before I do anything, I want you to know what to expect. My shift won’t be violent. It doesn’t hurt me.”
I nodded, my pulse loud in my ears. “Okay.”
He rolled his shoulders once, like he was grounding himself, then planted his bare feet firmly on the wood floor.
“I’ll still be me,” he added. “You’ll recognize my eyes, and my human side will be completely aware the whole time.”
That eased my nerves. “I’m ready.”
Garner closed his eyes. The change didn’t come with snapping bones or anything grotesque. His body folded inward and outward at the same time, his muscles reshaping and mass redistributing. His spine lengthened. His shoulders broadened. And his skin darkened beneath a ripple of tawny fur.
I sucked in a sharp breath, awed by what I was seeing. A massive cougar crouched where Garner stood momentsago. Powerful and sleek, his presence filled the room without overwhelming it.
His tail flicked once behind him. His chest rose and fell with a steady breath. And when he opened his eyes, I discovered he was right. That same amber-gold gaze met mine, alert in a way no wild animal could be.
He lowered himself slowly, until he lay on the floor with his forelegs folded beneath him. Then he waited, watching me.
My heart hammered as I moved forward until I knelt in front of him. My hand hovered for a second before I let myself reach out, my fingers sinking into impossibly soft fur. Solid muscle shifted beneath my touch.
A low rumble vibrated through him, sounding an awful lot like contentment.
“You really are you, even like this,” I breathed.
As I rested my palm against his powerful shoulder, I realized that him sharing this secret had cemented something for me. I trusted him fully, like I never had with anyone else.
After I spent some time with his cougar, Garner shifted back with the same control he’d shown before. His fur receded beneath skin until he was standing there as a man again, eyes locked on mine. He tugged his pajama pants on, then immediately crossed the room to me.
“Did I scare you?” he asked, dropping to a crouch in front of me.
I shook my head, surprised by how calm I felt. My heart was still racing, but it wasn’t fear driving it. I was surprised that it felt more like excitement.
“Not at all.”
His shoulders eased, as though he’d been holding tension in his body while he waited for my answer. Then he sat beside me on the edge of the bed, close enough that our knees brushed,but he didn’t crowd me. Just gave me space to figure out what I wanted to say.
His restraint did more to steady me than anything else.
“I never had a place where I felt like I belonged.” The words slipped out before I’d fully planned them. “I was bounced from group and foster homes ever since I was abandoned at a fire station when I was a newborn. Which meant I moved around a lot growing up, as far back as I can remember.”
“Shit, Elodie.” Only then did he reach for me, interlacing our fingers and squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “I’ll probably never know why my parents didn’t want me. And I learned early not to get attached, because nothing ever lasted.”
He shook his head, his jaw tightening.
“I always felt like I was visiting someone else’s life,” I continued. “Like I was taking up space I wasn’t meant to stay in.”
Garner turned slightly toward me then. “You won’t ever have to feel that way again. Not with me. And not with anyone else here.”
