“Now envision the tail of the panther slowly growing shorter and shorter. Do you see it?”
“Yes,” Gabriel answered as the visual of the panther’s tail grew shorter in his mind.
“Good.” Aldrik’s voice was soothing. “You’ll notice the paws starting to change, the joints starting to grow longer as the hair of the panther slowly disappears.”
Gabriel’s anxiety quickly dissipated, and calmness settled over him as he watched the panther in his mind slowly transfer into a naked man. When Aldrik touched his hand, Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at him.
“How do you feel?” Aldrik asked with a smile on his face.
“I feel…” Gabriel frowned. “Relaxed.”
He couldn’t understand how just a few minutes of visualizing a panther shifting could make him feel so calm.
Shifting!
“I just saw a panther shifting,” he exclaimed with awe in his voice. Aldrik smiled. Gabriel looked down at his hands and realized they were no longer paws. Instinctively Gabriel reached behind him to touch the tail and caught his breath when he couldn’t feel anything.
He shot out of the chair and turned in circles. “What…the tail…it’s gone.”
“Here.” Aldrik stood up from the chair and grabbed his arm, pulling him toward a full-length mirror that stood, almost hidden, behind a stack of books. Gabriel stood with his back toward the mirror and peered over his shoulders as he slowly pulled his pants past the crack his ass.
“Where’d it go?”
“You shifted back into full human form,” Aldrik said. “Just remember”—he looked up at Gabriel—“whenever you feel yourself growing restless, visualize your panther. Soon we’ll work on you shifting.”
Aldrik turned away and walked back to the table. Taking a notepad and a pen, he scribbled some things on a piece of paper before turning back around to face Gabriel. “Take this. I’ve written down the names of your siblings and what little information I have. I’ll help you as much as I can, but I’m afraid you’ll have to do most of the legwork.”
“You said my brothers were adopted?” Gabriel took the piece of paper from Aldrik.
“Yes.”
“Maybe…maybe I can…” Gabriel’s voice trailed off as a thought came to him. Maybe I can use my connection at Family Services to get more information about my brothers. Gabriel thought about it for a moment and then smiled. This might work.
“It’s time for you to leave now. It’s not very safe for us to be together for long periods of time.” Aldrik walked out of the room, heading back to the front of the store. “Not until we’ve been able to locate your siblings.”
With a spring in his step and feeling tons better, Gabriel followed behind Aldrik. “We’ll find them, I just know it.” In his heart Gabriel knew they would locate his siblings and that they’d all be together, but his mind kept bringing him doubts and worries that he might never see them again. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Gabriel waved the piece of paper at Aldrik before shoving it into his pants pocket and starting for the door.
“One more thing.” Aldrik looked at him with a serious expression on his face, pointing at the pocket Gabriel stuffed the piece of paper into. “Memorize the names on that paper and destroy it. In the wrong hands, that information can be extremely dangerous.”
“I will, and thank you.” Aldrik nodded to Gabriel as he opened the door and stepped out of Hide-Away Books. He couldn’t wait to get to work the following day so that he could start searching for his lost siblings.
With a new zest for life, Gabriel walked home at a fast pace, keeping a close eye on his surroundings and anything that might lurk in the dark alleys. Aldrik had said people were after him. He needed to take precautions.
