“Chaz?”
“You look like a Chaz.”
He stood there staring for a full seven seconds before he said, “Lance.”
“Same diff.”
Okay, this angry little creature was kind of entertaining. She was all bristled and stressed, but he hadn’t a clue why. “Why are you here to see Ava?”
“If I tell you, will you promise to not tell anyone what I am, and also not tell Ava I’m here to see her, and also give me time to settle and introduce myself to her on my own?”
“That’s a lot of negotiating.”
“Yes or no?”
“Sure, on one condition.”
“Annoying, but okay. Name it.”
“You take your sunglasses off. The snow has melted and I have no idea how you see out of thirty water drops.”
“Why do you care about my sight?”
“Just take the glasses off.”
“So you can snap a picture of me and post it on your social media and make fun of me? No thanks.”
“Whoa, has that happened to you?”
She crossed her arms and looked toward the stone hearth. Her refusal to answer was answer enough. Aw man that was messed up. He wouldn’t like that at all if he were a shifter.
To ease her defensiveness, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, showed her the dead screen, and set it on the bench beside the door.
After a few seconds, she inhaled deeply and pulled the sunglasses from her face. She tugged her bangs lower again, and Lance wondered if it was a habit.
When she looked up at him, some of the defensiveness was gone from her glowing gold eyes. Good Lord she was gorgeous. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight in the doorway. “Why?”
“Because Ava is a rare shifter, and well…she’s kind of like me. And she’s the only one I’ve been able to find, and I kind of…” She fiddled with her stuck zipper. “I kind of…”
“You can just say it. I’m a stranger you’ll never see again. Your admissions won’t go anywhere.”
“Well, I guess I kind of just wanted to know what it was like being around another shifter like her.” She cleared her throat and said lower, “Like us.”
“You’re an armadillo shifter?”
The woman gasped. “Why did you out her like that? I’m a stranger. That’s so messed up.”
“But you know she’s an armadillo shifter already.”
“Doesn’t mean you should ever say what we are. You’re a human. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Aaah. Except I hang out with Ava and Brock all the time, and she doesn’t hide what she is anymore, to anyone. Everyone in this town knows she’s an armadillo shifter.”
He couldn’t see her eyebrows behind the thick bangs covering a third of her face, but he was pretty sure a frown was glued to her forehead.
“Oh. So, she just…tells people.”
“Her eyes glow bright green. Like…Northern Lights green. And she stopped wearing her sunglasses here about a month after moving here. I watched the transformation.”
