17
Sage
After everyone left earlier,the urge to walk around or run or dosomethingwas stronger than ever. I was surprised to realize that I no longer wanted to be spoiled in a cave. I craved adventure. I stretched out my legs with a yawn. Starry, who had woken up from her nap, eyed me with those perfectly circular blue eyes.
“Wanna stretch with me?” I asked.
Starry leaned on her big front paws, tried to copy me, then fell flat on her tummy. I chuckled.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.”
The effort apparently tuckered her out, because she yawned and went back to curling up beside me.
I gazed out of the mouth of the den with a sigh.I wonder where Xander went…
The sun started to dip towards the horizon again and long shadows stretched over the land. I didn’t want to sleep alone so I hoped he came back soon.
“Hey, Sage!” Red’s voice cut through my thoughts. He poked in his upside-down fox head into the den from above. “Xander’s back, and he brought someone with him!”
“Huh?”
I heard a slight commotion outside and curiosity nagged at me. Determined not to be left out of whatever pack meeting was happening, I gently scooped up Starry in my jaws and padded out of the den. It didn’t take me long to see what the fuss was about. Standing in the middle of the grove was a man I’d never seen before with long, golden hair. When I got closer, I noticed he looked kinda familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“Sage!” Xander ran over to me. “Are you okay?”
I placed Starry gently on the ground between my paws so I could speak. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” I peered around him. “And who’s that?”
The newcomer turned to see me and his eyes widened. He gasped, bringing a hand to his mouth in excitement. “Oh, that’s the cutest kitten I’ve ever seen!” he cried.
“She’s not just a kitten, she’s my daughter,” Xander said, a slight growl lacing his voice.
“Daughter? But you’re a cougar… and that’s a wolf carrying her for some reason?” the golden-haired man said, sounding downright baffled.
The pack all glanced at each other.
“Xander, Remington, have you brought a human here?” Hugo asked. He didn’t sound upset, just confused.
“No. Nishiki is not a human,” Xander explained. “He’s a koi shifter, but… I don’t think he knew he could shift until now.”
The man called Nishiki nodded. “It’s true. I had no idea.”
“He was stuck until we pulled him out of the water,” Remington added. “That might have been his first ever shift.”
All of us stared at Nishiki, all wondering the same thing: why didn’t an adult shifter know he could shift?
“Let me guess,” Dax said, eyeing the new guy. “He wants to stay here in our territory, too.”
Nishiki put up his hands. “Oh, no! I don’t want to impose. I just don’t know how I got here, or why I can turn into a fish for some reason… If it’s too much trouble, give me directions out of this place and I’ll be on my way.”
Dax paused, then said, “One moment.”
I shifted to scoop up Starry in my arms, then we entered another group huddle slash pack meeting.
“So this is how it feels to be on the other side of one of these things,” Xander mumbled. “Now I know why you didn’t want me to join the pack.”
“Nah, we were being harsh on you back then,” Dax said. “By the way, you guys said he’s afish?”
“A koi,” Remington clarified. “Me and Xander saw him shift with our own eyes.”
