As soon as I said it, I wondered why I bothered asking. Why should I care? It wasn't like Cloud was my friend. He was just helping me out. And yet, my curiosity persisted like an annoying gnat buzzing in my ears.
"That's right. Name a type of shifter and there's probably one in my family," Cloud said with a laugh.
"A mouse."
"Okay, we don't have one of those."
"Now you've crushed my expectations."
"Hey, there's only..." He tried counting on one hand but quickly ran out of room. "There aren'thundredsof us or anything. Set your expectations a little bit lower."
I smirked. "How about you don't bring them up at all?"
Our eyes met for a moment. His shined golden, reflecting the sun's light. When I realized my smirk of wry amusement had warped into a smile, I jerked my head away.
What were we talking about?
Cloud cleared his throat. "Okay, how about I list them off instead? Let's see. We've got your wolves, of course. Some deer and mountain lions."
"Wolves, mountain lionsanddeer?" I asked with a scoff. "Are they keeping the deer around to eat them?"
Cloud shot me a look of genuine horror. "No. Why would you think that?"
Realizing I'd offended him, my ears flushed hot with shame. "Sorry. I've never heard of a family like that."
"That's why mine's special." Cloud's expression warmed up, back to normal. "There's also a fox, a raven, an orca—"
"An orca."
"Yep."
At this point I really didn't know if he was screwing with me or not. He said everything so honestly that it was hard to tell.
Cloud flapped his wings as he spoke. "Then there's my dads. They're an osprey and a koi fish."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Sure. Add those to the mix, too.
But the mention of an osprey shifter pinged me. I glanced at Cloud's wings and saw the telltale pattern of an osprey, bands of brown against cream. It matched with the rest of what he'd already told me about his brother being a mer, a half-fish man. As stupid as it sounded, maybe he was telling the truth.
"And then we have a finch, and a couple hares..."
I sat upright. Hares? Lagomorphs weren't rodents, but we were closer in relation than any other species Cloud had listed so far.
"And nobody tries to eat the hares?" I asked cautiously, making it clear my question was real and not an intended offense.
Cloud laughed. "Of course not. That's taboo."
"What do you mean?"
Cloud's wings flared, suddenly braking us to a halt in midair. He shot me a confused look. "Wait. What doyoumean?"
We blinked at each other for a moment, both of us totally lost.
"I'm asking why none of the predators try to eat the prey shifters," I said clearly.
Cloud's jaw fell. It looked like my question scrambled his brain.
"Meeko, do you... do you think shifters go around eating each other?" Cloud asked.
