Rather, the thing standing in front of me didn’t appear to be TJ, since it wasn’t human.
Actually, I didn’t know what the hell it was.
The Great Dane-sized creature before me had unnaturally red fur. Its face was wolf-like, but different enough not to resemble one. For one thing, it had a pointed horn on the tip of its snout. A lustrous black mane flowed down its back, which culminated in a long, spiralling tail with a tuft at the end. Its feet were fluffy talons, like some kind of wintery eagle. All of it was vaguely familiar somehow.
But it was the eyes that seized my heart.
They were pitch black, deep and emotional.
TJ’s eyes.
Then... Did that mean the beast standing in front of me was—?
“Hi, Brady.”
That voice!
There was no denying it. The rumbly, sexy voice coming from that creature was TJ’s, though it sounded like it’d been run through an animalistic filter.
A feeling of unreality descended upon me. What I saw with my own two eyes couldn’t be explained. There was a weird animal-thing speaking with a human’s voice.
And the craziest part of all? I wasn’t even afraid.
I blinked, then squinted, making sure my eyes worked. “TJ...?” I asked, just to be sure I’d heard correctly.
“It’s me, TJ,” the red beast replied.
A weak laugh tumbled out of me. “You look... um, different.”
His tail flicked in amusement. “I know.”
That voice was undeniably sexy, despite coming from a weird red creature. But it was TJ, after all, and I found everything about him sexy.
“You’re really in there, huh?” I asked.
“I’m notin here,” TJ replied. “This is my true form. The man you met is me, but in my other skin.”
I felt like I’d been thrown into a movie or something. “True form? Wait... Whatareyou, TJ?”
But then it hit me. He looked familiar because I’d seen this creature before.
My gaze snapped up to the Heraldry Ink sign on the wall.
That’s it!
The heraldic beast rearing up on two legs—the tyger.
That was exactly what TJ looked like right now.
“Wait, don’t tell me,” I interjected before he could reply. “You’re a tyger?”
TJ chuckled. It sounded like a mix between his regular human laugh and a thick purr. “Hey, you got it.”
I glanced around, wondering if there was a hidden projector, or if it was a trick of the light. But then I remembered TJ’s hesitance earlier, how he’d been anxious to tell me the truth. That meant this was all real—and he’d mustered the courage to tell me.
Andonlyme.
TJ trusted me with this secret, and I would respect it.
