“All that I will share is that it is somewhere in Otsuk,” Zubir answered. “We have kept our location a secret for over a decade, and I will not be the one to break the trust I have earned, trust that I am not sure I deserve.”
Elyse strode forward and put a hand on Zubir’s shoulder. “Of course you deserve it. You’re one of them, and you always will be. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t think so.”
“And what exactly does ‘one of them’ mean?” Killian pressed. He gave Zubir an earnest look. “I’d like to know, if you’re comfortable. That way I can know how you fall into our plan.”
Elyse shot Killian a smile. “That’s the brilliant thing. We don’t need a plan for them—they’re the contingency.”
Killian frowned—of course he disliked the prospect of not having a plan.
Elyse continued to beam. “Are you okay with showing him?” she asked Zubir.
He nodded, and Elyse took a step back to give him space. Killian stood straight, his eyes glimmering with excitement. She could feel the curious tension around him, pulled taut like a bowstring.
Zubir removed his rucksack and laid it on the floor beside him. He closed his eyes and took a deep inhale that puffed out his chest. He let the breath out in a long, slow exhale. His hands hung at his sides, and his fingers twitched with nervous energy. Elyse waited and watched, eager to witness Zubir’s magic for the first time.
The change was subtle at first—his ponytails grew shorter and slowly began to shrink into his scalp. His nose and mouth elongated as his posture lurched forward. Tearing sounds filled the room as his torso expanded and fur burst from beneath his tunic. Claws clacked on the wooden floor of the study as Zubir shifted his weight and adjusted to his new physique.
Where a small man had stood not thirty seconds earlier, a massive black wolf now perched in the middle of the room.
Killian exploded, his jaw nearly falling to the floor as he clamped both of his hands behind his head. “Devil’s taint!” he shouted.
“Stop stealing my sayings,” Elyse laughed. She stepped forward and reached a hand out to pet Zubir’s muzzle. From the corner of her eye, she saw Killian tense, as if he thought it unsafe. But Zubir pressed his snout into her hand and half closed his eyes at the connection.
“What does this mean?” Killian wondered aloud. “What is he?”
“He’s a shifter,” Elyse explained as she scratched behind Zubir’s ears—ears that came to her shoulders. “They all are. A wolf is their most natural form, besides a human, of course. But sometimes their clans will go weeks in their wolf form.”
Zubir gave a joyful yelp, confirming her words.
“So, what other forms can they take?” Killian asked.
“Anything,” Elyse went on. “A bird, a fish, any human. That’s why I wanted his help. We don’t know what Lazarus has planned for us, so we don’t know how to combat him. But, with Zubir and his cousins helping, we can adapt to whatever Lazarus throws at us.”
“Interesting…” Killian said, rubbing his chin pensively. Then he added, “You said he can shift into any human?”
Elyse chuckled. She’d rarely seen Killian so surprised, but she was enjoying his stupefied expression as he gawked at Zubir.
She felt the energy surrounding Zubir change, and she retreated from him. His black fur twitched and writhed until it evolved into tan skin. His posture straightened once more, but this time into a much taller frame. Golden eyes and a broad, stubbled jaw sat atop a bare, muscled body.
“Fucking hell!” Killian looked caught between bolting and attacking. After a moment, he took a step forward and studied the golden eyes, identical to his own.
Then his eyes dipped downward, and he shook his head. “I’m well on display, aren’t I?”
Zubir, fully transformed into Killian’s body, quickly used his hands to cover Killian’s more private areas. “My apologies,” he said, his voice matching Killian’s timbre perfectly. “We shifters are far more comfortable with nudity than most.”
“It’s all right,” Killian said. “Nothing we haven’t seen before.”
Zubir squatted down to pull a fresh pair of trousers out of his rucksack and hastily tugged them on. Killian’s gaze never left him, his brow furrowed. Elyse could practically see steam coming from his ears as his mind tried to make sense of it.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
Zubir tensed at the question. “Oh, um—”
“I’m sorry,” Killian said quickly. “You don’t have to answer that.”
Elyse bit her lip. She worried this was too much for Zubir, that she’d pushed him too far.
“No, it’s okay,” Zubir decided. He shifted once more, this time into his own skin. Fortunately his pants stayed intact, though where the hems had previously hung above Killian’s ankles, they now swept the floor. “People always ask that to be morbid, as if they want the answer to be yes. But that’s not why you’re asking, is it?”
