“I think I can figure it out,” I said with a laugh. “That reminds me. How do you shift with clothes? The other night you were in the woods with me then suddenly you were human again, but clothed.”
She waved her hand. “We have charms. We’ll get you one as soon as we can.”
That would definitely be handy. I changed in the bathroom, and when I came out, she smiled. “I’ll shift with you.” Okay, that was good. It took some pressure off of me.
We walked outside together, and I noted how different Tabi’s backyard looked than Esther’s. Everything looked handmade and rustic, almost as if Tabi had her own woodshop in her backyard and made everything by hand, or had the same professional make all her yard furniture. A brick wall was on both sides of the house, giving her some privacy from her neighbors, but the back was entirely open to the woods, with a path I could barely make out from where we stood.
“Okay. What shall we try?” she asked, as if to tell me I would get to take the lead here.
Uh-oh. What should I try? What animal would I want to turn into? “I’ve always liked dogs.”
“Oh, me too!” She laid her hand on my forearm, gushing. “I had the cutest Jack Russell terrier when I was a kid.”
This had to just be a coincidence. “So did I!” And for a minute I turned into one of those high-pitched, squeaky, OMG girls I used to make fun of whenever I ran into one. I tamped down the enthusiasm. “I mean, yeah. I did too.” I was the Danny Zuko of Robin Lane, bouncy and oh-so-cool.
“Go ahead!” she said.
Frowning at her, I shrugged. “Uh, I have no idea how to shift.”
She looked confused for a brief moment before realization seemed to dawn on her. “Right, you’re entirely new to this. Just really try to focus. Picture your shape changing. Picture what you want to look like. Stay calm too. It should be that easy.”
I concentrated as hard as I could on the little dog’s form. Nothing happened at first, to the point where I felt like all of this was so stupid. But as I continued to focus, a rush of heat washed over my skin and a tingle followed. At this point, I thought I’d be afraid. Instead, I was excited and kept focusing on an image of that little dog.
The world around me began to shrink, a little gasp slipped from my lips, and then, I knew. I was a dog. Without thinking, off we went, racing into the woods. She was in her usual beaver form, her fur a mix of different browns, some almost auburn, some almost black, and that giant, almost comical tail behind her.
Had I ever seen a beaver run before this week? I didn’t think so, but it was definitely a wacky sight. Especially from the viewpoint of a small dog.
I stayed beside her as we ran. And it was amazing how many scents came to me, and how different the world looked. It was as if all the greens and reds had faded from the world. Most of what I could see were various shades of greys, but there were also surprising pops of yellow and blue in the woods. The scents were also overwhelming. My brain seemed to pick up things I never imagined were possible. A scent would come, and my brain would scream,dog. A second later,cat. A second later,squirrel. It felt like I’d lost some of the details when it came to sight, but my strong sense of smell more than made up for it. When we were about three hundred yards into the woods, I smelled something vile, strong.
Fear welled in my chest, although I had no idea why. It had to be instinctual. I slowed, sniffed, and growled, but Tabi squeaked or screeched or made whatever sound, and I quieted. We eased away and back toward the house. At the edge of the yard where we’d left our coats, I shifted back and pulled the coat around me.
“What was that?” I asked when she walked beside me away from the forest.
“A Fennec fox, but something else, too.” She wrinkled her nose. “We have to go back. See what we can find out. If Holly is there, something is going on.”
I nodded because what else was I going to do? If I didn’t prove I was useful, why would they keep me around? They’d said they would, but I had to make sure. But more than that, anything to do with Holly now involved my daughter. So, priority number one had to be figuring out what that alpha bitch wanted.
“Can you fly?” Tabi asked with her brows raised like she was thrilled with the possibility.
Of course, I could if I shifted into a dragon, but I wasn’t entirely confident that Icouldshift on command. Even now, after doing it once. Who was to say I’d be able to do it again? Besides, whatever was down there would notice a giant dragon, as would the people of our town, in broad daylight. So, what else could I shift into that would help? As an insect it would take too long to get to the spot we’d run from. A bird was the best bet. “Maybe an eagle?”
Even if Tabi didn’t mean to make it so, today was a test. A try-out perhaps. Definitely a see-what-I-can-do kind of day. I could feel it in the air. It was in the way she looked at me. In the words she didn’t say.
“Do it,” she said with a nod, still watching me carefully.
I focused as hard as I could on being an eagle. I might’ve flapped my arms a few times—when they were still arms—and I sure as heck hoped no one was looking out the family windows or the ones of the house next door because once again I was naked and acting like I’d had a few too many shots of tequila, but then, miraculously, a second later, I was airborne. Soaring over the trees.
“Stay downwind!” Her voice followed me as I climbed ever higher and circled the yard before I headed into the forest. I followed my beak to the scent of fox.
When I found them, Holly was in her human form standing next to Tilly’s boyfriend, and she held a wooden stake behind her as she spoke to a pale skinned man who had others with him, hiding. My gaze clung to the pale man. He was tall, handsome in an eternally youthful kind of way, but had that inhuman beauty I associated with photoshopped celebrities.
He’s not human, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. But he wasn’t a shifter either. He sure as heck didn’t smell like any of the shifters I’d met. It was more like some deep instinct inside of me wanted to run as far as I could from the man, and the dangerous shifters around him. But I fought the feeling, breathed in deeply, and would have probably puked if I’d been in my human form.
The stench was foul. Made my eagle eyes burn, but I could see. Could hear, too.
The vampire, and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t deny the scary guy was one, crossed his arms and stared at Holly. The vampire. Because now I knew that was absolutely what he was.
“If you leave my pack alone, I am prepared to deliver you something of a much greater value.”
