“So, I’ll take you out back in a moment. That's where he seems to hang out."
"He?" Carol asked, and I swear she was not-so-subtly looking in every corner, as if Bryan might be bound there waiting for us to discover him.
"Yeah, the porcupine shifter. He is young, just out of high school, I think. From what I've gathered, he only recently discovered he could shift. I met him through some volunteer work I’ve done at the local high school, and he developed a crush on me then. He showed up on the edge of our lands, looking for me, but never got close enough. It all seemed really innocent, but now it's getting to be too much. I feel like I can't get a break from him. And as a porcupine, he was able to find me and somehow get through my wards. Maybe because he intends me no harm?”
Carol nodded, her gaze focusing back on the vampire. “Most likely.”
Trista sighed. “He’s precious, but it’s too much, and he won’t listen to me. I don't really want to go allscary vampireon him or anything, so after I met Emma, I kind of thought her stepped in would be perfect.”
I chuckled. “Come on. Maybe coming from us, mom-like figures, he might listen.”
We walked toward the double doors in the back of the room, but she put her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want to scare him. He’s a sweet kid and his intentions are good. He just needs to learn that stalking women is not to way to get us interested, and also that it ain't going to happen with a vampire.”
She really was so nice. I actually wasn't sure I'd handle a porcupine stalker this patiently. “Definitely.”
As soon as we walked out the back door, sure enough, a porcupine toddled over. “Oh, geez,” I whispered to Carol. “Heissuper cute.”
“Yeah, but he needs to figure out his life. He can't hang out at a vampire’s estate all the time.” Carol crouched down but looked up at Trista. “What’s his name?”
“Zack.”
Carol affected her best mom voice. “Zack. Now enough is enough. Shift into a person right now.”
The porcupine shuffled back a little and glared at Carol.
Trista put her hand on Carol’s shoulder. “Be gentle.”
"Zack..." Carol began again.
And then, something hit me. “We’ll turn around,” I suggested, thinking perhaps a teenage boy wouldn't want to be caught naked by two old ladies and his crush. “And you can put something on.”
"He'll need something to wear," Carol said with a sigh, then her gaze swept the backyard, again, as if Bryan might pop out at any time.
"I'll get him something to wear." Trista hurried into the house, returning a moment later with a dark robe. “Here, it’s mine.”
We set the robe on the ground, then turned so he’d have some privacy. It only took about a minute before we heard, “Okay, you can look.”
A boy stood there looking sheepish. Dang, he looked young. I would’ve guessed more like sixteen. “Zack, what are you doing?"
He blushed. "I just think Trista and I would be good together."
"You have to understand boundaries,” I said as gently as I could. “You can’t just appear here and expect Trista to drop everything to pay attention to you, can you?”
"Nor is it the way to go with any woman," Carol said, a bit more sternly. "You're basically stalking this woman and that's all kinds of wrong. If she's told you she isn't interested, you need to be able to take no for an answer."
His dark eyes widened. "But--"
Trista smiled sheepishly. “I’ve told you, Zack, I can’t really be your girlfriend. I can’t truly be your friend. Your species and my species live in trepidation harmony, the best we can be is polite with each other.”
“We could break that cycle,” he said sullenly. "We could show everyone that vampires and shifters can have a relationship! Can have... love!"
Oh, boy.
“Maybe when you’re older, we can try being friends,” Trista said. “But you and me? Love. I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. And what's more, I've been really patient. All the clan has. The first day you showed up, they felt upset. Just think about how you'd feel if someone sat in your backyard and watched you. Creepy, right?"
"I wanted it to be romantic." He wrung his hands together, like it really was starting to hit him that what he was doing was anything but romantic.
"But is it?" I asked.
