"Burros," Max said. She took the binoculars back. "They run wild out here."
They took turns passing the binoculars back and forth until the small herd vanished over the rise. As the sweat dried on her warm, dusty skin, Max untied her long-sleeved shirt from around her waist and put it on.
"I thought it would be hotter," Gio said.
"It will get hot. It's still pretty early in the year." Max looked up at him. There was a little light sunburn or windburn across the bridge of her nose, but she was too deeply tanned for it to show up much. "We need to work out a plan for after we capture the target. I was originally thinking we'd tie him up, throw him in the back of the car, and go to another safehouse. And we can still do that, but it would be easier to make a clean getaway if it was possible for us to use whatever means of travel you use."
Gio shuddered slightly. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Can you take people with you?"
"Theoretically. I've never tried." He glanced around at the barren ground and exposed surface rocks. "This is a good place for it. I need access to rocks, concrete, that sort of thing." He drew a deep breath and got up. At least that idea got rid of his hard-on in a hurry. "I should practice."
"I can go inside if you'd rather not have company," Max said.
"No, you're right that we should stay together. The last thing I want is the other kind of company showing up when I'm halfway through a shift." He took off his jacket, folded it, and laid it on the camp chair. The wind cut through his shirtsleeves when it blew, despite the warmth of the sun. "I should warn you that this may not be much fun to watch."
"I don't mind," Max said. "I'm hard to shock."
She took an energy bar from her pocket and took over the camp chair, binoculars around her neck and rifle across her lap.
Gio went out to a clear space where there was some exposed rock, and hoped that this wasn't about to go terribly wrong with Max watching.
MAX
Max settledin the canvas-and-metal camp chair and reached for Gio's canteen again. From the way Gio talked about his shifting, she wasn't sure what to prepare herself for. Surely he couldn't be some kind of horrifying monstrosity. She was genuinely looking forward to finding out. Besides resolving her curiosity, it would be somehow comforting to know that someone had more shifter-related trauma than she did.
There was a sense of disgruntlement from her cat.
This isn't about you,Max thought at it.You're perfect.
Purring.
The purring was at least partly in reaction to the sight of Gio in the sun. Max could have watched him all day, the stalking panther-like grace and the flowing shoulder-length blond and silver hair. He was incredible.
Her cat did not respond to that thought in words, but she got a strong nonverbal sense of possessiveness.Ours.
This brought Max a surge of sadness all her own, at odds with the bright day and the delicious sight in front of her.We might find that he has other ideas about that, jaguar mine.
The jaguar was undeterred.Ours.
Gio had gone about fifty paces from her. He was now standing on a rough stretch of bare rock where the wind had swept it clear of sand. Max scooped up the binoculars to watch more closely.
Gio sprang into sharp relief through the lenses. The general effect was as if she was close enough to touch him. Every windblown strand of hair was clear.
Wistfully she lowered the binoculars again. Shewishedshe was that close. But the binoculars also forced her to watch only one part of him at a time. Whatever he was going to do, she wanted to get the full effect.
Regrettably, it probably did not involve taking his clothes off, since he had arrived at the cabin fully clothed. Oh well.
Gio bowed his head. Another glance through the binoculars showed a look of deep concentration. Then he got down on all fours.
She took the binoculars away from her eyes again, just in time to see him shift.
It wasn't monstrous, but it was deeply odd. He seemed to have to struggle through it one part at a time. He extended an arm that broadened and thickened and turned heavy-looking and gray. At the same time, his hair flowed outward, its color fading, becoming a thick mane. As his legs began to shift, his arm reverted to a normal human arm. Even from here, Max could hear him curse under his breath. A tail popped out. Parts of him swelled and shrank. He was definitely getting bigger overall as he got more parts of himself transformed.
And then abruptly it seemed as if he got past a point of no return, where it stopped fighting him, and he flowed into his shifted shape: a massive stone lion.
Max got up, her gaze fixed on him. She was so transfixed that she almost forgot the rifle until it started to slip out of her grasp. Then she slung it over her shoulder and came closer.
