He froze, one hoof lifted in what should have been a magnificent pose, but instead was suddenly awkward and unsure. Kendra fumbled in her pocket, found her phone, took a picture of Keith, and gestured for him to shift back to human. He did, his heart in his throat, unsure of what was wrong until Kendra turned the phone so he could see the picture.
There was a stag in it, all right, and technically he knew it had to be him because he’d just watched her take the picture, but there was something wrong. He couldn’t even figure out what, at first. He looked…naked, somehow. Unfinished. Sort of like a dog whose collar had been removed for a bath.
His stag wailed,Where are my ANTLERS?!?, and fainted.
* * *
It turnedout that when somebody’s shifter animal fainted, they fainted, too. Keith hadn’t known that. Neither, judging from the circle of worried faces above him when he opened his eyes, had any of his family.
He was lying on his back in the snow beneath the tree canopy, in human form—thank goodness, because lying on his back as a stag was hard—and now that he was waking up, his twin brother’s expression was sliding from ‘incredibly stressed’ to ‘fighting off giggles.’ “Bro. Dude. Are you okay?”
Keith lifted his hand to his forehead, like he’d be able to feel the lack of antlers in his human form. He couldn’t, of course, but he did find the new short haircut. A sinking feeling ran through him, and since he was already lying on the ground, that brought him pretty low indeed. “I’m…fine. Just a little…melodramatic, maybe.”
A relieved rush of laughter went around the group gathered above him. “No,” one of the cousins said, “yourstag? Melodramatic? Never. What, uh. What happened to your…?” He gestured at his forehead, too.
“I think—”
I am UNBEAUTIFUL,the stag howled.I can never be seen by anyone again! Make them go away! I am too UNBEAUTIFUL to be looked at! My antlers are gone! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY BEAUTY?
Keith closed his eyes, trying to calm the agitated stag with a few deep breaths. It completely failed to work. The stag kept up its theatrics as Keith, trying to hear himself over it, said, “I think I shed them because I got a haircut.”
He opened his eyes again to see his family trying hard not to laugh. Kevin, in a voice clearly meant to strangle his amusement, said, “No way, dude. I get my hair cut all the time and this has never happened to me.”
“No, but that’s the point,” Kendra said with sudden understanding. “Youdoget your hair cut regularly. Keith hasn’t had his cut since before he hit puberty. I bet his stag’s self image is completely caught up in the long hair, and now that it’s gone…” She also visibly tried not to laugh, and managed to contain herself, although her voice got a little hoarse. “So are his antlers.”
“They’ll grow back,” another cousin said helpfully. “I’ve shed mine a couple times. But oh my god, dude, you’re going to be so hungry. It takes so many calories to grow those things back!”
Keith sort of chuckled and groaned at the same time. “Great. Well, there are worse times of year to need to eat all the calories, right? Hand over a plate of fudge, stat!” He climbed to his feet, brushing snow off his backside, and said,At least we’ve got a dinner date tomorrow night,to his stag.
The stag gasped in horror.No. Absolutely not. Our fated mate cannot see me when I am UNBEAUTIFUL.
Keith swore he crossed his eyes, trying to see his animal self inside his head.Ten minutes ago you were all about telling her the truth about us.
That wasdifferent! I wasbeautifulthen!
She’s still going to like us,Keith pointed out.I’m pretty sure about that. I think she already does. Fate isn’t wrong, right?
The stag wailed,I don’t care about fate! She can’t see me like this! Absolutely not! Never!
Keith, aloud, said, “How long will it take to grow them back…?”
“Oh, you should have a full rack again by, like, I don’t know, Easter?”
“That’s four months!”
Four months. Yes. Good. We’ll hide in the basement until Easter.
We will not hide in the basement, or anywhere else, until Easter or any time at all! I have a date tomorrow night! I’m not going to miss it just because you don’t have antlers!
The stag did its best to curl up in a ball and put its hooves over its embarrassingly undecorated head, and Keith realized this was going to be a long, long day.
CHAPTER5
It was a good thing the salon was closed on Sundays, because Stacy was so jittery she’d be dangerous with a pair of scissors. She’d actually put a red bow in her hair that morning. Obviously she had taken it off again immediately, because no self-respecting grinch wore Christmas bows in their hair, but her gaze kept sliding back to it like it was a temptation too great to resist. Somehow she thought Keith would like it.
Not that she had any real idea what Keith would like, and not that she was the kind of woman who decided to wear a silly bow in her hair because a guy would like it. If she was going to wear a bow, it would be becausesheliked it, and she didn’t like Christmas stuff at all.
Stacy sort of felt like she should fold her arms and go ‘so there!’ at the end of that, even though not a single word of it had been spoken aloud.
