Lola gave him a sly look, though she kept her voice prim as she said, "I also recall you having a pretty good idea of how to do 'this' when you were nineteen."
Ruddy bars showed in Sam's cheeks, and Lola clapped her hands with delight. "I can still make you blush. That's wonderful. Sam, whatever it is, just go ahead and tell me. We're too old to keep secrets from each other."
"You know my family had plans for me to marry someone," he said in a rush of words. "Somebody they considered appropriate."
"Another wealthy blueblood," Lola said dryly. "I do remember. She was quite pretty. Valerie something?"
"De Vos."
She gave him a look. "You didn't have to remember itquitethat easily."
Sam had the grace to squirm with embarrassment. "Well, it's relevant to the conversation. She wasn't exactly a blueblood, but she did fit certain expectations my parents had for me. We were—she was—oh, for God's sake. She could do this, too."
With that, right there in the middle of his living room, Sam Todd turned into a fox.
CHAPTER10
Lola's jaw fell open,and Sam was fairly certain she stopped breathing. Her cheeks went pale, her eyes went round, and she sat there otherwise unmoving for so long that he was afraid he might have sent her into actual shock. He shifted back to human, and Lola finally twitched. Squeaked. And otherwise gaped, still barely moving, even to breathe.
This was going even worse than Sam imagined. "I'm a shifter," he said as quickly as he could. "There are a lot of us in Virtue, and Valerie was also one. That's the only reason my parents wanted me to marry her. Because it generally breeds true, and I was supposed to have—well—litters of fox cubs. Or at least a few children to carry on the line. Because there are a lot of us in Virtue but also fewer than there used to be. Although there seem to be a lot morenow, people are moving to town—but then—and also she was rich. They liked that at least as much as the fact that she was also a fox shifter."
He was babbling. He was almost seventy, and babbling like a nervous teen. He could not possibly have done this any more badly when he'dbeena nervous teen. He'd spent weeks back then trying to figure out how to break his heritage to Lola, and lost the chance, and now, decades later, given the chance again, he was still making a hash of it.
And Lola was still barely breathing. "Please inhale," he said. "I'm getting worried."
She took a sharp breath and color came back to her cheeks, although not as much as he would have liked. On that inhalation, she said, "I can't do that."
"No. Yes. I know. You're not a shifter. But—you are my mate, my… I always told you that you were the love of my life," Sam said, suddenly even more nervous than he'd been. "And you were, Lola. From the moment I noticed you in sixth grade. But when we graduated, something changed."
Her eyes widened in alarm and Sam squawked. "No! Not in a bad way! In a way that made me absolutely certain I was right! Shifters—we know when we've met the person we're supposed to be with," he said almost helplessly. "I'd always known it was you, but when we grew up, became adults, then Iknew. My fox told me?—"
"Your fox told you?" Lola's voice rose in confused astonishment. "You—fox? Told you?"
"My fox is like—it's part of me, but also a voice in my head. And after graduation when you and I saw each other that night, it saidfate,and Iknew, Lola, I—I can't believe how badly I'm doing this." He took a tentative step toward her, wanting to sit beside her and also concerned she wouldn't want him to.
Of course she wants you to,his fox said with all the calm Sam himself didn't feel.You've been waiting for each other for fifty years.
It might not be that simple,Sam replied helplessly, and the fox gave him a look very like the one Lola had given him for remembering Valerie de Vos's name.
It's always that simple, with mates.
Lola, audibly stunned, said, "I'm not sure there's a good way to do it. For heaven's sake, Sam, sit down, you're making me nervous." She patted the couch next to her, and a surge of relief nearly took Sam out at the knees.
His fox looked smug.Told you.
Sam wobbled over and sat beside Lola. She scooted around, not moving away, but making enough room to face him, her eyes still huge with astonishment. "Well. I can see why you were having a hard time telling me, back then. Does this happen a lot?"
"Usually only once in a lifetime," Sam whispered hoarsely.
Lola ducked her head, smiling, and glanced up at him through eyelashes shorter and grayer than he remembered, but still framing the same dark eyes that always pierced his soul. "I meant, do all…shifters? Is that what you called yourself? Do all shifters have this much trouble explaining themselves to their…mates?"
"Oh." Sam closed his eyes, faintly mortified at both the misunderstanding and his general ineptitude at explaining all of this. Then he lifted his eyebrows and met Lola's eyes again. "I have the impression that the answer is yes. Most of us find our mates in true humans, and most true humans don't have any idea shifters exist, and…" He inhaled deeply, then exhaled explosively. "And it's nearly impossible toexplainwithout sounding like a lunatic."
"Well," Lola murmured so reassuringly it took him a moment to realize what she was actually saying, "you did sound like one. I…could I see the…fox…again?"
Yes!His fox sounded delighted.She'll think I'm very handsome.
She'll think you're a vain beast,Sam said dryly, but he shifted, right there on the couch beside her.
