“How did you become a pegasus? How does the universe not collapse in on itself when you do that? Do you have magical powers? Are there others like you?” Chloe continued to shoot off rapid-fire questions, before catching herself. “I mean. Um. You can’t talk right now – can you? – and also you don’t have to answer everything if you don’t want to.” She cleared her throat. “Youcanturn back at will, right? I didn’t just doom you to be a pegasus for a set amount of time?”
Doomed?! I think you mean blessed!his pegasus screeched, but Ethan just gave it a mental slap upside the head and shifted back to his human form.
Chloe shook her head in amazement. “I don’t think I’m going to get sick of seeing that anytime soon. Oh, wow.” She reachedout and touched his shoulder gently, the way she had touched the pegasus, as if to reassure herself that he was real in this form as well. He repressed a shiver.
She dropped her hand suddenly, as if thinking that it was inappropriate, and he wished more than anything that she would put it back. As relieved as he was that she’d believed him and taken the news surprisingly well, he hoped that this wouldn’t make things strange for her. It was a lot for her to take in, he knew.
“I can answer your questions now, if you’d like,” he said awkwardly, as Chloe nodded enthusiastically. “Well, I’ve always been a pegasus. My parents are both pegasi, my brothers are pegasi, my grandparents… well, you get the picture. I think there may have been a dragon in there a few generations back, but we don’t talk about that.”
We certainly do not!his pegasus huffed, while Chloe’s eyes widened.
“Dragon…?” she murmured, before shaking her head. “Sure, why the hell not?”
“As far as the universe not collapsing in on itself goes… well, magic, I guess,” he said helplessly. “I can’t really explain it. It justis. And it’s not really something that shifters tend to advertise to the wider community, especially as far as opening it up to scientific research goes. Way too many things could go wrong.”
“Fair enough,” Chloe said. A thoughtful look came across her face. “You called yourself a shifter?”
Ethan nodded. “There’s all kinds of us. Pegasi, dragons, manticores, hellhounds – the list goes on. And that’s just the mythical kinds. There are plenty of shifters who turn into the kinds of animals you’d see at your vet clinic, or even things like spiders and insects.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Chloe said musingly. “Though I hope none of them ever seek out my services without me knowing thatthey’re a shifter first. I don’t even want tothinkabout the legal or ethical issues that could come up.”
Ethan laughed. “Well, yes. Believe me, there’s a lot of discussion about this in the shifter community. Though I have to say, being a pegasus, it hasn’t been a problem for me – we’re not likely to accidentally end up at the vet’s office.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess no one’s gonna mistake you for a little lost stray and bring you in,” Chloe laughed. “But maybe I should start asking more questions before I use a thermometer in future…”
Ethan laughed – he couldn’t help himself at the sight of the grimace that crossed Chloe’s face.
He thought back through her questions. “We do have what you could call ‘magical powers’, I guess. It differs between shifter types, but pegasi have, well, I guess you could call them water-related powers – they can create storms, or bring water up from the earth.”
The last words came out a bit awkwardly – the pegasi in his family tended to be disconnected from their powers somewhat, being so integrated into the human world. It was considered almost gauche to acknowledge anything that was mystical or interesting or different about pegasi, unless it could be used to make money – he was pretty sure his father wasembarrassedby the idea of having magic powers.
Ethanhadlearned how to use his powers as a child just so he couldn’t accidentally cause any problems with them, but that was pretty much it. Not that it was a good idea to mess about with the water content of the atmosphere too much, but he knew that deep down, his pegasus yearned to summon the forces of nature and bask in their glory.
As awkward as Ethan felt about his powers, however, Chloe didn’t seem to feel the same way – if anything, she looked impressed.
“You just get cooler and cooler,” she said. “While we’re at it, is there anything else you want to tell me? Is that whole thing where your skin feels like it’s electric because you’re a – a shifter?”
The mate bond. Now’s the perfect time to tell her.
He noticed, suddenly, that Chloe had been moving closer and closer to him throughout the conversation, and that she was now so close that they were almost touching. She looked up at him earnestly, leaning in toward him, lips slightly parted.
Amongst the gently drifting autumnal leaves, haloed by the setting sun as it dipped into the evening mist, she looked like nothing so much as an angel, ethereal and beautiful.
My angel. My mate.
Chloe rose up on her tiptoes, eyes closing, her hand reaching up to rest against his shoulder, and Ethan leaned in helplessly, drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
One kiss. Then I’ll tell her.
He closed his eyes, feeling the whisper of her breath against his face –
~Miss Chloe! Mr. Roan! There you are!~
Ethan leapt backward, his eyelids slamming open, his heart hammering against his sternum. Inside his head, his pegasus wailed and gnashed its teeth.
Chloe appeared to be undergoing a similar experience, if the hand placed over her heaving chest and the gasped-outCrap!were anything to go by.
“Curtis!” she exclaimed, still breathing heavily. “You scared me half to death!”
