'Mates always understand' and 'I want to tell you we belong together forever while on a boat in the middle of the harbor where you can't step away and take a minute' are two very different things!Mick protested.
His gorilla, not being up on human consent and mating rituals, blinked placidly at him. Despite his momentary agitation, Mick couldn't help smiling at the gentle beast.I'll tell her soon,he promised, and aloud, said, "I fancied you the moment I saw you, and it's not the kind of thing that gets any easier to bring up the longer a relationship lasts—not that I'm saying we're in a relationship," he added hastily, as Irina's eyebrows shot up.
At least she laughed, though. "I liked you as soon as we met, too—oh, God, I even liked the gorilla! What does that mean? No, never mind, don't tell me, I'm not sure I want to know! But yes, probably we're not quite at 'relationship' stage." Her voice and gaze went thoughtful on the last few words, as if she was considering the possibility that theycouldbe, and Mick's gorilla made a satisfied sound.
You see? Mates understand.
"Well," Irina said after that considering little pause, "all things considered, I'm glad you can turn into a giant gorilla, because I think we would have capsized, otherwise. Don't take this wrong, but, um, how much do youweigh?"
"As a gorilla? Three or four hundred kilos, I'm not sure. I've never weighed myself."
Irina gave him a look and took out her phone, obviously doing a conversion, because her eyebrows shot up again. "If I take the middle of that, that's like eight hundred pounds. And this says…that gorillas don't weigh that much," she said, clearly summarizing what she'd read.
"No, true gorillas don't. Shifter animals tend to run bigger than our true counterparts."
"Really? Why?" Irina crept closer, her eyes bright with interest.
"I've no idea," Mick admitted. "Shifter magic. I've always thought it was that our shifter animals had to add size to account for now carrying human mass along with it, but that doesn't actually make any sense. Shifter capybaras aren't two hundred kilos, and bird shifters wouldn't be able to fly at all. But it's still what I think." He flashed her another nervous smile and to his relief, Irina grinned back at him, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.
"It makes as much sense as turning into a gorilla does. So is that like…your whole family are gorillas?"
Mick nodded. "It tends to run in families. Sometimes you get a sport and a family of lions has a giraffe—I know a lad who hangs out at the wildlife park who's like that?—"
Irina interrupted with a breathless, "That must suck. A prey animal in a family of predators?"
Mick widened his eyes at her. "You'd think, aye, but giraffes fight like motherfu—em, I mean, they're right bastards in a fight, even against lions. Too big to kill easily, and they're vicious with those long legs. I'd say you're still right and it'd be mad awkward, but a giraffe can take care of itself." He paused. "Also, shifters wouldn't usually hunt each other."
"But do you know if somebody elseisa shifter?" Irina moved a little closer again, which put her in reaching distance. It wasn't a very big boat, but it was more than that.
Mick's gorilla was right: she wasn't afraid, which made an upswell of relief choke Mick's voice briefly. He cleared his throat, nodding. "We do, yeh. Not usually what kind of shifter, but there's kind of a sense about them that we feel. And some of the predator species have uncanny senses of smell as humans, and can tell that way."
"What about you?"
"Not a predator, exactly," Mick said, touching his nose. "I'm strong, though. We all are, like. Stronger than average for our sizes like. But I'm…"
"'Mad strong?'" Irina said, echoing his phrasing from a moment earlier.
Mick smiled. "I am so."
"That's amazing." Irina put her hand out toward him, and Mick caught it in his own, marveling at the tiny delicacy of her fingers against his. Her hand was cold from being out in the wind, but warmed quickly in his own big mitt. "Thank you for telling me. I won't tell anyone, obviously."
"I know you won't."
She gave him a curious look. "That's flattering, but how do you know?"
"Partly because I trust you," Mick said, then, with a wry grin, added, "and partly because you'd sound completely mental. No one would believe you. There's a reason weshowour mates when we tell them about ourselves."
His gorilla, very neutrally, said,Whoops,and Mick's ears suddenly flamed hot as he realized what word he'd used. The momentary hope that Irina hadn't noticed was crushed by her expression growing even more curious. "Mates?"
"Oh, it's just…a thing…about shifters…" Mick seriously considered throwing himself into the harbor and swimming away from a conversation he'd just made much more difficult than he'd meant to.
Absolutely not,his gorilla said in actual alarm.No swimming. Not unless the boat falls over! The water is deep! We can't reach the bottom with our feet!
Don't worry,Mick promised through his mortification.I won't really throw us in the harbor.
The gorilla relaxed, but Irina was still gazing at him with intense curiosity, so Mick groaned and spread his hands, reluctantly losing Irina's from his grip as he did so. "It's another part of being a shifter," he mumbled. "We know, the moment we meet the person we're supposed to be with for the rest of our lives. It's a lot."
"God, I guess it would be. On the other hand, I guess it would make dating easier. Although, I don't know." Irina rose to change the angle of the sails, clearly intending to bring them back to the docks now that the water had calmed from the yacht's arrival. Mick couldn't blame her.
