Ciaran winced and again spoke to the floor. “You won’t want this, once you know the truth. I mean... I’m not human. My freeform is...”
“Your freeform? Is that what you call it?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t what, though? You started to say I won’t want this… something. What is this, exactly?”
Ciaran motioned between them. “You won’t want this. I mean, you’re human. And I am n?—”
Sawyer narrowed his gaze. “Okay, so let’s just clear something up real quick. What you’renotgoing to do is assume anything on my behalf or without asking me.”
Ciaran could have sworn he heard Fraser laugh from somewhere outside close by, so he safely assumed that he and possibly others were listening.
He couldn’t even be mad. If it were any of them going through this, he’d want to listen, too, to make sure his brother was safe.
And Ciaran had to admit that what Sawyer had said was kinda funny.
“Duly noted.”
“Good.”
“Soooo...,” Ciaran hedged. “You do want this? Or you don’tnotwant it.” He cringed, but he couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful. “If I’m not to assume you don’t want this, is that what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what it means, for a start. Is it just this crazy desire to fuck all the time?”
Fraser snorted outside.
Ciaran sighed. “Fraser, please leave.”
Fraser laughed, of course.
“He’s listening?” Sawyer asked. “Do you guys have supernatural hearing or something?” Before Ciaran could answer, Sawyer turned to the wall and yelled. “Fraser, please come in here.”
Ciaran sighed as Fray burst through the door, grinning from ear to ear. “So, this is going well,” he said, far too cheerfully.
“Hardly,” Ciaran mumbled.
“Well, he didn’t run away screaming,” Fray said with a shrug. “And he’s not rocking it out in the foetal position, so I’d call it a win.”
Sawyer looked Fraser up and down in a way Ciaran didn’t particularly care for. “So, you’re a cephamorph too,” he said.
Fray nodded, still grinning. “Guilty.”
Sawyer looked back at Ciaran. “So how does it work?” He then looked Ciaran up and down. “Is it like one of those werewolf movies where you just scream in pain and change form? Do youhaveto be in water? Do you need a full moon?”
Fray snorted. “A full moon?”
Ciaran shot Fray a scathing glare that shut him up.
“Does the lunar cycle not affect the tides and marine life?” Sawyer asked him. “That was a fair fucking question.”
That made Ciaran smile, but Fray chuckled. “I like you, Sawyer,” he said without a skerrick of shame. “We don’t need to be in water. I can change for you right now if you want?—”
Ciaran growled, and Fray backed up a step, still smiling but with his hands up. “Try not to make the grouchy one angry,” he said to Sawyer.
Sawyer looked between them and, with a deep breath, he sighed. He scrubbed his hands over his face, and then his determined gaze met Ciaran’s as he pushed off the desk. “I could ask a thousand questions, but it’d be easier if you just showed me.”
Ciaran stared at him, not really computing. “What?”
