“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Leo let him inside, and Mira inhaled, finding that he smelled of wolf and pack.He shut the door and said, “Mira, this is Doc Whalen, our pack doctor.This is my mate Mira.She’s a gryphon.”
“I guess so!I’m glad she was able to get into her shift.It can take longer when it doesn’t happen during the natural time.The body fights what doesn’t feel right, and anxiety can make it all take longer.You told me she’d been covered with a spell that suppressed her shift, so she didn’t even know about it?”
“Yeah,” Leo said.“So we didn’t think she’d be able to shift.We were told by her family that only the Wiccan who cast the spell could undo it, and she’d died years ago.”
Doc gave Mira a smile.“No matter the spell, nothing is as powerful as truemates.It must have burned the spell away to reveal her gryphon nature.It’s really incredible.”
He and Leo talked for a few minutes about her shift, and then Doc said.“Trust your instincts, Mira.The shift back to human won’t hurt as much now that you’re prepared for it.You’ve already come through the worst of it.Leo, get her a raw steak and let her burn off her energy running around the yard.The more she moves, the more comfortable she’ll be in her body.She can fly with those wings, but from what I understand of bird shifters, it takes practice to get off the ground and actually move through the air.”
“Thanks for coming over, Doc.I appreciate it.”Leo shook his hand.
“That’s what I’m here for.Congratulations, Mira.And congratulations to the two of you on your mating.”
“Ready for a snack?”Leo asked when they were alone.
She purred in answer, following him to the kitchen.He pulled a steak wrapped in butcher paper from the fridge and carried it out to the patio, unwrapping it and giving it to her.She’d never eaten a raw steak before, but suddenly it was the best idea she’d ever heard.
She tucked it between her paws and feasted, her sharp beak cutting it into pieces she could easily eat.
“I just texted Adam that you shifted.He said congrats, and Cinder said to tell you how happy she is the spell was broken,” Leo said.
She murmured her own happiness.
She’d never expected to be able to shift.
Leo had brought her gryphon to the surface, and she didn’t think she’d ever be able to thank him enough for being with her through the scariest time of her life.
When she finished her steak, she ran around the yard, finding it odd to run on four legs at first, and then she stretched her wings wide and flapped them, lifting off the ground a few feet at a time.She leaped off the ground, flapping her wings, and getting a little distance before hitting the ground again.
It was exhilarating.
She’d been waiting her whole life for this moment, and she hadn’t even known it.
Coming to Ohio was the best thing she’d ever done.
ChapterTen
Leo drove to the B&B to visit with Mira’s family and friends on Wednesday morning, the two-lane road winding between low hills covered with late-summer grass.He glanced at Mira, who sat sideways in the passenger seat, her knees tucked up and her arms draped over them.She watched the landscape through the windshield, a soft smile on her face.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“Oh?Should I be worried?”he asked with a chuckle.
She giggled.“No.I was wondering if staying in Thorn Hollow is something you’d like.”
“Stay with the pack?”
“Yeah.Live there, build a life together, the whole nine.”
“I’d love that,” he said without hesitation.“But if you wanted to stay with your family and travel, I would do that too.You’re home for me, Mira.Wherever, whenever.”He glanced at her and saw her smile deepen.
“I appreciate you being willing to become a nomad with my family, but Thorn Hollow is different.It feels like home to me and my gryphon, and I know that’s because you’re home for me too.”
The silence settled sweetly over them as he drove to the B&B, both of them lost in thought over what the future would bring.He would live anywhere so long as he could fall asleep with her.His wolf was content she was theirs, and that was really all that mattered.
Her parents waved from the porch of the B&B when he pulled into the parking lot.
