I stepped over rocks and splashed through a creek. At some point, I caught a whiff of white jasmine and something else. Something chemical—Windex. I was approaching ahouse.
You’re going the wrongway.
I froze. I wanted to ask which way was the right way, but I’d chew off my paw before I would admit I waslost.
The Flatirons are to your left.Liam’s low drone carried over to me like the buzzing fireflies flitting around myears.
I’d been relying on my sense of smell but had forgotten to look. I tipped my head up and located the Flatirons. And then I raced over earth and downed logs, muscles smacking against my hide like elastics. When the inn materialized, I slowed my pace. Bodies moved on the spacious terrace, glasses clinked, and fire snapped in a wide copper pit set between theAdirondacks.
I scurried along the lip of the forest, hoping the centennial trees would keep my wraith-colored form hidden from the guests having dinner. The scent of chargrilled meat and tangy barbecue sauce wafted toward me. My stomach gave a violentgrowl.
I loped around the side of the inn toward the parking lot but froze before turning thecorner.
I couldn’t enter the inn in wolfform.
I would need to shift back, but I’d be naked. And my bag? Where was my bag? It must’ve fallen outside Liam’s house. I squeezed my eyes closed, my tail whacking the wall infrustration.
Jeb would have a secondkey.
Craning my neck, I looked around for Liam—I’d lost his scent at about the same moment the inn had come intoview.
He wasgone.
Finally.
Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let my human form bleed over my animal form. In seconds, I was a girl again. A bare-assed girl covered in dirt, with twigs tangled in her snarled hair. Thankfully, it was long enough to hide my breasts, revealing only their underside. I rose from my crouch, and shielding my privates, I crept toward the revolvingdoor.
A mother with her child walked by, and I slammed my backside against the wall, praying they hadn’t spotted me. Once I heard their voices peter out, I peeked inside again. The coast was clear. I pressed my muddy palms into the glass and pushed the door, then sprang toward the bell desk and dove behind it. Feet—small with copper-polished toenails—appeared underneath myface.
I craned my neck and locked eyes with Lucy. A sigh of relief whooshed out ofme.
Her irises were framed with so much white that I could tell the feeling wasn’t mutual. “Ness,” she hissed, but then she flinched at the sound of approaching voices and all but shoved me inside the back room that stank of potpourri from the shelves full of drying petals. “Are youinsane?”
“I lost my bag. And my clothes.” Which was self-evident.
“What do you think we run here? Akennel?”
Ouch.“I didn’t do this on purpose,Lucy.”
“Of course youdidn’t.”
“Can I please get a bathrobe? Or a towel? And anotherkey?”
“Another key?” Her cheeks were so red they looked like candied apples. “You lostyours?”
“It was in mybag.”
“Which youlost.”
“Which I misplaced. But I’ll find it.” I stood back up, slowly, covering myself with my handsagain.
My uncle’s voice floated from just outside. Lucy jumped to block the office entrance, her collection of metal bangles jangling wildly on her freckled wrist. “Jeb, can you grab an extra bathrobe from the linencloset?”
“A bathrobe. Why do you need abathrobe?”
She shifted to hide the sight of me. “Ness needsone.”
A beat. Then. “Oh.”
