There was an analogy in that, somewhere. Something about the nature of my role as a zone Marshal, and how important it was to project a sense of calm, even when I felt like the whole thing was a blazing ball of gas hurtling through space.
Or maybe I was just feeling a bit dramatic.
Finally, blissfully exhausted, I rolled onto my stomach again, my legs folded beneath me, and—
A startled yip leaked from my throat.
Austin Graham stood beneath an arch formed by the branches of two trees. Stark naked. His pale skin practically glowed, dense musculature highlighted by another brief flash of moonlight between drifting clouds.
His eyes were cobalt lasers, shining right into my soul.
I growled, exhibiting my irritation not just with him, but with myself. I hadn’t heard him. To be fair, I hadn’t been listening for him, but he shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on me like that, much less reclaim his human shape without me even noticing.
Because there was no way he’d hiked this far out into the woods naked and on two legs.
Fighting embarrassment, I shifted back into human form as fast as I could, struggling through the gristly pops and groans from my body as bones elongated and joints re-formed. As my fur receded, my canines and claws shrinking into their human equivalents. There is no vocabulary adequate to express how badly a shift hurts, in the moment. It’s torture. As a fledgling stray, I swore after that first time, when my body compelled its own change, that I would never do that voluntarily.
But as it turned out, the joy of running in cat form was worth the temporary agony. Not that there was really any choice; if a shifter stayed in human form for too long, his body would command the change on its own. With more than the usual amount of pain, and likely at a very inopportune time.
In my original skin again, I stood, shivering without fur to keep me warm. Austin seemed unbothered by the cold. In every…respect.
Natural-born shifters, I’d been told, don’t equate nudity with sex, especially when that nudity was associated with a recent shift. For them, being naked was just part of everyday life. Abby Wade, the only natural-born tabby in the territory, told me once that because of that, shifter men actually find lingerie more erotic than nudity, because it’ssupposedto look sexy. It’s an intentional request for attention, of the carnal variety.
Strays, though…
Well, several years into my life as a shifter, it was still difficult for me to look at a naked man and not…glance down. Which was why I was almost insulted that Austin’s gaze remained firmly trained on my eyes.
I didn’t like thinking that he had more self-control than I did. Or that he was simply disinterested.
“What are you doing here?” I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. A shifter’s body temperature typically runs warmer than a human’s, but without fur, the cold still bothered me.
Austin swung a small bag from his shoulder and pulled the drawstring closure open. “My understanding is that the common run is open to everyone.”
“So, I’m supposed to believe this is a coincidence? You weren’t looking for me?”
He shrugged as he pulled a bundle of plaid cloth from the bag and tossed it to me. “Am I supposed to believe you haven’t been avoiding Bishop and me all day?”
Fair enough.
“What’s this?” I shook out the cloth. Clearly it was his shirt, considering that it smelled just like him, but—
“You’re cold.”
“Thanks,” I said as I shrugged into the material. It would be a long walk to my car in human form, and I hadn’t brought clothes, because I hadn’t intended to shift back in the middle of the woods.
Austin nodded as he pulled a pair of pants from the bag and stepped into them.
“You followed me?” I asked as I fastened the first button.
“No, I found you. You must have really been focused on your run, because I made no effort to be quiet. I didn’t want to startle you.”
“How’d you know where to look?”
“Davey said you come out here when you need to think.”
Thanks, sis.
I nodded, though the truth was that I came out here—I shifted and ran—when Ididn’twant to think. When I needed the blissful oblivion of my paws pounding against the earth, my body moving too fast for my thoughts to keep up.
