I was a kid when you showed up!Max snapped.You expect a four-year-old to be able to distinguish between the different thoughts in their head?! You’ve had decades to set the record straight! This is on you!
He sighed. Clearly he was going to have to make some big adjustments in his life.
I can’t believe I finally get to shift, and then it turns out that my shifter animal is a jerk.
His shifter form just sniffed disdainfully, which didn’t exactly do a lot to disabuse Max of the notion that it was, in fact, a jerk.
On the other hand, ensuring Poppy’s safety had apparently quelled some of its most dangerous impulses, and Max wondered if he should be willing to extend it at least a small olive branch. It had been pent up for its entire life, after all, only to be freed when its mate’s life was in danger – he could only hope that it would start to calm down and become less intent on things likedestructionandvengeanceonce it had had a chance to spread its wings.
Wings?he thought – did his shifter form have wings? Now that he thought about it, it seemed possible, given the way he’d felt himself pressing against the walls of the cabin. On the other hand, maybe he just shifted into something enormous. He supposed he’d have plenty of time to find out.
The thought was quickly overridden by the sudden memory of Poppy coming under attack by the fae – of that asshole pressing his hand to her forehead as she floated in the air, clearly terrified and in pain. Max’s chest tightened painfully as he remembered the blank look on her face as the fae leered at her and tried to steal her powers. Her presumably non-existent powers.
Pulling back from Poppy, it was his turn to examine her face carefully. She seemed fine, if a little confused at his sudden actions.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“I should be askingyouthat. Did that guy hurt you?”
Poppy shook her head. “No. I mean, yes, it hurt a little, but I’m absolutely fine now.”
His shifter growled at that, urging Max to maybe go and kick the unconscious fae a few times. Max shushed him, even though he understood the sentiment.Learn a little restraint, buddy. She’s a grown adult who can look after herself. If she says she’s okay, she’s okay.
Still, it was hard to take. Poppy had gotten hurt because of him. Because he’d left her to make her own way home from the hospital. Because he hadn’t told her everything that would’ve allowed her to make an informed decision about being with him.
Although, to be fair,hehadn’t been aware of half of what was going on, either. Not only could he shift after all, but he was half fae? His dad had left him here in ‘this realm’ to protect him?!
He rubbed at his eyes, wondering how on earth he was going to broach any of this with his mom.
On the other hand, shewouldpresumably be thrilled that he could at least shift, now. Even if he didn’t know what he shifted into. And he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he wanted to know… though he knew he’d have to find out at some point or another.
“Uh…” he started, not quite sure how to put the question, and tempted to just change the topic altogether. But Poppy was looking at him inquisitively, and he sighed. “Do you… happen to know what I shifted into? I can’t really remember the details, and it’s not like this place comes with a full-length mirror.”
“Oh.” Poppy looked thoughtful for a moment. “I have to say that I’m not sure what it was, exactly.”
Max’s heart fell a little. Just what the hell had he turned into?
“But it was pretty cool,” she went on, and Max, through his relief, felt a wave of smugness emanating from his shifter animal. It was already starting to become insufferable, and Max was starting to wonder whether being a shifter was actually all it was cracked up to be.
“It was like a lion, but with dragon wings,” Poppy said. “And I think a scorpion’s tail? And it had blue eyes.”
It wasn’t a chimera – chimeras had soft, feathery wings and snake tails. It was just different enough that Max knew any chimera shifter would probably be wildly insulted by the comparison, given how touchy they were.
But he knew what it was.
“A manticore,” he murmured, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I could have told you that,the manticore muttered.
Then why the hell didn’t you?!
You didn’t ask.
Biting his tongue to keep from getting into a pointless argument with the mythological beast that apparently lived inside his head – and which he could nowseeinside his mind’s eye – Max pondered the situation. Just how had he ended up shifting into anything other than a lion?
Well, he supposed it could have been much worse. If he had wings, presumably this meant that he could fly, which was not something he’d ever expected even in his wildest dreams… though he thought it might be best if he took his first flight out in the middle of nowhere, over some soft snow, with no one else around to see him flapping about in circles and plummeting to the ground.
And was he immune to his own scorpion venom? It would be incredibly embarrassing if he accidentally stung himself…
