Still, who knew what could be lurking in the woods?
“Hi there!” called the other shifter as he waved at Calvin, a big smile on his face.
He doesn’tseemtoo threatening,Calvin thought, while his wyvern snarled.Maybe this is the smiley face that Diana drew on the map.
The shifter paused for a moment, his smile faltering a little, and Calvin was pretty sure he’d just realized that Calvin wasn’t human as well.
Calvin tensed.
But then the other man’s smile returned, and he approached Calvin once more. His manner was so easygoing and unconcerned that Calvin felt himself relaxing.
“Hi, I’m Kieran. You must be Calvin X,” the man said, sticking out his hand.
Calvin reached out and shook his hand, even as he felt his eyebrows rising in confusion. “Calvin… X?”
“Oh! I’m sorry,” Kieran said. “Calvin XXX, I should’ve said. I just wasn’t sure if you, ah, wanted me to say it.” His expression turned curious, and mildly scandalized. His voice lowered. “Is that your screen name? Are you on OnlyFans? Don’t worry – I can keep a secret.”
Now, Calvinknewthat his eyebrows were marching right off the top of his forehead. The whole scenario was so confusingthat he wasn’t even concerned about dealing with another shifter anymore – clearly the only threat here was to his sanity.
Diana,he thought with a burst of realization, and he had to fight the urge to facepalm.She didn’t know my surname when she made the booking, so she just used a placeholder.
“My name’s Calvin Strickland,” he said, stopping the farce before it could continue any further. “One of the locals here made the booking for me, and she didn’t know my surname, so she must’ve just put that – that XXX in. No OnlyFans account here.” He nodded appreciatively at the mansion. “Though Iama fan of what you’ve done with this place.”
It was clearly the right answer – Kieran beamed. “Thanks! Though my mate Natasha deserves most of the credit. She’s the brains behind the operation.”
Calvin’s eyes drifted up to the top of the house, spying an iron weathervane in the shape of a griffin.
Is that just for decoration, or is it a statement about the owner?
His wyvern tossed its head disdainfully.A griffin? How passé.
Kieran followed his gaze, and laughed ruefully when he realized what Calvin was looking at. “Is it too obvious? I just couldn’t resist.”
Calvin laughed, feeling at ease. “Well, I’m pretty sure your average traveler wouldn’t think anything of it, besides that it looks cool.”
His wyvern bellowed its displeasure at the thought of a griffin lookingcool, but Calvin kept on talking.
“I’m a wyvern shifter, by the way.” He dropped his voice conspiratorially. “Though I don’t think I’d ever put up signage advertising the fact – the publicity would definitely go to its head, and it’s already pompous enough as it is.”
“Oh, a wyvern shifter?” Kieran looked intrigued. “I’ve never met one before. Well, not that I’m aware of, anyway.”
“You’re not missing out on much,” Calvin said with a laugh, even as his wyvern got pissed enough to breathe ice. It waswaytoo easy to rile up.
“You’re brave, saying that out loud,” Kieran said with a grin.
Calvin smiled back. “Or just stupid. It’s going to be sulking for days.”
He turned slightly to get a better look at the house, and the movement must’ve brought his backpack into clearer view, because Kieran spoke up again.
“Ah, geez. Here we are chatting away, when I should be showing you to the campsite. Come on, follow me. It’s not far.”
Kieran led him down a fairy-lit path that wended its way through the forest, chatting all the while.
“So what brings you to Girdwood Springs, anyway?”
“Uh… it’s a long story,” Calvin said, trying to work out where to start. “I came up this way to go camping and let my wyvern have some free time, but, well, things didn’t exactly work out that way.”
He laughed, trying to sound offhand and probably failing. “This is going to sound ridiculous, and I know there must be some kind of logical explanation, but…” He sighed. There was no other way to say it. “I think I might’ve been cursed.”
