“Thank you,” Ashley grinned back up at him, but then his face fell into a grimace and he held his forehead as if he were in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Ashley touched his arm and he flinched.
“Sorry, the sound of the water is getting too loud for me. It was nice chatting with you, Ashley.” And with that the short spider shifter moved away from the group and silently stood next to Brexl. He looked back over his shoulder and the same longing I’d seen on Brexl’s face crossed Axon’s as well. He clearly wanted to be with the group, but something held him back.
“Hai, I’d be careful if I were you. The current is much stronger down there.” Fatima called down the river as Hai squatted on the river bank and reached out for something in the water that had caught her eye.
Unfortunately for Hai, Fatima’s warning came just a little too late. She screamed as she fell into the water. The current quickly swept her under and took her down river away from the group.
“Hai!” Lumod bellowed her name as he shifted into his merman form. In the blink of an eye the shifter was in the water, swimming at an impossible speed with an elegant grace.
Hai breached the water long enough to take a few breaths of air before she was dragged under again.
Lumod caught up to her and propelled Hai to the surface, carrying her in his purple scaled arms. He gently set her down on the grass and rubbed her back as she coughed up water.
“Hai, are you alright?” I asked as we all rushed over.
She nodded her head and then turned to Lumod wide-eyed. She ran a finger along his scaled arm all the way down to his webbed fingers.
“You’re a merman,” Hai stated as she met his gaze.
He looked away from her with a pained expression on his face. “I don’t know what that is, but I can shift into a fish-like form and breathe underwater.”
“That’s amazing,” Hai breathed.
He turned his attention back to her with a look of shock on his face. “Truly? You aren’t repulsed by my shifter form?”
“Repulsed? Why would I be repulsed? If anything I’m thankful. You just saved my life.”
Lumod opened and closed his mouth a few times but ultimately never found the words to say.
Hai placed her hand on top of his webbed one. “Thank you.”
Lumod swallowed hard and replied, “You’re welcome.”
“Are you all mermen?” Kayla asked, looking at the males who had also gathered around us.
The hunters all looked at each other and then to me.
“They all have different shifter forms,” I announced. “They’re all very cool.” I added both to alleviate the guys’ anxiety and to give their shifter forms a good intro to the women.
“I want to see!” Talia demanded.
Lumod rose out of the water and sat on the riverbank, showing off his finned lower half. Drovo stepped forward and shifted to his dryad form. Again his legs and arms were covered in a brown bark that served as a flexible protective layer and his hair became long teal tendrils that matched the color of the leaves. He held out his hand and produced a second walking stick that he handed to Kayla that perfectly matched the first one he’d given her.
Her mouth hung open in shock but she had enough wits about her to take the second stick and to say thank you. Their fingers touched and Drovo’s tail, which now looked like a very flexible thin branch, thumped the ground.
Kayla tucked some braids behind her ear while looking down at the ground, trying to hide her smile.
Axon was next. He stepped out of the shadows and shifted into his spider form. His arms and hands were covered in a flexible exoskeleton while the lower half of his body transformed into eight spindly legs connected to an oval-shaped spider abdomen. His milky eyes squinted when he smiled with his hands on his hips. This was a male who knew what he was and was very proud of it.
He walked up to Ashley and motioned for her to lift her foot. “May I secure the leaf around your foot?”
“Sure,” she agreed. She never took her eyes off him, mesmerized by his appearance.
Axon shuddered as he took her ankle into his hand and Ashley tried to pull away looking very disheartened, but he held her firm.
“Forgive me, but your skin is so soft that I cannot control my body’s reaction to it.” He gave her a tentative smile.
