I sit up and curl my feet beneath me. My eyes close as I take a deep inhale, noting how our combined scents fill the room. I look inward, hunting for that inner animal, the ball of essence my family have all referenced in the past. I think I feel it, but it’s different for me. It’s all encompassing; rather than sitting low in my chest, it fills me entirely from my toes to the tips of my ears. I focus on the tingles right below my skin, pulling on that essence as I do so.
“Raya,” Asher whispers, his voice soft, almost reverent.
My eyes pop open and he takes my hands, guiding them up to fuzzy ears.
“Black cat," he says, and pride blooms in my chest.
“I did it," I whisper back to him, and he nods.
Beneath my fingers, I feel my ears shift again. This time, they double in size, with the fur turning thicker. My eyes widen in alarm, as this is not something I’ve noticed happen before.
Asher tilts his head as he eyes my changing ears.
“Wolf.” He smiles at me, his eyes lit up in a way I’ve never seen from him. “You did it.”
“That second one wasn’t on purpose, so really I did it only once, and for barely a few seconds.” My shoulders slump, and my ears drop back into my head, becoming human once more.
“Once is infinitely more than you’ve done previously. Once is a foundation. Once is amazing," he says, and my eyes dart up to his, a small smile already forming on my lips.
Who could have guessed a questionable vampire would be the one to help me learn how to shift?
16
A FULL MOON RUINS EVERYTHING… OR DOES IT?
RAYA
I gatherup the pillows strewn across the bed and begin lining them up.
“You might as well not even try," Asher interjects. “It’s not like they stopped you last time.”
I don't have the courage to meet his eyes as a mortification ices down my spine. Instead, of course, a tingling shift flits over my body, but it’s not a partial shift this time. The air crackles around me and before I know what’s happening, I'm enveloped in clothes, and I'mtiny.
With a terrified squeak, I start thrashing around, trying to find a way out of the suffocating pile of fabric when a massive hand pulls me out. I'm sitting flat in the palm of none other than the devilish vampire.
My heart rate skyrockets and my entire mouse body trembles. My equilibrium is thrown off when the hand moves, and I scramble on my newly formed miniature paws to keep myself upright.
Asher arranges the shirt I had been wearing into a round nest, then carefully settles my mouse body into the middle of it. He slides off the bed onto the floor, where he looksmuch less like a real life giant and more like just a very large head.
I burrow into the shirt, inhaling the sense of safety that comes with it, which is quickly followed by horror.
I am a mouse.
Not only a mouse nose, or whiskers, or fur, but an entire freaking full-bodiedmouseand this is quite possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I wasn’t sure if I would ever fully shift into an animal, and if I did, I didn’t know what it would be like. I can’t say I like it. Maybe if I go outside, a hawk will swoop down and save me from this misery. Before I can further contemplate the merits of this plan, a shushing sound comes from the large head a few feet away from me.
“Shhhh, Raya, it’s okay. You’re safe," he whispers. “Raya, sunshine, I’m sorry.”
My ears perk up at that.Sorry?
“You’re okay. I won’t hurt you.” He speaks quiet and slow. It’s the same way I’d talk to a terrified child. “You can have the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Well that’s not what I want.
With another wave of tingles, my body rapidly expands and reforms itself. I get a glimpse of Asher’s eyes widening before he whirls around.
I don't blame him. I’ve seen my parents shift, and it isn’t pretty. At best, it looks weird, with the bulging muscles and reforming limbs, skin and fur trading places. Kinda gross, honestly.
Still, his rejection stings a bit.
