“But it’s Jason. Your boyfriend. Remember him?”
Do I? Not really.
He pounded again. “I’m not going away until you talk to me, Merry.”
Matt strained to reach the doorknob. “Just because you had a fight doesn’t mean—”
“I’m not opening that door until you’re gone,” she said to her brother.
Jason knocked again. “At least let me give you your purse. You might need your inhaler.”
“See, Merry? He’s trying to be nice. At least talk to him.”
She hissed in her brother’s ear, “I will not speak to him with an audience. Leave or I’ll never open it.” She waited an anxious, silent minute. At last, Matt skulked out of the living room.Whew.
Opening the door, Merry snuck around it and stood on the stoop, lost for words. Jason leaned against her doorframe with the saddest, most pathetic expression she’d ever seen. The nurturer in her wanted to rush into his arms and comfort him. Then she remembered she didn’t know this man—if hewasa man. Never having been exposed to anything so bizarre in her life—except a vampire father and a haunted apartment building—all she could think of to do was protect herself. Protect her family. How could she expose them to… what? A magician? Shaman? Some kind of weird animal spirit possession?
He reached out to her. She hesitated, then walked into his arms and started to shake.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
She couldn’t speak, so she shook her head vehemently.
“I’m—I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out like that.”
“Find out what? I don’t even know what I just saw. Are you some kind of magician?”
“I’m a shapeshifter.”
“A shape-who?”
“Shapeshifter. You may have heard of us in Native American legends. But, they’re not just legends. We exist, and my alternate form is a falcon.”
She reached for the railing. “I have to sit down.”
“Here, let me help you.” He supported her forearm as she lowered herself to sit on the top step, then he sat next to her.
“I wouldn’t have believed you if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Do you shift into any other shapes?”
“No. Only a peregrine falcon.”
“Why did you wait this long to tell me?”
“I was afraid of losing you.”
“But you asked me to marry you. When were you planning to tell me?”
“Merry, I screwed up. I should have told you before I proposed. I thought we had more time than we did. I never should have come with you for Thanksgiving. Stress and the full moon affect shifters.”
“How?”
“It’s harder to resist the desire to shift under stress. You’ve heard of the fight or flight response, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, my tendency is for…”
“Flight,” she finished for him.
