Page 69 of Remington’s Mate

When Squatch was next to her, Brock said, “You stay in case she needs help, okay?” Then he walked to a spot opposite Remy, about ten feet away from her.

“Okay, Jaeda,” he called. “Try to Change.”

She liked being the leopard. She wanted to be like Remy, and run with him in the woods. But she was tired, and he was far away, and she could feel the wolf pulling at her, even though Brock wasn’t Changed.

She could also feel Squatch’s bear, although she could tell he was holding it back, trying not to influence her.

She reached out for the energy to Change, pulling with all her might. She almost had it, almost…

Power lanced through her with a rush, and suddenly she was big. Very, very big. She looked around and everyone was staring at her, eyes huge like saucers, except for Colt who was practically falling on the ground laughing.

“She’s a fucking polar bear,” he choked out.

She was. She had paws the size of dinner plates, and everyone looked small and puny and crunchable. Plus—holy crap there was a spirit panther with yellow eyes next to Brandon, watching her.

Phantom Nick. Remy had told her about him, but now she could see him.

And… she could see other things, shadowy forms between and beyond the real world. Ghostly figures. She looked at Remy, who’d turned human. Behind him, faintly, she could see his leopard and his owl.

She turned around, feeling clumsy and ungainly, and looked at Squatch. He burned with a bright silver light, and all around him were ghostly forms. And a big-ass spirit bear.

Brock glowed with the same silver light, and around him were more ghosts, along with his wolf.

Whoa. She felt weak and dizzy.

Brock walked over, and he and Squatch each put a hand on Jaeda. She shrank down and became human again.

“Well, that was interesting,” she murmured. Right before she fainted.

When she came to, she was lying on one of the living room couches, with her head in Remy’s lap. Squatch and Brock were having a conversation, with Brandon looking on.

Kitty, Colt and Callie were in the kitchen, drinking.

Brock was saying, “…it’s too soon to tell. Right now, she can only Change into the form of the shifter closest to her—although it seems that now she can do it if they’re in human form as well. She may be able to eventually do it herself, when no one is around, but there’s no way to know for sure until it happens.”

“Will her animal take a definite form?” Brandon asked.

“No clue,” Brock said. “Sorry. Titan, what do you see when you look at her now? Do you see an animal?

“No,” he said in his low, soothing voice. “I see… a mist. A creature, but with no form.”

Brock said, “I don’t hear anything either. But it does have an intelligence. Emotions.”

Jaeda snorted. “I’m an emo blob.” Remy laughed.

“Whatever you are, you’re not doing any more Changing for a while,” Brandon said.

“I agree,” Brock said. “You’re worn out.”

Jaeda said, “I need to practice. I want to do it by myself.”

“You’ve had enough,” Brandon said firmly.

Jaeda struggled to sit up. “But I’m still a fucking blob shifter. No, I’m worse. I’m a pod-person body-snatcher shifter.”

That set Colt off again. She could see Remy was struggling to hide his grin.

She smacked him. “You’re laughing at me.”