Chapter Fifteen
Wren woke up with a groan. As he went to stretch, every muscle in his body ached.
He opened his eyes, blearily registering that it was nighttime, or at least early evening, because the light in the room was dim.
Someone had closed the curtains, likely Devon, because Wren definitely didn’t remember doing anything like that.
Devon. My Bear. Wren patted the bed beside him.
The blankets were cool to the touch. Shocked, because Devon was nearly always within touching distance, he rolled over, groaning again as he pushed himself to sit up, resting his back against the pillows.
I’m dressed. That was a positive. Someone had covered him in Flint’s pink sweatshirt that he’d left in the glade and a pair of matching pink sweatpants.
As for his mate, Devon was sitting in a chair by the bed.
“How are you feeling?” Devon asked quietly. “You certainly made a bit of a show of your first shift. Are you feeling okay?”
“I... I...” Wren coughed, reaching up to stroke his throat that felt rough, noticing his mouth was dry.
“Here.” Devon reached over to the nightstand, picking up a glass of water complete with a straw. He stood up, leaning over the bed, holding the glass while Wren took a few sips from the straw. Oh, that coolness felt good going down.
“Does this happen every time a person shifts? The body aches and the dry mouth?” Wren asked as he flopped back on the pillows. Devon had sat back down in his chair. Why isn’t he sitting on the bed next to me?
“What do you remember from out in the glade?” Devon asked.
“Everything…I think.” Wren’s face felt suddenly flushed.
His flight out of the kitchen, his numerous shifts, the sweet words that Devon had said…
His bear. Our mate. Wren could understand now.
Through his chameleon, he could feel the intense need to be with his bear.
“I didn’t realize shifting would feel this awful when it was done.
It didn’t hurt when I shifted, but now…I ache. ”
“Once you get used to shifting, it won’t cause you any problems at all,” Devon said firmly. “Honestly, you’ll be fine once you’ve had something to eat. Levi dropped over some of his pulled pork. If you want some, I made a pile of sandwiches for you. They’re in the fridge. Shall I grab them?”
“I thought you said we could talk.” Wren was trying to be fair, but just the suggestion of those sandwiches had his stomach rumbling.
Devon smiled. “The needs of your belly come first. I’ll get you some food.
You can ask me your questions when you’ve eaten.
For future reference, shifting takes a lot of physical energy.
You will get used to it. But the first couple of times, you’re going to be tired, and you’re going to be extremely hungry.
If you recall, your chameleon didn’t have a chance to eat when we got back, because he pretty much just flaked out on the mattress…
as an orangutan. Which was not a sentence I thought I’d say when I woke up this morning. ”
Wren nodded. “I remember. Sorry about that.” He could feel how hot his face was, and was sure his skin was bright red. “I’ll just pop in the bathroom while you’re getting the sandwiches, if that’s all right. Thank you.”
Without waiting for an answer, Wren scrambled off the bed and hurried into the adjoining bathroom. Apparently bladders didn’t miraculously empty when somebody shifted into their animal form. Wren had no idea how long he’d been sleeping, but it would’ve been more than a few hours.
Washing his hands after doing what he needed to, Wren looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.
His reflection didn’t look any different.
His hair was still a mess, and his facial features were the same ones he woke up with.
But he felt different…inside. Settled. Which was an improvement on feeling as though something was trying to break out of his skin.
Spreading his arms, Wren tried a few stretches and then squatted, hoping it would ease the ache in his muscles.
Looking into the mirror, Wren noticed a yellow flicker at the bottom of his eyes.
His animal side was watching him. He didn’t know how he knew, he just did.
It was his chameleon. “You were a show-off out there.” He pointed a finger at his reflection.
A chuckle seemed to run from his head to his toes. It got the point across. Just as he did earlier, it was as though his animal side was talking to him, but the voice was inside his head.
Although what point the chameleon was making, Wren wasn’t sure. He’d spent the whole time focused on Devon, barely paying any attention to Flint, Calvin, Levi, or even Python. Would Devon’s friends respect him now? I guess I’ll have to wait and see.
Speaking of Devon, Wren didn’t want to worry him.
I think I’ve done that enough. He hurried back into the bedroom and climbed onto the bed, resting his back against a pile of pillows.
Devon was waiting for him and handed him a plate piled high with sandwiches before sitting back in his chair and reaching for a smaller plate with a single sandwich.
“I have juice here for you when you’re ready, too. ”
“That’s kind of you, thank you.” The moment he bit into that first sandwich, Wren forgot about everything else.
He couldn’t get the food down his throat fast enough.
Levi’s meat cooking skills were incredible – all the men raved about it, and Calvin’s, too.
But in that moment, Wren had never tasted anything so good.
The bread was fresh, probably picked up from the bakery that day, and the combination made a sandwich that hit the spot.
He quickly cleared the plate, washing the meat and bread down with a large glass of juice.
He rubbed his belly with a sigh when he’d finished.
“You’re right,” he said, letting out a long breath. “I feel so much better after that.”
“You’ll probably find yourself eating larger meals and more often, now you’ve shifted for the first time.
” Devon put his own empty plate and glass back on the bedside cabinet.
“It takes a lot of energy to shift – you’re effectively changing every cell in your body.
In your case, because you shift within a shift, so to speak, you will likely be impacted by the need to eat even more.
We’ll make a point of having plenty of food around for when you do shift.
“You’ll probably notice some changes to your human side as well, now that you’ve gone through your first shift. Your eyesight will be sharper, your hearing is going to be more acute, you will likely get physically stronger and move faster as well.”
“Yes. Yes.” Wren nodded eagerly. “Some of those things have happened already, even before today. I thought I was hearing things when I overheard Levi and Calvin the other day when they were in the workshop, and I was sure I could hear Pax yesterday talking to Storm, and they were in their house with the doors closed.”
“You’ll get used to it. Over time your brain will learn to shut out things you don’t need to hear.
Or smell.” Devon chuckled. “Your sense of smell will really intensify now you’ve shifted, and while that can be good if it’s a lovely scent of Gwen’s baking, sometimes in public spaces…
Ugh.” Devon shuddered. “That’s not so easy to block out.
What is important is that we all learn how to control our reaction to things non-paras might not be aware of.
They would think we were being weird if we were reacting to something they can’t see or hear.
It’s part of why I work so hard to blend in…
” He trailed off. “Sorry. You probably don’t want to hear about that. ”
Wren immediately felt bad. He had upset his Bear, and yes, he kept thinking of him as Bear even though he knew his name was Devon.
“I didn’t mean to run off the way I did,” he said quietly.
“That was childish and silly. I just got so…so…so angry… But I was really upset, too, and I didn’t know how to handle my feelings.
“It’s like… I’d been asking you about the claiming, for example, and you kept telling me not to worry about it. But what I couldn’t seem to explain to you was the more you kept saying we could talk about it later, the more worried I got.”
“I never meant to worry you. I was trying to give you some space to adjust to living away from Michael.” Devon frowned. “Why did that worry you?”
“I thought you didn’t want to claim me.” Wren couldn’t understand why Devon didn’t see that. “In my head, you didn’t think I was good enough to claim as a mate, or maybe I was too frail, or too ill, or too stressed, or too whatever, I don’t know what it was that was holding you back.
“It was you who’d said that when we were claimed we’d never be without each other again.
Something I wanted with all my heart. But no matter how many times I asked, you wouldn’t tell me how we could get to that point.
Can’t you see? It was like I was being tested, but I didn’t know the rules of the game. ”
Devon winced. “I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing in letting you adjust to life away from captivity first. I didn’t realize…
” Letting out a long sigh, he added. “We can talk about it now. I promised you that, and we can. But before we do please know I have wanted to claim you from the moment you climbed back in from that damn ledge. Now, I have to think for a minute. I’ve never explained the concept of claiming… ”