Chapter Sixteen
Theo
My mate was nervous about trying to shift again.
The few times I brought it up, he found reasons not to.
I got it. It had to be hard to go from not knowing shifters existed to finding out you were one and that the person you were dating turned into a dragon.
Adding to that, not understanding how your body worked? That was a lot.
Being latent, he didn’t have a lot of heads-up that he was a cat. Although looking back, he’d been talking to Bunny Foo-Foo, like for real, for-real talking, having a two-way conversation. He just hadn’t realized that was what was happening at the time.
Like me, he’d been in foster care after his parents died. Unlike me, a relative found out and took him in, but it was a great-aunt, and my guess was from the human side, because he had not a clue who or what he was before that day when he shifted for the first time.
Today, I decided that he was going to shift, or at least try to. The longer he waited, the harder it was going to be for him. It was one of those jump-on-in things. If he didn’t, he was never even getting on that diving board.
I took the sandwiches I’d finished making and put them in my backpack, along with some water and snacks.
It was hardly a luxury picnic, the kind you saw in romance movies, with the fancy little wine goblets and salads and tablecloths and I didn’t even know what all.
Caviar, I guessed. It was enough for what we needed.
Slinging the backpack over my shoulder, I went to find my mate.
He was on the back porch drinking coffee.
“I made us lunch.”
“It’s a little early, don’t you think?”
“I said I made us lunch, not that we were eating it now.” I tapped my backpack. “Let’s go explore the woods. I want you to see how wonderful this place is.”
“I’d like that. Let me just change my shoes.”
I looked down to see his feet in flip-flops. “Probably for the best.”
When he came out, he took my hand, and then we walked to the tree line.
“This is nice,” he said. “It’s like we’re far, far away from the whole entire world, even though I could jog back to the house and not even be out of breath.”
“I love it here. These woods were why I bought the place. I don’t mind being with people at work, and I didn’t mind being with the people at the tattoo parlor, but being around all those buildings…
There were days when that was rough. This is a thousand times better.
” I stopped. “Close your eyes and just listen. What do you hear?”
One of the first things I noticed after my initial shift was how much better my hearing was, and how I could hear prey. I wasn’t a big hunter. Never had been. My brothers and I could keep up with them when I wanted to. It just wasn’t my favorite.
“I hear leaves blowing in the wind and crunching. Someone’s walking. Not a person, it’s not heavy enough for that.”
He was doing great.
“Good. Keep listening. What else do you hear?”
“It’s not walking…it’s hopping.” He was right. It was a rabbit, a decent-sized one at that.
“Now, inhale deeply. Do you smell the scent of the beast?”
He did as I said and shook his head. “No, I smell turkey.”
I tapped his nose. “That’s our lunch, mate. But that’s really good.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I do.” I took his hand again, not liking being this far away from him.
“Where are we going? Or are we just aimless?”
“Not aimless. I want to take you to my dragon’s favorite place. It’s about another twenty-minute walk.” Flying, it was super quick, but walking was manageable in most weather.
“I can’t wait to see it.” He squeezed my hand, and we started back in the direction of the clearing.
When we finally stepped into it, he dropped my hand and ran to the burn pit. “This is…don’t take this the wrong way, but this is like where cannibals come to cook their meals.”
“I could see that, but it’s also where I come to feed my dragon.
” I told him a little bit about how my beast was broken, for lack of a better word.
My brothers, when they first learned, had sympathy in their eyes, but with Brent, I saw none of that.
I saw understanding, like he’d experienced being broken too, and that was worse.
“It’s like my cat had been hiding.” He rubbed his cheek against me. “We’re kind of the same, you know, you and me.”
“My big, scaly dragon, the same as your cute, adorable, little fluffy kitty?”
“Exactly. You get it. We’re both strong, good-looking, and quirky.”
“And by quirky, you mean…”
“Well, I’m not going to say broken. I know you say that about yourself, but I’ve never seen you that way. Everything you are makes you exactly who I care about. It’s perfect.” He kissed my cheek loudly. “Are we eating or what?”
“Or what.” We’d eat later.
“Huh?”
“You asked if we were eating or what. We’re going to ‘or what.’” I put the backpack on the ground and started taking off my clothes.
“You’re naked.”
“Not yet, but I will be. And so will you. Shed those clothes, mate.”
“You want to…out here? Won’t the mosquitoes bite us?” He was adorable the way he blushed nearly the color of a tomato.
“We’re not doing that, although I’m not opposed.” And if he mentioned it again, I was going to be changing my mind and losing all hopes of following my plan. “Away with that fabric.”
To my surprise, no other questions came from him, and less than a minute later, we were both there, naked. Gods, he was stunning.
“We’re gonna shift now.” I thought it was obvious, but based on the look on his face, I was wrong.
“I don’t know how.”
“Ah, but I think my dragon can show you.” I ran away from him, shifting midway to the next burn pit, and then my dragon turned and lowered my head.
Call to our mate, dragon. Call to his cat. Have him come out and play.
I wasn’t sure it could work. It was the best plan I could think of. I didn’t know any latents who later shifted to ask about it. I was 100 percent winging it.
At first, nothing. Just my mate, standing there in his naked glory. But then, where he once stood, was my favorite cat. He ran and pounced on my head, and I rolled over, giving him his victory.
We ran, I flew, and he jumped, and then, eventually, we both curled up in the sun and fell asleep for a nap. It was so different from shifting with my brothers. With them, it was all about animal instincts and prey, being tough and strong.
This? There was a sweetness to it. Sweetness and love, and I wanted to hold on to this feeling and never let it go.