Chapter 17 #2
Abby’s eyes started to bulge out and there was panic in her gaze.
Shifting could be painful, the first time even more so.
It felt like your body was shattering as it went to an energy state, but it was only your thoughts that actually broke.
All those notions of who you are and what your body is burst with a very real psychic pain.
At least that’s how he’d felt. Abby, too, apparently, because her mouth split wide in a scream.
Her husband leapt up. Even he couldn’t ignore a woman’s bellow.
Cecilia was at the door, abruptly jerking it open to scream out into the hallway.
“Everything’s fine here! We’re just having a discussion.
Don’t come shooting! Do not call security!
” Then she slammed the door again and blocked it shut with her body.
“Your turn, Hank. I’ll hold them off as long as I can. ”
He wanted to laugh. There was no taking turns like in a game. This was Abby’s show. It all depended on how she handled sharing her rational mind with the animal inside. And nobody did that well the first time, but he did try to help.
He held up his hands and spoke clearly. “You’re okay, Abby. Just go with the change. This is how it’s done.”
Fur was sprouting all over her face and body.
Black fur infused with a golden glow that would disappear once the change settled.
Her nose was elongating as her face became darker, thicker, and distinctly bearlike.
She growled at him, the sound low and threatening.
And then her chest started expanding, hips, then legs.
Only the first change went this slow. Soon, she’d get the hang of doing this almost instantaneously.
But for right now, it was like every part of her popped in individual sequence.
And with every change, she released a sound of half anger, half agony.
Which is when Hank realized that she’d made a classic new-shifter mistake.
Her clothing was too tight. He’d checked that before. She had on a loose blouse that ripped easily, pants with an elastic waistband that adjusted though it looked pretty silly on a big bear, and cheap sandals that broke the second her feet started expanding. But he forgot about her bra.
Her eyes narrowed, and she looked down at her chest. Her claws started ripping at the heavy elastic, shredding the blouse and drawing blood through her furred chest. She cut it slightly, but then she must have really looked at her hands, now big furred claws.
She drew back in shock, her head tossing back as she roared again, but that only banged her against the equipment there.
Meanwhile, her husband bolted upright and started screaming.
No big surprise. His wife was now a bear.
But that was nothing compared to what Brittany did.
She went full hybrid, and the stench nearly brought Hank to his knees.
It certainly made her father start choking.
She also leapt out of bed, disconnecting all her monitors in the process, which began a series of beeps and bings.
And then she saw her own arms. She’d been pointing at her mother, but with furry arms and clawed hands.
Which began a whole other series of screams of horror.
Hank tried to divide his attention. He didn’t want to take his focus from her mother. Abby was the most dangerous one here at three-hundred-plus pounds of panicked bear, but Brittany was equally lethal with her claws and younger mind. At least Abby’s mind understood what was going on.
Thankfully, Cecilia kept her head. “You stay with Abby. I’ve got the other two.”
He wanted to shout her a warning, but he didn’t have a chance.
Not with Abby spinning around as machines blared at her.
She had no special awareness of her body and her bra chose that moment to snap in half, ricocheting painfully into her arm.
She threw her arm over her head with a roaring yelp and then banged into another monitor.
Meanwhile, Cecilia faced the other family members and snapped at them in her doctor voice.
“Settle down this instant!”
Would have been better if she hadn’t started gagging. God, Brittany sure could turn on the BO. At least the father was out of danger. He’d dropped to his knees as he retched into the biohazard wastebasket.
Abby turned to her husband, but Hank waved his hand to get her attention. Then he let fly with his best boot camp sergeant imitation.
“Freeze, now!”
At least he got it out without coughing, though the stench in this closed room was making his eyes water. Better yet, Abby’s gaze locked on his.
“Abby! You understand what happened?”
The bear straightened to her full height, but then couldn’t keep her balance. It was hard to manage in a body suddenly so different. She only remained upright for a couple seconds, and then she teetered forward. She was going to fall and he needed to get out of the way fast.
“The bed,” he said as he pointed at it. “Fall forward onto the bed.”
She did. It was clumsy, but she managed it. And more than that, he now knew that she had kept control of her mind. The bear wasn’t in control, her thinking mind was. Excellent. There’d be more adjustment, but for the moment, he could work with that.
Thankfully, Cecilia had gotten Brittany past her initial terror.
She was still panting, the whites of her eyes way too present, but she was staring at her mother, not her own body.
Way better to focus on how her mother had changed.
Cecilia was talking, her voice low but clear now that Abby had stopped roaring and Peter had stopped retching.
“That’s your mother, Brittany. She can change into a bear. Just like she told you.”
Brittany swung her face to Cecilia, shaking her head in denial.
“Don’t give me that crap, young lady,” Cecilia snapped. “You see it. You know it. Don’t be willfully blind. That’s your mother, and she needs you.”
Abby didn’t need Brittany. In fact, she’d taken this massive risk just to help Brittany.
But whatever got through to the girl was fine by him.
And apparently saying her mother was in trouble worked because Brittany slowly got it together.
Her breath evened out and her arms dropped as she stared at the bear leaning on top of her bed.
Which is when the father finally looked up from the waste can enough to process his surroundings.
“My God,” he breathed.
“Nope,” Cecilia said almost cheerfully. “That’s your wife. Don’t be an ass and abandon her.” Then she turned to Brittany. “She did this for you, remember?” She squeezed Brittany’s huge furred arm. “She didn’t need to do this. It was really hard and scary for her, right?” Cecilia glanced at Hank.
He nodded. “And painful. First shifts suck.”
“But she did it for you both. So you would see that it’s not scary. It’s a good thing. Pretty cool, actually, right?”
He didn’t expect Abby to answer, but she did. The bear opened her mouth and did a kind of soft grunt—very restrained and very anxious—but it got through to Brittany.
“Mommy!” she cried then suddenly she was climbing onto the bed with her mother and throwing her arms around Abby’s neck.
Perfect, right? Would be except for the heavy bangs on the room door. “Dr. Lu! Dr. Lu! Open up.”
Cecilia turned to bellow out the door. “We’re fine! Stay back!”
Hank worried that they wouldn’t listen, but a moment later, things quieted down on the other side of the door.
Apparently, Cecilia’s doctor voice carried true authority.
Meanwhile, it was now up to Peter. Would he accept the evidence of his own eyes?
Just how much did he love his wife and child?
Maybe not enough, given how much he was staring.
It was as if the words were written on the man’s face. An endless stream of: This can’t be true, this can’t be true.
Hank wanted to shake him. He wanted to force the man to really accept what he was seeing, but he knew that any distraction would likely make matters worse. The battle was all in Peter’s head now and at the moment, it was fifty-fifty which side would win.
Mother and daughter noticed. Brittany still had her bear arms wrapped around her mother’s neck.
Her lower half had gone bear, too, which was just as well given that she was in her hospital gown.
Abby was nuzzling her child, making soothing bear purrs as her tongue licked long swaths across Brittany’s forehead revealing the girl’s bear ears.
But the longer Peter stayed silent, the more the two noticed that he wasn’t part of them.
Abby looked at her husband and made a low moan. Brittany opened her eyes and turned to stare at her father.
“Daddy?” Her voice hadn’t changed much. A little deeper maybe, but Hank could still hear the little girl in that one word.
Apparently, so could Peter. He blinked his eyes and wiped away his tears. And then he took a deep breath as he squared his shoulders…and dove into the big hug.
All three, hugging it out on the bed. Bear, hybrid, and human. Hank rocked back on his heels and blew out a slow breath in appreciation. Family unity in the scariest of situations. It never failed to steal his breath. Cecilia seemed equally effected as she entwined her fingers in his.
“Sometimes life doesn’t suck in the least,” she murmured, her eyes sheening with tears.
He smiled. So did Peter who was now rocking backward to stare at the two women in his life. “I never want to hear one word about how I’m going bald,” he said. “Not when you two can do this whenever you want. It’s just not fair,” he said as he ran a hand over his nearly bald pate.
Brittany chuckled as she rocked backward. Abby, too, though the sound was more a rumble as it came through her bear body. Then there was another knock on the door.
“Dr. Lu? Mr. and Mrs. Randolph—”