The lake’s shore was the same, yet somehow not. The colors were wrong, too… bright? Intense? Green? It reminded me of the way things look right before an epic summer storm.
It was the exact same way things looked last night after the Change.
And Alex wasn’t alone. A puppy with grey human eyes bounced excitedly around his legs.
“Everything is different,” I said as I made my way to the place where Alex skipped stones across the lake’s surface. Or, at least, he was attempting to skip stones across the lake’s surface. In his defense, what he lacked in form he made up in persistence.
“Change does that,” he said, sending another rock to its watery grave. “I think it’s part of the definition. ‘Change. A verb. To make different.’” He flashed a smile, dimples and all, but it was wrong, too.
“Thanks, Obi-Wan. Where would I be without your guidance?” The wolf pup noticed my existence for the first time and bounded up to my side. “Hey there, boy,” I said as I scratched behind its ears. “Aren’t you a handsome fellow?”
Alex laughed and the pup growled. “She is quite cute, but Nicole won’t think twice about biting you if you call her a boy again.”
I looked at the tiny gray wolf who abandoned threatening me for the joy of having her belly scratched by Alex.
“But she’s a Shifter, right?”
“Yes.”
“But girls can’t be Shifters.”
Alex looked up at me through a curtain of bangs in desperate need of a trim. “How did that theory work out for you last night?” I double-checked, just to make sure… Yep. He was smirking.
Asshat.
“What happened to me?”
He leaned back on his heels, wrapping his long arms around his knees. Nicole glared at me, as if it was my fault her belly-scratching came to an end. “Last night you successfully completed your first Change. I thought you would figure that out when you grew a tail.”
“How, Alex? How did I Change? How did I grow a tail?” I screamed. “I’m not a Shifter, so please explain to me how this happened!”
“Of course you’re a Shifter.” He came over to me, cupping my cheek in his hand. It was the first time he had touched me since I arrived, and I nearly collapsed at the warmth and reassurance radiating through me. “This has always been your destiny. It’s who you are.”
“I only think it’s fair to tell you, I don’t believe in destiny.”
“That’s okay,” Alex smiled. “She believes in you.”
Chapter 6
I knew there was someone in my room before I even opened my eyes. I could hear her breathing and smell the scent of her baby shampoo. Of course, even someone without canine senses could’ve achieved the same thing with Talley leaning over them, her face an inch away.
“Are you planning on waking up today or not?”
“Not.” I had no idea what time it was, nor did I care. I was accustomed to twelve to eighteen hours of sleep a day. My all-nighter totally wiped me out.
A tap against my arm. “Scout.”
“I’m sleeping.”
A shake of my shoulder. “Scout.”
“Go away.”
The covers jerked back, exposing my legs to the chill of the room. “Scout.”
“I hate you,” I said, sitting up to retrieve the blankets now pooled below my knees. I was just awake enough to marvel over the ability to do so without pain.
“You love me,” Talley said as she flounced down behind me so I couldn’t lay back down. “You know how I know?”
“Cause you stole it out my head just like you did my graduation speech?”
“Because you’re all growls and no bite. A Shifter attacks anyone who invades their den unless they consider them family.”
“You make me sound like an animal.”
Talley dug a pair of pajama bottoms out from under a pillow where they had probably been cowering for weeks. “A convincing argument could be made.”
I grabbed the pajama bottoms, which kind of reeked, and went in search of the hamper I knew was somewhere in my room. Maybe.
I expected my legs to do that weird rubbery thing they always did after I pushed myself too hard at the dojo, but they held firm without even a hint of soreness. In fact, once the sting of the Change wore off, I felt amazing. Not only was pain completely and totally absent for the first time in a month, I was hyper-aware of my body, as if I could feel the individual muscles beneath my skin. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was happy to be a Shifter, but there were advantages to be had.
By the time I found the clothes hamper, which had magically folded itself up so it could hide under my bed, Talley had rounded up an armful of dirty clothes, including a Super Mario Brothers shirt I’d been looking for since October. “So, what’s the verdict?” I asked.
“They should come clean with a bit of soap and water, but be sure to use the hot cycle so you kill anything that may be growing.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny. I was talking about the Pack. What did they decide? Have I been voted off the island?”
Talley twisted a strand of hair around her finger, the first sign of bad news.
“When is the last time you ate? You need to be sure and get a ton of calories pre and post Change.”
I narrowed my eyes, ignoring the tingle of panic spreading from my stomach to my heart. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“I’m trying to keep you healthy.”
“Talley…”
She exhaled loudly, shoulders slumping. “You’re supposed to appear before the Pack at seven o’clock tonight.”
“And then what happens?”
The finger was back in the hair. “That’s all the Pack Leader has authorized me to tell you.”
The panic swept through my heart and railroaded its way to my brain. “What are they going to do?” Alex explained Pack politics to me once. At the moment, all I could remember was something about fights to the death.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You’re my best friend.”
“And Toby is my Pack Leader. I can’t override a command no matter what I want to do.”
My gut reaction wasn’t what I expected. Instead of begging her to give me a clue as to what to expect or breaking down into tears, an unfamiliar mixture of incredulity and anger threatened to short-circuit my thought pattern. She was following another Shifter’s commands? I wanted to lash out and demand she give me what I wanted. The impulse shocked me enough to reign it in before I actually acted on it, but not before a low, threatening growl erupted from my throat.