Sam ran his hands through his grizzled hair, his expression wry. “Yeah, hate to admit that, but that’s pretty much how it was. Fightandflight existing in the same space. Anyway, whatever it is, it’s gone for now.”
“And you say this thing has been following you?” Paul asked Naomi.
She nodded. “But I’m safe at the inn. Renee and Angus keep the place warded.”
She had to stifle a giggle as, to a man, every shifter in the room seemed to cringe just a bit.
“Ain’t never going in those woods again,” Joe mumbled.
“I’m sorry, can we back up here?” Nathan demanded, waving his hand to catch everyone’s attention. “Mythicals? Dragons? Unicorns? How can you talk about this so calmly?”
“Says the new best friend of a jackalope... which even we shifters didn’t know existed,” Paul pointed out.
Naomi looked around curiously. “Where is she, anyway?”
Seeming startled, Nathan stared at her. “Uh… she’s right there?”
He pointed to the corner of the dining room, visible from the living room. Silence fell over the room as they all looked in the direction of Nathan’s finger.
“Holy Mother Mary and Joseph,” someone muttered under his breath.
As Naomi stared at the ivory colored wall, slowly the outline of the little rabbit-shaped creature with its tiny antlers emerged, having blended into the shadows of the dining room table and chairs so cleverly she wasn’t apparent at first, or even second glance.
“Whoa. I guess she comes with her own camouflage,” Liam guessed, pulling out his phone and making notes. “She was right there all along, but we didn’t see her until we were told she was there, and looked for her specifically.”
“That’s some camouflage,” Joe said. “I don’t smell her, either, even now I can see her.”
Nathan looked absolutely delighted. “Really? You couldn’t see her at all?”
Heads shook solemnly in unison.
“Totally bizarre,” one of the bobcat shifters said. “My cat should have seen her no matter how still she was, because she’s breathing, and her eyes blink. That should have caught my attention.”
Nathan, who seemed to be finally adjusting to his new reality, straightened in his chair, his eyes brightening with interest.
“You have the heightened senses of your, uh, your animal, even when you’re human?”
“Not as heightened as when in our animal form,” Liam told him, “but yes, still above a mundane human’s abilities.”
“I can’t go to an optometrist for an eye exam,” Sam said wryly. “Even a simple eye chart I have to fake not seeing the lines below what would be normal for 20/20 vision.”
“Whoa,” Nathan said, rocking back in his chair. “I wouldn’t have thought of anything like that.”
“And another reason why we need shifter physicians,” Liam added.
“Oh, yeah!” Joe fixed his wolf’s gaze on Liam, his brown eyes tinging slightly yellow as his wolf peered through. “You’re the doc looking after the Kazakis girl’s kittens now. How’re they doing? I heard they’d been able to Change?”
“They’re fine, one hundred percent healthy. They Changed a few weeks ago, which is early for a first Change.”
“How old are they now?” Sam wanted to know.
Liam appeared to be doing a quick calculation. “Four months now. Generally shifter children start shifting at about two years, but we had no idea when shifters born as their animals might first shift back to humans. As it is, both kittens seemed to spontaneously shift on their own. When Melanthe got up one morning, she had babies instead of kittens in the bassinette. They’ve stayed as babies, and we have no way of knowing if they’ll adhere to the usual timeline going forward. Whether they will or not is anybody’s guess. We have no statistics to follow for such a rare occurrence… and just as well! The circumstances…” his voice trailed off.
“They were born as kittens?” Nathan asked, his eyes now shining with curiosity. “And that’s not usual?”
“No, shifter children are born human. This was an… unfortunate situation, in that the mother had to give birth in her shifted form.”
Naomi flinched a little, turning her face into Liam’s shoulder. She felt his arm tighten around her, and the light pressure of his lips touching her hair.
