“Easy there. You need to stay calm.”
“Calm?” Vic mocked. “Calm? Look at this cage. What the fuck happened?”
Simon didn’t answer. He wanted to see how much his friend remembered. And true to form, Vic started answering his own question.
“I was so mad. And you were saying…You said…” His eyes widened as he looked at the bent door. “I got out and you were giving me shit. And I got…”
“What? You got what? Say it.” Simon invested his words with the bite of command.
“I got really pissed.”
“Yeah. Then—”
“Holy shit!” Vic suddenly scrambled backward. He landed on the cot with a clang and his eyes shot wide with terror. “Holy shit!” he bellowed again, obviously replaying everything in his memory. He looked at his arms and legs. He realized now that he was naked except for the tattered remains of his jeans. “What the fuck?”
“Stay calm, Vic. Adrenaline only makes it worse. Panic fuels the shift.”
Too late. BO flooded the air. Though it was noxious and nauseating, Simon didn’t move. He needed to remain a calm center for his friend or they’d never get through this.
Meanwhile, Vic’s nostrils flared. “Oh fuck, that’s me! That’s—”
“Yeah. It sucks. Now get it together.” He straightened to a stand. “That’s an order!” he barked.
The tone worked. Vic’s gaze locked on Simon’s and he breathed hard. In and out, the sound rasping through his throat. But as the seconds ticked by, the pulse in Vic’s throat visibly eased. The harsh breathing slowed. And best of all, the stench eased off.
Vic got it together.
“What is happening to me?” He slowly stood to face Simon. “What am I becoming?”
Simon pursed his lips. “You’re not becoming anything. The change has already happened to you, Vic. At least I think it’s done.” He was trying to focus on the positive here, though God knew he was making a big guess.
Vic leaned forward. “What?”
“I think your change is over. Now it’s just a matter of getting control of it.” He took a breath, then immediately regretted it for the smell. “You’re a shifter now. You change when you’re pissed off. You want to remain human? You stay calm.”
“So I’m a bear? Like you?”
No sense in lying. “You’re…your own thing, Vic. I’ve never seen the like before, but it’s not impossible to deal with. Every adolescent shifter goes through this to some degree.”
“Like this?” Vic asked. “The stink? The fur? The…” He tugged at the frayed denim. “The clothes?”
“Everything but the stink. That’s all you.”
“But…” He collapsed back on the cot, and Simon held his breath wondering if the flimsy thing would break. Even as a human, Vic was a big man. Fortunately, the cot was sturdier than it looked. “I don’t understand. Is this how it happened to you? Just…you know, out of the blue?”
“Was it really out of the blue? What were you feeling beforehand? Why’d you have Alyssa come to me? What made you think of me?”
Vic rubbed a hand over his face, but he didn’t speak. He just slumped there in defeat. Simon waited a long time, but in the end, he slipped his fingers through the chain link and gripped it tight.
“You need to talk to me, Vic. You asked me to help and I’m here, but—”
“I’m trying to remember!” Vic snapped. Except it was more like a growl as his head shot up and his mouth pulled back to show his teeth. It was an animal’s reaction to being threatened, and they both recognized it. Simon just waited. Hell, his shifter friends had done a ton worse as teens, but it frightened Vic enough that his eyes widened with panic.
Anger, shock, panic, which led to more anger. It was a cycle Simon knew well. As did every shifter. But it was a cycle that had to stop.
“Keep it together,” he growled, his own animal surging forward.
“I’m trying!”
