Page 20 of Awakened By the Guardian

He looked at her. “It won’t be like last night. I understand what’s happening now. And you don’t need to be worried about me hurting you⁠—”

She waved with irritation. “Not me, you idiot. You! You growled at your own reflection. You broke furniture. Did you wonder where your coffee table is? You smashed it.”

Gary barely glanced at his apartment before turning back to his father. “Dad, my legs moved this morning. My human legs. I can feel things I haven’t felt since the accident. Does that make any sense? Is shifting going to heal me?”

His father looked surprised. Then: “It happens. Guy breaks a leg, shifts, then comes back whole. Never thought of it for you, though.”

“I’m going to drink more water,” Gary said. “You can help me control it.”

He was wheeling toward the kitchen when Margaret leaped out of her chair and stopped him. She planted both hands on his armrests to hold him still. “What the hell, Gary? You’re not this reckless. Since when do you take poison without doing the research first?”

Thankfully, Mr. Baldner backed her up. “She’s right, son. I want to help you with this, but we’ve got to do it smart. Changing takes practice and a controlled environment, especially in the city. And you must be so tired.”

“You don’t get it,” Gary growled. “My legs are getting better.”

Mr. Baldner shook his head. “Let’s not pin all our hopes on this, Gary. I’ve never heard of a paralyzed shifter, so I don’t know what will or won’t change.” He gestured down at himself. “We all have a human form that’s our default. That’s why I always look like this no matter how much I diet. Whenever I shift back from being a bear, I’m just like I was in my thirties again—chubby from too much beer and beaten down from fighting with your mother.”

Margaret frowned, surprised. “Always? When you were young you shifted into⁠—?”

“Someone in his thirties? No.” Mr. Baldner adjusted his pants, lifting the band over his paunch. “As a teen I came back as a teen. But as a man ages, his mind changes. As our minds adjust, so do our bodies.” He blew out a breath. “Look, I don’t understand it, either. All I know is that I went on one of those diet programs a few years back, lost almost thirty pounds and then went for a run as a bear out at Gladwin State Park. When I changed back, I was the same weight as before the diet. So…it’s how I think of myself, I guess. And I’ve heard the same from other guys.”

“So if I think of myself with working legs,” Gary said, “I can come back with them.”

“But you didn’t,” Margaret pressed, hating the idea that he’d put all his hope into something futile. “You shifted yesterday and⁠—”

“And I can feel things now. Maybe if I keep doing it⁠—”

“You might lose brain parts!”

She blew out a breath. Damn it, he wasn’t listening. He was too intent on getting his legs back, and who could blame him? But he was wonderful just the way he was, and she wouldn’t trade his brain for legs. Never, ever, ever. So she had to slow him down before he headed someplace nobody wanted.

“Mr. Baldner, don’t you have any shifter doctors? What about that CDC person? There’s got to be someone who knows more about these things.”

Gary’s father nodded. “At headquarters.”

Gary jolted. “‘Headquarters’? There’s a shifter HQ?”

Mr. Baldner snorted. “I told you, we’re The Griz. We renovated an old Ace Hardware store.”

Gary shook his head. “I really thought you guys were a biker gang.”

“We’re a bear gang,” his father said with a grin. “It’s called a sleuth. So, you up for a ride? The city’s dangerous right now but⁠—”

Gary was already rolling for the door. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 7

Gary twitched as he tried to stay awake.

They drove in his handicapped-accessible van, Margaret at the wheel while his father directed. The streets were nearly empty, probably because of the quarantine.

He was clipped into his wheelchair in back, his body drooping with fatigue. His father had told him it was a miracle he was awake at all; most shifters slept for more than a day after a First Shift. But his mind was wide awake and spinning.

Hope. It was insane to have again. After his accident he’d looked at one crazy cure after another. If it was on the Internet, he’d read it. If something said it stimulated neural growth, he’d taken it or used it or prayed to it. He’d never gotten use of his legs back, even for a moment. Until this morning.

Not that he believed this would work, exactly. But that was like trying to not look at paradise. He couldn’t not look. He thought. He hoped. And now they might be on the way to a miracle.

He let his eyes drift closed. In his head, he saw himself with Margaret. He pulled out her chair at a restaurant in Paris, held the door for her as they walked into a Broadway theater. He carried her to a bed where he spent the night pleasuring her body until she realized she loved sex. And if she really wasn’t wired for that, he would still love her as much as he did now. But, what if she just needed a man who was patient and understanding? He wanted to at least offer her that possibility—and to do it with a fully functioning body.