Page 2 of Monster. Me.

My eyes drop to the sales tag hanging from its wrist.

This Year's Bestseller! FENN DRAX Costume! Become the Monster of Calsing Island!

Holy shit.

Another tremor runs through my feline body because that one hits way too close to home.

I know that name!

The story has been all over the news recently, and if everything goes according to plan, my own future might soon become connected to the research facility where that mutant is currently being kept.

Talk about a weird coincidence, huh.

For a good minute, I stare at the mannequin in amazement. Really impressive details.

Randomly stumbling on this shop feels almost like Fate just reached out and flicked me on the nose.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

The voice behind me makes me jump.

"Aren't you a gorgeous boy?"

Fuck. I let my guard down.

I bolt toward the door, only to realize it's closed now. Instantly I spin around, arching my back, and spot a very slim, pale omega who can't be more than eighteen. He's wearing an apron with the store's logo on it, so I'm guessing he works here.

"Don't be scared, please."

His voice tries to be soothing, in a way people usually speak to me.

"Wow, you're so beautiful! I've never seen such a big cat before, and definitely not one with coloring like yours."

The omega crouches slowly, probably wanting to pet me. He extends a hand toward me, trying not to spook me with deliberately slow movements.

Of course people want to pet me when I'm careless enough to let them see me in this form. I'm a really big fluffy cat, roughly the same size as a Maine Coon, though I look more like a giant British Shorthair.

I hesitate for a second, but eventually I let him touch me. Okay… secretly, I like it. A lot. I avoid it only for safety reasons, and they’re rather concerning.

Because I don't look like an ordinary stray cat, more than a few people have tried to scoop me up in the past, assuming I’m in dire need of adoption.

It's happened multiple times.

People get fascinated by my unusual fur because it’s a solid, deep auburn color with none of the agouti pattern that orange cats normally have. No stripes, no markings. Just a single rich, brownish-auburn shade, which happens to match my natural hair.

But if somebody ever managed to catch me, it could turn into a very unpleasant situation. At some point I'd have to shift back, reveal what I am, and that's exactly what I'm not supposed to do.

My ancestors paid dearly for mistakes like that.

Many shapeshifters in my family, especially the less careful ones still back in Russia, spent years locked in cages while people experimented on them, studied them, and cut them open. In fact, the first shapeshifter in our line was himself the result of a dangerous experiment, and he made sure that as he ran, he would never end up back in a cage. The fear of becoming a test subject he instilled has run through the family ever since.

I have no interest in sharing that fate.

So I let the omega pet me for a few moments, but I stay alert, ready to slip away the second anything feels wrong.

"Aren’t you a beauty… yeah, good boy, good boy," the kid murmurs, petting me with a delighted grin. Then he suddenly seems to correct himself. "Or maybe you’re not a boy at all. Maybe you’re a big, beautiful girl. Let me check."

He lifts my tail, and I let out a low hiss. Oh, absolutely not. Leave my balls alone. Don’t go looking under there, or I’m smacking you, I swear!