Page 90 of The Cowboy and the Stray

“Is it genetic?”

He nodded. “You don’t get to pick. But it’s more than that. Humans can be changed. It’s just a big rule in our world that we don’t do it, at least, not often. It gets so complicated. When the human has a big family, then it has to be hidden. And how hard is it to hide it when you’re close to your family, you know?”

I snorted. “We won’t have that problem with me.” Questions raced through my mind. Mainly how were humans changed, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know yet, so instead I asked, “So, what’s the point? Why bother with cattle and horses and fences? Why not just be wild?”

He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Because we’re not wild. Not like that. We’re people.”

Well. Yeah.

“Who else knows?” I said.

“Like I said, not many humans. I think the sheriff might suspect, but he doesn’t know-know.”

“Do you eat people?” That question slipped out. Oops.

He barked out a laugh, which surprised both of us. “No. Pigs taste better.”

I sipped my coffee. “What about silver?”

He actually grinned. “Makes for nice jewelry. Otherwise, no.”

“Full moon?”

“Not a factor.”

“Do you pee on trees to mark your territory?”

He gave me a long, steady look. “Not unless I have to.”

I snorted into my coffee. “I’m just checking. I mean, you saved my ass, so I guess I owe you one. But this is all a little new.”

He nodded. “I get it.”

I put the mug down and studied my hands. They were still shaking. I forced them to go still. “So what now?”

“Up to you,” he said.

I looked him in the eye. “You’re not going to kill me to keep the secret?”

He looked almost offended. “No. Why would I? You planning on telling anyone?”

I shrugged. “No.” I paused and cocked my head at him. “If I was?”

He chuckled. “We’d find a witch to prevent you from doing that.”

Okay, that one threw me. I nearly choked. “A what?”

He grimaced. “Witch. They’re real. Rare, but real. Wolves and other shifters often pay them to do spells. For example, we shift with our clothes on because of a spell we paid a witch to do.”

A witch put a spell on them to make sure their clothes shifted with them.

Okay. Sure. I tried to imagine what it would be like, staying here, living on a ranch with a bunch of not-quite-human ranch hands. It was stupid. It was dangerous. Fuck, all, it was probably the safest I’d ever been.

“I’ll stay,” I said, before I could talk myself out of it. “But you have to teach me how it all works.”

He considered this. “Deal.”

I looked at my ankle. It was throbbing in time with my pulse, but I didn’t care. I was too busy thinking about everything else.