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“I do. How’d you know?”
“You carried both of the suitcases like they were nothing. But I wasn’t sure if that was natural or not,” she replied, running her eyes over him in a way that heated his blood. “What else do you have that’s extra?”
“You mean besides the ability to turn into a lion when I want to?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, besides that.”
“Enhanced vision and hearing. I don’t get sick, and I can hear lies. And all shifters have a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Yeah, something special that most others don’t have. They’re unique to each of us. It can be something supernatural, or just an enhancement of a human ability. Some gifts are mental and some are physical.”
Her eyes were wide and a smile was playing on her full lips as she spoke. “This is so cool. Okay, so what’s your gift?”
“Sensing what gifts other shifters have and using them when I’m near them.”
Her eyebrows rose. “So, what you’re telling me is that you steal them. You’re a thief.”
Laughing, he squeezed her feet with his. “I guess. I prefer to use the word borrow. I don’t get to keep the gift, after all. Only use it when they’re near.”
“Same difference,” she said, waving a hand. “And the Enforcers are all shifters, too, right? And you’re not typical law enforcement. You’re like shifter cops.”
“Yes, we’re all shifters. And kind of. We’re more like detectives than patrolmen. And we don’t have a judicial system. Whether someone goes to shifter prison or has to be put down is our call. We don’t have courtrooms or judges.”
For the first time during the conversation, Lily looked a little wary. “Put down? Like an animal?”
“We are animals, Lil.”
“But you’re people, too.”
Exhaling, he pulled his hand down his beard, hoping he could find the words to explain it right. “We’re separate from our animals, yet still one. It’s hard to explain. They have their own thoughts and feelings, and they’re present inside us, aware and able to speak their thoughts to us. And when we shift, it’s like it flips. The human half is still aware, and still there. For the most part, we’re still in control.
“But just like with humans, there are good and bad shifters. The difference is a bad shifter is almost always dangerous. Think about it. If I wanted to go out and wreak some havoc, how much damage could I do as my lion? Our animals are always much larger than a regular animal. And once the human goes bad, the animal becomes corrupt, as well. Sometimes, the human isn’t an evil person, but the animal is. An evil shifter has to be put down. They’re too dangerous to let live, because there’s no redeeming them, and they can hurt or kill many before they’re stopped.”
“I guess I get it,” she said, looking troubled as she rubbed her arms. “It just seems wrong to use the term put down in conjunction with a human.”
He kept his voice gentle when he spoke. “We’re not just humans, though. And humans do a version of the same with the death penalty.”
“Decided by a judge within the court system.”
“They’re aren’t enough of us to warrant something like that. And the Enforcers are trained to know who needs to be put down, and who just needs prison, just the same as a human judge is. Trust me, we try our best to put the bad ones in prison. It just isn’t always possible.”
She sighed, moving to sit next to him, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together. “I don’t want you to think I don’t understand the concept of it. I do. It’ll just take time to wrap my mind around it.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t run screaming the second you figured out what I am. Take all the time you need.”
Glancing down, he took in the sight of her hand nestled in his. Their arms were resting on the leg that had taken the brunt of the explosion, and he stiffened as he realized what he’d left out about shifter abilities.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her brow furrowed as she looked up at him.
“I realized I forgot to tell you about our healing abilities. We heal much faster than humans do. We don’t even get scars—it’s like the injury never happened once it’s finished healing.”
She nodded, her look confused. “Yeah, I kind of figured that one out on my own. I mean, I saw you in the bathroom just now. And I suspected before that. There was no sign, no limp, nothing, that you’d been hurt. An injury as bad as the one you sustained wouldn’t just fade away.”
“And you don’t hate me now?”
Her eyebrows rose as she jerked her head toward him. “Why would I hate you?”
