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3
Ellie stood in the parking lot of WANC with the other cadets, waiting for their promised transportation. Her stomach was in knots, but she’d spent all night reading up on the plants native to the region that could be used for food or medicine as a way to soothe her nerves. As she packed her backpack the night before, she tried not to worry about the skills of her partner. If needed, she knew she had enough knowledge and abilities to get them both out of the wilderness safely—and on time to meet their deadline. Ellie did not need luck to ace this assessment. She was skilled and educated on the outdoors, and water be damned; she would do great.
She scanned the sea of classmates for her partner.
“Hey,” a warm voice said behind her. Ellie jumped as the words wiggled down her ear canal, sending tantalizing shockwaves down her spine. Somehow, Brett’s voice so close excited her body, causing her to long for closeness like a bee drawn to the pollen of a beautiful flower, opening wide for it to consume.
“Hey,” she repeated, spinning around to face him while processing this new feeling he drew out of her. The sensation was strange. One that Ellie had not felt for some time. It definitely was not a post-experimentation thing that had happened in her new shifter life, and her limited memories of the time before left her unable to recall any past romantic partners.
Ellie swallowed her thoughts to keep her focus, though it was hard when she caught sight of the muscles she didn’t know Brett had, which were straining against his long-sleeved shirt, filling it out in all the right ways. It was far different from the bulky sweaters he usually wore.
“New shirt?” she asked, watching the morning sun shimmer in the short waves of his brown hair, bringing out copper undertones.
A slow, wide grin spread across his face. “Yeah,” he replied, his voice soft as he looked to the ground. “I thought I would need some moisture-wicking materials for our adventure.”
“You did?”
“Of course.” He patted his backpack. “Went to the old sporting goods store and loaded up.”
She couldn’t help the tingle of excitement that ran through her with the news that Brett really was taking the assignment seriously—he wanted a good grade too! She was beyond pleased to see how much preparation Brett had put into this assignment. Now she just had to get beyond the fact that a thin section of rubber would be keeping her out of the water, and she’d be just peachy.
Grayson began rattling off commands from the front of their group, separating them out depending on where and how they were to be transported to their assignment. Ellie and Brett were to be bussed to a section of the river where they would be supplied a raft.
“Are you ready?” Brett asked as he moved his weight from one foot to the other while they waited to board their transportation.
Ellie nodded as she picked up her pack. “Let’s go on an adventure!” They were really doing it, really going outside on a trip away from WANC, the library, and her computer. True, she exercised outdoors on campus, but she always felt tethered to the Academy. This would be the perfect opportunity to allow herself the mental freedom of forgetting this was an assignment.
The morning sun warmed her skin as she followed Brett onto the bus. It was going to be a hot day. Actually, a hot weekend if the weather report was to be trusted. She tried to pretend she hadn’t also read that there was a chance of thunderstorms throughout the weekend. The idea threatened to ruin Ellie’s good mood and hopes for the trip since rain increased the chances of flash flooding—and increased her risk of getting soaked. The cat inside her shook at the thought, but she pushed past it. She would have to get used to the idea that getting wet was inevitable. If she was on a mission as a FUC agent, she would not have time to worry about preventing damp feet if things went sideways. It was a fact she—and the cat inside her—would have to learn to accept. It was something she felt she never dealt with when she was human. Ellie would have to work on channeling her happy memories of water to help get her cat-side past its fears—or at least remind herself of the videos that Brett had shown her. Catscouldenjoy the water. She doubted she was one of them, but at least it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen if she did get wet.
Silently, she filed onto the bus with Brett, behind the other cadets who would be dropped off before them.
“Are you okay?” Brett asked as they sat down, his voice gentle and caring. She looked at him, seeing his hazel eyes softened in worry for her.
How did his calmness send such a wave of comfort to her? Did sloths have some kind of superpower to do that?
“What?” She hoped she didn’t look like she was losing it. It took every fiber of her being to resist the urge to gnaw on her fingernails, but she hadn’t realized she was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
“You seem nervous,” Brett explained with his brows knitted together in worry as he regarded her face.
Ellie shook her head, brushing it off, not wanting her partner to needlessly worry about her well-being. “I was just giving myself a pep talk.” She hopedthatdidn’t sound too weird.
Brett chuckled. “I did the same thing last night.” His words instantly put Ellie at ease. Just knowing that Brett had insecurities reminded her that almost everyone struggled with self-confidence. It was also great to learn that others had conversations with themselves on a regular basis.
“How do you handle taking showers?” Brett asked as the bus headed away from campus. The moment he asked it, he pictured Ellie in the scenario—naked body and all! Quickly, he clarified his reason for asking. “I mean because you don’t like water. Um. Your cat, does it not like showers?”
Adding in the wordcatdidn’t help him remove the image from his mind. He frantically tried to think of anything other than what lay between Ellie’s legs.Baseball. Architecture. Complex math equations.
Ellie, luckily, seemed to have no idea what a struggle Brett had put himself into. She chuckled before answering his question. “That’s different.” The dark shadows danced off of her shoulders as she shrugged them.
“How is that different?” Brett wondered aloud. He hoped that if he could talk it out with Ellie, she would be less apprehensive on their trip. Brett knew that his ability to help her focus on the task at hand—and not the water below them—would be paramount to them completing the assignment and getting a good grade.
“The water’s warm, for one thing.” She pursed her lips in thought, cocking her head to the side for a moment. Her brows wrinkled as she squinted, as if trying to see the answer before her. “I don’t shower with my clothes on, for starters, but in all seriousness, I think it’s because I can control it. I start the water when I am ready and end it when I am done.”
Brett rubbed his chin, trying to figure out how Ellie could use that kind of thinking to her advantage on their journey. Since Brett excelled at computers, it helped him to view people like living systems. Every program was quirky, and he had to figure out how to use its language to get it to complete tasks. People were similar. They viewed the world through their experiences, their own words, and their meaning. If he could help Ellie to shift her perspective, he could get her to see the river wasn’t so different from taking a shower. It all involved water.
“Did you choose to take this class?” he asked, hoping the answer was yes.
She lifted a blonde brow in curiosity. “I did. Why?”
