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“What about a bat, for echolocation?”
“The bear will give you excellent night vision, but should you find yourself in a dark basement, for instance, with zero light for the bear’s eyes to amplify, then a bat could be helpful. The narwhal has the best sonar, but it’s made to be used underwater, so the bat is a better choice, but you need to understand that you’ll be hearing sounds well outside of the human range. You’ll get that with the bear as well, but the bat can hear sounds much, much higher. With your sensory issues, I don’t recommend it.”
Right, because crowds bothered her for a myriad of reasons, and the sounds of so many people talking at once was one of the things that closed in on her.
“Okay, so a bear and maybe an axolotl for now, and we hold off on deciding anything else?”
“That gives you land, water, and air, so I think it’s a nice start. The axolotl should also allow you to breathe underwater. I’m not certain of the mechanism, or how it works, but it does with other underwater beings, so long as they aren’t tightly covered when you swim.”
“So, high up on my thigh then? It won’t show in shorts, but will in a bathing suit.”
“If you’re wearing leggings and someone tries to drown you, it won’t be able to help, but if you’re wearing loose jeans, so it has water it can breathe, then it will. Its gills will visibly work, which will freak people out if they see it, so beware.”
Lauren shook her head. That didn’t sound right. “A tiny tattoo shouldn’t be able to draw in enough oxygen for my whole body.”
He shrugged. “People who have a tattoo of a great white shark at one-ninth its size get enough oxygen. The next number is 81, and a great white at one-eighty-first size is enough to breathe as well. An axolotl isn’t something the Chinese generally know about though, so I can’t be sure, but based on how it works for other fish and amphibians, it should be fine.”
“Well then, a shark might be the next tattoo, if the axolotl can’t breathe underwater for me, because that’d be a cool skill to have.”
“Can I ask what happened with Nick?”
Lauren sighed. “He was an asshole, but then I was a horrible bitch, and I disrespected him in front of Gavin and Ambrose, which I guess he either doesn’t want to forgive or can’t forgive. Queenie packed my things and took them to Ambrose’s place because Nick wouldn’t even let me back in the house to pack.”
“What did he do to be an asshole?”
“He said things that…” She stopped, considered how the fight began, and started again. “I think it hurt his feelings that I got the tattoo without telling him, but at the time, it came across as him being pissed because he didn’t give permission. I tried to explain this was something I needed to do on my own, without someone holding my hand. It was important I do it, and I guess I understand why it was important now, but I didn’t when we had the fight. Anyway, things were said, and then he told me I’d chosen two alpha men who were incapable of offering me a monogamous relationship because I don’t really want a relationship, and they’re bothsafe. Neither can make monogamous demands of me because they can’t give the same to me.”
“Was he right?”
Aaron asked the question as if it were a completely normal thing to ask. No judgement, just a question.
And Lauren knew the answer. “I didn’t think so, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, it’s possible there’s a grain of truth in there.”
He lifted a brow. “Just a grain?”
Okay, maybe a little judgement, but said with humor, and this was her Uncle Aaron. He could get away with it, but mostly because he was right.
Lauren returned his smile. “Okay, a couple of grains. Maybe.”
“Gavin is more than capable of protecting you, but it’s hard for me to trust him when he isn’t under Zander’s influence. I’d feel better if Nick were in the mix.”
“I like to think I can take care of myself, but I understand that until I learn control while people are attacking me, that might not be the case.”
“You’ll be ahead of the learning curve. You already know how to use adrenaline, and how to keep it from dumping in large quantities that do more harm than good. You’re used to reacting to an attack with clarity of thought and purpose. I have zero concerns that you won’t be able to learn the kind of control necessary so we can turn you loose on the population.”
“I still want to talk to Sophia. I feel like she understands birds and there’s something she can tell me that I’m going to need to know.”
Aaron looked at her a few moments, lifted his phone and fiddled with it, and a few moments later, Sophia stepped into the room.
“I’ll leave the two of you to talk,” Aaron said, standing. He gave Sophia a chaste kiss on the lips, and he left the room.
“So, I have this tattoo, and it’s sentient, and it can fly away from me, and when it returns, I know everything it saw and heard and sensed.”
Sophia pulled Lauren into a hug, and Lauren nearly started crying. To everyone else, Sophia and Aaron were the Swan Queen and Dragon King, but to her, they were family. She hugged the woman who was like an aunt to her back, and told her, “I need to do right by him. I need to understand him.”
Lauren was still wearing a spaghetti-strap top, and Sophia stroked the side of Ying’s neck. Lauren felt it both on her shoulder, and as Ying felt it.
“A hawk’s first instinct is to fly away, but they are also quite protective, so they’ll often flytowardsthe danger in attack mode, flapping and using those lethal talons to shred whatever they can grab. Also, your bird’s life is tied to yours. If you die when he’s on you, he’ll die as well. He’s going to have to trust you to keep everyone alive, if you expect him to stay on you when danger presents itself.”
