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Dillon slowly got to his feet and plodded back to his clothes. He sniffed the air and didn’t detect any other humans, so he shifted back into his human form and quickly got dressed.
“Wow, Mom. Did you see that?” Zeke exclaimed.
“Yes, I did,” Clara said, staring at Dillon with wide eyes.
“You’re a wolf,” Zeke said.
“I’m a shifter,” Dillon said. “I can change from being human to wolf and back again.”
“Wow,” Zeke said. “That’s awesome. I want to be a shifter.”
“Unfortunately, you have to be born a shifter,” Dillon said. “My parents are both shifters, and so I am one, too. Your mom and dad are regular humans, so you are a regular human. There is nothing wrong with that. I know some very special regular humans in this world, and you are one of them.”
“Does it hurt when you change?”
“Nope, not at all.”
“How do you do it?”
“I just focus on being a wolf and then I’m a wolf. When I’m ready to change back, I focus on being a human and then I’m a human,” Dillon explained.
“That is so cool,” Zeke said.
Then, Dillon got serious.
“Zeke, I need you to listen closely to me. You can’t tell anyone that I’m a shifter,” Dillon said.
He wasn’t sure how to explain the situation to the little boy.
“Zeke, there are some bad people in the world who want to hurt shifters like Dillon because they are different. There are even people who come into the café or who go to Dillon’s store who would want to hurt him if they knew that he was a shifter. That’s why it has to be a secret,” Clara said.
Zeke thought about it for a second and said, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to Dillon. I won’t tell anyone but Reno, and Reno can’t tell people because he only talks to me.”
“That sounds like a deal,” Clara said.
The warm sun had dried Zeke out and he was starting to yawn.
“Are you going to be able to hike back down the mountain by yourself?” Dillon asked. “I can carry you if you want.”
“I’m a big boy. I can walk,” Zeke said. “Mom says that people yawn because they need more oxygen. I’m not tired, I just need more oxygen.”
Dillon laughed. They made sure that they picked up all of their trash. He scuffed the wolf prints so that there was no sign that he had shifted there, and then they headed back down.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Zeke asked when they got back.
“If it’s okay with your mom,” he said, looking at Clara.
“Of course. We’re having hamburgers and mac n cheese for dinner.”
“Sounds delicious,” Dillon said.
He, Zeke, and Reno played tag out back while Clara cooked. Zeke insisted on a couple ofSorry!games after dinner. Then, he asked Dillon if he would read to him again.
Once Zeke was tucked into bed, he and Clara sat on the couch.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were a shifter?” she asked.
“I thought about telling you several times, but I just wasn’t sure how. I mean, it’s awkward to say ‘Dinner was delicious and by the way, I’m a wolf shifter.’ I’ve never told a mundane human that I was a shifter before. It’s been ingrained in shifters, since they are babies, that they can’t tell anyone who they really are. It’s way too dangerous, even in areas outside of Ivy Springs.”
