AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s perfect. We can do pizza if you like.”
“Well, I suppose that would cement your reputation with the kids as the coolest guy on the planet.”
I laugh and say, “Should I go buy movies, or will streaming cover everything?”
“We’ve got it all online, hotshot,” she says.
“Okay,” I say, “Then I’ll leave it all up to you.” I hang up and smile. It’s strange to realize I already can’t imagine my life without this woman.
I don’t go directly to the house. I have a few hours and I need to head into the wild. For me, sometimes as a cat will settle things.
I realize I haven’t shifted since Rose died. The thought hits me hard but rather than stopping me, it inspires me. Some shifters find shifting helpful when they’re depressed. Others have trouble shifting while depressed or even stop altogether. For me, the desire to shift is a sign that I’m recovering from my grief. It’s strange because I don’t feel as though I grieve Rose any less. Her absence still feels like a knife in my chest. Still, the fact that I anticipate the shift is a sign that my body is ready to resume a normal life once more and it’s a welcome change after five months of numbness.
As soon as I park, I bound out of the driver’s seat. I am halfway through the shift when it occurs to me that I should take my clothes off so they don’t tear. I do and finally, I am free!
I run across the field swiftly, drinking in the feel of the dirt and grass under my feet, the smell of the pine that wafts toward me, and the rush of the wind through my fur.
And for the first time since Rose’s death, I feel free.
Wide chasm approaches and I grunt and leap over it. I hang in the air for a beautiful, crystalline moment before my paws touch the other side and I’m running again.
Leopards are arboreal cats and leopard shifters their preference for high places, so as soon as I reach the forest, I rush up one of the trees and begin leaping from branch to branch, startling several squirrels and a family of woodpeckers.
As I run, I feel a change take place in my emotions. I still grieve for Rose but the grief is no longer the heart-stopping gut punch it was before. I still worry about Angel but the worry is more akin to the natural concern any parent has for their child than it is to any immediate fear of losing her to child services. I love Kelly and—
I miss my footing and tumble through the branches to the forest floor. I land on my feet, thanks to the lightning-quick reflexes of my leopard, but come to a halt nonetheless.
I love Kelly.
I repeat the thought a third time just to make sure it was really what I thought it was.
I love Kelly.
The thought fills me with a surge of energy, and I roar loudly before bounding off again.
As I run, I repeat the thought over and over and over and each time I repeat it, my grief lessens, and my happiness increases. When I return to my car and shift back to human form, I shout at the top of my lungs, “I love Kelly!”
Hearing myself say it out loud fills me with joy and for the first time, that joy isn’t tinged with grief.
CHAPTER NINE
Kelly
“Are you a shifter?” I ask.
What’s that song from the 1990s? I think it goes, “It’s apropos of nothing.” I think it is. Well, I guess for Raymond the question is apropos of nothing. It’s random. It’s out of nowhere. It’s completely unprompted. Its…
“Well, that’s out of the blue,” he replies.
Ah… Out of the blue. Yes, it’s that, too. “Are you?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says without hesitation, and I admire that.
“And you didn’t tell me because you were afraid I wouldn’t want you?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t tell you because we’re all conditioned to keep it secret. It’s not about you. It’s about…” He shrugs and says, “Imagine if you were a creature that’s the source of all the monsters in movies people are afraid of. Werewolves. Vampires. A million other things. All those legends came from people seeing shifters. It’s not something you tell someone.”
“Would you ever have told me if I didn’t ask?”
