Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Saxon shrugged.
“Just part of my job, little one.”
“Well, you’re really good at it,” Mirabella said appreciatively. “How did you ever smell the drug in it? All I could smell was attar of roses—it was so strong!”
“Probably because you’re only smelling the top layer of scent,” Lynx told her. “But there are many layers to every fragrance or odor—a Shifter can smell them all.”
“Lynx is right.” Saxon nodded. “They’re obvious to us—the scent layers, I mean. Especially when we’re in our Fur Form.”
“Is that why you, uh, Shifted? Are your senses sharper in that form?” she asked curiously.
Saxon nodded.
“Yeah, helluvalot sharper.”
“I see.” Mirabella shifted in her seat between them. “I was wondering…” She trailed off.
“Go on—whatever it is, we won’t be upset,” Lynx urged gently.
“Well…I know you’re kind of touchy about the subject, but I’d like to know more about your, uh, Fur Forms,” she said tentatively, looking up at both of them. “I’ve seen you in several different levels, I guess is the best word. I mean, when you’re just barely Shifted, you look kind of like teddy bears because you’re all covered with fur except your faces.”
“Teddy bears?” Saxon frowned.
“A stuffed animal from Earth. I’m guessing your father brought you one when you were younger?” Lynx asked, lifting an eyebrow at her.
“Yes, he did.” Mirabella nodded. “What do you call it—when you’re in that, uh, teddy bear mode?”
“We call that a quarter-Shift,” Saxon growled. “It sharpens our senses and reflexes and let’s us draw on the animal knowledge of our Fur Form without causing us to lose our humanoid form and features.”
As he spoke, he Shifted for her, allowing the shaggy black pelt of his Fur Form to sprout all over his body. Lynx did the same.
“Oh!” Mirabella looked surprised at first, but then she put a hand on both of their arms, rubbing up and down appreciatively. “Like velvet,” she murmured. “So soft—I like this form.”
“We can stay in it if you like,” Lynx offered. “It’s not uncomfortable for us.”
“Better than being fully humanoid all the damn time,” Saxon growled. “That gets fucking tiring.”
“What about the other form? The one where you both have, uh, animal heads?” Mirabella asked hesitantly. “I hope I put that the right way and didn’t offend you,” she added quickly.
“Of course not, my Lady,” Lynx said courteously. “The form you’re referring to is a half-Shift. It puts us exactly in the middle of our humanoid and Fur Forms.”
“Is there such a thing as a three-quarters Shift?” Mirabella asked curiously.
Saxon swore under his breath and Lynx looked grave.
“No, my Lady. The form after that is a full-Shift—all the way to our Fur or animal form. But we dare not do that.”
“Why not?” Mirabella asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“We don’t mind,” Lynx assured her. “It’s just that without a mate to call us back, we have no way to exit our full Fur Form and get back to our humanoid form.”
“And it’s not just our body that changes—it’s our mind—we go completely feral,” Saxon told her.
“Which is why none but a Bonded mate can call us back from the animal side,” Lynx explained.
“What happens if you do a full-Shift and you don’t have a Bonded mate to call you back?” Mirabella asked.
She was getting near a very touchy subject, but Saxon understood she just wanted to know more about them. She didn’t understand fully what she was asking.
“It’s fucking bad,” he told her, deciding to leave the explaining to Lynx.
“We have a pact,” Lynx told her, clearly choosing his words delicately. “That if either of us should get caught as a mindless beast, the other will commit Shai’ki’rai for both of us.”
“Shai’ki’rai?” Mirabella frowned. “What’s that?”
“It means the one still in his right mind will shoot the other and then shoot himself,” Saxon growled.
“What?” Her lovely green eyes went wide. “So…it’s a suicide pact?”
“Essentially,” Lynx admitted. “But it’s necessary. You can’t imagine how big and destructive our Fur Forms are.”
“I’ve seen vids of wolves and lynxes from Earth,” Mirabella protested. “They’re scary but they’re not that big.”
“Take what you saw and multiply it by three,” Saxon growled. “My Fur Form—my Wolf—is as big as a fucking horse. A really huge horse.”
“My Lynx is the same,” Lynx acknowledged. “Both our Fur Forms can be utterly savage—they’re uncontrollable since we have no mate.”
“What if you had a mate…I mean, what if you found someone—” Mirabella began but Saxon cut her off.
“We had a mate,” he said harshly, withdrawing his arm from around her shoulders. “Had—past fucking tense. We’re never going to have another.”
Then he rose and went to the back of the ship, images of Kara filling his head as guilt swamped him. Because when Mirabella had talked about them taking another mate, he’d wanted—for a moment—to ask if she would be their mate.
It was something he knew he could never do.