Page 60 of Quiet Burn

He’s the first person to think so and I’m going to cry if I think about that too hard.

Animal

Salem

Kit came out of the doc’s office looking a bit green. He was clutching a bottle, so I assumed he got medicine for whatever Dr. D thought he should have it for, but he wasn’t willing to discuss it further. O and I didn’t press; the poor kid was clearly processing something and Dottie abandoned us to comfort him immediately.

But now we’re back in the room, and everyone else will show up once the pizza arrives. I had Oriel warn off the herd until then so Kit could go to his room to change and take a few minutes to himself without being bombarded. I don’t know what Dr. D told him, but it’s definitely fucking with his head and I can understand that. It’s easy for hybrids like us to forget what it was like when our shit came into effect because we were prepared for it our entire childhoods. KK is dealing with all of this at once, plus his own shit.

It’s normal to be overwhelmed, I think.

“I’m no good at this, you know. Kit Kat’s way better,” Oriel says grumpily. I recruited him to help get the room ready forour study session/dinner, and he begrudgingly agreed. It hasn’t stopped him from bitching, though.

“Dude, we’re giving him a second to breathe. I doubt whatever went on was serious, but we grew up knowing we’d have demon magic and shifting and all that shit. The doc has to trickle the stuff we learned as kids to him little by little. I can’t imagine trying to comprehend it here from where he’s from.”

The dark haired crow shifter thinks about that briefly, then sighs. “True. He hasn’t even seen any of us full shift yet—on either side. Hell, he hasn’t seenanyonego total demon or total animal yet.”

Oh, shit that’s true.

“We should probably do that before this Games stuff ramps up, huh?” I say as I check my phone. The message from downstairs says the pizzas are here, so I forward that to Zav to handle. “I don’t know if all at once is a good idea, though.”

“Only one way to find out,” Oriel shrugs as he sets drinks on the low table in the middle of our new hang-out spot in the living room. “Let’s ask Kit himself.”

“Ask me what?”

We both look at him sheepishly as he comes in dressed in the baggy sweats. After a few seconds of silence, I give in. “We realized you haven’t seenanyonego full demon or completely shift. That’s probably not good with the Games and all. Being shocked won't be good for your anxiety.”

He pads over to his chair, tucking his legs under him as Dottie scampers to the arm of their chair. “You’re probably right aboutthat. I have all sorts of… ideas? But none of it is real until I see for myself.”

Arching a brow, I walk over to stand in front of his chair, tilting my head. “Oriel thinks we shouldn’t do it all at once. Maybe… one at a time? What would you prefer?”

Kit’s eyes widen and he looks from me to Oriel then at the door. “Uhhh. All together seems like a lot. Smaller groups or one-on-one might be less jarring.”

“How about now?” O says as he joins me. He flicks his hair off of his face, dark eyes watching my roommate carefully. “Salem and I could do one or the other before everyone invades. If you want, I mean.”

Dottie puts her hands out, making a motion like we should scoot back as Kit just gapes. I chuckle, taking a step back from the two of them and O follows. Kit licks his lips, looking very nervous as he murmurs, “Maybe… um… show me animals first? ‘Cause you can like… fully shift or half shift in both, right? So you’re going to do that?”

“Do you want to see both?” I ask. “We definitely can do that. It might help ease you into the whole ‘shifter’ thing.”

“Yeah. Okay. Um…” Kit sucks in a breath and blows it out, his face flickering between expressions until he hits resolve. “Do it halfway first then, um, whole. Just animals right now. I think I can deal with that.”

“I’ll go first.” I step back again, shaking my limbs. “I’m pretty cuddly looking.”

Kit sits his chin on his knees, nodding, and I let the panda come forward enough to expose ears, a tail, and then finally, anupright humanoid version. He gasps, putting his hand over his mouth as his eyes widen. “This is like an anime!”

At least, I think that’s what he says… it’s pretty muffled by his hand.

I give him a panda-human grin then nod at Oriel. “You go now, dude.”

In a blink, O has shifted to his humanoid crow form—dark, feathered, sharp-eyed and with large black wings. “We can talk, by the way, but most hybrids can’t in their shifted forms. In Hell, royalty or species leaders can.”

“Like an alpha or something?” Kit Kat practically squeaks when he lifts his palms. “Those are the shifters who can talk?”

“Exactly,” I reply. “Are you ready for the rest of the way?”

His eyes widen more, but he nods, swallowing hard. “Go ahead. I’m as ready as I can be.”

Winking, I let the panda take over completely. My hands drop to the ground and my bulk gets bigger until I’m furry and muzzled. Since I’m bigger than a normal panda, I give him a second to adjust before I pad over to bump his hand with my nose lightly. “Still me, man.”

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