Page 57 of Shifters Awakening

When I leaped onto the fire escape of the next building over, a woman screamed from inside an apartment, and my plan to search from above would be detrimental. Instead, I decided to let the other attackers escape, and I returned to the parking area where Riley and Shannon stood in the middle of the gravel, shocked and overwhelmed.

When I dropped down from the fire escape, they both screamed and clung to each other, whimpering as I sauntered to my vehicle and changed from a big cat into myself. Weakly, I climbed to my feet and leaned heavily on the side of my car.

“Emma, is that you?” Shannon whispered haltingly. “You’re nude, and you… weren’t… you.”

“I can’t believe any of this is real,” Riley sobbed. “What is even happening? My boss is completely naked, and her clothes are all over the ground. Don’t even talk to me about bear and fox and… and… What the hell are you?”

“It’s me,” I panted. “Don’t be afraid of me. I would never hurt you two.”

Together, they whispered to one another, pulling away from me, each wiping tears from their cheeks while I tried to catch my breath. I caught something about being naked, and I stifled a wry grin.

Logan had said something about my problem with being naked in front of strangers, hadn’t he? Today, it had been the farthest thing from my mind, but for Shannon and Riley, it’d been a hell of an introduction to the existence of shifters. Would it be like this for everyone in my life now? How could I do that to the people I loved?

Clothing needed to happen since my other getup was in shreds on the gravel, and I stumbled down to my vehicle and peered into the windows. In the back seat of my car, I found a long coat, slipped into it, and zipped it up. It wasn’t a whole outfit, but it was enough to make me less naked.

And more exhausted.

My legs burned, and my mind spun as spots danced in my vision. Based on how my stomach growled, each change had burned through hundreds of calories. Three morphs so close together…

I had to learn how to do that without feeling like I was going to die afterward. Training wasn’t optional anymore. Getting back to Six-Mile had to happen as soon as possible. Olivia had more to teach me.

Shannon inched a little closer, looking me up and down as though she expected me to sprout another head. Hell, maybe that would become a part of my shifting too.

“It’s okay,” I said, keeping my voice low.

“What happened to you?” she rasped. “What was that?”

I waved to Riley and gestured for her to come closer. She shook her head from side to side, clearly terrified to get any closer to me.

“It’s a thing I can do now. A big important thing. But don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen.”

“I don’t think anybody would believe us,” Riley wailed. “Who would possibly believe us? This is insane.” She waved her arm around. “The whole world has gone insane.”

“Riley, give her a chance to explain,” Shannon added.

But I couldn’t respond to either of them as trying to figure out how long I could stay conscious kept my focus. Collapsing here wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to do that to my nursing assistants.

From the far side of the parking area, a friendly ginger face appeared. He raised a hand. “I see ye’ve had some trouble. Do I detect a bit of foxy in the air? And something else?”

Jasper! Oh, thank god.His friendly, unflappable smile brought a wave of relief so strong my knees nearly buckled.

I groped at my car to keep from slipping to the ground. “You might have,” I rasped.

Riley and Shannon whirled toward the sound of his voice. Riley scratched at the air, trying to look fierce, and Shannon lifted her umbrella to her shoulder like at bat.

Jasper chuckled at them. “Don’t ye two worry yer pretty little heads none. I’m here to help Emma.” He studied the two shifters on the ground. “Though, it seems she’s quite capable on her own.” His gaze cut to me. “I’ll get somebody here to clean up so the authorities don’t start poking around. In the meantime, we need to get ye out of here.”

“Are you one of those shapeshifters, too?” Shannon demanded, a fierce look plastered on her face, even though I could smell her suspicion.

Which meant Jasper could too.

“So I am,” he said. “One of the good ones.” He looked down at me. “I believe ye have something to explain to me, then,” he said, crossing his arms.

My ragged sigh left my body in stuttering bursts. “I’m sure you can guess.”

His face clouded. “The prophecy, then?”

“That’s what they tell me.”

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