Page 27 of Riding A Cock-Horse
“You heard Beyoncé—youdidn't put a ring onthis. ‘Til then, I'm a free agent and I'll wink at whoever I want to.”
“Wink?Is that what they’re calling it nowadays? And it's a little bit more complicated than that, don't you think?” Jack parries.
“Not really—all you have to do is ask me to be your girlfriend.”
Jack runs a hand through his grayish-brown hair and looks away.
“I didn't think you did boyfriends and girlfriends, or anything like that.”
Now, I slam my hands on my hips.
“Excuse me?! Just because I’m a fiend of… er, sexual deviancy doesn’t mean that I can’t commit! Is that what you think?!”
Jack finally stares back at me, a little sheepish.
“Actually, yeah, that's exactly what I thought.”
I suck in a breath and hear an angry hiss behind me. I swivel around to see the black mamba rising up; its baleful glare trained fully on Jack.
“No, no, it's ok. We're not mad at him—well, we are—will you just go back to sleep?” I snap at the scaley menace.
The snake hesitates before receding back down, coiling into the crook of my lower back once more.
“Woah!” I whisper. “Did you guys see that?! I'm like a snake charmer!”
I see the gang looking suitably impressed at my talents.
“You have formidable control of your animal already, lass” Phineas praises, and I smile, proud of myself.
“At least we won't need any antivenom immediately—but we probably need some just in case. All right, Jude, help me. Tell me how I can shift back into being human.”
“You know,” the laird of the clan starts, “it might be better for you to shift into your animal and then shift back into being human.”
I shudder at the thought.
I really don't want to do that, and he really doesn't want that to happen.
Arthur tells his uncle as such, but the man just shrugs.
“This isn't something we've ever seen before. Any of our kind that's ever been spliced hasn't been able to act like this-they're in acute pain. How to tell her to shift from one form to another is not something that I think we can articulate to her, but she might recall becoming her animal more readily.”
“Well, can someone please try to explain!” I plead in desperation. “I'm not going to be able to go anywhere like this!”
“How did it feel when you first shifted?” Elise wonders.
I think back to the boat before answering.
“It was burning and painful—like something was trying to get out of me. But I didn't feel that this time! I was just sitting here; then—BOOM—all of a sudden I felt a poking sensation as something ripped out my pants and was a man-eating snake.”
Theo raises a brow.
“It just happened? What were you thinking about?”
I pause, wondering.
“Well… I was upset—am upset—about how Primaries are treated, and how shifters feel like they have to live their lives. You know, that you all think humans would be such a threat. Everything is so much more difficult for your species—but especially for Primaries. I don't like how you're treated and the thought enraged me.”
Arthur nods sagely.
