Page 26 of Eternal Mate

“No, and I’m actually kicking myself over it. Spying on people would have been so much easier if I could have just warped in and out at any time… ah, well. It’s not like I was born knowing what to do.”

I pondered that for a bit. My curiosity was genuinely growing, despite it having been brought about by a need for small talk. “Can you do anything else demon-y?”

“Uh… I’m not sure,” he answered, somehow managing to frown with his wolf mouth. “I don’t even know what a demon’s supposed to fully do. Possess people? I haven’t even seen any other demons before now. Well, not sapient ones, I mean.”

I recalled that he’d been raised by a wolf and a witch, no demons, so that made a lot of sense. “I don’t really know, either. Maybe Barimuz could show you the ropes?”

His lips curled strangely. “I don’t think I want that shriveled-up husk as a mentor.”

I giggled. “He’s not that bad.”

“Not if he’s helping the Resistance, no. But he did give me a weird vibe the one time I met him.”

“Is it because you’re both demons?”

He tilted his head in the other direction. “Could be. I’m still not in a rush to go see him again.”

That was fair. “How did you figure out that you could transform into anything other than a wolf, then?”

“Oh, now that’s a story,” he said, giving me a cheeky smile. “Were you going to get food, too? Let’s talk while we walk.”

Ashe proceeded to give me a rundown of his entire life story. I was both surprised and not surprised at all that he was so forthcoming about it.

Apparently, he’d been born a ‘demonic-looking puppy’ instead of a baby, and hadn’t been able to take human form until he was about five years old. Jack had needed to cast an illusion spell to pass him off as a small, slow-growing dog until he could, where they’d then made up a story about finding him in foster care.

On a day some years later, Ashe had really, really wanted to be a hawk for some reason. When he’d spontaneously become one, his uncle had nearly gotten a heart attack because he couldn’t find him, and Ashe had nearly died himself because the shift was unstable. Shifting into a wolf was easiest, animals were medium difficulty, and people the hardest, he said.

While Elias had been able to teach him to shift better after that because of, well, being a shifter, that was about the end of Ashe’s own discovery of his powers. Even after researching demons—which hadn’t been that enlightening due to the lack of reliable and non-cult sources—he hadn’t been able to discover any other powers.

Until the one portal, that was.

He theorized that because he hadn’t wanted to teleport badly enough before that point, the power hadn’t ‘activated’ yet, much like how his ability to shift into non-wolf, non-human things hadn’t happened until he’d really wanted to be a bird.

That, or the sudden mate bond had dislodged something. He wasn’t too sure.

As the dining hall came into view, I asked, “Speaking of that, why did you make Auren look like he was losing his mind? We were genuinely getting worried about him.”

He flashed me all of his fangs in a smile again. “Honestly? I thought it was hilarious.”

For about the sixth time today, I was flabbergasted. My expression made him literally bark out a husky laugh. Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised, though. From what I already knew of the hybrid, he was more than a bit strange.

“What, you don’t think a ‘tough guy’ persona who goes around with this no-nonsense look on his face and wears aviators at night suddenly talking to animals is funny?”

Well, okay. Maybe I saw his point. Imagining the Auren of before, his arms crossed and mouth in a set line, calling for a cat in the flattest tone ever was pretty ridiculous.

I was finding it hard to laugh too much, though, especially since there was one detail that sort of bugged me. “Has he told you why he wears the aviators, though?”

Ashe visibly cringed. “Yeah. In retrospect, it’s really not that funny.”

We reached the hall, and he snapped right into being human again, clothes and all. I envied him a bit—again—for not needing to think about the logistics of shifting or worry about flashing anyone.

“Is being able to shift whenever you want another demon perk?” I asked curiously, and he sent me a winning smile.

“Yep. My clothes get teleported to an alternate dimension.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

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