Page 17 of Shaped to Be Yours

“It does?” The sky was a little overcast but not too ominous. “Oh right. You have magical storm sense along with your monster radar.”

“It's not magic. Some people are just more sensitive to things like changes in pressure and other environmental factors. It’s not magic that I can sense Cael and when other monsters are around either.”

“I wish I’d had that sense before I got attacked.”

“Those are the infamous woods, huh?” I felt Ricky’s head nod toward the trees.

“Yep. I haven’t been in there since.”

“You haven’t?”

“We were at school. When I came home for holidays, I couldn’t bring myself to go in there. I lucked out that I was never home around the full moon.”

“The moon affected you? Even though you’re not really a werewolf?”

“The people at the base back in Edgewind said maybe it was, um… psychosom… psycho-something.”

“Psychosomatic. You think you should change, so you do. It makes sense.”

“I can shift any time, but it’s harder to control when I see a full moon, like on the night I first changed. We got a couple weeks until the next one.”

“When that happens, this time you’ll have me with you.”

“Thanks.”

“Or…” Ricky lifted his head, eying me like he was thinking something devious. “If you wanted to show me now, or any time before the full moon, you could.”

“You want to see me like that?”

“You’re my friend. Myboyfriend. I want to know all of you. Every part of you. And the scientist in me is really curious, I won’t lie,” he finished in a rush.

It actually felt pretty good that Ricky wanted to see that side of me. “Excitement is better than fear. Okay. If you mean it.” I stood, squeezing Ricky’s hand before I released it. “But I need to get naked to avoid ruining my clothes, so, um… turn around, and I’ll go change in the woods. Gotta go back in there eventually.”

“You want me to turn around?”

“Well, yeah. You haven’t seen the goods yet.”

“It’s cute you think I never snuck a peek in the locker room.” Ricky snorted.

“You did not!”

“Maybe a glance.”

“With or without my underwear on?”

Ricky bit his lip with a guilty side eye.

“You freak!” I pushed him center chest, teetering him backward. “Irefrained, andyoupeeked! Oh, you so owe me some, um… tat for tat!”

Ricky laughed. But he didn’t look discouraged. “Show me the wolf. Then we’ll see about tat.” He lifted his feet from hanging off the porch and spun around to face the house.

Nowtatwas motivation.

Chapter 4

RICKY

Every time Jason took off a piece of clothing, he tossed it onto the back stoop beside me. When his jeans landed with the thud of his cellphone in his pocket, I realized how much an app was not the most ideal way to keep track of someone who got naked whenever they went full monster.

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