Page 44 of Shaped to Be Yours

Kai hovered at the mouth of the clearing, waiting for us, as his parents started down the path. Jason came closer.

“Guess you met Kai, huh?” I said.

“Yeah. He sort of matched with me on the Monster Match app.”

“What?”

“I’ll get to that. First, I am really sorry, Ricky. I was freaked. I have been freaked, but you’ve been amazing.YouI trust. I will always trust you. So, if you trust Kai’s parents, and if they areanything like him, I’m betting you’re right that they won’t dissect me right away.”

“They won’t. But if they try, the only way I’ll be holding the scalpel is to keep them away from you. Are we okay?”

“We are. I don’t know ifIam. Butweare just fine.” Jason inched that last bit closer to me, almost pawing at my T-shirt to pull me to him. The day had warmed up a little, but the warmth from Jason sent an immediate rush of heat through me to banish my nerves.

We kissed, right in front of the exterior workstation, with two guards able to look on while eating their lunch, though at least it felt like their eyes stayed purposefully averted.

Kai’s eyes I could feel directly on us.

“You two are sweet together. It is so unfair,” he muttered, with a tone like he’d just been diagnosed with something terminal.

“Sorry, Kai,” Jason said with a laugh.

“I am still happy to have two new friends.”

“You got it,” I said, “but what’s this about the app?”

They explained as we traipsed down the path after Zinnia and Beck. I needed to get my hands on Jason’s profile so I could update what he was looking for to friendship before this happened again. I wasn’t jealous! But I also didn’t need cute, young monsters showing up, giving him options.

I more officially introduced Jason to Zinnia and Beck once we met up at the house. Since it wasn’t as cool anymore, we opted to eat on the porch, and Jason brought water out for everyone. Even without the guards present, I made a point of asking if it was okay that Kai was about to overhear a lot more than before, but Zinnia and Beck hand-waved it.

“Our son willlevearnothing,” Zinnia said.

“Reveal,mi bavi.”

“Oh yes. Now, what do you have to tell us?”

Jason spared no details, from telling them about the cat transformation, to some human father who’d been causing trouble at the school, and who’d been rallying people on the street corner outside Beastly Brewhouse.

Concern was warranted. If that crowd turned into a bold enough mob, nothing could keep them from the danger zone, and we still didn’t know what triggered the portal.

“Can you repeat the transformation?” Beck asked Jason.

“I don’t want to lose any more clothes, and I’m not feeling up to being naked right now, but…” Jason trailed off, centering himself as the rest of us were finishing our sandwiches—which he’d scarfed down the fastest, despite doing most of the talking. He summoned his half form, not enough to stretch his shirt or jeans too badly, with green eyes, whiskers, and stripes on his fur. “It feels different from the wolf version.”

“Can you switch to that one?” I asked.

Jason concentrated again, and as he did, his features changed. Green eyes became yellow, with whiskers and stripes vanishing, until the half-wolf form I’d seen before replaced the cat in a seamless ripple.

“Wow,” Kai said, and his parents looked equally amazed.

“All this from a bite?” Zinnia asked. “Both times?”

“Yes.” Jason released the animal aspects with a shake of his head like sloughing off rainwater. “But I don’t know for sure what the creature was that first bit me.”

“We should test a non-mammal,” Zinnia said. “A snake perhaps!”

“Yes!” agreed Beck.

“Uh…” I looked between the scientists and my boyfriend, who they were way too excited to turn into a guinea pig. “There were a lot of reasons why Jason was resistant to meet you. You can’t just ask him to potentially poison himself.”

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