Page 1 of Shaped to Be Yours

Chapter 1

JASON

Glowing eyes in the dark.

In the trees.

Teeth.

Pain.

So much pain.

Bones cracking.

Body twisting.

Teeth and claws and fur, only it was mine now. All of it was mine. This was me.

What the fuck was I?

A bump from the train jarred me awake. I couldn’t say I minded. I’d been dreaming about those eyes again. Those teeth.The pain and fear and uncertainty, untilIwas the thing with teeth. With teeth like… like something. But what?

I’d thought I was a werewolf.

Apparently, I wasn’t.

My urge to hyperventilate was thankfully disrupted by Ricky’s head falling onto my shoulder. Ricky Ruas. My best friend. My… boyfriend? We hadn't been on a real date yet. We’d kissed a couple of times, agreed we wanted to be together, but graduation had suddenly just been here, and everything changed, while we were only at the beginning of trying to be an us.

Ricky was still asleep, dozing in the seat next to me. He smelled so good. I couldn’t complain about some of what not being human meant. Enhanced senses were nice. Other than when someone puked or pissed outside our dorm. But we didn’t live in a dorm anymore. We had officially graduated. We were adults, on the train to start our real lives.

Ricky was anyway. He’d been a Physics major with a concentration in Astronomy. He wanted to be acosmologistto study the makeup of the universe, particularly our connection to the monster realm. All tester towns, where monsters with visas were permitted to live among humans, had various studies going on at any time. Like in Edgewind, where we’d gone to college. It just so happened that my hometown had become another one.

Elder Ridge, home, was where I’d been attacked last summer and thought I’d gotten turned into a werewolf. Edgewind was where I’d found out I was wrong.

EARLIER THAT WEEK

“Mr. Bosco, please answer the question.”

“Huh?” I looked up, blinking through the haze ofwrongthat surrounded me, sitting in a cold, sterile, white room, like I was inMen in Blackor something, caught as an alien in disguise without a passport, and they were going to ship me back to my home planet. Only there was some truth to that, given I was a monster.

“Can you please state your full name for the record?”

“You know my name. You literally just called me Mr. Bosco.”

The man from the base fixed me with an unimpressed stare. I wasn’t sure if he was military. He wasn’t wearing a uniform. VeryMen in Blackin a black suit and tie, and as intimidating as anyone who could make you disappear.

“Whatever. Jason Oliver Bosco.”

“Thank you. And, for the record again, how did youbecomea werewolf?” He asked it as if he didn’t believe me.

“I’ve told you the same story, like, five times already.” I shifted in my seat, which I knew was uncomfortable on purpose. They wanted me to feel cornered, isolated, and a little bit freaked—or a lot freaked—so I’d trip up somehow and… what? Admit I lied? I hadn’t! None of it was a lie. Not as far as I knew.

“We are aware, Mr. Bosco, but we need to hear your story one more time, because this isn’t only about your visa. You are transferring from one protected town to another. Different people need this information. They need assurances that you are safe to be walking freely in the human realm.”

“I’m human!” I defended. “Or I was. I’m from the human world. I was born here. I’ve told you.”

“So, tell me again. One more time.”

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