Page 7 of Thayne
“You look like something the cat dragged in. We got a room set up for you and some clothes if you need a place to stay ‘til you get your feet back under you.” Until that moment, I didn’t realize Baron was tense but at Colton’s words his whole body seemed to relax at once.
“The room and clothes would be much appreciated especially considering your boy over here doesn’t like his mate looking at me when I’m naked.” Baron joked and I felt Thayne let out a growl. I tried patting his leg with my paw to comfort him and his growl stopped.
Colton peered into the truck looking from me to Thayne and back again smiling. Thayne picked me up, pulling me closer to his chest as he opened his door to get out. As we made our way around the front of the truck, a pretty woman with slightly curled black hair came barreling out the door of the house making a beeline to Thayne.
“Oh my god Thayne it’s so good to see you.” When she was just a few feet away from Thayne, my fox had my fur up, my back hunched, and hissed out a warning for her to back the fuck off. I was so embarrassed she’d never done anything like that before. The pretty lady skidded to a halt and looked over at Colton.
“Holy hot damn it’s true you found your mate!” Colton happily yelled out as he made his way over to the pretty woman putting his arm around her pulling her close to his body.
“Relax sugar; this is Katia, my mate. You got nothing to worry about from her.” My fox relaxed my body and curled into a ball in Thayne’s arms. Meanwhile I felt even more embarrassed for her behavior. Yep, stage five clinger that’s us.
“Has she been able to shift back yet?” Thayne shook his head and Katia gave us both a sad look.
“Well, some of the other shifters haven’t shifted back either. We think it has something to do with how fast their metabolisms are able to burn off the suppressors. Let’s get you guys inside. Then Colton can debrief you on what happened.” Hearing that other shifters hadn’t shifted back gave me hope that maybe Katia was right. I just need more time for my metabolism toburn off the suppressor drugs from my system.
Thayne followed behind Colton and Katia into the house as he softly scratched behind my ears in what felt like a reassuring gesture. He seemed to know exactly what I needed when I needed it. I’d think it was simply him reading my mind, but I didn’t think about him scratching behind my ears, he just did it. No, he definitely wasn’t cheating by reading my mind. He was putting in effort which made my heart melt just a little more for him.
Thayne
It’s beenfive of the longest damn days of my life. Scarlett still hasn’t shifted back, it’s like her body is refusing to shift or it’s just stuck. All the other shifters have shifted back, most by the second day. The rest happened at the beginning of the third day. She was the last one still in her animal form and it was starting to wear on her and her fox. Hell it was starting to wear on me.
I want to claim her, I want her to claim me, and we can’t do that as long as she’s trapped in her animal form. My animal has been itching to get out but I refuse to let him out until I’m sure Scarlett can handle him. As the days past, Scarlett started losing hope, withdrawing into herself more and more. I’ve tried to reassure her, but she’s convinced she’s doomed to be stuck as a fox for the rest of her life.
Colton finally called in Savannah, Raiden’s mate, a witch to see if she can help. It’s a last resort, we all know this. If she can’t help Scarlett my mate might be stuck as a fox forever. We’ll never be able to complete the bond. Scarlett already thinks I’ll abandon her if that’s the outcome, but what she doesn’t realize is that I'll never leave her.
She’s it for me, the other half to my whole, the missing piece of my puzzle that I didn’t even know was missing until she came into my life. Without her, my life would have no meaning. I wouldn’t be able to function. Savannah was our Hail Mary. I would pray on my hands and knees to whatever god or goddess that would make it work.
Scarlett was wandering the fields that surrounded Colton’s home. She’d started spending more and more time in nature since the fourth day and she still hadn’t shifted back. I was worried that the longer she stayed a fox the stronger the pull of nature would be on her. Eventually she wouldn’t even know what it was like to be human.
The only shifters I’d ever heard of that spent long periods of time as their animals were the feral ones. Shifters who couldn’t control their shifts. They usually lived off the grid in some remote location that could only be reached by hiking for miles. I didn’t want that life for Scarlett, Savannah would fix her. She had to; it was the only outcome I would even consider. I refused to believe anything else.
I was staring impatiently out the window waiting and watching for Savannah and Raiden to get there. Colton said they would be at his place by noon, but it was already after one and they still weren’t here. Where they hell were they, didn’t they know how important this was? My mate's whole existence was hanging in the balance here. We didn’t have time for them to be playing hide the salami. They needed to be here already. Even my leopard growled out in frustration.
Tired of this shit. This better fucking work.
This was just as hard on him if not harder than it had been for me. He was stuck inside my body until I felt it was safe for Scarlett to let him out. The longer I took to shift the more aggressive he would become. Colton had offered to stay with Scarlett so I could shift, but of course, my dumbass animal couldn’t handle any male but him protecting our mate.
Scarlett’s fox was so small and my animal loved to play with small animals. I was pretty sure he would never harm our mate. However, without us completing the mating bond I was concerned he wouldn’t be able to help himself. His instincts could kick in and then Scarlett would be the one to suffer the consequences.
I’d never hurt our mate. Bond or no bond she is ours and I will protect her with my life. Stop being a pussy and show me to her. I’ll fix her, I’ll make her all better if you just let me out.He pouted, prowling under my skin like he thought I’d just listen to him and let him out right then. I was just about to tell him no when Colton walked through the front door.
“Raiden just called, they'll be here in five minutes. They ran into some trouble, something to do with a wreck.” I let out a sigh of relief, just five more minutes and Scarlett would be fixed. Signing a quick thank you to Colton, I ran out the same door he came in to get Scarlett.
She thought I left her alone to roam the grounds, but what she didn’t realize is not only could I sniff her out but her thoughts gave her location away faster than her smell. Her busy little brain was constantly projecting all her little thoughts at me all the time. While we hadn’t bonded in the physical sense, our souls were already intertwined without us even trying. Yeah, no matter what happened with Savannah I’d never be able to leave Scarlett’s side even if I wanted to.
I found her chasing a butterfly in a bunch of yellow wildflowers. Her cute little tail and butt shaking right before she went to pounce on the butterfly; she let out a cute little growl huff when the butterfly was too fast for her. In her mind, I could hear her disappointment. She wanted to capture the butterfly as a present for me. Getting down on my knees, I got her attention and motioned for her to come with me. This was the biggest frustration, not being able to communicate without either Baron or Colton to help translate for me.
She must have sensed my frustration because she hopped over to me and rubbed her whole body against me before lifting her leg and spraying me. Startled, I jumped up and away from her, while she cringed at my feet. What the fuck was that about? Before I could try to find out, Scarlett ran full force through the wildflowers and into the woods. Fuck. I pulled my hair trying to figure out what to do.
Based on the thoughts that were blaring from her she didn’t understand what just happened either. I was pretty sure she’d just claimed me, based on the little I knew about fox shifters, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. I’d need to ask Colton to be certain. Scarlett was completely confused and embarrassed. At first, she was hoping the ground would just open up and let her hide for eternity. Then she was contemplating just living in the woods permanently and she was making a list of everything she would need to survive. Finally, she wondered if there was some kind of shifter witness-protection program she could join. Standing there a smile spread across my face for the first time in the last few days listening to her ideas of how to avoid me and wondering if she could die from embarrassment. The answer was she could never avoid me and I’d never let her die even from embarrassment. I’d tell her just that as soon as I could get her changed so we could communicate.
Scarlett
Why did you do that?Now he’ll definitely think we are crazy. I screamed at my animal inside.
He’s our mate, that's why. We claimed him so stop whining like a little bitch.
We must be broken, that's why we can’t shift back and this is just another symptom of our brokenness. Either we are nutso crazy or we are broken. Those are the only two reasons for why we can’t shift back. I paced back and forth at the edge of the woods watching Thayne stand there looking confused.
