Page 21 of Bread By the Grim
I huff a laugh. “Well, it is definitely fitting.” The little gray guy starts to crawl up my shirt until he’s perched on my shoulder.
Kaz laughs. “I’ve never had one take to a stranger that quickly. Are you in the market for a new pet?”
“I’d have to ask Grim first–” I start, remembering what’s waiting for me at home.
Something at Kaz’s side starts to growl, and he looks down with a sigh. He picks one of the lupigs up and holds it up to the light. “You are far too young, young man,” he admonishes.
“Far too young? What’s happening to it?”
He holds it out for me to see with a sigh. “Do you see how it’s shedding and all patchy? It’s starting its shift. Basically, it’s going into heat. It’s going to get bald and ugly here pretty soon, and I’ll have to let it mate, or it will lose its mind and stay bald and ugly forever.” He turns it so it’s looking at him. “I thought I had more time to get you fixed, friend,” he says to the lupig.
I grab the gray lupig off my shoulder and hold it close to my chest. “So they all would go throughthat?”
He nods. “In nature they would. They reach maturity, and their sense of smell develops to the point where they can detect potential mates nearby. Then they shift until they’ve mated. They use the hair they shed to build a nest. If I get them fixed before it happens, then they never have to shift, but it seems I’m a little late for this guy.”
“So it happens quickly?” My brain is running a mile a minute. We aren’t much different from animals. Heck some animals share most of their chromosomes with us. What if Grim’s species is like the lupigs?
“Yeah,” Kaz says as my brain keeps running through all the possibilities. “It can be over and done in 24 hours if the conditions are right.”
I look down at the little lupig in my arms. “I’d like this little guy, but I need a few days. Can I pay you now and come back for him?”
Kaz examines me for a moment. “Sure. Is it anything I can help with? We have payment plans if you can’t afford a cage–”
I shake my head. “Grim’s sick with the flu, and I’m running the place on my own. I just want to wait until I have some spare time to get the little guy acclimated to his new home.”
He nods. “Gotcha.”
I hand him my debit card to pay for my little lupig. “I’ll be back!” I promise him as I hand the littleguy back to him. “Thank you for all your help!” I call as I hurry out.
“You’re welcome!” he calls, a confused expression on his face.
I have an idea.
Grim is going to hate it.
Chapter 13
Grim
Ican’t sleep.
I can’t eat.
I can’t do much of anything but pace this apartment that’s too small for my shifted form.
Everything itches, and I just want to run. Where to, I don’t know, but there’s this urge to run fast and far from here.
You’d think with as many cryptids living in this town that have tails there’d be more furniture for people with tails but no. Every normal thing requires extra thought when you have a tail—sitting, sleeping, stepping outside, even shitting. It’s a whole ordeal I didn’t sign up for.
And then there’s Phil.
She comes to visit twice a day. She brings me food and tries to cheer me up, but I always cut hervisits short. I hate doing it. I hate seeing her leave, but my control has begun to wane in the past few days. She’s all I can think of. I swear I can sense her every movement downstairs, hear her every word. Even her scent seems to grow stronger.
It makes coherent thought hard. Every thought I’ve ever had about her is magnified one thousand fold until Sunday rolls around and all I can think about is sex. And Phil. And sex with Phil.
Phil. Phil. Phil. Phil.
Her name becomes a chant in my brain.
