Page 70 of Stubborn as a Shadow

I’d expected him to chatter away at me, but he didn’t. It made me wonder if he couldn’t in this form. It’d be unusual, but everything about him was. But that was okay. We didn’t need words. I knew he wanted to play.

I walked through the snow toward him. When I arrived in front of him, I held his gaze for a long moment.

“I mean it,” I whispered, lifting my hand to touch his mane. From this close, I could see that even his white hair sparkled like freshly fallen snow. “You are gorgeous. Thank you for showing me this side of you.”

It was a privilege. And I vowed to do everything I could to earn the trust he’d bestowed on me. He pushed his nose into my shoulder, as if urging me to get on with it.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I let my human body slip away until only the shadow remained. As soon as my shift was complete, Morgan trotted toward the loop road, flinging his mane from side to side. It reminded me of how he twitched his cape when he walked. Once he was on the road, he started high stepping like a show horse.

If I’d been in my human form, I would have shaken my head at his antics. Instead, I swirled close to his ears and whispered, “Come get me.”

Then I raced ahead.

He reared and took off after me. I didn’t go as fast as I could have; I didn’t want to hide from him. A couple of times I evenlet him catch me. And when he did, he wiggled and bounded through the snow like a colt.

We went around the loop road more times than I could count. You’d think it would have been boring, but it wasn’t. I don’t think I’d ever felt so happy, even as a child.

When we finally shifted back to our clothed human forms and returned to the cabin, Morgan was giggling and shooting rainbow bubbles through the air like a bubble machine at a kid’s birthday party. We stripped off our jackets and shoes and set them by the fire, even though we hadn’t been in our human forms long enough to get them wet.

Then we settled in front of the fire on the woolen blanket Morgan had found earlier. It was nice to sit so close to the fire with him. Some might even say it was romantic.

But that wasn’t it. Really.

“Thank you,” Morgan said. “That was perfect.”

I wanted to tug him close, kiss his rosy cheeks, and taste his smile. I didn’t. Instead, I said, “You won’t have to wait so long to shift once we’re in Willow Lake.”

His eyes took on a dreamy quality. “You make Willow Lake sound like a fantasy world. It’s too good to be true.”

“Hardly that. It has problems like anywhere else.” After all, I couldn’t see anyone meeting Paws and thinking they were in a fairytale, but the community did have its moments. And it would be easier for a supe like Morgan to live in a place like Willow Lake, where he wouldn’t have to hide so much. I wanted to give him that freedom and safety. I wanted to give him Willow Lake.

We sat in front of the fire deep into the night. We talked about his favorite sitcoms and my favorite geocaches and everything in between. But when Morgan couldn’t say more than a few words without yawning, I knew I couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer.

“We should hit the hay,” I said, just to tease him.

“Is that a horse joke?” He snorted and rolled his eyes. “But honestly, I am glad we aren’t sleeping on hay. The stuff makes me itchy.”

Earlier in the day, we’d decided to leave the bed made, so there wasn’t much to do. We each took turns going outside to take care of our needs, then all that remained was to crawl into bed.

We chose the same sides we’d taken the night before. I didn’t even try to pretend we wouldn’t end up entwined again. I opened my arms, and Morgan cuddled right in.

Doing this was dangerous. I knew that. But I was beginning to think the danger might be worth it. Just for tonight.

27

COMFORT AND KISSES

MORGAN

Where a moment ago I’d been so tired I nearly crashed out on the floor in front of the fire, I was awake now. Like so very, very awake.

You wouldn’t think it’d work that way. I was warm and cozy. The only sounds were the fire crackling and the soft hush of Nelson’s breathing. I should have been zonked out, but I wasn’t.

Neither was Nelson.

I pushed up on my elbow to look at his face. I didn’t need to. I’d know if he was lying without looking at him. But I wanted to see him. I liked his face. I liked everything about him.