I PLANNED TO SNEAK out and charge my pelt. To shift beneath the neighbors’ ungated shrubbery. To pretend to be a dog while running until my toenails bled.
I wasn’t counting on Luke trailing behind me, invisible and silent. I didn’t realize he was present until I’d toed off one shoe and started on the next.
“Really? Here? In broad daylight?”
It was like the first time we’d met, only somehow very different. I hopped around to face him, realizing as I did so how absurd it was to care whether I got my sock coated in mulch.
I’d planned for this scenario, of course. The spot was secluded and rarely visited, but there was a chance the neighbor kids would be outside playing. That’s why I’d spread my pelt on the ground beside me, skin up so I could dive atop it and shift if caught in the act.
