This wasn’t funny. Stop!
No sound came from her.
Oh, God, she couldn’t speak! She couldn’t see!
She whimpered.
As she lay there, everything began to return to normal. She heard a dog barking outside. A car zoomed past. A neighbor called her children to come inside.
For a moment, Callie just lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath, letting the world catch up to her. The pain wasn’t so bad now. At least, she didn’t feel as though her body was going to explode.
Finally, she opened her eyes. Something wasn’t right. She felt different. The room looked the same, only bigger. Why did everything look so big?
Her movements were disjointed as she made her way to the bedroom. Rogar better have some answers, and he’d better have them damned fast. She paused in front of the full-length mirror in the hallway, which was the only place she had space for it.
There was a rabbit in her house. Why was there a white furry rabbit in her house? And where was her reflection? She only saw the damned rabbit.
She had her explanation, Rogar was a vampire! They did exist. He’d probably bitten her that first night and now she was a vampire, too, and that was why she had no reflection. She’d never be able to go into the daylight again. Oh, God, no more Krispy Kremes.
Oh, great, the rabbit crapped in her floor. Black pellets were on her clean floor.
“You’ve changed form,” Rogar said from her bedroom doorway at the end of the hall.
He was still talking crazy. Why didn’t he just admit she was a vampire and now would be doomed to live forever? Never to know if her makeup was on straight because she had no reflection.
She thought about that for a moment. If she lived forever, she was bound to get the animal keeper job. But then, she couldn’t go into the light of day. It might be kind of difficult to work only at night.
Rogar came toward her. Good, because she was about to lay into him. He would regret ever turning her. Bleh, she was not about to drink blood to stay alive.
He stooped and picked up the rabbit, except she knew he was picking her up.
“I know things are confusing right now, but it will all get easier in time.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“You make a cute rabbit,” he said.
Rabbit? Rabbit! She’d shifted into a freakin’ rabbit? That was her guide? Hey guide, I don’t want to be a rabbit. If I’m going to be anything, I want to be a sexy animal. Rabbits were anything but sexy.
Oh, this was fantastic. Didn’t jaguars eat rabbits? Rogar had probably wanted her to change form so he could have a late-night snack.
She didn’t want to be a rabbit. She wanted to be Callie again.
“To change back, you only need to think about who you were before the change,” he said as if he sensed her thoughts.
Okay, she could do this because she damned well didn’t want to stay a friggin’ bunny. What would that accomplish? That she could be the life of the party leading the bunny hop? That she could have hundreds of baby bunnies? That sex would be really quick—wham, bam, thank you ma’am? Actually, that pretty well summed up her sex life now.
Nope, she was changing back ASAP. She willed her eyes, the rabbit’s eyes, to close. She thought about driving the Jaguar home and feeling the wind on her face, working at the zoo, how Mrs. Winkle would flip out if she realized Callie not only had a rabbit in the house, but a two-hundred-pound sleek muscled black jaguar.
The fog once again rolled in and she began to change.
Everything went black.
Callie stretched her limbs. Her body ached. A burning sensation slammed her gut. She arched her back, moaning. There was pain, but not severe enough that she couldn’t stand it.
She didn’t hear the voices this time. Only soothing words coming from Rogar as he helped her to return.
God, she was so tired. As though she’d just run a ten-mile marathon.
“Callie?” Rogar whispered close to her ear.
She realized he was sitting on her bed, and she was on his lap. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. A myriad of emotions washed over her. “You weren’t lying. I’m part Symtarian.” She hiccupped.
“No, I wasn’t lying to you.”
“But I don’t want to be a bunny rabbit. I want to be something exotic.”
She could feel the rumble of laughter in his chest.
“It’s not funny. And I didn’t hear any kind of guide talking to me, either.”
“Callie, you surprise and mystify me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He sighed. “I remember the first time I took another form. It terrified me.”
“Yeah, well, it scared the crap out of me.” She frowned. Literally, actually. That was so embarrassing. Rabbit pellets on her floor. “I still didn’t hear my guide.”
“It’s because you haven’t found each other yet. Sometimes it takes awhile for you to connect.”
“Then I’m not a bunny?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When you take the form of your guide, then you will have a more solid connection with body, mind, and spirit.”
Good, she was glad she probably wouldn’t be a bunny. It seemed rather demeaning. Not that she had anything against bunny rabbits. They were cute and cuddly—when they weren’t dropping pellets all over the floor.
She sighed. “Shapeshifting hurts.”
“Are you in pain?”
She shook her head. “Not anymore.”
Callie could hear Rogar’s heart beat through his shirt. It soothed away her fears. The warmth from the heat of his body enveloped her in a warm cocoon. It was cozy. She snuggled closer, feeling safe and protected for the first time in her life.
It scared the hell out of her.
A cool draft of air brushed over her from the bedroom window that she always left cracked open just a bit. Her eyebrows drew together as she realized something else.
“I’m naked, aren’t I?”
“Quite naked.”
Chapter 7
“It’s all right,” Rogar said.
“No, it’s not okay that I don’t have clothes on,” Callie told him.
“But I’ve already seen your body. I’ve felt it next to mine. You should be proud of how you look.” He still couldn’t understand why nakedness bothered her so much. Right now, it bothered him, but in a whole different way.
She leaned a little away from him, attempting to cover her breasts. “Well, it does bother me, a lot. I hardly know you.” She sniffed.
He tried not to laugh, but he lost the battle.
