Chapter 37

Journee stood there, wrapped in a blanket, and silently telling her cat that they could do this. She glanced over her shoulder to see Amari, Tripp, Asher, and Calum behind her. Shaelan was beside her. Shifting in front of everyone like this was something she had never done. Her first shift and every one after that had been done alone.

“Would you like me to send them ahead?” Shaelan spoke softly.

Journee nodded.

“Why don’t you go ahead and shift, and she’ll be out there shortly,” Shaelan looked at the others, Journee didn’t turn around to see their reaction, “I don’t anticipate any problems. It’s a bit uncomfortable standing here naked in front of everyone isn’t going to help the situation.”

“No problem.” She heard Tripp say.

Amari and Tripp walked by her and went through the gate. Calum paused to kiss the top of his mate’s head. “We’ll wait in the tree line.” He said quietly.

Asher came over and stood in front of her. “You don’t have to rush this if you’re not ready.”

She appreciated that he was considering that, but she needed to run. Her cat needed to run. It was the only way she was going to cope with all of the changes. She was going to be going back to the island, and even though she knew these teams knew what they were doing, she wasn’t going to just stand there and do nothing if things didn’t go as planned. “I want to do it now.” She watched the concern in his eyes change to something else, it wasn’t bad, but she couldn’t be sure what it was.

“Okay.” He looked in the direction the others had gone, “I’ll be the one with spots,” he grinned at her.

“Thanks.” She smiled back. It was a cute thing to say to cut through the tension. She watched him walk into the tree line.

“Take your time.” Shaelan coaxed.

Journee nodded and focused on her cat. She was there, waiting. We can do this. Slowly. Just to make sure my leg shifts the way it should. A calmness came from inside her, and she knew her cat was in agreement. Closing her eyes, she blew out a breath, forcing any doubts to leave with it. When she opened them, she nodded again and held out the blanket to Shaelan. The cold air was a bit jarring, but she’d felt worse. Looking down, she slipped her feet out of the fuzzy slippers one of the women had given, lifted her chin, and looked straight ahead.

The tingling went through her spine, and it was a relief to feel it. It may be strange, but that tiny thing was the first step in shifting. Sometimes it may be lightning streaking down her back in moments of stress or when she was in a rush, but it was subtle and comforting right now.

“You don’t get on your hands and knees?” Shaelan whispered and moved to the side her injured leg was one.

Journee had tried it that way before but had always felt too vulnerable getting down on her hands and knees. Maybe it was the way others did it, but she had practiced until exhaustion to do it standing up. She didn’t respond to her question when her cat rolled through her. It felt like all the muscles in her body rippled like a dropping a stone in calm water. As the fur ascended to replace smooth skin, she felt a shiver go through her. It was almost like being tickled.

She had enough awareness to shift most of her weight on her good leg, just in case. After that, she could hear bones snapping to form a new body. Her leg burned, but no stabbing pain or anything led her to think she shouldn’t shift. Her animal took that last thought as a big green light, and two breaths later, Journee was fully shifted. She dropped her front paws on the ground and then blinked to adjust to the feline vision.

“Incredible.” Shaelan smiled down at her. “If there’s no pain,” she stepped aside and motioned to the gate, “go exercise those muscles.”

Journee chirped once and then took two cautious steps to check that everything was functioning as it should. There was no pain or numbness, so she decided to run off some of the anxiousness that had been weighing her down since coming here.

She was almost at a full run when she reached the treeline. It felt so wonderful, so freeing to do this again. She went breezing by two mountain lions standing there and knew them to be Tripp and Amari. As she lunged around a tree in her path, she spotted a black jaguar standing there. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Calum.

A barking she recognized registered, and she slowed just enough for Daigo to catch up with her. She wouldn’t outrun him, not today. He was probably as happy as she was that she was on four paws again.

Daigo zigged under her as she was mid-stride, and she knew where to land and not t. This was something they had been doing since he was tiny. When she glanced to her left, she spotted Asher, keeping stride with her without even looking like he was working. She’d never had another of her kind to ‘speak’ to, but she made a short quick sound and hoped it translated as a greeting of sorts. When he returned the same to her, she felt elated that she had communicated with him adequately.

Daigo barked, and she understood that he was having trouble keeping up. She knew he’d follow and hoped the others would keep an eye on him when he lagged behind, but right now, she needed to run with one of her own clan. She’d never had that, and it was always something she’d craved all these years.

Without checking that Asher was still there, she picked up the pace after she jumped over a grouping of rocks. When she made a sharp left, she saw the blur of spots turn in the same direction. It was invigorating, so she kept going. If there were so many trees, she could have run full speed, but after spending the last few days stuck in one form or another, she wasn’t going to do anything reckless.

Daigo howled his displeasure that he’d been left behind, so she slid to a stop and had enough time to crouch down as Asher lept over her. He skidded to a stop and then gave her a look that made her wish that cats could laugh because she wanted to. Journee chirped at him, spun around, and started to head back in the direction they’d come.

She passed the others going in the opposite direction when she spotted Daigo. He pranced in a circle and then yipped at her. Her cat slowed enough that he would get a start, and she could follow his lead. He would honestly pout if he didn’t get to take the lead from time to time. There were days she wished he’d grow faster so he was better able to keep up with her when she needed to cover more ground faster. She wondered if he would go off to his own life once he was grown, but she didn’t allow herself to think of that too often because it made her sad.

She spotted the fence and had a few seconds to decide if she was done running or not. Her cat decided not and turned before reaching it. Journee let her take the lead for a moment and wondered if her animal knew there was a river around the next corner of the fencing. If she didn’t, she was in for a surprise and hopefully stopped before they landed in it. Neither of them was fond of water --- with good reason, she supposed.

Her cat turned just as she thought that, and they were headed back to the back of the fence line and the gate. As she reached the corner, Amari and Tripp came running out of the tree line, and once again, Journee wanted to laugh. A quick glance behind her and she saw that Asher had been running with her the whole time, and she hadn’t even realized it.

Turning sharp, she slid through the gate and skidded to a stop. Daigo barked loud as he went by the gate and had to scramble to get stopped and follow her.

Shaelan stood there with the blanket in her hand, so Journee reared up on her back paws as she reached her, and a few seconds after that, she was standing in her bare feet on the snow. “Thank you.” She took the blanket from her and wrapped it around her shoulders before she turned to look for the others.

She didn’t see the mated cougars, but Calum and Asher stood watching her on the other side of the fence. Daigo came running over to her and stopped and licked her feet. She grinned and bent down to pet him. When she looked over again, the other animals were gone.

“I’ve never seen anyone stand and shift.” Shaelan frowned. “Well, I know Evanna can do it mid-stride, but I don’t think anyone else does it standing.”

“I feel too exposed if I get down on the ground.” She pushed the hair back from her face. “I always needed to be watching all around me.”

“It’s very intriguing.” She smiled at her and held out the slippers. “I may have to try it.”

“You have some speed, girl.” Amari came walking through the gate, grinning at her. “That was fun.” She looked over her shoulder, “I’m pretty sure you’d outrun Calum without all the trees.”

Shaelan turned back to watch her mate come sauntering toward the fence. “We won’t mention that.” She chuckled, “Everyone wants to outrun or out-track him.”

“Wanting to and doing it aren’t the same.” Tripp put his arm around Amari, “I want to try shifting while standing.” His brow furrowed, “I’m just not sure if I can after all this time.”

“Does it allow you to get going faster?” Amari looked very interested.

“I’m not sure.” Journee glanced over to see Asher walking back to the yard. “I’ve only shifted once the other way, so I can’t be sure.”

“You might have more patients if everyone starts trying it.” Calum winked at Shaelan, “I can see many of them falling on their face.”

Tripp laughed, “That’s what I was just thinking.” He huffed a breath and sobered, “I guess the next time we see you will be when we’re going on the island.”

Daigo raced over and ran around Asher’s feet as he walked. It pleased her more than she could understand that he adjusted his stride so he wouldn’t kick the pup or step on him. He looked happy. “That was fun.” He smiled at her, and she felt her cheeks go red, “having someone I can run faster with.”

“Oh. That was a burn to the rest of us you do go for runs with.” Amari gave him a playful look.

Asher shrugged and gave her a closed-mouth smile, “fastest cats in the world—” he shrugged.

“Hey, our cats are number three or something.” Amari quipped with a grin.

“You should go get dressed before you catch a chill.” Shaelan nodded to Journee and then looked at her mate, “I am going for a run.”

He motioned to the gate. “After you.”

Daigo licked her foot, so she bent down to pet him. A thought occurred to her that had her pause and look at Asher. “What am I going to do with him when we leave?”

Asher looked down at Daigo. “Maybe we can get Nichelle to watch out for him.”

Journee’s chest felt tight, “he does like her.” She didn’t want to leave him behind, but she had to find the island, and she didn’t see Daigo enjoying a boat ride. She didn’t even know if she was going to be able to handle a boat ride.

“After you get dressed, we’ll go talk to Nichelle and Blaise. Make sure fur ball has some supervision.”

“Furball?” She stood up.

Asher shrugged. “I didn’t know his name on our road trip here.”

She realized then that he could have easily left him behind. Going over, she put her hand on his arm and stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you. For bringing him.” She stepped back and looked down at Daigo, “Come on, furball, let’s go find a snack for you.”

Daigo yipped and followed her to the door. Glancing back at Asher, she saw him standing there with his hand on his cheek, and then it hit her. She had kissed him. It had been so natural that she hadn’t even realized she did it.

Opening the door, she hurried inside. Her face felt like it was on fire, but it felt like she had butterflies in her stomach at the same time. It had been eighteen years since she’d hugged someone, and the last person she’d kissed on the cheek would have been her dad. There had been no butterflies then. Nibbling on her lip, she hurried toward the room she’d gotten undressed in. She stopped and looked down at her leg. It felt fine. Daigo licked her foot again. “I’m working on it.” She moved down the hall with sure steps. She should have been dancing after successfully shifting, but she could only think about kissing Asher. Had he minded that she did? His expression had been almost blank when she’d looked at him. What did that mean? Daigo barked at her, and she realized she was standing in the middle of the hall again. “I need to figure this out.” She told him with a playful shove against him. “Everything is different now.” And not just being back, she decided as she went into the room.