First Shift

by J. L. Weil

  If she knew what had happened and what I planned to do, it would destroy her.

  I mean, who willingly returns to her kidnapper’s house? Alleged kidnapper. I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure I believed his cock-and-bull story about there being another world, etc.

  But what choice did I have? I couldn’t go home like this: a fox.

  Chapter Five

  I trotted down the edge of the road, careful to stay hidden in the trees. I noticed my sense of smell was heightened. I could smell the barbeque chicken from the BBQ Shack way over on the boardwalk, the damp moss deep in the woods, the moisture in the air. There were so many aromas. It was a sensory overload.

  Disbelief circulated within me. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me. Again. Suddenly, I wished I hadn’t been so quick to ignore Devyn and his warnings.

  If my life really was in danger, then at any second I could be attacked. What protection did I have against beings from a magical realm?

  You have Devyn, my subconscious reminded me.

  Yeah, if he hadn’t abandoned me. I hadn’t been exactly willing to listen to what he had to say or been very grateful to him for saving my life and taking care of me. He could have very well left me in the alley unconscious, but he hadn’t. His job was to protect me.

  Well, where the hell was he now?

  I needed him.

  Relying on memory and instinct, I stood outside the building I felt ninety-five percent sure was Devyn’s. The problem: just how the hell was I going to get in without hands to open the doors? The answer came in the form of an elderly woman with a cane and hopefully failing eyesight. As she opened the main entrance, I weaseled my way through the door before it closed on my fluffy tail. It would take some time to get used to having an extension on my rear end.

  I took the stairs to the top floor, the pads of my paws sinking into the plush carpet of the hallway. It was strange being in an animal form. My thoughts were still mine, but being unable to communicate was bothersome. I couldn’t cry for help or tell someone to buzz off.

  I came to number nine. The door swung open before I had a chance to knock … I mean, scratch. My neck craned upward as I looked upon him with pitiful, help-me eyes. He leaned against the doorway shirtless and barefoot, in nothing but jeans. Obviously he hadn’t been expecting company. For the first time, I was glad I was a fox. Devyn wouldn’t be able to see my jaw drop as my eyes assaulted every inch of his bare chest.

  That line of thinking wasn’t helpful in the least.

  His jaw hardened, those sharp green eyes darting behind me. “Get inside,” he ordered.

  I released a growl as I trotted past him, letting him know I didn’t like his tone. No one ordered me about, and I planned to tell him so as soon as I stood on two feet. He should feel lucky that I didn’t take a bite out of his shin.

  “I wondered how long it would take you to wander back.” He crouched so we were eye to eye. “Haven’t figured out how to control the shift yet, huh? Let me help you.” The hypnotic effect of his gaze washed over me. Leaning forward, he placed his palm on the top of my head, and just like that, I felt the heat wave of tingles radiate inside me. In what could only have been ten seconds, I went from fox to human, shedding my fur for skin. But what I couldn’t wrap my head around was how I ended up completely clothed. Not that I wasn’t grateful. It would have been highly embarrassing if I found myself naked after each shift.

  Yay, for small wonders.

  Devyn stood to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. “Better?”

  Don’t think about his nakedness. Ignore his ridiculously firm abs. “Um, I’ll get back to you after my head stops spinning.”

  He moved into the kitchen, talking as he walked. “Once you gain control, there won’t be any aftereffects. You want something to drink?”

  It wasn’t the shift, but Devyn, that messed with my head. But he brought up a good point. “Uh, sure. How do I control it?” I asked, taking a seat on the couch. I tried not to think about how it had only been twenty-four hours since I’d last been here.

  He came back with two glasses of orange juice. “Right now, your emotions are causing the shift. Fear. Anger. Sadness. The powerful ones. They’re sparking your fight-or-flight response, which triggers the change.”

  I blinked slowly, taking it all in. This was my life now. It became crystal clear I couldn’t run from this. So I needed to learn everything I could as fast as possible, like cramming for finals. “Okay, but how do I stop it?”

  Devyn exhaled. “By learning to control your emotions. I can help you, if you let me.”

  I nibbled on my lower lip, staring at him, rolling the glass of juice in my hand. “Do you own a shirt?”

  His lips curved into a wily smile. “Why? Is my manliness bothering you?”

  A sudden heat burned my face. “No,” I shot back, taking a sip from the glass. Letting Devyn help me meant I believed his crazy tale. It meant we would be spending time together, and seeing as a mere glimpse of him turned my mind to a smorgasbord of incoherent thoughts, it gave me pause. I didn’t know what it was about this guy, but my body became someone else’s when I was around him, tingling, flushing, and yearning for something I couldn’t see. On the flipside, what if I accidently shifted at school? Or in front of my friends? What would I tell them?

  “Okay,” I agreed. The alternative of being branded a freak was worth being subjected to Devyn’s intense good looks, not to mention his cockiness and mesmerizing eyes.

  His brows shot up. “Okay, what?”

  “I want you to help me.”

  He blinked. “Say it again.”

  I gave him a droll glare. “Isn’t it your job to protect me or something, and not be a pain in the ass?”

  Devyn flashed a cheeky grin. “It’s called multitasking, Kitten.”

  “I’m quite familiar with the term. Remind me again why I’m here?”

  “Because I’m irresistible.”

  I snorted. “Whoever told you that has been filling your head with lies.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, this is going to be fun. I think we’re going to be good together.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?”

  He shrugged. “It means I’ll help you … but you have to keep an open mind and do what I say, no questions asked.”

  My brows furrowed. “That doesn’t sound like much of a deal.” He’d asked me for blind trust. Could I give him that?

  “The only way this works is if we trust each other.”

  “I barely know you.”

  Devyn wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “When we’re done, Kitten, we’ll know each other intimately.”

  Why did he say things like that? To torment me? I had enough problems concentrating without his voice going all smooth and sexy, or him touching me. “Fine, we can meet on the days I don’t work at the café.”

  “Good. The sooner you learn to control your shifts, the sooner we can work on your combat skills.”

  I sputtered and then shrugged off his arm, facing him with disbelief coloring my cheeks. “Excuse me? You want to teach me to fight?”

  “How else are you going to survive? Let me make something clear: there are people coming after you. People that are like you and me that have abilities, and they don’t want to be your friend.”

  They wanted my soul: the source of my power. I got that part. “Am I good?”

  A strange look flickered over his face. “What do you mean?”

  Tucking my hair behind my ears, I leaned my weight to one side. “Being a Kitsune, is that a good thing? Like I’m not evil, am I? I read all this stuff about Kitsunes on the Internet being tricksters and often being perceived as mischievous.” My mind kept flittering back to those two guys who had tried to kill me. They were from the otherworld—Silvermysts, Devyn had called them. And if I was a Kitsune, that meant I was partly from the Second Moon.

  Ohmygod. I was technically from another world. Well half, at least. Being partially alien was one
thing, but being entirely from a different world … that was more than my mind could handle.

  He grinned. “You googled Kitsune?”

  “Yeah. I don’t get what is so amusing about that. Everyone googles. It’s what you do when you need answers.”

  “Or you could have asked me or even your mom for that matter. Who would know better than another Kitsune?”

  “So here’s the thing. Yesterday, I felt pretty sure you were out of your mind. I didn’t want to believe anything you had to say, and I wasn’t about to involve my mom. She has enough to deal with.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course you didn’t. This whole thing would have been so much easier if your mom had told you.”

  No argument there. I didn’t understand why she had hid something this important from me. “Maybe. But she didn’t. And eventually I will ask her about it, but—”

  “But you’re still not a hundred percent convinced,” he finished for me.

  I exhaled. “Can you blame me?”

  “Humans can believe in gods, Bigfoot, the boogieman, E = MC2, but you can’t believe that you’re a shapeshifter or that there is another world out there other than Earth?”

  I stepped to the counter and set down my empty glass. “Well, when you put it that way, it doesn’t seem so farfetched.”

  “Finally, progress.”

  “It’s just a lot to process,” I said, defending myself.

  His lips thinned. “And that is what is going to hold you back from controlling the ability to shift at will. You have to believe in yourself, believe what you can do.”

  I really wished he would put on a shirt. My eyes kept drifting from his face to check if his abs were really as hard as they looked. “I’ll work on it.”

  “Good. It will save me some time from having to constantly keep an eye on you.” The comment was said offhandedly, but it shot up a red flag inside me.

  “You’ve been watching me?” That was kind of creepy … and kind of hot. But it also explained how he knew things about me.

  He moved to stand close to me. Too close. “It’s my duty.” His breath stirred my hair.

  So he kept saying. If Devyn hadn’t shown up when he did last night, I don’t know what would have happened to me. “Right, to keep me safe. How did you know I was in trouble?”

  He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I sensed your fear. And then I felt your first shift.”

  “What do you mean ‘felt’?” This whole being connected to Devyn thing was trippy. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

  “I have a connection to the Second Moon, and when you shift into the fox, you tap into the magic of the otherworld. It gives off a signature that I can feel. My body responds to your shift—only your shift.”

  I sucked in a breath. The idea of his body responding to anything that had to do with me made me feel funny. My belly cartwheeled. “Is that why your eyes were glowing?”

  “You don’t miss anything, do you? Not even when you’re scared out of your mind.” He sighed, leaning his back against the counter. “Yes and no. It is the connection to the Second Moon that makes them glow. They respond to any being from the otherworld, including you.”

  It was hard to believe another world existed when I’d never been there or seen it for myself. One step at a time. I’d barely processed that I was a Kitsune. How could I think about an entire new world? “Have you ever been to the Second Moon?” I wanted to know more. Knowledge held a power of its own, and if I were in danger, it would be wise for me to learn everything I could about what I dealt with.

  He nodded. “I was born there.”

  I don’t know why that surprised me. Each of us was born on different worlds, yet we connected. Talk about a mind-bender. If I had just met Devyn on the street, I wouldn’t have thought twice about him being different.

  But now that I knew what he was, I couldn’t imagine him hanging out with any of the guys at my school. They didn’t measure up.

  “What’s it like?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  “There are five regions: Orangeoland, Thornland, Willowland, Katsura, and Ashland. I lived in Ashland, but spent most of my time in Thornland training.”

  I shook my head. “There is so much I don’t know, don’t understand.”

  “Where’s your phone?”

  My eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  He sighed, holding out his palm. “Just hand it over.”

  Reaching my hand around to my back pocket, I came up empty handed. Crap. I had totally forgotten. “Um, I kind of dropped it during the shift. It’s probably under my car, shattered to pieces.”

  “Come on.” He gave a nod with his head. “I’ll drive you back. Is this going to be a habit?”

  “Depends on how often I spontaneously turn into a fox,” I muttered.

  I don’t know how, but my phone survived the fall. The case, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well. A small crack ran down the glittery pink case. Devyn held out his hand, and I placed my phone, my life, into his possession. “Stay out of my pictures.”

  A corner of his mouth turned up. “You got some nudies?” He had put on a shirt finally before we had left his apartment.

  “You wish.”

  “This is my number. Use it.” He handed me the phone, his eyes still on mine. Devyn lifted his hand and removed a strand of hair that had drifted over my cheek, his fingers lingering on the purplish bruise. “I hate that I wasn’t there to prevent this.”

  I swallowed, wishing I had something witty or flirty to say, but when he looked at me like that, I couldn’t think. “You came. That’s all that matters.”

  His green eyes flashed with specks of gold. “I won’t let it happen again.”

  Chapter Six

  The acceptance or denial letter from UC Davis in California stared at me from my bed. It was accompanied by two others from my backup colleges. I’d been waiting since freshman year for this moment, but now that it stared me in the face, I saw all my hopes and dreams slowly fading away. I’d dreamed about moving away for so long, I’d never had another plan, but now the thought of being someone new and different far from home frightened me.

  “Can you believe we’re going to graduate?” Hannah asked. She lay belly down on my bed with her feet in the air, fingering the side of one of the white envelopes. Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders, spilling onto the comforter.

  I bumped my shoulder lightly with hers. “It doesn’t seem real.”

  “What am I going to do without you next year when you go off to some fancy college?” She flipped around to sit beside me and gave me a hug. Good question. Hannah, Jesse, and I were a trio.

  As an only child, there weren’t any brothers or sisters for my parents to turn their hopes and dreams into if I failed. I was it: their golden child.

  How could I let them down?

  But everything had changed. Although I still didn’t understand how I was connected to the Second Moon or why I had a target on my back, I couldn’t help but think my dream of being a vet was slowly fading out of my reach. Funny that my dream had always been to take care of animals, and I myself could turn into an animal. It was all too much to think about. College. The Second Moon. The Shaman.

  So I would go shopping with my best friend, and for a few hours, I would just be a teenager. I turned around and scooted off the edge of the bed. “You ready to go?” I asked over my shoulder.

  Hannah flopped on her back and looked at me with raised brows. “You’re not going to open them?”

  I shook my head, my gaze volleying between her and the unopened letters. “I’m not ready yet. Besides, I think I’ll wait until my dad is home.”

  She tapped a pink painted nail on her lip, giving me a look I knew well. “Why don’t you change so we can leave?”

  I glanced at my yoga pants and sweatshirt. “What is wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Everything. How do you expect to catch a guy if you look like you just woke up?”

/>   Okay, that was harsh. I was allowed to have days without makeup or tight jeans. Today was one of those days. “Who says I want a guy?”

  She sat up, letting her legs dangle over the side of the bed. “Don’t give me that crap about not having the time. You deserve to be young and happy, have a little fun … with the opposite sex. Jesse does not count.”

  My mind went straight to Devyn, and I must have gotten that far-off look in my eyes, or maybe I sighed, but Hannah knew something was up.

  She grinned, jumping to her feet. “You naughty girl. You met someone. Who? Why haven’t you told me? You tell me everything.”

  True. I did. But lately I kept all kinds of secrets, including Devyn. I made a face. “I’ll go change,” I said, rushing into the bathroom. A few minutes later I emerged in skinny jeans, ankle booties, and a light jacket. “Happy?” I asked Hannah.

  Her gaze roved from my top to bottom. “See, I knew there was a body under that baggy shirt. You look amazing.”

  “Gold star for Hannah. Now stop trying to butter me up. Let’s go.”

  She held up her car keys and jingled them. “I’ll drive. I’m parked behind you anyway. Grab your credit card. We’re about to do some serious retail therapy.”

  Joy.

  Hannah would get her rehabilitation, and I would be nickeling and diming my bank account until I got paid next week.

  We arrived at the mall and made our ritual stop at the food court. I scraped up just enough from the bottom of my purse to grab an iced coffee from the food court. Taking a swig, I waited as Hannah paid for her passion tea tango lemonade. What a mouthful. Just give me coffee. Cold. Hot. Didn’t matter as long as it was caffeinated and loaded with sugar.

  With bags in one hand and refreshments in the other, we turned around to tackle the last wing of the mall and bumped into the last two people I wanted to see on earth.

  Madison Shuman and Valerie Miller.

  Seaside Heights’ very own rich, entitled, mean girls.

  I stifled a groan.