Page 26 of Forget Me Not (The Shifters of Timberfall #1)

Her mouth formed an O-shape as it dawned on her. He meant to go for a run . As in…

“I—but… how ? I don’t even know how I did it before.”

Bastien’s eyes lit up. “That’s not a no? I can try to walk you through it? It’s really not as hard as you think.”

She hid her face with her hands for a few seconds then split her fingers to reveal one eye.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. That’s probably something I should know how to do, right?”

The words were hardly out of her mouth before he was up and pulling her by the hand. Must be a family trait, to drag people around. Syve giggled as she did her best to keep up with him without tripping.

He led her down the hall to a little mud room with a set of French doors that overlooked an unfenced backyard that faded into the trees.

A perfect yard for a family of shifters .

Bas walked them to the tree line before letting go of her hand.

“I’m not sure how this will work out. You’ve subconsciously mastered shifting, so your body knows what to do, but your brain doesn’t.

I’m just going to tell you what I was told when I was little.

Just close your eyes, take slow, deep breaths and imagine yourself melting away into a puddle.

Relax all of your muscles and then imagine stretching up out of that puddle, changed . ”

Then his shirt was over his head and on the ground before she could blink.

“What are you doing?!” She squeaked.

“Taking my clothes off?”

He sounded genuinely confused, one hand absently scratching his chest—his very well-defined chest, dusted with the perfect amount of chest hair. She vaguely recalled as much from the day he had tackled her, but seeing it when she was not in the middle of a panic attack was… different .

“Obviously, I can see that, but why ?” Syve felt her cheeks growing warmer as she realized she was staring and averted her eyes.

“So…I can…shift?” he spoke slowly, like the answer should be obvious.

She stared blankly at him, blinking a few times with her mouth ajar, but said no more.

“I would really rather not destroy my clothes if I don’t have too.” With that, Bastien began unbuttoning his jeans .

Syve spun around, putting her back to him. “Right, because that’s a thing. I forgot.”

That was something that he had mentioned to her already, after she’d woken up naked and freaked out.

“Do you…do you have to watch me? To help me?”

Silence.

“Bas?”

She timidly glanced over her shoulder, but Bastien was gone and in his place was a massive silver wolf. No, he was not gone, she had to remind herself, this was Bastien. She turned fully to face him and greedily ran her eyes over his shifted form.

“Your wolf is beautiful,” she said excitedly. “Your fur is the exact same color as your eyes!”

He wagged his tail in response, causing her to giggle with glee.

“Can I…?” she asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot and holding her clenched hand against her chest.

He stepped forward, ears forward and head lowered. His tail never stopped wagging as she timidly reached out and sank her fingers into the long fur on top of his head. A content sigh left her as she scratched behind his ears and his eyes drifted shut.

A moment later, Bas pulled away to sit back on his haunches. He jerked his snout up in the air once—it was her turn.

Anticipation gnawed at her insides .

After casting a quick glance over her shoulder, noting the many windows along the back side of the house, she took a few more steps into the woods. A low chuff behind her made her turn, walking backward as she looked.

“I’m not going far, just trying to get a little privacy.”

With an exaggerated nod, he turned to face the house. She smiled widely at his back, then side-stepped behind a fairly large tree—not quite big enough to shield her entirely, but it was better than nothing.

Quickly, she slipped out of her clothes, hastily folding them and dropping the pile by her feet.

She shivered, it was not exactly a cold day in May, but the light breeze paired with the shade from the canopy of branches left her naked body to collect goosebumps.

The violent swirl in her stomach wasn’t helping either.

Syve shook her arms out, leaving them to hang by her side, palms out. She rolled her neck from side to side, then with a long exhale she closed her eyes and recalled Bastien’s words.

Close your eyes.

Check .

Take slow, deep breaths.

Check .

Imagine yourself melting away into a puddle.

She let her shoulders slump, imagining water trickling from her head, down her neck…

over her shoulders…along her arms, until it dripped from her fingertips.

She sank into the metaphorical pool gathering at her feet, sinking deeper unti l only her head remained above the surface.

Then she tipped that back, surrendering.

Relax all of your muscles and then imagine stretching up out of that puddle, changed.

Syve pictured herself rising from the water, pulled gently upward by an invisible rope.

She could almost imagine that the ghostly tingling she felt on her limbs was from millions of tiny hairs growing along her body.

That was all Bastien had told her to do, so she opened her eyes.

When the landscape around her came back into focus, she deflated. Nothing looked different, nothing felt different.

Playing ice-cube-in-a-sauna was surprisingly peaceful, sure, and she would be keeping that exercise filed away for the next time she was stressed out—but it appeared to be useless for shifting.

She opened her mouth to say just as much to Bas, but jolted when all that came out was a pitiful bleat. She snapped her head down, looking at her legs—legs in the plural sense of four and not two.

Holy shit .

She did it.

What she did not do was account for her new center of balance.

Or how operating her animal form was far more difficult now, than when she had been running in primal-flight mode the last time she had seen his wolf.

One second, she was counting hooves and reveling in her success, the next she was crying out as she went ass over teakettle into the dirt.