Page 54 of Shifter for Brains

I pinched him in the side.

“Hey!” His eyes opened to glare daggers. Even squinty eyed and annoyed, there was no mistaking the red there. "Did it… what did you do?"

“You were thinking too hard, so I distracted you for a second.”

“Did it not work? I thought I managed...”

I grabbed his hand and held it up between us so he’d see the red glow, see the light from his eyes hitting his own skin.

"Oh. My eyes are red? Do all foxes have red eyes?”

“Red’s most common for foxes, but each species has a few eye colors.”

“Red eyes, do they look scary?”

“No… they look right.”

Lucas stared at the glow a few more seconds until it receded and he lowered his hand. “I did it?" What started as a statement turned into a question.

"You did it." First his senses were awakening, now his eyes. He was getting there. “You’re—"

“Hold on,” he interrupted, bowing his head.

When he raised it, his eyes were glowing again. I didn’t have to tell him because the giant grin on his face indicated he already knew.

Oh shit.

God, the whole picture, it was like everything came together and he was at home in his skin for a second. The red eyes did look natural. That was the truth. They suited him. But ‘natural’ hadn’t been the whole truth.

The red light in the dark contrasted against his skin and made it stand out paler than normal, reminding me of a blank canvas. It gave me the swift urge to put color there either by marking him up or getting his blood pumping a different way.

He reached over and pinched me. It clicked—the red eyes were natural. Andsexy—fuck, I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

I grabbed Lucas’s arm and led him through the quiet house.

"Chase, what, I remember where my bedroom is. There’s no need for a police escort."

Both inside, I shut the door behind us. Merritt left, right? What about Temple? As much as I needed to expand my senses and check, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

"God, do you have any idea," I began, voice already husky and deep. “Do you even understand?”

"How to shift? No, but I’m still making progress, right?"

"What it does to me," I continued. “Do you even realize what you look like?”

"W-what?" He froze.

"You, the red eyes.” I drank him in even as he struggled not to fidget. His current blue eyes were just as breathtaking in their own way. “You’re seriously fucking hot."

"Did you really just say that?" he whispered.

“When you relax or give into curiosity or determination, the red eyes? It all suits you. And I believe you smelled how incredibly sexy I find you.”

"Y-yeah, so the arousal earlier wasn’t a fluke." He inched forward.

"Lost count of how many times I had to fight to keep my hands off you." I stalked forward to meet him.

“What changed? I thought we decided not to cross this line.”