Full moon night was a big event in Brookhaven. Vince was used to his mom discreetly leaving on these nights, but people here excitedly met up, asked each other who they were going with, where they’d meet, what clothes and blankets they’d bring with, and then they all left en masse.
It was usually the loneliest, most depressing night of the month for him because after his mom took off he’d be all alone to go through the hell that his hybrid magic, no scratch that, his handicapped magic and sickly body always put him through.
Tonight might be different for him, and it made him anxious to think of what things might be like once he was healed. Tonight could be the start of a whole new life…
He rode with Zach, Ed and his mom to the ranch. He was anxious, nervous, and all around terrified about what was about to happen. His worst nightmare was that nothing would happen. Zach wouldn’t be able to make him shift and then he’d be in the midst of thousands of actual shifters transforming before his eyes into their awesome animals.
They’d also be out of ideas for how he could heal himself.
He was tense and only got more so over the forty minutes it took to get to the wild land where they could safely shift and run around. Actually, everyone was a little jumpy and edgy, which only made him all the more anxious.
Zach broke from his conversation with Ed and said, “It’ll be fine, Vince. You’re going to be fine.”
He frowned. He didn’t like Zach sensing so much about his emotions. He turned away, watching the passing trees and cars instead of telling Zach where to shove it. He had no idea if things would be fine. Zach’s life already was fine, Vince was the one who would have to deal with a permanently bleak future if this didn’t work.
**
They finally pulled off onto a muddy road, making their way to a large, patchy lot where a bunch of people were already parked. They got out and walked past the cars, Anthony and his look alike father already waiting for them.
Vince stopped and stared at the crowd that spread out absolutely everywhere and didn’t want to be here anymore. There were too many people who would see him struggling to shift. He turned back towards the cars, unable to get enough air into his lungs.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
He strode away from his mom, her obvious concern just making him mad. Everyone saw him as a science project, something to study and worry about, someone that couldn’t do anything for themselves. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want everyone to see that he wasn’t even a fully capable man.
He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, sensing someone other than his mom standing silently beside him. He took a big breath and smelled both Zach and Anthony. He opened his eyes, startled that he couldn’t feel Anthony standing right in front of him. He could only smell him. Maybe he was more handicapped than he thought he was.
He scowled and needlessly snapped, “I don’t want an audience.”
Zach looked to Anthony, who watched Vince with fathomless eyes. “I have the ability to make you unseen. And unheard. Your audience can be as large or small as you like.”
His racing pulse started to calm. “Really?”
He nodded once, his inhuman expression firmly in place as he stood still as a spooky statue, and giving off about as much natural body heat.
“So you know about my condition?”
Anthony blinked, then went completely still again. Vince had seen him do that a number of times now, but still got the creeps every time.
A pressure quickly built in the air, and then the sounds of the night went silent.
Anthony made a vague gesture with his hand. “I’ve put a sound barrier around us for privacy. To answer your question, I do my best to keep tabs on everyone in the family, and especially those that live beneath my roof. Your mother went to great pains over the years to try to get help for you, and I’ve assured her we’d do everything we possibly could. So yes, I’m aware of your condition. For some reason you haven’t had your first shift yet, and the resulting suppression is making you constantly ill.”
He frowned. “I’m always tired and sick because I can’t shift?”
Anthony and Zach exchanged a look before he turned his attention back on Vince. “It’s my theory. The doctor’s not quite sure he agrees with me. I’m obviously not shifter, but I’ve been alive far longer than the doctor and have lived amidst shifters for well over two hundred years. Needless to say, I’m confident of my judgement in the matter. How do you feel right now?”
“I have a headache.”
“Is that all?”
He frowned. “I’m anxious and I itch all over.”
Anthony didn’t react to his comment other than to say, “I appreciate that you’re uncomfortable with the situation. I’ll do my best to not make the night even more uncomfortable.”
“You’re staying here all night?”
He cocked his head in an eerie way. “You’re family now, so I’ll stay as long as needed to make sure you’re safe.”
Huh. This man wasn’t even his own kind, but he’d have his back. That was a nice feeling, something Vince had no experience with besides with his mom. The burden of his care could finally come off her shoulders, and maybe off Vince’s shoulders, too. If they could heal him.
“Thanks man.”
Excitement burned inside him once again. He wanted to do this. He wanted to heal. Now.
As if sensing his suddenly urgent need to get on with it, Anthony said, “Zach, if you would lead us to where you’d like to begin the night.”
**
They ended up a good ten minute walk away from the parking lot, and with only a small group along. Zach, Ed, Anthony, and his father, Isaiah. That was it. He didn’t know Isaiah very well, but if this all went to hell he’d need vampire help to get safely home since all the shifters would be running around as their animals.
Zach had asked if Bobbi could be here, to have more jaguar energy around, but he really, really didn’t want to be doing this in front of women. He was embarrassed enough that all these dudes were going to see him trying his hardest to do something he should be able to naturally do. He didn’t want to be worried about his modesty in front of the opposite sex, and that included his mother.
He’d even lied to Penny about where he’d be tonight, so he just wanted this over with before she found out he had no animal. If she was disgusted and unsure how she felt about him just being shaky and tired all the time, she for sure wouldn’t want to know that he wasn’t even a whole shifter.
He wasn’t a whole man, at least not yet. And if he couldn’t shift, he’d have to let her go because he’d never be able to be what she wanted. He’d never be what he wanted to be for her.
They stopped walking, and after Anthony assured him that he’d put his sound barrier up again, and all the sounds of the night went quiet, he stripped down to the loose shorts he’d worn under his baggy sweat pants.
Time to get this show on the road.
**
Penny was too warm in the cool night air. Her coyote wanted out and it wanted out now. She shut the SUV door and was getting ready to hustle off to her usual shifting spot when Suzanne stopped her. “Where’s your honey?”
She kept her eyes on the forest beyond as she pursed her lips. “He said his mom wanted to shift with him tonight.”
“Charlotte, right? That lady right over there?”
Penny automatically glanced where she pointed, then looked all around for Vince. When it was obvious he was nowhere in sight, she couldn’t bring herself to see the look on Suzanne’s face.
“I’ll kick his ass for you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Penny’d already had a feeling he was lying to her today, she just wasn’t sure why he would. Maybe his shift was painful and shaky, just like he was a lot. Whatever his reason, he obviously didn’t want to share important things about himself with her. Once again she wasn’t the girl guys wanted to get serious with. She was the girl they fooled around with and strung along until they found someone better.
But she also guiltily wondered if the times that everything was great between them would ever outweigh the times that she didn’t find him so sexy as he stumbled, dropped things, and was shaky, tired and outright sick. She felt like a horrible person for thinking that way, though, because when he felt good, everything was awesome. They had a similar sense of humor, liked a lot of the same music as each other, and had an easy rapport between them. And damn when he was being sexy…
But not tonight. Tonight he’d lied to her about where he’d be.
She looked around for Elsa, a niggling doubt in the back of her mind that maybe he really was with another girl…