“I can’t control it,” he growled, dropping his hands. “I’m a danger to everyone here. I should leave.”
“You are exactly where you should be.” Cara was now standing as a human, clad in a dense bodysuit of silver hair. She bent to pick up her flowing gown. “You can tie this around you, if you like.”
Until that moment, I hadn’t realized Sid was naked. I stepped back while he stood and arranged the sheer cloth around his hips. “Thank you,” he said. “But I am not certain you are right.”
Rapid footsteps up the path heralded the arrival of a dark-furred creature twice the size of a bear, with huge Sabre fangs. As he stepped into the sunlight, I could see the darker spots and stripes running through it.
The Sabre shifter relaxed when he spotted us.
“Think we found your lostling, Cody,” Cara stated with a smile.
Cody snorted a laugh. His eyes dropped to the cloth wound around Sid. “Nice look, dude. Good thing you left a prretty clear trail. Maybe tomorrow we’ll leave the field gate open to the forrest—the maintenance guys arre getting tired of rrepairing the fence.”
“Sorry.” Sid appeared very contrite. “There’s got to be a better way to do this.”
“Your fearr of losing it is getting in the way of your control,” Cody said. “We almost had it this time.”
I looked from Sid to Cody. “Could Leah help?”
Sid’s lips twisted. “Leah always wants to help.”
But Cara glanced at me. “Leah’s Siren blood might be an idea—she can control with it. It’s worth a try.”
“Not sure I really want her exerting her wiles over me,” Sid stated. “I have a pretty good idea what she’d do with them.”
Cody’s eyes glowed copper. “Not in class, she won’t. It’s an excellent suggestion, Brree. I will talk to her.”
We headed up the path, where we discovered that the Anisau had torn a ten-foot gap in the field’s perimeter fence. I gaped at the twisted metal and stone. Sid’s beast was powerful, indeed.
We passed through the building to the front entrance, to see that the students were already gathering in the meadow for the run.
“I will see you two later.” Cara patted me on the arm. “Do not worry about today, Bree. Control, as Sid knows all too well, only comes with practice. We will get there.” She smiled encouragingly at me and headed for the stairs.
Cody shifted to human, revealing an expanse of naked muscle above and below a droolworthy butt. I averted my eyes until he’d pulled on his sweats, before he approached and tossed Sid his own clothes. The Anisau moved into the shadows of the entrance to change.
Sid had just rejoined us when Adilyn came through the door and hurried over to him.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
His eyes gleamed yellow in his rugged face. “I am now,” he stated.
Leah swayed up to us, her eyes alight. “You should have seen him, Adi! He was magnificent.”
Nar was, as usual, draped over her. “Yes, he was big, everywhere.”
Adilyn turned defensive. “He’s having enough issues without you two drooling over him. Bugger off. And don’t call me ‘Adi’. You know my name.”
Her tone could have frozen fire, but it bounced right off both of them. Being impervious to criticism seemed to be their superpower.
Cody was joined by one of his mates, Kitani, and two figures with the distinctive long gray hair of Bellatis.
Eli and Cas, the leaders for the run. Personally, I didn’t think it was fair to have Unicorns conducting the run. How would we ever match that?
Eli smiled at us. “We have something different planned for this morning,” he said. “Today you will be staying together as a team, and you will have a choice of which form you will take. Theobjective will be to get your entire team over the finish line in the quickest possible time.”
I swallowed. I’d kind of enjoyed not having the run be a competition. Mainly because I was so bad at it.
Running as a human is very different from running as an equine.
