"Told you," Sara says with a shrug. "Ron can turn intoanything. Well, with a heart."
Gorilla Ron makes his way up the cave wall with surprising grace, powerful hands finding invisible holds in the rock.Sparrow Bun flutters in panicked circles as he approaches, her tiny heart probably racing twice as fast as mine.
"Be careful!" I call out uselessly, my hands pressed against my lips.
Bun ends up perched on a ledge, her beak open as she trembles. Do birds pant? Because it looks like she's panting.
With surprising gentleness, Gorilla Ron's massive hand cups around the tiny bird. She pecks at his fingers, but he doesn't flinch, just cradles her close to his chest and begins the descent.
"Thank god," I breathe as Ron reaches the ground, carefully extending his palm toward me. The sparrow glares at me out of the side of her beady little eyes.
Sara appears out of nowhere, a bright red apple in her hand. "Look, Bird Bun! Food! Want the yummy apple? A is for apple! Ah ah apple!"
The transformation is instant—feathers disappear into chubby little arms. Ron hardly has time to set her down before she's fully Toddler Bun again, grabby hands reaching for the fruit.
Sara thrusts it into Bun's tiny palms. "Here, eat this before you transform into a freaking pterodactyl!" Her voice is cajoling and upbeat, but the words don't match her tone.
Bun takes one giant bite of the apple, juice dribbling down her chin, her eyes wide with momentary satisfaction—before her face scrunches up in disgust. She hurls the apple to the ground with unexpected force.
"NOOOOO!" Her scream bounces off every surface, amplified by the cave's acoustics into something almost supernatural. "PAH! PAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
I swoop down to collect her before she can shift again, lifting her squirming body against my chest. Her back arches in my arms like something possessed, her spine bending at angles which can't be natural. Her tiny hands fist in my hair, yanking hard enough to bring tears to my eyes.
"Ow—Bun, stop it!" I struggle to contain her flailing limbs as she twists, doing her baby damnedest to pull my hair out of my head. "The pizza's coming!"
Sara backs away rapidly, hands to her mouth and eyes wide with horror. "Oh my Goddess, Bun, stop! The Lycan King's gonna eat us!"
I freeze, Bun still writhing in my arms like a banshee baby. "What?"
Tiny toddler teeth attack my forearm, and I bite back a yelp.
"Oh, no," Sara moans, her eyes fluttering to the ceiling. "We're doomed. Ron, can you turn into a horse? We need to run!"
"But the pizza—" Jer starts.
"Stop overreacting." Ron's back from gorilla mode. He and Bun are both dressed, not naked; their shifts don't seem to affect their clothing. Handy, but… odd.
"Bun's hurting the Queen," Sara hisses, like I'm notright here.
He rolls his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Sara. She's not the Queen."
"Yes, she is!" Sara insists, backing further away from me and the terrifying, feral Bun.
I'm still trying to process the moment when Jer jumps in, rounding on Ron. "Dude, don't you pay any attention? The King wiped out anentire packjust because her ex-boyfriend was in it. They said the bodies lined formiles."
Bun's somehow ended up curled around my head, chewing on my hair. I try my best to intervene in the escalating, inaccurate facts being thrown about, but every time I open my mouth, another kid's shouting even louder.
"They say he killed like a hundred wolves because one of them looked at her wrong!"
"That's not true," I protest, fighting to be heard over Bun's continued screaming. "Caine didn't—I mean, he did kill some of my pack, but not because of my ex. That's ridiculous."
They all stare at me with varying degrees of horror and fascination.
Jer turns to Ron. "See? Told you."
"She saidsome," Ron defends.
I groan.
