“I wish I could be with you all day. There are times when I want to drop what I’m doing and go to you just so I can see you, to feel you close to me.” I look down at the ground, my lips in a tight line. Ares steps up closer and his front molds to my back. “It makes me happy you feel that way, too,” he whispers, his chin resting on my head.
“I thought you were making fun of me,” I confess, feeling even more like a brat for avoiding him.
Ares sighs. “I wish you knew that I would never make fun of you, especially for something like that. Now, if you manage to trip up the stairs again…” He lets the words hang, lightening the conversation.
Jutting my elbow back I connect with his side, he grunts but I know I didn’t hurt him. He’s teasing me. Wrapping his arms around my upper chest he rocks us back and forth. “As much as I’d like to keep you to myself for a little while, Dante told me you asked to see him shift?” I nod, Ares’s chin, still on the top of my head, follows along with the movement. “All right. I told him we’d meet him out near the house.” A bubble of excitement flares to life in my stomach. I’ve been curious about what Dante shifts into from the moment I actually believed any of this was possible.
The car ride home seems to take longer than usual, I know it’s from anticipation. “What does he shift into? What’s it like? Does it hurt?” The questions burst from me as we get closer.
Ares turns his head, gazing at me. “You don’t know? Why didn’t you ask him?” His tone is full of curiosity.
“Well, he seemed so secretive about it, it felt like I shouldn’t pry.”
Ares chuckles. “This might be fun,” he mutters under his breath before adding, “I’m not going to ruin the surprise.”
Huffing, I cross my arms over my chest. “How come your gifts are so different? It seems like since you guys are real brothers your abilities would be the same.”
Ares nods his head a little. “We aren’t as different as you might think. I have an ability to shift, but I don’t become something else. I’m able to shift with the shadows. I can even shadow walk, but it uses a lot of energy, and I have to know the place I’m going very well. If I can’t create an image up here,” Ares takes his hand from the wheel and points to the side of his head, “I can’t get there. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Curious about his last statement I ask him, “What happened when you tried?”
“It just didn’t work, no matter how hard I tried.” He doesn’t seem bothered by the limitation, if you could call it that. “We’re here.” Ares stops the car, but leaves it running. When I reach for the door handle, he stills me by taking hold of my arm.
“Shifting to an animal form isn’t very common, even in our world.” I let my back rest against the seat, it seems like he has more to say. Ares runs his hand through the front of his hair. “Some people have a hard time reconciling the fact that Dante is the animal, and the animal is Dante.” Scrunching up my nose I remember Dante saying something similar. “He wouldn’t hurt you anymore in one form than the other.” I feel a pang of sadness. Why does he feel like he needs to tell me this? Is he afraid of my reaction? Or is he thinking about the way someone else reacted to Dante?
“Ares,” I say, getting his attention. When he looks over at me, I continue, “I can tell you’re worried about him, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Dante either.”
“You might not mean to.” His voice is pitched low as he looks at me from under his brow. “Just don’t be afraid of him. It would kill him if he thought you were afraid of him.” If I’m being honest, the warning frightens me a little. What could he turn into that would scare me? A snake? A giant spider?
My face goes white. “Oh my God! He doesn’t turn into Aragog does he?” I can’t keep the horror from my voice.
Ares head jerks back. “What the fuck is an Aragog?”
“It’s the giant spider in Harry Potter.” My arms go wide. “Like, as big as your truck big.” I can feel the panic coming. “Please don’t tell me he’s some kind of bug.”
“Christ no, he’s not a bug. And let’s not tell him you ever thought he might be,” Ares mumbles under his breath as he turns off the car and opens his door.
I’m much more hesitant to get out, the nerves of excitement have morphed into something more akin to trepidation now.
Ares comes around to my side, and he waits for me patiently, standing at my side. “You’re staying with me?”
“For now,” he answers cryptically. Seconds later I hear the crunch of leaves and sticks. I take a moment to actually look around. We’re near the entrance of the woods.
The headlights of the SUV turn off, plunging us into darkness. Reaching out I wrap my hands around Ares’s arm. It has little to do with actual fear, more the possibility of what the darkness carries with it.
More footsteps and rustling of leaves. As my eyes adjust, I can make out a lightness near the ground several feet in front of me. Releasing my death grip on Ares, I take a step forward as my eyes try to focus. The animal slinks forward more. Head low, but still high enough to reach my hip. Squinting, I can’t quite make out what it is, but it moves with a supple grace.
Clearing the edge of the woods, I get my first clear look at a huge tiger. I step back, my instincts telling me to run, but my foot gets caught and I end up on my butt. I sit there, eyes wide as the animal freezes, one bulky paw poised mid-air. “Dante,” I say in a wonder-filled whisper.
Ares leans his rump against the car; he couldn’t seem more blasé if he tried. The gigantic cat takes another step forward. Getting my legs back underneath me, I sit up on my knees with my hand outstretched. Slowly he lumbers over, his massive paws eating the distance between us. He stops a few feet away from me. I can just make out the tufts of fur on the sides of his face. Holy shit, he’s a tiger, a huge-ass, beautiful tiger. “Dante, you’re gorgeous.” The words fall from me with no filter.
Walking on my knees I draw closer. The enormous cat freezes, his head held low, but his eyes remain locked on mine. One look and I know it really is Dante behind the amber irises. “May I…?” My hand reaches out, fingertips brushing against his fur. The animal doesn’t move or make a sound, so I look back at Ares waiting for an answer.
“I don’t think he’ll mind.” Ares waves a hand at the docile beast before me. With his permission, I sink my hand into rough fur, not taking my eyes off Dante as I do.
“Oh, wow.” I lick my dry lips, my thoughts swirling with amazement as I bring my other hand up to delve into the fur around his face and neck. Dropping his rear end, Dante sits and lets me run my hands all over him. I can’t help but be fascinated with his ears. They’re thick, and the fur is short and silky compared to the rest of him. When my hand runs down his side, he squirms under my touch and makes a chuffing sound.
I pull my hands back, thinking I’ve done something wrong, but he falls to the ground and rolls against my legs. Looking up at Ares to make sure it’s okay, I run my hand down his side where his fur goes white. The hairs are a little shorter here, and the texture is finer; he rolls completely over on his back exposing his belly to me.