Changing Times (8 page)

Tony stretched under her hand and she ran her hands from his
neck all the way to his hip then down his tail. His purr went deeper and louder
and his eyes closed in pleasure. Carly stroked him the way she had stroked the
cat she’d had as a child and he continued to rumble contentedly under her
hands.

Suddenly he rolled so that he was on his stomach again. She
jumped back but he nudged her with his head. Happily she buried her fingers
back into his midnight fur, massaging deeply. The constant awareness that this
was Tony flickered at the back of her brain. Part of her wished she could curl
up on the floor with her head on his stomach.

The knock at her door made both of them jump. Carly started
to stand and gasped when he nipped her shirt with his teeth and pulled her
back. She immediately backed up and sat beside him on the couch. Tony moved off
the couch and padded toward the door.

Sniffing deliberately at the door, he turned to look at her.
She saw his muscles bunch and gather. Carly gasped as the air around him warped
like a heat wave as he flexed more. The large black cat form slipped away as a
very human, very naked man returned. Before he turned away from her she saw his
cock jutting out and wondered if that was a result of the change or of her
touch. He moved swiftly back to the couch to pick up his pants. Pulling them on,
he crossed to the door as the person on the other side knocked again.

Tony slid his jeans on as he moved to the door and paused to
look back at her.

“It’s okay, Carly. It’s a friend.”

He opened the door as he finished zipping his pants and
stepped back slightly. Carly looked up as Micah came into the room. Micah’s
eyebrow skyrocketed as he looked at Tony. His head swiveled to find Carly
sitting on the couch.

“Am I interrupting?” Humor rumbled in his words though his
face didn’t betray even a glimmer of a smile.

“Yes.”

“No.” Carly’s answer came out at the same time as his, and
Tony glanced at her before looking back at Micah. The humor on Micah’s face
left and the lingering scent of aroused shifter in the air were things Tony would
have to ignore to keep his cat under control. He sighed as he backed away from
the door.

“No, come in. Carly had some questions about shifters and I
was trying to answer them.” Tony led the way back into the living room and sat
on the couch beside Carly. He leaned back, casually draping his arm over her
legs and Micah glanced closely at Carly as he joined them in the living room.

“So you were doing a demonstration? Doctor, it’s good to see
you again. And how are you after seeing Tony’s…true form?” Micah’s voice
carried concern.

“Well, I have to admit that having a panther on my couch was
a bit out of the ordinary,” Carly paused and a chuckle escaped her lips. “Okay,
it was damned weird, but I’m a scientist and I have to accept what my eyes see.
So Slade…what do you know about him?”

Micah’s shoulders tensed as he drew himself up to his full
height. “‘The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended the
nostril’ is that Turn Skin. He needs to be put down. If we allow him to gather
power, it’s going to get a lot worse. Why do you want to know about Slade?”

Carly pinned Micah with a look. “I’ve met him once or twice.
Turn Skin. What is that?”

Tony squeezed Carly’s shoulder. “Kitten, the Turn Skins are
a bunch of nasty, bad attitude, power-hungry animals. They may walk as humans
but what’s inside is plain bad through and through.”

A slight cough came from Micah. “I hate to disagree, but not
all of those who walk with the Turn Skins are irredeemable. I believe even
Slade could be redeemed under the right circumstances. I spoke out of anger. To
wish another dead is not my way. I simply want him neutralized.”

“My apologies, Micah. Sometimes I forget that you once
walked with them.” Tony leaned against Carly.

“But why are they so bad? What is that they want?” Carly’s
question refocused both men.

“They want shifters to be able to walk beside humans. They
want to be known. They think they will have an edge that will allow them to
gain places of power. What they eventually want is a Turn Skins government.
Turn Skins in the police force.

“What worries me is that their thirst for power will corrupt
them further if they get into outfits that are already bad. Can you imagine a
werewolf congressman with a taste for war on the committee for diplomacy with,
say, China?” Micah shook himself slightly. “The consequences of their exposing
themselves are far too great. We can not allow it.”

“But what stops them? Why don’t they just reveal themselves
like Tony did? What prevents that?” Carly drove her questions home with precise
analytical intent.

Micah looked at Tony as he folded himself into a chair. “I
think this is your area, little brother.”

Tony took a deep breath. His lips tightened as though he
tasted something foul. “Doctor, you ask good questions. Here’s the deal. We
already have shifters in every organization you can think of…even the CIA and
the FBI. Many Delta Force elite are shifters. Do you really think most humans
can survive that training?

“But the Turn Skins want to rule through fear. They think
they can get the humans on their side and then they can use terror as a weapon.
They’ll create mobs who will hunt other shifters down. Those shifters will have
to join the Turn Skins or die. Power is what Slade is after.

“There are two other factions in the shifter community. One
is the one I told you about…already working from within the government. The
other is the one I belong to.”

Tony’s voice hardened. “I believe we need to be isolated as
much as possible. We need to have little to do with humans. Humans get hurt when
they align themselves with us. We’ve already had one war and the Turn Skins
lost that one. If it takes another war, so be it. The outcome will be the same.
Carly, you have got to leave town.”

Carly’s mouth opened as her cheeks went scarlet. “Leave?
Look, I left because of Katrina. When I got back here, I said nothing was going
to ever make me leave again. Do you know how many people I might have been able
to help if I’d only stayed? I was a coward. I fled the city at the first chance
I got. Never again. People I knew died. What if I could have helped them? Tony,
you cannot
make
me leave. So tell me what to do to protect myself.”

Micah’s head swiveled from her to Tony. Tony’s eyes
glittered with some emotion.

“I can’t let another human die because of me.” Tony’s voice
rasped.

“And neither can I.” The finality in Carly’s voice seemed to
reach Tony. His shoulders slumped slightly and he leaned away from her.

“This …” Tony’s voiced trailed away. He caught Carly’s braid
to give it a gentle tug. “Okay. You got me. So, Micah, how do we protect this
kitten who has no visible claws?”

Carly was watching the two men closely and then turned her
attention solely to Micah. “What’s your animal?”

“Do you really want to know?” Micah chuckled softly as Tony
answered.

Carly blushed slightly then smiled. “Well, I have to admit
to some scientific curiosity. Are you the only one who does this in your
family?” She tipped her head at the taller man in question.

“Everyone in my family shifts.” Micah’s voice was quiet but
the pride was obvious.

“Why don’t you shift for the good doctor, Micah? She’s seen
me do it.” Tony’s voice was just slightly challenging and Micah looked at
Carly.

“Do you want me to shift?”

“I umm…well, I don’t know. I’m sorry to sound so indecisive.
It’s just that all of this is so new to me. I’m not used to talking about it,
much less seeing it happen right in front of me. I think I’m still coming to
terms with the whole idea that this is real.” Carly shook her head slightly.

“Shifters have always been open about their abilities among
themselves. It is only among the humans that we are reticent. I don’t have to
shift for you now. We can do it when you are more comfortable with the idea, or
not at all.” Micah shrugged his massive shoulders, completely at ease.

“No, it’s not that.” Carly looked from one man to the other
and clasped her hands in her lap. “As a scientist I’m fascinated but as a
woman, I’m scared. I don’t think either of you would hurt me, but I can’t help
but be just a little scared of the whole situation.”

Tony smiled and put his hands over hers in her lap and Micah
leaned forward slightly. Micah kept his eyes on her face as he spoke. “We know
you are scared of us, Doctor. We can smell your fear and we can almost see it.
Shifters, at least many shifters, can see your aura as clearly as they see the
color of your hair.

“When you’re afraid, your aura shimmers with a different
color. What you have to understand is that none of us would ever intentionally
hurt a human who means us no harm.”

“As I said, intellectually, I know that. It’s the emotional
part of me that’s having trouble with this.”

Carly’s voice relaxed but the rigidness in her shoulders
told him a different story. Tony moved his hands up to soothe the tension away.
Softly stroking from her neck down to her shoulders, he coaxed her to lean into
him a bit. He fought back the urge to nip at her skin only because he knew
Micah understood who Carly belonged to. Her soft sigh let him know his massage
was helping.

“We’re far enough from a full moon that we can all control
our thoughts and actions, Carly. Most of us retain the ability to reason as a
human even when the moonlust is strong. Some few must give in to the pull of
the full moon, but many of our lines have developed past that. The older a
shifter, the longer they’ve been shifting, the stronger their control. Micah
and I come from long lines of shifters, so our control is very strong. We only
shift when we want to, never involuntarily.” Tony kept his voice quiet. He
watched her carefully to see what effect his words were having. Curiosity struggled
with the fear that was still there.

“Moonlust? I’ve never heard it phrased that way.” Carly
turned her head slightly, narrowing her eyes.

“Shifting is powerful. It is intense and emotional for all
of us. Moonlust is what we call it when the urge to shift tugs at the animal in
us. My kind have walked among you humans for thousands of years. There are
tales of the first shifter being a human just like you who was enchanted by a
sorceress. She punished him for daring to love another woman. Even though the
initial spell bound my kind to the moon, we’ve managed to evolve. Just like any
other species, Doctor. We changed our ways to answer the challenges of a
transforming world. Now some of us still lose control at moon’s lust—what most
call the full moon. But those are mainly the young ones who haven’t learned
discipline.” Micah never took his eyes off her face as Carly nodded slowly.

“I think I would like to see you change.” She paused. “If
that’s not a rude thing to ask? I guess I don’t know shifter etiquette. Can I
trust you both to let me ask baby questions without offending you?”

Micah nodded slowly as if approving her choice then stood.
He started to undress. He took his shirt off. Carly tried to observe him with
medical curiosity as he let her take in his chest and the muscular form of his
abdomen and arms as well as the tattoos on his arms. Micah had the head of an
eagle tattooed on his right biceps and a tribal mark of some sort on his left
shoulder.

When his hands moved to his waist, she dropped her gaze to
her clasped hands. It felt different in her own home. She didn’t want to get
that intimate with Micah. Now Tony had been different. Her stomach flipped as
she remembered Tony’s physique. Tony noticed the movement and grinned up at Micah.
Micah just shook his head and continued to undress.

“Do you have to disrobe before you change?” Carly stared
into Tony’s eyes as Micah continued to undress. Both men chuckled and Tony
shook his head.

“No, it’s just easier and less restrictive to do so. Clothes
don’t change with you so it’s easier and less expensive to take them off before
they get ripped.” Tony touched her shoulder briefly then leaned back. Carly
looked at Micah, keeping her gaze firmly on his face.

When Micah had completely undressed, he shook his head
slightly and when she blinked a large gray wolf stood in his place. Gray
mottled his coat with some strands highlighted with an almost silver tint. The
same dark brown eyes gazed at her, but the liquid intelligence behind them
would have marked him as no ordinary wolf to any casual observer. Carly looked
at Tony who nodded at her then she stood and walked over to Micah.

He sat at her approach and she reached out hesitantly to
touch him. Micah never moved as she slowly ran her hand down his back. Micah
shuddered slightly and glanced at Tony, who just smiled at him. Carly really
had no idea what that soft, tentative touch was doing to the two shifters. They
literally craved the type of contact she unknowingly provided.

Micah suddenly stood and shook and Carly laughed as she sat
back on her heels beside him. Micah moved away from her and when he changed
back, he was standing on the other side of the chair from her. He picked up his
pants and pulled them on then sat down in the chair to pull his socks and boots
back on.

Carly moved slowly back over to the couch, trying to
reconcile what she had seen with what she had always believed due to movies and
books. She
had
noticed that Micah hadn’t been aroused like Tony had when
he’d changed back to human. “So, you’re both carnivores?”

The two men looked at one another and laughed. Carly had no
clue what they found so amusing so she simply shrugged as she waited for an
answer.

“Yes, we are both carnivores. Actually in human form we’re
omnivores really, but I do eat raw meat in wolf form.” Micah pulled his shirt
back on then suddenly raised his head.

Tony tensed on the couch then sprang to his feet as well. Micah
leapt up, heading for the back door before Carly could ask what was happening.
Tony had quickly shed his pants again then moved to the front door, falling
into panther form swiftly.

He looked over his shoulder at her and Carly shot to her
feet as she went to open the door for him. Before she opened the door, she put
her hand on the panther’s back. His head turned toward her and she could see
his fangs as his lip curled slightly. She shuddered at the thought of what
those gleaming white razors might be doing soon.

“Please be careful,” Carly said softly as she opened the door.
The panther butted his head against her leg in a rough caress then glared
pointedly at the locks. “Okay, I’ll lock the door behind you.”

The panther nodded once then faded into the shadows outside
her front door. Carly shut the door quickly locked it then moved away from it.
She heard a sound from the kitchen and headed toward it. Micah had obviously
used the back door. His clothes had been discarded just beside the door but he
had somehow managed to lock the door on his way out.

Trying to control her racing heart, Carly looked for
something to do. Danger had come to her home uninvited. Not one to stand around
wringing her hands, she sprinted lightly up the stairs to her bedroom. No way
would she allow someone to hurt Tony. He’d put himself in the line of fire by
not backing down from that Slade. She would stand beside him and fight if
necessary.