“Me, too.” He released a breath. “It would have been easier when the urge to shift first came on, but at least she didn’t suffer too long.”
She heard the guilt in his voice. Part of her wanted to comfort him, assure him it was okay. Another part wanted him to feel that guilt, to suffer for leaving them and feel just a little of what she’d been going through for the last year. That part of her made her feel petty, but the other voice, the one that wanted to comfort, made her feel like a gullible idiot. So she kept her mouth shut, because she didn’t want to be an idiot or a petty bitch.
After a few more minutes of Zoe poking at Alexis’ various tiger parts, including gently pulling her thick tail, Alexis nudged her to the couch and backed up. The shift to human form went a little quicker than the change to tiger, but because she was watching for it, Rose realized the change still happened slower than Vlad’s had. Zoe paid close attention, as if studying the process.
When Alexis was human again, she said, “So, Zoe, what do you think? Do you want to try changing? Or do you want to watch me shift some more? You don’t have to try until you’re ready.”
“Wanna be a tiger.” Her face bunched up in a frown. “But don’t think I can.”
“Why not?” Alexis kneeled on the floor in front of her again. She hadn’t bothered to dress, but Zoe didn’t seem to notice.
“Tried last night after saw Vlad. Didn’t work.”
Rose felt her mouth drop open and had to snap it shut. That was news to her.
“What did you do to try?” Alexis asked, calm and reasonable.
“Closed my eyes and imagined being tiger. Nothing happened.”
“Did you picture the tiger?”
Zoe nodded.
“Did you feel the tiger paws like they were your own?”
Zoe’s frown deepened, then she shook her head. “No. Just saw the tiger.”
“Well, there you go. You have to feel your tiger for her to get out. Easy peasy. Do you want to try now? So I can help?”
Zoe paused, then looked at Rose and Vlad. “I gotta take my clothes off?”
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to,” Alexis said.
“Changing while you’re dressed will tear your clothes,” Vlad said. “But we can buy you more. Would you feel better if I left?”
Zoe’s mouth pursed as she considered. Then she said, “Yes.”
Vlad smiled. “You got it.” He squeezed Rose’s hand and said, “I’ll go make some phone calls, start setting things up so we can make our trip safely.”
Rose still wasn’t sure about facing the ruling body of the tiger shifters yet, but since both Vlad and Alexis thought it would keep Zoe safe, she accepted the trip as necessary. She just wished she knew more about what they were getting into.
After he’d left the cabin, Zoe said, “What trip?”
“I have to talk to Granny and Grandpa first, but I think we’re going to be on vacation a little longer. Is that okay? We’re going to go to West Virginia.”
“What we do there? Is there snow?”
“I don’t know about the snow. We’ll see. We’re going to meet some people. People like Alexis and Vlad.”
“More tigers? Wow.”
“Are you good with that?”
She nodded. “Wanna be tiger first. So I can play with other tigers.”
“Fair enough.”
Zoe stood and pulled off her sweater, then pushed her leggings down and reached for Rose’s hand to keep her balance as she stepped out. She shuffled out of her underwear next, then giggled and shivered.
“You too cold like that, baby?”
“Nope.” She spun in a circle and plopped back onto the couch, facing Alexis.
Alexis said, “Do you remember how my paws felt? The way the fur covered them and the hard bottoms?”
Zoe nodded.
“Think about that now, only with your hands and feet. Imagine your hands feeling like a tigers, how it feels to have fur and paws instead of hands. Go ahead and close your eyes. Good.” In a quiet, calm cadence, Alexis talked Zoe through the way a tiger body felt.
As Rose watched, her daughter’s little hands twitched. Her brow crinkled and the twitching stopped.
“Good, Zoe, you almost had it,” Alexis said. “Did it hurt?”
“Felt weird.”
“It does the first time. Can you try again? Just focus on how your hands would feel if they were paws.”
For several long moments, nothing happened. Then Zoe’s hands twitched again, and a ripple of fur sprouted along the backs before disappearing.
“That’s it, Zoe,” Alexis said. “You’re doing great. Don’t worry and don’t fight it. Just keep thinking about how your paws feel. That’s it.”