Chapter 53

• In all the years he had been making this trip back to the camp, Devin couldn’t recall ever making it as quickly. After trying several times to get Rayne to rest, she finally had a short nap on the drive back. During that time, he called his mother to see if there was anything different a female went through with their first change. It took all the patience he had to listen to her—going on like they were about to give birth instead of a first shift. Feeling calmer after that, he called Calum and told him to clear out and find a place where he could watch the entrance to the camp without being on the land. He was thankful he didn’t get an ‘I told you so’ from him. How Devin didn’t know she was this close, he still didn’t know. Maybe he was too close and that was the reason. Maybe next time, he’d listen when Calum and Gage tried to tell him something... probably not, but he’d consider it more in the future.
• Her skin was clammy and she was growing more restless with each minute, even in sleep her muscles twitched preparing for what was to come. For several minutes of the drive Devin wondered if he was strong enough to see her thought this. Immediately following those thoughts, he mentally kicked himself in the ass, knowing he was the only support she had and wasn’t going to be anything less than what she needed from him.
• He tried to think back and remember what it was like the first time he went through a complete shift. It hadn’t been startling and scary for him though, he’d had a life time of education leading up to it. Rayne had only had a few days to adjust to the fact of what she was, never mind the symptoms during the onset of a full shift. Running seemed to be the one thing he craved when he shifted, he sure as hell hoped it was with her too. He knew she’d never forgive herself if the first time it happened she shifted back with animal blood in her mouth. Were there vegetarian shifters? He’d never come across any, so he was clueless when it came to that. Then again, the idea of one being in animal form having a snack of weeds and bark was just too much to try to wrap his brain around.