"I didn't want to take the shift today..."

I patted Ian's head while he whined and pouted into my shoulder as he carried my natural-sized form. "It's okay, Ee. We can have our date another day. Make sure to work hard, okay? I'll give you a reward."

Ian's head lifted immediately and he smiled brightly. "Promise me, Wyll."

I giggled and pecked his lips. "I promise, Ee. I love you and have a safe trip."

Ian set me down outside the garage door and hugged my form once more before he replied, "Thanks, Wyll. I love you, too."

I waved at him as he left in a small, older car. I shut the garage door and turned, letting out a very manly squeak with my tail puffing out. Gavin snickered and petted my hair while I merely smoothed out my tail in silence.

"You're so freaking cute. I love it and you."

"Why, thank you for loving my terror, Gav. That's very appreciated." I replied sarcastically, then blushed when his fingers cupped the back of my head and they slid to my nape. "G-Gav?"

"Since Ian has to take an extra shift at work, it seems as though I can steal you for a full day."

I beamed, holding out my arms to Gavin. "Hugs and kisses?"

He blushed and curled down, giving me exactly what I requested with a little extra. I shivered while his shifted tiger tongue gently scraped along the right side of my neck. I groaned into Gavin's left shoulder and hugged him tightly.

He suddenly stopped, though, and moved his head back to look at my face. "Ragnar and I have to get some quality time with you during our day together, Anwyll, so I have a plan."

I tilted my head. "A plan?"

"Let's go on a hike and have a picnic together somewhere."

Gavin looks excited. I wonder if he made everything we would be eating and or he made a song he wants me to hear again out in the woods where no one but us will hear it. Maybe both? That's a possibility.

"Sure, Gav. What do I need for the trip?"

Gavin grinned and kissed me smack dab on the lips, then rushed down the hallway towards his room. "I'll send you a list telepathically, okay?" he called back.

I chuckled, then waved to let him know I'd both heard and accepted his need. Gavin gave me the "okay" sign, which was kinda hard to see without my magic since he was far away. My cute tiger shifter disappeared into his room and I returned to mine. Less than two minutes later, Gavin sent me the list as promised.

"Hmm, so I need hiking boots, a pair of breathable shorts and t-shirt, a broad-brimmed hat, lots of drinking water, maybe a hiking stick, a backpack, and an emergency space blanket?" I murmured aloud, then sighed and decided to ask Gavin what that last one was later.

I pulled out my old bag from my past and grimaced at the ugly, faded, and ripped backpack. But, since it came with me to this place, I kind of don't want to throw it away. It's a reminder of what I went through to be standing in this spot. Well, I can at least use magic to change its appearance so I don't have to think about it anymore.

"Maybe a nice orange color so we get noticed by hunters—if there are any nearby. And maybe I should add animal pins of all my lovers, using the same idea when I showed Azazel the miniature versions." I said to myself, then made them all appear how I wanted.

So Dian got a black dragon wing, Ian's was the black dragon head. For Uncle Andros (my Emrys), I used a white bone. Daddy got the white dragon head and to represent Ambrose I used vampire teeth. Matteo had a bull head, then I pinned Zaire down with a small green snake. There was a white wing and halo pin for Damon, as well as a bat wing and spade tail for Blaine. As for a pin to represent Briar, I made black jaguar ears. And for Kyler, I chose to make a pin that had his tan mountain lion ears. Angel, of course, got a unicorn horn pin and Russet had a lop-eared rabbit face. Waltz got faerie wings and Gavin was represented with a cute tiger face.

I admired by new backpack and hugged it, smiling happily while kneeling on the floor. "I love my family," I whispered, then jumped when a knock landed on my door.

I slowly turned my head to see Gavin all ready to go in the doorway. "Wow, you're fast." I remarked, then blushed when he stalked forward. "Wh-what?"

"You were taking awhile, so I wondered what happened." murmured Gavin, then curled down to kiss my cheeks. "How are you feeling?"

"Very happy." I replied with a grin, then showed him my new and improved backpack. "I love you all very much."

Gavin's breath hitched and he hugged me tightly. "We love you too, Anwyll. I love you."

"I love you, too." I answered with a beaming smile, hugging his chest.

After a few seconds, Gavin released me and looked at my lack of appropriate hiking clothes. "It seems like I am just in time to dress you down and up."

My cheeks flushed as he had me drop the backpack onto the floor, then he easily scooped me up and set my rump on the bed.

"Do you have the clothes?"

I shook my head. "Should I copy yours?"

Gavin looked down, then he smirked and pecked my cheeks. "I would love to match with you," he replied, then did a full spin so I could get an exact copy of his outfit.

I quietly thanked him and then made my size appear. "Hmm, should we wear the same colors? Or maybe variation is good so we don't blend in too much..." I mumbled, fingering the shirt.

"Anwyll," started Gavin, so I looked up with a smile. He chuckled when my tail started wagging, then he squeezed my hands and kissed the backs of them. "It's okay. We've got our backpacks. Let's match for everything else."

A little smirk started tugging at my lips. Gavin eyed me with a curious expression, so I whispered, "Even our underwear, Gav? You're so cute."

His rich brown skin turned a shade of dark red and a growl rumbled in his chest as he pressed my back to the bed. I grinned, then my shorts were tugged down and Gavin did the same with his own. My eyes widened when I realized we were already wearing the same style, brand, and color of underwear.

"Well, uh..."

Gavin flopped down next to me with a groan of embarrassment. "You must be so damn bothered that I did this..."

"Why say that? What did you do?" I asked, rolling over to look at him and pet his light brown hair. "I like it."

He turned his head, then kissed my cheek before saying, "Well, I may or may not have been inside your room to make the 'best choice' obvious by putting it on top for when you got out of the shower."

"Ooh, wow. That's so cute, Gav." I grinned, inching closer to give him a few kisses. "When should we leave for our hike? Are we gonna stay until dark, maybe camp outside?"

Gavin blew out a breath. "Um, I don't know yet. I figured we could just head out with the basic necessities and leave the other decisions for later."

"Sounds good to me."

He brightened and pushed up off the bed. "Then come on! Let's go!"

I laughed, having to stop him so I could get changed. While doing so, I asked about the emergency space blanket thing.

"Oh, that's a plastic sheet that has a lot of practical uses if creative enough like with a temporary shelter and rain water collection, but people mistakenly use it thinking that it can keep them warm. I read recently that it can make the cold feel worse, especially if you have wet clothes."

I tapped my lips. "Something to do with conduction, I think."

"I wanted to try using it for something creative while we're out today."

"Oh, all right. Well, I'm ready to gather the other stuff with you. Shall we head out?"

Gavin nodded and hugged me tightly, making a giggle burst free before our lips met very briefly. He grasped my hand and practically dragged me out of my room. It made me happy to see him so excited.

Zaire snickered and waved to us as Gavin shouted a simple "bye" as he grabbed his bag from the backdoor. I chuckled once he shut the door behind us, then he divided the bottled water he'd collected between our backpacks. Gavin resettled the lunchboxes, then tightened the hat string underneath my chin as the wind picked up a little.

"Are you excited?"

"Yes, Gav. Let's go have some fun." I replied with a laugh, hugging his waist.

We headed off right away, but I wondered if I should have made myself taller again because Gavin was having to adjust his pace due to my much shorter self. But I don't think he minded based off the way he was grinning away. I smiled to myself and decided to enjoy our hike without any unnecessary thoughts.

__________________________

"We should rest here for a bit."

I nodded and dropped my backpack, then plopped down into the pine needles and rested my back against an old stump. Gavin settled next to me and dug into his backpack for the lunchboxes while I cracked open my second bottle of water. I don't think I have ever exercised this much before, but it feels good.

We had hiked for hours in the rolling hills of pines and Gavin even took me up onto a ridge. We clambered higher across a rockier section to get to the highest point on Daddy's property. I had to use magic a couple times because it was a little scary, but Gavin was always there to lend me a hand whenever necessary. I think he was really happy that I could rely on him because, despite his slight visible exhaustion from exertion, he was smiling brightly.

Gavin really is such an attractive person—not just physically, but also in terms of how he treats others, which would probably make him really popular regardless of whatever he chooses to do later in life. Whether it's music or something entirely different, I truly want Gavin (and every other lover) to live and strive for happiness and enjoyment in life until our time runs out.

"Anwyll?"

I scraped my teeth over my bottom lip and squeezed the bottle as a slight sting occurred in the backs of my eyes. I set my water bottle aside and hugged my knees, tucking my face down. Gavin's right hand rested on my head as he leaned into my left side, so I sniffled and held myself together. I don't even know why I'm feeling so emotional right now aside from truly desiring happiness for my beloveds.

"Gav," I started softly, "I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"I don't know."

Gavin gently tugged my form into his lap, then hugged my upper body tightly to his chest. I sensed his partial shift and noticed his claw-tipped fingernails, his tiger tail swiftly wrapping around my wolf one. I snuggled against Gavin's chest as he started purring. He kissed my wolf ears and forehead before letting me rest.

"If you're worried that you ruined the good mood, don't be. How you feel is just as important to me as my feelings are to you."

"Okay, Gav." I murmured, kissing his collarbones. His rumbly purring deepened. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Anwyll. I'm your lover and you are mine. This much is natural."

I smiled and pressed my right arm across his midsection. "Mm, sounds fair."

Gavin repeatedly nuzzled my head, more than the typical amount. I then felt the super rough tiger tongue along my cheek, so I guess Ragnar wants to come forward soon. I reached up and hooked my fingers over his nape, already feeling ten times better after the short talk with my handsome Gavin. He blushed when I pulled him down more for a deep kiss, but I let him control the pace after I got it started.

I dropped my head back to breathe, looking up at the canopy of fluffy Ponderosa pine boughs while Gaven licked my throat. I feel at ease outdoors in Gavin's arms, just as we were the night of his birthday when we first had sex.

Gavin and I were in a little secluded area of Daddy's property, although still on one of the lower ridges. We couldn't see our home in the valley to the southeast, but we obviously knew its general direction. It was nice to feel the gentle breeze and hear the leaves of the aspen trees rustling farther away uphill. I breathed deeply of the fresh air and slowly released my breath.

"Hey, Gav?"

Gavin nosed my jawline and looked at my face, meeting my gaze. "What's up?"

I smiled and and cupped his head, then pecked his lips. "I love you."

Gavin blushed and gently pressed his lips to mine, then deepened the kiss with wandering fingers. He broke it to ask, "Will you groom us again in your other form?"

I stared wide-eyed at him for a moment, then agreed with a soft giggle. "Ragnar is also eager for it, I guess?"

Gavin nodded. I got off his lap, then he pushed himself up onto his feet and began to strip down. Even though he was in a hurry, I kind of felt like he was stripping a little more slowly at times. Or maybe that was my mind hoping he would strip in a kind of sexy way like I did for him on his birthday last year. Gavin finally shifted and Ragnar's magnificent tiger self was standing in front of me. Before I shifted, I hugged his big, thick neck and kissed his cheeks.

"Ragnar, my handsome tiger, I missed you."

Ragnar purred and gently licked my face. It was pretty rough, but it wasn't super painful as I imagine it would be when he's eating raw meat. Ragnar rubbed his cheeks on my head, his deep rumbles of purring making me feel very relaxed. I took a few minutes to pet his head and neck—folds and chest fur, too. I think Ragnar's eagerness to be with me outweighed his desire to be licked by my other form because he was walking a tight circle around me, rubbing his sides and head all over my body, his tail sweeping along my form as well.

"Mine."

That sounded like a much deeper version of Gavin's voice. It was interesting, but I decided to get my butt moving to groom Ragnar like he and my beloved wanted. I shifted into a smaller version of myself, about the height of a large draft horse, then moved my head down and started pushing my tongue through Ragnar's fur. He shuddered and relaxed, letting my tongue sweep into the deep grooves of his scars and back out again.

While licking Ragnar, I wanted to check in with Gavin. He sounded blissful and relaxed like Ragnar.

"Your voice earlier was pretty deep and gravelly. It would be interesting to hear you sing a duet with yourself on a track in the future."

Gavin flinched. "What?"

My eyebrows hopped up as navy-blue eyes in a tiger face looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't say anything earlier."

"Huh? But I heard your voice. It was just deeper than I was expecting."

Gavin shook his head. "That wasn't me, specifically, but I think we know who said it."

I gulped and we said his name together, "Ragnar."

"Yes?" came the response neither of us were actually expecting.

Gavin was equally as shocked as me. "How can you speak?"

The tiger's eyes turned gold again. I could sense what Ragnar and Gavin were about to say.

This time they spoke together, "Anwyll."

I hummed to myself. I know that werewolves and other shifters that haven't been messed with have an animal side that has an animal mentality coupled with it. The human takes care of itself, so with the animal it's the same unless there's a need to switch. But I have spoken to Baron, my mother's father, at length about that topic. He always said that animal sides send their emotions to their human counterparts because they cannot speak a human language. So for example, Ragnar would not be capable of speaking if his mind had come forward in Gavin's body and would only be able to make sounds. It's the same for Gavin's mind in the forefront of Ragnar's body. He would not be capable of human speech, but only the sounds that would normally come out of his tiger form's mouth. It's the same for me, even though I have no animal mind. I can only speak using telepathy.

So, my hypothesis is that Ragnar absorbed little bits of my magic to be able to communicate certain emotions and simple thoughts, then translate them through telepathy. Because so far, he has only ever said one word at a time that directly explains how he's feeling and or what he's thinking. The "mine" was his possessiveness, "yes" was from curiosity about his name being called, and my name was used to explain how he became this way. I don't think he's going to start speaking in full sentences due to the simplicity of how an animal's mind functions versus a human's complex mind, but this is still interesting.

I had shared my thoughts with Gavin while processing the information, so he was in agreement with the conclusion I had come to and didn't add anything. I went back to licking the pair in one body, so the nice, relaxed atmosphere returned.

Once they were both sleepy, I returned to my human form and just petted their head. Ragnar made a low and rough meowing sound, so I kissed his head and told him that he's dearly loved by me. He licked my fingers, then retreated to reveal Gavin's bare human form resting on the pine needles. I pushed my fingers through his light brown hair, smiling when he looked at me.

"I love you, Gav. Shall we set up our makeshift tent and enjoy the music you brought?"

He nodded, yawning a second later. "Kiss first?"

"Of course." I pecked his lips right away, then helped him up.

Gavin merely pulled on his pair of shorts and then started helping me set up our makeshift shelter. I changed to my taller height, which was equal to his own, so we were able to get things done much faster than expected. He was still pretty sleepy in appearance with his eyelids slowly closing more than a few times before he jerked awake with a simple touch to his arm. I made a thick, padded blanket appear and placed it under our shelter. Gavin immediately laid down and fell asleep a few seconds later.

I chuckled to myself and gently petted his hair, then pushed up from my crouch and retrieved his clothes. I put them into his bag and dropped our backpacks under the space blankets that we'd tacked together and put on an angle, so now it was against a rock with two trees on either side.

Unfortunately, I failed to notice that a small storm had blown in until the rain started to fall. I sat with my back against the rock and my knees up with my arms around them while watching the rain come down. I wasn't cold, but I was worried about Gavin because he's only wearing a pair of shorts.

After draping another real blanket over him, Gavin rolled and moved closer to me, so I put my legs down and he settled his left cheek on my corresponding thigh. I smiled happily and pushed my fingers into his hair again, then watched the rain fall in peace.

It was about an hour later that Gavin awakened. He yawned and nuzzled me, then slowly pushed himself up.

"Thanks for the blanket, Anwyll."

"Of course, Gav. I was worried that you might get cold from the rain."

"Rain?"

He looked up and noticed that it was still raining. "How are we not even a little bit wet with that wind?" he asked, then quickly added, "No wait, never mind. I know the answer."

I closed my mouth and chuckled. "Yeah, you do. Did you sleep well, Gav?"

"Mmhm, like a log. I feel much better and more refreshed now."

I leaned back a bit more onto the currently cushioned rock, then crossed my stiff legs. "Was something bothering you, Gav?"

He sat up next to me and nodded. "Yeah, actually, there was something bothering me."

"Do you want to share?"