Her mouth opened in surprise, but before she could say anything, Ty had shifted. He waited just a second, until he saw her form start to blur, and then he took off down the mountain, racing as fast as he could.
The cold air burned in his jaguar’s lungs, but it was an exhilarating burn, a sign of him pushing his body to a limit it hadn’t known in a long, long time.
Yes, his jaguar exulted. Run as fast as we can. As far as we can. Faster than anything.
Ty had to agree, at least here in the moment. Trees whipped past, and he depended wholly on his instincts to avoid them, to keep his paws landing unerringly on clear ground.
He could hear Misty’s hooves behind him. He was faster than she was in a sprint, but he knew that the longer they ran, the greater her chance of catching up. He was depending on his stamina lasting long enough for victory.
Although defeat wouldn’t be a bad thing, either.
Yes, his jaguar thought. Let her catch us.
Make up your mind, Ty shot back, laughing to himself as he started to slow just a fraction.
That was it, he decided. He was going to make sure that Misty knew that he wanted this to be a date. Sure, he might not be sticking around here forever, but he couldn’t ignore the connection that had arisen between them. He needed to know this woman better, to truly understand her sharp, pure combination of a sheriff’s toughness and a deer’s fragility. Even if it was temporary.
That thought send a pain through his chest.
Or maybe he was just running too hard.
***
Misty
Misty’s hooves were pounding on the earth, her legs pumping, her heart pounding in her chest. And the feeling underneath at all was something almost foreign.
She got plenty of hard exercise, both in human form and while shifted. She went on long runs as a deer several times a week, sometimes every day. She was intimately familiar with the burn of chilly air in her lungs, the way the trees flashed by, the satisfying pound of her legs hitting the ground and propelling her forward in leap after leap.
But she wasn’t used to this—this joy.
They were essentially playing tag like little children. She was chasing Ty’s big, graceful form, following the flash of his tail and the sharp, predatory scent of him through the woods, and it was somehow ten times as exhilarating as running by herself ever was. It was strange, because she wasn’t a predator; she shouldn’t have this kind of instinctive glory in chasing another shifter.
Maybe it wasn’t a deer instinct, though. Maybe it was a human one.
They were nearing the edge of the woods, and Misty was gearing up for a final surge of speed, determining to pull ahead of Ty as his jaguar speed started to flag—when there was a loud crack off to the east, deeper into the forest.
Misty skidded to a halt, instantly turning towards the source of the noise. That hadn’t been anything natural.
Ty turned in place, no hesitation, and circled around to stand by her. He looked at her with an obvious question: investigate?
Misty moved forward purposefully. Maybe it was nothing, but she was sheriff of this town, and she wasn’t going to let something potentially dangerous go just because she’d been having the most fun she could remember having in recent memory.
Or...possibly ever.
She shook that thought off and trotted forward.
Ty padded along behind her, once again absolutely silent, just giving off whatever...aura it was, that let Misty sense his presence. She was going to have to ask him how he did that.
It wasn’t long before she saw movement through the trees. Then a sudden, bright flare of light, and another loud crack.
Misty sighed and shifted back to human. Ty followed suit, and she looked back to tell him, “Firecrackers. It’ll be kids. I have to go break it up.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ty said.
“You don’t have to. It’s not going to be any fun, I can guarantee that.” Yelling down rebellious teenagers never was.
But Ty didn’t look hesitant at all. “I want to. You can deputize me.”