Each day, they worked out in the yard, rain or shine. Most days it was cool. Halloween came and went, and still they worked.
They used the hot tub most nights since she and Mia spent most of their days sparring.
Lucas decided it would help settle Scott’s mind if they too trained most of the day. They worked on getting Scott into the right mind to transform. But the more time that passed, the more frustrated Scott grew and the surer he became that Lucas had the wrong guy.
Then one day, before they stepped outside, Lucas asked her to join them instead of going off with Mia.
“Go with me on this,” Lucas whispered to her as they stepped outside.
The moment they stood in the middle of the yard, Lucas nodded to Mia.
Then, without warning, a dark shadowy figure appeared between her and Lucas and grabbed them. Her arm was yanked behind her back, and she and Lucas disappeared with a scream.
The moment they vanished, Lucas rushed to her and clasped his hand over her mouth. Somehow, Mia had caused the smoke figure to appear while Lucas had turned them invisible.
The pair of them stood feet from Scott and watched the sheer panic flood Scott’s face.
“What the—!” Scott growled, as he scanned the yard. Then, as they watched, Scott’s body shivered and grew larger. The low growl echoed through the yard as Mia watched on.
Scott looked so desperate. So scared. Selene wanted to go to him, to push Lucas away and reappear.
She didn’t know why, but in all that time, she hadn’t told Scott about her new ability to vanish. Maybe she’d just forgotten? Maybe it was one more thing she didn’t want him to worry about?
Either way, she desperately wished she had told him now.
He shivered again and they watched long dark hairs grow on his arms, which were growing longer and contorting. His hands turned to paws. His nose grew longer, and so did his ears.
It took no more than a minute, and she held her breath the entire time, Lucas’s hand still over her mouth.
When the transformation was complete, Scott lunged forward, missing them by no more than a foot.
Lucas quickly released her and reappeared as he transformed.
She watched in horror as the two large animals stood across from one another and growled as they circled the yard.
“Easy!” Mia yelled. “You’ve made your point,” she said to Lucas.
Then it dawned on Selene. Mia had yet to take them to the safety of the Between. They were still in the real world. Where someone could get hurt.
Taking a chance, she raised her hands and stepped between the two of them. Their shoulders were easily taller than her head.
“Enough!” she screamed through the loud growls.
Lucas’s yellow eyes narrowed slightly before he turned back into himself. Scott stopped growling and, after running his eyes over her to make sure she was okay, he relaxed and turned back.
“Holy hell,” Scott said with a sigh as he rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I thought… What happened? Where did you go?”
She winced. “Mia made that smoke creature, and we can… sort of… become invisible.”
Scott jerked back and looked down at her. “Seriously?” The look in his eyes wasn’t one of anger or hurt that she hadn’t told him. Instead, he seemed… impressed. “That is so cool.”
She laughed. “Are we going to talk about you changing into a dog?”
He frowned. “I did?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
He glanced around and everyone nodded.