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  More smells flooded her and one of them had her saliva glands kick in. It smelled good, soft sweet, and like it would taste delicious.

  I suppose I should know how to hunt. I probably won't get anything.

  The self-justification sounded good and gave her a reason to slake the need to stalk, to hunt something. Growing up in foster care in the city, she had rarely been in the woods, so most of her knowledge was based what she had forced herself to learn in the last couple days. The only critters she was exceedingly familiar with were mice, scorpions, snakes, and bugs. The only one she hated were those damned scorpions. Vile things.

  With an intent interest she figured was being driven by the cat side, she started to stalk the sweet piece of animal, moving with slow grace through the undergrowth. There seemed to be a sharp smell associated with it also, but it was faint and easily over ridden by the allure of the meat that she wanted, even not being hungry she wanted it.

  Another rustle through the leaves and a whiff of something that made her wrinkle her nose, but the stronger scent was of soft warm flesh, and her entire being focused on it to the point that she couldn't think of anything else behind her.

  A step and a warning huff, registered, but she didn't care as she sprang towards the black and white fur. The easy prey turned, tail lifting towards her, and a burning sensation hit her squarely across the eyes and nose. She landed with her paws splaying out wards as tried to back away and swipe the awful stuff from her face at the same time.

  The small animal, black with two white stripes flicked its tail at her and trundled off into the bushes as she frantically swiped at her face, eyes burning and nose screaming at her.

  A skunk, a freaking skunk. It burns, it burns so bad.

  She blinked hard and fast her eyes watering as she tried to wash the burn out of her face. The sweet smell of the skunk firmly implanted into her memories as—Do NOT hunt. A weird sound caused her to turn and see JD laying on his back, a loud choking sound coming from him as he rolled back and forth.

  McKenna had no doubt at all the bear was laughing at her. Growling, her nose and eyes burning she sprung, and before he could react she had rubbed her skunk soaked face all over his fur.

  He growled the odd choking sound stopping as he sat up and glared at her, lips drawing back from teeth. She just snarled at him, then went back to trying to get it out of her eyes.

  The fun of the afternoon had faded, and she just wanted the smell to go away. Standing up, she started stalking back to the cabin, then paused realizing she had absolutely no idea where to go or where they had started. And right now, all she could smell was skunk.

  She turned and huffed at JD who still growled at her but stood up and started heading back to the cabin. McKenna followed, the odor of skunk coloring everything, but she noticed she could still hear everything, and her mind struggled to place all the sounds and plants.

  I'll have to study up on this, but once I know it I seem to remember it. I'm never being tempted by sweet flesh again. Not that I could hunt anything right now, no animal alive is going to let me get within fifteen yards of it now.

  Her tail lashed nonstop as she moved after him, suddenly exhausted and just wanting to be clean. JD led her to a stream and growled at it, with a jab of his claw and McKenna sighed. It made sense to get the worse of it off before she shifted. She hoped they had some shampoo or perfume or something.

  With a snarl at no one and everyone she walked into the water and almost jumped back out hissing. It felt awful. All the fur on her body being pulled different ways, creating sensations she couldn’t track, then they got heavy and pulled downwards and she felt cut off from her environment. It took everything she had not to jump out. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how much information her fur had told her, the waves of air currents passing by her. She dunked her head in the water and realized her whiskers were even worse. Her body and mind felt like she was tearing herself apart trying to obey the animal and the human. She kept reminding herself what was happening, and the panic finally faded as she started to interpret the information differently, rather than as being cut off from information, she received different information. It became easier the longer she was in, both adapting and understanding the sensations.

  McKenna padded out walked over to JD and shook as hard as she could. Water sprayed all over JD who just looked at her with a look that even on his bear face she recognized. She flickered her tail at him and talked up to the cabin, still smelling skunk everywhere.

  Once in the bathroom, hoping silently the smell would disappear with the fur, she shifted back into her human form and was immediately assaulted by the smell of skunk. She looked around the bathroom, there was a shower, but she didn’t see a hot water heater, cold it would be.

  A knock on the bathroom door pulled her attention from the smell and lack of hot water.

  “You’ll need this.” JD’s hand came through the door holding a large jar.

  “What is it?” McKenna took the jar even as she asked.

  “Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dish detergent. Scrub with it. Let sit for five minutes, rinse, then do it again until you can’t smell the skunk anymore.”

  “Hmm, this might get you forgiven.”

  “Hey, I tried to warn you, I recognized the scent.”

  “Oh.” She stifled the rest of her comment, like the fact that the smell had been too intoxicating to ignore.

  Dammit.

  McKenna sighed and began scrubbing every inch of her body to try to remove the scent.

  Chapter 13 - New Reality

  The announcement from the Pope yesterday is still causing ripples through the world. In his mass, he stated “God has created us all, if this gift expresses itself in children, it must come from the creator as he would not allow the devil to taint those still innocent.” This statement is still being torn apart by everyone. In a stark contrast a prominent Iman has stated the ability to transform into a filthy animal is proof of Allah’s grace fleeing those who do not believe. Experts are expecting a schism in the faith that may eventually end up redrawing the borders for the Middle East yet again. The effects of these two statements will be felt for years to come, already Egypt has become a refuge for Muslim’s who shift, its government supporting them. ~ TNN News Anchor

  Her alarm went off at five am, and McKenna rolled out of bed, wrinkling her nose at the still faint scent of skunk that remained.

  I swear that stuff won’t come off for anything.

  Heaving a sigh, she headed for the shower, planning on scrubbing down again, and maybe putting perfume on today. A flicker of something caught the corner of her vision, and she jerked her head that direction to see it, but nothing appeared strange.

  Frowning she spun around slowly but saw nothing that didn’t look like her normal sane world.

  Huh.

  She shook it off and proceeded to shower, liberally using her sandalwood body wash, even if her newly sensitive nose wrinkled. It would be better that eau de skunk around the edges for the rest of the day.

  Dress uniforms had been requested for the day, as they would be meeting others, and the mayor, and the Governor was coming up from Sacramento to talk to them. Normally she hated wearing skirts, but now with the shifter aspect, a skirt let her change much easier.

  McKenna froze as she realized how much she wanted this changing form to be a permanent thing.

  What happens if it goes away?

  A pang of loss, sorrow, followed that thought, and she shuddered and instead focused on hair and make-up. Professional she could do. With luck, Kirk would be pushed to the background.

  Walking out to her car, a practical sedan, she blinked as something floated across her vision.

  “What the hell?”

  McKenna blinked rapidly a few times, and the lines disappeared, but a cold chill ran down her back. A quick glance at her wrist told her she didn’t have time to worry about this. In her car she turned on the news, and terror wrapped around her heart even
more as the stories started coming out of the speakers.

  Pulling into the parking lot, she saw JD standing next to his Hummer, his eyes locked on her car. As she got out, he strode over to her, his face grave.

  “Any idea about this?”

  “Not really. I don’t know who else changed. I don’t know if this means everything changes or nothing. Holich mentioned what they thought, but that was two days ago, and after listening to the news on the way in,” she stopped looking at him.

  “Yeah. I listened to the news too. People are freaking out.” JD paused and looked at her. “Why aren’t we?”

  McKenna shrugged and started moving towards the building, being late never looked good. “Because we know we’re still us, even with paws? It’s everyone else having the melt down. Though after listening to what is going on in places, I’m not sure I’d let everyone know I could change.”

  JD snorted. “I think that cat is out of the bag for both of us.”

  “Literally.” They both chuckled a bit as they walked in, then slowed as the station fell silent around them. Every officer, ones they’d known for years, and those they barely knew in passing paused and looked at them. McKenna swallowed and fought not move closer to JD. Even more terrifying, she fought not to hiss at them. As if she was a cat warning off intruders.

  Instead she stiffened her spine and went on the offensive, always a viable option.

  “Yes? Is there a question you have?” She hit the sarcasm hard. “I’m sure you’ve all seen the video, so I don’t think there is anything I have left to hide. So, is there a problem?”

  Half the room blushed and ducked their heads, focusing on work. The ones that didn’t, McKenna put those faces into memory. Their expressions ranged from fear and trepidation to hate. One glance from a woman McKenna couldn’t put a name too immediately made her shiver. Lust, pure lust radiated from her eyes, and sex didn’t come into that lust.

  The strange tableau existed for an eternal minute before JD coughed and started walking towards the meeting rooms. McKenna moved too, a half step after him and ignored the wave of relief when Anne Holich stepped out of one of the rooms.

  “McKenna, JD. Come on in. We’re waiting for two others.” Her voice calm as she stepped back into the room. They followed and the walls breaking line of sight removed the feeling of having people stare at your back.

  A young woman, at least five years younger than McKenna, stood in the far corner, her body tight, hands clasped together so hard white showed at the knuckles. Her short brown hair was spiked up, and her arched eyes and dark caramel skin indicated Egyptian heritage. A symbol flashed across McKenna’s vision, a weird thing, ears and a pointed muzzle. It made no sense, but before she could focus on it, it disappeared. She blinked her eyes furiously, but the symbol didn’t reappear, and she had to focus on what Holich was saying.

  “Officer Kala Mansour, this is JD Davidson and McKenna Largo.”

  The girls mouth half twisted in a smile. “Yeah, I know who they are. I think everyone does at this point.” But she walked forward offering her hand. “Nice to actually meet you though.”

  McKenna shook her hand and wondered if it was odd, or maybe the new social norm to ask what she shifted into, but figured she’d wait until the others appeared.

  Anne looked up as two men walked in and nodded at them. “Gentlemen, please come in and take a seat. That goes for everyone. We’re waiting for one more person, then I’ll get us going - ah here he is. Please take a seat,” she said as a large black man walked through the door.

  Glancing at the men, symbols flashed in front of her face, and she blinked, throat going dry. This time she got a vague impression of what they were but couldn’t pull them out. Something like a paw?

  Please don’t tell me I’m going insane on top of all this.

  McKenna clenched her hands together, so she didn’t rub at her eyes, looking like a raccoon would not help right now. She took a seat with Kala on her left and JD on her right and looked over the new comers. The three of them couldn’t have been more different. A dark stocky man with curly black hair over beige skin, wearing lieutenant bars sat down at far end of the table as Anne took the head of the table. The remaining two men sat on the other side, and McKenna inspected each of them, trying not to judge, though everyone looked very snazzy in their dress uniforms.

  The huge black man, who matched JD in height, though was a hundred pounds less, sat on Anne’s right. He had an easy smile and McKenna nodded at him. He wore a firefighter dress uniform though, which struck her as odd.

  The other man radiated assurance as he flashed her a perfectly white smile, made even more striking with his Latino good looks and raven black hair. He came across as a lover boy, and she just nodded back as he turned the same charm onto Kala.”

  Anne cleared her throat and McKenna changed her attention to the woman who pulled out a tablet.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for attending. As I’m sure you aware the changes sweeping the globe right now are creating ripples across societies and nations. You are the only shifters, and that is the word currently being used, that we know of on either the police force or the firefighters.” She nodded at the firefighter at this. “We realize some people may not be willing to expose themselves, and that is fine. AT this point the Rossville government is treating your ability to shift, like your sexual preference. It’s your business. But given the visibility of this change, which is verified to be worldwide.” A sudden sardonic smile flashed across her face. “They even had someone stationed on Antarctica shift.”

  McKenna couldn’t stop the snort. That pretty much did make it worldwide given how few people were ever on that continent.

  “We don’t want there to be issues, but you all have a better insight as to what it means to shift, what the ramifications of it are.” Anne took a sip of the water in front of her, glancing at her tablet. “Thanks to the information Officer Largo provided us, we - and by we, I mean this police department and our higher ups - are aware that your intelligence and awareness stays the same. However, people aren’t going to know that or necessarily react as if you are a thinking animal. Watching the video of Officer Largo changing, I’m pretty sure I would have panicked and freaked out if she came towards me. We are working hard to train people, but frankly you react at an instinctual level when a cat or a bear,” she nodded at JD, “comes at you. We want all of you to be our primary responders for any difficult shifter cases. You can at least comprehend what they are going through. However, you notice there are only six people in this room, and that is actually above the average. Right now we should have had only about 3, but I’m not going to complain. Our goal is to have people on each shift to deal with shifter calls, but with this few it isn’t going to work.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’m getting ahead of myself. JD, if you would start, introduce yourself and gives us some details.” She nodded at JD, who McKenna just knew wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn’t, though he did play with one of his smaller spinners to give his hands something to do.

  “I’m JD Davidson, patrol officer for the last two years. I did two tours in the Army, and I have a Masters in Criminal Justice. As everyone has seen I turn into a small black bear.”

  The firefighter choked a bit. “That was a small bear?”

  JD shrugged. “Yeah, as far as I can tell weight stays the same, and I only weight about three-fifty, a full grown brown bear ranges from three hundred up to over a thousand pounds.” Moving the spinner from hand to hand as he talked. The urge to slap at it made her grit her teeth.

  “Oh,” the words came out small, and the man looked at JD with a kind of wariness that made McKenna want to scream. But she didn’t, she just smiled and started to speak.

  “As you all probably know I’m McKenna Largo. I’ve been on the force a bit over three years. I have a bachelors in CJ and obviously I turn into a cougar or puma, depending on your culture.” She left it at that, after all, they had all seen her buck naked, and from t
he leer on the Latino’s face, probably more than once.

  Kala cleared her throat, and McKenna could hear her swallow hard. “I’m Kala Mansour. I’ve been an officer here for six months. I’m still on probation. I’m twenty-five and I, um, turn into a jackal.” Her voice dropped a bit and McKenna saw her clench her hands together to stop the trembling.

  What has her so terrified?

  The question bounced around her head even as she turned to listen to the lieutenant speak.

  “I’m Larry Canolia, a lieutenant over homicide. I’ve been a cop for twenty years, ten here in Rossville. I’m having issues with all of this being a devout Catholic, but I’m not making any decisions yet. For what it is worth, I turn into a boar, granted it is a huge boar, but I’m not a cat or bear.”

  He fell silent with a shrug and McKenna realized she needed to pay more attention to religion, it hadn’t really occurred to her that some people would have conflicts. Her eyes darted back to Kala and her overly tense frame.

  “I guess that means I’m next. I’m Raul Hernandez, I’ve been here five years. Single, enjoy a good pick-up game, and line, and I turn into a hyena.” His mouth curled in a moue of distaste. “And this whole thing is fucking crazy. Excuse my language, ladies.”

  He smiled at all the women, and McKenna fought to keep a straight face at his player attitude.

  The big firefighter shifted in his seat. “I guess that leaves me. I’m William Johnson, and as you can tell,” he waved at his uniform, “I’m not a cop. I’ve been with my team for five years and a firefighter for eight. Honestly, I doubt I’d be here if I hadn’t changed while on shift and had it witnessed by damn near everyone in the station. I turned into a wolf, a damn big one from the pics they took, after they quit freaking out.” He half smiled at that memory. “When they asked about shifters, my captain told me to come.” He fell silent and sat back a bit, seeming to shrink in on himself.