Feral Northern Shifters 2

been that easy.
Ethan waited until they were out of sight before he said, “Bram?”
As Bram rose off him, Ethan opened the car door, and Bram leaped out and shook himself, feeling suddenly exhausted. He hadn’t eaten last night and now, even if he’d wanted to shift, he felt like he barely had the resources to do so. Still, he gazed down that driveway.
“They’re not coming back anytime soon,” Ethan assured him. “Their flights leave in a few hours. So, come on, let’s get something to eat.”
~ * ~
    Two days had passed, and still Bram remained wolf. Not that Ethan didn’t enjoy his company. It felt much less lonely in the house to have a companion. But the one-sided conversation wasn’t satisfying, and Ethan’s anticipation at meeting the human Bram was growing stronger each day.
    However, Bram remained on guard against some kind of attack. It was evident by the way Bram did regular checks inside and outside the house, and refused to sleep through the night.
Well, if nothing else, Ethan could feed the guy, who was always hungry. Fortunately he had stocked up for the week of the full moon—given his regular visitors—and had plenty of supplies, so feeding Bram till he was stuffed was not a problem.
The problem was that he couldn’t place a hand on Bram anymore. The wolf shied away from it, and not only because he was skittish. Ethan understood that Bram didn’t want to be tempted to turn because of the human contact.
Ethan tried not to pressure Bram, wanting him to be comfortable with the idea of shifting, of returning to the human world. But the presence of wolf-Bram was starting to weigh on Ethan. He toyed with the idea of changing to cougar himself and that was a bad, bad idea. The last three months hadn’t always been easy. There’d been temptation to go back to the feral life. The quartet of wolves had even taken turns visiting with him. At first Ethan had resented the surveillance, mostly because he didn’t initially trust them. But it hadn’t taken long for him to appreciate their presence and their offer of friendship.
“Trouble is,” Ethan said abruptly to Bram the third night, after the wolf had circled around the throw rug and lain down. “I’d love someone to talk to. I continue to struggle a little with being human. Eight years has taken a toll. I need the company. The conversation at work is extremely limited.”
Slowly Bram raised his head and gazed at Ethan.
“Sometimes, one of those four wolves stays and visits with me for a while. After the moon run.”
Bram cocked his head.
“They come and go, each of them, because they all have busy lives at home. Seth is pretty quiet, earnest. Veronica is the friendliest and most at ease with me, not sure why exactly. And then there’s Liam, who flirts with me.” Bram’s gaze seemed to intensify. “Without meaning anything behind it,” Ethan added. “And Trey is pretty damn quiet, more of a presence or an acquaintance than a friend.”
Ethan threw himself back on the chair and scrubbed his face. He heard Bram rise and walk towards him as he spoke into his hands. “I don’t want to force you, but I’d be, well, grateful, if you would shift to human. I’m not entirely comfortable in this skin, especially when you’re hanging around me in wolf form. You make me want to shift back to cat.”
Bram stood within reach and Ethan lifted his hand, pressed it upon Bram’s head, ran fingers through that coarse fur. “Come back to me, Bram, okay? Besides, we really need to talk about a few things.”
Bram turned his head and licked Ethan’s hand, then walked out of the living room into the guest bedroom.
He gave Bram time. Shifting itself is a silent process, so Ethan was polite and waited for Bram to signal that he was done. After ten minutes, anticipation began to build. Shifting time was highly variable. Rarely below fifteen minutes, but it was possible with some wolves. Others could take longer.
A half an hour later and after some amount of pacing, Ethan became anxious. Bram should have finished surely. Fearing something had gone wrong, he walked towards the room Bram had entered. The door had been left ajar. He knocked and the door swung open a little.
“Bram? Can I come in?”
No answer, and Ethan felt alarm.
“Bram. I’m opening the door, okay?” Ethan pushed and the hinges creaked as the door swung inward.
Bram lay on the bed, still wolf. Silent, unmoving, eyes closed, though Ethan could see him breathing.
He cocked his