“It was a flesh wound,” Lawson explained. “A graze. By the time I found you, it’d mostly healed. There won’t be a trace of it now.”

  Grace was dumbfounded. “I-I guess I can do things now.”

  “Yes, you can. Grace, I’ll help you. With all of it.”

  “Tonight?” She looked up at him, her heart attempting to fill with hope, but her skepticism was still fighting back.

  “Tonight.” His sincerity won her over. Not because she wanted it to, but because it had to.

  “Then,” she murmured, somehow accepting her new reality, “I better pack some stuff.”

  Grace let Lawson drive the Jimny back to his place.

  He looked ridiculous behind the wheel of such a compact 4WD. His broad shoulders were even larger than the seat.

  She endured the twenty or so minutes in silence, her nerves twisting her stomach into knots. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but she just couldn’t formulate any of them.

  Lawson left her alone, leaving her to reach out to him when she was ready.

  She was so not ready for any of it.

  They waited until the sun had set before they moved, the dimming light feeling like an ominous countdown to the official end of her old life. Being the middle of summer, it took some time, and they lingered in the backyard, listening to the sounds of the high country.

  Lawson helped her tell the difference between the slithering of snakes, the graceful chaos of all the different birds, and the footsteps of little mammals as they foraged in the undergrowth.

  Surprised at how far she could hear, Grace realised how alive the high country really was now that she could see beyond her human senses. She could smell the warmth in the air, and how the sun heated the eucalyptus in the gum leaves all around the house. And the sweet smell of water in the creek just beyond the garden, as the last of the winter melt from the highest mountains finally made its way downstream. How the rest of the bush could smell so dry, even when the snow had lingered for so long, was beyond her. Nature really was copping it in the age of human-accelerated global warming.

  Lawson stood and kicked off his shoes. “Are you ready?”

  Grace hesitated. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

  “You tell me. We just spent the entire afternoon listening to the bush.”

  “Oh…” His first lesson had gone right over her head. Standing, she glanced sheepishly at the lengthening shadows. “How do I…?” She gestured to herself. “I don’t remember how I did it.”

  “It’s all in the mind,” Lawson explained. “You have to want it. Imagine it. Will it to happen.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Because it is. It’s the same as walking, or lifting a hand, or any other function your body has. It’s something you just do.”

  She screwed up her face and grabbed the hem of her tank top. “Turn around, would you?”

  Lawson chuckled and turned his back, giving her privacy. “Remember, you’re different now. Your body has changed to allow this to happen. Unfortunately, clothes aren’t a part of the equation.”

  “This life is so designed to embarrass me,” she muttered. “I’ve already lost my favourite pair of boots.”

  “Let me know when you’re ready.” He didn’t acknowledge her complaining, and she hoped he was pretending for her sake. “I won’t change until you have, okay?”

  “Sure.” I’ll just dig my claws in, she thought with a smirk.

  Taking a deep breath, Grace took off her top and leggings. She rolled her shoulders and glanced down at her padded crop top. She supposed that had to go, too.

  When she finally stood naked in the dark backyard, she grimaced. It was so weird. So, so weird.

  She glanced over her shoulder at Lawson, who was waiting patiently for her to shapeshift. What now? How was she supposed to will it to happen? Why couldn’t there be a magic word or something?

  Think panther thoughts, she mused to herself. What would a big cat do?

  It was a part of her. It was in her blood. She had to stop being afraid of it. It wanted her to survive—that much was clear after what’d happened the night before. Even though she didn’t want to be a shapeshifter, it still wanted the best for her. They were one and the same. It wanted to live, just like she did.

  Her arm snapped, and she cried out, cradling it against her chest.

  “It’s okay,” Lawson reassured, keeping his back turned. “If you don’t fight it, it’ll hurt less.”

  Grace’s other arm began to change, twisting and rippling as her transformation began. She watched it with wide eyes, so she was distracted when the rest of her body joined in. Crumpling to her knees, her breathing became shallow.

  “I feel sick,” she rasped.

  “Easy does it,” Lawson murmured. “Focus on what you want to become, not the pain.”

  She tried to remember what it’d been like the night before, but her memory was cloudy, so she imagined what it would be like to walk on all fours, to have a tail, to see and smell, to climb and balance, to be something else…

  Her fingers retracted, her hands sprouting black, bristly fur, and her chewed fingernails forced outwards into sharp points. Claws.

  Then her vision blurred as her body seemed to slip out of its skin and into something more powerful…and close to the ground.

  Instantly, she felt a second presence inside her. The animal Lawson warned her about.

  Shaking her head, Grace looked up. The moon was barely a sliver in the sky, but the night had come alive in a way she’d never seen before. She breathed deeply, the air passing through her lungs and back out in a rumble that sounded oddly like a purr.

  Lawson turned, smiling down at her. “That was pretty fast, you know.”

  She growled, disappointed she didn’t get the chance to swipe him with her claws.

  When he shapeshifted, his transformation was so fluid, she’d barely had time to blink before it was over. He made it look so easy.

  When she was ready, he led her away from the house and they made their way through the bush, two prowling shadows slinking amongst the gums. They startled a family of ringtail possums, who woke little wallabies from their slumber as they scurried for higher ground. A mopoke owl watched them from a high branch farther along the path, its head twisting as they passed, crying ‘mo-poke’ as it took flight.

  Out here, under the cover of darkness, Grace could almost forget the danger that dogged their footsteps. Everything was alive and nothing human mattered. She felt strong and full of energy, the desire to run and climb and hunt more than she could bear.

  The presence she’d felt the night before lingered in the back of her mind, pulling her attention away from Lawson, and she stopped.

  The black panther in front of her turned, his hazel eyes glowing in the half-light of the moon. He came back to her, nudging her shoulder with his nose.

  She couldn’t hear his words, but knew he was trying to keep her focused on him, so she turned back to the path and followed.

  He didn’t take her to the ridge where they’d spent that magical afternoon together—that place would forever be tainted by what had happened later that night—but another outcropping of granite farther west, much higher along the ridge.

  Lawson transformed, his panther shape sliding into his human one so seamlessly, she felt another pang of jealousy, this one stronger. The moonlight, despite how dim it was, cast his back in a rather pleasing shadow.

  He didn’t turn around, saving her the embarrassment of the front view, and glanced over his shoulder. “Coming back is the same way. Imagine it.” He sat on the rise, his back to her.

  Bloody hell, she thought, trying not to focus on the fact that she’d be completely naked once she shifted. Don’t. Be. A. Prude.

  Turning back into a human felt a lot different from shrinking down. Her limbs stretched, aching like an epic bout of heartburn rather than the limb snapping she’d endured earlier.

  Once she could flex her human fingers, she pushed herself up off all fours and tiptoed across to Lawson.

  Even this high up, the air was still warm enough that she didn’t shiver. Still, it was awkward as hell sitting in a pile of dried leaves, stark naked. Lawson was in the same boat, which sent her embarrassment into dangerous territory. He was a handsome man—there was no doubt about it—but their relationship was purely platonic. There wasn’t any room in her life for romance, not anymore.

  She made sure she covered all her important bits with an artful arrangement of knees up, arms crossed, and the rest of her positioned at a slight angle. At the thought of what he must’ve seen when he’d scraped her body off the ground the night before, her face got so hot, she actually started to sweat.

  “Was that any better?” he asked, looking out over the range.

  Thankful he wasn’t trying to sneak a peek, she sighed. “Last night went by in such a rush, I didn’t really comprehend it,” she murmured, resting her cheek on her arm. “Everything…tingles.”

  “It’s the adrenaline.”

  “Mmm…”

  “How was the, uh…pain?” He sounded uncertain, like he was waiting for her to rip him a new one.

  “Won’t lie, it hurt like a bitch.” She lifted her head. “Does it still…? After all this time?”

  He shook his head. “Not really. After a while, your body gets used to it. But if I haven’t shifted in a while, it can be.”

  Sounded like a muscle that had to be exercised.

  “Grace?”

  “It’s been a day,” she said before he could say anything else. “I know this is what I am now, but it’s going to take time. I just need…”

  Her gaze moved to the sky and the sight that awaited her there almost brought her to tears. Billions of stars coated the night, the dusty arm of the Milky Way slicing it in half. She knew what was up there, but had never realised what lay beyond her human sight…and the orange-tinted light pollution of the city.

  “The range is so dry,” she mused. “Did you notice?”

  “Yeah. There’s a lot of fuel on the ground. It’s a miracle there hasn’t been any fires up here.”

  Suddenly, Grace knew what she had to do. She couldn’t stay in Targangil. Closing her eyes, she knew leaving was the right thing to do. If there was no Winslow, then life could go on like it had before she’d been attacked. There’d be some adjustment, sure, but she could keep her job at Brumbies, she could stay at the farm with her parents, she could keep all her friends, and she could go to her brother’s wedding—and even put on that stupid bridesmaid dress Marnie wanted her to wear.

  But it wasn’t possible, not while Winslow was out there searching for his prize test subjects.

  “Where would we even go?” she asked. “To find the other shapeshifters? Did you find anyone before you came back?”

  It was a moment before Lawson answered, “Yes.”

  Grace scowled. “Why didn’t you say?”

  “I would’ve said something, but you were otherwise occupied. You wouldn’t have heard me.”

  “You’re right…” Her expression faded. “I’m sorry.”

  “His name is Sergeant Tim Lennox,” Lawson went on. “He was a sniper during the war in Afghanistan. Recruited to Winslow’s secret project, which, like the others, he’d believed to be some kind of elite black ops training.” He grimaced, but she already knew how that’d turned out. “I found him up in the Blue Mountains, and he agreed to help me find the others.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “Before I left, I found where Madden had been staying and retrieved his belongings. Turned out he was tracking more than just me. He had a journal.”

  Grace tensed. “Your car—”

  “They didn’t get it,” he reassured her. “I have it with my stuff back at the house. He’d been working alone, which was a win we desperately needed.”

  She relaxed a little, but her thoughts were still on this Lennox bloke.

  “We were in the Grampians when I sent Henry to warn you,” Lawson went on. “That’s where I left Lennox. We need to go back and help him search.”

  “The Grampians? Isn’t that where you were bitten?”

  He nodded. “Madden thought Carmody had been there looking for the shifter who attacked me. Lennox and I had just done a scout of the area when we returned to my burned-out Ranger.”

  “You found something? Is that why he stayed behind?”

  “Possibly. It was hard to say, but something wasn’t right.”

  “Then we have to go there,” Grace said, her interest suddenly spiking. Lawson wanted answers and now, so did she. Desperately.

  “Grace, you don’t have to be part of this. Taking down Winslow… Well, you’ve seen some of what we’re up against. Technology, training, government funding. It’s not something you should have to do.”

  “I know that,” she argued. “But they shot me!”

  “There are ways we can protect you.”

  “But I’m one of you now! I deserve the same answers. I…” she trailed off as she realised what she’d just admitted. It’d left her mouth with such ease. Acceptance was the first step in reclaiming something of her old self, wasn’t it? She blinked and drew in a deep breath. “I’m one of you. I’m… I’m a shapeshifter. I’m a panther.” She laughed and rubbed her hands over her face. “I’m supernatural.”

  Lawson smiled but didn’t ask her any more questions. Maybe he was too afraid she’d snap at him again, that any misstep would make her push him away again. She couldn’t blame him. It was a hard thing for both of them to go through.

  Instead, he nodded over his shoulder. “Are you ready to go back?”

  Grace worried her bottom lip, already dreading the snapping and stretching her bones were about to endure, but she was hopeful it would get better over time.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Brad turned his dirt-encrusted work truck onto the highway that ran through the centre of Targangil, his stomach rumbling. He parked on the street outside Brumbies, the tray full of road signs clattering and clanging as they moved back and forth. The air brakes hissed, the engine turned off, and he kicked open the door.

  Kicking off his dusty boots on the edge of the concrete gutter, he stepped up onto the footpath, dodged a lady with a pram, and pushed into the bar and grill, where the inside temperature was only slightly cooler than the furnace outside.

  “Hey,” he said, waving down Bree as she hurried past. “Can I get a steak sandwich to take away?”

  “Give me a second.” She scowled as she dumped the empty glasses she’d been carrying in the sink. They clinked so loudly, it was a wonder none of them shattered.

  He raised an eyebrow. “What’s up your arse?”

  “Josh Lawson, that’s who,” she replied irritably. “He’s got real nerve talking to me like he did. And Grace, too. She’s had so many days off lately. I can’t keep up with the work. There isn’t anyone else to cover her shifts, but don’t worry! Bree’ll do it!”

  Brad hesitated. “Lawson’s back?”

  “I don’t know about being ‘back’,” she air quoted, “but there was a confirmed sighting.”

  “When was this?”

  “Yesterday.” Bree rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. He disappears for weeks, then suddenly turns up, lurking in back alleys like he’s cooking up some kind of shady deal. I don’t get him.”

  “What do you mean, shady?”

  “He told me to forget that I’d seen him. That he was ‘never there’.” She picked up a cloth and began wiping down the bar, even though it was spotless. “He broke my heart! I’m not going to do a single thing for that arsehole ever again.”

  Brad seriously doubted it. Everyone knew Bree was a little ‘extra’.

  Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. He thought about how miserable Grace was when Lawson never came to see her after her accident. The bloke had just disappeared, skipping town without so much as an explanation or forwarding address, and now he was back? ‘He was never here’? Who the hell said stuff like that? Sounded suspicious to him.

  Brad glanced at the door, his blood beginning to boil. He knew something was off about Grace’s story, and Bree’s over-the-top reaction to her Lawson sighting was the proof he needed to do something about it. The guy was dodgy as hell and was dragging Grace down into the mud with him. Well, that all stopped today.

  No one messed with his little sister and got away with it. No one.

  “Forget about it,” he said to Bree. “He obviously wasn’t worth your time to begin with, and he shouldn’t be worth your anger now.”

  The waitress pouted. “Easy for you to say. You’re marrying a hotel heiress. What have I got to choose from around here? Farmers or…” She looked him over with a raised eyebrow.

  “Money ain’t everything, love,” he drawled, backing away towards the exit.

  She scowled. “What about your steak sandwich?”

  “Another time.” He pushed out of Brumbies and stepped into the summer heat, his mind on one thing, and one thing only.

  The shotgun he kept locked up at home.

  When Grace finally woke the next day, morning had come and gone. Apparently, it was lunchtime, because her stomach had rumbled loud enough to startle her awake.

  Rubbing her eyes, she saw Lawson lingering in the kitchen. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “I don’t have much.” He opened one of the kitchen cupboards. “I kind of left in a hurry, so I’ve only got some canned stuff.”

  Grace wrinkled her nose. “Like?”

  He held up a can with a bright red label. “Hearty beef stew?”

  “I guess that better do since the supermarket is off-limits.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t even think about food yesterday.”

  “Me, neither. In fact…” She frowned. “I haven’t felt hungry, not really.”

  “It’s a panther thing, but I’m surprised. You’ve shifted a few times, I would’ve thought—”