Shiftus Interruptus

We’ll get back to the modeling story at a later date. Here, for your Labor Day enjoyment, is a scene I can’t recall ever reading in a shapeshifter novel. Enjoy.

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Slowly Callisto removed her bra, then her lacy panties. She stood before Andrew, clad only in shadow and the faint strips of light from the window. He caught his breath. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

She draped herself across the bed, her legs spread wide. “Come and get it, Studly.”

He needed no further urging. Tearing at his belt and fly, he practically dove on top of her. He crushed his mouth to hers and demanded all she had. Callisto met his assault with her own hungry response. Their tongues wrestled while their hands raced greedily over each other’s nude bodies.

Already hard, Andrew dipped his fingers into Callisto’s well and found her ready and eager. He swirled his tongue around her straining nipple while his finger traced a similar path around her clit. Callisto thrust her hips at him in a desperate search of the ultimate prize.

“I should make you wait,” he teased her. “But first … ” He thrust two fingers into her pussy.

Callisto let out a lusty cry that abruptly dropped two octaves. Fur sprouted between the fingers of the hand clamped to her breast.

“Oh shit,” Andrew moaned. “Not again.”

He dove off the bed, bare inches ahead of her sudden transformation. Callisto’s cry morphed into a full-throated bawl as her body morphed into something else. Something crushingly huge. She reached after her lover with a wide paw tipped with vicious claws.

Still bawling, she rolled over. The bed frame creaked and collapsed.

The grizzly bear sat up and surveyed the damage. Her frustrated roar shook the window.

A little yip distracted her. She swept her tiny ursine eyes around the room and finally found the terrified red fox scrunched under the dresser. She leaned toward him and whimpered a question.

The fox crawled out and shook himself. They stared at each other. The fox sat. The bear slumped amid the wreckage of the bed and whined dejectedly.

After several calming breaths the fox managed to shift himself back into Andrew. He approached the bear and stroked her fur. “Well,” he said. “That was … interesting.”

It took almost ten minutes of gentle petting and crooning on Andrew’s part before Callisto calmed enough to regain her human shape. Her face started crumpling before her muzzle fully receded. “I’m so sorry. I thought this time … ”

“Shhh. It’s okay.” Andrew kissed the remains of her muzzle. “We’ll wait a bit. Try again. Maybe have a couple of drinks. Alcohol’s supposed to be a depressant.” He kicked a piece of the bed frame aside. “Find another room. Hope Dante’s got insurance.”

“I hate this!” Callisto sobbed. “I want to, I really do. But as soon as I get really into it, the adrenaline kicks in and I … shit.” She punched the pillow. “Mama warned me about this. It’s a species thing. We never really got over mating in bear form.”

Andrew grinned. “So I bring out the animal in you?”

“It isn’t funny.” She snorted. “So now what?”

“We could try those drinks. Or herbal tea or something. Give each other hand jobs. Maybe that’ll take the edge off. Or I could hump you in your bear form. That sounds like fun.”

Callisto eyed him sourly. “I’d crush you.”

“But what a way to go.”

She smacked him on the shoulder. Andrew almost tumbled off the remains of the bed. “Let’s try the tea,” Callisto decided. “I knew I should have taken those meditation classes. They worked for my sister.”

“You sure that wasn’t the um, recreational herbs?”

“At this point, I’ll try anything. I know the bunnies chew some kind of leaf. If anything, they’re even jumpier than bears.”

“Or … ” Andrew slid his arm around her broad shoulders. “We could just sit here and cuddle. See what happens.”

“There’s that.” Callisto nuzzled his hair. “I love you. My little foxy fucker.”

Andrew leaned into her arms. “My big tough teddy bear.”