Free Shifting Selves by Mia Marshall

give her any excuse to empty the shotgun. We remained still until she was in the house, then turned to Carmen. With gunpowder removed from the immediate equation, Sera’s powers were back in play, but it seemed polite to at least hear Carmen out before we burned down her friend’s house.
    “Did Will ask you to follow me?” she asked. Her voice was level and calm, revealing no emotion. She was neither friendly nor antagonistic. Hell, she barely seemed curious. She let her eyelids drop just a fraction, giving them a hooded look that she fixed on us, unblinking.
    “You know Will?” I stalled.
    She merely tilted her head and watched me. She blinked once, twice, and her pupils constricted and expanded in the space of a heartbeat. I glanced at Sera, staring at Carmen with recognition in her eyes. She’d seen it, too.
    “You’re a shifter,” I said. She’d only shown us the barest hint of a slit pupil, but I knew those eyes. I saw them every time I looked at Simon. I wondered whether he was unable or unwilling to disguise all his feline traits, because in the space of a moment Carmen once again looked completely human. Of course, now that I knew what she was, it was obvious she moved with the grace and efficiency of movement I’d only seen among shifters. “Does Will know?”
    She said nothing, but her look suggested she thought I was at least six different kinds of stupid.
    I could only think of one animal that had those eyes. “You’re a cat.”
    She sniffed and sat up straighter. I’d seen Simon do the same thing whenever he felt we were underestimating him. “In the most general sense.”
    I looked at her perfectly maintained body and carefully applied eyeliner and swore I wouldn’t say it. It was offensive and stupid and unnecessary. I bit my tongue and repeated the vow. It did no good. “Please, please tell me you’re a cougar.”
    Beside me, Sera made a series of sputtering noises that indicated she either really wanted to laugh or really wanted to smack me.
    Carmen’s look suggested I’d been promoted from stupid to stupid and irritating. I was on a roll. “Mountain lion.” Her tone was disdainful. I knew better than to ask a shifter what animal they were—it was considered a significant breach of etiquette—but, as usual, the faulty filter between my brain and mouth trumped manners. I suspected Carmen only answered me out of a sense of pride.
    “But you have a dog.”
    “As a pet.”
    On behalf of dog lovers the world over, I chose not to follow that line of inquiry any further. “Is everyone...?” I vaguely waved toward the door.
    She shook her head. “Diane is my sister, but she didn’t get the gene. It’s how she can stand to live in this place.” Her sneer seemed to encompass the entirety of the planned community.
    I thought of her home, every bit the suburban monstrosity as the one we currently occupied. She guessed the direction of my thoughts. “I married a man with more money than taste. But it does back up to the forest, so it was worth fighting for in the divorce. And I admit, I quite enjoy the spa bathtub and walk-in closets.”
    I nodded, unsure where to go from there. I glanced at Sera, letting her know I was done babbling and she was free to step in any time. She rolled her eyes at me, but took her cue. “We’re looking for the missing MacMahon boy,” she said.
    Carmen nodded. “Will said as much when he visited last night. Seemed to think my daughter might know something. I guess you thought the same thing. I don’t know what Brandon said or why, but Pamela’s not dating James anymore. I thought it best for the relationship to end.”
    “Well,” Sera said, “it’s a good thing children always do what their parents tell them to do.” She delivered this line without a hint of sarcasm, but Carmen got the underlying message. Her gaze snapped to Sera, the one person in the world who could easily beat a cat in a staring contest.
    “Nothing you’ve said so far explains