The contract addendums had been sent off and were signed electronically within 30 minutes.

No negotiations, no addendums of their own. Just acceptance.

"Who DOES that?!" I shouted into the empty room, hurling my phone into the couch like a fastball.

Morph's ear flicked in my direction but he remained a dozing lump on the back of the couch. Beans, on the other hand, immediately jumped to his feet and bristled as if under attack. It took him a good five seconds to calm down and decide to snuggle Morph. Morph simply groomed the other cat for a moment before falling back asleep.

"Like I could have said I wanted all of their first born children to learn to dance the polka and they would have signed it?"

I downed the last of my now freezing coffee and stalked over to the kitchen for another cup.

"This whole thing screams a bad idea," I grumbled, snagging the creamer from the fridge and pouring a healthy dose into the mug.

I was still grumbling under my breath as I loaded another coffee pod into the machine and pressed the button for the size cup. I could hear the machine whirr then wheeze as the liquid dispensed into my waiting mug and mixed with the white creamer.

Normally I watch the mixing liquids with amusement, imagining them to be clouds in the sky, but today I was just itching with impatience. I drummed the nails from both hands against the counter, listening to their staccato as it wove with the final gasps from the machine before it fell silent.

I stuck the handle of a random fork in the sink into the cup. Nothing was worse than a mouthful of pure creamer, or at least so I thought. I stirred, took a sip, and immediately scorched half my tastebuds off.

"Fucking shit," I growled, dumping the offending liquid out into the sink and setting the mug down with a clatter. "I didn't want coffee anyway."

I was still grumping under my breath as I made my way to the restroom. Sometimes just relieving myself fixed my grouchy anxiety stomach, that or just getting and walking to and from the bathroom.

But, like the coffee, it didn't.

Next came the idea for a bath. I turned on the water and dumped in some overpriced bubble bath blend of lavender and eucalyptus, thinking maybe calm could be forced on me chemically. But the moment I sat down, I couldn't breathe. The room was too warm, the water too cool, my skin crawling like it couldn't bear the sensation.

I got out before the tub was even half full.

Only dressed in a towel, I paced. I swept. I moved a stack of laundry from the dryer to the bed, then immediately resented its presence there and tossed it in a heap in the bottom of my closet.

I checked my email. Twice. Nothing, not even junk ads selling me crap I didn't want.

Morph had moved to the arm of the couch, watching me like a bored sentinel. Beans sat underneath the window, tail twitching, picking up on my chaos.

"Ugh, what is wrong with me?" I snarled, pulling on the scrunchie to let my dark hair tumble down in a knotted mess.

I felt wound too tight, as if there was a wire humming with tension - vibrating under my skin like a plucked wire about to snap.

"I need to shift," I said finally, getting to my feet once more. Not wanted. Needed. I could feel as if my inner beast was stirring, ears perked and nose pressed against the forming cracks of my being, just waiting for the moment to burst forth and attack its prey.

I moved to the middle of the den and stripped off the towel I had been wearing as a dress. At that moment, I really didn't give two shits if it ended up on the floor or on the couch, I just needed a change that I could 'control'.

I lazily stretched my arms up over my head, noting my shoulders and elbows popping lightly. Next was to lean back, allowing my spine to crack as if it were cracking ice.

"Let's do this," I said to the warm afternoon air.

The shift came not from control, but from surrender to more primal instincts.

Joints popped. Bones broke, rearranged, and healed in fast, brutal waves. The pain and soreness in my mouth as my teeth grew longer and sharper reminded me everything was real.

The cool air on my naked skin disappeared as a wave of fur grew over my body, almost as if a blanket fresh from the dryer had been tossed over me.