Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Sassafras

We sat there in the tree's foliage until the sun started to set, just me and Sass, Sass and me. When I finally set him down beside me, my hands sweating from holding him so tight, he shifted slowly, growing in size and form, until his human shape perched next to me, amber eyes still sorrowful and worried but more himself than when I'd first appeared again.

"Nice," I said, smiling. "You've come a long way in controlling the shift."

He shrugged, dark hair shaggy over his brow, pointed chin tucking down toward the top of his button up shirt. Dark jeans ended in black and white sneakers, swinging in the open air. I gulped and looked back up, hating the return of my height fears.

But embracing them at the same time. Proof I was still human. Why that mattered to me in that moment I wasn't sure. Except maybe the sad eyes meeting mine needed me to be the girl he remembered, if just for a little while.