Transmute | Emmett Cullen

7. Trusted

One of the first things Carlisle wanted to know was shifting. Edward had only told them we shifted into different animals, but hadn't really gone into much detail about it. So while Jack awkwardly sat on the couch, eyes flickering everywhere, I explained to Carlisle about how we were different than the Quileute 'werewolves'. It was a little hard trying to get him to understand that our souls - us shifters, anyway - had an 'animal soul'. Or at least were in the shape of an animal. And since every soul was different, no shifter had the same animal-soul.

I told him that Jack was a wolf, but nothing like the Quileutes. He was of normal size, gray and had black markings on one of his paws. I was similar to Jack a little, and was a large dog instead of a wolf - but close enough anyway.

That's when Carlisle got curious and asked if he could see us in shifter form. I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure," I told him, standing up. "I don't mind showing you - but you'd need to direct me to a different room. We kind of shift nude."

Emmett chuckled when Carlisle's eyes widened. If he could blush, I was sure he would have been ten different shades of red. Alice, however, grinned from ear to ear as she showed me one of the upstairs bathrooms so I could change and shift in peace. Jack stayed downstairs, not willing to shift for the vampires.

I left the door open a crack so I could open the door without any troubles. Having paws was difficult and turning doorknobs was a bit of a difficulty. But I shed the clothes, setting them on top of the counter before I crouched down on my knees and hands before shifting into my dog-self.

A shiver and a second later, I opened the door with my paw. Alice wasn't waiting outside the door for me, so I padded my way through the second floor and down the stairs. All eyes were trained on me once I was in their line of sight.

Considering how expensive their furniture looked, I kept off it and planted myself right in front of Jack. Carlisle grinned and leaned forward, stopping about a foot away. His eyebrows rose in question and I knew immediately what he wanted. Moving from Jack to Carlisle, I sat down on my hind legs and bent my head low so he could pet me.

There was a grunt from Jack. I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to approve this - being treated like a pet dog as if it was something to spit on. Something disgusting. I didn't see it that way. It was something I wasn't used to but being petted was nice. It was like someone hugging you.

Huffing, I let Carlisle pet me as he pleased. There wasn't a problem with it, not with me anyway. His hand was cold - I could feel it through my fur - but it felt sort of nice. I ran a little warmer than humans.

"So, you can shift into any animal," Carlisle stated, but looked down at me for reassurance.

I nodded my head, grinning a little. My tongue stuck out.

"What is that like?" he asked, looking down at me again, as he pulled his hand away.

Oh. So he knows that Jack isn't as comfortable as I am here. Just as Jack was the one answering the questions with the Quileutes, I was the one answering the questions with the vampires.

I glanced up at Edward, knowing he'd translate.

Well it takes a little more concentration since any other animal is not our 'natural' animal. It's harder but any shifter can do it. We sort of have to know the animal in order to do it. Like, we can't just shift into any animal without any prior knowledge - like it's anatomy and body structure, it's food and habits. We often research new animals in order to shift into them.

Edward translated everything word for word, seconds after I was thinking them.

"And... When do you first learn to shift? How would that work?" he asked.