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vantage point. She turned on her wing point and dove for the pond. She folded her wings in and dive-bombed the water, surfacing with a pop and a flutter.
    Perhaps she shouldn’t have crashed, because Chuck was out of his clothing and half-shifted when she surfaced and shook the droplets free.
    She paddled her way over to him and set her dignity aside. Ivy climbed out of the water on her gangly legs, and she waddled over to him, hissing at him in an effort to speak.
    He looked down at her, scales covering his features. “Back in the water, stork. I can swim too.”
    She hissed and squawked at him before she waddled back to the pond, wiggling her tail feathers at him.
    When the twenty-foot anaconda joined her for her swim it was a little startling, but they eventually found a rhythm that had them meeting their heads in the traditional swan mating arches while their necks rubbed together. Snakes had some advantages as a mate to a swan after all.

Chapter Seven
    After hours in their shifted shapes, they crawled back onto the shore and Ivy had to wait while Chuck claimed the privilege of dressing her.
    His moves were fairly hit and miss, but he got her back in her clothing. “I am going to have to go to the hostel to get a change of clothes.”
    “You can bring your bags to our place. You are also encouraged to move or change anything you like in the house.”
    “I have a few ideas, but they involve expanding your writing space. Maybe knocking a wall out to give the writing a room of its own?”
    He chuckled. “Now that I have you to occupy my nights, a little more room in the bedroom might be desirable. The things I could do to you on a backless couch with my body half-shifted.”
    “Kinky. I have never had sex with a half-shifted anything.”
    “What is your emergency shape?”
    She wrinkled her nose. “You wouldn’t believe it.”
    “Try me.”
    She sighed and looked around. “Fine, but not here. I will show you tonight. Today, you have a job to do.”
    “You are seriously making me go into work when I have a mate for the first time in a lifetime?”
    “I have never had a mate either, but I understand the importance of the regular routine. Writers need structure. Too much chaos scrambles your mind. You need to keep to a few bits of normal during your day if you are going to work on a book.”
    He looked grumpy. “Will you be there?”
    “Of course. I will get my bag from your house, and I will sit in that dark booth and work on my edits. I will be there when you leave as well, and I will come home with you. Then, I will show you my emergency shape.”
    He wrinkled his nose and nodded. “Fine, but I will take you to the hostel, and you will get your bag and bring it to my house.”
    “Done. So. We have a plan. Shall we execute it?”
    He got to his feet and hauled her to hers. With his arm around her, they walked back to the hostel, and she grabbed her luggage. Their next stop was his home where he put her bag in his room, and she went to the spare room to gather her workbag.
    She returned to watch Chuck hanging her clothing up. He lifted a charming sundress. “Would you wear this today?”
    She smiled. “Certainly. Any particular underwear?”
    “None. I have a break later in the evening, and I intend to send you spinning into a morass of lust.”
    “Oh, good plan.” She swallowed heavily at the image that formed in her mind of her leaning forward, her skirt flipped up and Chuck thrusting into her from behind. She shed her clothing and reached for the dress.
    “I need shoes to match it. Find them, please.”
    He dug around in her luggage and pulled out a pair of pumps that went well with the white dress.
    She laughed and slipped her feet into them, standing tall in the white pattered dress with the brisk skirt that would flare and shift around her.
    “There. Now, you have a job to get to. Go and observe some background characters.” She grinned and put her workbag over one shoulder.
    He offered her his