The door was left open just a crack. Enough to allow for privacy while letting you two hear if Porche decided to get herself into trouble. She was your stand in but that didn't mean you had to trust her completely.

"You're going to want to strip." Shanks informed you as he took off his jacket.

He didn't need to tell you twice, you'd learned quite well the first time that clothes don't survives shifts. You undressed quickly, only to be left standing awkwardly since you had no idea where to go from here.

His eyes lit up as he looked you up and down, always pleased to see you bare. An incubus was just another man and no one could tell you different.

"So what do we do now?" You asked.

"Now you relax, and let it come to you." He wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled your body flush with his.

His lips were warm against yours and as you relaxed into him, you understood why he didn't need you to do anything. Shanks could do something you'd hopefully one day figure out, and that was giving your own energy direction. He pushed his through his fingertips to tingle through your body and past your lips with his tongue. With him, it was highly sexual of course, matching what he was perfectly.

It sent a surge of lust through you and as he dug his fingers into your flesh, it gained a familiar bite. Your inner cat writhed in response to it, stretching and chuffing, ready to take over for the night. But it would take a bit more of a push on your end. You wanted to shift, but you weren't sure if you could do it just yet.

Shanks walked you back against a wall and moved his hand down to squeeze your ass. His mouth worked down to the crook of your neck and with a soft sigh, he bit down. His teeth elongated enough to easily break the skin and your instincts suddenly kicked in. You let them take over, your cat pushing to the surface enough that you could feel the change beginning to take hold.

Last time, it was uncontrollable, not to mention painful. This time, the prickle that started from your scar was almost enjoyable. It radiated through your body and you lost your balance, falling into Shanks completely. He covered your mouth to muffled your gasps and lowered to his knees, gently lying you down on the ground.

When your limbs started to change and you began thrashing around, he pinned you easily, keeping your body down with nothing more than a knee to your belly and your head locked in place with his arm. It was as quick as the first change, you were sure of it, but now you were completely conscious of what was going on around you. And even better still, you were in control.

As soon as you were sure it was done, you positioned your legs under you in a low crouch and your tail flicked side to side. Shanks was still hugged to your now furry body and when you blinked up at him, he grinned widely.

"Look at you, beautiful even when you're wild."

You let out a light grunt and he chuckled, releasing you. When he was back on his feet, you were too and shook yourself. It was interesting how natural you felt like this. Moving around was second nature, like you'd been in this form your whole life.

You followed Shanks back out into the living room where Porche was sitting on the couch. It was strange, looking at her version of you while you were in the form of a giant jaguar. Compared to the one that made you a shifter, you were probably a bit shorter but you easily reached Shanks' waist, which meant you probably had about a good extra foot in height compared to a normal jaguar.

"That was fast." Porche remarked.

Shanks licked up a bit of blood that was left on his lips from biting you and smiled. "She's a natural. Are we ready to move on with this?"

"Yep." She got to her feet and seemed to gather herself. "Want me to go out there and raise hell now or wait until you're outside?"

He looked out the kitchen window again and this time, he seemed content with how far down the sun had gone. It was definitely dark out, not pitch black, but dark enough to hide your movements.

"Wait till we're outside, the head start couldn't hurt." She nodded as he went to the window, sliding it open with ease. He then motioned towards it before looking at you with a sparkle in his eyes. "Ladies first."

You huffed as you gathered your legs under you and hopped to the counter. The window was over the sink and you winced as you tried not to claw at the cheap metal. Retractable claws or not, they were a little hard to keep hidden when you were clambering around surfaces too small for you.

Looking out and down, the ground was too far away for your taste but you knew you had to jump. At least the alley way was pretty accommodating and it was a straight drop down. There was nothing poking out or in the way of your descent.

Before you could give yourself more time to think about it, you jumped. It felt like you'd done it a thousand times, your legs aligned themselves under yourself and you hit the ground on all fours with a heavy thump. It jarred you slightly, but that was the worst of it. If anything, you decided it was actually kind of fun. You trotted to the side and peered up in time to see Shanks hitting the ground right after you. He landed on his feet and almost made it look graceful as he straighted himself out and joined you at the edge of the building.

There was no backyard or fenced in space behind the apartment complex, just more buildings. Between yours and the next one you needed to slink behind, there was a large gap that looked out onto the main street. The government men that had been staking out your place had a clear shot of the opening and if they weren't being distracted, they'd catch you leaving in a heartbeat.

Shanks crouched beside you and placed his hand on your shoulder, scratching at your thick fur. "Give her a minute to really raise hell and then move low and fast, but don't run."

You let out a low rumble in acknowledgement and busied yourself retracting and baring your claws, practically playing with them. The action was too interesting to go without investigating a bit.

But you didn't get to relax for long. The shrill sound of Porche's, or yours you guessed, voice let you know it was time to get ready to move. You didn't want to believe that was how you sounded when you lost it but if Porche was perfectly mimicking you, it had to be true.

Shanks pushed on your shoulder and you got the hint. You jerked forward and crossed the gap with your body practically hugging the ground like you were stalking something. He followed closely behind and by the sounds of it, you remained unnoticed. Porche had managed to completely take their attention, reaming them about how long they'd been on her, or your, ass. They tried to talk back but she cut them off time and time again. You had to admit, the girl was a pro.

The rest of the spots that had you visible to anyone on the main street weren't nearly as dangerous and before you knew it, you'd left your apartment out of sight and were freely running through the alleys, Shanks not far behind giving you directions. Incubus or not, you found it impressive that he could keep up so well.

"Right here (Y/n)." He huffed, pointing to the end of another alley.

You slowed to a trot so he could fall in step beside you and peered down the alley to see Benn at the far end, leaning against his car with a cigarette held between his lips. When you were close enough, he cleared his throat, dropping the cigarette to the ground to stomp out.

"Glad you two could make it."

"Wouldn't miss it." Shanks chuckled.

Benn slid into the driver's side while Shanks piled in the back with you. After some arranging, you were halfway in his lap without even stretching out completely. And you were off. The hard part was over and you felt like you could breathe easy.

"That wasn't so bad." Shanks chirped. "Smoothest escape I've ever seen."

You pushed under his chin with your head, rubbing against him as a thank you for the help. You couldn't purr, all that came out of your throat was more of a rumble, similar to a growl, but he got it.

His hand came up to pinch at your cheeks and scratch behind your ears and you were practically in heaven with how good it felt.

"Watch the claws there (Y/n)." Benn was watching you through the rear view mirror and caught you absentmindedly stretching your paws out, piercing your claws into the soft fabric of the seat. You hoped he didn't mind a few claw marks back here. "It'll be about an hour for us to get to the spot, I'd take a nap or something if I were you."

Now that he mentioned it, a nap sounded great. You nuzzled in closer to Shanks, if that was even possible, and fell asleep almost immediately. Cats were the masters at sleeping on demand.

----

The incessant jerking of the car woke you back up and you sat up fast. Glancing around, you were able to see thick trees and a dirt road stretched out in front of you.

"You make a lot of noise in your sleep." Shanks said, giving your muzzle a pat. He seemed to really enjoy your furry side. "Which is funny since you're usually pretty quiet in your human form."

"I'm surprised you aren't tired of each other yet." Benn said. "We're almost there by the way."

You bared your teeth at him for a moment, showing your displeasure in him insinuating that you'd ever get tired of Shanks, especially so fast.

"Nah, we do pretty good together so far." Shanks agreed with you.

Benn simply smiled as a clearing came into view. You say clearing, but it was full of other vehicles, all of them empty. In what little free space remaind, you saw your friends surrounded by a large pack of wolves. Most of them were relaxing, obviously waiting for you, while a few were playing with Luffy.

The rest of your friends seemed content to just watch, that was until they saw your car pull up. They all turned your way, flashing smiles and waving at your small group.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Shanks opened his door for you to climb out and stepped out after you. Benn followed behind at a short distance, more here to chauffeur than anything else.

"Woah, (Y/n) you look pretty badass." Zoro was the first to approach, crouching down to your level for a better look.

You swelled at the compliment, only to struggle for your footing when Luffy suddenly threw himself at you, straddling your back as he threw his arms around your neck.

"This is so cool!" He giggled.

You thought you were conscious of your claws before but with friends around that you were so painfully aware of them being human, you felt you couldn't keep them retracted enough. The last thing you wanted was to accidentally turn one of them. So you stood stiff as a board, patiently waiting for Luffy to get off of you as you decided that was the best way to avoid an accident.

"Give her some space guys, she's still new with it." Shanks shooed the men away and you immediately relaxed. He already understood you so well. "And where's the pack alpha? He hasn't shifted yet, has he?"

"No, I haven't." A man growled, waltzing up to you and Shanks lazily.

You had no clue how you didn't notice him before. He was easily taller than your lover and dressed like some kind of punk rocker with red and yellow checkered pants, no shirt, and an open red jacket. There was a large tattoo covering his chest and another under his right eye. A septum piercing hung from his nose and to you, the most notable thing about him was his bright green hair, styled into a wild mohawk.

His attitude seemed standoffish, like he thought he was more important than Shanks, but the second be looked at you, his eyes lit up and the facade melted away.

"Y-you're (Y/n), right? Another one of Luffy's friends?"

You nodded and he fell to his knees in front of you, hands clasped together as he smiled in delight.

"It's so great to meet you! I've heard so many great things about you! It's an honor to have you run with my pack tonight!"

For the life of you, you couldn't figure out what crazy things Luffy had to have told this man about you.

"My apologies, I haven't introduced myself." He blushed hard and bowed his head slightly in apology. "You can call me Bartolomeo, alpha of the Barto Club!"

You stared past him at Luffy and let out a heavy sigh. His knack of making interesting friends may have come in handy but you weren't sure about how you felt about him introducing you to some kind of fanboy.

The rest of your friends shared small looks of annoyance and sympathetic grimaces. Well, beggars can't be choosers so you'd take what you could get.