of smooth pebbles alongside the path to the front door, spilling water into a pond that’s filled with koi fish.
Addie unlocks the door using a key on her ring, and once she lets me inside, I look around the place with even more awe.
“The lighting is nice and dim to help with our heightened senses,” she explains, leading me into the large, open room.
There’s a central fireplace with iron-colored piping that leads up to the ten-foot ceilings, and the walls are painted a smooth, calming white. There’s a kitchen off to the side, but the counters are packed with ready-to-eat food. Heaps and heaps of packaged snacks, fresh fruit, and bottles of water await.
“There’s tons of easy stuff to eat. There’s microwaveable food in the fridge, too,” Addie goes on. “Piece of advice, as soon as you come out of a wave long enough to realize you’re hungry, stuff your face before the next wave hits.”
I’m feeling more and more apprehensive about this heat. “So you’re saying it’s gonna get worse than it already is?” I ask her.
She winces a little. “I mean...maybe not?” she says really unconvincingly.
Like a soundtrack to my future, a loud whining noise suddenly comes from somewhere in the back of the sanctuary. I can hear the strangest braying noises muffled from the distance.
“Is that the other shifter, Soraya?”
Addie nods. “Yeah, she’s an ass.”
Startled, I blink at her. “Oh, okay. So I’ll just...keep my distance.”
Addie tilts her head back and laughs. “Sorry, inside joke. Soraya’s a sweetheart, but she’s a donkey shifter. She also doesn’t care that people know, so it’s okay that I told you.”
“Oh. Ass. Ha,” I say, trying and failing to laugh at her joke. I’m just too nervous about the fact that this heatwave is going to get worse.
The last time I rode my wave, it was only a couple of days long, and it wasn’t very intense at all. Of course, I had a rat boyfriend at the time, and he helped me through it. I don’t have that luxury this go-around.
I hear the super strange braying noise again, right along with the sound of a female moaning. Addie shakes her head. “Sorry, Soraya is a little loud.”
All I can think about is the fact that I might be that loud soon.
“Don’t worry, it might not look it, but the walls in this place have a steel layer, and all the windows are as thick as a wrist. No scent gets out of the sanctuary, and the males know well enough to stay the hell away from here,” she says. “Come on, I’ll show you the rooms and you can pick one, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
I nod, following her absently, still dressed in the long, oversized shirt she lent me. My bare feet pad across the living room, over the warm wooden floor. There’s a TV hanging on the wall, and I can hear some soothing music playing from somewhere, just loud enough to hear, but quiet enough that it’s not obnoxious. It really does feel like some high-end spa in here. There’s even a small waterfall at the end of the hallway, mounted on the wall and trickling softly.
Addie leads me down a hallway, and she opens the first door we get to. Inside, I find a nice queen-size bed draped with light gray and purple bedding. There aren’t any windows in here, but there’s that soft dim lighting again coming from the hanging fixtures on the ceiling.
“This is the first one. I can show you the next room too,” Addie offers.
I shake my head. “This is fine. It’s really nice in here,” I supply, looking around. There’s a simple elegance to it all. It’s so much nicer than any place I’ve ever stayed in—as a rat or a human.
“Okie dokie,” Addie says cheerfully. “The dimmer for the lights is right here,” she says, showing me the light switch on the wall. “I’ll keep it low right now so it won’t hurt your eyes later. Some of our pack members get really sensitive during their wave.”
She walks to the door beside the TV and pulls it open. “Bathroom’s in here, so you don’t have to leave the room if you don’t want to. Water always seems to help me.”
I nod absently, taking it all in. Despite how nice the room is, I’m worried about the logistics of being essentially stuck in here for as long as it takes for my waves to roll over me.
“The remote