The False Hybrid (Jan 2021)

An LGBT+ urban fantasy romance-of-sorts (8,000 words)

New Year's Day, 2000. Rico has high hopes for the new year, the main one being to get his sister to shift out of her jaguar form. Shapeshifters need to shift back and forth between their human and animal forms regularly to appease the Call—that voice in their head urging them to shift. His sister, however, hasn't shifted back to her human form in 3 months, and her family worries she's losing her sense of humanity. 

Just when Rico thinks there's nothing else he can do to help her, he meets a homeless man in the park who Rico can't help but be drawn to. This man evokes a tugging in Rico's head similar to the Call, something that baffles Rico. But maybe this mysterious stranger can help his sister somehow...