Page 7 of Claiming Her Cougar
“Nope.Human.No pack or anything.”He chuckles.“She asked if she’d lay an egg when we had a baby.I guess she thought since I’m an eagle shifter, I was hatched?”
I glance back to make sure she’s still asleep.“Seriously?Hasn’t she ever known a shifter before?”
“Not really.”He shrugs.“Or not knowingly.You know, it’s only been the past few years since the shifter community has gone mainstream, and she’s a homebody.She doesn’t have friends having babies.Until they makeA Very Shifter Christmasmovie or there’s a shifter hockey team, she’s going to be a bit clueless.”
His mention of shifter hockey reminds me of the emails waiting for me at home.
“Is she cool with it all?The shifting?”I wonder if Mallory’s a shifter.I didn’t sense it or smell anything, but if she was an avian shifter like Logan, there wouldn’t be a scent like with a cougar or wolf shifter.
“Yeah, no problem.She’d never seen me in eagle form before, so I was nervous that was going to freak her out the first time I shifted in front of her, but she just wanted to touch my feathers.The fact that I shift into a freaking golden eagle and fly around with my dad on weekends was a nonissue.Or that my mom and brother and your family are cougar shifters.She doesn’t care that our kids could be eagle shifters or cougar shifters.”
“Or human,” I remind him.Me, my dad, and sister, Kendall, are cougar shifters.Mom is human.I wonder if it bothered her, not being included in shifter stuff when we’d go for a run in the woods.Growing up, it was hard.Shifters were still a secret.Then that family of grizzly bears purposely shifted on camera for thatBrides Behaving Badlyreality show, and suddenly the world knew we existed and had been here the whole time.Still, I had to be careful.I not only had to deal with normal puberty, but also all the changes being a shifter wrought on the body.
“Or human,” Logan agrees.“Or there could be something in her family tree that she doesn’t know about, and we end up with a wolf or a kangaroo or something.”
Shifter genetics are unpredictable, that’s for sure.I’ve always assumed if I ever have kids, they’d be cougar cubs like Kennie and I were.I know mixed shifter families are becoming more common now, but when we were growing up, Logan’s family of both eagle and cougar shifters was an oddity.Shifters with humans weren’t a big deal, but two different shifter species mating and making a family got a lot of whispers.But hey, love is love.I’d be fine with human kids or wolf pups or whatever, as long as they’re happy and healthy.My mind drifts to Mallory again, and I yank it back.We had one hookup and a lunch.There will be no happily ever after or babies or anything like that.Still, when I think about Logan and Daphne and what they’re starting, there’s a pang in my chest.It’s probably indigestion from the extra hot peppers on my sub earlier.It’s not envy.
Right.
3
LIAM
We holdThanksgiving at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Holly’s house, and I can tell by the full driveway that my parents and both sets of grandparents have already arrived.I don’t see my Logan’s Jeep, so I’m assuming their eventual arrival at his parents’ home will still be a surprise—I didn’t tell anyone I picked them up from the airport the other night.
I park at the curb in front of their large brick colonial and walk up the path to the front door.Aunt Holly has a display of pumpkins and hay bales on the porch and a wooden turkey holding up a sign that readsGobble ’Til Ya Wobble.On impulse, I snap a picture of the display and text it to Mallory with a “Happy Thanksgiving” caption.
When I enter, I receive greetings and hugs from my family—blood related and chosen.We’re lucky to be part of a family that believes there is plenty of love to go around.
When Logan and Daphne arrive, there’s another flurry of excited greetings.Everyone’s shocked Logan came home for the holiday, since he rarely does.He announces his plan to travel less frequently and focus more on expanding his photography business closer to home, and you’d think he just cured cancer or something.I understand that everyone is happy he’ll be home more often, but I’m here for almost every holiday, and no one welcomes me with tears and cries of joy like he’s getting.I’m being ridiculous.I know that.But sometimes it feels like I’m taken for granted, like everyone assumes I’m always going to be here.
My cousin Andy is in the family room next to the kitchen.He’s a senior at a university in Pennsylvania and captain of the baseball team.He introduces me to the guys playing a card game with him, all teammates who didn’t go home for the holiday weekend.
“Kennie here yet?”I ask Andy.When they’re both home, they’re joined at the hip.I’m six and a half years older than my sister.We’re close, but since she and Andy are both twenty-one, they relate to each other in ways that she and I don’t.Logan and I have a similar relationship and friendship.
“Not yet.She stayed after the football game to talk to some of the cheerleaders,” Andy replies.Kennie was a competitive cheerleader for years, so I’m not surprised.She probably knows a bunch of them from the cheer gym where she works when she’s home.
As we grab sandwiches, chips, and drinks from the spread set out for lunch—weareshifters, and eating is an all-day event—the front door opens, and Kennie walks in with a couple I haven’t met before.They’re probably the friends from school she brought home with her.
“Daphne!”Kennie calls out, giving her a big hug.
I rescue Daphne’s plate before she drops it.She wasn’t expecting the Kendall tsunami to come her way first.My sister is barely five feet tall and looks delicate, but she’s solid muscle.Daphne stumbles back a step when Kennie hugs her.Logan accepts his hug and the barrage of questions.I wonder if everyone’s surprise that he’s here and their expectation that he wouldn’t be makes him feel guilty for the years that he chose not to come home.
“Meet my friends.”Kennie gestures to a guy a little taller than me with short, dark auburn hair and bright blue eyes.He’s muscular without being bulky.“Trevor.”
Trevor smiles and reaches out for a handshake.He has a strong, sure grip.
“And Randi.”Kennie gestures to the lovely girl at Trevor’s side.“Guys, this is my cousin Logan and his girlfriend Daphne.”She puts her arm through mine.“This is my big brother, Liam.”
“Do you attend school together?”Daphne asks.
“We do,” Randi answers.“Kennie and I are roommates, and Trev is my teammate.”
Kennie adds, “Randi and Trev are on the cheerleading squad at school.They’re stunt partners and are so good.We stayed after the game to help some of the high school squad with their stunts.”
After everyone eats, I play a game of soccer with my cousins and guests.Andy and his teammates are one team, while I play with the girls, Logan, and Trevor.Our team wins.
As we sit down for dinner later in the afternoon, I look around at everyone gathered and give my own private thanks for having my family and our friends to share the day with.I’m blessed.Someday, I want to have these times with my own family.I wonder if Mallory’s having a good day with her family.I hope so.Unbidden, I imagine future holidays with her here.Stop it, Liam.Team first.It’s going to be a few years before I can start thinking about anything more than a hockey team and remodeling old piers.I need to get back some of what I lost in the accident first.Then I can think about stuff like relationships and feelings.And Mallory.
