“Are you hungry?” I asked after a long moment.
Her eyes lit up, and she nodded. “I’mstarving. Mom said she made sure the pantry was stocked with my favorite things, so I’ll bet my cereal is already in there.”
I hadn’t looked at the pantry since they had come in. But knowing Emma, it wouldn’t have surprised me. Sure enough, when I opened the pantry, there was a mix of too-sugary foods and healthier options that kids would actually tolerate eating. My eyes landed on the box of cereal that hadn’t been there yesterday.
“These Sugar Blasts yours?” I asked.
“Yeah!”
I pulled out the box, unable to hold back the small grin spreading across my face. “Funny enough, these were my favorites when I was your age.” I grabbed a bowl and tilted the cereal into it.
Her eyes went wide. “Really?”
I nodded, pulling out the milk and splashing it over the multicolored breakfast. “I used to eat this by the handful. My mom said it made me run around like a feral wolf, but I didn’t notice a difference.”
Grace giggled, her tiny hands covering her mouth. “Mom says the same thing, but she still buys them for me.”
I plopped a spoon into the bowl and handed it to her. As she ran to the table to clamber into the seat, I stared down at the box, considering. After a moment, I poured my own bowl.
I fixed the rest of my breakfast and came to sit down next to her. If she was going to be a part of my life from here on out, I wanted to get to know her a bit better. I studied her as she shoveled spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth. I could see Emma around her mouth and in the round shape of her face. Not for the first time, I wondered who the father was. And, also not for the first time, a surge of jealousy flared out at the thought. This time, though, because of the mating bond, it seemed to be intensified.
I studied her again, wondering what parts were her father’s while I fished for a topic of conversation. I wanted to get to know her, but I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience talking with kids.
“I saw you at the waterfall the other day,” I finally said. “Do you like swimming?”
Grace nodded, shoveling a heaping spoonful of sugary cereal into her mouth and swallowing before answering. “I love it! It’s so much fun. Mom said she used to swim all the time.”
I vaguely remembered Emma spending hours at the oasis when we were younger. Every time I had walked by it, she seemed to be there. I realized with a jolt that I had paid a lot more attention to Emma when we were teenagers than I had initially thought. Had I always paid that much attention to her on a subconscious level? Did that mean that part of me had always known we were fated mates? That party in the desert, I had sought her out, not the other way around. I hadn’t thought much about that until now.
“Can I ask you a question?” Grace asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Fire away.” I stuffed a spoonful of cereal into my mouth, the rush of sugar surging through me.
“Mom says you can shift.” She glanced away nervously, splashing her spoon in the milk, sending droplets flying.
“I can,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
She worried her lip as she glanced up at me.
“Sometimes I get these funny pains all over. I don’t like them. Mom says they have to do with me being a shifter. She says…” She squinted, as if trying to remember Emma’s precise words. “She says that it means I’m beginning to turn into a wolf.”
I blinked, trying to hold back the worst of my surprise and alarm. She was, what, five? And already about to shift? I thought back to what Sam had said about some of the kids in the pack. Had it been happening to Grace, too?
“How long has that been going on?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and even.
“A couple of months.”
I let that sink in. God. She was all the way in Adobe Creek. Had the effects of the sand wraith spread out that far?
“It’s a little early,” I said, keeping my tone even, not wanting to alarm her. “Does it feel like a bunch of itching just under your skin?”
She perked up and nodded vigorously.
“That’s all normal,” I promised her. “It isn’t fun, but I promise it’s worth it, and it won’t last forever.”
She worried her lower lip as she glanced down at her bowl, the sugar that passed for cereal growing soggy as it floated in the milk. “Is it scary?”
“What? Shifting?”
