He chuckled. "Fine. You know my twin brother already."
"River," I said, nodding. "His mate is the omega beaver shifter, Castor. And their daughter is named Annabelle."
"That's right."
"Weston and Nishiki are your dads. An osprey and a koi shifter."
"Yup."
My whiskers twitched in thought. "Here's where I get lost. Yourblood-related cousin is Zakariel."
"We just call him Zak."
"He's a wolf shifter, and is descended from Nautilus too? And his alpha father, Nero the shark shifter, is your blood-related uncle, but you call all your older relatives uncles because they're practically family...?"
Cloud swooped casually in the air. "You got it. See? It's not so bad."
"I beg to differ," I mumbled, rubbing my head.
Cloud laughed and pressed a small kiss between my velvety ears. "Don't worry. We're only meeting my immediate family today. Everyone else can wait. See that down there?"
I glanced down at the flowing river, seeing only a brown blur. Sometimes Cloud forgot my eyesight wasn't as good as his. "What am I looking at?"
"That log structure."
"Hmph. You thought Frog Lake was a blob, butthatis a blob."
"It's a beaver dam!" Cloud exclaimed, half laughing. "That's where River and his family live."
"Oh, right. His mate Castor is a beaver shifter."
"I bet that one's easy to remember because you're both rodent shifters," Cloud teased.
It was true that I was excited to meet another rodent shifter, even though beavers were so different from mice. Except for my dads, I didn't know any others.
Cloud flared his wings and began our descent. The closer we got to the ground, the more my heart raced. I knew Cloud's family would accept me so I wasn't nervous, but it was still nerve-racking meeting my fated mate's family for the first time. It was different meeting Quinn and Farley, since Quinn was Cloud's cousin. But now he was introducing me to his twin brother and parents. I wanted to make a good impression.
I groomed my whiskers, making sure they were squeaky clean.
As we touched down on the riverbank, Cloud gasped as if suddenly realizing something.
"Crap, I don't think my dads even know we are coming," he said. "Meeko, do you mind waiting here while I go get them?"
"Sure," I said.
Cloud quickly kissed the top of my head. "Thanks. I'll be back before you know it."
He took off in a flurry of cream-colored feathers and darted across the sky.
When he was gone, I looked around. There was nobody in sight. River, Castor and their daughter must have either been inside the beaver lodge or somewhere else entirely. Still in mouse form, I shuffled closer to the water's edge to get a better look at the dam. I couldn't believe beavers could construct such a miraculous structure with their teeth alone. I tentatively clicked my two front teeth together. They had the same design, but mine were much, much smaller. There was no way I was felling trees anytime soon.
Suddenly my world turned upside down as I was plunged headfirst into the river. The cool shock of the water startled me into shifting. I gasped, grabbing the bank with my arms.
Sitting there in the grass was the perpetrator. A little beaver kit was giggling at my misfortune.
Even though I'd been prepared to be annoyed, the sight of the child immediately melted my heart. I couldn't help but smile at her pure joy. She was too young to know that her actions could have serious consequences. I knew she didn't mean anything by it.
A rush of water exploded behind me. A dark-skinned head with bright crimson hair appeared from beneath the water, scowling. "Annabel! We do not push people into the raging water. I'm so sorry, are you okay?"
