“Wolf, welcome to our family. My name is Boris,” the guy with the toddler said. “And this is Yuri.”
“Um, thanks,” Eleanor said, her voice more uncertain than I’d ever heard it. “But I’m not really sure how I feel about this whole mate thing yet.”
This was a departure from her earlier anti-mate opinion, but I didn’t point that out.
“No sense fighting it, honey.” A very tall woman came to join us, another toddler on her hip. From the looks of it, the boys were twins. “They’ll just wear you down. These brothers are relentless. I’m Elana, Boris’s mate.”
Eleanor’s face was turning red, and I knew her well enough to know that she was about to blow a gasket. I tapped on Cassie’s arm.
“Can we sit down now? Eleanor and I really need to eat.”
“You will sit anywhere,” Boris boomed. “I will bring you all the food.”
I wasn’t totally sure what that meant but I followed Cassie as she walked to a booth by the far wall. She gestured for me to slidein, then she sat on the outside. Eleanor took the seat across from us, but then Alexei sat next to her, forcing her to slide over. She pretended she was annoyed, but I couldn’t help but notice that she kept looking at the bear shifter out of the corner of her eye. I had a feeling her resistance to the handsome bear wouldn’t last long.
“Tell us about yourself, Alexei,” I prodded.
Alexei launched into his history growing up in Belarus, joining the military, then finally settling here in Seattle, while Eleanor listened intently. After a few minutes his brothers started bringing over platters of food, much more than we could hope to eat. Well, if we didn’t have Alexei with us anyway. The bear was putting away food at an alarming rate. Then again, both Cassie and Eleanor weren’t exactly eating like birds themselves.
I’d always marveled at how Eleanor managed to stay fit when she had such a hearty appetite, but now I realized it was likely because she was a shifter.
“Do shifters have a high metabolism?” I asked, nodding to her plate.
Alexei buttered a roll and handed it to her. Eleanor took it without a word.
“Yeah, all of our systems are enhanced,” my friend explained. “We metabolize food and alcohol much faster than humans. We have much better hearing, smell, and vision. Thanks to our supercharged immune system, we rarely get sick and don’tgenerally fall victim to any of the diseases that plague humans. And we tend to be hypersexual.”
I choked on a bite of mashed potatoes, looking first at the two shifters across from me, then at Cassie. “Is that true of all supernaturals?”
Cassie gave me a long look, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Vampires have good senses, not quite as strong as the shifters but much stronger than humans,” she acknowledged. “But the rest is true. Plus vampires have superior intellect.”
“You mean vamps are snobs,” Elana said as she deposited a platter of fried chicken. “You all think you’re better than the rest of the supes.”
“What’s your point?” Cassie teased.
I loved the way they all had this ease about them, as if they were all one big happy family.
“Where’s your mate, Yuri?” I asked as the third brother hovered by our table watching us eat.
“She is at the hospital. Stacy is nurse,” he said proudly.
“That’s great,” I said. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
I realized it was true. I hadn’t agreed to be Cassie’s mate yet. I didn’t even fully understand what it meant. And yet I could see myself coming here after games, talking and laughing with Cassie and her friends. Hanging out with Eleanor and her new mate and meeting the rest of the crew.
It should have scared me, but I was lucky enough to have grown up in a loving family, and I recognized another close family when I saw it. I was going to like being part of this group – assuming everything worked out with Cassie.
Hopefully there was a way I could maintain my focus on my athletic career and have a relationship too, because I already knew that no matter how much I thought I didn’t want a relationship, there was no way I was going to be able to let Cassie go.
Cassie
After a peaceful dinner, Eleanor and Alexei were back at each other’s throats by the time dessert came.
“I am not going to your house, bear! I have a house of my own,” Eleanor said firmly.
“Then I come there.” Alexei’s voice was just as stubborn. “I must protect you.”
