She shook her head. “My mother is in upstate New York hanging out with her friends. She only comes back for special pack events and when my father insists. It wasn’t a marriage for love. They had good genetics, and I’m told they were super hot for each other once upon a time. But Mom never really wanted to be a mother. After three kids, she got her tubes tied without even telling Dad. After that, he lost interest in her.”
“Because she couldn’t have kids?”
“I guess. He’s always been about the pack. Having strong kids to hold it together is his driving force.” She sighed, the memories making her melancholy. “They made an effort with each other when we were younger but gave up after Hunter died. She moved to New York, and we don’t even see her at Christmas anymore.”
“Ouch.” He wrinkled his nose. “My mother is all about the holidays. Decorations galore. Family dinners. She buys us ugly sweaters and makes us wear them.”
She smiled, seeing the way his expression softened as he spoke. “You love it.”
“No, I love her. I wouldn’t dream of spoiling a holiday for her. But between you and me, the sweaters suck.”
She idly caressed his jaw as she studied the minute contours of his face. Hazel had once said that if she wanted to know how a man would treat his wife, all you had to do was look at how he acted toward his mother. A kind son meant a kind husband. An angry, resentful son meant a bitter, abusive husband. It was obvious that Ryan cherished his mother, which meant his wife was in for a treat her whole life long.
Meanwhile, his thoughts were obviously elsewhere. “So your mom left and you became alpha female.”
She snorted. “I wish. I never shifted as a teen, so that honor fell to my cousin’s stepmother Mrs. Olivia Merriman.”
“Sounds like you don’t like her.”
She flopped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “Oh, she’s nice enough. Lazy and scatterbrained, but she’s actually a very nice person.”
“So why do people follow her?”
“Because she’s a full shifter, and her husband is a badass. He tells her what to do and say, and people go along with it.”
“While you do all the real work of the clan.”
She winced slightly at his terminology. “We’re a pack, not a clan. And I’m hoping that people remember how much I do for everyone.”
“Of course, they will. You underestimate your impact.”
And he underestimated pack prejudice. The most important thing for an alpha was to be a full shifter. It was a symbol of his or her strength. She wasn’t and never would be. But rather than wander in that depressing direction, she rolled back to face him.
“You didn’t finish your first shift story,” she said. “Tell me what happened.”
“Nothing all that unusual.” His lips curved as he spoke, showing that it was a good memory. “Like lots of kids, I shifted in the middle of the night. A dream triggered it, I think. I was camping with my grandfather and suddenly I was this bear in a sleeping bag going crazy inside the tent. My grandfather started screaming and I was roaring. Then I got scared and ran. Ended up by the river in Gladwin State Park. There’s a grizzly clan there who watches the area. Lots of Michigan shifters are drawn to the river, and so they were ready for me.”
“Was it spring?” That’s when new shifters tended to change, and then they went searching for their home place. Like salmon swimming to their place of birth, new shifters went to the place where their genetics began. Apparently for him, that was in Gladwin.
“Yeah. And I was damn lucky that we were camping nearby. I ended up in the river, roaring at my reflection, when some of the local shifters started talking to me. I’ll never forget it. Mrs. Lansky snapped at me to remember I was a person and just get dressed.” He chuckled. “I was a bear, and she was talking to me like I was a kid late for school.”
“So you changed back?”
“I did. Buck naked and sitting in freezing water. She wrapped me in a blanket, gave me a Tupperware bowl of meatloaf, and then I fell asleep in their truck. I was still asleep when they found my grandfather and brought him to me. Wish I’d been awake for the conversation when they brought him up to speed. By the time I was up and searching for breakfast, he was telling me how I’d nearly given him a heart attack and my mother was never going to believe it.” He cocked a brow at her. “She did, by the way, but I had to shift right in front of her.”
“I’ll bet that was fun.” How she’d longed for the moment when she could go wolf in front of her family. It was a major achievement in any werewolf’s life.
“Teenage boys do not like being naked in front of their mothers,” he said sternly. But then he softened into a smile. “But yeah, except for the naked part, I did love it. My sister even screamed.”
“But they accepted you?”
He hedged as his gaze canted away. “They love me. We’re good like that. But they’re not real comfortable with the paranormal.”
“So they don’t accept who you are deep inside. I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Maybe they’ll change if there are grandchildren.” She heard longing in his voice. He wanted kids and a family who loved him for exactly who he was. That was something they had in common. At least he still had hope. As for her, she’d always be the disappointment in her family because she wasn’t a full shifter. Meanwhile her mind skittered back over his words. She’d followed his career closely, but maybe she hadn’t heard about a girlfriend.
“Do you have a woman in mind to help with that?” For all that she tried to sound casual, she hated that her voice was tight with jealousy.
