Page 16 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)

MALLORY

I can’t believe the captain of the Dallas Stars gave me a puck.

It was so embarrassing when Faith and Holly called over their star center to ask for a puck on my behalf, but it was fun.

My mom would never do something like that.

I love her, but she’s so serious and proper.

She’d tell me we had a bunch of pucks at our house already and we don’t need one just because it was touched by the stick of an NHL player.

It’s all the same vulcanized rubber, after all.

Then she’d tell me how pucks were made and all about the chemical compounds involved.

I passed chemistry in high school just fine, and I don’t need a graduate-level lesson from my mother.

While the captain is very handsome, and it’s a rush to have him wink at me, I can’t help but think Liam is more handsome.

Holly is gushing about how cute the Dallas players are.

It’s funny, they aren’t much older than her son.

Her husband, Mike, is a handsome man. No reason to look anywhere else.

Since I know it’s all meant in good fun, I just laugh.

My laughter dies when I glance up at the box and see Liam standing close to and smiling down at Hockey Fan Barbie.

I can tell by his expression and how they’re standing together that they have a close relationship.

It doesn’t matter. We’re coworkers and maybe sorta starting to be friends.

He’s good-looking and rich. Of course he’s going to have gorgeous women all around him.

“About time!” Faith cries out as she rushes the blonde and gives her a big hug.

“Hey, Momma Morgan,” Barbie says, returning the hug and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Momma? I’m assuming this isn’t his sister, since she used her last name.

I notice the man with her, who is now hugging Faith and lifting her off the floor.

Liam comes to my side and brushes his hand against my back.

The light touch starts as a tingle, low and lovely, but grows, gathering warmth and pressure until it’s almost possessive, even though his touch remains the same—barely there.

“Mallory, these are my best friends, Teagan”—he gestures to the gorgeous blonde woman—“and Jake.”

The man smiles and reaches his hand out to me. “Hey, Mallory, nice to meet you.” His handshake is firm, and his brown eyes are warm. He’s a few inches shorter than Liam and not as broad, but he’s a very handsome man with glossy black hair and olive-toned skin.

“Hi, Mallory. That’s so cool you got a puck!” Teagan reaches out a hand to shake as well.

Teagan is a woman. A gorgeous woman. The times I’ve heard about Teagan and Jake, I thought Liam was talking about two guys. Not a guy and a woman who should walk the runway or grace magazine covers.

I remember myself. “Hi. Nice to meet you both.”

Daphne comes up, and the greetings repeat. I guess she hasn’t met them before either.

“So great to finally meet you, Teagan. I’ve heard so much about you!

” Daphne gives Teagan a hug. She’s such a sweet person.

I want to kick her. Which is ridiculous.

I love Daphne, and there’s no reason to be jealous over Teagan.

Yeah, she’s gorgeous and Liam’s best friend, and she seems friendly.

His mom really seems to like her. Now his dad’s hugging her.

Mike is giving her a fist bump. Yeah, she’s part of this group. No reason to be jealous.

Teagan smiles warmly. “I’ve heard so much about you too! I’m so glad you and Logan finally got together so he can stop being a mopey bird.” She elbows Logan in the side, and he grunts.

Mopey bird? That’s a weird phrase.

“Logan is a golden eagle shifter,” Daphne tells me.

“Really? That’s cool. I haven’t known any avian shifters. They aren’t as easy to tell as wolf or other mammal shifters. No scent,” I say.

“Do you shift, Mallory?” Teagan asks.

I suppress my sigh. I miss the days when discussing shifter status was still taboo, and you needed a secret handshake to alert others.

“Nope. But I come from a pack of wolf shifters. I’m the weird one. How about you?” I don’t sense anything, but I’m just a human. What do I know?

Teagan and Jake give me appraising looks. What the hell is up with that?

“No, I don’t shift,” Teagan says.

“I’m an avian shifter too,” Jake says.

I turn to him. “Really? An eagle like Logan?”

“Nothing so regal. I’m a shore bird.”

That could be anything from a duck to a heron to a piping plover. Living on the coast and near the wildlife refuge, I’m not surprised there are shore bird shifters. I’m curious what kind, but if he wanted me to know, he’d tell me.

“Cool,” I reply simply.

I’m saved from trying to think of anything else to say by the request for us to stand for the national anthem.

Daphne and I move to seats at the front of the box so we can look down on the ice and watch the start of the game.

After the anthem and the puck drop, Logan sits next to Daphne, and Faith sits next to me with Holly on her other side.

I can hear Liam with Teagan and Jake behind me.

I wasn’t expecting Liam to sit with me. We aren’t attending the game together.

We just arrived in the same vehicle. He should hang out with his friends. Right?

“What the hell, ref! Are you blind? That was tripping! Boo!” Faith screams. I was not expecting that level of passion from her.

Daphne leans in. “I’m not the only crazy fan. It’s great.” Her laugh borders on the maniacal.

All righty.

Liam leans forward. “You’re sitting between the loudest two. Probably should’ve warned you to wear earplugs. Sorry.”

I look over my shoulder. “All good. It’s nice to watch with people who care.”

Logan stands and asks what we all want to eat and drink from the spread in the suite behind us.

I would love to get used to this level of comfort and convenience to watch a hockey game.

No being jammed in general seating and getting beer spilled on me.

The seats are comfortable, the view of the ice is incredible, and most importantly, we have our own bathroom.

I accept my pretzel and Coke with a smile.

Daphne has a hot dog and a soda too. Apparently, she gets really spunky watching “her guys,” so she’s decided it’s for the best if she doesn’t drink beer tonight.

I can’t imagine sweet Daphne acting that way, but Logan showed me a video on his phone of her screaming abuse at the refs after what she considered a bad call, so I know it happens.

“Do you go to a lot of games, Mallory?” Faith asks as she rips a piece off her pretzel and dips it in cheese sauce.

“No. I haven’t been to a hockey game in years. My younger brother used to play, so I’d go to his tournaments, and we went to a few games here as a family growing up, but now that we’re all grown and all over the place, there’s no one to go with.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. I hope you come to more games and watch in the company box with us. You’re fun.”

“Thank you! That’s so kind.” I’m touched when Holly leans forward to add her hope I join them in the future too.

Faith sighs and leans in. “Sitting here is way different than sitting in the arena watching a tournament all weekend. We spent many a weekend at tournaments for Liam. I miss watching him play. He should be down there with them playing, not up here watching. He was going to be first-line right wing for his college’s team, but then the accident happened. ”

“Oh.” I don’t know what else to say. I had no idea Liam played hockey.

What accident? Was he truly good enough to be on the first line of a college team, or is that just a proud mom talking?

He’s a few years older than Trevor, so they wouldn’t have been on the same teams growing up or at the same tournaments.

Not that Trevor played in college. The university he’s attending doesn’t have a hockey team, and he joined the cheerleading team instead.

Pretty sure it was to be around all those girls.

While society generally accepts shifters, professional sports are one of the last frontiers where shifters and other paranormal folks mostly aren’t included.

There are some paranormal sports leagues, but no human/shifter mixed professional leagues.

It’s silly. Shifters and humans play together growing up, but once shifting starts around puberty, shifters drop out of organized sports with full humans because their typically superior speed and strength becomes more apparent, and it would have raised questions in the past. When shifters were still hiding, they couldn’t risk calling that kind of attention to themselves.

Now that shifters and other paranormal are living openly, the only remaining reason to not play together professionally and in the Olympics is the human worry that they’re at a disadvantage.

I guess they don’t realize that shifters have been dealing with people like me who come from shifter lineage and possibly have the strength and speed of shifters without shifting ability.

I’m sure if we looked at the family trees of some of the greatest athletes, we’d find shifters among the branches, even though the athlete is just a “normal” human.

Faith and Holly get up at the first intermission to mingle. I use the restroom and grab a selection of snacks for the second period and retake my seat. To my surprise, Liam sits next to me instead of sitting with Teagan and Jake again.

“May I?” He gestures to my bag of popcorn.

I tilt it toward him, and he takes a handful.

He munches as we watch the game in companionable silence.

Lots of turnovers, but no great plays. Our elbows brush each other on the armrest between us, and goosebumps break out on my arm.

It feels too natural, too comfortable, being here with him.

The heat radiating off him is like a soothing balm in the chill of the arena, and I want to slather it all over me. Oh, Mallory, this is not good.