Page 40 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)

LIAM

We run for about an hour. The woods around the Carter family home are great.

I assume these are the trails that Mallory runs on.

Hopefully we can run them together sometime.

When we reach a clearing with some old wooden Adirondack chairs and a cooler, the Carter brothers shift back to human form.

I follow suit, and a moment or two later, Logan lands and shifts as well.

Trevor opens the cooler and holds up a bottle of water, silently asking if we want one.

When we all nod, he tosses them around our group, and we settle into the chairs.

Chuckling, I look around. “Cozy setup you have. How’d you get it out here?”

Trevor takes a pull of his water and nods.

“Yeah. We’re civilized. There are ATV trails throughout the woods.

We hauled them in that way. Later this week, one of us will come restock the cooler and take any empties.

I’m sure our Lycan ancestors are rolling their eyes at us for not drinking out of the river as God intended, but… ew.”

“Your property goes to the river?” Logan asks.

“Yeah. It was a great place to grow up. I hope the boys like growing up here,” Ethan says.

“Don’t you live in Maryland?” I ask.

Ethan nods. “My wife and I are divorcing, and I’ll have primary physical custody of the boys. We decided it would be best if they were raised away from DC. They’ll finish out the school year there, and then we’ll move up here in the summer.”

“Does Mallory know this?” Trevor asks.

“I don’t know. We haven’t discussed it.”

He’s moving here-here, like…in with Mallory? Is he really that clueless?

Trevor shakes his head. “Don’t you think you should, Ethan? It’s our home, but it’s hers now. We can’t just keep treating it like a Holiday Inn. She’s never going to turn any of us away, but we should do her the courtesy of asking her and not just assuming we can crash here whenever we want.”

The tips of Ethan’s ears turn red, standing out against the black of his slightly shaggy hair. I guess he really is that clueless.

“Crap. You’re right. I didn’t think about it. It’s amazing she puts up with us.” Ethan tips his bottle toward me. “Don’t think that just because we’re inconsiderate clods that you can get away with treating Mal that way.”

I hold up my hands in a “not me” gesture.

“How long have you two been dating?” Trevor asks.

“We’re not dating,” I say reflexively.

“Bullshit,” Logan says with a cough to cover it.

I shoot my cousin a glare.

Trevor quirks a brow. “Lory will insist you aren’t dating because Valerie is constantly hounding her to promise she’ll never date a coworker, and Lory wants Val’s approval, but I have eyes, and you two are together. I think you’re a good match.”

Ethan nods. “I love our sisters, but they’re a handful. Mal is the mellower of the two though.”

I do a spit take. Mallory. The mellow one? I use the sleeve of my T-shirt to wipe the water I dribbled off my chin.

“It’s true. Lory is stubborn, but Valerie’s so moody. She just broke up with a guy she worked with who turned out to be married with kids, so she’s gone off the deep end.” Trevor looks at Ethan. “Did you get the guy’s name? I’d like to pay him a visit.”

“Nah,” Ethan says. “She’s not talking. She’ll just drink her wine and lick her wounds in private.” Ethan turns to me. “Mallory must really like you a lot if she’s involved with you even though you work together. She’s never gone against what Valerie says before.”

I shrug. “I’m not her boss or in her chain of command. Yeah, we work for the same company, but I have nothing to do with her job. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that our mother has gone on since the girls were old enough to understand that they had to be strong and succeed on their own merits,” Ethan says.

“What’s wrong with that?” Logan asks.

“Nothing. But Mom felt she lost out on promotions to men or that other women got ahead because they slept their way to the top. Maybe they did. I don’t know.

So, she drummed it into their heads that there could be no appearance of favoritism or whatever.

Then Valerie hooks up with whatever schmuck and loses out on a promotion to him.

It’s like it flipped a switch and she’s doubling down.

” Ethan finishes his water, crushes the bottle, and puts it in a bag in the cooler next to him.

Trevor picks up the thread of conversation. “Mom and Val have always kinda double-teamed Mallory. They have very forceful personalities and Lory is mellow, like we said, so she goes along with it. Have you met our parents?”

“Oh, yeah,” mutters Logan.

I nod.

“They don’t realize it, but they’ve treated Mallory differently than the rest of us.

I think because she doesn’t shift, they don’t know what to do with her.

Mom doesn’t understand her because they’re so different.

Mallory keeps trying to earn their approval.

She especially wants Valerie’s, and I don’t think it’s possible,” Ethan says.

“She needs to say fuck it and just do what she wants to do,” Trevor says.

I agree wholeheartedly. But if she won’t, and us working together is the impediment to us being together, then I’ll remove that obstacle as soon as I can. I just hope she’ll still be there when I’ve done it.

“Ready to head back?” Ethan asks.

We shift and lope through the woods back to the house.

The trees are thin as we approach the backyard, revealing Mallory and Daphne lounging on the patio.

No sign of Valerie. That’s good. When the girls notice us, Daphne wanders to the side of the house.

I guess Logan will meet her there and shift?

Mallory gets up and wanders into the yard toward me.

Her brothers continue to the patio, and I hear her nephews cry out for their dad.

Ethan and Trevor remain in their wolf forms to tussle gently with the boys.

Mallory has never seen me in my cat form, so I stay as I am, trusting she’ll tell me if she wants me to shift.

“Wow, you’re gorgeous,” she says as she approaches me.

I swish my heavy tail just to show it off before sitting on my haunches and wrapping it around my front paws like a house cat. I’m a big guy, and so is my cat. Seated like this, I’m eye to eye with Mallory.

She reaches out a hand to touch me and then stops herself, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I was going to pet you without asking permission. I know better.” Her green gaze meets mine. “May I touch you, please?”

Like she ever needs to ask. I nod my head and lean forward, welcoming her touch. She reaches out and runs her hand over the back of my head.

“Oh, you’re so soft.”

I give a chuff of laughter. Those are words a man never wants to hear.

“I didn’t realize you’d be so big,” she continues.

That’s more like it. I nuzzle Mallory’s shoulder, and she wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me. I close my eyes and relax into the embrace, letting out a contented purr. For all the times I’ve had sex with Mallory and other women, this is the most intimate encounter I’ve ever had.

Mallory’s parents join us on the patio and ruin the mood. Mallory stiffens and steps away. If I could roar, I would. Her brothers shift back, and so do I. We walk to join the group as Daphne and Logan come from around the corner of the house, looking slightly disheveled.

Her mother smiles at the boys with their father and uncle and turns to Robert.

“I remember when you’d play with the kids like that. Those were good times,” Beth says. Turning back to her sons and grandsons, she says, “I can’t wait for you two to start shifting so we can do family runs through the woods.”

EJ, Mallory’s older nephew, shakes his head. “If Aunt Mal doesn’t go, they aren’t family runs. They’re just runs.”

“Well, EJ, you know your aunt can’t shift. She couldn’t go with us,” Robert says.

“She could ride a four-wheeler. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten,” the younger boy, Matt, says.

Holy crap, he’s quoting that Disney movie Kennie made me watch a thousand times when we were kids.

“Exactly right, boys,” Ethan says, laying a hand on each boy’s shoulder.

“Or we just run as people,” Trevor suggests. “Your Aunt Lory is a great runner. She runs through the woods all the time. She’s probably the fastest of us on two legs.”

“Really? Will you run with us tomorrow, Aunt Mal?” Matt asks, bouncing on his toes like Tigger in his eagerness.

I hear Mallory’s shuddering inhale, like she’s trying to control her emotions. Shaking her head, she clears her throat and says, “Not tomorrow. I need to go to work. If we don’t get to it this week before you go home, we’ll do it the next time you visit, okay?”

The boys run around on their own, yelling yay and doing all the little boy stuff Logan and I did as kids. I hope to have kids running around in this yard someday.

Matt runs up to us as we reach the patio and looks at me with a cocked head. “You’re a cat?”

Beth tries to shush him, but I ignore her.

I nod. “Yep, I’m a cougar shifter.”

“Can you roar?” EJ asks, joining us.

“No, I can’t. But I can purr loudly, which lions and tigers can’t do. It depends how our throats are. Some cat species can roar, and some can purr.”

“Can you climb trees? Like really high? As your cougar.” Matt again.

“I can. One of my favorite things to do is climb this certain tree behind my house and rest on a big branch. It’s most fun in the summer when the leaves can hide me.” I look over at Logan. “Did you know my cousin is an eagle shifter? He can fly super high.”

The boys go over to ask Logan questions, which he happily answers. Robert and Beth go back in the house with Trevor. We sit down in the chairs Daphne and Mallory were in when we returned. The warmth from the patio heater is nice.

“You’re good with kids,” Mallory says, surprised.

I nod. “I like kids.”

“You do?”

“Of course. Don’t you?” We haven’t discussed much in depth about our feelings around having and raising children since she’s adamant we’re just friends with benefits.

“I do. I thought about being a teacher but became a paralegal instead.”

“If you were a teacher, what subject would you teach?”

“History. Pre-industrial revolution. European or US,” she says.

“That’s what my mom teaches!”

“Really? I knew she was a teacher, but I didn’t realize the subject. I think I assumed she taught younger grades.”

“Nope. High school. She was my Grammy Morgan’s student teacher for one year. That’s how my parents met. Dad came by Grammy’s classroom after school, and my dad fell for her like a ton of bricks.” I smile, thinking about the stories I’ve been told.

“He asked her out, and Mom said no. She refused to have anything to do with him while she was working with Grammy. She didn’t want anyone to say she got special treatment or a better grade than she earned.”

“I get that,” Mallory says.

I know she does. And I do too. Now.

“Once the term was over and Mom’s grade finalized, he asked her out again. That time she said yes, and the rest is history.” I bump her shoulder as I say the last part, and she laughs at my lame joke.

I’m probably a teenage girl for admitting this, but my heart flutters at her laughter.

This is what I want. Sitting with the woman I love—and I do love Mallory—laughing over stupid things and being together.

I’ve known she’s my mate almost from the start.

My cougar wouldn’t shut up about it. But I love her as a man loves a woman.

I love all of her—her humor, her heart, her courage, her fears.

Today I found out about her past, and I’m part of her present. I hope to be part of her future.

“This is nice,” Mallory says softly.

“It is,” I agree. Is she thinking that we could have something like this someday? I’m afraid to ruin the moment and ask.

The door opens behind us, and we turn to find Beth standing there. Valerie is behind her, glaring at us.

“Will you be joining us for dinner?” Beth asks.

Not the warmest invitation I’ve ever received. I glance over at Logan, and he motions that he’s ready to go.

I stand and face them. Mallory rises to stand beside me.

“Thank you, but no,” I answer. “We’re going to head out now.”

Beth closes the door, and Valerie continues to watch us. Creepy.

I surreptitiously brush my index finger along Mallory’s hand. I wish I could be overt in my actions, but under Valerie’s glare, I don’t dare. For Mallory’s sake. I don’t care who knows about us. I want the whole world to know she’s mine.

“I need to catch up on some stuff for the pier project.”

Mallory nods.

“I want to kiss you,” I admit.

A pretty flush dusts her cheeks, but it fades when she glances at her sister.

What the hell is going on?

“Let’s walk around the house,” she suggests and takes the lead. Logan and Daphne have already gone that way.

“Wait. I need my phone and wallet,” I remind her.

“Oh, right. I’ll meet you out front.” She turns and dashes back into the house, and I continue the trek around to the front.

I hear the front door close as I round the corner, and Mallory meets me in the driveway to hand me my things.

“Um, Valerie knows about us,” she says.

I shrug. “Okay.” I want the entire world to know.

“She’s not happy about it.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t care.”

“Liam!” she whisper-shouts.

“What? I don’t care who knows about us. You’re the one who wants to keep it a secret.”

“You know why! You just told me about your parents. I know you know why.”

I incline my head, acknowledging her point. “I know why. Doesn’t mean I agree with it.”

She sighs. “I’m sorry, Liam. This is the best I can do for now.”

“I know, Sparky. It’ll be okay,” I say.

She smiles at my use of the silly nickname. It was only a few weeks ago I first used it, but it feels like a lifetime has passed.

Mallory stands on tiptoe and presses a quick kiss to my lips. She’s backing away before I have a chance to grab her and kiss her the way I want to.

“I hope so,” she says.

As I ride away with Logan and Daphne, I make a silent promise that it will be.