Page 38 of Shifters Unifying

“A lot of them, maybe all of them. Bears, wolves, big cats, and several others.”

Mom scowled as she evaluated me.

“Mothers aren’t great with their kids turning into creatures who can rip their heads off,” John interjected. “Ask me how I know.”

“Ye hush yer juvenile face,” Jasper snapped. “Let’s leave these two to work things out, and I’ll take ye four for some lunch.” He turned to me. “We’ll be back in t'irty minutes, a little more or less.”

“He said ‘t'irty,’” Blaze said. She grinned up at Jasper and batted her eyes. “You can say ‘t'irty’ to me any day.”

Jasper tsked at her and led the group back down the path that had brought us here.

“Why don’t you get dressed so we can discuss your new development? I don’t think I fancy all my neighbors getting to see my daughter in the buff.”

After I put my clothes on, I led Mom back to her house. We didn’t speak, and the SUV had already disappeared from the driveway with Jasper and the others. The silence grew heavier and heavier, and I struggled to find something—anything—to say.

Without a word, Mom sank into her couch and stared at some faraway place. For long moments, it was as though I wasn’t even there, so I poured us both a glass of water.

“Here, Mom,” I said, offering her one of the glasses. “You okay?”

“Yes.” She took a small sip, then placed it on the table beside her. At least she was reacting to me. “Need a minute.”

So, I settled in Dad’s old recliner. My cell phone buzzed, and I dragged it from my pocket. Jasper had sent a selfie with theyoung shifters at a diner I didn’t recognize. Then I checked my email and considered checking my social media. However, the number of notifications to wade through would be astronomical by now. My life as a Rainbow Vet on social media had been a big part of my marketing plan when I opened my Willow Creek Veterinary practice, but I hadn’t posted in weeks.

I startled when Mom finally started speaking.

“We knew there was something different about you, Emma. Even as a baby. Maybe we didn’t know it was… was… this. But we knew you were special, and you were ours.” She turned to study me. “How did this happen to you?”

“It’s in my genes, Mom. Either I have one shifter parent, or I have two. Not really sure which it is. Do you know anything about my birth parents?”

“Somebody local, but that’s all I know. I think the caseworkers missed redacting it or thought it didn’t matter. Not that it would have. We were so happy to have you, that’s all we cared about. We didn’t care where you came from. It was a closed adoption, and we were never contacted after the adoption finalized. But I saw Baby Girl Steele on some of your information.”

I blinked. “What did you say?”

“Baby Girl Steele. That’s all I ever saw on the paperwork.”

“Are you kidding me? Baby girl Steele,” I repeated. Marcus told Logan that he knew who my birth parents were. Of all the shifters I could be related to… This was bad.Oh, wait.That wasn’t true. I brightened. It could have been much worse. I could have been related to Logan. Marcus complicated things, but it wasn’t as perverted as it could have been.

“Is that important?”

“I bumped into someone else with that last name recently. That’s all,” I said. I didn’t think my mom could handle the ideaof me meeting my birthparents while I was off on my shifter adventure.

“So… do you shift often?” she asked.

“Whenever I want to.”

“How often do you want to?”

I grinned. “Pretty often. It’s kinda amazing.”

“Is it hard?”

“It was hard at first, but it’s getting easier every time.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, this is what you’ve been doing since you’ve been gone? Learning how to do all this?”

“That’s right.”

“Does Logan know about it?”