"Ut-oh," Dean rumbled, his deep voice carrying a note of concern. Despite his intimidating size, his green eyes sparkled with gentle amusement.
Lena's musical giggle filled the room. "I guess Jacinth never mentioned us?" She perched on the arm of the couch, her blonde hair catching the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Um, no," Mandy managed to squeak out, her voice barely above a whisper. "In fact, she definitely did not. Although, of course, I saw…" she broke off, waving her hand at the television.
Lena patted her hand sympathetically before rising with fluid grace. "Let me get you something to drink." She headed for the kitchen, her voice floating back as she opened the refrigerator. "Juice, Coke, or beer?"
"Beer," Mandy managed weakly, then remembered her manners. "Oh! And please, get something for yourself and Dean too." Her mother would be proud - even in the midst of realizing that shapeshifters were in her living room, she hadn't forgotten basic hospitality.
Lena returned from the kitchen balancing three bottles of beer.
"So, shifters," Dean said, pulling a multipurpose tool from his pocket. The metal gleamed as he popped the caps off each bottle with practiced ease. His massive frame made the tool look almost comically small in his hands. Lena handed one to Mandy, and took her own bottle from Dean before settling back on the couch.
Mandy tried to gather her scattered thoughts. Bach and Mozart had settled near Dean's feet, both cats still purringcontentedly, completely at ease with the bear shifter in their midst.
"Jacinth didn't want you to feel like you'd been abandoned." Lena said.
"She figured you'd have questions," Dean said, his deep voice gentle despite its natural boom. He settled onto the couch, which creaked slightly under his substantial weight. "In fact, she thought you'd have lots of questions."
Lena nodded, perching on the couch arm beside her husband. Her small frame made the contrast between them even more striking.. "The shifter community where she lives is going to be in the forefront of shifters going public, and they're working out how to handle all this exposure."
"Jacinth told us about you having Kieran's Wish vessel," Dean continued, reaching down to scratch Bach behind the ears. The cat arched into his touch, purring even louder. "So she asked us to stop by, see how you're doing with everything."
"She thought you might appreciate having someone to talk to about it all," Lena said, her warm brown eyes twinkling. "Especially since you're already in on the big secret about magic being real."
"I don't even know where to start," Mandy admitted, watching as Mozart claimed Dean's other hand for attention. "There's so much I want to know. About shifters, about how all this stays hidden - well, stayed hidden until now. About how everything works..."
Dean chuckled, the sound rumbling through her small living room. "That's exactly what Jacinth said you'd say. That your curiosity would be burning you up inside by now."
"She's not wrong," Mandy said, snickering.
"I can't believe I'm actually discussing this with a real shifter," Mandy said, wonder creeping into her voice. "All thesecenturies, no one knowing about you, but you've been here all along, living right beside us."
Mandy's mind raced with questions, but one burst out before she could stop herself. "Do you only shift during the full moon?"
Dean and Lena exchanged glances before breaking into hearty laughter. The sound filled her small living room, warm and genuine. Dean's deep belly laugh seemed to make the windows vibrate.
"Nah, that's werewolves," Dean explained, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "We shifters can change any time we want. Full moon's got nothing to do with it."
Mandy's hand flew to her mouth as realization struck. "Oh wait, I knew that! The video from Yellowstone - it was still daylight when that woman shifted into a fox. The sun hadn't even set yet." She shook her head, embarrassed by her question.
"Easy mistake to make," Dean rumbled good-naturedly, his massive shoulders shrugging. "There's a lot of misinformation out there about shifters. Movies, books, TV shows - they all got their own take on it."
"That's natural, because then it was all fiction. But now with that video going viral..." Lena added, her warm brown eyes twinkling. "Everyone's going to have theories about how it all works."
"I keep thinking about that footage," she admitted, fingers absently tracing the pendant's warmth. "The way she just... changed. Right there in broad daylight." She shook her head in wonder. "And attacking that bear, so much bigger than her. To save that hiker."
"It's what we do," Dean said simply, his deep voice carrying absolute conviction. "Protecting others comes naturally to shifters. Secret or no secret, she couldn't just stand by and watch that bear attack someone. Although," he added, "admittedly, she had no idea there were people with cameras in the distance."
Mozart chose that moment to hop into Dean's lap, apparently deciding that Bach was getting too much attention. The cat's loud purring filled the brief silence as Dean's huge hands gently scratched behind his ears.
He took a long pull from his beer, his green eyes twinkling with amusement. "Common mistake though, about the werewolf thing. The movies have got everybody thinking all shape-changing creatures are ruled by the moon."
Mandy's jaw dropped as she stared at Dean, her mind struggling to process this new revelation. "Wait. You're saying, t-there are werewolves too? Like... actual dangerous ones? Different from shifters?" The words tumbled out in a breathless rush as her fingers tightened around her beer bottle.
Lena leaned forward, her warm brown eyes filled with understanding. "Yes, but don't worry." Her voice carried a soothing note that made some of the tension ease from Mandy's shoulders. "There aren't many of them, and we know where they all are."
Mandy stared at her. "That's oddly… not reassuring."
