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River laughed, shrugging one shoulder. “I know, right? I can’t even say it’s from just the shifter genes, either. My mom used to get mistaken for my sister all the time.”
“I suddenly feel like I don’t know anything about shifters,” I said.
“No kidding,” Cole said.
“It’s one of the advantages of having a pack and living together like we do,” River said. “You can’t learn a lot about your kind when you’re all scattered around a huge territory.”
Cole grunted in agreement, but I could tell he was feeling a little disconcerted. I hoped he wasn’t internalizing his lack of knowledge as some kind of failure on his part, but that wasn’t something to bring up in front of a stranger.
“So, what should we expect tonight?” Cole asked. “I know dinner, but there’s an awful lot of people here if it’s just that.”
“You’ll be introduced as Vic’s kin. That’s almost a guarantee,” River said. “We’ll eat a really good meal. Probably have a little social hour, and then we’ll hit the yard for some wild time.”
“Wild time?” Cole echoed. “What’s that mean? An after-party or something?”
“Pfft, no,” River said. “No, it’s when we get some time to just...go do wolf things, I guess. Like reindeer games for shifters.”
“Maybe I should start calling you Rudolph,” I suggested to Cole.
“Not if you want me to answer,” he said dryly.
The three of us shared a laugh as we stepped back into the main area. The people mingling there seemed to have multiplied. Travis, chin in his hand, was talking to a young guy, focused intently on the conversation while my brother took video footage with his phone. Children played in the center of the room, wrestling and shifting seamlessly in and out of their wolf forms.
River led us to a table, and we made small talk while we waited for Victor to come back. All the while, we learned more about River’s history and found out he’d studied to be a therapist.
For what it was worth, once dinner started, those who had been in the study with us had the good nature to seem supportive and excited that we were here. And because of that, it seemed everyone else was happy to accept us, too. So many people came by our table to introduce themselves. It was like we were celebrities.
The food was obscenely delicious. Braised meats, hearty soups—all comfort foods to soothe frayed nerves. I had to wonder if that had been by design, to serve good food to smooth out all the edges of this whole situation.
Soon enough, though, we got a little downtime and privacy as the crowd started to thin with people either going home with their young children or filtering outside to prepare for a wild time. Eventually, Cole and I were alone at the table, with a few good Samaritans cleaning up the inevitable mess from a huge crowd of people sharing a space for a few hours.
Cole put his hands over mine and rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I feel like I got slammed in the face with a bunch of new information today, but I’d say I’m holding up okay, given how stressful it was at the start. I’m excited about River’s class tomorrow, too.”
“Yeah. It will be good for you to get some insight into things. Get some tools to use when I can’t be there to protect you.”
I nodded, and our conversation hit a natural lull for a few moments before Cole yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “All right,” he said. “I think I’ve been a good boy. How about you give me another one of those theories of yours?”
“Here?!” I squeaked. “Cole, there are still shifters in the room.”
“Well, then, I guess you’d better be quiet, no?” he teased. “Come on, you know I can hear you. You don’t have to say it too loud.”
A breath hissed out through my teeth. “It’s embarrassing.”
“I’ll cut you a deal,” he said. “You tell me your theory, and if you’re wrong, I’ll give you a hint. What do you say?”
A hint? I could work with that. And if I wasn’t wrong, then I would finally know what to expect.
I looked around the room to see who was in close proximity and was fairly confident I could share without anyone hearing. Regardless of the privacy, my face flushed and I swallowed. Sharing this theory wasn’t only embarrassing to do in public, but it was also kind of telling of myself.
“Well…um.” I cleared my throat and wanted to hide under the table. “D-does it have to do with some kind of pursuit?”
“Pursuit?” Cole asked. “What do you mean? Like a courtship ritual?”
I shook my head. “L-like a chase.”
I looked up at him and watched his expression go from confused to calculating to surprised. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Is this your roundabout way of telling me that you have a primal fetish?”
