Page 17 of Forever Mine

I grinned sheepishly, looking over my shoulder at Maddie. I motioned for her to come here and she hesitantly did, though I could see the caution clear in her eyes.

"Mark, Steph, this is—"

"Jane," she interrupted.

I nodded. "—Jane, my mate."

"Your mate?" Steph squealed and like a whirlwind, threw her arms around Maddie. I had learned enough in the last hour of talking with Maddie to know that that was not okay with her. Carefully orchestrating her removal, I sat down on the bench and pulled Maddie down into my lap. Her entire body relaxed and melted against mine.

"Steph, not everyone likes being mauled by you," I warned.

She just shrugged and took a seat between us where Mark had joined me on the bench. He immediately wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back against him.

"Sorry, Jane, she doesn't always get that normal people have boundaries," Mark said.

I laughed. "Mark and I were college roommates. Steph is his mate. They're sea lion shifters."

I'm not sure anything I could have said would have shocked her more. For the most part shifter groups rarely interacted with each other, but the Grand Council had been working with other shifters for years on a new integration program. A new college had opened, welcoming all shifters, and Mark and I had been in the first graduating class. I had quite the eclectic group of friends because of it.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously," I assured her. "Hence her lack of personal skills and boundaries." Mark laughed out loud, knowing it was true. "Did you watch the sea lions this morning as they all practically laid on top of each other and wrestled for more space? Yeah, that's pretty much how it is with them all the time, too."

She stared at them with open curiosity. Mark just shrugged. "Hey, this guy carved out his space and practically peed all over it."

"I'm pretty sure he did, actually, from the smell of the place," Steph said.

We all laughed at the memory.

"Guess we all have our quirks," he admitted.

"So you live here, full-time?"

Steph looked out into the water with a dark, haunted look her eyes. The sea lion population had started to dwindle and she and Mark had begun a repopulation program. I knew it was difficult for both of them, but especially for her. Our kind believes that God gave each of us a spirit animal to protect, and the duty to protect all the animals of our kind. By mating in animal form, we could reproduce animals. They were not born with a human spirit. The female had to stay in animal form throughout the pregnancy and most find it difficult to return to the human world afterwards, choosing to live out their lives as an animal alongside their young.

Mark and Steph were extraordinary in my mind. They had gone through the repopulation process at least four times that I knew of, but kept returning to human form to care for and watch after the animals. It was the ultimate sacrifice and it was easy to see how difficult it was on them.

He rubbed her back and kissed her temple. "We do. We're working on a repopulation program for the sea lions." He smiled sadly and I watched Maddie's reaction as she understood the full impact of what he was saying.

"They also run several charters, including the one taking us to Alcatraz tomorrow," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood. I saw an exchange of some sort pass between Maddie and Steph as Maddie quickly wiped a tear from her eye. Maybe it was a mother thing. I didn't fully understand it.

Steph morphed back into the carefree, playful girl I knew. "Ah, so that makes sense. You said five though, who else?"

"My son and his grandparents."

Her eyes widened in unrestrained curiosity. "You have a son?"

Maddie's chin jutted out in defiance, unnecessarily. I suspected with her young age, it was just a normal reaction to people questioning her motherhood.

"Yes, Oscar is seven, and his grandparents don't know about our kind."

I hadn't thought to warn them of that. I was proud of Maddie for thinking of it.

Steph nodded in understanding and I could see a million questions brewing just under the surface, but for once, she held back. It felt like there was some odd connection between the two women that Mark and I weren't privy to. I looked at him to confirm I wasn't the only one lost. He just shrugged and shook his head.

They had work to do, and excused themselves a little while later. Maddie and Steph actually hugged when they left, and Maddie didn't look like she was going to freak out.

Maddie turned and buried her head in my chest. “I can't believe I just did that!”

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