Page 92 of Confusing Hearts

Kyle leaned over and kissed Kelsey’s cheek before rubbing her stomach. “Mom, she can’t shift . . .” he said, trying to make his point, confirming my suspicions.

Mary gasped. “You mean?”

They were both nodding confirmation.

“We were going to tell you all tonight at the family dinner,” Kelsey said, happy tears in her eyes as everyone started hugging her and giving their congratulations. Chase howled and Liam, Maddie, and Elise came running back to hear the good news.

Maddie started crying. “Stupid pregnancy hormones,” she said, wiping tears from her face.

I wasn’t sure how far along Maddie was, but she was definitely showing. It was crazy. I could see a shift in the size of her belly just since the week before. I didn’t have enough experience with pregnancies to even guess when she might be due, but I loved the idea that both she and Kelsey were pregnant at the same time.

Elise walked up next to me and put an arm around my shoulder. “Planning on joining them anytime soon?”

“Oh God no!” I said, a little too quickly. I was still in college. Chase and I had just mated, we needed time together. I wasn’t ready to have a baby or even think about it. The horror at the thought must have shown on my face.

Elise laughed. “Same! Lily’s not even mated yet, and with her massive crush on Cole Anderson, her true mate could probably walk up and slap her, and she’d be too blinded in lust to notice.”

Lily snorted, hearing her, but didn’t argue it. “You guys will just have to wait for me then, so our babies will one day have cousins close in age to play with too,” she said.

I shrugged. “Oscar and Zander seem close despite the age gap. Our kids will be fine . . . someday,” I added, reinforcing that someday would not be anytime soon.

Elise squeezed my shoulder. “Just wait. The pressure hasn’t begun yet, but it will. Mom loves the idea of a house full of grandpups.”

“Or cubs?” I asked.

“You see our Oscar out there?” She pointed to him. I nodded. “Half pup, half cub. You really think any one of us love that boy any less because of it?” I shook my head as my eyes started burning while fighting back tears. The thought of my kids being loved as much as I’d witnessed these people love Oscar was too much. “Someday . . .” Elise said, causing me to laugh instead of cry.

As the excitement of Kelsey’s news began to die down, Mary got back to the issue at hand.

“Okay, well, Kyle we’ll use you then instead,” Mary finally said. “Now, get on with it, dinner’s getting cold.”

Kyle stripped and shifted. I averted my eyes. I knew nudity was not a big deal for shifters, but my family was just more private about it. I think felines in general were more prude when it came to such things. And while Mary’s earlier description of a pack run had intrigued me, it wasn’t until that moment that it dawned on me the sheer number of naked people that would entail if they were all to shift at once.

I looked back up to find everyone staring at me. I forgot, that I would need to shift in front of everyone else, too. I felt awkward and exposed. I turned my back to them and started to remove my shirt. A growl sounded just behind me. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Elise roll her eyes and start to walk away. All other backs were towards me as my wolf stood watch, giving me the privacy he must have known I needed.

I made quick work of my clothes and shifted to stand in my place beside Chase’s magnificent wolf. My panther rubbed up against him and purred.

Mary turned back around at my sounds and froze. She clapped her hands together and smiled. “Jenna, dear, your panther is as gorgeous as you.” I nodded my large head in acknowledgement. “Okay, Chase, take Jenna to the lineup. The rest of you, back in place,” she instructed.

I followed Chase to where Kyle’s wolf stood. I hadn’t looked at him earlier and was surprised to find a very large brown wolf. For some reason it seemed odd to me. Chase’s was black, so I guess I had assumed all Westin pack wolves were black. I mean, I knew wolves came in a variety of colors, I just assumed those in a pack had similar colorings, or maybe that was just because of all the purity crap my daddy had engrained in us growing up. Coloring was so important to him that it had never once dawned on me that wolves, in the same family, especially, wouldn’t all look similar.

Mary instructed us to line up. It was half a mile to Elise and we were told to run as fast as we could to that line, one at a time for accurate timing. Kyle took off first. He was fast, but I knew he was nowhere near as fast as I was.

Next, Mary signaled me to go. With a quick burst of adrenalin, I took off. I loved the feel of the wind running over my short fur. I pushed ahead as fast as my legs would allow and didn’t even begin to slow until I flew by Elise. Stopping took almost another half mile, and I could see Patrick just up ahead.

As I turned to head back, Chase blew past me. I couldn’t believe it. He was so fast he was practically a blur. He finally slowed around Patrick and headed back. I could see shock in his big brown eyes. The others were talking animatedly when we returned to the starting line, confirming my suspicions. Chase had gotten faster.

“Well, wow, that was really fast, Chase,” Lily said excitedly. “I’ve never seen a wolf that fast. Should he run the full five miles? I bet he’s faster than Kelsey even.”

“Maybe,” Jason said. “Remember, if he’s truly getting his speed from his bond to Jenna, panthers are short distance runners.”

I nodded my agreement.

“But if she merely enhanced him, and wolves are distance runners, it’s possible he’ll see an improvement there, too,” Mary argued.

“Perhaps,” Jason conceded. “Do we want to test him tonight, or head back for that delicious food that has been tormenting me all afternoon?”

“I’m very curious, but I know you all must be starving. Let’s head back and we’ll do this another day. I think it’s safe to say that his speed has definitely received an upgrade.”

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