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Savannah nodded.
Lucas nudged Malia gently. “Hey, you never told me you thought my hair was pretty!” he said with mock-hurt.
Savannah and her little sister both giggled.
“I think Daddy’s hair is pretty, too!” said the younger girl. Her hair was the same golden shade as her sister’s. She wore it pulled back in a French braid fastened with glittering purple barrettes that Malia recognized.
“Are you Taylor?” asked Malia. When the little girl nodded, she said, “It’s nice to meet both of you.”
“And these are my parents, Dave and Claire,” Lucas said.
The older couple both smiled. “Malia, welcome to the family,” Claire said. “Lucas told us all about you yesterday.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Mr. and Mrs. Winters,” Malia said.
She saw Mr. Winters blink, as if surprised. Lucas tensed.
“But our name is—” Taylor began, looking up at her grandparents.
“Please, dear, call me Claire,” said Lucas’s mother in a firm tone, interrupting the little girl. “Or I’ll have flashbacks to my days as a teacher.”
“Same here,” agreed his father. “Now that I’m retired, being called ‘Mister’ generally means that I’m either in trouble or someone’s trying to sell me something.” He gave her a mischievous smile that reminded her strongly of Lucas.
“You can call me Taylor,” announced the little girl loudly.
“All right, Taylor,” Malia said amused.
“Daddy told us that you’re a wolf shifter,” Savannah informed her. “Have you ever bitten anyone?”
Malia laughed. “Only my brother. And he deserved it because he wouldn’t stop bugging me.” She shared a conspiratorial grin with the girls. “He’s a bear shifter, so I bit him in the butt, and then I hid all of his snacks where he couldn’t sniff them out.”
Both of Lucas’s daughters giggled loudly at this.
“Taylor bugs me all the time,” Savannah confided.
“Do NOT!” Taylor protested. “And you’re always bossing me around!”
“Because you’re apest!” retorted her older sister.
“Girls, behave!” Lucas warned.
They both quieted down immediately.
“So, I’ve heard that there are a lot of different kinds of shifters living in Bearpaw Ridge,” Claire said, clearly trying to distract the girls from restarting their quarrel.
“That’s true,” Malia replied. “I know bears, wolves, jaguars, eagles, coyotes, wolverines, and even some sabertooth cats.”
Savannah’s eyes widened when she heard “sabertooth.” Dave and Claire looked surprised, too.
“I saw a picture of a sabertooth cat in a book once,” said Savannah.
“There were mammoths, too!” added Taylor. “And cavemen. Are there any mammoths?”
“If we come to Bearpaw Ridge, can we see a sabertooth for real?”
“I don’t know of any mammoths,” Malia answered. “But I do have a couple of sabertooth friends.”
“Cool!” Savannah pronounced. “Daddy, when can we visit Bearpaw Ridge?”
