Where There's Smoke by Mary Alice Pritchard

Author:Mary Alice Pritchard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: shapeshifters, wolf shifters, cat shifters, bearshifters
Publisher: DCL Publications

Chapter Five

Rudy was nervous. He’d never been nervous about seeing his family before, but this was different. He was taking his mate to meet them and he didn’t want her to be overwhelmed and he didn’t want to hear their “I told you so” either. Most of all, he wanted her to like his family and want to be a part of it. He’d been absent from their lives for years now and was ashamed of it. He’d been a coward, afraid that if he’d spent more time around them he would get bitten by the same bug that had caused them to settle down. Why hadn’t he known that it wasn’t a curse, but the most precious peace in the world to have a mate by your side?

“Do I look okay?” his mate asked, twirling around in the pretty sweater dress she’d chosen to wear.

“You look amazing, mate. They’re going to love you, so don’t worry.”

“I hope what I made will be okay. I’ve never cooked anything for a big meal like this before. I’ve cooked casseroles for when someone had a new cub or there was a death, but never for a holiday,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her sides.

“I promise, it will be fine. You have no idea how much the triplets love sweet potato casserole. Mom makes it with a lot of nutmeg and they don’t like nutmeg. They’re going to love yours with the cinnamon.”

“I guess we better go then. What did they say when you told them you were coming?” she asked.

“They were pretty surprised. I mean I always go on holidays, but I don’t always make it there early enough for the meal.”

“What did they say about bringing me?” she asked.

“Um, I thought I’d surprise them. I didn’t tell them that you were coming with me,” he said with a wide grin.

“What? Rudy, you don’t sneak a mate in on your family like that, especially on a holiday! You’ve got to tell them before we go.” He just shook his head. He had no intentions of warning them. He wanted to see their faces when he announced that he’d taken a mate. It would be such a shock that he couldn’t wait to spring it on them.

He was so thankful for his mate for so many reasons, but most of all for making him aware, for the first time, just how special having a loving family around you was. She’d never had one and wanted one more than anything. He’d had one and ignored them and the gift he’d been given. He was ashamed of that and planned to make up for it from now on, starting with introducing them to his mate.

“Come on, honey. I want to see their faces when we walk in to my mom and pop’s place. Don’t let it all overwhelm you. Besides Mom and Pop, there’ll be the triplets and their wives, my sister and her husband and somewhere around eight cubs running or crawling around.

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