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Images flashed into my head. Chips, candy, soda, naked Ranger again. Nice. Wind, rain, fur. I told my memory to halt. What fur? Fur belonged to a wolf. A wolf inside of Ranger.
“You told me you were a shitter.”
Everyone’s faces registered shock; open mouths, raised brows, frozen smiles. But Flint broke the silence with a loud guffaw. “Shitters.” He slapped his thigh.
“We do shit,” Rudy observed. “Once a day.”
“Come on,” Arnie poo-pooed.
Ha. He poo-pooed about shitting. I doubled over with laughter.
“Twice a day for me,” Arnie finished.
“Gods, no one needs to hear about our bodily functions.” Flint sighed.
“Shifters, Matt. We’re shifters.” Ranger couldn’t hide his smile.
“I might need to lie down again. Please explain.”
Ranger draped an arm around my shoulders. Not a hand this time but the warmth of his body reassured me nothing weird… or more weird than animals inside people, would happen and I was safe.
That’s what he represented: safety. Not just that. Something more, but right now, I had to deal with shitters… ummm, shifters.
“Our kind has existed beside humans for centuries,” Ranger explained.
“Then why have I never heard of you? Or did the whole world gang up on me and keep it a secret?”
“We don’t reveal ourselves to humans.”
“Excuse me. Last time I looked I am human.” I took my pulse. “Yep, definitely human.”
“Over to you, Ranger.” Flint folded his napkin. “You should have explained this before we arrived.”
“Well, sorry,” Ranger snapped. “I didn’t know the pack Alpha had drawn up a schedule.”
“Ranger!” Rudy’s tone announced he was in dad mode and not to be messed with.
“Sorry, Dad. My apologies, Alpha.” Ranger gritted his teeth. “It’s a lot, and I didn’t want to overwhelm Matt.”
“Hello.” I stuck my hand up. “Can you not talk about me as if I’m not here?”
Ranger continued with a story of the family’s ancestors, on four legs and then two. After they were persecuted, they kept to themselves, their secret rarely revealed to outsiders.
“Dane and his guys are wolf shifters too.”
What? The bottom fell out of my world. Not only did Dane have guns and powerful people under his thumb, as well as men who obeyed his every command, he and they had wolves! I put my head in my hands.
“Why didn’t I write about controversies in the dog-breeding industry? Might have been safer.”
“That’s why my family is here, Matt. To keep us safe and handle Dane.”
I sniffed, trying to corral my thoughts. My injured hand on Ranger’s warm flesh was comforting. Not sure why, it just was.
“Okay. You have a long proud history. But why are you sharing it with me?” He’d just told me it was all hush-hush. I lifted my hand and studied it, the wound beginning to heal.
“You marked me for life. So what am I to you?” I was conflicted, not wanting to hear Ranger’s answer and yet desperate to hear him confirm what I suspected. “Wait, was it your wolf who bit me?”
“Yes. You are my fated mate.”
