Jessica Sims - Must Love Fangs

Sara was on Josh’s team, and on the next pass, she caught the ball. I moved to tackle her, but sure enough, Josh was there again, leaping on top of me and dragging me to the ground before I could touch her. His hands were everywhere as we rolled in the grass, and I laughed.

“You know, if you wanted to cop a feel, you could just ask,” I told him between breaths.

He grinned down at me. “It’s more fun this way.”

A high-pitched squeal caught my attention, and I turned to see Sara launch herself bodily at Ramsey, as if her slight form could knock him down. I’d say one thing for Sara—she was small but fearless.

She was so much smaller than Ramsey that he just caught her out of the air, turned around, and began to run toward our end zone with his mate trapped in his arms, laughing and still clutching the ball. A moment later, Ramsey scored for our team.

The sidelines—Savannah, Lily, Ryder, and my dad—erupted in laughter.

“We concede,” Josh announced. “Having Ramsey on a team is like having five extra players.”

“I win,” I crowed, rolling onto him on the grass.

“Yes, you do.” He grinned up at me.

Desire rolled through me, and to my surprise, my claws popped. I yelped as I felt hair follicles tingle and come to life, a sure sign that I was about to change. Even though I’d been a were-cougar for a little over a month now, I still didn’t quite have the hang of everything. It would come with time and I didn’t need to worry about it, but it was still embarrassing.

“Looks like it’s time for a run,” Josh announced.

“Mr. Bellavance, why don’t you and I and Lily and Ryder go inside for some coffee?” Bath said brightly. “I think the others want to spend some nature time out here.” With a knowing glance at her mate, Bath shepherded the humans out of the clearing, and suddenly it was just shifters.

A familiar scent neared, then Beau was kneeling beside me from where I sat atop Josh, struggling to hold my claws in until the humans were gone. “Don’t fight it, Marie. It’s a natural part of your life now. It’s time to run with your clan if you’re ready.”

I nodded, my throat suddenly dry. This would be my first run with the entire clan, plus a few others. Performance anxiety struck me. What if I couldn’t shift fast enough for them? What if they had to stand around and wait for me while I struggled to turn? That would be humiliating—and painful.

All around me, shifters began to strip off their clothing, tossing it to the ground. Clothing always had to go first—it got too easily destroyed by animal claws and shifting bones. The last thing you wanted was to turn into a cat and end up partially strangled by your bra because you didn’t take it off first. But still, stripping down in front of a group of strangers wasn’t something I was used to. I hadn’t grown up in a shifter clan, where stripping down in front of others was as natural as breathing.

Off to one side, I watched Sara fling off her top, and Connor was helping Savannah unbutton her maternity dress. To one side, the twins were shucking their jeans and talking about football scores. Ramsey was pulling his shirt over his head, and the others were undressing as well. No one was paying a lick of attention to me.

So why was I so nervous?

“Hey,” Josh said, grabbing me by the waist and turning me toward him. As if he could read my thoughts, he said, “Don’t think about it, okay? Just think about changing.”

I nodded and stared down at my clawed hands. I’d end up scratching myself if I pulled my T-shirt over my head. “Could you help me?”

His eyes gleamed, catlike. “Help you undress? Marie, you flirt.”

“ Tabarnak . You know what I meant. Just do it,” I said, laughing.

“Yes, ma’am.” His hands slid under my shirt, easing it over my head, and I kept my gaze on him and his gorgeous body. Better to look at him than the others, lest I have a modesty freak-out and embarrass myself in front of my new clan.

Within moments I was stripped of everything but my skivvies, and Josh was helping me with those, pressing little kisses on my skin as he did. I blushed, thinking of the others who might be watching us, but then my shift kicked into high gear and I forgot about everything else.

I wasn’t sure that changing into a cougar would ever feel normal, my entire body transforming and realigning, my spine shifting and curving, my hips moving downward and tilting, my legs completely changing to the backward bend of the feline’s, growing fur, claws, and fangs. It forced me to concentrate on allowing it to happen naturally, and by the time the transformation was complete, I lay in the grass, panting, in full-on cougar form.

I wasn’t sure how long it had taken, but a gentle hand stroked my side and down my fur. “Everything good, baby?”

I opened my eyes and saw Josh’s handsome face, always tinged with a bit of concern for me. He hadn’t shifted yet; wouldn’t until he was sure everything was okay with me. Sweet man. I licked his hand in affirmation, then head-butted it.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said with a grin and began to pull off his own clothing, fur sprouting as he did. Josh, born as a shifter, could transform much, much faster than I could.

I waited, adjusting to the thicker, more vivid scents in my shifted form. All around me I could smell the others—an eclectic mix of cougars, bear, and wolves. Not a normal pack, for sure. The scent of humans lingered in the grass, but the smell was getting old already, and I knew the others were inside, likely having a coffee with Bath as she kept them distracted from what was happening out here.

And then Josh was licking my ear, his rough cat tongue affectionate. I got to my feet and faced the clan, fully transformed.

The clearing was filled with animals. Beau and the other Russells had transformed into sleek cougars, though Savannah’s sides bulged with her pregnancy. The two wolves paced a fair distance away, and Ramsey’s massive bear form was already crashing into the woods.

Beau lifted his muzzle, scenting the air, then turned and loped into the woods. When the others fell in behind him, I joined their ranks, Josh a few steps behind me. I’d read up on cougars after I’d been transformed, and unlike wolves, we weren’t pack animals. It was family more than it was pack. It was comfort and togetherness.

We ran through the woods, and I lost track of time. The cougar side of me relished the wildness of running through the woods, tracking prey, and playing with the other cats. There were predator games of hide-and-seek, and following scent trails made messy by wolf and bear.

Hours slid away, and when I looked up, the sky was dark, the moon glowing, and Josh and I were on the trail of a nearby skunk. The human in me didn’t want to catch it—not really—but the animal side of me found the strong scent and the promise of prey irresistable.

A short time later, the trail went cold. When Josh split off from the rest of the cougars and turned into the woods, I followed him, curious.

We ran for some time, alone, and then he flopped to the ground, rolling in the leaves and deadfall, his belly up as if he wanted his stomach scratched. I wanted to laugh with amusement, but the only thing that came out of my throat was an odd, catlike chuff. I was surprised at the sound . . . and then my fur rippled and I braced myself, my body slowly changing back to human.

Long minutes passed and I concentrated on the shift itself, fixated on the slow, smooth return of my fingers and bare white skin. When it was done, I collapsed on the ground and glanced over at Josh, surprised to see that he’d changed back to human form as well.

“I think we lost our skunk,” I told him mournfully.