She couldn’t sleep anymore.

Tenlee pressed her palm over her sleeping mate’s slow, thrumming heartbeat. That sound was the most important one in her entire world. She didn’t take a single beat for granted.

His breath was steady and deep. Her sleepy man. That was partly her fault. She’d asked him to touch her in the middle of the night, and he’d taken his time with her. There was no mating with him. No having him behind her like an animal. Kurt liked to face her and look at her while he made her finish. He liked to whisper dirty things in her ear and let her hear his groans when she made his body happy.

Right now, she was content to study every angle of his face and every smile line around his lips. Every dark whisker, every claw mark, every eyelash. The strong line of his nose and his perfect ears. His dark hair and the way his lips were parted slightly while he slept. He looked so peaceful in the gray light that preceded dawn.

In the other room, Gunner was sleeping like a little log, breathing so steady and heavy she could hear him clearly through the closed door of Kurt’s bedroom.

She’d always thought her human hair too wild, but it looked quite different all fanned out over his arm, which served as her pillow right now. She was hugging his side, where she’d slept the whole night.

He was her favorite thing about the whole world—human, shifter, animal…all of it. Kurt made her panic stop. He even made her feel pretty in this skin sometimes. Like she belonged a little more when she could find the balance between animal and woman. She’d been shunned by squirrels, treated so differently by other shifters, and ignored completely by humans, but here, with Kurt, he was always looking right at her. He really saw her.

And after a lifetime of invisibility, it meant everything to finally, finally be seen.

Kurt was this solid weight that kept her feet on the ground and her human skin on her bones. He made her feel okay. Like she wasn’t a freak.

“Woman,” he murmured, “you been starin’ at me for ten minutes. I can’t be that interesting. Go on make us breakfast if you’re that bored.” His cheeky grin said he was joking, but she pinched his arm anyway and laughed.

“I can cook you grapes and nuts.”

“Ugh,” he groaned, rolling toward her and holding her tight against him. “What good are you then? I’m hungry for more than squirrel food.”

With a lingering giggle, she nipped at his neck. “I can feed you in other ways.”

“Needy little monster,” he rumbled, rolling her onto her back and coming with her. He was right between her legs, his erection already pressing against her through his sweats. His elbows on either side of her face, he ran his fingers through her hair gently, then gripped her locks with a devilish grin. “Today is special.”

“Every day is special with you.”

“Mmmm.” He buried his face against her throat and sucked until she was panting. Easing back, he said, “It’s first-date day, and it’s going to be perfect.”

“And we’re starting it off right,” she said enthusiastically.

“Hell, yeah, we are, with my dick in you.” His voice was all growly and sexy now.

Tenlee ran her nails gently down the muscular curves of his arms and rolled her hips invitingly.

“You want to take it again?” he asked low.

Tenlee gave him a firm nod. The answer would always be yes. She loved being with him like this. It was the one time she was completely and utterly comfortable in her own skin, when it was touching his.

“You deserve to be rewarded.”

“Why?”

He lifted up by inches and locked his fiery gaze on hers. “Because look at you, Tenlee. You don’t even smell like fur right now. You’ve been in this form for almost a whole day.”

“It’s the longest I’ve ever gone,” she whispered in equal parts shock and pride. “By a lot.”

“Good girl.”

Ooooh, when he said that, she melted. He was always good with complimenting her and supporting her, but for some reason, when he called her good girl, she wanted to please him even more to see if he would say it again. She loved when her mate was proud of her. And hell, yes, she was going to keep calling him her mate in her head. That’s what he was to her, simple as that.

Ready for him, she shoved the waist of his sweats down his hips. She was only wearing one of his big T-shirts to sleep in, so the second the fabric barrier was gone, she could feel him right there between her legs. Reaching between them, she gripped his thick shaft and let off a needy sound when he pushed into her fist. And then she rolled her eyes closed as he slid through her grip into her entrance. He was perfect. The perfect match for her. The perfect fit.

The next stroke, he pushed in a little farther and then a little farther. On the fourth, he slammed into her. Tenlee gasped in pleasure and arched her back, closed her eyes to the world and became utterly lost in the connection with her other half. It felt better and better each time he filled her, and she was already so sensitive to him her orgasm came out of nowhere. She rasped out his name, but he snarled a warning and laid his teeth on her neck. Right, right…Gunner was in the other room. She had to be quiet this time…

The next release built up immediately, and then her body shattered again, right after the other. Kurt was thrusting into her faster, and the snarl in his throat was constant now. His body was strung tight and vibrated with tension. He bit down harder on her neck, harder, harder until the third orgasm blasted through her. And it felt so good, but his teeth, his teeth…pleasure and pain. Nothing else had ever felt like this. Gripping her waist in an iron grasp, Kurt reared back and smashed into her again so deep. There was throbbing and heat, wetness trickling out of her as he came. Her neck was bleeding, but not bad, just enough for the scent of iron to hit her nose. Kurt twitched inside her as he licked where he’d bitten her.

“You’re mine now,” he murmured. “I should feel bad for claiming you like cougars do. I know you ain’t a cougar, but you’re mine just the same.”

Ooooh. It made sense now. She understood claiming. The crows, they gave presents to claim. Little trinkets. Mountain lion shifters must give bites to claim. If it was anything like the crows, this bite was as binding as any wedding ring she could wear on her finger.

He’d just made her his.

It didn’t matter what happened from now until she went to sleep tonight. He’d already given her the perfect day.

Ramsey will come for you, and this will all end.

The awful thought snaked into her head out of nowhere. It made her stomach curdle.

Ramsey will take you back to the crows, and you will allow it to save the Clan. To save Gunner. To save Kurt. To save all the things that mean anything to you, because if this place doesn’t exist…you don’t exist.

She’d been so prepared to sacrifice herself to stop the war between Red Dead Mayhem and the Two Claws Clan, but that was before. Before Kurt had begun to help her find herself. Before she’d held Gunner in her arms. Before she stayed in her human skin for a whole day just to touch a man who protected her heart. Before she felt…happiness.

It would be awful to go back to the cage of crows now.

“What’s wrong?” Kurt asked, stroking his knuckle against her cheek. “Your eyes went all serious.”

“I don’t want to be a crow. I want to be in your Clan.”

Kurt’s smile was sad. “I’m gonna make it to where you never have to go back, even when I’m gone. I promise.”

He didn’t understand, though. That’s not what she’d meant. She wasn’t talking about him dying. But when she parted her lips to try for a better explanation, there was a commotion in the living room. She and Kurt froze for a moment, and then he murmured, “Gunner.”

She and Kurt flew into action, wrapping blankets around themselves and bolting for the door in an instant. Kurt flung it open, blocking her view, and then reached behind her and gripped her hip, stilling her. “It’s okay,” he said with a chuckle.

She peeked around his shoulder. Trig was there, sitting in front of the couch, putting Gunner’s little boots on his feet. Gunner didn’t look sleepy at all if she ignored his mussed hair. He was bright-eyed with a big grin and waving with both hands at her. “Mr. Trig said after I brush my teeth, I get to go out with him and Colt today and feed the cows.”

Trig looked over his shoulder and gave Tenlee a golden-eyed wink from beneath the rim of his hat. “Y’all have fun today.”

“Oookaaay,” she drawled, utterly baffled as she pulled the sheet tighter around her body.

Kurt’s grin was megawatt when she looked up at him. “I’m gonna go with them.” He spun and started rifling through his dresser for clothes.

“Wait, what? I thought it was going to be the perfect day. It’s not even time to get up for chores yet.”

“Helloooo,” Ava sang from the front door.

“Is everyone decent?” Karis called as the girls came in carrying cups of something warm if the steam was anything to go by.

Dear goodness, was everyone going to see Tenlee wrapped in a sheet today?

“Hey Ten, I like the outfit, very minimalist,” Colt said as he followed the girls in.

Aw, for fuck’s sake, the entire Clan was now shoved into the small barn apartment, and she probably smelled like sex.

“Go on, get dressed!” Ava said, her short black curls bobbing as she made her way to the kitchen table. “We have a big day planned.”

“A big day?” Tenlee asked.

“Yep! It’s a girls’ day.” Karis blew on her cup of what smelled like coffee. “Or a girls’ date? I’ve never done one of these before. What are they called?”

“I dunno,” Colt muttered. “I’m just glad I’ll be scooping chicken crap out of the coop instead of doing whatever highfalutin’ girl garbage y’all are gonna do.”

“It won’t be garbage. It will be tons of fun.” Ava arched her eyebrow at Tenlee. “Don’t listen to that oaf. He wouldn’t know fun if it kicked him in the ballsack.”

“Which my sister has actually done before,” Colt said.

“Zero regrets,” Ava muttered, lifting an extra cup of steaming, stinky stuff. “I made you coffee, too.”

Tenlee scrunched up her face. “That I have to drink?” That would make this not-the-perfect day.

“I made one of those fancy ones with milk and chocolate and a squirt of hazelnut syrup, and I even put whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on it for you.”

“Oh. Well, that doesn’t sound so horrid. Uuuuh, where are we going?”

“Into town!” Karis crowed. “We have appointments, so get a move on.”

“Oh, but I haven’t Changed in a while. And town is…scary. What if—”

“If you Change, you Change, who cares?” Kurt said, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He kissed her on the temple. “Ain’t nobody here gonna give you grief for being a shifter. Look around, Ten. We’re all like you.”

Tenlee blinked in shock. “All…like…me?”

Kurt blew a raspberry against her neck and said cheerfully, “Yeah. Everyone has an animal side. Ava’s still newly Turned and Changes almost every day. Ain’t no shame in being what you are.” He swatted her on the ass, and she jumped at the surprise of the smack. And then she got a smile she was pretty sure looked like she’d been into the wine, but who cared? The Clan was all chattering away and teasing each other. Trig was making sure Gunner brushed his teeth good, Ava was talking about a pancake breakfast to feed Karis’s latest pregnancy craving, Colt was tossing a dishrag at Trig’s head, and Kurt was back in the room pulling on his work boots.

It was chaos in here. Beautiful chaos.

The boys left quick after Kurt and Gunner were ready, and Karis and Ava bustled her out the door the second she was ready for the day, too. Chocolate-coffee-drink-thingy in hand, she squished through the mud to Colt’s old truck with the girls, quiet because she was so stunned.

“You okay?” Ava asked as she opened the passenger-side door for Tenlee.

“Yeah…I just…” She didn’t even have the words for what was going through her mind. She didn’t understand all her jumbled-up thoughts. She climbed up onto the bench seat and buckled up, careful not to spill her drink. “Ummm, I never did this either. Had a girl date. Or any date,” she said as Ava sat beside her. Karis got behind the wheel.

“It’ll be a first for all of us. And maybe we will like it enough to make it a tradition. Once a month or something, go into town, just the girls, and find some adventures.”

Okay, this sounded amazing. She didn’t know what girl dates were. All she knew was there was chocolate coffee and pancakes involved. And hanging out with other shifter girls. The only female shifter she’d spent time with was Momma Crow. Red Dead Mayhem hadn’t been breeding when she left them. Only her and Ramsey had been paired up, and not by her choice. Crow girls were very rare, so Tenlee had been alone a lot during her time with Ramsey’s Clan.

“My skin itches a little,” she murmured when she caught Ava watching her scratch her arm under her sweater.

“From the clothes?”

“Yeah. I’m not really used to them yet, I think. I haven’t ever been a girl this long, and it feels like I have bugs under my skin.”

“Sometimes I feel like that, too,” Ava said, her blue eyes dancing. “Trig says it’s from not having absolute control over my polar bear yet, but it’ll get better with time.” She frowned and rubbed two fingers on the sleeve of Tenlee’s sweater. “But I think your problem right now might actually be that sweater. It feels scratchy.”

Tenlee shrugged. “I only have three shirts, and the other two are dirty.” She remembered something, though, and lit up. “I have two stashes of clothes in town! They are a little big on me, but they are much softer. I stole them off clotheslines and hid them so when I went to town to make wishes happen, I wouldn’t have to grant those wishes naked. I learned the hard way humans do not take you seriously when you are naked. They do things like call the police.”

Karis giggled. “That they do. How about we get you clothes that fit and are soft?”

“You mean go shopping?” Tenlee asked.

“Yep! We’ve got you,” Karis said with a nod. “Kurt did a good job of shopping for you, but today I think you should shop for yourself.”

“Oh, but I don’t have any money.”

“Don’t worry,” Ava said. “Karis and I have our cut from the last trail ride, and we feel like having fun. Don’t worry about money for today at least.”

“Okay,” Tenlee said a little breathlessly. She caught her reflection in the window. She wore an excited smile and not the forced one. She hadn’t used the fake one in days. And she didn’t mind her reflection right now. That realization drew her up. She looked…happy. And happy equaled pretty. Her cheeks were even pink.

But as she focused on the scenery passing by the car window, she saw something she didn’t like. A large, pure black crow sat in the branches of an evergreen. It wasn’t Ramsey, but it was almost just as bad. It was his second in command, Ethan. It was just a flash of him, and then the truck passed, but she would know him anywhere. He had a scar on his neck where his feathers didn’t grow in anymore.

Ava leaned forward and turned up the volume on the radio. A fast song came on, and both Ava and Karis yelled, “Ooooooh,” in unison and then began singing every lyric.

At least their antics pulled Tenlee’s attention from the woods outside. Oh, she wouldn’t forget that Ethan was watching her, but today was supposed to be special and fun, and she wouldn’t let some old nosey crow ruin that.

In town, Karis parked right in front of Rita’s Flapjacks, and they got a table for three. It was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, but that was just fine with Tenlee. Less people to stare at her. She always felt watched and paranoid in town. But Karis and Ava seemed calm and comfortable, and after they ordered enough breakfast to feed a small army of hungry lumberjacks, Tenlee began to settle down, too. They put the plates in the middle of the table and ate whatever they wanted like a buffet. Tenlee really liked that because she got to try so many different things. Plus, there was something really neat about sharing with these women. They weren’t greedy like she’d imagined people to be. They were nice and included her.

“Do you miss any of the crows?” Ava asked her when they were finished eating.

“I miss one. Momma Crow. When I first started Changing into this form, I was grown, and I didn’t have any skills. No manners, no language. No clue about clothes, or silverware, or what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t read or even understand people. I was completely wild, scared, and I stayed in the woods. Ramsey found me. This crow with a white diamond on his chest began watching me. For weeks, he would be there, in the branches near me, watching every Change, every failure, every confused moment I had. One day, he just picked me up out of a tree, and took my little squirrel self to Momma Crow. She was nice and took me in. It took me three years to learn everything, and then I just kind of stopped learning. I didn’t want to anymore. I wasn’t interested. Ramsey kept saying I was his mate, but I didn’t like my life. I wanted to go back to being just a squirrel. I told him that over and over and over, and he wouldn’t listen. He was angry that I wasn’t trying harder, that I didn’t want to sleep with him, that I didn’t bond to him. He said it was my fault for not allowing the bond, but I was so sad with my life, I just…didn’t even want to exist anymore. He hated my squirrel form. Hated her. He saw my animal as me running away from the life he was trying to force me into. So any time I was the one form that made sense, the squirrel, he and the Clan shamed me. I didn’t know who I was, and while I was supposed to be figuring it out for myself, the crows were telling me who I was supposed to be. And I wasn’t her. Every day, I let everyone down, just by being myself. Every day, I was a disappointment. And at some point, I had to make changes in my life or not exist at all.”

“So you ran away?” Karis asked softly.

Tenlee nodded. “Yeah. I ran to the only Clan I thought the crows would stay away from. The bears. The Peacemaker and Hairpin Trigger are feared. The crows used to talk about them like they were gods. Like no one could touch them. So I went to live in the Two Claws woods and only Changed back to my ugly human form when I had to. And later when I decided Colt was my friend to protect, I would Change to help his wishes come true. Sometimes I still think of Momma Crow. She was good to me. I wouldn’t even know how to talk if it wasn’t for her.”

Karis was staring at her neck, and when Tenlee looked at Ava, she was looking at the same. “Is that a bite?” Karis asked.

In a rush, Tenlee covered the bite mark Kurt had given her this morning with her hand. Was this something to be quiet about? Or ashamed of? Tenlee frowned. No. She liked this mark. Lowering her hand, she lifted her chin high and said, “I like Kurt and he likes me. I’m his and he’s mine. I just didn’t bite him like he did me.”

“Uh, yeah, you did,” Ava said, her dark eyebrows arched high. “Like nineteen times.”

“Yep, you bit everyone on the ranch,” Karis said with a chuckle as she licked syrup off her fingertips.

Tenlee didn’t mean to, but she let off a little giggle, because the little demon squirrel inside of her found that pretty freakin’ hilarious. She liked biting.

Ava laughed a little louder than her, and then Karis joined in, which only made Tenlee giggle harder. “Whoops. Okay, so I claimed him first.”

“Nah, you claimed the whole damn Clan!” Ava joked.

Huh. Tenlee didn’t hate that thought. “Well, since I’m the Origin of this shifter species, I think I should get to choose the traditions for squirrel shifters. And we bite to claim. Not just mates either. We bite whoever we want our people to be. The end, law passed.”

Ava was cracking up now. “I like that law. You should also make the females the only ones who can be Alphas in squirrel clans, and the males have to just, like, feed you grapes and barbecue and give you dick whenever you want it.”

Tenlee smacked her hand on the table. “And so it shall be.”

Ava’s eyes went serious, and softly she said, “And no one can choose a squirrel’s life for her.”

Oh, Tenlee knew what she meant. She was talking about the crows. Swallowing hard, she rested the flat of her palm on the table and murmured, “And so it shall be.”

She wished.