Chapter Twenty-Nine
Betty flexed her clawed hand, watching in fascination as it followed her command. It was her.
She had shifted.
Ken paced around the tent, checking her out from every angle. “I can’t believe the dragon was right,” he whispered.
“Yeah…” She glanced at her arm where the tattoo had blocked her magic. There was a patch of missing fur now. “Why would someone stop me from shifting? I’m a nobody.” She’d gotten the skin art just after she’d started dating Chris.
A soft growl pulled her out of her thoughts. Ken stared at her healing wound as well. “What was the artist’s name? I’ll find them and we’ll find out.”
She rubbed the raw area. The pain a distant ache now. “The shop closed when I was still in high school, and…” She grimaced. “I’m the one who picked out the design.” Could it have been so silly that all this had been an accident? “She had a book that I flipped through. I liked the way it flowed and thought it looked cool.” She pressed her hands to her face. Ears pinned to the top of her head. Chest burning, she whined since, in this form, she couldn’t shed tears. “I did this to myself.”
Slowly, she sank to her knees. She had blamed her pack and her family for her failure to change shape. Not once had it occurred to her that she was the one at fault.
“Betty?” Ken knelt with her, pulling her hands free. “You’re pack now.” He rubbed his muzzle against hers.
She sighed and leaned against him. “That means I’m the beta’s mate.” Her shoulders shook under the weight of all that responsibility. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Do what?”
“Be a part of your life. Fit in. I’ve never been good at fitting in.”
“What are you talking about?” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t try that breaking up shit with me again. Not unless you really don’t love me.”
She stroked the hurt from his face. It took a few minutes before the lines faded. “What am I supposed to do as your mate? I’m not well educated or even have a resume.”
His ears came forward. “I expect you to open another animal shelter. In the same neighborhood if you want. Mind you, there will be construction starting so you might want to reconsider relocation for a year or two.”
She ran her hand over her muzzle. “You’re serious?”
He tilted his head in a very canine manner. “What did you think I’d want?”
She shrugged, so happy the fur covered her full-body blush. “Nothing…”
“Betty.” Amusement coating her name. “You broke up with me over nothing?”
“Ugh, when you put it that way.” She shook her furry head. “Host meetings and business parties.” She shrugged. “Rub elbows with prominent business people.”
He snorted. “The only elbows you’re rubbing are mine.” He licked her forehead. “You don’t have to be part of my business life. I’ve handled that alone for a long time. I don’t want you to change. I need you to be you. The person who shows me how to have fun and teases me, with crazy friends and gets into fist fights with dragons.” He licked her face, soothing her worries away.
The tent entrance flapped open and her dad barreled in. “Betty…” He stood stunned in the streaming sunlight. Mouth open, he stepped inside the tent. For once they stood eye to eye. So she had grown taller as a shifter.
“I changed shape, Dad.”
“How?” He stroked her fur.
“It’s a long story. We’ll tell you and Mom over dinner tonight, with the alpha.” She glanced at Ken who nodded. Ryota was part of her family now.
Oh, wow.
Dad still petted her face, a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He rubbed it away before it escaped. The little teacup Chihuahua popped its adorable head out of Dad’s vest pocket and yapped.
“Dad! Put Princess Buttercup back so she can be adopted.”
“Princess Buttercup? Do you hear that protective bark? She’s Demon Dog Hellraiser.” He eyed them. “Everything fixed between the two of you? Do I need to use my dad voice?”
Ken hung his arm over her shoulder. “Everything is perfect, but I hope one day soon you can show me how to use the dad voice.”
She leaned against Ken, enjoying the wonder in her father’s face as Ken’s meaning sank in. Grandpups. Not yet, but soon, if they worked hard at it.
“Come on.” He gestured for them to follow. “We have to show your mom.”
She glanced at Ken, knowing Ryota had strict rules about public displays of their wolfish form.
“It’s fine,” Ken said. “This is a pack funded event. We just don’t want any public shape changing.” They stepped outside of the First Aid tent.
The orphanage property was full. The air rang with laughter, scents of greasy meat, and the colors of summer.
“What now?” she asked as people turned in their direction.
Ken grabbed an empty donation jug by the tent and set it by their feet. “Come pet the wolf shifters.”
People started to form a line.
He shrugged. “I’m good at making money. I can’t ignore an opportunity.”
A few hours later, Ken stood beside Ryota, eating the burgers he had provided. Betty sat in the grass surrounded by pack kids, both human and shifter. Her fur mane and head were decorated with paper flowers that she was teaching them how to fold. Their donation jug was almost full again. He would need to find another replacement soon.
Many humans had wanted a close meeting with a wolf shifter in beast form.
Ryota toed the jug. “This was good PR for the pack.” That was as close to a compliment as the alpha could manage. Ken would take it. Ryota eyed Ken’s mate. “She shifted well.”
Ken growled. “She’s taken.” But his father was right. No matter what shape, Betty’s beauty stole his breath away. Midnight black fur coated her body. Sunlight poured over her, glossing the hairs until it appeared a liquid. The amber of her eyes shone golden and pure. He let out a breath. The knot in his chest constricting his lungs since he’d first told Ryota about her finally vanished. “She shifted.”
The alpha patted Ken on the back. “She’s safe and she’s yours. Good job, son.”
Ken gave him a side-eye. “What if she had cashed the check and left? I would have killed you for chasing her off.”
Ryota shrugged. “Then you would be alpha.” The smile on his face was very wolf-like. “But she didn’t and now you know she’s truly yours, heart and soul.”
“I knew that the moment I met her. I didn’t need that kind of test.” As far as he knew, his father never had a mate. Definitely not a soulmate like him and Betty, but a regular mate, someone to love.
“I needed it.” Ryota handed him another burger, while eating his own.
Betty rose to her feet gingerly, still adjusting to balancing on her hind paws. The crowds were thinning and some vendors were closing shop. Her parents waited on the other side.
Ken waved them over. “You’re about to meet her parents and my future in-laws. Behave or I’ll bite you.”
Ryota chuckled and Ken ignored its hint of evil.
They gathered his mate and met her parents. Ken handed out burgers and glanced at the full tray Ryota had brought. He had made some food truck’s day.
“Mr. and Mrs. Newman, meet my father, Ryota, alpha of New Port pack.” He bit his tongue trying to eat and pay close attention to their polite exchange. It would be great if they could be—friends would be stretching it. As alpha, Ryota couldn’t help being dominant, but he could be amicable.
“Mom and Dad managed to find homes for all the animals.” Betty spoke between bites of her second burger. “They’re amazing.” She gave her mother a side hug.
Her mother didn’t seem to notice though. She was busy staring at Chuck’s vest. “What is moving in your pocket?”
Betty’s father covered it with one hand. “Nothing.”
Betty’s eyes sparkled with amusement. She tilted her head in a gesture for Ken to move aside with her.
“Is that a Chihuahua?” Her mom’s voice rose. “Charles Newman, what did we discuss about more canines in the house?”
“It’s so small, I doubt it is canine.” Ryota leaned forward to peek at the little goblin-looking dog.
“Let’s go home,” Betty whispered to Ken. “This is about to get ugly.”
He slipped his hand into hers. “You read my mind.”
As they slid behind the First Aid tent, he could hear Betty’s mother’s voice join the others. “Where did they go? We still need to plan the soulmating ceremony.”