Grady blew out a breath. “I really don’t want to shift to my cougar form in front of you just yet. I need you to accept it a bit more or it’ll freak you out. You can’t deny you felt something pass between us when you put my pendant on. That feeling of an invisible bond forming, tying us together was the mating bond. I felt it, and from the look on your face then, I know you had to have as well.”
“I can admit I did feel something. But how can you be sure it was our souls joining? For all you know it could have been us only caught up in the moment, if you know what I mean?”
“It wasn’t that. It was the magic inside the pendant. Every male cougar shifter is given one once he reaches adolescence, and when we meet our mates, she sets off this bit of magic, which makes the rubies glow. To have the mate bond forming, the female has to be the one to take the male’s pendant and put it around her neck.”
Sage skipped her gaze over Olivia and Katarina. “So your mom and Katarina wearing cougar head pendants means they claimed their males too.”
“Yes.”
“Look, Grady, I’m a cop. Do you have any idea of some of the weird stuff I see sometimes on a daily basis? I have to say this ranks right up there.”
“You’re going to have to shift,” Jase said. He put his arm around his wife. “It’s too bad Sage didn’t grow up with an uncle who is a werewolf like Katarina. It would make this so much easier.”
“Werewolf?” Sage asked, really thinking things couldn’t get any stranger than they already were.
“The hell with it. I’m shifting,” Grady said as he stood and stepped in front of her.
Sage watched, transfixed, as Grady’s body blurred and shimmered. Then in a matter of a few seconds, a large cougar took his place. She opened and closed her mouth a few times and looked around at the other people in the room. They didn’t at all seem surprised. Actually, Olivia appeared happy with it.
The cougar Grady had become took a step closer, which snapped Sage’s attention back to him. He purred loudly, then rubbed his furred cheek against her knee. She didn’t know what to do. She felt frozen in place, her mind desperately trying to make sense of it all.
“It’s okay, Sage,” Katarina said as she crossed over to her and took the spot where Grady had been sitting. “Touch him. It’s still Grady inside there. He’s able to think and react as he would in his other form. He just can’t communicate with you.”
Katarina took Sage’s hand and led it to the top of the cougar’s head and got her to stroke him. Maybe it was because the other people in the room weren’t freaking out or acting afraid, or because Sage was already an emotional wreck from her sister dying, but whatever it was, she wasn’t having an “Oh my god, run for your life” moment.
She pulled her hand out of Katarina’s grasp and petted Grady one more time before she said as she looked into the cougar’s eyes, “Okay, I believe you now.” She then looked at the others. “Do you mind if Grady and I talk alone?”
Olivia stood first and came over to Sage. She bent and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. “Welcome to the family.”
“Family?” Sage asked as the notion took her by surprise.
“Yes, family. You’re no longer alone, my daughter. Being Grady’s mate, you’re now a part of our family group and are one of us, as is Josh. We’ll take care of the both of you.”
Sage lost it. Tears welled in her eyes and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Through a sheen of them she watched the others leave the room. Everything she’d kept bottled up inside since losing her sister came out. Sobs racked her body as a strong pair of arms gathered her close. Grady had shifted back to his human form, but she hadn’t noticed until he sat her on his lap with her head on his shoulder.
She had no idea how long it took for her to cry herself out, but he sat with her through it all, gently rubbing her back, telling her how much he loved her and that everything would be all right. Once her sobs subsided into hiccups, Sage felt as if she’d been through the wringer.
“Are you okay?” Grady asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Are you okay with what I am and what you are to me?”
Sage wiped her eyes with her sleeve as she sat up and looked at him. “Surprisingly, yes. It was what your mom said about me now being part of your family. It’d only been Macy and I since I was eighteen and she was twenty. Losing her, it was as if I’d lost everything. I know I have Josh, but he’s so little and dependent upon me. Now I have you. I can lean on you and you’re always going to be there.”
“And I will be. You’re my mate, a part of my soul. I love you, and I’ll love Josh as if he were my own child.”
She cupped the back of Grady’s head and kissed him, long and deep. After she lifted her head, she said, “I love you too.” She gave him a small smile. “I guess you being a cougar shifter is the reason your head healed so fast, huh?”
“Yeah. We heal a lot faster than humans.”
“I guess I have a lot to learn about what you are.”
“Don’t worry. No one is going to test you on it,” Grady said with a crooked grin.
“Good.”
“Now let’s go tell everyone that you’re okay with us and that you’re feeling better.”
Grady stood and put Sage down on her feet. She put her arm around his waist as he wrapped his along her shoulders, tucking her up against his side. She was sure she’d have a ton of questions but right at that moment, all she cared about was the fact he was hers and would never leave her. Facing a life with no family scared her more than him being able to shift into a cougar.
It was three weeks after her sister had died and Grady had revealed what he was to Sage. She was back on the job, but only temporarily. She’d given her two-week notice and would no longer be a cop after that. Raising Josh was more important and she wanted to be the kind of aunt slash mother Macy would have wanted for her son. Her sister had planned to be a stay-at-home mom, so Sage would be as well. And it wasn’t as if she needed to work. Her mate had more than enough money to support the three of them.
After going through her sister’s belongs and getting the house on the market, Sage had then focused on selling her own as well. She and Josh had moved into Grady’s family home. The baby even had his own room right next to hers and Grady’s. It’d been a guestroom, which Olivia had turned into a nursery. She’d even slipped in a few stuffed cougars instead of teddy bears.
This was the last day Sage would be on duty. It was an afternoon shift, but she didn’t worry about Josh. The rest of her family was always there whenever she needed them to watch him. That was one thing she really liked about cougar shifter family groups. They always looked after one of their own.
Sage had also learned about Caleb, the guy who’d jumped Grady the night she’d met him. Once back at work she’d been using her police resources to see if she could get any leads on Caleb’s whereabouts. Her methods were legal, unlike Draven’s. She’d turned a blind eye to whatever he did.
It was getting close to the end of her shift. Sage decided she’d do a drive-by of Caleb’s house. Grady, Jase and his cousins Taylor and Blaise took turns watching the place in case their suspicions about Caleb wanting to torch it turned out to be correct. So far nothing had happened there.
She pulled the cruiser over to the curb and scanned the front of the large house. There were no lights on anywhere inside or outside. With another pass, Sage caught something that looked like a person-shaped shadow darker than the rest heading around a corner toward the backyard. Not wanting to take any chances, she shut off the car’s engine, then got out with her flashlight in hand. She headed in the direction she’d seen the shape go.