Grayslake: Furrever Yours (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Georgette St. Clair

their pack or clan or pride can have privacy, and so they can regularly shift,” he said.
    “How many people in this town are shifters?”
    “About five percent. The family that owns this café, and all the people who work here, are shifters, so it’s popular with our crowd. So at this café, at any time, it might be twenty percent shifters.”
    “Wow.” Her eyes were wide with amazement.
    He took her hand. “Let’s talk about you and me. You have no idea how good this feels, Heather. To be able to talk to you and plan a future with you. I’ve dreamed of this moment, but I never thought it would happen.”
    He ran his thumb across her palm, and she shivered as she felt arousal rushing through her body.
    He gave her a slow, lazy grin. “I like seeing how much I turn you on.”
    “Well, aren’t you full of yourself?” she said, but she was smiling.
    “Maybe, but am I wrong?”
    “You’re not wrong,” she murmured. “Last night, you could have…”
    “I wanted to, but I’m waiting until I claim you. Which will be very soon.”
    He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, and she moaned.
    “Stop torturing me,” she chided him.
    “Sorry. Kind of sorry. Okay, not that sorry.” His eyes gleamed. “Tonight, I want to make you come again. With my mouth.”
    “Oh,” she said, blushing. “That could be arranged. I think I have some free time in my schedule.”
    “And let’s talk about cubs.” At her surprised look, he said, with a trace of worry in his voice, “You do want cubs, don’t you? I mean children?”
    “Yes. Oh, yes, I adore children. It’s just surprising to hear a man move so fast towards commitment and starting a family.”
    “That’s just how werewolves are,” he said. “We’re family-oriented, and when we find our fated mate, we move fast.”
    “In a way it’s not too fast,” she said. “For the past year I’ve been imagining you and me together, even though I tried really hard not to.”
    “I’m truly sorry for any pain that I caused you,” he said earnestly. “I was trying to protect you.” Then he got a wicked look in his eye. “But I promise to make it up to you, every night for the rest of our lives.”
    “You’re making me blush again. So, let’s talk about our children. They’d be able to shift, even though I’m human?”
    “Yes. When an Alpha is with his fated mate, even if she’s human, then their children are shifters.”
    “They’d always have a big, extended family that loved them and would die to protect them,” she mused. “That sounds wonderful.”
    She glanced up at him. “Tell me about Sasha. Why did she hate me the second she saw me?”
    He grimaced. “Before I met you, I’d been having kind of a thing with her. I always told her it wouldn’t be serious. I flat out told her she wasn’t my fated mate. She said she was fine with it, and she only wanted a casual fling, but she was lying. She saw herself as the Alpha’s mate, and her family wanted that too. When I met you, I broke things off with her, and she kept trying to get me to change my mind. She did things like literally walking into my room naked.”
    Heather narrowed her eyes in anger. The thought of another woman naked in the same vicinity as Knox made her wish she could shift.
    “Finally when I woke up one night and she was sliding into bed with me with no clothes on, I banned her from the main house for a week, and she’s been bitter ever since.” Knox grimaced at the memory.
    Then she saw Knox furtively glance at a café across the street.
    “What is it?” she said without looking.
    “Don’t look, but there’s a few members of Kevin’s pack, and also Margaret’s father is there with a couple of his buddies. They’re watching us through the restaurant window.”
    Knox’s cell phone rang. He grabbed it. “Hey, Reid,” he said. “Yeah, they’re already here, actually – thanks for letting me know. Don’t worry about it, I’m fine.”
    He hung up.