Page 55 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

“You’ll be you, but you also won’t be. You’ll be a new you. A new you that’s built on all the parts of the old you to the point where it’ll be impossible to tell the two apart.”

“That sounds kind of scary.”

“It can be, but luckily, you’re surrounded by people who love you and will give you all the support you need. And if you need something outside of the pack, I’ve found some great pathways to forging connections. I could even get you a human therapist. You won’t be able to talk about wolf stuff with them, but you’d be amazed at how many pack issues are mirrored in human families.”

“Hopefully, I won’t need anything like that, but thank you. I’ll try to keep that in mind if it comes to it. Have you liked it?”

“Therapy? Yeah. I love it.”

“No, I mean being around humans all the time.” He put his large hand on my arm. “Being in love with one.”

The concern in his voice touched me, and if I wasn’t driving, I likely would have looked over at him and given him the kindest smile I could. However, I didn’t want to cause a pile-up on the four-lane highway. I settled for rotating my wrist so he could interlock his fingers with mine.

I’d hung out with humans enough to know that my pack, my family, was what some would consider weirdly touchy-feely, but I was grateful that none of my siblings were scared to hug me or to hold hands, even if I wanted to slap Leandro more often than not.

“It’s wonderful. Really, truly wonderful. I feel seen in a way I never really felt in our own pack. It’s helped me change my behavior, too, because I was allowing myself to be treated in a way I don’t like.”

“I have noticed you’re not running yourself ragged like you used to. It’s nice.”

“I’m glad you think so. And even though Amanda, Keith, and his mother are all humans, we have a whole lot in common. So, I’m getting to learn and experience all sorts of things I’d never have if I stayed only within the pack.”

“Aren’t you worried about them finding out about the whole shifter thing?”

“Sometimes.” A lot more than sometimes, but I didn’t want to bring the mood down. “And I’ve got plans for if that happens.” I didn’t know how effectual those plans would be, but they existed.

“Doesn’t it have to happen eventually, though? If your romance with Keith keeps going, you’re going to have to tell him, right?”

He wasn’t asking me anything that I hadn’t already asked myself, but it was disquieting hearing those same queries in my little brother’s voice.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

It wasn’t the most practical answer, but Rolando didn’t call me on it. Instead, he squeezed my hand, and from the corner of my eye, I saw him smile.

“Just know that I’ll be here when you do, no matter what kind of bridge or what kind of trolls live under it.”

He always knew how to make my heart ache in that wonderfully sharp way it did sometimes when kindness got all the way through my chest.

“Thanks, Rolando. I won’t forget that.”

“Good!”

Clearly, he’d had enough of sentimentality, because he turned the radio on and connected his phone via Bluetooth. I let him, not only because I was feeling all soft and fuzzy around the edges, but because he didn’t have the worst taste in music. A lot of oldies from the seventies and eighties, but some great club hits from the aughts as well.

“Olivia?” he murmured as I pulled into the parking lot of the themed bar and found a space.

“Yes?”

“Am I meeting your partner guy at a disco bar?”

“Technically, it’s a disco-pop restaurant-bar, but yes,” I answered, leaning over him to pull out a pair of oversized, era-appropriate sunglasses out of the glove compartment. “I told him you liked a lot of music from that era, and Saturday Night Fever, so he figured this might be fun. It was either this or a bar with line-dancing, but they don’t allow anyone under the age of twenty-one.”

“Maybe in three years then.”

I grinned as I unlocked my car door. “You sayin’ you think our relationship will last that long?”

He gave me a certified little brother look. Yeah, I deserved that. “Olivia, I’ve known you my whole life. You never do anything half-measured. If you’ve lasted this long, you’re gonna last forever.”

I hoped so.