“Yes, Marlie.”
I gawked at him. Yup, it was definitely him. He had that same messy, scruffy hair that I remembered, those sad gray eyes, and those big upside-down V-shaped eyebrows that I now realized made him look exactly like an owl, even in his human form.
“You’re an owl shifter?” I asked.
He nodded. “That I am, son—a great horned owl.”
“Well, toot your own horn, why don’t ya?” I blurted.
Julio stared at me blankly.
Right, this wasn’t the time for jokes. Besides, I was supposed to be angry! I scowled. “You scared the crap out of me back there, Julio! I thought you were gonna eat me.”
He let out a raspy chuckle. “Of course not. I was worried you were gonna get trampled by those other shifters. You’re a white bunny hopping around in the white snow. They couldn’t see you, and it didn’t look like you were being very careful.”
“Oh. Well... thanks, I guess. This is actually my very first time shifting. I’ve never been able to do it before.”
“Yes, I can see that,” Julio said. “Your grandmother would be so proud of you, Marlie.”
I smiled, my heart swelling. She would be proud of me, wouldn’t she? But then I remembered why I was here. I dropped the smile.
“Hey—where the hell have you been, anyway?” I glared at him. “You disappeared out of my life entirely after grandma died! Why the hell did you do that to me?”
He lowered his head in shame. “I’m sorry, son. I don’t have a good excuse. The truth is… I’ve been a mess ever since she died. She meant the world to me, you understand? She was my love. My fated mate. I loved her so much. When she died, it just... broke me. I withdrew. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I decided to stop participating in life and embrace solitude instead. I’ve been living in these woods by myself all this time.”
“But... what about me?” I asked, my eyes filling with tears. “You abandoned me.”
“I couldn’t face you. You look just like her, you know. Your personality is the same. You even smell like her. It was just too painful for me to be around you anymore. I know it was selfish of me, and for that I’m very sorry.”
I frowned. “And what about my damned rabbit’s foot?! Why’d you take it from me?”
Julio sighed. “I just missed her so much. That rabbit’s foot was such an integral part of her. She always kept it with her, day and night. She never went anywhere without it. I guess I just... I wanted to experience her again. I wanted her presence near me so I wouldn’t feel so alone on Christmas. Don’t worry, I wasn’t gonna keep it forever. I just wanted to enjoy it for a day or two.”
“You don’t understand all the trouble you caused by taking it. My life’s been an absolute shitshow! And you never actually gave it back, did you? You just carelessly dropped it and left it in the snow. How could you be so irresponsible?”
Julio furrowed his big bushy eyebrows. “No, I didn’t.”
He reached into his coat pocket and tossed something at me. I caught it in one hand and looked at it.
The rabbit’s foot.
“What the...?” I gawked. I closed my hand around it and felt its magic flow through me. Shit. This was the real rabbit’s foot. The other one was a fake, though it looked very similar. Those stoners had scammed us! They probably just bought a lookalike at the dollar store. I can’t believe I fell for it.
I glared at Julio. “You ruined my life by taking this away from me, did you know that? I’ve experienced nothing but bad luck ever since. Hell, my mate was even arrested! The poor guy’s rotting in a jail cell right now, on Christmas fucking Eve, and it’s all your fault!”
“I’m sorry, Marlie,” he said softly. “You know that wasn’t my intention. Besides, it hasn’t been all bad, has it? I mean, you did find your mate and fall in love with him, right? And now you’re pregnant with his babies?”
I blinked, startled. “W-what? How do you know that?”
“I can smell it on you. You’re pregnant with triplets.”
“Seriously?!” I gasped. I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face, even though I was still angry. Was I really going to have triplets? “Geez. I didn’t know owl shifters had such heightened senses. Hell, I didn’t know owl shifters even existed!”
“We’re rare,” Julio acknowledged. “But we do exist.”
“How come you never told me you were an owl shifter?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m a private person. Your grandmother knew, of course. We used to spend days frolicking through these very woods in our shifted forms. It was like heaven on earth back in those days. We were the perfect team and we loved each other so much.”
Julio stared off into space with his watery eyes, remembering the good old days. He wished he could return to those times. So did I.
I chewed my bottom lip and looked away. My heart felt heavy. I knew how much Julio loved my grandmother. It was obvious, from the very first day they’d met. He absolutely adored her, and he’d always been good to me, too. I loved him like he was my own grandfather. So it was a gutpunch when he decided to disappear off the face of the earth after her death. But I knew he didn’t intentionally mean to hurt me. He was just a weak old man, who felt lost without his love by his side. More than anger, I just felt pity for him.
“I understand if you don’t want to forgive me,” Julio said, his sad eyes lingering on me. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I just want you to know that I’m sorry and that it won’t happen again. I’m sorry, and I wish you the best of luck. I know there are great things in store for you. You’re going to have a big happy family, and your mate will be so good to you. Now, why don’t you leave me. Go to him. I’m sure he’ll be released from jail somehow. So go enjoy Christmas together.”
“And you?” I asked, my heart heavy with guilt. “You’re just gonna spend Christmas here, in this shabby old cabin... all by yourself?”
Julio smiled sadly. “I’m used to solitude, Marlie. I’ll be fine.”
I furrowed my brows and stared at him, debating with myself. I was still so mad at him for what he’d done to me... and yet… it was Christmas. This wasn’t a time to hold grudges. This was a time for forgiveness.
Julio was right—my luck wasn’t all bad. I’d just shifted for the very first time. What a miracle! And now with my real rabbit’s foot back, I was feeling on top of the world, and totally unstoppable.
I couldn’t leave my grandpa here all alone.
I wanted him to be with me—to be with us.
I wanted to be a family again.
“Please, Julio,” I said. “Please come for Christmas. We both need to heal. Let’s heal each other, okay?”
Logan
The front door to Marlie’s house was wide open when I arrived.
“Marlie?” I called, stepping inside. The only lights came from the blinking Christmas tree and the glowing embers of the dying fire in the stove. I flipped on the lights and passed through every room in the house—but he was gone. Returning to the living room, I spotted something curious on the floor. Among pieces of shattered porcelain was his rabbit’s foot. I knelt down and picked it up, furrowing my brows.
The heavy weight of dread settled in my chest.
With my release from jail, I thought our luck had finally changed for the better. But this wasn’t looking good at all.
Where the hell had Marlie gone and why the hell hadn’t he taken his rabbit’s foot with him?
I was no detective, but it appeared that he’d left in a hurry. I rushed out the front door in a panic, scanning the road and the dark forest beyond it.
Ah! Footprints. I’ll track the footprints in the snow.
There was indeed a track, though whether it belonged to Marlie, I didn’t know. But it was my only clue, so I focused on it and followed its path carefully.
When I looked up again, an old man had emerged from the trees and he was walking towards me. At his side hopped a cute white bunny. I knew it was Marl
ie immediately. I could just sense his presence.
I grinned widely. The bunny picked up his pace and hopped right over to me. I knelt down and scooped him up.
“Marlie!” I cried, pressing my nose against his soft, silky fur. “Oh, Marlie, you are so unbelievably cute!”
He wiggled his pink nose, his whiskers tickling my cheek.
I giggled. “Yes, I know. I’m a free man! It’s a miracle, Marlie! A Christmas miracle!”
“You could even say it’s a miracle on Shifter Street,” the old man noted with gravelly laugh.
I looked at him, puzzled. “I’m sorry, and you are?”
“Julio,” the old man extended a hand. “Julio Rivera.”
“Oh!” The recognition hit me. “That’s it! I remember you from the photos on Marlie’s wall! Nice to meet you, sir!”
I shook his hand. “I’m Logan Middleton, Marlie’s mate.”
“Yes, I know. My, don’t the two of you make a handsome pair.”
“Thank you! Come on, let’s go inside, shall we?” I asked, turning towards the house. “I’m freezing my balls off out here.”
I had no idea why Julio was here, since Marlie said he hadn’t seen him since his grandmother’s passing. But I wasn’t going to question it. The more miracles, the merrier!
***
Marlie stayed in his bunny form on the couch next to Julio as I got the fire going. Then I went to the kitchen and made three mugs of hot chocolate. It was almost two in the morning, but it seemed that all three of us were too full of excitement to go to bed anytime soon. When I returned with my hands full, Marlie was back in human form, using the fuzzy blanket to cover his nakedness.
“Babe!” he cried, extending his arms to beckon me in for a hug.
I carefully set the mugs down on the coffee table before pulling him in for a tight embrace. I ran my fingers through his platinum blond hair and kissed his neck.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re free!” Marlie exclaimed. “Tell me—what happened?”
I took my seat in the middle of the couch between Marlie and Julio. “They found the real culprit. They caught him breaking into some poor family’s home, trying to steal their Christmas presents! What’s crazy is that the guy looks exactly like me. What are the odds, huh?”
“That’s so bizarre,” Marlie said, picking up his mug of hot chocolate and taking a sip. “But I knew everything was bound to work out somehow.”
I cocked my brow. “Did you really? Because I was scared shitless. I thought I might be locked up forever. It happens to plenty of innocent people, you know. It’s really sad.”
“That’s because they don’t have a lucky rabbit’s foot to protect them,” Marlie winked.
“Speaking of rabbit’s foot,” I said, pulling it from my back pocket. “Did you realize you left it here? Thank goddess nothing happened to you while you were out there in the woods. And uh—why exactly were you out there, anyway?”
“That’s a fake,” Marlie chuckled. “Those college kids scammed us. Guess who took the real one?”
He cast Julio a playful scowl. “This guy.”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, confused.
“I did it. It was me. I’m sorry.” Julio lowered his head in shame.
Marlie reached across my lap and patted Julio on the knee. “It’s all right, Grandpa.” He glanced at me. “We worked it out. It’s all good.”
“That owl,” I said. “That was you, Julio?”
He nodded. “Yep. Guilty as charged.”
I laughed, puzzled. “This town keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
“Oh!” Marlie exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat. The sudden movement rustled me, and made me spill part of my hot chocolate.
“Sorry,” he shrank back, blushing. “Um, so… you know how I told you I’m a bunny shifter? Well, I kinda lied to you. I mean, I lied by omission, I guess. Up until now, I had never been able to shift into my bunny form.”
“Oh,” I said, swiping at the wet part of the blanket. “Um… weird. But okay.”
“I’m sorry!” Marlie scrunched up his face and poked out his bottom lip. “I was ashamed. But hey—you saw me! I finally managed to shift for the first time ever!”
“Uh-huh,” I smiled, nodding. “So what changed?”
“I don’t know. All those shifters were running right past my house for the shifter run. I joined them because I was trying to chase Julio down, and … it just happened. I shifted automatically. For the first time ever, it just felt totally natural and normal to me. Again, I’m really sorry, Logan.”
“Sorry for what?” I asked. “I don’t care whether you can shift or not. I love you just the way you are, Marlie. Bunny or no bunny. But, I have to admit… you are absolutely adorable in your bunny form.”
“Aww!” Marlie turned to Julio with a proud grin. “Isn’t he just the sweetest alpha in the world?”
“He’s a catch, Marlie,” Julio agreed. “Don’t forget to tell him what I told you, too.”
Marlie’s eyes widened. “Oh! That’s right.”
He sat up straight and took my hands in his. “Logan… we’re pregnant. With triplets.”
I blinked. “Triplets? When did you have time to see a doctor?”
“No doctor needed,” Marlie grinned. “Julio knows. He’s got special baby spidey senses or something.”
I looked at Julio, stunned. “Are you absolutely sure?”
He nodded sagely. “I’m sure.”
I pulled in a sharp breath. “Wow… I…” A million different thoughts ran through my mind. Pregnancy. Labor. Babies. Three babies. Diapers. Bottles. Onesies. Poop. Vomit. Toys. Screaming. Giggling. No sleep.
“Are you okay, Logan?” Marlie asked, his brows scrunched with concern. “This is good news, right? You’re not gonna freak out on me, are you?”
“Are you kidding me?” I laughed. “I’m sorry, it’s just—it’s a lot to take in all at once. But, Marlie…” I looked him directly in the eyes. “I want you to know this makes me the happiest alpha in the world. I cannot wait to raise these babies and start a family with you, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Logan…” Marlie’s eyes filled with tears. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me in for a deep kiss.
“See? I told you he’s a catch, Marlie,” Julio chuckled next to us.
I wanted to carry Marlie off to the bedroom and make love to him until dawn, but since we had a guest, I had to restrain myself. Instead, the three of us sat on the couch sipping our hot chocolates, talking, sharing, laughing, and joking around all night, until the sun began to rise in the sky and imbue the cozy little cottage with the soft golden light of Christmas day.
A few days ago, I thought Santa had filled my stocking with coal. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
This Christmas, I’d received the greatest gifts of my life: my fated mate, a loving family, and a new lease on life. Oh, and that lucky rabbit’s foot was a nice bonus, too.
Marlie
One year later…
Brennan’s screams echoed through the minivan as Logan pulled on to Shifter Street. My ears rang and my head throbbed with pain. Oh goddess, we were almost home. Just in time, too, because I couldn’t take anymore of this.
“Please, Brennan!” I begged. “Please, sweetheart! Have some mercy on us! We’re only human!”
My desperate pleas did nothing to calm his screeching. He’d woken up from his slumber half an hour ago, just as we’d entered the home stretch, and he’d been screaming ever since. Our weeklong trip to visit Logan’s family for the holidays had gone pretty well, except for the fact that Brennan absolutely hated being in his carseat and liked to make his discontent very clear.
“He doesn’t want his pacifier,” Julio hollered from the backseat over Brennan’s screams.
“Of course he doesn’t!” I hollered back.
Another scream joined the cacophony; this time it was Adira’s.
“Oh, please, not you, Adira!” I whimpered. “I can’t take this
. Somebody kill me!”
Logan patted my knee. “It’s okay, Marlie. We’re home.”
I glanced up to see that we were indeed home, parked in the driveway. I sighed a breath of relief and hopped out of my seat as fast as I could. I unstrapped Brennan from his carseat as he screamed right into my throbbing eardrums. But as soon as I had him in my arms, he quieted.
Grandpa Julio took Adira, who fell silent as well, and Logan opted to take Robbie’s entire carseat inside instead of unstrapping him, because as usual, the little guy was sound asleep. I swear he could sleep through a magnitude 1000 earthquake.
My little angel.
As soon as we stepped into the house, everything changed for me. All the stress involved with the trip. The anxiety that came with wanting to impress Logan’s family. The increased difficulty of taking care of the triplets while traveling. That general feeling of homesickness for Vale Valley that I hadn’t been able to shake.
It all fell away, and I instantly relaxed.
Logan set Robbie down on the floor next to the Christmas tree, and took Adira from Julio’s arms. He approached me and kissed me softly on the forehead.
“Well, babe, we did it,” he sighed happily.
“That we did,” I smiled. Brennan cooed in my arms. He craned his head up to look at us with his big green eyes—the exact same set of eyes he’d inherited from his daddy. He was gonna be a handsome boy, indeed. He also seemed to have inherited Logan’s occasional grumpiness… though you didn’t hear that from me.
Adira farted in Logan’s arms, and we both laughed as she peered at us with her curious blue eyes, oblivious to what was so funny. She had a speck of red hair sprouting from the top of her head, and although she was only three months old, I could already tell she was fiercely intelligent, and she was gonna be a handful.
“We’re home, little one,” I said softly. “We all survived.”
“I can’t believe that was your first time leaving Vale Valley,” Logan chuckled. “How was it?”
I shrugged. “Meh. I didn’t care for it.”
Miracle on Shifter Street Page 8