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Ali Parker surveyed the mountain of dishes in the kitchen sink

It was a true Everest of dishes, worthy of oats It had been growing for a couple of days because everyone in the house had been working late this week When you got ho and go to bed, not wash dishes

Ali lived with her brother, Paul, and his wife, Molly It seeularly, but both wo shifts, and Paul didn’t seem able to cook or clean

Ali figured it was because he’d spent his ti in and doing chores Her brother had been born a bear shifter, like their father, so he’d been taught hunting and woodlore and shifter customs But Ali had turned out to be a human, like Mom, so she’d stayed home and done human stuff

At the time, she hadn’t been jealous or wanted to be a shifter herself Back then she’d mostly been interested in slumber parties, ht wistfully about what her life ene

It would’ve had some downsides, she supposed If she’d ever left town, she’d have had to keep it a secret Most of the world didn’t know about shifters But it was different in the little town of Prescott, tucked away in the Colorado Rockies There were enough shifters there that most people at least knew that they existed But the town kept to itself, far away fro civilization, and so shifters stayed Prescott’s secret

They still kept to therown up with a bear for a brother, didn’t know much about shifter culture Paul didn’t talk about it Their father had left when they’d been little, leaving her brother to be taught by the Prescott shifters, so it had never been a fa

Ali put an end to that train of thought She wasn’t a shifter, and that was that Dreaet the dishes done She rolled up her sleeves, deterht It would be nice for the family to have a clean kitchen for a while

She’d just reached for the tap when her phone rang She looked at the screen Denise

Denise had been Ali’s best friend in high school At twenty-six, she was still the fun, party-loving girl she’d been at sixteen If it weren’t for her, Ali would probably have become a homebody by now

“Ali!” Denise said “You have to coot you a date It’s Ted Elton”

“Ted Elton? I’ to date hiuy a couple of years younger than they were

“Well…” Denise dragged the word out “Mac Elton said he’d only go out with ht a friend for his brother”