Free Ordinaries: Shifters Book II (Shifters series 2) by Douglas Pershing, Angelia Pershing

and shoots me a slight smile. Greg is thrown to the ground, and Cooper is over him with her knee on his chest. She smiles and asks, “Did you watch my stomach that time?”
    “That’s enough, you two,” Marcus says with a laugh. “Come on. Mrs. Langley should have lunch ready by now.”
    Cooper smiles and helps Greg up. He fakes a face punch and pats her on the back.
    “You distracted me,” he tells her.
    “Yeah, right,” she says. “Maybe you’re not as good as you think.” She starts to run toward the house yelling, “Last in gets leftovers!”
    “You’re making great progress, Tanner,” Marcus says, throwing a small towel across my shoulder.
    I take it and wipe the dirt and sweat off my face and say, “It doesn’t feel like it.”
    “You really are,” Greg tells me as we walk toward the house.
    “How did you do that? I mean, she shifted,” I ask Greg.
    “Like I said,” he starts to explain. “Mostly they think that just because they’re fast, they can outthink us.”
    “So how did you know where she would be?” I ask.
    “It’s half guessing and half body language.”
    “Okay,” I nod.
    “Just before she shifted, her stomach twitched slightly to the right. So . . . I guessed left.”
    We hear a commotion in the house so we all start running. I reach the door first, and all of the kids are pushing toward the front room. I force myself through the crowd, squeezing between bodies until I finally reach the living room.
    There’s a man with his back to us talking to someone outside the front door. Clearly, a scene outside has his attention. He is tall with jet-black hair. I don’t know what to think as Alena comes in from the front porch and wraps her arms around him.
    Marcus steps up, and the room quiets, “Well, I’ll be. Gale Halverson.”
    I’m not sure what it is, but something is familiar about this guy. The guy spins around to reveal perfectly chiseled features and dark bronze skin.
    “Marcus,” he says turning and spreading his arms. “Come here, you ole dog.”
    As the man, Gale—weird name for a guy—walks away from the door, I see someone else through the opening. Then I remember where I know this guy: I saw him on television once.
    The girl standing inside the doorway peers in, and her look changes from unsure into a huge grin. She runs right to me.
    “Alice!” I say as she wraps her arms around me. I swear she is going to squeeze all of the air out of my lungs while smothering me in a total bear hug.
    I’m stunned! Is this really Alice? It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I mean . . . she used to be at our house practically every day. We used to be pretty good friends, but that was before Ryland became Miss Popular, and I turned into the school dork.
    That’s when Melinda and Alice started to pretend they didn’t know me. Now she’s acting like she really cares. This must be an alternative reality dream or something. “Okay,” I think to myself. “Time to wake up now.”
    The group of teenagers starts making whooping noises, and I realize this isn’t a dream.
    She pulls away from me and excitedly says, “I didn’t know if you were okay.” She squeezes me again and buries her face in my shoulder saying, “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried.” She pulls away, looks at me and asks, “Is Ryland here? Where’s Melinda?”
    She looks over my body slightly—which is kind of embarrassing—and I realize that the last time I saw her she was taller than me. I’m actually surprised how young she looks. She’s still pretty, but more in a little sister kind of way.
    “Somebody’s grown up,” she says smiling. “So where’s Ry?” she asks, looking around the group of strangers. She looks disappointed and asks, “Tanner?”
    “She’s okay,” I quickly tell her. “She’s on a mission. With Kai. She’ll be back soon.”
    “Okay. Cool,” she says turning back to me. “Is Melinda here? I want to tell her about my dad.”
    “Oh . . .