Change (The Shape Shifter Series) by Jennifer Loiske

their own. She was a mystery. A human that wasn't completely human. Maybe not a shape shifter, but something strange. So no wonder they hated her. She could sense fear under their hate and she felt compassion for them. She had intruded on their territory. Yes, she had been invited there, but that didn't mean she was accepted.
    Marie looked at her mom and her grandma again. How similar they looked. Both were protecting their own territory and Marie bet that they didn't even realize their signs were copies of one another. Mom's body language told everyone to stay back. She was protecting her pack with her own energy and grandmother was protecting the shape shifters around them. Marie smiled ruefully. Did she really look like she was a threat to anyone? She glanced at the man behind her grandmother and he smiled cautiously at her. He looked frightening, but his dark eyes looked at her gently. She smiled back. She had no idea that this man rarely smiled, and maybe because of it she let go of Tiamhaidh and got up from her wheelchair. She took a hesitant step towards the man and staggered. He leaped towards her instantly and she looked at him apologetically.
    “Oops.”
    He steadied her, and his big hands looked huge on her narrow shoulders. Their eyes locked and she saw astonishment in his. He looked at her as if he had never seen anything so amazing, and that made her blush. When he was sure she’d manage to stand on her own he let go of her, slowly, and touched her cheek.
    She swallowed. “Grandpa?”
    He nodded and blinked away tears. She reached for him and wiped a tear from his weather-beaten face. That was too much for him. He groaned and gathered her fragile body into his bear-like arms. She pressed her head against his warm chest and he held her tighter. This was her grandfather, she thought and sniffed, and she was his legacy.
    “Beag eun,” he whispered into her hair, his eyes challenging the other shape shifters.              
    The others bowed their heads slightly. No one was brave enough to take on his challenge. The leader of the elders had accepted his half-blooded grandchild without question, so the others had to accept her, too. One by one they turned their eyes from Marie and moved away from her.
     
    Sofia had watched their meeting, mesmerized. She felt guilty seeing them together. I should’ve come sooner, she thought. But it was too late to cry about it now. She braced herself and prepared to face her father. Forgetting her mother completely, she took a step closer and tugged at her father's sleeve. “Father.”
    He turned his dark golden-brown eyes on her. She grinned wickedly. He flashed his teeth and gently let go of Marie. Sofia backed away but kept her gleaming eyes on his. He approached her with a dangerous look in his eyes. She yelped.             
    “You,” he said slowly. “I should be spanking your bottom for running away from home.”
    Her lips twitched and she shrugged.
    “No father should have as bad a girl as you've been.” His eyes narrowed and he grabbed her hands.
    She screamed as he clutched her in his arms. He spun her around the parking lot and she giggled like a little girl.
    Finally, he stopped and kissed her golden-brown hair. “I've missed you so much, mo nighean.”
    “Athair,” Sofia sighed. “I've missed you, too.” God, how she had missed her father. He was her father, no matter what form he was in, and in his arms she could truly believe that Marie could heal. He would do anything to make her happy. She knew that he had wanted her to come home earlier and yet he didn't blame her in any way. The day Gunward had gone mad and started to kill little children she should've come home instead of running. Her place was with her family; she got it now. But on the other hand, if she had stayed, she wouldn't have met David.
    The second David's name popped into Sofia's mind, her father turned and stared curiously at the tall blond man who stood next to