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His grandfathers Eliand Sam had been in their mid-thirties when they finally settled down. It was long before humans knew about shifters, at least in most of the US — it had always been an open secret in Granite Valley, after all.
After ten years of waiting for their triad to be complete, Eli and Sam had given up on finding a female mate. Sometimes it just didn’t happen, they knew, so they decided to build themselves a house anyway. Eli was a carpenter and Sam did a lot of woodwork, so they went for it, building a cabin on top of a mountain, the view going practically all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
The day they put the very final touches on it, they were both standing outside, on the front porch, when a single young woman drove up in a car, hat, driving gloves, and all.
She got out and looked at Eli and Sam.
They looked at her.
“You aren’t the Johnsons, are you?” she asked.
According to the story, Sam had to poke Eli in the ribs to get him to answer, because the woman was so beautiful, neither of them could speak.
“No, Miss,” Eli finally said.
“I’m supposed to be their new nanny, but I can’t find their house,” she said. “Do either of you know where they live?”
They didn’t, but they came into the driveway and talked to Rose, the young woman, for a long, long time. They talked for so long that it got dark and she was afraid to drive back down the mountain, so Sam and Eli offered to let her stay in their guest room.
She never did find the Johnsons.
Rose was Ash’s grandmother, of course.
* * *
“So,I think the moral of the story is don’t wait on something that you don’t know is coming, because it’ll show up when you’re ready,” Ash said.
“It doesn’t have to have a moral to be a good story,” Hunter said.
“I think it’s romantic anyway,” said Cora. Her mug was drained and her plate was covered in sticky syrup.
Then she looked down at herself.
“Mind if I use your shower?” she asked.
“Use the one on the first floor,” said Hunter. “Ash sheds and the one upstairs is gross.”
“Thanks,” Ash said. “Thanks for that.”
Hunter raised his coffee mug to his lips and grinned at his mate. Cora took her dishes to the sink, then walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, both men staring after her.
They were silent for a moment, and then Hunter spoke up.
“Last night really did happen, right? That wasn’t a great dream I had?”
Ash turned to the sink and allowed himself a smile.
“It happened,” he said, and turned the water on. “But we should think about how to deal with this Neil problem.”
Hunter opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, there was a crash from the back of the house, the sound of glass shattering.
Both of them ran. Hunter’s chair crashed to the floor behind him. Ash’s bear growled, and he could practically feel his fur standing on end, ready to shift at any moment and tear that creep apart.
He ran into the living room.
Nothing. To the downstairs bedroom, the door to the bathroom shut. The water in the shower was going, but nothing in the bedroom either.
Back into the hallway, every cell in his body on high alert, he slammed closet doors open as he passed, knowing full well they didn’t have windows, until at last, he reached the mud room — really barely more than a porch with windows.
