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Gracie stood gazing at the stars and wished the decision to be with Leo was as easy as Henry made it seem. But she couldn’t get past living in a world that was as dangerous as her mother said it was. Risk taking was not something Gracie did.
“What a lovely evening.”
Gracie jumped at the sound of Richard’s voice, and she stared in surprise at the older couple walking through the snow toward her.
“Not too cold or too hot.” Donna said.
Gracie noticed that the two were wearing light jackets without hats or mittens.The way Leo does.
“You two aren’t cold?”
“Not at all. Our blood runs hot.” Donna said. “Did you know Richard’s seventy-eight? And—well, I’m a bit younger.”
Gracie shook her head, as she recalled Leo saying his internal temperature was higher than a human’s. The two older folks were rather tall as well. “Wait. Are you two…”
“We are,” Richard said.
Gracie wasn’t sure if she’d get the information she needed from the older couple, but she had a feeling they were traipsing through the snow in the backyard of her home because they’d come to see her. “Are you two here because of Leo?”
“We are,” Richard said. “We fear you don’t have all the information you need to be with your true mate.”
Donna said, “We’ll answer any difficult questions you may have in an objective manner.”
It occurred to Gracie that Donna had revealed their ages to let her know one could live a long time as a werebear. She said, “I need you to be one-hundred percent honest with me. Have you ever been in danger?”
“Asks a woman who intentionally locks her feet into two boards to rush down a mountain,” Richard said.
Gracie chuckled as she hugged herself to ward off the cold. “Okay. But I think you know what I mean.”
Donna pulled a scarf from her neck. “Our world isn’t necessarily more dangerous than yours, it’s just different. Did Leo tell you about our healing abilities?”
Gracie shook her head.
Donna draped the scarf around Gracie’s neck. “We survive injuries that would kill a human, and it only takes us a couple of days to heal.”
Richard took her hands in his and rubbed to warm her fingers. “We don’t have the diseases humans get either.”
“But my mother…” Gracie felt foolish telling Donna and Richard what her mother had told her, because she was beginning to realize it might have been another one of Margo’s attempts to keep Gracie from leaving.
Richard squeezed her fingers in his hands. “Your mother had her heart broken, and she chose to dwell on that instead of trying to find joy in her life.”
“You won’t be able to get over Leo as easily as you would a human man,” Donna said. “You two have a connection that will never break, and I dare say you’ll compare every man to him for the rest of your life. The reality of a man like Leo as your lifelong partner is that you’ll always have love. And isn’t that all we need?”
Gracie imagined coming home to someone who didn’t expect her to wait on them or criticized her every decision.
“You are destined to be in our world,” Richard said. “In fact, most humans who change say they feel as if they finally fit in.” He gave her a kind smile. “I imagine you were afraid of skiing before you tried it, but you found a way to get over that fear. It’s time to be brave again, my dear.”
Richard was right that she’d never felt as if she fit in her world. Besides, it would be nice to have someone who asked about her day and cared about what she said. Because that was love. And it was what she wanted. All she needed to do was let go of her fear. She gazed up at the stars and realized her wish had already come true.
CHAPTER20
Leo
It had been a long last day at Sugar Mountain for Leo. His skis clunked into the locker room rack where he set them, and he let himself scowl. He’d tried hard to keep a smile on his face all day. Fortunately, he’d been busy, but it hadn’t seemed to keep him from thinking about Gracie. He was struggling to believe she could let him go so easily. She had to have been feeling as awful as he was.
He wanted to go to her and understand why she couldn’t be with him.He needed more than anI can’t.But he had told her that he’d respect her decision, and he wasn’t going to push. When he moved toward the lockers, Leo was surprised to find Gracie waiting for him at his locker.
“Hi,” she said.
