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Of course, I knew they were shifters and would be making this change, but watching it happen in front of me was not something I’d been prepared for. Especially in duplicate. I wouldn’t ever be able to explain how it happened. I’d say you had to be there. They were both already tall, but they gained a lot more height as well as width before their faces extended into snouts, and then everything happened so fast. Fur sprouted, covering their skin in ripples like wheat in a windy field. They were glowing white in the moonlight, claws sprouting from their fingers, so much longer and sharper than I expected. Of course, my only experience with polar bears in person was at the zoo where they’d just been lounging around their pond, in the shade, and I hadn’t gotten a very good look at them. Those had been faintly green, too, something to do with algae growing inside their fur which was damaged by the concrete floor of their enclosure. The zookeeper assured us it didn’t hurt them, but it seemed a shame to me to keep such beautiful animals confined. But these bears were not behind a chain-link fence. They weren’t lolling around on pretend rocks and trying to get through their days in a pen.
No, they were standing right out here in the yard, in front of me, with every ability to take off and go if they wanted to, but why would they? This was their home. It was not easy to wrap my head around any of it. But I was still in awe of these creatures and what they represented. They were fully half of the men, and I needed to know this side as well.
Standing, I closed the distance between them and me. I was afraid of them, which made no sense because they were easily twice my height. But nothing about them menaced me. Their claws did not flex; they didn’t growl or otherwise act threatening. Rather, they stood at ease, while I walked around them, taking them in from all sides. And I touched them, rubbing my palm over their fur, lifting their paws and tracing those claws. They were immense and could kill me with one swipe. But they wouldn’t. I knew that. Somehow.
Then, without warning, they were shifting back, and now I was standing inches away from two naked hunks. They for sure could have taken advantage of the situation, but of course they did not. They moved away and put their clothes back on.
“We would have taken you out with us to run around, but it’s kind of cold out, and we thought meeting the bears would be enough for one night,” Riggs said.
“It probably was.” I followed them inside the house and took off my coat, hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. “It was a lot, but it was amazing.”
“Cold?” Nacho was watching me, brows lowered.
“A little…”
“Then I’m going to make us some cocoa while Riggs builds up the fire, and we can sit and sip and talk. I’m sure you have questions about what you saw.”
“I do have some about shifters and mating…”
Chapter Sixteen
Nacho
“How about we start with what you think you know,” I suggested and put my arm along the back of the couch behind her. If Riggs was shocked that she asked about mating and how shifters mated, he didn’t show it on his face.
“I know that shifters mate only to their true mate or their fated mate. A human can’t be that to them.”
Riggs stopped her with his hand on her thigh before she could go any further. “That’s not true. Fate doesn’t care if our mate is human or shifter or even another paranormal species. Our true and fated mate can be human, Marney.”
“Oh.”
So damned adorable. She hadn’t shrunk away from our bears. I had met some other shifters who had stood back once they saw our animals. Even for polar bears, we were large and growly. But Marney didn’t seem to mind. When her hand ran through my fur, I nearly marked her right then and there.
“What else do you know?” I prodded, trying to relieve the awkward pause in conversation.
She considered. “Shifters mate for life. Once they find their mate, they don’t let go of them. They are faithful, at least, most of them.”
Riggs let out a low, humming growl before he tamed himself. “Shifters should never cheat. Ever. The males I know don’t even look at other females, in a romantic way, after finding their mate or mates. I…we would never do that to our mate.”
She gave him a soft smile. “That’s pretty much all I know about shifters and mating. It’s kind of like humans getting married, right?” Her voice caught on the word “married,” and I knew the hole the man had left inside her and the hurt she felt were still fresh.
And yet, she’d come here, trusting us with this moment in her life, when she was most fragile.
“Humans divorce their spouses when things get tough. They put everything and everyone, including their careers and hobbies and even their smartphones, before their partners, the ones who are supposed to be by their side for the rest of their lives. I’m not saying shifters are better at that, but shifters are better.”
She laughed while reaching over me to grab a blanket. I helped her with it since it seemed heavy for her. Once she was cuddled up, she sighed.
That’s right, female. Get all comfy and cozy right here in our den. Right where you belong.
“I had a friend who was having trouble in the bedroom with her husband,” she said. “So, she got in bed naked one night and lay there, trying to get his attention. She said he watched some videos on Instagram for an hour and then leaned over and turned off the lamp. He didn’t even notice she was naked and needing him—so engrossed in other people’s lives to notice.”
I snorted. That sounded like humans. They got too comfortable in their marriages. “A shifter’s mate is their first priority. When we get mated, everything changes, probably even before that. Once we find our mate, she becomes the center of our universe. We work to provide for her. We give her what she needs in all areas of life. Our mate is our sun and moon and everything in between.”
Marney made a tiny mmm sound and snuggled in deeper. Between the plush pillows of our couch and the fluffy blanket, plus Riggs and I on either side of her, she had made quite the nest. Her shiny hair framed her face, and the light from the fireplace danced in those icy-blue eyes of hers. “I don’t know what it’s like to be someone’s priority. I never have been.”
“You deserve to be someone’s only priority, female. Two someones’ priority.” Riggs was right.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “How do you know when a female is your mate? Does your bear pinch you from…wherever he is inside you?”
