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Chapter Ten
Espie’s body was soaking wet and still completely unclothed as she neared the main building of the resort in her human form. Thankfully, she always kept a spare shirt and pants hidden in the garden shed, so she was able to tug them on before she entered the building itself. She couldn’t possibly face anyone, least of all her mom, until she’d managed to calm down a little first.
There was just too much to process, what with the strange run-in with a cougar shifter who smelled wild, and a fated mate whose bear was not quite what she’d expected. When she’d scented him, she knew he was a bear, of course, but it never occurred to her that his bear wasn’t going to be a brown or black bear like everyone else in Angel Fire.
It was bad enough that Luther was working as a miner. That he had come to Angel Fire from out of town, and didn’t seem to be part of a clan of his own. But this? She wasn’t sure this was something that would simply blow over.
The thing was, it was an easy matter to assimilate a human fated mate into the clan. Once a human understood what was going on, they seemed to fit in pretty well. But Luther was not another human. He was a polar bear. He was an outsider, and a shifter without a clan. As much as Espie might be okay with it, that complicated things.
That, paired with the fact that he had just played knight in shining armor to her on two separate occasions didn’t sit well with Espie. She appreciated the gesture of diving in to save her from a vicious cougar, but she wanted a partner in her forever relationship, not a savior.
She didn’t want a mate who would act in what he thought was her best interests without even consulting her. And she sure as hell wasn’t interested in having someone who didn’t allow her to fight her own battles. If this was going to work with Luther, this was something he would need to learn.
But the connection between the two of them was undeniable. When the universe was building a mate for her, it clearly had pulled out all the stops in the physical attraction department; that was for sure. The universe ensured that all the best parts would appeal to her. And her inner bear? She kind of liked that Luther wasn’t some boring black or brown bear like everyone else. The big, while, fluffy polar bear definitely did it for her, too.
“What am I gonna do?” Espie groaned softly as she automatically found one of the towels in a dryer and used it to dry off. She knew she needed to go and tell her mother what she’d found, but she was determined to take just a bit more time for herself first.
She didn’t like to lie to members of her family or clan, but she also didn’t want to unduly alarm anyone, either. So she and Luther had encountered a weird cougar on the property. That didn’t mean she needed to upset anybody. She told the Robinsons that she hadn’t found anything, and told them to let her know if the noises happened again. Thankfully, they seemed perfectly content over the next week. They didn’t lodge even a single complaint.
If only Espie could say the same. The more time that passed without seeing Luther, the more depressed her inner grizzly became. So, despite her reservation, Espie finally broke down and called Maria. Not just for advice, but possibly even for her services.
“I can’t – I don’t know, Maria, it’s so strange,” she tried to explain. “I can’t sleep. Food has lost its appeal. I have such a longing to just run right up the mountain and find the man it isn’t even funny. Even working a whole shift at the resort has become – difficult. Nothing makes sense anymore except how much I need him.”
“Don’t be so down about it, Espie,” Maria told her. “These feelings you’re battling are all perfectly natural. Instead of fighting against nature, maybe you should try to find a way to work with it for once.”
“Do you think maybe Luther would want to go on a date?” Espie asked hopefully. “I mean, the last time we saw each other, things got pretty crazy, and then like a little coward, I actually ran away. I can’t believe that. I’ve never been afraid to face anything, and then the one thing I’ve been longing for finally shows up, and I go slinking back into my cave.”
“I’ll tell you what, Espie,” Marie offered. “You know that I already did a Facebook search and other internet searches on Luther. It can’t be that difficult to go and find his phone number. I can find out for you what he’s thinking where you two are concerned and try to get back to you about it sometime tomorrow. Would that work?”
“Would it ever,” Espie said, feeling some of the weight lift from her shoulders. “You know, I always thought that this would be easy. Just as soon as I found my fated mate, everything would fall right into place. We’d be perfect together right out of the box. But I guess it doesn’t really work that way, huh?”
Maria chuckled. “Well, sometimes it does. But trust me when I say I’ve been helping people get together for a few years now, and that’s just not usually what it looks like. Try to get some sleep, alright? Maybe by sometime tomorrow your future will look a bit brighter.”
“Thanks, Maria,” I told her. “I really owe you this time.
***
Espie need not have worried herself to sleep. When she woke the next morning, there was a text on her phone from Maria. It was short and to the point.
Luther has missed you too, but after the things that went down at the resort, he wasn’t sure how you felt. He has agreed to meet you tonight at the sports bar. Seven o’clock. Let me know when you got this, girl. Things seem to be looking up!
