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Chapter Thirteen
“God, Maids, I just don’t know what to think,” Espie said to her friend the next afternoon after she’d gone to A Cup of Beans directly after work. “I mean, there were some parts of the date that were perfect, but it seems like for as many things as we do well, there’s at least as many that we seem to really have a problem with.”
“It’ll be okay, Espie, I’m sure of it,” Maida told her as she came over to the table to rub her shoulders. “You have to understand that Luther doesn’t know you yet. On a spiritual level, sure, you two are soulmates and destined to be together. But he doesn’t know you as a person. He doesn’t know how much you value your independence because you’ve never told him, nor has he been around you long enough to figure it out on his own. Cut the guy some slack. You’re both going to fumble around a bit before you figure out what makes each other happy.”
Those words haunted Espie for the rest of the week. She knew what Maida had said was the absolute truth. It was strange, though. Whenever she had watched a pair of fated mates join together, it had always seemed effortless. Flawless. But one date in, and she and Luther were already on a break. It just didn’t seem right.
Maria told her much the same thing as they lounged around a fire at their sacred clan cave in the mountains, where Espie learned that Maria had seen Luther just one day earlier.
“He doesn’t seem sure of himself,” she confided. “I don’t think he knows what his next move should be.” Espie rolled her eyes at the thought, but Maria cut her off before she could say anything. “But he really wants to see you again. He kept asking how you were doing. That seems to be his priority…to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” was Espie’s sullen response. But she wasn’t fine. Not really. She couldn’t seem to spend quality time with Luther, but she was absolutely miserable when they were apart. And Luther might be stubborn about apologizing, but Espie was just as obstinate about letting him in so he could potentially change her.
No matter how upset she’d been after their disastrous first date, one week away from Luther felt like an eternity. Her inner grizzly moped around, desperate to be back with him, and Espie’s spirits slowly spiraled downward as well. Each day he didn’t reach out to make things right simply wore her down further. She realized now that she might have been a little short with him, but in the end, his actions – and all the things he wouldn’t say – were what forced her to storm off in the first place.
All that aside, she missed him. One night with her fated mate, even a bad one, had made her feel like she was on top of the world. Being in his presence was a blessing: one that she could experience every single day if they could both just get over all their awkward quirks.
But no. Complete radio silence.
In order to get her mind off her spiraling love life, Espie volunteered to go and get some resort supplies that were stored further up the mountain. Miguel fitted the canopy on his big pick-up truck, and Espie drove the tedious hour-long journey to their storage unit and loaded up the back with items such as lumber, cleaning supplies, fresh linens in their proper packages, and chair covers to replace a few of the old ones that were wearing thin.
Espie blasted the radio the whole way there, focusing on the songs rather than her restless mind and her miserable inner grizzly, and she did the same thing on the way back. However, as she approached a fork in the road, one path leading her toward the mountains (which was the most direct route back to the resort), the other taking her on the scenic route toward downtown Angel Fire, she caught a scent.
Normally, she didn’t just scent things while driving with the window down, bathed in the tepid winds of a fall afternoon, but she must have been at the right place at the right time to catch it. Frowning, she turned down the radio and pulled over to the side of the road. Then, like a dog, she stuck her head out the window and breathed deep.
Shifters nearby. Two of them, different species. One she knew to be a coyote, but the other Espie wasn’t personally familiar with. After the run-in with the rams back in the spring, the thought of two new shifters encroaching on bear territory just didn’t sit well with her. So while it would have been smarter to just keep going, Espie pulled into a lookout and cut her engine, and carefully hopped out of the truck.
After securing all the supplies in the back, she traipsed through the forest with her nose in the air. Her inner bear begged to come out, and she worried that it might be another cougar waiting to pounce on her decidedly weaker human form, but Espie ignored the internal urge to shift.
She paused, however, at the sound of voices coming from a nearby clearing. Dropping low, she crept forward, and barely managed to stop a giggle from slipping out when she spotted the source of the scent. Two naked humans sat on a blanket in the middle of the clearing. They were surrounded by food, and it appeared as though they were on a picnic. When she didn’t sense a hint of predator in either, she decided to make herself known, and cautiously pressed forward into the circular clearing, its grasses trampled by wildlife and the sun streaming across it.
The male spotted her as soon as she stepped out of the forest, his round back straightening and chestnut brown eyes widening. Espie raised her hand and smiled. “Hi.”
The woman, thin and wiry, with strawberry blonde hair, scrambled to her feet with a snarl, which stopped Espie in her tracks. She then determined that the female was the coyote. Espie wondered if maybe there was a hint of predator in the woman’s human form.
Her inner grizzly chuffed back, the urge to shift so strong that Espie had to dig her nails into her palms to stop it. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” she insisted. “I just…I scented you both from the road and I got curious. We don’t see many outsiders in clan territory.”
“What are you?” the man demanded, rising up on his knees warily. Espie tried not to look at it; she’d seen so many naked men in her lifetime that it shouldn’t have made her squeamish to add one more to her mental memory bank; but it was always more difficult with males who were outside the clan.
“I’m a bear,” she offered kindly, then took a step toward them when they didn’t immediately flee. “Grizzly, actually. My name’s Espie, and my clan is from Angel Fire. I’m not here to cause trouble, and I’m sorry I interrupted your picnic.”
The pair exchanged harrowed looks for a long moment, as though speaking telepathically about the best course of action, until finally the female shifter settled back down on the blanket, her body still tense as she produced a somewhat forced smile.
“Hi. I’m Paulina.” Taking that as a hint, Espie closed the distance between them. She settled on the edge of the blanket, legs crossed as Paulina added, “I’m a coyote. No clan.”
“Rufus,” the man said, sounding decidedly more friendly towards her as he extended his hand for Espie to shake. Hot skin—just like any shifter. “Armadillo. Also no clan. Well, I suppose Paulina’s my clan.”
The she-coyote flushed and stuffed her hand in a bag of chips, which made Espie grin.
“Are you two new to the area?”
“No,” Paulina insisted before shyly offering Espie the chip bag. “We’ve been here for about a year. We live in the neutral territory outside of Angel Fire, but we wanted to try a new place to eat.”
“Well, again, sorry for intruding. I was upwind from your scent and I just…couldn’t help myself.” Espie cradled a pile of chips in her hand as Rufus took the bag. “You know, if you ever need any help, the bear clan is always willing to assist shifters get acclimated to the area.”
Shifters that weren’t a threat, that was. Herbivores and scavengers were seldom considered a threat.
“So you’re a part of the bear clan?” Paulina asked curiously.
