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Two bears.Mates.United in form.
They wrestled for what felt like hours. When she’d had enough, she curled up in the moonlight along the edge of the creek. He stood guard a few feet away, watching her as her breathing evened out and then steadied. He heard the animal moan, the sound of a beast in pain, and then it changed to a human cry as large bones reshaped into smaller ones, as a thick coating of fur disappeared to leave soft, vulnerable skin. As that big, lumbering shape turned into a tiny, lithe human woman.
He waited to make sure she was watching. That she was going to be okay.
She blinked those huge, black eyes. Water droplets starred her lashes. She was beginning to tremble now that the cold was setting in. She was soaked. Naked. She had no cover.
He made sure she could watch as he shifted. His body changed the same way hers had. The transition was slower. Bones reshaped. Fur became skin. One huge form became one smaller.
When Kier looked up from his hands and knees, he found his mate smiling at him, soft and shy. “Your eyes,” she whispered. “Your eyes stay exactly the same. Did you know that?”
He stood and walked to her, nodding slowly. “I did. It’s strange, that was my exact thought about you.”
“It’s not strange at all,” she whispered, entwining her arms around his neck and leaning into him for more than just warmth. “When destinies are connected, it’s more than two paths that intertwine. It’s two souls, and from those two souls, there’s a whole world. Children. Families. Friends. Two lives come together and they’ll keep coming together over and over again, in so many different ways. I finally believe that.” She shivered and he wrapped his arms tighter around her.
He’d brought extra clothes for her in his backpack, just in case. He hadn’t expected her to strip down and then attempt to shift, so he figured the set she had on would be toast. He realized he’d forgotten shoes, but hers had been off at the time. She actually didn’t need the extra clothes unless she wanted them.
“Kier?”
“Hmm?”
“That was…it felt very, very right.”
“I’m so glad.”
“Honestly, me too. I feel like this massive fear and stress is just gone. I’m so excited to get back to the girls. I know it’s late, but we can carry them home. Have a midnight snack if Misty wants. If not, I’ll just be so happy to watch them sleep. I feel so at peace.”
He’d thought the happiest moments of his life had already happened. When he’d first met Tay. The haze he felt for days after. The ache until he could talk to her again. The way he’d fallen for her. The torture and the bliss of it. Their first shifts together. The first time they loved each other. The first time she’d told him she loved him out loud with more than just her body. When she’d found out she was pregnant, and when they’d had Onyx. Those were always going to be some of the happiest moments of his life, but there was room for so many more. They could be infinite and without end, he now realized. They could take so many shapes and forms.
This wasn’t a battle or a small victory.
This was huge. Those words, coming from his mate who had worked so hard to fight and claw and battle her way back here. Who had to relearn what it was to do the fun things too, to be gentle, to laugh, to have patience, to love.
Her staring up at him, her face painted in silvery dusky moonlight, her eyes huge, her lashes still clinging together, hair dripping down her back, their bodies giving off heat that bled into each other, studying him with hope and lightness and tenderness—this was a moment he’d remember forever too.
Chapter 13
Taylee
“Clay? Mom sent me over to—” Taylee stopped abruptly.
She’d knocked and no one answered, but she knew her brother was there. She sensed him. Not with human or bear senses, but just with a feeling. Like his presence filled up the tiny little log cabin just a short distance from their parents’ larger one. Jem’s was back there too, just to the left, but it was Clay that her mom sent her for.
Lyric and Melody had stopped by. Kier and Misty would be arriving soon so they could all do another painting session.
It was so strange getting to know her best friends again, but they were patient and as sweet as most everyone else had been. They were gentle with her. While Melody was her age, Lyric was younger. She’d never had a mate. She was beautiful. Blonde, which was a rare thing for shifters born in their clan. Her eyes were as breathtaking as the rest of her. She was beautiful in every way, including her laughter and her spirit. It was pretty obvious, just watching her over the past few days, that Lyric had a bit of a hopeless crush on Clay.
Their mom played it up too. She loved Lyric, but then, everyone loved Lyric, and she wanted Clay to be happy. If it had been Jem, she would have done her best to play matchmaker for him too, but for whatever reason, Lyric wanted Clay. She was shy and sweet about it and had never said anything or pushed or even so much as blushed when he came into the room, but everyone knew.
Clay liked to ignore her.
It was only going to annoy him that she’d been sent to get him with the excuse that the kitchen sink wasn’t draining properly.
It happened to be draining fine, but she wouldn’t tell him that, in solidarity with her mom, who would just invent some other excuse for him to come over.
She stopped as soon as she walked into her brother’s darkened kitchen. He was sitting there in the pitch black, hunched over the table, the eerie blue light of his laptop painting his features like something supernatural. He looked harsh and stone carved when he turned to look at her.
He blinked when she flipped on the lights.
