Chapter Two

“Honestly, Thea, it’s as if you’re trying to make your father angry.”

Thea winced at her mother’s tone, ducking her head in shame even though her mom was in sunny South Carolina, and she was in cold-as-a-witch’s-tit Indiana. Straightening from her immediate I’m sorry posture, she shook off the feeling of unease at disappointing her parents and said, “I’m not trying to make anyone anything. I said I couldn’t migrate until I was finished with my finals.”

“You could have finished them here.”

“I had some things to take care of in person, you know that.”

Which was true and also not true. She could’ve used her shifter nature as a reason to skip the in-person parts of her classes this semester, but she didn’t share that with her parents. She’d finished the last final of her last required class for her associate’s degree a few days ago. While the college offered online courses and degree programs, Thea had taken her time to stretch out the final semester, including not finishing up some classes until after the holidays.

To say she dreaded joining her family for their annual migration to South Carolina was an understatement.

“Well, you can surely come today since you’re finished, yes?”

There was a strange earnestness in her mom’s voice that made Thea’s eagle sit up in her mind.

“Is there something going on?” she asked. “You said you understood that I had to stick around to finish up my degree.”

“No, of course there isn’t anything going on, I just miss you. And I do support you, honey.”

“So why the rush?”

“Our nest has always traveled together, and you’ve been away for nearly two months.”

She knew her mom was trying to stoke up the guilt, but Thea actually didn’t feel bad. Her whole life, she’d traveled with her golden eagle shifters’ nest from their home in Feldmore, Indiana to Bluff, South Carolina, a trip of over six hundred miles. Before she’d been able to shift at fifteen, her mom had driven her instead of flying. Thea had never missed a migration in her whole life.

But this year, Thea had decided she didn’t want to go. She’d tried to simply stay put, but her parents had told her she must be there, no matter what. Once they’d left in November for their winter home, she’d felt freedom for the first time.

Her parents weren’t ogres, they were just old-fashioned.

Golden eagle females lived with their parents until they mated. She was only twenty-two, but lately she felt like her parents were trying to push her to take a mate.

She wanted to find her truemate, not just pick a random male or get into an arranged mating.

Hard pass on that.

Thea was a modern female. She could find her own mate, thank you very much. And she could make her own life decisions, including moving out.

Which is what had prompted her to draw things out with school so she could stay home from the migration.

While her parents were gone, Thea had moved out of the family home and nest and gotten her own place. It was a studio apartment a half hour from the nest, close enough so she could join the family and nest for get-togethers, but far enough away to start her own life.

She just hadn’t told her parents yet.

With a sigh, Thea rubbed the space between her eyes with her thumb. “I can’t come today, it’s too late.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It’s a ten-hour flight, at least. I want to leave early enough so I’m not flying all night long, that would be exhausting.”

She could hear a muffled conversation. Her mom hadn’t figured out how to mute her cell, so she still held her hand over the speaker.

“Then when will you come?” she asked finally.

“Tuesday. I’ll be there around sunset.” That would give her two days to get ready for the trip and figure out what to say to her parents. She didn’t think other people her age were so nervous about what their parents would think when they moved away from home, but she was genuinely quite scared to tell them. She was going against hundreds of years of nest history. She was possibly the first female to move away from home before she was mated.

“All right.” Her mom sniffed. “Fly safe. We’ll see you Tuesday night.”

“Bye, Mom. Love you. Tell Dad I said hello.”

“I love you too.”

The call ended and Thea flopped onto the second-hand couch, letting the phone drop next to her. Before her mom had called, Thea had been planning to say she wasn’t going to come at all and tell her parents that she’d moved out and was going to live her own life away from the nest.

She now had an associate’s degree in horticulture. Her parents hadn’t been crazy about her going to school. Their old-fashioned attitudes included nest females being mates and mothers, and nothing else. While her mom enjoyed the flowers Thea cultivated and vegetables and fruit from the gardens she tended, they didn’t think anything would come of her pursuit of the degree, her father particularly considering it “useless.”

But it wasn’t useless. She loved to comb through old farms and barns and look for interesting plants to cultivate. She even sold heirloom seeds at farmers’ markets and online.

When her mom had called, though, Thea had lost her nerve to tell her anything. She didn’t know why she always turned mute when it came to her parents, and she wanted to change that.

So she’d fly down to South Carolina in two days and tell her parents she’d moved out and had accepted a job at a garden center.

Nerves kicked through her, but she ignored them. She was twenty-two for goodness’ sake, she could make her own choices!

Her phone buzzed and she picked it up.

“Hey,” she said.

“Wow, way to greet your bestie,” Ronnie said with a snort.

“Sorry. I just got off the phone with my mom.”

“Speaking of your mother, why aren’t you down here yet? You were supposed to be hanging out with me when my mate’s busy doing stuff.”

Ronnie and Thea had grown up together in the Indiana nest. Last winter, Ronnie’s parents had suggested an arranged mating and Ronnie was up for it. Thea had been surprised, because they’d both been planning to wait for their forever guys without parental intervention.

“I’m leaving in two days. And what is your mate busy doing?”

“Our nest had rank fights in January and Thomas moved up a few, so now he’s in the inner circle of the high-ranks and is busy as hell.”

“That’s very cool. Does that come with any perks for you?”

“I don’t have to cook on hunt nights and the high-ranking females include me in their spa days, but otherwise no.”

“Spa days sound nice.”

“They are, but it would be nicer if you were here. What’s really going on?”

She hesitated in telling Ronnie what was up. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her because she did, but Ronnie had once said she told Thomas everything, and Thea didn’t want her parents finding out about her plans before she told them. Nothing would piss off her dad more than hearing that she’d moved away from the nest from someone other than her.

“I’m just dead from school. I needed some time to decompress, and my parents didn’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either! You missed Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was looking forward to spending time with you.”

“We’ll hang out, I promise.”

Thea’s heart panged at the lie. The truth was she expected her parents to be furious at her decision and she wouldn’t be surprised if she was ordered to leave.

She wasn’t sure if she’d be exiled for what she’d done either. That did happen, but usually only for really big crimes against the nest or the alpha. There was no crime happening, Thea just wanted to get out of the stifling nest and do what she’d always dreamed of: opening a garden center of her own.

“So you passed, right?” Ronnie asked, bringing Thea back to the conversation.

“I did. I’ve got an associate’s in horticulture science, and also a part-time job.”

“They’ll hold the job for you?”

“It’s off-season, they’re closed anyway. I’m selling seeds and there are some indoor farmers’ markets where I can sell plants this winter.”

“Ah, derp. I keep forgetting what time of year it is since it doesn’t snow here. Tuesday night?”

“Yep.”

A door slammed and Ronnie said, “Thomas is home, I gotta go. Fly safe, babe!”

“See you soon.”

She hung up and stared at the phone, the conversation playing through her mind a few times. She cared for Ronnie. They’d been inseparable, like sisters when they were little, and then Ronnie had gotten mated and moved and everything changed. Ronnie had asked Thea to switch her nest membership and join her in South Carolina, but her alpha was as old-fashioned as Thea’s, and she didn’t want to go from one bad situation to another.

She’d fly to South Carolina on Tuesday and talk to her parents and then, if they kicked her out, she’d just fly home. She didn’t want to lose her relationship with her parents, but she was ready to spread her proverbial wings and live her own life, with or without the nest.

To clear her mind and get rid of her nerves, she got up and grabbed her wallet. She’d head to one of the home superstores and peruse their plants to see if there was anything good.

She’d worry about what she’d say to her parents when she was on the way to South Carolina. She wasn’t looking forward to the long flight alone, but it would also give her time to think.

February was the month that was going to change Thea’s life.

She couldn’t wait.