Laura almost couldn’t believe that she was free at last. It had been so long. Her baby had grown up without her, and that hurt her heart. But knowing little Lee Lee had turned into such a remarkable woman soothed the pain, somewhat. She was everything Laura could have hoped for—strong, beautiful, and smart, with what looked like a serious relationship on the horizon with King.
Laura liked what she’d seen of King, and she liked even more, the way he treated her daughter. When Laura had woken up in the hospital bed well before dawn, the doctor had been there, watching over her while he did paperwork in the other room. He’d come into her room as soon as she’d stirred, and they’d had a short conversation about how she was feeling.
Better. Laura was feeling a lot better than the day before. Sleep had restored her even more than she’d expected it would. Regular sleep. Not the half-aware gauzy uncertainty of deliberately putting her consciousness into a formless place between realms.
“I want to go for a walk,” she told the doctor after he’d examined her. He seemed hesitant but finally nodded.
“We’re close to the beach here. You can go out the back door and down to the water. There are a few picnic tables not far off. The sun will be up soon, but there are always a few of us prowling around, and everyone in the cove serves the Light. No one can pass the permanent wards unless their hearts are pure. So you don’t really have to worry about having problems with anyone in town.” He helped her slide around so that her feet dangled off the side of the bed. “I’ll get you something to wear. Hospital scrubs, I’m afraid, are all we have on hand here.”
“Anything will do. I’d shift into my wolf form, but I haven’t had two legs in so long…” She let her words trail off.
“I understand,” he said, heading out the door. “Just stay there until I get back, okay?”
She nodded her agreement, taking a better look around the room and peering out the door through which he’d gone. She hadn’t really been all that aware of her surroundings yesterday when they’d brought her in, but she was feeling awake and alert now. This wasn’t a hospital. Not in the conventional sense. It was more the size of a clinic with a large central treatment area just outside, plus this room, and what looked like a couple of other private rooms, off the main area.
She didn’t get to see much more as the doctor returned with a short stack of clothing and a pair of flip-flops. It looked soft. Well-washed. It would be comfortable against her skin, which was all that really mattered right now, as she was still healing in spots. She just didn’t want to be cooped up inside. She needed free air and sky. Trees and fresh morning mist. The scent of pine and sea air. Outside. Freedom.
The doctor helped her dress, professionally competent. He held her elbow as she took her first tentative steps out the door of her private room and into the larger treatment room of the clinic. He asked her to pause there while he fetched a bandage to re-dress one of the wounds on her arm that would take longer to heal.
Even just that little pause while he re-bandaged her arm helped her regain her strength. When she stood again, she didn’t need his guiding hand to steady her. One look at his face told her that he knew exactly what she was feeling. He’d probably made her stop on purpose, familiar with the way shifters healed. He’d given her a moment to get more steady, as well as giving himself a few minutes to observe her condition more closely before letting her go any farther. She grinned at him.
“Very sneaky, doctor,” she nodded as he walked with her to the back door of the clinic.
“I have to be. Do you know how hard it is to treat some of these macho bears when they’re hurt? I have to find devious ways to conceal that my real motives are usually to get them to slow down a bit and give their bodies a chance to heal,” he told her. He paused to open the door for her, and the fresh air hit her face.
It was real. She was free. She could walk out that door on her own two feet, and nobody would stop her.
“I promise I won’t overdo it. I just…” She choked back a sob. “I just need to be free.”
The doctor nodded, giving her a respectful look. “I understand. You know…if you ever want to talk about your experiences, we have a few folks in town who have been through imprisonment, and even torture. We help each other around here, and you’re one of us now.” He held up his hands, palms outward. “I know. It’s probably way too soon, but I just wanted to let you know that we do understand what you’re going through, and there is help available, if you want it.” He backed away. “Go. Enjoy the sunrise. Breathe the fresh sea air. It’s going to be a beautiful day, by all accounts. Just come back when you’re ready, and if you need help, ask anybody. Everyone in this town will help you if they can, or get help for you, if they can’t do it themselves.”
“Good to know,” she managed to say, even as tears gathered behind her eyes. She’d been truly blessed to be brought here to Grizzly Cove. For the first time in years, she felt as if her prayers had been answered.
She walked slowly down to the water in the quiet before dawn. The sky to the east was just the faintest gray of pre-dawn, but she was a shifter with excellent night vision. She could easily see where she was going. The cove stretched out before her, and in the distance, she thought she saw the flash of scales. From what she’d heard, there was a pod of mer people living in the cove, so what she was seeing most likely was one of the rare, elusive, magical mer.
She shook her head as she made her way slowly toward the beach. It wasn’t far, as the doctor had promised. She could see the picnic tables he’d mentioned, not too far away. She made them her goal. Her body was weak, but her spirit was strong, and she just wanted to sit over there and watch the sunrise. Outside. Where she hadn’t been allowed to go for more years than she wanted to contemplate.
Her captors had kept her in a cage. Indoors almost all the time. She’d rarely seen the sun, and after she put herself between realms—for all intents and purposes, in a coma—she hadn’t seen anything at all, except in a veiled sort of way, peering in from that between place where she floated. Timeless. Neither here nor there. Neither alive nor dead. Just existing where her power could not be accessed by the evil bastards who dared to try to enslave her spirit.
None of them had succeeded, but it had been a close thing, a time or two. She closed her eyes, banishing the harsh memories. Instead, she concentrated on the feel of the damp air on her face, the sound of the waves lapping at the shore a few yards away, the splash of what were likely mer people out in the cove. The sound of footsteps trying deliberately to be heard.
She opened her eyes to find a man walking toward her. He ceased making noise as their gazes met, and he returned to his normal way of moving. Considerate of him, she thought, to alert her to his presence so far away. Thoughtful.
She could feel his power as he moved closer. She remembered him from the stone circle. He’d been one of the magical ones who had been there when she was freed. But why was he here now?
“Morning,” he said gently as he drew closer. He stopped several feet away from her, his hands in his pockets. His stance was unthreatening, even though he was built just as large as the other bear shifter behemoths in this town.
“Good morning,” she replied, only a bit hesitant.
“I was on my way to check with Sven about how you were doing, but here you are,” he said, still keeping his tone friendly and low, as if he didn’t want to disturb the early morning with loud words. “I’m Gus, by the way.”
“Laura,” she returned his polite introduction. “Who’s Sven? The doctor?”
“Yeah. That’s his mate out there, having a predawn swim.” He gestured toward the cove where the glimpse of an iridescent fin could just be seen for a moment. “Her name is Sirena and, as you can probably guess, she’s a mermaid.”
Laura tilted her head as she regarded him. “It’s quite an interesting little town you’ve got here.”
Gus smiled and shook his head. “We didn’t start out to become what we are now, but I believe it was all meant to be. Of course, I follow the shaman’s path, so I’m a big believer in Fate and divine intervention.”
A shaman. That explained why he’d been in the stone circle. It also explained the sizzle of magic all around him, even at rest. This was not a bear to be trifled with. And, he was a bear. She could tell by both his size and his scent. Earthy. Furry, but in a different way than her people.
“You were part of the original group that came up with the idea for this town, then?” she asked, just to keep him around. He intrigued her, and for some reason, she felt safe around him.
“The town was all Big John’s idea. We just went along when he laid out the plans. He’s our Alpha and our leader—mostly because he’s better at strategic planning than just about anybody. We bears aren’t as big on following an Alpha as you wolves. We’re more likely to go our own way than not, but occasionally, there are certain leaders that crop up among our kind. John’s one of those. He leads by example, and his ideas are just so good, and kind of daring, that we like where he’s going, and we follow along.” He shrugged, but Laura could tell this bear shaman had great respect for the man they all seemed to call Big John.
“Thank you for assisting when I awakened. I remember you being there, though the details are still a bit fuzzy.” She shrugged. The important part was that she, and her daughter, were safe now. The details of the journey to this town, which still eluded her, weren’t really that important by comparison to the end result.
“It was my honor, though it was Marilee who did the real magic in bringing you back to our realm. Someday, if you’re willing, I’d love to know exactly how you managed your between state. We shaman types are always interested in the theory and applications of traveling between this and other realms, though I do most of my work on the astral plane.”
He, of all the people in this strange place, might have a chance at understanding what she’d done. She thought about explaining it, but fatigue was creeping up on her.
“I would be happy to discuss it, but not right now, if you don’t mind,” she said, keeping her tone gentle. “I just want to enjoy the sunrise—my first in freedom—and then hobble back to bed in the clinic. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m feeling a bit tired.”
“No shame in that, after what you’ve been through,” he said gently. “I’ll leave, if that’s what you want, but I think, perhaps, you’ve been alone a long time. Maybe it’s good to have company while you enjoy this first sunrise in freedom. Plus, I can help you get back to the clinic, if you need assistance, but it’s your call.”
She suspected that if she told him to go, he’d probably set up surveillance and watch her from the cover of the bushes or something, just in case she needed help. Maybe he was right about her being alone too long. She was a Pack animal, after all. Her wolf had pined without company. Her soul had been sad to be isolated from those she knew and loved.
Maybe it was time to start building friendships with new people and finding a new group of people she could adopt as Pack—even if they weren’t wolves. There were no hard and fast rules that said every member of a person’s Pack had to be a werewolf, or even a shifter. An individual support system could be made up of anyone who was willing to be a friend. Human, shifter, or Other.
“Grab a seat,” she said, inviting him to sit next to her on the long plank that made up one side of the picnic table’s seating.
Gus gave her a smile as he moved closer and sat down. He really was handsome, and his magical aura was soothing to her. Instinct was telling her he could become a good friend.
They watched the sunrise together, speaking gently of general things. He told her a little more about the cove and its people, but mostly, they just sat and enjoyed the slowly changing colors and brightness as the sun rose behind them, painting the waves in rich, reflective hues.
It was a glorious morning.
*
Marilee woke in her mate’s arms, and thought it was a glorious morning. She had found her one and only. Her true love. Her partner for life. Her mate.
She could scarcely believe that King felt the same, but she knew from the warm glow in her heart that the words they’d spoken deep in the night had bound them together—heart to heart—for eternity. She couldn’t have been happier. Or more blessed.
“Good morning, mate,” King said from beside her. His voice was rough with sleep, but his words sent a little thrill down her spine.
“Good morning, husband,” she replied, using a word she hadn’t dared hope she’d ever be able to apply in her own life. He gave her a gentle squeeze.
“I like the sound of that, wife,” he replied, in a happy, teasing tone.
She thought of how proud she would be to not only be his mate, but to have the world know that she was his. The thought made her gasp.
“What?” He snuggled her close to his side.
“I was just thinking about what Sabrina will say,” she admitted. “She’s going to flip!”
“Yeah…maybe not as much as you think. See, Ace sort of already knows.” He sounded somewhat hesitant and slightly amused.
“What? How?” How in the world had his brother known before she even did?
“Well, remember when we met Ace at the roadhouse and he was hassling me about messing with you? The only way to get him to back off was to tell him I thought you were my mate. So he’s known for a while.”
“A while?” The thought that King had known she was his way back then, warmed her inside. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I probably should have.” He sounded sheepish, now. “But I was sort of afraid of messing this up, and I didn’t want to scare you off, so it took me a while to pick the right time.”
He’d been worried about her reaction? That was just about the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. Her big badass bear-man had been afraid she’d turn him down. As if.
She turned and reached up, kissing him all over his face. Little, playful, joyful kisses on his jaw, his cheeks, his forehead. He was laughing at her reaction, and the sound sent bubbles of happiness through her body. She loved hearing him laugh. She loved everything about him. Even this new vulnerable side he’d just shown her. Maybe especially that.
“What was all that for?” he asked, still smiling as she settled down, resting her ear against the beat of his heart.
“That was happiness,” she told him, simply. “And a thankful heart that you were willing to tell me the truth.” She leaned up on her elbow and met his beautiful brown eyes. “Now, here’s a little truth for you. I never imagined a man like you would come into my life, but now that you’re here, I’m never letting you go. You’re mine, Mr. Grizzly. My very own teddy bear.”
She kissed his neck, working her way upward until she reached his lips, and then they were both silent for a long while as they explored the boundaries of their newly declared love.
They made love in bed, then again in the shower as they were preparing for their day. It may have taken them a while to get going that morning, but nobody seemed to hold it against them when they made their first appearance in public later that day, sometime around noon. They went to the bakery for food, both ravenous from their exertions, and were there when Sabrina and Ace walked in a while later.
Sabrina let out a little squee sound and rushed around the table to give Marilee a hug. She drew back, looking from Marilee to King and back again.
“Is it official?” Sabrina asked, smiling big.
Marilee thought about teasing and asking what she meant but decided against it. She was just too happy to play a trick on her best friend. Instead, she nodded, grinning back at Sabrina.
“We’re mates,” she added, reaching for King’s hand. He was seated very close. He hadn’t wanted to go too far from her all morning, and she didn’t mind a bit.
Sabrina clapped her hands together and let out a whoop of joy, snagging the attention of the women behind the counter and the other patrons in the bakery at the time. Sabrina twirled around and spoke to them all.
“Party at Zak’s tonight!” she shouted with happiness. “My best friend and my new brother-in-law are mates!”
Cheers and congratulations showered the happy couple, thanks to Sabrina’s enthusiasm. Marilee wasn’t sure how they were going to be able to afford a party where half the town was invited, but she didn’t want to spoil Sabrina’s fun. They’d figure out a way to make the party happen. It looked like it was full steam ahead, regardless of what Marilee and King wanted, anyway. The best way to deal with Sabrina in this mood, Marilee had learned, was to just go along with it. That was usually for the best.
King invited Ace and Sabrina to sit with them, and they finished their long, leisurely lunch together. Two of the owners of the bakery—the women who’d been behind the counter—came over and offered their congratulations and a selection of desserts, on the house. It was the beginning of many kind gestures on the parts of the townsfolk whenever they saw Marilee or King on the street over the rest of the day.
During lunch, Ace and King talked about the mechanic shop Ace was going to open. Plans had been made, but the actual work of setting up the business hadn’t yet begun, and Marilee got to understand more about her new mate’s background and life prior to their meeting. She heard about the various garages they’d worked in over the years, including the up-scale operation in Phoenix they had left before going to Sturgis to help Ezra, which had led to them going their separate ways for a time.
King told Ace about his travels and his time spent in Iowa among the White Oaks wolf Pack. Marilee listened intently, interested to hear about another wolf Pack—one that was run by a better Alpha than Tobias. If they ever were free to travel, Marilee thought it would be nice to visit King’s friends in Iowa, but as of right now, she felt safest in Grizzly Cove, and it was going to be a while before she’d want to go anywhere else.
They talked briefly about how Ace and Sabrina had been accepted into the town. Ace even stated flatly that Big John had run background checks on all three brothers. He’d apparently made no secret about it, but like most things here in this honest town, he’d done it out in the open, with Ace’s full knowledge.
“They cleared the three of us a while back. John is as good a strategic thinker as everyone says. He realized that sooner or later, if I stayed here, my brothers would come by and probably stick around to work in the garage. Our history preceded us, so to speak. The fact that we like to work together was pretty obvious to John and the man he tasked to research us,” Ace revealed.
“I don’t like being so predictable,” King groused good-naturedly, “but it saves us some time. At least I know they’ll let me stay, if I ask.” He turned to Marilee. “You do want to stay, right?”
Marilee nodded. “I’d hoped all along to be able to stay here,” she admitted. “I just didn’t know how it was all going to work out. Originally, I was just coming for a visit, but I knew I wasn’t going back to Tobias’s Pack.”
“I wouldn’t have let you go back there,” Sabrina said. “We were always friends, but now, we’re family.”
Marilee’s jaw dropped in happy surprise. “We are, aren’t we? That’s so awesome!” Her happiness was off the charts, but there were still questions to be answered. “But what am I going to do for a job? I’m not used to being idle, and really, I can’t afford to be.”
“You’re my mate,” King said with a sexy growl. “You don’t have to work if you don’t want to. I can be the breadwinner. I don’t mind. Honestly, I’ve got a bit in the bank, which is probably more than enough to get us settled here.”
“Well…I appreciate that. I really do. But like I said, I’m not used to sitting around all day with nothing to do. I just don’t know what I could do here in Grizzly Cove,” she said, looking around at the busy bakery.
“You know…” Sabrina began, her tone indicating to Marilee that she had something up her sleeve. “I asked around even before you got here. The sisters who own this bakery are all newly mated, and as the town has gotten bigger, they’ve gotten a lot busier. They had one of the mermaids working part-time, but she started selling some of her art, and she left to work in the gallery down the street. That leaves a position open here at the bakery, if that’s something you want to do.”
Marilee just shook her head. “You had this all figured out, didn’t you?”
Sabrina leaned into her mate’s side. “Ace helped. He remembered the shop where you worked in Canada, and when he saw that the bakery was short-staffed, he mentioned it to me. I had a talk with Nell—she’s the eldest of the sisters who own this place—and she gave me the scoop. They need help and you already have relevant experience. It’s a perfect fit.”
“That just leaves a few other details, like, where are you going to live?” Ace put in, a smile on his face.
“Don’t tell me. You’ve got all that planned out already, too,” King said, giving his brother a grin, even as he shook his head.
“Well, I did scope out all the various properties that were available and suitable for Sabrina and me when we decided to stay,” Ace told them. “We deliberately chose our spot, knowing the lots on either side were available. If you wanted to, you could take a look at those two adjoining home sites tomorrow and start thinking about whether you want to join us a little farther out from the center of town. You could always stay here in town if you wanted, of course. There are some apartments available and new ones being built, though those were intended mostly for the mer.”
King acquiesced, chuckling. “I should’ve known better.”
“I think it would be awesome to live next door to each other,” Marilee enthused, thinking mostly of how cool it would be to have her best friend—her new sister-in-law—close at hand.
“There are no structures on the adjacent lots yet, so you’d be able to design and build whatever you like,” Ace went on. “Just like we’re doing.”
It just got better and better, as far as Marilee was concerned.