by Zoe Chant
So that was how she had come to Peony's house, as a small angry child who only knew how to push people away.
Her clearest memories from those days were of Peony holding her, just holding her, and how safe and protected she had felt then. It had been a strange feeling for her, a feeling she didn't know how to handle or trust.
But Mauro was right. Her prickles had never driven Peony away then. Why had she thought it would be any different now?
She uncurled cautiously. It was hard; her tendency as a hedgehog was to curl up if she felt scared or nervous. It was difficult to expose her unprotected little hedgehog belly to the world.
But sometimes you could afford to do that. The world wasn't always going to hurt you. She had done it last night with Mauro, and now she did it with Peony.
Carefully, she unballed herself and crawled up to Peony's sleeve. She snuffled at it with her sensitive little hedgehog nose. It smelled like perfume and Peony and warmth and safety and Mom.
"Oh," Peony said faintly, and she gave a little giggle. "Um, I guess you're sniffing me now. Yeah. That's ... what's happening. Definitely. My daughter is a hedgehog."
Hester crawled over to the edge of Peony's palm and looked down. She was ready to shift back, but didn't want to do it with Peony holding her. That would be awkward.
"You want down? Oh ... okay." Very carefully, Peony set her on top of the soft material of her sweater.
Hester scrambled off and briefly concentrated. All of a sudden the world was normal-sized again and back in full color, as opposed to the brown and gray world of a hedgehog's night-adapted vision. And she was sitting naked and human-shaped on top of her pile of clothing.
"So. Hedgehog," she said.
Peony whipped the blanket off her lap and wrapped Hester up in it. "Hedgehog," she echoed.
"Er. Yes." Hester risked a glance at her mother. Peony didn't look critical or even upset. She just looked softly amazed.
"How long have you been able to do that?"
"Pretty much forever, I guess? I can control it," Hester explained. "I don't shift all that often. Mostly I go for scampers in the park under the dead leaves and stuff. Um, I think I'm going to put my pants on now ..."
Peony politely looked away so Hester could get dressed. "You never told me," she said softly.
"In my defense," Hester said, wriggling into her sweater, "it is really hard to open a conversation that starts with 'Mom, I can turn into a hedgehog.'"
"Okay, I guess I can see that."
"And also, I just ... I didn't know how to tell you when I was a little kid. I was scared to tell you," Hester admitted. She tugged the sweater down and ran a hand through her flyaway hair to smooth it flat. "And then it just got harder and harder the longer that I didn't tell you."
"Scared?" Peony asked. She looked at Hester with honest puzzlement. "Why?"
"What do you mean, why?" Hester felt a little of the old prickly feeling start to come out. "Because I thought you'd give me back, that's why. You wanted a little girl, not some kind of broken, messed-up baby hedgehog—oomph!"
She was used to Peony's hugs, of course—Peony was a huggy person—but she was completely unprepared to be hugged quite that hard. Peony grabbed her and squished her into a hug that squeezed most of the air out of her.
"Oh, baby," Peony said into her hair. "Oh, honey. I could never have given you back. I couldn't. It's not possible. You can't give your children back. They're yours. And I knew that very first night that you were mine, then and forever."
"Mom—erk—help—can't breathe—"
But it was a token protest only. Peony's tight grip relaxed a little, and Hester slumped in her mother's arms, pressing her face into Peony's shoulder.
No matter how old you got, you never quite outgrew the comforting feeling of being hugged by your mom.
"For the record," Peony said into Hester's hair, "you would have been an absolutely adorable baby hedgehog."
Hester laughed wetly. From the sound of Peony's voice, she was crying a little too.
"I don't suppose you have pictures?" Peony asked hopefully.
"Mom!" Hester laughed again, feeling lighter. Her eyes were wet, but it felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. "It's a secret! I don't go around taking selfies of myself as a hedgehog."
Peony patted her shoulder and pulled back. She blew her nose and offered Hester a tissue. "Can I take a picture of you?"
"I just got dressed," Hester protested. "I'll take a hedgehog selfie for you later."
"Does Mauro know—Wait." Peony gave her a look. "Mauro turns into something too, doesn't he?"
"Mom! I can't just tell you that! It's a huge secret."
"So he does."
"Seriously, Mom," Hester said. "You can't tell anyone about me. About us. Ever."
"Is he a hedgehog?"
"Mom."
Peony smiled. "Honey, I'm not going to give away your secret. You can trust me."
"I know I can, Mom."
"But seriously though. Is he a hedgehog too?"
"I can't just tell you," Hester said. "I'll talk to him about it later."
"Don't put yourself out on my account, sweetheart," Peony said.
"I won't, but—"
"Is he a snow leopard? No wait, you won't tell me. But he seems like a snow leopard."
"Will you stop asking if I let you take a picture of me as a hedgehog?"
Peony beamed. Hester sighed and shifted.
It was early afternoon when a snowplow rumbled into the hotel's parking lot. They were just finishing up a late lunch. Hester and Mauro had gone out skiing, which Hester had never done before; there had been a lot of giggling and falling in the snow. After that, Mauro had decided to let Peony guess about his shifter type.
"Bumblebee," Peony said.
"Mom, you're not even trying."
It was just the three of them in the lodge's restaurant, surrounded by tables looking as pristine as the snow, crisp in their white tablecloths. It felt like they were in their own world here, and it took Hester a moment to recognize that the rumbling outside was actually real, the outside world intruding into their private universe.
"Good news, ladies," Mauro said, peering out the window. "It looks like you can get back home now."
He didn't sound like someone announcing good news.
Hester slipped her hand into Mauro's. "Don't forget, we booked the entire weekend," she said. "We've only stayed one night, and I for one definitely plan to get Ralph's money's worth."
"You know, technically the hotel cancelled everyone's bookings from here to spring," Mauro pointed out. He looked much happier, though.
Peony folded her napkin. "Well, now all we need is—"
She broke off. As if on cue, the lights abruptly brightened. The power was back on.
"I'll go turn off the generator," Mauro said, and he slipped out before Hester could say anything.
She stood on tiptoe to look out the window and get a good look at the snowplow. It was a big one, plowing up a giant berm at the side of the parking lot. Mauro appeared in her field of view, going over to talk to the driver.
Peony's hand settled on her back.
"So I'm thinking I might head back to town early," Peony said.
"Oh, Mom, no. You don't have to."
Peony kissed her in the middle of her forehead. "I know. But I've got a big week coming up at the office. I want you to have some time to yourselves without a third wheel."
"Oh, Mom. You're anything but that." Hester swallowed. She had been thinking her way around a huge idea that was still hard to tackle head-on. She made herself say it out loud. "I'm not sure if I'm going back, anyway. I'm thinking about staying."
"Here?" Peony asked. "At the lodge?"
"Here with Mauro. I can't imagine he'd say no." Actually, she knew he'd be delighted. She was already dreading having to part with him, even if it was only for a short time, and it was obvious that he felt the same. "I can run my business from anywhere. It doesn't h
ave to be in town."
"Well, then. I guess I only have one question."
"What's that?"
Peony looked around, and leaned close to whisper, "So what does he turn into?"
"Mom."
"What? He won't tell me!"
"Maybe because you keep asking him and now he's made a game out of it."
"At least give me a hint. What continent is it from?"
"Australia," Hester lied cheerfully.
Peony gave her a suspicious look. "I don't know whether to believe you or not."
"Well, it starts with A, anyway."
Mauro came back in, brushing off snow. "Sounds like the road is clear all the way out to the highway," he said, then looked between them. "Did I miss something?"
"Mom still wants to know your animal type," Hester said.
Mauro winked. "Told you, you have to guess."
"And ... I'm thinking about staying here."
He froze in the act of knocking snow off his boots. There was a startled, almost vulnerable look on his face.
"Staying," he said quietly.
"Here," Hester said. "At the lodge. With you." The words started tumbling out. "I was just telling my mom, I can do my work from anywhere since it's a mail-order business, and I can get by for a week or two on just my luggage here—I'll have to go back and get some things, of course, but—Mauro, please say something."
"I'm just stunned." He kissed her gently, and it warmed her down to her toes. When he pulled away, his eyes were sparkling and brilliant. "Please. Please stay with me. I don't want to hold you too tightly, but—"
Hester threw her arms around him. "There's no danger of that. Of course I'll stay. You could never hold too tight." She leaned into him and pressed her cheek against his coat. "When you hold me, all I feel is safe."
Epilogue: Hester
Spring in the mountains was astonishingly wet and vibrantly alive. The still, frozen landscape unlocked in a burst of life and growth, as if months of pent-up activity were unleashed all at once. There was water everywhere, dripping from rocks and rushing in streams and falling from the sky in a light spring rain. There were fresh green things uncoiling from the dark, damp soil, and tender new leaves unfurling on the trees. It was like an entirely new world. Every day was a wealth of new sights and sounds and smells for Hester and her hedgehog to explore.
She couldn't get enough of it.
She had been living at the lodge with Mauro for months now. They had taken several trips down from the mountains in Mauro's truck, packing and loading her things with Peony's help—and visiting with Peony, of course. What took the most time was boxing up and loading all of her art supplies, but she couldn't wait to unpack them in Mauro's cabin. She was already fantasizing about all the art inspiration she was going to get from the mountains. She'd started keeping a sketchbook again, scribbling ideas for new pieces of jewelry and ceramics.
Mauro had been talking about maybe getting a place of their own off the lodge property, that they could modify however they wanted, so she could have the huge, beautiful, well-lit art studio of her dreams instead of the cramped second bedroom in her old apartment, or the back room of his cabin.
It was hard to imagine leaving the lodge, though. It was where they had met, and where they had fallen in love. All their first milestones as a couple were here.
"It's going to be different when the guests come back, you know," Mauro told her, as they walked arm in arm along a hiking path above the lodge. Through windblown spring leaves, glimpses of the roofs of the lodge buildings gleamed in the sun below them. "It seems so quiet and private now, but it won't be such a haven for you with tourists underfoot all the time, people who don't know about shifters. You'll have to hide here, just as much as in the city."
Were the guests coming back, though? Spring turned into early summer, and still it was just the two of them. It was a perfect, peaceful, idyllic life. Peony came to visit occasionally, and they took periodic trips to the small town at the foot of the mountains to restock their supply of fresh fruits and vegetables and milk. They could probably live off the food in the lodge for a year, but it was lacking in fresh things.
Hester tried not to fantasize too enthusiastically about a garden. This wasn't her place, she reminded herself, even if it felt like it.
And then a phone call came. After that, Mauro sat down with her on the benches outside the lodge. The sun was warm on their necks and backs. He took her hand as he spoke.
"I was afraid of this," he said. "The owners are selling the lodge. They're getting older, and I've been able to tell the last couple of years that their hearts aren't in it anymore. They just let me know that they're preparing to put it on the market."
Before she could second-guess herself, Hester burst out, "What if we bought it?"
"What?" Mauro said, startled. "How would we pay for it?"
"That's what bank financing is for, isn't it? My credit's great, and Peony's is too. She could go in on it with us. She's been talking about looking into some kind of business venture. Plus I have a nest egg I was planning to use for a down payment on a house someday."
"I have savings too," Mauro said. "But ... Hester, this would be a lot of work. If we pour a bunch of money into buying the lodge, we can't just let it sit empty. The taxes alone would kill us."
"So what if we invited shifters?" She was starting to get excited. "We could make it a haven for other people like us. It could be part lodge and part long-term rental. Like mountain apartments for shifters. I bet a lot of people would want to live somewhere like this, don't you think? Somewhere they and their children could shift and be safe and happy and free."
She was so excited that her tongue kept tangling up. Her entire life had been a search for safety and belonging, which she had found first with Peony—even if it had taken her a long time to recognize it—and then with Mauro. The idea that she could offer that feeling to others, to people like her, thrilled her down to her core.
"A place for shifters," she said. "Maybe some of them have been lonely and afraid their entire lives. Maybe they never had anywhere to belong. Nowhere they could just be themselves. We could make this place a haven for them."
Mauro brushed her cheek with his thumb, and then leaned in and kissed her.
"I love that idea," he said. "I'm not gonna lie, I would be happy to move away from here for your sake if you wanted to live somewhere else, but like I said before, this is home for me. I love it here. I don't want to move, and I don't want to work under strangers. I like the idea of being my own boss."
Her breath hitched. "We can do it?"
"If we can find the money to—whoa!"
Hester hurled herself into his arms, and Mauro, laughing, picked her up and spun her around.
A home. A place. A haven.
Right now, in the sunshine of the mountains she had come to love so much, safe in the arms of the man she loved, she couldn't imagine being happier. She could see the future ahead of her, and it looked beautiful.
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My newest regular-length book is Stoneskin Dragon, the steamy start to a new series! His last hope is her second chance — a dying dragon shifter searches for a rare book that might have the cure, with the help of a small-town librarian. But she’s hiding an explosive secret that could end everything …
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A note from Zoe Chant
Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. These shorter and cleaner romances are a new thing for me, so I’d really like to know what you think about it. I love hearing from readers if you want to email me, comment on my Facebook, or leave a review, even if you only write a line or two!
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My newest regular book is Stoneskin Dragon, the first book in a new series about dragon and gargoyle shifters. It’s a spinoff from one of my previous series, but can be read on its own. Keep turning pages to read a short preview!
Cover art: © Depositphoto.com
Also by Zoe Chant
Bodyguard Shifters
Bearista
Pet Rescue Panther
Bear in a Bookshop
Day Care Dragon
Bull in a Tea Shop
There is a convenient boxed set of the first four books.
Bears of Pinerock County
Sheriff Bear
Bad Boy Bear
Alpha Rancher Bear
Mountain Guardian Bear
Hired Bear
A Pinerock Christmas
Boxed Set #1 (collects Books 1-3)
Boxed Set #2 (collects Books 4-6)
And more … see my website for a full list at zoechant.com!
If you enjoyed this book, you might also like my paranormal romance and sci-fi romance written as Lauren Esker!
Shifter Agents
Handcuffed to the Bear
Guard Wolf
Dragon’s Luck
Tiger in the Hot Zone
Shifter Agents Boxed Set #1
(Collecting Handcuffed to the Bear, Guard Wolf, and Dragon's Luck)
Standalone Paranormal Romance
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Keeping Her Pride
Warriors of Galatea
Metal Wolf
Metal Dragon
Metal Pirate