The years of not knowing slipped away. She’d had dreams and hopes for her brother, and in one swoop, it seemed they were all answered. Although there were a whole lot of details still missing that needed to be filled in, it was clear Mason was in a place he called home.
The tight knot inside her titled I Don’t Know Where He Is But I Hope He’s Happy loosened a notch even as emotion rolled her hard. He was safe. He was alive.
He’d never heard of the damn telephone? Or a text message? Or a freaking postcard?
Marianne lifted her head and met Amber’s eyes. “Come to our house. I guess we have a lot to talk about.” She shifted her gaze to Cooper. “Sorry about that.”
“No apology needed,” Cooper insisted. “Lead the way.”
When Mason and Marianne slipped ahead of them, Amber burrowed up against Cooper’s side to whisper as softly as possible. “What was that about? Her punching you in the face?”
Cooper whispered back, “This is a village of seal shifters. There’ve been a few interspecies ‘incidents’ over the years, and while polar bear shifters now know better, there are some atrocities we need to keep apologizing for.”
Polar bears. Seal shifters.
Oh my God. Amber put the two together and came up with a horrible image. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. Thus the standing offer every polar bear gives when meeting members of the seal nation.”
And that all made sense now.
They pushed through the door into the cozy home Mason and Marianne led them to. A flurry of activity followed, with other members of the community rushing in to discuss the gear that had been left abandoned on the flats above the valley. Some of them took off on their skidoos to bring it all in.
Fortunately, none of the discussions involved more of the seal clan members punching Cooper in the face. It appeared once was enough per visit.
After quick, refreshing showers, they ended up sitting around the kitchen table, warm soup and biscuits going down easy after the long journey.
Amber and Cooper sat side by side. He had one hand over her thigh and their fingers were tangled together.
She stroked his knuckles even as she turned to Mason. As much as she loved her brother and was thankful to see him, keeping the annoyance out of her voice was impossible. “I’ve been tracking you for over two years. I would’ve appreciated if you’d dropped me a line to let me know you were alive.”
Mason blinked in surprise. “I sent you updates. Well, more at the beginning than recently, and I wrote because reception was always iffy. You never wrote back, but I figured you were busy, and you knew I was okay.” He glanced at Marianne who was spooning soup into Bram’s open mouth like he was a little bird. “I was going to call, but then I ended up here and things got complicated.”
“Like discovering you were going to be a dad?”
His laughter was soft, his gaze on Marianne tender. “That part came slightly later. First was discovering shifters were a thing. And then fated mates. That was all pretty complicated and not something I could explain in a letter, so I didn’t try.”
It made a lot of sense. The fact Amber had discovered shifters existed had a lot to do with being in knee-deep with Borealis Gems. “I never got any messages from you.”
He looked horrified. “I’m so sorry. I would have tried harder, but I thought—I don’t know what I thought.”
Wasted time and wasted years, but they were here now, and Amber needed to focus on that. On all the good that was now possible because the mystery had been settled. On the fact she’d never again wake up in the night, heart pounding, imagining the worst.
Never again feel guilty for falling back to sleep after that inexplicable sensation that everything was fine rushed in.
“As it turns out, you could’ve straight up told me and I would’ve understood, but there was no way you could’ve known.”
Her brother squeezed her fingers before he leaned in close, eyeing Cooper with suspicion. “I take it he’s with you?”
Cooper was staring at Bram, opening and closing his mouth at the same time as the little boy. Amber wasn’t sure Cooper was even aware he was doing it.
Her heart gave a huge thump. “He’s my mate,” she said simply. “We’re untangling a few final issues before its official, but yeah. He’s with me.”
Mason leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. “Huh. A polar bear shifter. Okay, then. Although it does make for a few complications when it comes to family gatherings.”
That was a mouthful.
“It’ll be a little interesting, but we’ll figure it out,” Amber assured him. She hesitated. “Mom and Dad? What did you find?”
His smile increased. “Good news and bad news there. I found them—you’re not going to believe this.”
“Try me,” Amber said dryly. “I can believe a lot these days.”
He snorted. “Yeah, I guess. They survived the plane crash, but they’re still in recuperation. They’re both shifters, which is why the regular search crews didn’t find them.”
Wow. Unbelievable was right, and yet it made perfect sense.
Amber was going slightly numb with one huge revelation after another, but she managed to speak as if they were having an ordinary, everyday visit. “What kind of shifters, and where are they?”
“Wolverines. They’re living with a group of shifters in a remote area of the Yukon. Northern Lights Retreat or something like that. We can Facetime with them if you’d like.” He made a face. “Dad still spontaneously shifts at times, which is why they haven’t contacted you. Mom figured if you knew they were alive, you’d insist on seeing them, and that really wasn’t possible. Now that you know about shifters, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
It was a miracle on top of a miracle. “I’m glad to know they’re okay. And I’m so happy to have finally found you.” She took a deep breath around the knot in her throat. “I missed you.”
His eyes sparkled. “I missed you as well. It’s good to know you’re back in my life.”
Amber glanced over at Marianne, checking out this woman who would have been her brother’s introduction to the world of shifters and the magical possibilities beyond the human realm. “She’s pretty.”
“She’s perfect,” Mason said, adoration in his tone. “She gives me hell when I’m unreasonable, and she makes me laugh, and we just fit. And now that we have Bram, I can’t imagine not being with them.”
Which was pretty much how she felt about Cooper, and the rest of his family, and her friends in Yellowknife.
As she looked at her brother and his cozy home with his new family, she felt as if her search was complete. He was content, and more than that, he didn’t really need her other than as a sister at times. Not the way they’d needed each other growing up.
She took his hand. “I’m glad you found your place. That you found the people you need.”
Mason squeezed her fingers back. “I found my heart.”
Bram was old enough to sit in a little chair attached to the table, and now that he’d had enough to eat that he wasn’t starving, he seemed fascinated by Cooper’s fingers.
Cooper and Marianne had been talking quietly about fishing and other shifter-type topics while she fed Bram. Cooper had stretched his free arm out within reach of Amber’s nephew, and now every time Bram reached for one of his big fingers, Cooper would wiggle it slightly and send the little boy into gales of laughter.
Amber’s heart turned to mush at the sight of her big bear and the little baby.
Marianne was slowly losing her stiffness, and she turned and offered Amber a true smile. “We don’t have room here, but my parents’ cottage is open for you to use. They went south to visit my sisters. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I hope you’ll stay to celebrate with us.”
Amber had totally lost track of time over the course of the past week. “I had no idea we’d hit the holidays. If it won’t put you out, we’d love to stay.”
“You’re fa
mily,” Marianne said. “It’s never going to be a problem for you to visit.”
Cooper was sitting motionless. Bram had his fingers wrapped in a death grip around Cooper’s thumb, and it looked as if her big polar bear was content to sit there until he was let free.
Amber slid her arm around Cooper and squeezed tight as she answered for them. “Then we’d love to. Thank you.”
They visited longer, including a video chat with Amber’s parents, which set her crying a little. She clung to Cooper’s hand even as she wiped away the tears. They laughed together at shared memories and when her dad accidentally shifted back and forth between fur and human a couple of times, no one so much as blinked.
After dinner they were given a tour of town then guided to their promised cottage.
Mason invited them to come back to his home after they’d gotten settled, but Amber shook her head. She wanted to visit with him and his family, but not now.
It was already late, and someone else in the room needed her attention.
“I’m glad we found you, Mason. And I’m even happier to see how much this is your home. But can we catch up tomorrow? It’s been a big day after a lot of other big days.”
“Of course.” Mason squeezed her tight in one of those hugs she remembered so well from her growing-up days. A hug that said she was important to him. “We’ll spend time together in lots of tomorrows.”
She closed the door behind him and turned to face her big polar bear. After the rush of all sorts of emotions—the joy and shock and amazement of finding Mason and her parents—through it all, she’d been utterly aware of Cooper.
Now as she walked across the simple cottage-like space toward him, it was with so much love inside her wanting to burst free. She held it back, though, sensing he needed something.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He led her to the couch and sat, their hands linked, a frown creasing between his brows. “I’m not sure—”
Cooper shook his head as if chasing away flies then, his eyes widening, he slipped away and stripped his shirt off over his head.
Okay. She kinda thought they were going to talk first but…
Cooper grinned even as he undid his pants and stepped out of them, getting naked. “This is most definitely a first, but I have been ordered to shift. I’m not sure why, but this time, I don’t think I should argue.”
Amber was going to ask for further explanation, but she wasn’t going to get any because Cooper was already shifting. The man vanished and the bear arrived, sitting on the hearthstones in the small living space that was barely big enough for him to turn around in.
When he padded forward and laid his chin on her knee, Amber gave in and ran her fingers through his fur, petting him. “Thank you for everything you did to get me here.”
It was a good thing she was sitting down, because the next thing she heard was very clearly Cooper’s voice. Only it wasn’t quite Cooper, and she wasn’t hearing it with her ears.
The voice sounded in her head.
“You did so much to make the trip successful. You’re good for Cooper, and I see now you’ll be good for me as well.”
Amber let out an unsteady breath and tried to answer back. “Cooper?”
“Yes… And no. I don’t think he can hear you because he’s not talking to you. I am.”
Cooper had once said that it was complicated, the relationship between him and his bear. Man, he wasn’t kidding. “Okay. So, while I have a chance, do you know that I think you’re marvelous?”
The bear swung a paw gently, as if batting away a butterfly. “You really are a sweet talker, but I kind of like that. You can tell me nice things anytime you want. And the scratching behind the ears is very acceptable, as well.”
“I’ll remember that.” Amusement and excitement were bubbling together inside Amber’s gut, and she wanted to be able to talk to Cooper about this, but she didn’t want this experience to end, either. “Does this mean Cooper and I are mates? I mean, this really is complicated, talking about you and Cooper as if you’re two different people, but are you okay with me being in your life?”
In her lap, the bear’s head dipped. “First, though, I need to apologize.”
Amber waited because there was obviously more coming.
She swore the bear swallowed hard before he continued. “I told Cooper there would be no mating until you had room for me. That was wrong. I thought that looking for your brother meant you had a missing place inside. But I heard you talk with Mason. I sense how much you care for him, and your parents, but your first touch is always for Cooper. For me. And your friends. Now I understand that you can care for more people without dividing love. Love is not a finite amount, it’s something that grows. Expands to fill the space.”
It was a difficult concept, and yet the simplest thing in the world.
Maybe, just maybe, it was also the reason she’d never given up hope. Never truly felt abandoned or alone. She’d had love with her all the days of her journey. Hope and love and optimism were as natural to her as breathing, or as…
As natural as shifting was to a certain bear of her heart.
“I can love my brother, and my friend Kaylee, and all of Cooper’s family, and my new sister-in-law and nephew, and I will still have room to love Cooper and you, his inner bear, with everything in me. Because love does grow.”
“This is a good thing,” Cooper’s bear informed her.
Moisture filled her eyes. Happy tears. “It’s a very good thing.”
“I’ll tell Cooper to shift back, and then you can have fun. But remember the ear scratching. And the compliments. I’ll remind you if you forget.”
She was laughing as the conversation cut out and Cooper shifted back into a naked man, now kneeling between her thighs.
He wore a slightly puzzled expression. “That was the most bizarre sensation.”
Amber cupped his face in her hand. “Did you hear us?”
Cooper shook his head. “Nothing more than that sound you hear in the Peanuts movies when the adults are talking. Blah, blah, blah.”
Interesting. Amber did her best to try and talk to him the way she’d been speaking with his bear. “Can you hear this?”
“I can, he can’t.”
Cooper blinked hard. “You just did it again. What’s going on?”
Amber thought it through then answered slowly. “It appears I can talk to your bear, and he can talk to me, and while that’s all fascinating, I think the most important part to tell you is that he no longer objects to our mating.”
Joy lit his expression. “That’s great.” He stopped. “Then why aren’t we mated?”
18
An absolute swing of emotions had rolled up one side of Cooper and down the other.
He’d never had his bear take charge like that before, but it had definitely been an order when he’d been told to shift. It had worried him for a moment—with Alex’s warnings and all—then his bear had added an unexpected please.
The command wasn’t a bear rebellion, but a sweet and heartfelt plea, and suddenly the last thing Cooper had been worried about was being hoodwinked by his inner beast.
Obviously something had happened between Amber and his bear that went far beyond the normal.
But now Amber was sitting there, after giving him the best news he’d heard in a long time, seemingly unfazed by the fact that nothing big and wild had happened.
Instead, she shrugged. “I don’t know why nothing seems to have changed. Time delay? What’s supposed to happen when we’re officially mates?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of the whole wildness that happened with Kaylee and James back at the start of summer. You know, the tornado-on-the-stage kind of thing.”
Amber looked thoughtful. “But Lara told me that with her and Alex, it wasn’t until he bit her, in that way that wolves do, that everything went through for them.”
“Alex told me the same thing.” This just got more and more confusing
. “Hang on. Let me check something.”
You there?
Not sure where exactly you thought I might go, but yes.
Everyone was a comedian today. So, you’re okay if Amber and I are mates?
Pretty sure that’s what I told her. You should listen to her a little better, considering you’re going to be stuck with each other from now till forever.
You’re particularly snarky tonight. How about constructive suggestions as to why nothing very shifter-like has happened, since you’re no longer objecting?
He got a pause this time then an internal shrug. Must have something to do with human traditions. Can’t help you there. Although if you want to mention something important to Amber?
Yes?
Tell her I’m particularly fond of compliments regarding my athletic prowess.
The urge to tell his bear to stop flirting with his woman was far too weird, and Cooper filed that away under Wild Shit That Happens To Shifters Who Mate Humans.
He met Amber’s gaze. “The only thing he suggests is completing some human tradition.” Sudden terror struck. “Don’t tell me you want to have a big wedding. I mean, do tell me if you want to have a big wedding, but—”
Panic was not a sensation he was familiar with, but it was easily recognizable. Tension swirled in his gut, and bright lights flashed behind his eyes as if he were one step away from fainting.
Settle down, his bear said with a laugh. If she wants to do the big wedding thing, we can survive.
These things take time, Cooper warned. I would prefer to be permanently hitched sooner than later. That’s all.
Sure. I believe you. His inner beast’s tone was mocking. Extremely mocking. Mr. We Should Wait Until The Appropriate Time.
There was that staticky buzz in his head again, and Amber’s eyes widened. Was his bear chatting with her?
I wish you’d find a way to loop me in, Cooper complained.
Busy talking. Don’t interrupt the grown-ups.
Cooper sputtered.
Amber snorted, hard, then flushed. “He’s very vocal, isn’t he? Your inner bear.”
“He’s a pain in the tuchus, is what he is,” Cooper grumbled before it registered that he was down on his knees in front of her and maybe this was part of what he could do to trigger their own special mating. “Amber?”
The Bear’s Forever Mate: Borealis Bears: Book 3 Page 11