by Sammie Joyce
“Oh my God,” I mumbled, more to myself than her.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Want to grab a coffee at Granddad’s before he comes back?”
Gulping back the stone in my throat, I turned my head and nodded dumbly.
“Okay.” It was all I could manage to say, even though I knew she and I had a lot to discuss.
* * *
I couldn’t even think about putting something down my gullet. My stomach was still flipping after seeing what I’d seen. I couldn’t say why I was so stunned by Emmett, Kea’s mate. After all, my own was a bear too, one just as big and fearsome.
Maybe I’d convinced myself that Davis was alone in the world, that there weren’t any other shifters, even though I knew how improbable that was.
Or maybe I didn’t really see Davis as a shifter at all anymore but as someone I loved and cared about. In our euphoria, I’d blocked out all the nastiness of the outside world—not that I considered him being a shifter a problem, but other shifters, well, they could be a problem.
“Do you understand why I’ve been so brazen about gathering information?” Kea asked, settling back into a booth as she studied my awed face. “Why I won’t leave this alone?”
“Well, yeah,” I muttered, unable to even stand the smell of my coffee. I sank back to fold my arms over my chest. “But I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”
I still wasn’t sure if I could trust Kea, especially after what she’d pulled that afternoon but she had more to offer me on the subject of shifters than anything I’d pulled online.
“Emmett thinks he’s the only shifter in the world,” Kea explained gently. My eyebrows shot up.
“He does?”
“He…he wasn’t born this way,” she went on delicately and I could see she was still trying to determine how much to tell me about it. “It happened by accident.”
I blinked, realizing that I’d never asked Davis how he’d come to be a shifter. I’d just assumed he was born that way.
Maybe it’s good that I met Kea, I thought begrudgingly. She certainly seemed to have all the right questions.
“I’ve been searching for more shifters, to show him he’s not alone in this world, Lowell. Can you imagine how lonely someone would feel to think they are the only one of their kind?”
I heard the plaintiveness in her words and I knew she wasn’t trying to manipulate me. She genuinely cared for Emmett.
“I don’t think he’s alone,” I heard myself say and I almost wondered if I was the one who had said it. I blinked but Kea didn’t look surprised.
“Me neither,” she agreed. “And I think you know another shifter, don’t you?”
I had promised Davis, sworn to him that I wouldn’t tell a soul just as I was sure that Kea had sworn to Emmett.
But they are the same kind. Shouldn’t they be together? Like a family or a tribe?
“Lowell, I have just as much to lose in this as you,” she breathed, her words begging. “Please, just give me something, anything.”
“His name is Davis Locklear and he’s a grizzly.”
22
Davis
I looked at her in disbelief.
“A double date? Really, Lowe?”
She shrugged nonchalantly and looked down at her hot chocolate, dipping the marshmallows deeper inside the cup before scooping them up on a spoon.
“Why not?” she replied. “It’s something couples do.”
“No offense, babe, but I don’t really want to go out with a bunch of high school kids.”
Lowell shook her head vehemently.
“No, they’re not,” she replied quickly, flashing me a smile. “They’re older and very cool. You’ll like them. They’re doctors.”
There was something off about her affect but I didn’t know what to make of it.
“Doctors,” I repeated. “Where did you meet a couple of doctors?”
“In town. Oh my God, Davis, why are you so suspicious. It’s nice to make friends. You forget, I’m new in town. So far, the only friends I’ve made have gotten me into trouble.”
She eyed me imploringly.
“Please?”
“Fine,” I relented even though the idea of a double date was less appealing than going to a baby shower. Still, I knew I couldn’t keep Lowell all to myself. She deserved to have friends and if she liked this couple, I probably would too.
“Awesome! Thanks, babe!” She jumped up from her chair and kissed me on the cheek as he father walked into the kitchen.
“Are you behaving yourself, Davis?” Colonel Carey demanded sternly.
“Sir, yes, sir,” I replied. He and I shared a quick grin and he was gone, leaving us alone in her kitchen. Her dad liked me and I appreciated that. I wished that my father would accept Lowell as easily.
It would help if you told him the truth about the two of you, the smug voice chirped but again, I ignored it.
“We have dinner reservations tomorrow night at La Piazza,” Lowell announced and I blinked.
“What?” I demanded. “How did you know I was even going to agree to go?”
She giggled and kissed my cheek again.
“Maybe because I know you,” she demurred.
* * *
I wouldn’t admit it to Lowell but I was finding dinner to be slightly uncomfortable. I couldn’t say why exactly. The company was good, the conversation light and the food was excellent, but there was an undertone I didn’t quite understand.
Lowell and Kea got along well enough, but there was a tension between them, and they exchanged what I thought to be furtive glances more than I liked. I dismissed my thoughts as paranoid. After all, when was the last time I’d been on a double date?
Never. That’s when.
“You’re a doctor of what exactly, Emmett,” I asked politely over dessert.
“Uh, archeology,” he said in his slightly nervous way. I noticed he always seemed to glance at Kea before he answered, almost as if he was expecting to say the wrong thing. It was both endearing and annoying. A part of me wanted to take him under my wing and show him a modicum of confidence, even if he was older than me by a few years.
“That must be cool,” I said, impressed. “You must have seen lots in your travels.”
“He found me in his travels,” Kea said lightly and the table laughed.
“Kea’s from Hawaii,” Lowell volunteered. “That’s where these two lovebirds met.”
I found myself warming up to the couple, Emmett more than Kea, since I couldn’t quite get a handle on her game yet. She was a difficult read somehow, like she was hiding something. Then again, aren’t we all hiding something?
Despite my protests, Emmett paid the bill for all of us, but before I could make a scene about it, Kea interjected and suggested we burn off some of the gelato with some ice skating.
“The drop in temperature froze the lake outside town,” Emmett agreed. “And I brought along a few pairs of skates. I’m sure I can find something to fit all of us.”
They’d obviously put a lot more thought into this date than I had, and I knew I couldn’t refuse.
“Sounds good,” I agreed, shooting Lowell a wink. I watched her shoulders visibly sag at my expression and I found that curious. This date had been her idea after all. Why was she so tense? I wondered if she had been worried I would act out or something.
Emmett drove us all in his Jeep and when we got to the location, it was pitch black but he was prepared. He’d brought camping lanterns to illuminate the area and as he’d predicted, the skates he had with him managed to fit us, even if mine were a little small.
It was a giddy, childish feeling to slide along the ice like that. I hadn’t been ice skating since I was a boy and oddly, it sparked a deep sense of hiraeth inside me.
Lowell’s mitted hand squeezed mine gently as we scooted around but I noticed that Kea was struggling across the lake with Emmett.
“I think we’d better change partners,” Lowell offered, giggling as she wa
tched the older couple slip and slide over the patches.
“I was going to suggest the same thing,” I agreed and we scooted over to save them both from falling.
“May we cut in?” I asked cordially, extending my arm to Kea. She looked up in surprise and cast Emmett a look as Lowell did the same.
“Sure,” Kea replied, laughing. “You can only make me look good.”
She accepted my arm and easily, I glided her down the edge of the lake as Lowell dared further into the depth with Emmett. He was a better skater than Kea but that was to be expected, given her upbringing.
“I have a lot to learn out here,” Kea chuckled dryly. “I’m a little out of my element.”
“It’s just like anything else,” I assured her. “Practice makes perfect.”
She gave me a grateful smile but before she could respond, I heard a sickening and unmistakable sound. Ice breaking. A scream rang out across the lake and my head whipped up just in time to see Lowell fall beneath the surface of the crack, head disappearing entirely.
Terror flooded me, but even I didn’t react as quickly as Emmet who had lost her hand. More sounds of popping ensued as I watched in disbelief.
Before me, Emmett became the largest bear I’d ever seen, his front paws dipping in just before his body fell fully into the hole. Shock embodied me as Kea whimpered at my side. Time seemed to stand still while we waited for one of them to resurface.
A second later, both heads crashed through the barrier, Lowell’s fur-lined hood locked in Emmett’s bear jaws. With an almost careless toss, he flung her toward safety, releasing a grunt before clamoring out of the frigid water. Instantly, he was back in his mortal form, running toward Lowell but by now, Kea and I had joined her side where she sat shivering and blue as she sputtered.
“Oh my God,” Kea muttered, looking toward her partner.
I dropped down to scoop her up in my arms, ensuring that she was breathing properly before dropping my jacket around her shoulders until she finally stopped trembling.
“Are you okay?” I demanded when she finally found her voice. She nodded weakly, darting her eyes toward Emmett who remained standing over them, attentively.
“I’m fine,” she assured us. “It’s fine. Emmett…”
She trailed off and that’s when the fury set it. I dropped her back onto the ice, leaving her with my jacket as I awkwardly skated back from the scene.
“You tricked me?” I choked in anger. “This was all a trick?!”
“Babe, it’s fine—” Lowell started to say but I was incensed.
“It’s fine?! You could have died with this stunt! You could have died and hurt him too! You could have hurt all of us! Again! You could have affected everyone!”
Lowell looked up at me, her teal eyes shining with tears. I steeled myself against feeling anything against the expression. She had done this to herself and at grave risk to everyone.
For a moment, I thought I could hear my father’s voice chuckling in my head, his own words echoing through my head.
“You were all in on this?” I hissed, glaring at the trio but when I looked at Emmett, naked and confused, I realized that he had been just as ignorant as me. Suddenly, I understood the covert glances between the women.
“It wasn’t a trick!” Lowell cried out, also rising to her feet. “We just wanted you to know one another and if we’d asked…”
“We?” Emmett echoed, looking to Kea in awe as Lowell’s words sunk in. “You knew about this too?”
Kea gave Lowell a scathing look.
“I can’t believe this,” I hissed, backing further away from them. “You swore to me that you wouldn’t tell anyone. I told my father that you could be trusted and you do this?”
The hurt and betrayal was raw and cutting. I didn’t even know what to say to her in those moments. I just wanted to get away from her, from Emmett, from all of it.
“Kea, how could you?” Emmett echoed my sentiments, shaking his head in disappointment. The women looked after us, each calling our names but I was already gone.
How could I have been so stupid?
23
Lowell
Not surprisingly, I woke up with a terrible head cold the following morning and Dad let me stay home from school. He, of course, knew nothing about my fall into the icy lake the previous night.
By the time I wandered home, I was dry against the chilly fall air, but I knew I was bound to get sick.
I took the opportunity to call Davis. I’d spent all night tossing and turning, thinking about the awful way I’d treated both him and Emmett. They didn’t deserve to be manipulated and Davis was right—that stunt was both dangerous and cruel.
My texts went unanswered and when I finally bit the bullet and decided to call, the caller was unavailable. I was beyond devastated by the way things had gone and I knew I had to make it right one way or another.
After Dad had left for work, I called a taxi and had them take me to Emmett and Kea’s place. I had to use Google to locate it based on my memory from the route Kea had used but to my surprise, I did well and landed myself on their front door at ten in the morning.
Emmett had stayed home from work and Kea ushered me inside, her face wrought with embarrassment.
“He hasn’t said a word to me since last night,” she mumbled at me when I saw him sitting on the sofa, staring stonily ahead at the television set. I was sure he wasn’t even watching what was on it and he didn’t raise his head to acknowledge my presence.
Swallowing a sigh, I wandered into the living room, despite Kea’s desperate look and perched on the sofa beside him.
“Emmett,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry about what happened last night.”
He remained stoically fixed on his program and I cast Kea a wary look. She shrugged as if to say, “told you so” but I couldn’t give up so easily, not when everyone was so upset.
“You saved my life,” I tried again. “And I didn’t properly thank you.”
I saw a flicker of movement in his eyes but he still didn’t look directly at me.
“Emmett, we didn’t do it to be cruel or manipulate you,” I offered. “Kea only told me your secret because she knows that Davis is a bear shifter too.”
Suddenly, he looked at me, his eyes widening with surprise.
“What?” he asked dubiously. “Is this another trick?”
I shook my head vehemently.
“No, no tricks. We wanted you to get to know each other. Davis is a grizzly, though, not a polar bear.”
The air seemed to deflate out of Emmett’s body and he sank against the sofa cushions into a pile.
“I see,” he said in a tone that made me think that perhaps he didn’t entirely.
“He’s my mate, Emmett, and he’s just as hurt as you are right now—maybe more. He’s not answering my calls and his phone isn’t even going to voicemail.”
I could tell he was hanging off my every word.
“Emmett, can’t you see that we did it just as much for your benefit as anything?” Kea asked him imploringly. “You wanted to know if there were more out there like you and now you have proof. You should talk to him and see what else you have in common.”
Emmett gave her a strange look and I wondered if he would ever forgive her for the role she played in what we’d done. I hoped so. I couldn’t think of a worse feeling than what I was experiencing at that moment.
“What do you want me to do?” he muttered begrudgingly, and I felt my heart swell. If Emmett was coming around, maybe Davis would too.
“Help me find him so we can all sit down and talk,” I urged. “He doesn’t have a beef with you.”
“You want me to be your buffer,” he concluded and I blushed at the blunt term.
“I want you to be his friend,” I countered and I meant it. “We’re all on the same side here. What I did was reckless but it was done with pure intentions.”
Emmett released a sigh and slowly righted his spine, turning his head to look at me.
“Fine,” he muttered. “Let’s go find your mate.”
* * *
The base of the mountain seemed much different to me in the light of day but even so, I knew we were in the right place as I guided Emmett where to park.
“We’ll need to travel up the mountain,” I warned, sniffling slightly. My ankle started to throb at the memory of what had happened the last time we were there. It had long since healed, but I couldn’t help but voice my concern about the terrain aloud.
“It’s treacherous,” I told them. “I already fell down a ravine once.”
“It won’t be treacherous for me,” Emmett replied and before I could ask him what he meant, I watched him shift into his polar bear form, nodding for us to climb onto his back.
I eyed Kea, wondering how she felt about that, but she was already ascending his yellow-white fur, sitting high above me.
“Are you coming or not?” she asked when I hesitated. I shrugged, not one to be asked twice and nodded, accepting her outstretched hand. She pulled me up and Emmett raised his majestic head, ambling forward into the trees.
“Oh,” Kea laughed, pointing up at the sky. “Would you look at that?”
My eyes followed her gaze and I saw a bald eagle flying above us, circling lower than I would have expected, as if he was watching us closely.
Inexplicably, I felt a shiver of apprehension shoot through me.
“What’s wrong?” Kea asked, feeling my shudder but I had no answer for her. I knew something was off, I just couldn’t say what.
24
Davis
I heard the flap of his wings well before he appeared at the mouth of the cave but I wasn’t in the mood to engage with my father. After what happened the night before, I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to anyone ever again.
The hurt I was feeling by what Lowell had done refused to subside and I wondered how I could have been so blind to her manipulation.