Forever Fated Mates: A Shifter Romance Collection

by Meg Ripley

  I nodded, storing this information away with his other answers. “Favorite ice cream?”

  “Have to go with Rocky Road.”

  “A classic. Nice. So, what exactly is it about sushi you don’t like?”

  “And that’s your 20,” he pointed out. “I don’t know, the texture? I’ve tried a few different kinds and I haven’t liked any of them.”

  “Ridiculous,” I said. “So, you’re up again.”

  “I want to know what this tattoo is about.” He reached across the table and tapped his finger on my wrist, where the tiniest edge of my tattoo peeked out from under my long-sleeved shirt.

  “Must be in the form of a question. Your rules, not mine,” I reminded him.

  “I was getting to that. First question. Can I see it?”

  I pulled up my sleeve to reveal a brightly-colored phoenix soaring out from my wrist, upward into the sky. The design was full of fiery yellows, oranges, and reds, giving the appearance that the bird was on fire.

  “Wow,” he gasped. “So, second question. What does it mean?”

  “It’s a phoenix shedding its old self. See?” I ran my finger upward along the bold edges of the design. “That’s why it’s flying up out of the flames. In lore, phoenixes catch fire when they molt. Then, they’re reborn from the ashes and become something new. I got it after I ended things with Levi.”

  “I can see why you did. He’s a nightmare.” Max shook his head. “Did he ever hurt you? Question three.”

  I pulled my sleeve back down. “Well, yeah. He hurt me… in many different ways.”

  “Did he ever hit you?”

  I swallowed hard. Should I be honest? I finally decided to just nod.

  “That asshole.” Max punched his palm. “If I ever get a hold of him again—”

  “I’m out of it now,” I reminded him. “It’s okay. I just want Levi to leave me alone so I can heal and move on with my life.”

  “Is it working? The healing, that is. That was number five.”

  “I hope? I know that when I’m around you, it feels good. You said I’d have non-stop fun, and I didn’t believe you, but it’s been mostly true. You make me laugh. A lot.”

  “Good,” he said. “You make me laugh, too. You make me smile. You make me want to change the world.”

  “That’s a new one. I like that.”

  “Oh! That’s a good question number six. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?”

  “Oh wow.” I sat back in my chair and picked at the corner of the placemat.

  He’d taken me to Sunny’s, a bright and cheerful restaurant crammed full of bizarre knickknacks. The wall by our table featured a painting of a monkey’s paw, a red bolo hat hanging from its white ties, and a bowling ball, cut in half and positioned to look like it was coming out of the wall. The food had been decent, and it had been interesting, for sure. The sort of place only Max would think to go. But it was fun looking at all the little trinkets.

  It was hard to think of the world as a whole. What was the biggest problem I saw? Lack of environmental consciousness? The people going hungry across the world? The planet had many issues to choose from. But, when I thought about it, there was one thing that would solve it all. Or most of it.

  “Okay,” I said after forming the words in my mind. “I would eliminate the desire for money. I think that would make the world a much better place.”

  He whistled. “That’s a good one. Most people say ending hunger or something.”

  “To be fair, I did consider that briefly. But without the love for money, you eliminate a lot of things—greed, stress of working all the time, envy and trying to out-buy your neighbors. You get rid of companies selling products that they know are harmful, but make them tons of money. You get rid of the rat race, of the striving for more. Not that competition wouldn’t exist for other things, but if there were no desire for money, no need for it driving us, then the competition would be purer and would have a benefit, like being able to find the best candidate for a job—and not having to choose someone younger and more inexperienced because their salary expectations are lower.”

  “You’ve thought about this a lot,” Max commented.

  “Not really, but since you asked…”

  He laughed. “I guess I did. I feel like that answer is worth about ten questions, though. I think it’s your turn again.”

  “I just have one. What’s the worst relationship you’ve ever been in?”

  He pressed his lips together and looked down. “I’ve never really been in one. I mean, I’ve had girlfriends, but nothing serious—nothing longer than a few months—so they didn’t have time to get bad. If something seemed to be bugging me about one of them, I’d just end it. I hate to admit it, but that’s how I was.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I think I’ve changed. I realize that it’s not that I have a problem with commitment. I just haven’t found someone I could imagine spending my life with. Until recently.”

  I opened my mouth to object, but he held up his hand.

  “I know you’re not looking for that,” he assured me. “But you’ve made me realize that I could be happy in a relationship if I found the right person. That’s all.”

  I closed my mouth. “Thanks for being honest. That was a lot.”

  “You shared a lot, so I wanted to keep it even. Hey, we’d better head out if we’re going to make the movie.”

  He generously paid the bill and drove us to the theater, where we waited in line to get popcorn—and Sour Patch Kids for Max. He was always such a kid, and I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of his dimpled cheeks and big eyes, his dark, messy hair and his boyish smile. I was falling, and no matter what I did to stop myself, I kept plunging deeper.

  And my eagle loved it.

  After the movie, we animatedly talked about it as he drove me home. He’d loved it as much as I had, and we’d shared much of the same opinion. It was such a relief after Levi, who had only watched brutal, twisted horror movies. That should have been a sign right there, but I’d missed it.

  He walked me to the door and pressed his soft, full lips to mine. It was sweet, but respectably short. It was also the first time he’d tried to kiss me all night; he was really respecting my boundaries of keeping things light between us.

  I floated inside, amazed by the night. Each time I’d been around Max, I seemed to like him more. I wanted to call him and tell him to turn around and spend the night with me. But I wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair, and after he’d told me that basically, he was ready to settle down, I had to be extra careful. I couldn’t let either of us get too far in.

  There was still one other person for me to think about. Being committed to Max meant saying goodbye to Carson.

  And I was nowhere near ready to do that.

  I’d drifted through my house, getting ready for bed in a love-induced haze. My inner eagle chirped in delight and I couldn’t stop smiling.

  But in my joy, I kept thinking about Carson. I’d left things on a sad note with him, telling him I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I’d said the same thing to Max, but we’d been out since, so I had to even things up with Carson.

  I picked up my phone and sent Max a quick text. Thanks again for a great night!

  Taking a deep breath, I paused, tapping the edge of my phone case. I texted Carson and crossed my fingers: How do you feel about sushi?

  When he responded a short time later with I adore it, my heart leapt.

  I felt the need to impress Carson. He’d taught me so much already that I wanted to do something to prove I was knowledgeable, too.

  Me too! I replied. And it just so happens I’m not too bad at making it. What would you say to dinner at my place?

  Homemade sushi? I’d never turn that down! I’d never turn down an opportunity to spend time with you, either.

  His response brought a big smile to my face. It’s on then!

  I drifted off to sleep, glowing from the memories
of my date with Max.

  And picturing my date with Carson.

  11

  River

  I’d clocked out of work an hour early; catching and preparing the fish I’d need for the sushi was going to take a little time. Wanting to make sure they were the freshest possible, I’d stayed in my eagle form at the end of my shift and flew to the area salmon were known to frequent most in Glacier Bay. Spotting their shimmering scales under the water was easy with my acute vision, and I swooped down to catch a pair.

  When I got home, I’d scaled and filleted the salmon, then arranged everything assembly-line style on the kitchen counter, including my sushi-rolling mats. Carson’s knock on the door came just one minute after the time he was meant to arrive. I danced to the door and opened it.

  Carson stood on my front porch holding a bundle of dainty pink flowers in his hand.

  “Fireweed!” I beamed.

  “You remembered.” He handed the bouquet to me. “I thought it would be nice to have a memory from our first…get together.” I then noticed a bottle of wine that had been hidden behind the flowers. “I thought we might try this later.”

  “I love white wine,” I said as I took the bottle and showed him inside.

  I led him to the kitchen, put the wine in the fridge to chill, and explained the assembly line, listing a few popular sushi rolls and their ingredients before showing one as an example. I selected a piece of avocado, a piece of salmon, and a chunk of cream cheese, then carefully rolled them together in a sheet of nori before rolling the tube in sushi rice. I cut the roll into smaller pieces, set them on a small plate and presented it to him.

  His eyes widened. “Very impressive.”

  He followed my lead and took the same ingredients. He rolled it up, and as he reached for the knife, his creation promptly fell apart.

  “I’d say I did something wrong.”

  I laughed and showed him the rolling technique I’d learned from my older brother’s best friend, who was a sushi chef. The roll stayed together that time, and it felt good to teach him something new.

  We’d made several more rolls, eating our own concoctions until we were stuffed.

  “Shall I open the wine?” I asked after he helped me clean up the kitchen.

  “That sounds lovely.”

  I let him pop the cork and I held two wine glasses as he poured. We sat in the living room, watching the fire crackle in my stone fireplace.

  “I love to sit by a fire,” he admitted. “I could just watch it for hours.”

  “Sometimes I do.” I’d already gotten partially entranced.

  He started to laugh then.

  “What?” I finally asked when he didn’t explain.

  “When I met you, you said you just needed earth and fire, and then you pointed out that bears are earthly. Now, you’ve provided the fire.”

  I chuckled, too. “You’re right. We have everything we need.”

  “I think we do. What more could a person ask for than a full belly, delicious wine, a blazing fire, and a beautiful woman to share it all with?”

  “I suppose there’s always ending world hunger.”

  He nodded slowly. “I don’t think it will ever be solved. Disasters will always come that wipe out crops, homes and cities, leaving thriving areas devastated. People lose jobs unexpectedly or life just hands you more than you can take. There’ll always be someone unable to obtain food for a time for whatever the reason. I always thought, when those Miss America contestants are saying they want something like world peace, that it would be far better to wish the earth contained something more universally beneficial. For instance, if there was no illness. Millions wouldn’t have to suffer and die, millions more wouldn’t miss work or other important events. Employers could pay more since they wouldn’t need to provide health insurance. And all those compassionate healthcare workers could then put their efforts into solving other things, like world hunger.”

  I marveled at the way my conversations with Max tended to mirror my conversations with Carson. Strangely, it felt like we ended up discussing the same topics.

  “Funny you say that,” I piped up. “Just the other day, I said that if I could change one thing in the world, I would eliminate the desire for money.”

  He turned to me with fire in his eyes. “That’s a good one! Yes! Oh wow, would that fix a lot of problems. Corruption, greed. It could even eliminate things like insurance if there were no lawsuits. People would be driven by more ethical motives. No one would work themselves to death. No one would run up enormous debt trying to buy things they can’t afford out of envy. Banks would lend based on need, not a person’s supposed ability to pay it back. So much crime would be completely gone. It would really change the world in a huge way. I like that one. A lot.”

  “Thanks.” I beamed at his fervent accolade.

  We broke into a long, detailed conversation about economics that was surprisingly riveting. He thought of ways that the missing love of money would affect the world that I’ve never thought of. Things like fewer broken homes because there would be fewer workaholic parents who were never home with their families.

  He explained details of the economics of the country that I never could have hoped to understand before. Yet, he explained everything in a way I could easily grasp. That was the educator in him coming out, I thought. He must be a fabulous teacher. I knew that if I only listened, I would learn a lot from Carson.

  “There is one thing I don’t understand at all,” I confessed. “Maybe you can explain this to me.”

  “I’ll do my best,” he said.

  I appreciated that even with his overt intelligence, he wasn’t overly prideful. Confident in himself, sure. A little too confident sometimes, but not to an annoying level. Not like Levi, who thought he knew everything about everything just because he was a reporter, even when he didn’t. Who thought he was always right and would beat anyone who disagreed.

  “I don’t understand how it is that an intelligent, handsome shifter like you is still single.”

  I watched his face redden. “I thought you were going to ask something else about the stock market.” He blew out a sigh and ran his fingers through his flaxen hair. “There have been some women in my life in the past. A few lasted for a time, others didn’t. In the end, none of them were right for me. We always found some incompatible difference between us that made a relationship impossible.”

  “What sort of differences?”

  “Well, one wanted to live in California and was planning to move. I wasn’t going to leave my clan and job or family.”

  “That’s an easy one,” I accused.

  “Well, one of them was vehemently opposed to the idea of spirituality. And even though I don’t consider myself an overly religious person, I couldn’t make sense of how she could have been so shut off from such a huge part of life. Spirituality is important, no matter what you believe. She didn’t think she had any connection with the universe, God, or anything. It’s too much a part of my fundamental core that I couldn’t respect her once I knew that. I guess that’s judgmental of me, but we’re all flawed in many ways.” He took a sip of his wine. “What do you believe about God?”

  “I’m not opposed. I think the world is too fascinating and magical to be just what we see and know and understand. How can we be shifters, these creatures that exist in fairytales, and not believe that another equally complicated and unique being exists who made it all possible? And so much can’t be explained in this life. Strange things happen all the time that have no justification.”

  Like the crazy strong pull I felt for both him and Max.

  “I think that, being shifters,” he continued, “we’re even more tied to our spiritual selves because of the way we have an animal within us. It brings us closer to nature and our creator. We’re unique beings, and I believe we were made to fulfill a purpose. For some reason, shifters exist where others are pure human or animal. It didn’t happen by accident.”

  “I used to
think about things like that all the time. Wondering what the point of this life is…” I refilled both our glasses and took a long sip.

  “What happened to make you stop?”

  I let out a groan. “Just one more benefit of dating Levi. He would put me down for talking about things like that. For thinking too much, I guess.”

  “That’s terrible.” He looked at me with genuine sympathy. “I don’t know how a person can treat another person so badly.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, either. But it happened. It’s still happening. I can’t get rid of him.”

  “If he’s coming around when you don’t want him to, you might consider getting a restraining order.”

  “I have one. He ignores it.”

  Carson’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like that.”

  “I don’t either.”

  “What do you have for protection?” He looked around, as if he might spot something that could’ve been a weapon.

  “I have a gun,” I assured him.

  “Are you able to press charges to have him sent to jail?”

  “Unfortunately, the penalty for breaking a restraining order isn’t bad enough to keep him for any length of time. For everything he’s done to me, he wouldn’t get more than a few months. And then he’d come out angrier.”

  Carson nodded. “Right. I can see that. But that keeps victims as victims. That’s no way to run a justice system. Something needs to change.”

  “Yeah, like if breaking a restraining order would actually mean serious jail time. Or to be on house arrest or something.”

  “House arrest. That’s a good idea. If a person can’t manage to stay the few hundred feet away from you, then he’s not allowed to even leave his house. I wonder how hard it would be to have a law like that changed. If it was on the state level, maybe…”

  I couldn’t believe he would take what I said so seriously as to consider how a law could be changed. Who does that? Carson does. That’s just how he was. His mind went to fixing things, to making things better. And he was smart enough to have good solutions, too. He was someone who would probably actually change the world one day.