Joey: Spring (Shifter Seasons Book 6)

by Harmony Raines

  Lisa’s head jerked back. “So that’s it. You were always jealous of my whirlwind romance and now you want one of your own. Well, let me tell you what everyone told me…”

  Breeze put up her hand. “No, Lisa. I know what everyone told you, I was there. This is different. And I know that is what you said but for me this is different, and this is real.”

  “You haven’t learned from my mistakes at all, have you?” she asked savagely.

  “No, I haven’t.” Breeze dropped her hand to her side. “I will help you. You know I will. But not by taking Uri’s place. It’s time you figured out what you want and go for it.”

  “That’s easy if you know what you want,” Lisa replied sourly. “All I ever wanted was Uri.”

  “It’s time to step out from his shadow,” Breeze said gently. “Maybe when he knows what he is missing, he’ll come around to your way of thinking.”

  “Do you think so?” Lisa’s tone lifted and, in that moment, Breeze realized just how much Lisa was willing to give up for Tristan. Lisa loved Uri so much, even though she had decided to let him go for the sake of their child.

  “Stranger things have happened,” Breeze said, imagining the moment when Joey shifted into a bear.

  “I’ll hold on to that.” She stood up straight and brushed her hands over her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “Shall we have some coffee? And then you can tell me all about that man of yours. Joey?”

  “Joey.” Breeze’s features softened and her eyes sparkled as she thought of the man she was in love with.

  “Wow, is that how I looked when I was first dating Uri?” Lisa laughed as Breeze’s cheeks flushed pink.

  “Maybe.” She placed her hands on her hot cheeks.

  “It’s a good look on you.” Lisa’s hand trembled as she spooned the coffee.

  “Thanks.” Breeze went to the fridge and took out the milk. “I think you’re very brave.”

  “I’m not so sure. A brave woman would have sorted out her relationship a long time ago.” She poured the coffee into two cups.

  “Better late than never,” Breeze replied and then looked around. “Where are Uri and Tristan?”

  “Oh, they went for a hike into the mountains,” Lisa said. “I think Uri was perhaps a tiny bit jealous when Tristan told him how much fun he’d had in the mountains with Joey. So, he promised he’d take him to one of the peaks.”

  “A hike. To a peak?” Breeze swallowed down her uneasiness. “Is Uri experienced in mountain climbing?”

  “We’ve done some hiking,” Lisa said as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “And Uri knows how to look after himself.”

  “And Tristan. He needs to know how to look after Tristan,” Breeze reminded her.

  “Of course he does.” Lisa patted the chair next to her. “Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine. You come and tell me all about Joey.”

  “Do you know where they went? Which trail they took?” Breeze asked.

  “No, Uri is not the greatest of planners.” She looked at the kitchen clock on the wall. “But they are due back in an hour. Uri has an important phone call to make.”

  Breeze let out a sigh. “Okay. Good.” Although she would have preferred it if they were back right now or had at least left a map of where they were hiking to. The mountains were treacherous for the inexperienced, especially the high peaks.

  “Uri might be many things,” Lisa said. “Stupid is not one of them.” Although, a flicker of concern crossed her face. “Now, Joey.”

  “I don’t know that there is a lot to tell, really,” Breeze said, one eye on the clock as the minutes ticked slowly by.

  “Not a lot to say. You’ve just met the man and you… You,” Lisa let the word hang for a moment, “are talking about spending the rest of your life with him. I have seen men come and go throughout your life and none of them have ever held your interest for longer than a couple of months.”

  “That’s not fair,” Breeze began.

  “It might not be fair, but it doesn’t make it a lie.” Lisa sipped her coffee, her eyes fixed on Breeze who squirmed just a little in her chair. “So?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not as if I can put my finger on it exactly. He’s kind, he’s loyal, he’s handsome. He’s just the one.” Breeze gave her sister an apologetic smile. “There’s just something about him, a connection that I can’t explain but I know is there.”

  She didn’t want to bring up the fact that Joey was a shifter. Not yet. Sure, Tristan had heard of them through his dad, but for some reason, Breeze wanted to keep that morsel of information to herself.

  Perhaps she didn’t want to cheapen what she shared with Joey. To tell Lisa that Joey was a shifter and that was why she knew they were meant to be together would detract from all the other reasons they were right together.

  As they talked, the hands of the clock reached the time Tristan and Uri were supposed to be back and kept on turning.

  “It’s not like Uri to be late. He has a phone call scheduled at twelve with the manager of a tour company he’s hoping to work with.” Lisa placed her cell phone on the table after trying, unsuccessfully, to call Uri for the tenth time.

  “I think it’s time we called in some help,” Breeze suggested.

  Lisa nodded. “You might be right.” She raked her hands through her hair and rested her head in her hands as she stared at the tabletop.

  Breeze placed her hand on the small of Lisa’s back and rubbed it while she took out her cell phone. She pressed dial and waited for Joey to answer. If anyone knew what to do, it would be him. If they had to call mountain rescue, he would call. Or maybe he’d tell her she was overreacting.

  But the mountains were dangerous, and Tristan was just a boy.

  “Hello.” Joey’s voice made her close her eyes with relief, as if everything would be okay now

  Chapter Twenty- Four – Joey

  “Joey, I need you.”

  Joey hesitated to answer, thrown back in time to the phone call he’d received from Polly the night she’d gone into labor, the night he’d met his mate. For a moment, the world closed in on him and he was scared everything that had happened since had all been a dream, a way of coping with Polly having a baby and a mate while he was all alone.

  “Joey.”

  “Breeze, what’s wrong?” He exhaled deeply and focused on his mate’s voice. She was real, of course she was real.

  “Uri took Tristan for a hike into the mountains. They’re late coming back. Unfortunately, they didn’t leave a route map so we have no idea where they have gone, and we can’t contact them by cell phone.” Breeze’s voice wavered but she kept herself together.

  “Okay.” He leaned his axe against the fallen tree he’d been chopping up and signaled to Hex to switch off the chainsaw. “How late are they?”

  “They were due back by twelve Uri has some phone call to make so Lisa doesn’t think he’d be late on purpose.” She was scared and he wanted to reach down the phone and hold her close.

  “I’m on my way. Stay where you are and let me come to you. If they arrive back there before I reach you, just give me a call. Okay?” He was already gathering up his tools and heading for the truck as he spoke.

  “Okay.”

  “And Breeze, we will find them. If they are missing, we will get them home safely.”

  That is something you can’t promise, his bear told him.

  I just did, Joey replied.

  “What’s wrong?” Hex asked as he helped Joey load their gear in the back of the truck. Luckily, they had only just started work and were cutting a tree up on Mac’s property. They could walk away right now. If they had been removing a fallen tree that was blocking a road or driveway or was in any way dangerous, Joey would not have been able to leave. He closed his eyes in thanks and hoped that his good luck would hold, and they would find Uri and Tristan safe.

  The alternative did not bear thinking about. Joey had been involved in enough mountain rescues to know they could end badly.

>   It’s a warm spring day, the weather is settled, and we have a few hours before nightfall, his bear reminded him, although Joey could sense his bear was equally worried about the boy they thought of as family.

  But the cliffs are just as deadly in warm weather as cold and the peaks are still covered in snow. The cold is still a danger if you venture too high. Unless you are well prepared, but I doubt Uri will be. Joey shook his head. How could a father put his child in danger like this?

  “Why don’t you drop me back at the office?” Hex suggested. “I can get Mac to call around and make sure everyone is looking out for them and make first contact with mountain rescue. You go to Breeze and get as much information as you can from her. Then we can coordinate a plan.”

  Joey nodded. “Thanks, Hex. I can’t think straight right now.” He got in the truck, waited for Hex to get into the passenger side and then drove straight back to Mac’s office.

  “It’s tough when those we love are in danger,” Hex told him gently. “But most of the time these rescues end just fine. I expect they took a wrong turn on a trail and can’t find their way back down. We forget how easy it is to get lost in the mountains.”

  “I just can’t believe Uri would go off like that. He should have left firm directions and made sure Lisa knew exactly where he was going,” Joey said bitterly.

  “Maybe he thought he had something to prove.” Hex side-eyed Joey.

  “What do you mean, something to prove?” Joey asked.

  “I mean that Tristan probably told his dad what a great time he’d had these last couple of days with the new guy in Breeze’s life.” Hex had a point.

  “And he wanted to prove to his son that he could be fun, too.” Joey nodded, recalling how Shawn always looked a little hurt when Jane said how much more fun Joey was than her dad. Kids never meant anything by it, not really, but adults tended to take it to heart.

  “Okay, keep in touch.” Hex opened the truck door as Joey slowed to a stop outside Mac’s office. “And try not to worry too much, we will find them.”

  “Okay, thanks, Hex.” Joey put the truck in drive and eased his foot down on the gas. He wanted to get to Breeze as fast as possible, but he wasn’t about to break the law to do it. He would be no good to Breeze if he put his truck in the ditch or got arrested for speeding.

  His hands gripped the steering wheel, the whites of his knuckles showing as he steered around the bends, all the while he kept imagining how scared Tristan must be.

  When Joey was young, before he’d made his first shift, he’d been playing in the mountains. He used to go up into the lower slopes and watch the eagles flying over the high peaks. One day he decided to follow them, keeping them in view as he clambered over rocks, and threaded his way through valleys. He gave no thought to where he went or how he planned to get back home.

  Not until the eagle was gone and he was alone on the mountain in a rocky area he had no memory of.

  He vividly recalled the fear that gripped him and rendered him unable to move for an hour. Fear that he would take the wrong trail and be lost in the mountains forever. Eventually, he’d gotten himself up and moving, putting into practice all the knowledge his dad had taught him.

  Three hours later he reached familiar territory, where his dad found him. Although Joey could have found his own way home from there, he’d never been so happy to see his dad’s bear lumbering toward him. So grateful that he’d thrown himself onto his knees at the bear’s feet and hugged him around his thick furry neck.

  His dad hadn’t lectured Joey on what he’d done wrong. He could see that his son had learned a very valuable lesson all by himself. Instead, he’d told him to always think about the consequences of his actions. For himself and those around him.

  Maybe he should have thought about that before he formed such a deep relationship with Polly. He’d have hated to inflict the pain he’d felt, the sense of betrayal, that he’d experienced when she met her mate and told him they couldn’t see each other again.

  He stopped his truck outside Breeze’s house and got out. Before he’d slammed the truck door shut, Breeze came out of the house to meet him. Her face crumpled and he held his arms out. She came to him, draping her arms around his waist and holding him tightly as she took a couple of sobbing breaths. Then she pushed herself away and stood straight, her expression the same one she wore when she delivered babies. She had to be in control of her emotions, Tristan’s life depended on it.

  “Tell me everything,” Joey said as they went into the house.

  “There’s not much to tell.” Breeze introduced a woman hovering in the hallway. “This is my sister, Lisa.”

  “Hi, Joey. Sorry we skipped the introductions last night.” Lisa shared similar features to Breeze, the same almond-shaped eyes, the same full lips. But there was something jaded about Lisa, it was in the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, as if her smiles were forced, and the effort took its toll.

  “Good to meet you, Lisa.” He smiled and warmly shook her hand. The tension Breeze said existed between them seemed to have passed, replaced instead by a shared fear.

  Tristan had brought them together, but not in the way Joey had hoped.

  “Do you have any idea where your husband and Tristan might have gone?” Joey asked. There was no time for small talk.

  “No.” Lisa hugged herself as she turned and walked toward the kitchen window. “Although, Uri was staring at that peak this morning while he was drinking coffee.”

  A ripple of apprehension threaded through Joey, but he kept his voice calm. “And did you see which direction they headed in?”

  “Uri took his car. So I don’t know other than they drove along the street toward the mountains.” Lisa’s smile was apologetic. “I’m sorry, I feel so useless.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Breeze said gently as she turned her head to face Joey. Their eyes met and she read the worry on his face. “What’s the plan?”

  Joey walked to the kitchen window and looked out. “If they were heading for that peak, then they could have taken one of three trails. Two of them are relatively easy climbs for the first half, then they get increasingly difficult. The third trail is washed out near the bottom. If they took that trail and decided to figure out their own route, then they could be anywhere.” He clamped his mouth shut, he’d been thinking out loud.

  “Oh, my.” Lisa covered her mouth with her hand.

  “But the team we have here in Bear Creek has found hundreds of people. They are expert trackers,” Joey assured her.

  “Shifters,” Breeze said quietly. “Joey is a bear shifter. And there are other shifters in town. They can track like no one else can.”

  Lisa swung around to face Joey, all thoughts of her son and husband pushed aside as she stared at her sister’s mate. “You’re an actual shifter?”

  “I am. Tristan said that you knew about them,” Joey replied. He understood why Breeze would tell her sister his secret and he was confident it was a secret Lisa would keep.

  She should since shifters are the best hope she has of getting her son and husband back in one piece, his bear said.

  “I never knew for sure that you were real. Uri told us stories of them. He met a couple in his younger days, just before we met.” Lisa glanced at Breeze for a second. “You’re mates. That’s why you know he is the man for you. That is why you are willing to commit to a relationship with a man you have just met.”

  “Yes.” Breeze looked uncomfortable and kept her eyes averted. Who was she trying to hide from?

  “Wow, you get the real deal.” There was a hint of bitterness in Lisa’s voice.

  “What do you mean?” Breeze asked her sister.

  “Uri used to say that he and I were like fated mates. He was in love with the idea that when you met the person of your dreams, the person you were meant to be with, you would know. He told me that was me, that you didn’t need shifter blood to know that.” Tears pricked her eyes. “And I fell in love with the idea. But then we had t
o work at it. We had to work at keeping that idea alive.”

  “Even shifters have to work at relationships,” Joey told her. “It’s not a magic bullet.”

  “This isn’t helping get Tristan and Uri back,” Breeze said quickly. “I only mentioned Joey was a shifter because they have like a sixth sense. If they can find Uri’s car, they should be able to pick up the trail and then use that sense to search for them. Is that right?”

  “That’s right,” Joey agreed.

  “Then let’s get going.” Lisa grabbed her purse and headed toward the door.

  “Oh, no.” Breeze caught hold of her sister’s arm. “We’re staying right here.”

  “I want to help find my son and my husband,” Lisa said firmly.

  “I’ve seen shifters in action,” Breeze told her. “We’re just going to slow them down.”

  “I need to do something,” Lisa insisted.

  “You are doing something,” Joey told her. “You’re going to wait here in case they come back. Mountain rescue has a satellite phone, I’ll text you through the number so that if they get back, you can call us and let us know.”

  Lisa nodded. “Okay.”

  “Be careful.” Breeze kissed his lips as he walked toward the front door.

  “I’ll do my best to bring them back safely,” Joey told her.

  “Just make sure you bring yourself back safely, too,” she told him.

  “I will.” He took one last look at her before he turned and walked away.

  Chapter Twenty- Five – Joey

  He needed to find Tristan and find him fast.

  And Uri, his bear added.

  Of course, Joey replied. We need to find them both and bring them home safely.

  He’d already called Hex and told him what little he knew. After a brief talk with the local mountain rescue, it was agreed that three teams would set out along the three trails that led to the peak Lisa thought Uri was trying to reach. Each of the teams would try to pick up the trail left by Uri and Tristan. Joey would provide a shirt Tristan had used to cover his good clothes when they were carving the boy’s wooden owl so that everyone knew the scent they were searching for.