by Flora Dare
"Magda, I have a strange question. I haven't known how to ask but no one talks about your other siblings, how is Nancy related to you?"
Magda laughed. "We're a confusing bunch, but Grace, my mother, I mean, she has a tendency to make room for anyone who needs a family. Nancy needed family, like your mom back in the day."
"She helps keep it from getting to intense. I like her a lot."
"I look forward to meeting her."
"Are you sure you want to come here? We can pick some other place to go, this is not the only B&B in the world."
"No, I want to come, it's time. It's past time."
Lira heard something heavy fall upstairs and Nancy yelp. "Well, I hear a commotion upstairs, I should go help. And you should get on the road."
"Roger that, kiddo."
~ * ~ * ~
Grace stood in the window while Nancy paced and Lira sat on a settee. They were all waiting with varying levels of patience. Magda was due anytime now.
Grace finally turned away from the window and said, "Child, if you don't calm your body, you aren't getting dessert for a week."
Nancy said, “I'm a little old to punish with sweet withholding."
"Then you should be old enough to sit for a minute. You are making me fret. Go get your sampler."
"Memaw! Really? Now?" Lira smiled as the teen drew out her words into the perfect adolescent whine, but Grace just lifted an eyebrow until Nancy huffed out of the room and headed up stairs.
Lira said, "Sampler of what?" Anything to distract them for the wait.
"Oh, cross stitch. She wanted to learn and I thought it would be a good practice for her to calm her mind."
"Does it work?" Lira contemplated picking it up as a new hobby, she'd been more agitated in the last few months than the rest of her life.
"God no, mostly she swears at it. I think we'll move to crocheting or knitting next. Something less initially fiddly."
"Maybe you can teach me? Crochet sounds fun."
Grace smiled at her. "Of course, I'd love to." At that moment, they both heard the crunch of a car on gravel. Grace shot to her feet and nervously rubbed her hands on her skirt.
Lira caught the older woman's hands in hers and squeezed gently. "I'll go out to her, get her bags. Bring her to you."
Grace squeezed back and sank back into the chair. Lira walked out the front door as Magda was getting out of the car, and waved.
"Good to see you!" Lira hugged Magda, then gave her a once over, looking for bruises or any visible signs of Ethan's attack. "You kind of worried me. He really didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No, dear, I'm okay. It was unpleasant, and I'll tell you all about it, inside."
Lira walked to the back of the car. "Let me get your bags. I had everyone wait inside, to give you a chance to catch your breath. Do you want to settle into your room before talking to anyone else?"
Magda smiled as Lira grabbed the suitcase and closed the trunk. "I've had a lot of time to completely freak out in the car. I think I should just get in there. Get the awkward out. And that way if it's a complete mess, I can grab my bag and hit the road again."
"I can go pack up and come with."
"Let's not catastrophize, okay? I've already gone through every terrible option in my head." Magda stood at the door with her hand on the handle and took a deep breath. "I put this off for a good twenty years."
They walked in together. Lira stashed the bag next to the stairs and guided Magda to the front room. Magda stepped into the room, and Grace stood as she entered.
Lira could see the tears in Grace's eyes as she said, "Oh Magda, you are so beautiful. It's good to see you."
Magda froze and Lira wondered if she should say anything, when Magda's voice cracked. "M-mom." She rushed over to her mother and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I missed you so much."
The two women just held each other and wept, as Lira started to edge out of the room. Magda paused and turned to Lira. "Honey, can you take my bag upstairs, so we can catch up?"
Lira nodded and backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. She turned around and almost ran into Nancy. She lifted her finger to her mouth to shush the younger girl then went to grab the bag.
When she realized Nancy was lingering by the door, Lira leaned back and grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her up the stairs.
Chapter Eight
Lira felt prickly and restless. The air around her felt slightly electric and she paced in the front room. She was trying to give Magda and Grace time together. She considered having Nancy take her into town, finally show her around, but Grace had been so hesitant. Besides, the other visitors were due sometime that afternoon.
She threw herself on the sofa and thought about Jake. Why hadn't she gotten his last name at least? How was she supposed to find a guy with just a common first name?
She pulled out her phone and scrolled through Facebook. Oh goody, there were only a million Jakes or Jacobs. Not that the guy was looking for her, but it would be really nice to run into him again. Accidentally.
Or lick those delicious abs again.
Lira tried to pull her mind out of the gutter. They had just fit together so beautifully. A pang of homesickness twinged in her gut. He made her feel like she was home, which was ridiculous, because they had one night together and never even exchanged last names.
And yet, here she was, moping over him. Jake 'Rock Hard Abs' NoLastName. It was a stupid fantasy. Maybe she was fixating on him so hard because he was safe. He wasn't ‘gun brandishing, delusional stalker’ Ethan.
Jake was unavailable and Lira could project any image she wanted on him. He was her perfect fantasy because she didn't really know him even if they had been in perfect unison from the moment they met.
Lira sighed heavily. She had to stop thinking about him. Maybe one of the bear shifters Nancy sighed over would be a good match.
God, she could almost hear him laughing.
She sat up abruptly. Someone had opened the front door and she heard a woman's voice—an unfamiliar woman—and then Jake's laughter. The pit of her stomach dropped. If it was him and he was with a woman she would curl up and die.
She cleared her throat, stood up and peeked into the hallway. She froze when she saw him at the door, his hair kissed by the rays of the sun. Then their eyes met and time stood still.
~ * ~ * ~
Jake was just relieved to finally be back in Grayslake. He’d drop Gran off and find Magda. Everyone, including his Itan, could kick rocks until he found her.
Gran patted his hand as they pulled up to the B&B. "I can't wait to meet this young lady who has you so worked up."
"Me either. I just have to find her."
"Well, let's get in and find Grace and this Magda woman you've been talking about, so you can find this mate of yours."
He just grinned at her and hopped out of the car, hustling around to her side to get the door for her.
She took his arm and walked with him to the entrance. "Besides, I'm not getting any younger; I'm ready for there to be some more little cubs around, and your sister is still too young."
He started laughing and said, "How about we make sure she's willing to be my mate before you start crocheting booties and blankets." He was not going to tell his Gran that he'd certainly do his damnedest to start a family the second he saw her.
They walked into the hallway and he turned as someone entered his peripheral vision and paused.
Everything went silent as Jake stared at Lira. The entire rest of the world fell away just like when he saw her at the bar. He strode forward, pulling her into his arms.
"I found you." He couldn't help himself as he pulled her tight against his body and dropped his mouth to hers. Pure electricity shot through him as their lips met and all he could do was hold on to her.
Lira’s arms wrapped around him, and as he lifted her up to press her against the wall, he felt a firm smack across his back that brought him crashing back down to Earth.”. He set Lira bac
k on the ground and turned his head to look sheepishly at the front door.
They had gathered an audience. His Gran, Grace and Magda were all watching. Magda started laughing and his Gran held the umbrella she'd whacked him with.
Gran looked at Jake and said, "This must be the young lady you wanted me to meet."
Lira wanted to sink into the ground or perhaps just die of literal embarrassment. She tried to pull out of Jake's arms, but he wouldn't let go.
He whispered in her ear, "I cannot turn around right now. That is not a thing I could do without showing more of myself to my grandmother than I am willing to."
A giggle burbled up her throat. Jake was exceedingly happy to see her. She found her voice and said, "We need a moment. Of privacy. Alone. By ourselves. Without everyone here. Watching us."
Magda grabbed the two older women's arms and drug them back outside while grinning at her foster daughter.
Once the front door had closed, Jake caught Lira's face in his hands and peppered her with kisses.
She turned her head away. "Jake, please, they won't stay out forever."
"I don't care. I found you. Why did you just leave like that?" Jake could only stare at her.
Lira looked out the window, trying to avoid his eyes. "Uhm, it seemed like a one-night stand. You made it clear you were just passing through."
"I am the stupidest man alive. I knew who you were from the moment I first laid eyes on you."
"You knew... what do you mean?" She crinkled her face, trying to figure out what he meant.
"I mean, I knew you were the woman I'd been looking for my whole life. You are my other half, my mate."
"Your mate?" Lira and Grace had talked about mates, but that was a shifter thing and, at best, she was half shifter. Was he a shifter?
Jake paused, his mind racing. He had no idea if she knew anything about shifters, or if she was a shifter. There was a lingering smell around her, but Magda called her human. "Why are you here? If it isn't to find me?"
"Magda sent me here, to get away from Ethan."
Her husky murmur went straight to his cock, and he let her go abruptly and stepped away from her. He had to keep his hands off her; he couldn't think with her so close. "Have you met anyone else from town?"
Lira shook her head, "No, it's kind of complicated."
"You're telling me." Should he just tell her about the clan? Ty and Van would not be pleased if he just blurted it out to an outsider.
"Why are you here?"
"I live here. Grayslake is my home and the rest of my family decided to move here too. The only reason I didn't track you down sooner was because I needed to get my Gran moved."
"I had no idea how to even start to find you. I never got your last name. And when Ethan vandalized my car and I got so upset, Magda said I should go meet my people."
"Your people?" Jake felt a welling of excitement push his heart into a fast-paced flutter. He wanted her to be a shifter or to at least already understand, to be able to know.
Nancy suddenly popped out of the closet. "Okay, so, before this gets any more awkward, I'm going to go, but Jake - her mom is from around here and her mom was a shifter. Lira knows." And then she turned and ran out the door as Lira and Jake watched after her with gaped mouths.
Jake recovered first. "So yeah, what I was talking around is that I'm a shifter, Bear. Part of the local clan. When I saw you, the entire world stood still. I think you are my mate. Even if you can't shift. Doesn't matter. Why was she in the closet?"
"So, yeah, apparently my mom was a shifter, from here. My dad was human. I've never shifted so I'm guessing I can't? Something about everyone doubting that they were fated mates. And Nancy hides in there to read the really steamy books Memaw confiscates if she catches her reading them."
Jake looked at the closet and back at Lira. "Uhhh…" He closed his eyes and shock his head. "Never mind, I have given up understanding teenage girls. I'll introduce you to my sister, Helen. You'll get it." He dropped Nancy from his thoughts and looked back at Lira, "When it comes to shifting, you might have just never been sufficiently motivated. Have you ever truly lost control of your temper?"
She shook her head slowly. "Magda said the same thing. That I've always been extremely in control of my emotions. But that isn't entirely true. I've been, I guess angrier recently. Since...Ethan and Angela. Is me not being able to shift a... problem for you?"
"I don't care. Our kids will shift, though. You okay with that?"
"Uh, hold on cowboy. Maybe don't get so far ahead of yourself. This isn't my home. I'm just visiting. I have my own life."
Lira didn't know why she had to put space between them. No, she actually did. It was the jump into ownership. It didn't matter that he hadn't been more than a heartbeat away in her thoughts. Ethan had tried to lock her down and look what he'd done to her.
"Just because you are a shifter and believe in fated mate bullshit doesn't mean you own me. You are not the boss of me."
Jake snapped back. How could she not feel what was thrumming between them? "Dammit, Lira. You can't leave here. You just said Ethan was a danger and a problem. I'm not trying to trap you, I just..."
He did want to trap her. He wanted to push her down onto the floor and screw her brains out. He took a deep breath. "I just want to get to know you, I guess."
"Then back off." It would be so easy to just let him roll over her, to give in to him. But who would she be if she did that? They would never have a partnership.
He walked away from her, devastated and trying to hide it. "Well, I don't know what to say. My gran will be staying here while my sister and mom set up the house. She'll expect me here."
"I don't mean..." Lira felt a powerful surge of raw emotion and gasped at the intensity of the moment. "I feel funny, that's all. I just...I don't want you to avoid me. But we just spent a night together, we know nothing about each other."
"I dunno, I'd say we were pretty goddamn intimate." He was getting angry, his bear was screaming to claim her again. He could barely hear Lira over its roaring in his head.
She snapped at him, "What is my favorite color then? My favorite movie? My favorite song? What do I like to eat for dinner? Breakfast?"
Jake roared back at her, "Well, I'd at least know about breakfast if you hadn't run away."
"It's not my fault you're a heavy sleeper!"
They were nose to nose, hands clenched, screaming at each other.
"Okay, kids, I think perhaps it's time for a break until dinner." Memaw’s dry voice startled them. The gaggle of women had come back into the house. "When the yelling started, we thought we should make sure you didn't destroy the house."
Magda's voice was sharp. "Lira. Kitchen. Now."
Gran's voice was just as edged. "Jake. Parlor. Now."
They slunk away from each other.
Memaw said, "Don't be too hard on them, it was just yelling. No one shifted or broke anything. Bears are just cranky sometimes."
Lira started to open her mouth when Memaw put a hand up. "Even if you haven't shifted or never do, you are still a half bear shifter. We will reconvene for dinner in one hour."
Chapter Nine
It had been a week since Jake found Lira and he hadn't been able to so much as steal a kiss since. The past several days had been a blur of fretting that made him feel useless.
Jake pulled up to the house and twitched in his seat. None of this was going as he'd expected. His vision of finding Lira always ended with her under him. Not with his grandmother kicking him out after dinner every night for a week.
Was this how it all ends? Not with a bang but a whimper. Being harried to death by a cadre of grannies with their eyes on a future prize.
Tonight he wasn't going to let them run him out after dessert. He'd been distracted as hell all week and he'd mooned around so much he thought the rest of the clan might launch an assault on the B&B just to get him out of their hair.
He squared his shoulders and slipped out of the car. He b
ounded up to the door and pounded on it. Gran whipped the door open and glared at him.
"Really, Jacob. Have some chill, as the kids say."
He was going to stand up to his Gran. "It's been a week and you've barely let me see Lira. I have no chill, none. I'm not letting you fuss me out the door again tonight."
"Why, we wouldn't dream of it. I mean, assuming Lira wishes to spend more time with you."
Jake paused. Lira had been pretty upset about the idea of being mated, bound by something out of her control. He was okay with taking it slow, but he was pretty sure that dinosaurs turned into oil faster than they were going.
"Well, it's not like I get a moment alone with her."
Gran fixed him with a hard stare. "You said you were willing to do old fashioned courting to give her time to acclimate to Grayslake and shifters and you. Is that no longer the case?"
He knew she'd just thrown him into dangerous waters and backpedaled as gracefully as possible. "Does 'old fashioned courting' mean never being allowed to take her out of the house on a date?"
"Oh, a date? That sounds lovely. Have you asked her out on one?"
He frowned. "Well, no, it's just..." He trailed off. He just assumed everything would be smooth paths and roses.
"Silly boy. Get your head out of the clouds. Lira is her own woman. You can't just pluck her up and stick her in the clan den and keep your life the same."
He hung his head and she patted his hand.
At that moment, Lira appeared at the top of the staircase. The warm light of the fading sun illuminated her, and Jake just stared up in wonder. She was so beautiful. She smiled down at him, and the world fell away.
He stepped toward her but only got a foot on the first step before his Gran's sharp voice cut through the moment.
"Youth! You know the rules, the upstairs is for ladies only."
Lira blushed and Jake felt his ears get hot. He had forgotten the world and was completely focused on whisking her into the nearest bedroom. But he extended a hand as Lira walked down the stairs and felt his heart beat faster when she rested her palm on his.