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Chapter 19
Tanith couldn’t be sure how long she had been sitting on the ground, but her legs were starting to cramp. The sun had crept across the sky, suggesting it was well past noon—and Blake had been her constant companion throughout the whole thing. Through her breakdown, through her anger, through her confusion, he had sat beside her, patiently riding out the storm.
He didn’t have an answer for every one of her questions, but he always knew what to say to keep her from spiraling too hard from one darkness to the next. Finally, she felt as though all her tears had fallen. She untangled herself from his grasp, sat back, and wiped her face down with the excess fabric of her dress.
Today was a day for beginnings and endings, or so it would appear. Her dream of being a gallery owner, the kind who would showcase art of all peoples and embrace and lift artists not because of their fame, but their talent was long dead. There just wasn’t enough money in her bank account to rebuild it, and there was no way the bank would issue a new loan; she was still paying back the last one she had withdrawn for the gallery’s renovations.
Yet what began today was her new perspective on the world. Tanith had always had an affinity for myth, legend, “traditional” cultures. For a long time, she had thought that was the case because she was in the art community, and therefore by default she was open to new experiences. Not so. It was because Blake was destined to waltz into her life and turn everything upside-down.
Shifters. Bear shifters. When she’d first learned of them, it hadn’t really sunk in. To know they were there was one thing. To actually see one shift in front of her was something else entirely.
She had known Miguel Ruiz was a bear shifter because Espie said so. And Espie said so because she was a shifter too. But was Angel Fire predominantly a shifter community, and she had just never known? How was she supposed to guess who was or was not a shifter? She took a few deep breaths, forcing her mind to concentrate on the here and now—no sense in drifting off into a black realm of what-ifs, especially when there were no answers for her there.
“How are you feeling?” Blake asked, setting a hand on her knee. She glanced down at it for a moment, then covered it with both of hers.
“Tired,” she admitted, “but a little better.”
His smile pushed her just a little further toward slightly better. “Good. I know this is a lot to take in, but I’ll do whatever you need to make you comfortable. I mean, you’re my fated mate, and I—”
“Wait, what?” She retracted her hands, fearing that this slip of the tongue would introduce her to a whole new world of supernatural weirdness that she just wasn’t ready for. “Fated mate?” Blake’s cheeks blanched, and she knew it was something important. “You mean like Espie and Luther? I thought you had to be a shifter to be fated.”
He seemed hesitant to explain, but as soon as she shuffled closer and set her head on his chest, she felt him relax against her.
“Well,” Blake started, curling an arm around her waist, “all shifters are born with a person they are destined to spend forever with. We don’t know how it works, kind of like we don’t know how we shift between our human and animal forms…we just do. A fated mate is someone who destiny pairs us with, but sometimes that person is not a shifter.”
“And destiny paired me with you?” she asked quietly, working the rest out for herself.
Blake answered with a quick nod. “It did.”
She sat up and swept her hair out of her face. Staring into his eyes, she couldn’t imagine a better man to be paired with. Besides her brief concern that he was too boring at the start of their relationship, Blake had been just what Tanith needed to survive a few very trying months in her life. Still, the idea that some mystical element had matched them up, thrusting them together so that neither had a say in the matter…she wasn’t sure how well that sat with her.
“And how do you know when you’ve found this predestined mate?” she asked, head cocked to the side. “When did you know with me?”
“You just feel it, like a presence in the room,” he explained, his words gentle, as though he was worried she might run again. She hadn’t left yet, despite seeing him strip down and turn into a bear. If that hadn’t sent her running, Tanith could probably survive anything. Blake sighed softly, smiling. “I knew when I first saw you at Ivo and Alani’s wedding. It was like someone had smacked me upside the head with a crowbar while punching me square in the gut. But it didn’t hurt. I’d never been more alive than when I realized you were my fated. Every sense was crystal clear. Every fiber of my being longed to be close to you, desperate to know you, to love you, to protect you…” He licked his lips quickly as he fiddled with some small stones between them. “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, Tanith.”
Tanith had no words. No one had ever said anything so beautiful to her before, so full of meaning and love. All she could think to do was kiss him, hoping that the firmness of her lips said what she couldn’t. Blake issued a long sigh, as if in relief, and quickly kissed her back.
Despite everything that had happened that day, she felt a strange urge to give in to the temptation of taking it beyond kissing—to forget the rest of the world, maybe for the rest of the afternoon, and just fall into Blake.
However, it was Blake who ended up pulling away first—and with some difficulty at that. Both breathed hard and fast, Tanith’s lips tingling from the fervor of their kiss.
“Come to the clan meeting with me,” he urged. “Meet the others now that you know what they are. I promise it will help you, but I understand if you’re scared.”
Tanith had never been someone to let fear guide her. Even from a young age, she had known her true self and charged headlong into any obstacle that presented itself. She wouldn’t allow herself to fear the bear clan that she already knew so well.
“Okay.” She smiled when his face lit up, pleased to have made him happy, though she was still a little nervous. “Let’s…go meet some bears.”
Considering her gallery would be untouchable for at least another day or so, Tanith didn’t see the harm in going with him. As far as Hayley knew, it was just another day and Trudy had arrived earlier than usual, for no reason, and would stay later that night.
She could do this for Blake—and for the sake of their relationship. Because she loved him, and Tanith had always been willing to go above and beyond for those she loved. Even if it meant getting used to Blake stripping down to nothing, that handsomely sculpted body on display, and shedding his skin for fur.
“If you wouldn’t mind carrying these…” He handed his folded pile of clothes to her, which she held to her chest as she stepped back and watched him shift. It happened faster this time, in the blink of an eye. One moment he was regular old Blake, the next he was a moderate-sized black bear.
She drew deep, even breaths, willing her racing heart to settle as he inched closer, not stopping until he was directly beside her. Biting down on her lower lip, she trailed her hand over his fur, then gasped: it was softer than she had expected. Those beautiful, near black eyes followed her movements, until she finally followed through with what her body craved and slowly climbed onto his back. While Blake’s fur was soft and black, his bear body was rock solid muscle, rippling beneath her with each step.
He headed for the forest at an easy clip, but once they were in the trees, he quickened his pace, carrying her through the true forest, devoid of hiking trails and paths, like he had done it a thousand times before. Tanith had always thought of bears as slow, lumbering, berry-eating dolts, but Blake traveled quickly, assuredly, and carefully. Not once did a branch smack her in the face. Not once did she feel as though she might fall off. Not once did her safety come to mind, even as they scaled the mountainside, higher and higher, until one look over her shoulder and Angel Fire was small and distant.
The view kind of put things in perspective, honestly. When he finally stopped on a rocky plateau at the mouth of the cave, she was able to push the gallery and all her financial problems out of her mind completely. It was difficult, but after Blake dressed and took her hand, gently asking if she was ready for this, Tanith had never felt more present in her life.
