Page 3

“Can we cope with a group of people kept captive by the weather?” Mateo grumbled.

Oh my love. Mateo was a people person. He entertained our guests with wild tales and legends, sang sea shanties, and even led them on informal tours of the area. Now that we were getting close to test-taking day, he was turning inward and not wanting to interact with the world.

“How about you drive to Caspian’s and take a dip in his pool.” Our dolphin shifter friend who both Mateo and I used to work for had a heated pool. My mate disliked cold water and enjoyed shifting in the warmth. “Maybe call Benjamin and see if he’s free.”

While the whale shifter didn’t mind being in the ocean at any time of the year, and he couldn’t shift in an indoor pool, he was Mateo’s oldest friend, along with Caspian.

“I can manage things here while you’re gone.”

Mateo studied the sky and the snow that was blanketing the trees. “Nah. Think I’ll stay where I am.” He stamped his feet and I steered him inside as the crew’s deputy director came down the stairs, a phone in his hand playing a video.

“My son.” He shoved the device in our faces, and we watched a little boy toddle over carpet and cuddle with the family dog. “Cute, right?”

We both nodded, and I clasped Mateo’s hand. Tension was rippling off him in waves, but the guy was distracted by another crew member asking a question, and I led Mateo to our private suite.

“Need to pee,” he mumbled and slammed the bathroom door. I paced the floor until he came out, tear-stained cheeks a sign of his despair.

“Love, we need to talk.” That sentence should come with a warning. Nothing good ever came after it, but it was too late. I’d said it and couldn’t take it back.

“Not now, Colton, please. Tomorrow maybe, or after the film crew has left.” He huddled in the bed, his hollow cheeks an indication of how much weight he’d lost.

“Of course. No hurry,” I lied. “You take a nap.” I kissed his brow and tucked the covers around him as his eyes closed.

3

SCOTTY

I’d known I had to leave my den since before my first shift. It was inevitable. I didn’t belong there, never had. I wasn’t even technically clan.

When I was two, one of my den mates found me wandering in the woods alone. At least they guessed I was about two. I had no clothes on except for a hat. My new mom, Flora, recognized me as a shifter immediately and called everyone to help her find where I belonged.

They spend days searching endlessly, their scenting not even hinting where I might have come from. It was almost as if I had been plopped in the middle of den land from up above.

Their computer searches didn’t help much either, not that the search engines were as powerful back then. Eventually they gave up, and our Alpha allowed Flora to claim me as her own. She had lost her mate in a fire and longed for a family.

Mama Flora loved me completely and treated me as if I was her cub. But I came into her life well past her child-bearing years, and she too was gone shortly before my first shift.

The den tried, they really did. Different families took me in, one year at a time and, when I was an adult, I was given a job in the kitchen. It was a fine life, one much better than I’d have had starving to death in the woods. But it never felt like mine.

With the new Alpha about to take his place, it felt like the perfect time to leave and find where I did belong.

It would’ve been the perfect time had it not been winter. My bear might like the cold, but I certainly didn’t and, worse than that, no one was hiring. For someone who knew they were eventually going to be leaving their den, I sure was shit prepared for it.

I got off the bus in a little seaside tourist town. I’d meant to go all the way to the port city, thinking there would be some opportunities to make a buck or two unloading ships or I didn’t even know. Something. I wasn’t picky. But when the bus driver opened the door to let a woman off in this summery destination town, I had the sense I needed to disembark as well.

The bus driver reminded me three times that if I got off, I wouldn’t be able to get on the next bus, and that even if I purchased another ticket, it was a week between buses this time of year.

And still…I was determined, and for no reason I could articulate. I needed to be here. Full stop.

I walked around town, looking for help wanted signs. There weren’t any. That didn’t mean there weren’t jobs. In the morning I would go from business to business. At least the ones that were open. A good many of them had See you in spring! signs in the window.

I scented a lot of humans, but also enough shifters I could hopefully find a store owner who might understand my plight. If I told them. I’d have to play that by ear.

For tonight I needed to find a place to sleep. The weather was turning foul, and wandering the streets hardly sounded like a great idea…or even a mediocre one for that matter.

Being as close to everything human as I was, shifting and sleeping in my fur wasn’t an option. I dug in my pocket and pulled out my money. I had enough to get a room for a few days, more if I tapped into my only if you have no choice funds.

Cold.