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Bailey looked at her phone now sitting in her hand just as it had before it floated over to the kitchen table. She set it down and used one hand to rub her temples while she pressed the other to the back of her neck. Finally she looked up and focused on Tempest.

“How many others are like you? Is the town full of them and my family and I are the only humans?”

“Oh, no! Not at all. We’re it, for the most part. Christian is a Lion shifter. His father, Vince is a Lion shifter, as are Christian’s brother and sister, but I’m afraid one of them won’t be able to shift. It’s not a big deal though. They still have all the heightened senses.”

“So…” Bailey started, then just closed her mouth and looked at Tempest.

“Humans are most prevalent. Those of us that are descended from paranormals are few and far between. Through the ages humans have hunted all they didn’t understand, and all they feared, almost to extinction. Which is how my people ended up where I grew up.”

“Where is that?” Bailey asked.

“It’s a remote village, a little town almost on the coast that is glamored to keep humans from stumbling on it, and thereby us. It’s a safe haven for any who aren’t human and are escaping persecution.”

“I’m sorry,” Bailey said.

“For what?”

“That your people have had to hide.”

Tempest smiled. “It’s okay. You didn’t do it.”

Bailey kind of shrugged and nodded.

“Then there are clans of other paranormals, like Kaid’s clan, that are shifters. Most are species specific, but those like Kaid’s and now Brandt’s are my favorites. They welcome anyone, no matter what species. If you need a home, you need a family, welcome — we’ve got you.”

Bailey actually gave a little smile. “I like that.”

“We don’t want to hurt anyone. We don’t want to cause trouble for anyone or any place.

We just want what everyone else does — the ability to live our lives in peace, and live and love and be happy and earn a living.

But we can’t tell humans that we exist because there’s always someone who feels threatened and wants to wipe us off the face of the Earth.

It’s just something that we don’t share.

I planned to tell you eventually. But then Remi fell in love with you and wanted to tell you himself, and he had reasons that made sense, so I waited, so he’d have the opportunity.

But he never did, then Cristie came, and everything fell apart. ”

“He said he wanted to talk to me tonight to tell me everything.”

Tempest nodded. “Yeah, then Brandt needed him so he went off with Brandt. He really wanted to be here, but when Brandt needs you, you go. And when Kaid is standing with Brandt, then you really go.”

“So, Brandt is like, the leader?”

“Yes. He’s the Alpha. Kaid was, but as he’s aged, he’s stepped back and handed over most things to Brandt, though Kaid is still considered an Alpha and is greatly respected. Brandt often seeks him out for advice.”

“Do you know what Remi was going to tell me?”

“Not exactly, but I’m sure it was most likely this, though probably not as detailed in what exactly we all are and where we came from.”

“What exactly are you?”

“Well, my mother is an ancient that carries Gargoyle and human blood lines as well. She’s the most powerful of us all. I carry some of that power, too. And I have my father’s strengths in me. He’s one of the original Dragon shifters.”

“You made my phone fly across the room.”

“That’s just a little tiny trick. Barely an afterthought. I just did it to get your attention so you’d stop thinking I’m losing my mind and consider for a moment that I might be telling the truth.”

“What can you do when you really try?”

Tempest’s smile slowly fell and she shook her head. “I’d rather not say.”

“Why not?”

“I love you, Bailey. You’re my best friend. Not because of what I can do, or because you’re part of my mate’s family and have to because he’s the Alpha. But because you’re truly my friend. I’ve never had a true friend until you. I don’t want you to turn away from me.”

Bailey sat there and regarded Tempest for a few awkward moments before she finally spoke. “That bad, huh?”

Tempest started laughing, but it died down slowly. “Only when I have to. But I love just as strongly and protect those I love without limit. I’d never hurt you, and never allow you to be harmed by anyone or anything. Even if you get up and walk out of my house right now, that wouldn’t change.”

Bailey got up and walked around the coffee table and over to the sofa where Tempest reclined. She sat down next to her and took her hands in hers. “I love you, too, Tempest. You’re my best friend. I’d never walk way from you.”

Tempest hugged her, and wiped away a few tears before Tempest rested back against her throw pillows again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

“I’m sorry you thought you couldn’t. But I understand.”

“And that’s it? No questions?”

“My mind is blown. And I’m seriously questioning my sanity, but I have faith in you, so that’s what I’m leaning on. I’m sure at some point I’ll have tons of questions.”

“Fair enough. Want to know about Remi?”

“Can you tell me?”

“I can tell you anything you want to know.”

“Because he’s already shared it with you?”

Tempest shook her head and looked pointedly at Bailey.

“Because there’s nothing I’m not aware of, if I choose to know it.

Some I intentionally tune out and block so that I can have normal relationships, but if I wanted to, I could know everything.

I’m afraid it would drive me insane like it did Uncle Lore, though.

And I don’t want to take advantage of my friends by reading their minds and souls. So I intentionally keep walls up.”

“Wow!”

“And I can heal. But I can’t right now because I’m pregnant, and when I heal someone I take their illness or injuries into me, and then my magic heals me. And I don’t know what it might do to the baby. When I’m not pregnant, though, I can very easily heal.”

“I want to be you,” Bailey said.

Tempest laughed. “It’s not bad sometimes, but for most of my life, it’s been so very lonely. Where I grew up everyone feared me, even the other kids.”

“Not anymore,” Bailey said, holding Tempest’s hand again.

“Not anymore,” Tempest echoed.

“Tell me about Remi. You’ve already suggested that he’s a Dragon,” Bailey said resignedly. Then she shook her head and glanced up at the ceiling. “Good Lord, I’m talking like Dragons are a usual thing.”

“They’re not as common as the rest of us. For the record, he’s a Dragon shifter, not just a Dragon. And he was adopted as a little child.”

“I thought Daniel and Avaleigh were his parents.”

“They are. Daniel is a Dragon shifter just like Remi, but neither of them are his biological parents. Avaleigh is human. Dragons and human females cannot have children.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the mother would die. Dragon babies are so strong that they’d drain their mothers’ bodies of everything including her life force. If they were able to carry the baby to full term, she certainly wouldn’t survive the birth.”

“That’s so sad.”

“It can be, but things turned out well for Remi. He was taken in by a wonderful family and is loved and adored. He was fortunate. The unfortunate part of most species of paranormal origin, and what I really wanted to talk to you about, is that we have predetermined mates. When we meet the person meant for us, we know it. We can try to ignore it, deny it, if you will. But it’s always there.

Even for those that manage to walk away, they are never truly free of their fated mate.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some have successfully walked away and built completely happy, loving lives filled with the mate of their choice.

They’ve even raised families and never looked back.

But they also go to great lengths to make sure they never run across their fated mate again because no matter how much they love and are devoted to their chosen mate, their fated mate will steal their attention and draw them away, without even trying. ”

Bailey slowly stood. “That’s what happened with Cristie.”

“It is. They’d been around each other all their lives and never had an inkling they were mates.

But this time, it clicked into place and Remi couldn’t look away.

He loves you, but Cristie is his mate, and he’s fighting with that.

He’s feeling so guilty and hurting over not being there for Cristie, because not only are they mates, they’ve always been very close friends.

But he’s also feeling guilty because he’s causing you pain and no matter what he does he’s hurting someone he loves.

And he does love you. He’s been completely loyal to you; had no intentions of being otherwise. ”

“I want to throw up.”

“She feels just as terrible. She was looking forward to meeting her childhood best-friend’s girlfriend. He’d told her how much you meant to him and she was expecting to be friends with you. And then everything happened, and she’s upset at the trouble she’s caused.”

“She didn’t cause it, though. From what you’re telling me, she had no control over it.”

“She didn’t.”

“She’s really sweet. I talked to her a couple of times. I could tell she felt bad for me, or at least I think she did.”

“Cristie doesn’t lie. She’s actually an Alpha, like her father, but she’s very, very kind. If you got the sense she was sorry, she is.”

Bailey sat down quietly, tears pooling in her eyes as her emotions overwhelmed her.

“Remi is fighting against an instinct. If he denies Cristie and stays with you, he will always feel a sense of loss. It will dim over time and he’ll learn to ignore it, but if he ever sees her again, it’ll start all over again.

If he leaves you and goes to Cristie, he leaves behind a love that developed innocently, and a woman that he adores. He can’t win.”

“And do I want to take a chance to build a life and family with him just to risk it every time her name comes up?”

“Some people do it successfully. But you’re missing a huge part of what I said, Bailey.”

Bailey looked at Tempest expectantly.

“If you marry Remi, you cannot have children with him. If you try, it will kill you. You can adopt. You can foster. You can use IVF, just not with his sperm. You cannot ever carry his children under any circumstance.”

Bailey seemed to deflate a little, finally absorbing the reality of life with Remi.

“If you don’t want kids, fine. No problem. You just have to move to a state far away and carefully time visits so that Cristie isn’t here while you and Remi are.”

“But then, even if we do IVF and I do get to carry a child, it won’t be Remi’s. And if Remi chooses me, he’ll never have his own children. At least not with me being their mother.”

“Fate’s a bitch sometimes,” Tempest said.

“Couldn’t you just…” Bailey started, looking hopefully at Tempest before she stopped speaking and shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I shouldn’t.

Fate usually has its reasons. Sometimes they suck, but if you try to circumvent fate, it very often triggers issues you can’t even imagine further down the line.

If it’s what you really want, I can make sure you survive a pregnancy.

But that’s only one piece of a huge web of issues.

Maybe you’re not supposed to end up with Remi.

Maybe that’s not what’s supposed to happen.

Maybe Remi isn’t your fated mate. Humans usually don’t get a mate; not like we do anyway.

But they can sometimes feel inexplicably pulled toward someone.

Sometimes that person is their mate, and sometimes that person is just from a paranormal lineage.

Every human is attracted to those of us that aren’t human.

But we’re not talking about every human.

We’re talking about you, and none of this is my choice. It’s yours. It’s a lot to consider.”

They sat quietly for a while together. Then Bailey sat back and sighed. “I’m glad you told me about all this instead of Remi.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when we first became friends.”

“You couldn’t. You didn’t know if you could trust me. Well, you probably did, or you wouldn’t have allowed us to become friends, but you know what I mean.”

“I try to keep everything blocked. It’s not fair to the good ones. The bad ones, I sense even if I try not to.”

Bailey nodded and they both sat quietly for a little longer.

“You know, you were talking about your grandmother. My grandmother used to say everything happens for a reason,” Bailey said softly.

“And she also said every path is different. You have no right to judge anyone else’s path if you’re not willing to honestly walk your own. ”

“Sounds like a smart lady,” Tempest said.