Prologue - Jude
"Great, you're all here," our grandfather's attorney, John, says as he enters the boardroom of his Anchorage law office.
He shakes hands with me and my three brothers before taking a seat and swinging his arm out for the rest of us to follow suit. "Sorry for your loss."
Our grandfather, Ridley Cooper, aka Gramps, passed away last month, surprising all of us.
My brothers and I always made a point to call or write to him regularly and the last time I spoke to him was a month before he passed. During that conversation, I could tell there was something wrong, but as he always did whenever I asked, he brushed it off.
“I’m no spring chicken anymore, Jude. It’s nothin’,” he’d assured me.
When I was about to end the call, he shared what would be the last piece of wisdom I’d receive from the patriarch who helped shape the man I am today.
“Always remember, Jude. Sometimes the loudest voice is not the one you hear, but the one from within.”
Now, here we are—my oldest brother, Will, our twin brothers Case and Sutton, and myself—sitting in John’s office for the reading of his last wishes, wondering why it was so important that we all attend in person.
"Before we dive into everythin', I'd like to say a few words about your grandfather." My brothers and I look at each other before nodding at the lawyer.
"Ridley Cooper was not just a client to me.
Your grandfather was one of the most astute, worldly, and wisest men I've ever known.
" A wry smile appears. "But it was more than that.
It didn't matter how many months or years we had between visits, Riddles would always greet me like a brother.
Like it had only been days since we'd seen each other. "
"Gramps was good like that," I say, earning nods from my brothers.
John's lips tip up on one side. "He was. So, whatever you uncover, hear, or decide about him, always remember the man he was and what he believed in. It'll go some way to help you understand why his last wishes have been done this way."
I arch a brow John’s way. "You're as cryptic as Gramps was.”
The lawyer chuckles. "There might've been a few things we had in common."
"C'mon, John. You goin’ to put us out of our misery? Why'd you call us here for this meetin'?" Case asks.
Sutton cocks his head. "And why aren't our parents here? It's Cap's father. There's no way Gramps would've left him out."
John shifts his head to the side, taking in the twins.
"You're right. He wouldn't, and he didn't. But part of Riddles's last wishes was to get you four boys here alone for this meetin'.
I met with your parents and sister last week before Cap set off on his latest trip.
They were all taken care of, don't you worry about that. "
Will’s wide eyes meet mine before he turns back to John. "Why didn't they say anythin'?"
"Cause their meetin' with me was for them. This one here is for you." John lets that sit in the air between us before speaking again. "Let's get started so that I can assuage your curiosity and put your concerns to rest. Yeah?"
Will nods. "Sorry, John. This has all come as a shock to us."
John’s gaze softens. "I hear you, Will. Ridley's wishes may be a little…different, but knowin' the man he was, and his motivations behind this, I know that he had nothin' but the best of intentions."
The four of us brothers look between one another before turning back to the front of the boardroom. "Go ahead," Will says, speaking for all of us. "Tell us what he wanted us to do."
That was when John told us what ended up changing the trajectory of our lives as we knew it.
Four months after that, we were all living in Gramps’s house as the new owners of Cooper Ranch and all of the land from the top of the ridge down to the foot of the mountain. And for my brothers Will, Case, and Sutton, it was the beginning of their own journey toward finding love.
In the nine months we’ve lived in Timber Falls, we’ve learned about the Call—the Cooper family prophecy where a mountain spirit rewards the protectors of her land with their soulmates.
We’ve also found a bunch of clues left by Gramps and researched our family origins to discover why there’s a rivalry between us Coopers and the neighboring Wilson family who own the other half of the mountain.
Now, Ridley’s nemesis, Sully Wilson, is dying from heart failure, and we’ve just received a worried call from Sully’s adopted daughter Em asking for help.
Hearing a voice inside my head telling me to go with them, I tag along with Sutton and his doctor wife, Blair, on their way to Wilson Ranch to check on Sully.
The last thing I expect is the full body jolt that rocks me the moment I step inside the Wilson family home and lay eyes on Em.
A jolt is too tame. It was a seismic shift, knocking me off my axis but somehow steadying me at the same time, quieting the chaos that has distracted and disrupted me for most of my life thus far.
The moment I saw her, a primal part of me I never knew I had roared to life. I knew I’d move heaven and earth for her. Everything I’d done in life up until then now had a full stop. There was me before meeting Em, and now there was after.
Em Wilson is my destiny. My soulmate. Mine to protect. Mine to love. Mine to wring myself dry for and fight tooth and nail to love and be loved by her.
I was hers before I’d even met her. The mountain had chosen me for her and her for me.
All I had to do was to navigate the journey and prove to her that the Call—the mountain’s will—is real.
The problem is, sometimes life has a way of making journeys more difficult.
“Sometimes the loudest voice is not the one you hear, but the one from within.”
Don’t worry, Gramps. The mountain has my attention. Now it’s my turn.