Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
REECE
I wake up, only to find what I thought had been a dream was anything but. I’m lying on the same couch in the same room I dreamed about.
Am I losing my mind? It really seems that way. Sitting up, I'm faced again with the man from my dreams. Well, one of them.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
“Crazy,” I admit with a nervous chuckle.
He nods, not commenting on it. Changing the subject, he asks, “Are you hungry?”
I glance around. It’s very quiet.
Where did everyone go?
“What time is it?”
“It’ll be dark soon. You slept a while.”
I swing my legs off the couch and carefully get to my feet. “I need to get home.”
It’s not actually my home, but it’s close enough. A door opens, and Connor steps in wearing a pair of jeans and an open shirt he’s buttoning as he walks in. He’s caked in snow.
“That’s still not an option,” he says.
“It’s still snowing?”I glance out the window, bewildered. “How can it snow so much?”
“It’s that time of year. You won’t make it very far.” Grant motions toward the front door. “Go see for yourself.”
I groan. The urge to cry is strong. I can’t stay here. While, deep down, I don’t think they mean me any harm, I don’t belong here. I don’t know them, and I’m pretty sure they still think they’re bison shifters. Which is insane.
I march past them and outside.I’m stalled by the sudden gust of air that hits me. It’s freezing. It was cold as hell when I was at my cabin and decided going for a walk was a good idea, but this is so much worse. I can’t see anything past the end of my nose. Pulling my jacket tighter, I tuck my head down and step out into the frigid weather.
It’s not easy trudging through the wind and snow, but I push forward, determined to get back. I keep moving forward, unable to see much in front of me.
I can’t stay here. It doesn’t matter how much my chest aches from walking away from them. Shifters are fiction. They live in a fantasy world, and I refuse to be sucked into it, no matter how much I wish I could.
A strong gust of wind whips me sideways, making me stumble. Before I can completely fall on my ass, I run into something large and furry. My hand automatically grips onto something hard and smooth beside me to steady myself. My eyes widen as a big head turns toward me. The bison uses its face in my torso to help push me upright. I release its horn, my heart racing.
Hands grab my arms and whirl me around. I’m faced with a heavy-breathing Connor. He looks as if he’s about to rip me a new one.
“Are you insane?” he yells over the screaming wind. “We’re on a mountain. You could have fallen down the cliff!”
I look to the side, but can’t see anything. “I…I didn’t know.”
When I rented my cabin, the mountainous view was one of its appeals, but I didn’t know we were currently on one.
“We told you it was dangerous out here!” he rants, making me cringe like a small child. “Your lips are turning blue, for fuck’s sake!”
The bison huffs behind me. I turn, blinking as the animal disappears and Grant replaces it. My gaze scans his naked body.
How the hell…
“Connor,” Grant says in a warning tone.
This isn’t possible. Holy shit. I glance between the two men.
They weren’t kidding. They really are shifters. And… I’m their mate? Both of them?
“Don’t Connor me!” Connor’s anger pulls me from my thoughts. “It’s like she’s suicidal.”
“I am not!” I yell, offended by his words.
Having seen Grant shift before my eyes, I can no longer deny what I’ve been told, but accusing me of being suicidal is rude. It’s not fair for him to judge me. I was reacting like any normal person would in my situation.
“Sure seems like it.” Connor argues. “Do you know what it’s like to wait decades for your other half, only to have her almost take a dive off a fucking cliff?”
He storms off, I assume toward the house. I still can’t see shit. A lump forms in my throat as he disappears into the blanket of white blowing around us. I feel lower than low. Tears prick my eyes.
Is it bothering me that I upset him because of our mate bond?
“Let’s go back inside.” Grant wraps an arm around my shoulder and guides me to the house. The echo of a door slamming makes me jump.
Grant pulls me closer. “It’s okay. He’ll calm down soon enough.”
I don’t reply. I can’t. Emotion clogs my throat.
Grant ushers me inside the house and closes the door behind us. A deep shiver courses up my spine.
“Go to the fire.” He guides me toward the fireplace. “I’ll get more clothes.”
Teeth chattering, I do as he says. I rush to the fire and crouch in front of it with my hands outstretched toward the warmth. The tears I was fighting to keep at bay slip down my cheeks. I wipe them away, but more fall in their place.
Grant comes back and passes me a stack of folded clothes. “These are Kimberly’s. She won’t mind. You need to get out of those wet clothes. We’ll wash them.”
I nod, sniffling. “Thank…thank you.”
He squats beside me. “He didn’t mean what he said. Connor’s just upset. You scared him. You scared both of us. We don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I don't understand why I care. I don’t know you or him, and you don’t know me,” I sob. “I don’t understand why I’m so bothered by it.”
“Hormones. Your body isn’t used to the changes. It’s trying to adjust to the heat.”
“Heat?”
He nods. “Like with animals, during mating season.” He blushes and chuckles shyly. “That’s probably not the best way to describe it.”
I remember that phrase. I’ve read about it in shifter books. The mates go through a heating frenzy where they can’t keep their hands off each other and fuck like rabbits.
This can’t be happening.
Like anyone else who reads those damn books, I love the idea of being with someone forever, destined to be together, never having to worry they’ll leave you or lie about their feelings. But I never in a million years would have thought it could happen to me.
“I promise,” Grant says. “If you still want to leave tomorrow, I’ll take you as soon as it’s safe.”
I nod, thankful for his kindness. Maybe staying will give me a chance to understand their side of things more, like shifters and mating.
My cheeks flush at the thought. Being stuck with Connor and Grant for the rest of my life wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to me.