Chapter Eighteen – James
The moment James lifted his eyes from the accident report, he knew something was wrong.
The wind howled down Main Street, slicing through his uniform jacket as if it were made of tissue paper.
Snowflakes no longer drifted; they attacked, driven horizontally by the gale that had descended while he’d been taking statements about the fender bender.
He jogged to his truck, ducking against the wind’s fury, his thoughts already racing ahead to Doreen.
This morning had been... perfect. Waking with her in his arms, watching her move around his kitchen in his flannel shirt, the quiet intimacy of breakfast together.
His bear hummed contentedly at the memory, even as James fumbled with stiff fingers to unlock his truck door.
He yanked open the truck door and slid inside, shaking snow from his hair. The instant he slammed the door shut, a muffled ringing sound caught his attention. James frowned, tilting his head to pinpoint the source.
There on the floor beneath the passenger seat. Doreen’s phone.
It must have fallen out of her pocket this morning when Doreen had leaned across the seats to kiss him goodbye. He reached for it, but the moment he saw Sorcha’s name on the screen, a thin blade of instinctive fear slid under his ribs.
His bear went rigid, ears-up alert in a way that had nothing to do with human logic and everything to do with mate-sense.
He answered immediately. “Sorcha?”
“James? Is Doreen with you? She was supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago, but she didn’t show up. Daniel said she picked up Jake about an hour ago, so I thought maybe they were with you.”
The dread that had been building crystallized into something sharp and terrible. James’s bear surged beneath his skin, suddenly alert and agitated. We have to find her!
“After she collected Jake and Bash, she was driving straight back to the cabins to see you, right?” James replied. “I’ll drive the route now.”
He ended the call and threw the truck into gear, tires spinning before catching on the snow-packed street. His heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear the engine’s roar as he drove toward the cabins.
The snow thickened with every mile, visibility dropping until the world beyond his windshield became nothing but swirling white. James hunched forward, squinting against the glare, as he scanned the roads for any sign of her.
His bear paced restlessly inside him, pushing against the boundaries of his control, demanding action.
I’m going as fast as I can, James told his bear. If we crash, we’ll be of no use to her.
His bear knew he was right. But he was past logical thought. Replaced by a primal need to find their mate. Now.
“Come on, come on,” James muttered, straining to see the road ahead. He’d been out in hundreds of storms, but never with this kind of fear dragging at him, stretching his nerves taut as wire.
Then he felt it…a sudden, sharp tug deep in his gut, like someone had hooked a fishing line into his very core and pulled. The mate bond. James gasped, momentarily startled by the intensity of it.
His bear roared to life inside him. She’s close!
“I’m coming,” James whispered into the storm, following that invisible pull even when the road disappeared completely beneath the snow. He didn’t need a map. Didn’t need landmarks. The bond tugged at him with a clarity more powerful than sight.
As he got closer to the cabins, that tug grew stronger, pulling him not toward the main road but off to the side, toward the old logging trail he’d told Doreen about when they were out on one of the dog training sessions.
Why had she taken that route?
Panic and fear took hold of him for a moment, but he pushed those emotions down. They were of no use to him now.
Of no use to his mate!
He turned onto the logging trail, trusting his instincts. Then, he rounded a bend, and his stomach dropped.
Doreen’s SUV sat half-buried in a snowbank. James slowed his truck to a stop just behind her abandoned vehicle. He was out before the engine died, heart hammering against his ribs as he surveyed the scene.
The SUV was empty, and any tracks they might have left were long buried in the snow. James’s breath left him in a harsh, frozen rush. The storm had eaten every trace of them.
But it could not dim the mate bond!
He didn’t hesitate, instantly shifting into his bear.
Where the man had stood, a massive bear took his place, breath steaming in great clouds as he tested the air. But instead of his mate’s scent, a strange, acrid edge threaded into the air.
It was faint but unmistakable. Smoke. Fresh. Not the smoke from the fires at the cabins. No, this was lighter, thinner. A fire started with small sticks. A survival fire.
The bear roared into the wind; the sound echoed through the forest like thunder.
Then he surged forward, sprinting toward the smell of fire with single-minded determination.
Snow that would have hindered a man barely slowed the bear.
His powerful limbs cut through drifts that would have stopped a human in their tracks.
The source was close. Barely twenty feet from the car, but as he approached, his bear slowed, confused.
The smell of the smoke was coming from a small cave. But his mate was not there. No, his shifter senses were telling him she was out there in the wilderness.
He approached the cave slowly, and then he heard it, the shrill sound of a whistle. Jake. His bear huffed. Yes, Jake and Bash were inside the cave. He drew closer.
They were safe. They were warm.
But his mate was not.
The bear turned away from the cave. The mate bond thrummed inside him like a compass, pulling him deeper into the forest. James let his bear take control, trusting instinct over thought.
Through the swirling snow, he caught glimpses of her passage, a broken branch here, disturbed snow there, the faint impression of footsteps already filling with fresh powder. Each sign was a lifeline, a confirmation that he was on the right path.
His bear pushed harder, muscles burning with effort. The wind howled through the trees, carrying away any sound that might have guided him. But it couldn’t touch the bond that connected them. That primal, unbreakable tether that had recognized her as his from the first moment they’d met.
It blazed inside him now, a thread of heat through the ice, urging him to reach her before the cold stole anything more from her.
Then, through a break in the trees, James spotted movement. A dark figure staggered through the blizzard, bracing herself against the wind. Doreen. Relief hit him so hard his legs nearly buckled.
But he kept going, his bear sliding to a stop in a flurry of snow. Then he shifted and stumbled toward her.
“Doreen!” he shouted, though the wind nearly swallowed the word.
She didn’t turn around, she was too focused on staying upright, every step an act of sheer will. When she finally heard him, she whipped around, her face pale. “James?” Her voice cracked with shock and relief.
He reached her in an instant, grabbing her shoulders, steadying her as she sagged with exhaustion.
“You came,” she whispered.
“I will always come for you,” he said fiercely, pulling her against his chest, trying to shield her from the wind.
His bear rumbled inside him, overflowing with a mix of pride and terror. She’s safe.
“Jake,” she gasped. “And Bash… they’re in a cave. I tried to find the road…I needed to bring help back.”
James pressed his forehead to hers, emotion clogging his throat. “You did everything right. Everything. I’ll get us all out of here.”
Her knees buckled then—not from fear, but from sheer exhaustion—and James caught her easily, scooping her into his arms. She buried her face against his shoulder, her breath warm against his skin.
“Hold on to me,” he said, voice low and fierce. “I’ve got you now.”
James tightened his grip on Doreen, squared his shoulders against the storm, and headed toward the smell of smoke.
He had found her.
And nothing—not blizzard, not fear, not fate itself—would ever take her from him again.