Grizzly Promise

by Becca Jameson

  “Yeah, but the price is right, and we didn’t have to do anything to find it or get a special lease for the summer.”

  “Uh-huh.” He wandered in farther, tagging the couch with the tips of his fingers. “This place is so…”

  “Cute?”

  “I was going to say bland. I can’t believe Alton lived here for two years. He must be a very boring man.”

  She rolled her eyes. “He was saving money. And he didn’t care about anything except finally getting together with his mate.”

  “Mate,” Gavin repeated. Paige had been telling him a bit about the inner workings of the lives of grizzly shifters, but he was still working on the jargon. “And you say mates are two shifters who are meant to be together.”

  “Well, mates don’t have to have some sort of lightning strike to be together, but sometimes they just know. Joselyn and Alton knew from a young age. But since they were from the two rival families in town, they didn’t act on their instincts in order to keep peace in their families.”

  “Until a few months ago.”

  “Right.”

  “And then they left town to get away from their families to move into your parents’ home and graciously leave us this quaint, unloved apartment for the summer.”

  She grabbed his forearm and shook him. “I’m supposed to be the one freaking out here, not you. It’s only for three months. Do whatever you want to the apartment. Alton said he didn’t care. He was just glad someone needed it so it wouldn’t continue to sit empty. It’s not easy to sublease an apartment in a town this small.”

  “Especially one with so much finesse,” Gavin grumbled. He wandered from the beige couch to the end table and then the kitchen area. It was all one room. A small room. “How many square feet is this place again?”

  “Seven hundred.”

  “Oh goody. The bedrooms must be monstrous. And let me guess, beige.” He turned from the functional brown table with two chairs to head toward the bedrooms.

  He wasn’t wrong. There was no color in the apartment. The counters were a khaki Formica. The cabinets brown. The linoleum blocks of several shades of beige. The carpet, yeah beige. And the walls. She followed him to the bedrooms. The space between them couldn’t really be called a hallway. More like a place to step before entering the bedrooms. “You can have the larger one,” she stated.

  He glanced at her and laughed. “How generous.”

  She winced. “Least I can do. I don’t care anyway. I won’t be here much. I’ll be out doing research.”

  “You going to start with the Arthur family? Go straight for the bane of your existence? Or hit the Tarbens first? From what Joselyn and Alton have said, it’s a crap shoot. Both are going to laugh at you.”

  She cringed. “Yeah. They are. And no. I’ll do my best to avoid Wyatt as long as possible. Maybe I can survive the summer without running into him.”

  Now Gavin laughed. “Honey, you’re not even going to survive the day. Alton told me how it is.”

  “You spent way too much time with Alton in the last week.”

  He shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed and trailing a finger across the beige comforter. “He was more than eager to fill me in on your ways after he found out I knew about shifters. I’m super educated now. I probably know things you don’t.”

  “You think so.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. “Like what?”

  “Like that Joselyn’s brother is most likely destined to be your mate, and you’ll never manage to avoid that fact.”

  She bit her lower lip and then released it. “I don’t believe in that nonsense. Shifters choose their mates just like humans. If I don’t want to bind myself to Wyatt Arthur, then I don’t have to.”

  Gavin nodded. “You keep telling yourself that, hon. But Alton tells me otherwise. He was there when you met Wyatt. He saw the look on the man’s face when you came into the house. He also told me about how you ran from the house with hardly a word. You knew it too. That’s why you’re scared. Besides, you just got through telling me that Joselyn and Alton knew they were destined to be together from a young age. So you’re saying Fate had a hand in their relationship, but you don’t believe it could happen to you?” He smirked.

  Heat flushed her cheeks. He did know more than her. Or he was willing to face the facts more than she was. “Did you come with me for the summer to have my back, or are you suddenly going to play matchmaker and try to get me off your hands?” She stiffened, worried she might have hit the nail on the head.

  He sighed. “Honey, I’ll do whatever you need me to do. It’s not in my best interest to have you bind—or whatever you call it—with some grizzly shifter. I’d lose my wing woman and my cover. But I also won’t have you hold yourself back if it’s something you decide you want to do.”

  “I don’t want to have anything to do with Wyatt Arthur or any other shifter. I intend to keep my relationships here as superficial as possible. I’m hoping you’re on my team and you’ll help me.”

  He pushed off the bed and came to her, pulling her into his arms. “You know I will, Paige. I’m always here for you.” He kissed the top of her head and then held her face to look into her eyes. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “Trust me. I’m spending the summer with my boyfriend in Silvertip to do research. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

  He nodded once. “Got it. Let’s get the car unpacked and get our shit moved into the glorious gigantic apartment, shall we?”

  As they turned around to head back to the car, someone knocked on the door. Gavin lifted a brow, looking at Paige with a grin. “Think he’s already found you?” he whispered.

  Paige glared at him, breathing in the scent of their guest. “No. That’s not a man. And whoever it is, she’s human.” She crossed the small room in three steps and opened the door to find a mousy woman of about five four with messy brown hair standing in the hallway. The newcomer smiled with exuberance and lifted her hand. “You must be Paige. I’m so excited to finally meet you. Can’t wait to work with you.”

  Paige frowned, though she politely shook the skinny woman’s hand. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”

  “Kelly, of course. Kelly Smith.” Her face fell. “They didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” Paige stiffened.

  “I’m a reporter for U of C. My professor hooked me up with yours so I could shadow you this summer. Isn’t that awesome?” She beamed. Her smile was too wide for her face.

  “Pardon?”

  Kelly’s face fell slightly. “You really didn’t know anything about it?”

  Paige shook her head. She still held the door with one hand and the frame with the other, a barrier of sorts. She could sense Gavin behind her, but she didn’t move or acknowledge him. She was still trying to wrap her head around this development. “You’re a reporter?”

  “Yes.” Kelly stood taller, nodding.

  “What is there to report on?”

  “Your research, silly. We’ll be like partners. I’m so excited to get started.” It was the second time she’d pointed out how excited she was.

  Paige wasn’t feeling the same emotion. Hers would have to be described as apprehension with a hint of horror. Excitement didn’t make the short list. “I see.”

  “When do we start? I can be here in the morning.”

  Paige lifted her brows. “Oh. I’m not sure yet. I just got here. I’m going to take a few days to settle in first. Can I call you?” Something about this woman grated on her nerves. How was she going to survive this already awkward summer with this damn human following her around?

  Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out a card, handing it to Paige. The woman has cards? It didn’t say much. Just her name and phone number and some sort of title. A little ostentatious for a grad student.

  “Okay, well, I’ll text you sometime tomorrow when I get my bearings.”

  “Perfect. I can’t wait to hear from you.” Kelly bounced on her feet as she turned to h
ead down the hallway.

  Paige shut the door, turned around to lean against it, and moaned.

  “What the hell just happened?” Gavin asked.

  “I don’t know, but my life just got incrementally more complicated.”

  “No one at the university told you a woman was going to shadow you this summer?” Gavin furrowed his brow.

  “If they did, I missed it. I’ll check in with Professor Jefferson. Maybe there was an email I overlooked.”

  “Apparently. I mean, what do they expect you to do? How on earth could anyone find your research interesting enough to report on it?”

  Paige narrowed her gaze at him, waiting for him to realize how insulting that sounded.

  He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  Paige sighed. “I know. And you’re right. They must be desperate for stories if they’re sending a student from the school paper to watch me interview people about their lifestyle and eating habits.”

  Chapter Five

  Wyatt stared out the picture window that ran the expanse of the breakfast room at the back of his house. The view of the mountains still covered with snow even this late in the season was nothing less than breathtaking. It was the reason he’d built his home facing this direction, and the reason he’d had this floor to ceiling window put in. It cost a fortune to get the glass up the mountain, but he didn’t give a fuck.

  He leaned one elbow against the window, his fingers drumming a tattoo above his head while he ran his other hand through his hair. He needed a cut. He’d needed a cut for weeks. Hell, he’d needed a cut longer than that. He simply didn’t often care. The thick waves were hanging over his forehead, but it was curly enough not to get in his eyes, and that’s what mattered most. As soon as it started hitting his eyes, he always headed for a barber.

  The sun was bright this morning, glistening off the melting snow so that every blade of grass and pine needle in his backyard shone with drops of water. If he stepped outside, he would be pleasantly assaulted with the scent of evergreen that stood out in the spring.

  On an ordinary Sunday afternoon, he would already be at his parents’ home a few miles down the road to spend some time with them outside of work. But today was not ordinary. Today was the day Paige Osborn was moving into town to spend the summer making his life a living hell.

  He’d spoken to his sister, Joselyn, several times in the past week. He knew all the details. Not only was Paige subleasing Alton’s abandoned apartment, but she was bringing her damn human boyfriend with her. Whatever the hell was up with that eluded him. It made no sense from so many different perspectives.

  For one thing, the guy was not a shifter. It wasn’t that grizzlies didn’t date humans. They did. All the time. But rarely did things get serious. Especially because it was forbidden to tell any human about their existence for any reason. At least intentionally. According to Joselyn, Gavin Wright knew all about their species. Interesting.

  Secondly, it was even rarer for a shifter to actually remain with a human for life. It could be done. But there was no way to bind to a human. Binding would require biting one’s mate and letting the serum from one grizzly enter the bloodstream of the other.

  It wasn’t impossible. Paige could bind Gavin to her by doing just that. However, it was illegal among their people. Arcadian law strictly prohibited changing a human. A bite that forced the level of connections only capable of shifters would cause the human to become a grizzly shifter themselves. If anyone intentionally caused that change, they would be sent to prison in the Northwest Territories for life. Which meant, any shifter wanting to marry a human in the traditional sense would be giving up their ability to bind.

  It happened. Not often. But it happened. No hard and fast rule said a shifter had to bind to another in life. Some never did. Just like some humans never married. But it was sort of sad to forfeit that ability and miss out on all it entailed—namely the incredible bond that strengthened a relationship and created a lifelong connection that was apparently indescribable.

  Unbound himself, Wyatt didn’t know firsthand, but his sister, his brother, and many friends were bound to another, so he would take their word for it.

  More important than all that was the fact that Wyatt felt an overwhelming draw to Paige himself. He was thirty-two years old, and he’d never once had the oxygen sucked out of his body the way his had the night she walked into her parents’ home and took his breath away.

  No matter how he might feel about Fate or Nature’s interference with mates, there was no denying the instant attraction to Paige Osborn. The scent of her pheromones was burned into his mind. Every detail about her was easily conjured behind his eyelids. The way her blonde hair bounced down her back like a river of gold. The way her flawless, pale skin contrasted against his both times he’d touched her fingers. The way her big blue eyes told a story of deep personal sadness.

  He closed his eyes, remembering the deep blue of hers. So much sorrow. Maybe others couldn’t see it. But he did. As if he could see into her soul through those translucent orbs. It hurt him every time he thought about it. He wanted to erase whatever happened to her to bring that sorrow to her life and replace it with something happy. New.

  Me.

  But that wasn’t in the cards. At least not yet. Not while she insisted on this insane farce of a relationship with the skinny human guy who was barely taller than her and most assuredly not hers. What was she playing at?

  What Wyatt knew for a fact was that his hands were tied. There was nothing he could do but politely wait his turn. If he forced the issue, he could chase her off and ruin whatever burned between them for life.

  His sister knew about his attraction. There had been no way to mask it that first night when Paige fled the house as if she’d seen a ghost. However, Wyatt hadn’t told his parents yet, nor his brother, Isaiah. He needed to do so. Soon. Now that Paige was in town for some sort of research project, he would run into her. His parents were likely to invite her to dinner. No sense blindsiding them.

  He’d put off verbalizing his plight for three months. He hadn’t permitted Joselyn to mention it to anyone. He’d been waiting. And waiting.

  With a deep breath, he shoved off the window, took a last long look at his view, and grabbed his jacket from the back of a kitchen chair. He needed to get to his parents’. He’d stalled long enough.

  »»•««

  Rosanne Arthur grinned the hugest smile Wyatt had ever seen.

  “Mom,” he groaned. “Please. Don’t make this into something.”

  She lifted a brow. “Don’t make this into something? You’re my oldest child. The only one not bound to another. I’m so excited I’m about to do a dance.”

  “Did you hear a word I said?” he asked, glancing at his father.

  Bernard Arthur pursed his lips, fighting an unmistakable grin.

  “I heard you.”

  “She’s here for some sort of internship. And she’s with her boyfriend.”

  “Her human boyfriend,” his mother pointed out as if he weren’t aware of the fact. She set her elbows on the kitchen table where she sat across from him and steepled her fingers. Plotting. Planning. Making him insane.

  “Mom. Stop it. I didn’t tell you this so you could start naming grandchildren. I’m telling you this so you can help keep her away from me.”

  She dropped her hands so that her palms slapped the table, her eyes wide. “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I don’t want to be around her.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Mom. She’s with another guy. I have to wait my turn.”

  Rosanne shook her head. “No way. It doesn’t work like that. There’re no guarantees in this life. You have to get in there and make yourself clear. If you don’t, you might regret your decision to wait and see for the rest of your life.”

  Wyatt moaned. “Mom…”

  “Your mother’s right,” his father interrupted, pushing off the sliding glass d
oor where he’d been leaning a few feet away. “Don’t be so lackadaisical about this. Don’t hide and wait. Get in her space every chance you can get. Befriend her. I’m not saying you should say anything about how you feel just yet. I’m suggesting you make it difficult for her to ignore the connection.”

  Wyatt sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  “And I’m right. Trust me.”

  Wyatt ran his hands through his hair, pulling it off his forehead and then releasing it.

  “And maybe get a haircut,” his mother suggested.

  He groaned again. “Mom, I’m a grown man. I’ll do whatever I want with my hair.”

  She shrugged. “Just sayin’.” And then she jumped up and headed for the fridge. “I think this calls for a beer.”

  He chuckled. “Everything calls for a beer in this family.”

  “Yep. Today is no exception.”

  »»•««

  “Beer?”

  Paige stared at Gavin’s back where he leaned into their freshly stocked refrigerator. “Gross.” He didn’t drink beer, either, so she had no idea why he insisted on buying it.

  He spun around, opening a bottle and glancing at the label. “This one’s from Mountain Peak Brewery. That’s the Tarben family, right?”

  “Yes. But that doesn’t make it more palatable.”

  He smirked. “I bet it’s an acquired taste. When in Rome and all.”

  “You gonna take up hiking? Or skiing? Both of those are popular around here.”

  “Fuck no. Those both require too much exercise. The altitude here is going to kill me by the end of the summer. I’m just going to try the beer for now.” He took a sip and curled up his nose. “Definitely an acquired taste.” He plopped down on the couch next to her and set the bottle on the coffee table. “You sure your sister’s guy doesn’t care if I add some color to this place? I mean, I know it’s only three months, but I don’t think I can handle even three months in this apartment totally done in sepia.”

  She giggled. “Alton said to do whatever you want. He paid no attention to the apartment at all.”