by Hattie Hunt
Ripley was probably the only one who understood just how much his brother, Brett, meant to Joe. They were more than brothers. They were twins. Inseparable. So, if Brett had found a mate—and it would have to be a true mate—then Joe was feeling pushed out.
She shouldn’t care, though. She couldn’t.
Ripley didn’t want to come back, didn’t want to remember.
Home. Hell.
Fuck.
Chapter Two
“Hey, little brother!”
Joe rolled his eyes at Brett. “You’re only older by seven minutes.”
Brett grinned, his brown eyes glinting. His dark hair was disheveled from last night’s party. They hadn’t done anything that would have pushed any moral boundaries. They’d gone on a hunt in bear form, and Brett had never quite figured out how to come back looking like a respectable adult.
Joe hoped Juliet would fix that.
His heart twinged at the thought of Juliet, and he couldn’t even finish that thought. Joe liked Juliet. She was a really sweet woman, and her bear spirit would be a great addition to their clan.
But with each day, Joe spent less and less time with his twin. He grieved, which was stupid. It was stupid to be jealous of his brother’s mate. It was stupid to mourn the relationship he’d always had with his brother, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept. For the past twenty-eight years, Brett had been Joe’s constant companion. They could feel each other, almost read each other’s thoughts.
“Seven minutes made a huge difference.” Brett wrapped his arm around Joe’s shoulders and led him out of the bedroom.
Other bear shifters from both sides of the family filled the living room. Hearing all their voices normally made Joe feel at home and at peace. Today, though, it just heralded the fact that he was losing his brother.
What a jackass. His brother was getting mated to a wonderful woman. Nothing else should matter.
That didn’t change what was raging inside his chest, though, no matter how much it pissed him off that he was pissed off his brother had found someone to replace him.
“You have everything for the ceremony, don’t you?” Brett asked, dragging Joe to the kitchen.
Probably because he was hungry. Brett was always hungry. “Yeah.”
Granted, there wasn’t a lot that Joe had to get ready for the ceremony. Just the ring, which was in the box on top of his dresser, and the broom that Momma Bear, their clan leader, was making. More than that, all he had to do was make sure that Brett made it there in one piece and he was pretty confident that would happen whether Joe helped or not.
“What’s the matter, little brother?”
Joe wasn’t going to tell him. It was one thing to brood, knowing how stupid it was to do so. He wasn’t going to be a complete jackass and express it. He screwed on a smile and shook his head. “Just didn’t sleep well.”
“You’ll find someone.” Brett gave his brother’s shoulders one final squeeze and let him go, falling on the island of pies.
Joe met his mom’s gaze.
She shook her head with a grin, putting the pan of muffins she’d just pulled from the oven onto the hot pad.
The house smelled amazing like it always did when their mom was worry baking. Granted, today, she’d baked for a houseful of bears, knowing that they would eat her out of house and home if she allowed it.
Joe’s bear stirred and gave him a gentle, drowsy push of comfort and support.
He appreciated it, but he just needed to keep it together and not be a jerk. He could deal with whatever was going on with himself later, but not at that moment.
“If you just got yourself out there,” their mom said. She pulled the large muffins out of the pan and placed them carefully on the cooling rack.
What she didn’t know was that Joe had put himself out there again and again. He was well-known on the club scene, and his online profile was one of the most sought after on all the dating sites. He’d dated, fucked, and dumped—or been dumped by— half of Portland in search of his mate.
And Brett had found Juliet after one online date.
One.
His mom gave him a sad smile. “What about Jessica? She was a nice girl.”
Jessica was the girl he’d dated in high school because his parents had wanted him to date a good shapeshifter girl.
But all he’d wanted was Ripley.
“She married Bill and moved to New York.” Joe picked up a pumpkin muffin and juggled it to keep it from burning him. “Besides, we never really hit it off.”
“But you dated for so long.”
They had started dating when they were freshmen and didn’t break up until she went to college. She’d had her eye on Bill all along. She’d known where Joe’s heart lay but kept up the pretense for his parents, a fact that he was still grateful for. It had gotten them off his back for a little while, at least, but they wanted grandcubs.
Ripley had stopped seeing him after she’d lost her parents, and no matter how hard he’d tried to push himself back into her life, she’d pushed harder, keeping him distant. When she’d graduated early and left, it had almost been a relief. Almost.
His mom’s brown eyes met his. “What about Rachel?”
He’d dated Rachel a few years ago. She was a teacher at the school. She helped with math and water magicks. Her spirit animal was a fox, which wouldn’t be a horrible match, but there’d been no spark. They’d both been bored on all four of their dates, and there hadn’t been even a small spark when they kissed. “She’s committed to her career.”
“Zoe.”
Zoe was a wolf and a brilliant biologist. There was fire between them. Oh, yeah. There was fire there. But if Rachel had been committed to her career, Zoe took it to a whole new level. Joe was Zoe’s booty call. “She’s really, really committed to her career.”
“Well, I heard that Corin is pushing her to mate.”
As the only pureblood female remaining in that pack, Joe didn’t doubt her alpha leader was pushing her to reproduce. But he also knew that no one was going to make Zoe do something she didn’t want to. She’d pack trot before she let herself be unjustly mated to another. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, Mom.” He shook his head to emphasize his point, successfully peeling the paper away from his muffin. His mom’s muffins were the absolute best and could make even a broken heart feel better for a little while.
“Karen.”
“Is gay.”
“She’s bi, which is totally different.”
True, but she was currently with a woman, and Joe didn’t want to get in the middle of that. They seemed quite happy with one another.
“Alexandra.”
“No one calls her that, Mom.”
“I’m not calling her by that other name.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Dray.”
She widened her eyes and turned toward the stove, her hands out.
How she could be so open-minded about some things and then close her mind about a name confused the hell out of him. “Didn’t work out.”
“Can you try again?”
“She’s a bug, Mom.”
“But she’s still a shifter.”
She might as well have slapped Joe in the face. She knew who he really wanted. She’d found a letter he’d written to her years ago. She could accept Karen as being bi, or Dray for being a spider, but not Ripley because she wasn’t a shifter. “The Sisterhood never went after her.”
“Which just meant that someone in her family did a favor to someone high ranking in a pack somewhere. That doesn’t mean she’s worth mating.”
Then why was it that everything in his soul was telling him to find her, that she was the one? His bear growled with the intensity of that knowledge. She was the one that had gotten away. His soul wouldn’t be complete without her.
“What about Dawn?”
Joe set the remainder of his muffin on the island with a thump of his hand, slamming the other hand down beside it. “Just stop, Mom.
Okay?”
Brett nibbled his muffin, watching them both.
“I’m just saying that I’m glad that girl ran off like she did.” His mom set the spoon pointedly on the counter beside her mixing bowl. “You deserve better.”
“There was nothing wrong with her.”
Brett glanced at their mother, then looked back at Joe, his brown eyes widening as surprise washed over his expression. He didn’t know who they were talking about.
Joe hadn’t told anyone because he hadn’t wanted to have this conversation. He’d thought him and Rip could just run away, find a place to live where they wouldn’t be looked down upon for loving each other. But he’d known it was such a bad idea. He hadn’t even told his twin, the one person on the entire planet he could tell anything to.
Maybe Rip was right to leave him behind. But he still just wished she would have let him in. They could have had a life together if she’d just waited.
“Good riddance.” Their mom turned away, dismissing the discussion.
Brett crumpled his empty wrapper and tossed it on top of the overflowing trash can. “We need to hunt game for tonight. Come on, Joe.”
Joe followed his brother. Despite the conversation he knew was coming, he needed to get out of the house. They left without jackets because if it did start raining, they’d let their bears out just enough to protect their skin. Bear coats really were the best, especially when the bear wasn’t dead in order to wear it. He grabbed his hunting bow and followed his twin to the front door. The other bears didn’t seem to have noticed what transpired in the kitchen, thankfully. Joe didn’t want to ruin anything for Brett, and he knew that bringing drama to the table was the best way to do that.
Especially in a bear clan. Emotional bears in a small space was a bad idea.
Brett waited until they were well out of sight of the house before he said anything. He stepped over a fallen tree and sat on it. “So, who is she and why didn’t you tell me about her?”
Joe leaned against a young redwood. “I knew it was a bad idea.”
The branches of the alder bush next him rustled and their little sister popped through, tall, blonde, and gorgeous.
“Emma.” Joe groaned. Leave it to her to have overheard.
She held up her hands in surrender, her blonde hair pulled back in a loose braid. “I just wanted to tell you something. Candace called to let me know the daily dish.” She rolled her eyes but continued. The two were close, but Candace tended to think that everything was worth reporting. “She’s back.”
Joe’s heart lurched in his chest. It couldn’t be Ripley. He wanted it to be Ripley, but it couldn’t be. No one knew who he and their mom had been talking about.
“Ripley.” Emma widened her eyes and arms. “Ringing any bells?”
Of course, he did. The idea of having her home just...not possible. But what if it was? What did it mean? “Do you know where she is? Is she still at the sandwich shop?”
“That was hours ago, dude. No.” Emma glanced at Brett, then frowned. “He still has no clue? I thought you were twins.”
“We don't share everything."
Brett's frown deepened. "What don't I know?"
Joe wasn't quite ready for that conversation. "Wait. Em, how the hell did you know?” Joe raked his hand through his hair, eyes falling incredulously to his sister’s.
“Are you kidding me? You’ve been moping around ever since she disappeared.”
A light dawned in Brett's dark eyes.
Joe sputtered, feeling the heat rise on the back of his neck.
“Ripley Kent?” Brett stared at his brother in disbelief, finally catching up. “She screwed half the football team.”
“Seriously?” Emma set her hands on her hips. “They said I screwed half the football team.”
And she hadn’t. Joe and Brett had been pretty relentless in getting to the truth of that.
“But seriously, Ripley Kent.” Brett’s disbelief melted into an expression of what-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-you?
And this was the reason Joe hadn’t said anything. Brett was just as human prejudiced as their mother was. Maybe now was a good time to tell his brother just that, because Brett was moving on. He was getting a new life partner, leaving Joe behind. It was just one more reason Joe shouldn’t care. “And why do you think I didn’t tell you??”
“She’s a human.”
Emma held up a finger, her expression pinched. “Now, hold up for a minute. Here’s the thing. She’s out on patrol right now.”
Out on patrol? That didn’t make sense. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I talked to Rainbow. She’s off the hook for baby shifter watch tonight. She wants to have drinks. I asked how, and she said Ripley was taking over.”
“How would she be able to go on patrol? And replace Rainbow?” Rainbow Blu was the rusalka on the new Red Star Division the Whiskey Witch was heading up. They routinely sent her out on baby shifter watch because she was a death omen.
So if Ripley had replaced Rainbow—
She had to be a padfoot. It made sense to why she’d been accepted into their society, and why she’d left after her parents had died. Or, why she’d shut down, at least. He’d always known there were two padfoots protecting the town, but because everyone was so superstitious about them, padfoots were treated pretty badly.
Badly enough that if Ripley had been chosen, she wouldn’t want to admit it.
But not even to him? He would have accepted her. He’d wanted to marry her when he thought she was a human. He couldn’t mate with her, not if she were human, but he’d still wanted to. It stung a little that she hadn’t confided in him. But he wondered what it would be like to suddenly discover you were a padfoot. How would he have reacted?
Brett, according to his expression, still hadn’t quite caught on to what had just happened. He was still talking to Emma about Ripley being a human.
Emma nodded and grunted, but her eyes were on Joe. She made a shooing motion and jutted her head forward with a nod as if to ask, “Well, dummy, what are you waiting for?”
Not an invitation. That was for sure. Joe was going to find Ripley and show her what she was missing.
Him.
Chapter Three
Ripley stepped over another downed tree, irritably flicking a spider web out of her face. She liked the woods. It felt good to be in the woods again. But, she wasn’t supposed to be there. No attachments. It was the one thing she had promised herself in coming back to Troutdale. A patrol for Tuck was not on the list of acceptable pastimes.
So, what was she doing out there again? Did she really believe that Tuck had no one else to send out there? No. He had people. He’d been doing this thing for too many years not to have this covered.
Which meant he’d succeeded in guilting her into it.
That jerk.
Still, he wouldn’t have succeeded if she hadn’t wanted to go out there. No one could make Ripley Kent do something she didn’t want to do.
Fine. So, what wasn’t she admitting to herself? Did she want to come home?
Maybe. If she was honest with herself. She’d had a life there once. Granted, that life had included her father, her mother, her brother.
Her brother. The situation was his fault. Her life would have been just fine if it hadn’t been for him. If he’d just been someone the padfoot could have chosen, she’d still have a life there. She could have finished high school without becoming the school freak. Being able to see death’s trace lingering on people wasn’t conducive to the typical high school experience, even in a place like Troutdale.
Ripley exhaled slowly, attempting to cool the bitterness creeping into her thoughts. It might have worked if it weren’t for Joe. Fucking Joe Elliot. If everything had been different, they could have been together. If her brother hadn’t been such a pile of shit. If she hadn’t been made the padfoot. Maybe she would have married Joe. Maybe not. Maybe they would have just run off and had a great life together.
She di
dn’t care about marrying anyone anymore, and she barely remembered being the kind of girl to fantasize about it.
Oh, Joe. Part of her hoped she’d see him, but just a part.
Ripley stepped into a meadow just as a group of kids broke through, laughing, joking, and making a marked nuisance of themselves.
Fucking Tuck. She was going to kick his ass when she saw him. She remembered when Tuck first discovered paranormals. He’d taken her under his wing the first day he came into town. His first year as a chief had been rather comical. They’d all made fun of him.
She didn’t know how he found out. The previous chief had never known the town’s secret. Knowing him as she did now, she figured he had probably followed the clues and then just discovered it on his own. After he found out, the Sisterhood had probably determined it was just safer to let him stay alive, protecting their town. He—
A tall, blonde girl stepped out of the woods, and Ripley’s padfoot stirred. The girl laughed with the boy on one side of her and the two girls on the other. The padfoot leaned towards her, almost as if he was being pulled forward.
Ripley frowned. A rusalka? A harpy?
Her padfoot had never reacted to them like that. There was something familiar about the girl. Ripley stepped forward, drawing the group’s attention to her.
The blonde smiled and approached without hesitation.
“It’s good to see you, Ripley,” another voice said, female, familiar, rough.
Faith had raised several pups, including Ripley. Pulling her attention away from the girl, Ripley turned to Faith with a warm smile. Faith was one of the few who knew about her padfoot and had always accepted her. “You always saw more in me than others.”
“You made it easy.” Faith was medium height, muscular, and looked like she could tussle with any shifter in the area and win. And she did. She was the regional high alpha’s mate, so she was called to do exactly that sometimes. She even had a scar running down her face, a thin dark line running from her right eye to the corner of her full lips to remind her of a time she’d come a little too close to losing. She pulled Ripley into a strong, one-armed hug. “Sorry to hear about your uncle.”
