She was beyond trying to make sense of what was happening. It was all too much.
She found herself staring at Tavis again, lost in his eyes. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, but she hadn’t uttered a single word.
Just a day ago, if someone had told her that her life was about to change in such a drastic way, she would have laughed it off.
But now, she couldn’t find it in herself to laugh. Not at Tavis.
He looked too serious.
And too handsome.
It was unexpected. Unnecessary. But undeniably true.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “I’m sorry, what?”
Tavis held her gaze. He knew she didn’t need him to repeat himself. She just needed time to process it.
“Taylee?” Tavis’s voice broke through her thoughts.
She was struck by how natural her name sounded coming from his lips, how used she was to hearing it. As if he’d been calling her name her whole life. As if he had always been there.
“So, you’re telling me, I’ve grown up in a wolf family, and only associated with wolves my whole life, and now, I’m going to be a bear?”
“Technically, you’ve been a bear the whole time.”
His voice was steady and calm. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, making it impossible for her to look away.
“The whole time?” she echoed.
“You probably never knew you were a bear because you never saw any others.” He watched her as if she might explode any second.
That was it.
She had to make him forget everything he knew. He knew too much about her, and they’d only known each other for an hour.
“I…wow.” She broke eye contact. “This is…too much.”
“Just breathe.”
She wanted to scoff at that, but she realized she’d been holding her breath. Letting it out hurt.
“So…Tavis…what does this mean?”
“I— It’s complicated.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was dark, slightly wavy, and reached just past the nape of his neck. Her hair was definitely shorter.
One look, and she preferred his to hers.
“I can handle it,” she insisted.
“You just said it was too much.”
“I promise.”
“Taylee,” he said, his voice low and soft. She shivered. “I still don’t think you’re in any condition.”
“Any condition to what? Learn the truth?”
“It’s a lot to take in.” He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. “You live with your family?”
She nodded. Her heart was pounding in her ears.
“Here.” He handed her the phone. His hand was the warmest she’d ever touched. “Text them. They must be worried sick.”
“Oh. Yeah.” She held her head in her left hand, typing with her right.
“Tell them who I am and that I’m bringing you home soon.”
“Okay.”
“Then, if you’re rested, if you’re not too tired, we can take it step by step. I’ll tell you everything you need to know. We’ll piece this story together.”
She looked down at the phone. She’d been thinking of her family all along.
Why hadn’t she thought of how she would contact them?
“No password, by the way.”
Her head snapped up. “Huh?”
“The phone doesn’t have a password.” He smiled. “You’ve memorized at least one of their numbers?”
“My mom’s.” She felt oddly self-conscious around him. She wished he would leave her alone for a while.
“You text her. I’ll be outside gathering some kindling. It’s supposed to get extra cold.”
He paused at the doorway to the kitchen, which led to other rooms—probably his bedroom.
“Oh, and holler if you need anything. Seriously. I’ll hear you.”
And he was gone.
She continued to stare at the black screen. A minute later, a door—probably the back door—slammed shut.
She unlocked the phone. Both the lock screen and the home screen were a royal blue. No pictures of people or places that were special to him.
Just plain blue.
What was he hiding?
Taylee thought about snooping through his camera roll—to get some dirt on him—but decided against it. She didn’t need that on her conscience just yet. She opened Messages and typed in her mother’s number.
She downplayed her injuries in the text. Gretchen would freak out if she knew the truth.
Taylee decided to keep the constant headache to herself. If it was a concussion, they’d all find out soon enough.
What worried her more was how she was supposed to “explain everything” when she didn’t even understand half of it herself.
Just imagining her mother’s voice through the texts brought tears of relief to Taylee’s eyes. She would go home a different person.
Well, maybe not different, but aware of how different she’d been all along.
A misfit. She had always felt like a misfit. Now, she knew why.
It wasn’t because she was Asian. She was a bear, just like Tavis, and he wasn’t Asian.
Was her biological mother a bear?
Or had she been with one?
How many other bears were there in the Pacific Northwest? How many did Tavis know? Could any of them be related to her?
Each question led to three more. It was all Taylee could do to keep up.
She knew one thing for sure: she’d feel a whole lot better once she was on her feet.
Slowly, using her hands for balance, she shifted onto the balls of her feet. Then, with her palms flat on the ground, she pushed herself up into a hunched position.
As she straightened, each vertebra sent a tiny jolt of pain shooting up her spine.
She gritted her teeth and bore it.
Finally, she was standing. She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.
Taking it slow, one foot at a time, heel-toe, heel-toe, she moved as if she was learning to walk all over again. Through the doorway, into the small kitchen with its tiled floor and wooden cabinets, and then to the glass door.
Tavis was just a few feet away, out on the wide, low porch. He was facing her, but his attention was on the pile of kindling at the edge of the platform.
He hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt, but he was wearing a dark green jacket with a woolly lining that she could see from where she stood.
Sweat glistened on his forehead. He held an axe in his hands, and each time he brought it down onto the wood, he grunted. There was a rhythm to it.
Taylee found herself listening to the rhythm.
She kept her gaze on the wood, afraid that if she looked up, she wouldn’t be able to hold back the wave of emotion welling up inside her.
She hadn’t thought he was particularly muscular at first, but this activity highlighted the sinewy strength in his arms, the solid muscles in his torso…and from what she could see below that—
He was almost finished. Almost done. She was so focused on him finishing that it took her a good ten seconds to realize he had stopped and was looking at her.
Their eyes met through the glass. He couldn’t hide his amusement. She felt her cheeks heat up.
He gestured for her to come over. Embarrassed, wrapped up in her blanket, she pushed open the door and stepped out onto the porch.
He pushed his hair back from his forehead and grinned.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” She felt like she was on fire.
“Come on, Taylee.”
“I just...noticed you, that’s all.”
His eyes smiled, warmly, kindly, even though his mouth didn’t.
“I noticed you, too.”
