Chapter 1

Robert tried to be cheerful, but he seemed to be put out about something. “What’s the problem, little brother?” Charles finally confronted him. “You’ve been walking around here with a chip on your shoulder for weeks. Out with it.” He figured it was a good time to talk, Jackie was taking a nap.

“There’s nothing wrong with me, I’m fine.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me that,” Charles told him. “You’ve been acting like someone stole your best friend.”

“Someone did,” Robert snapped.

“What!” Charles was dumbfounded. “Who?”

“Jackie, asshole.”

“You’re pissed off because of Jackie? Tell me you’re not.”

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just you and I used to do so much together and now we don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jackie. I guess, to be honest, I’m jealous. I want a mate.  I want to be in love. I want to have what you have.” Robert hung his head. “Have I really been that bad?”

“Worse!” Charles laughed. “It’s okay. Jackie was afraid you were ill and afraid to tell us.”

“What am I going to do, Charlie? I’m going to be really lousy company over Thanksgiving, maybe I should take off for a while.”

“You’ll be fine, plus it would disappoint Jackie immensely if you’re not here.” 

Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Charles and Jackie had company coming for Thanksgiving, staying until the following Saturday.

Jackie was so excited, she would finally get to see some of her friends and her cousin from Oregon. She could share her news. She didn’t know how Charles could keep from telling his brother Mack in California, she was pregnant.

It was an extremely rare pregnancy, she’s a bobcat and her mate, Charles, is a grizzly bear. It’s very rare for two different species to conceive a child. Not impossible for shifters, but no one could recall when it ever happened. 

The doctor warned, during the first half of the pregnancy, there was a high risk of miscarriage. She was to have plenty of bed rest and no strenuous activity. After the second month, if everything looked normal, she could resume normal activity. As normal as a pregnant woman carrying a rare shifter baby could be.

“Look Robert, stick around long enough for Thanksgiving dinner and if you still feel the same, you can take off. I need your help cooking dinner. I know Jackie is almost off restriction, but I don’t want to take any chances. I could never live with myself if she lost the baby.”

“Alright, but I’m taking off right after dinner. Jackie will have enough friends here to help with everything else.”

“Agreed. Thanks Rob. Hang in there, you’ll find your mate when you least expect it, I know you will.” He gave him a pat on the back. “It’ll happen.”

“Yeah, right.” Robert had things to do and took off for a while. Charles ran upstairs to check on Jackie.

“Is everything all right with Rob?” Jackie frowned when he came into their room.

“He’s fine. He feels cooped up and wants to take off on his own for a while.”

“It’s because of me, isn’t it?” Jackie didn’t know what to do. “Charles, how can I fix this?”

“Sweetheart, you can’t fix it. What he is feeling isn’t your fault. He wants to find his mate. He wants to be as happy as we are. Can you blame him?” He sat beside her and kissed her gently. “Umm, I miss making love to you,” he whispered.

“Not half as much as I do.” She kissed him back. “Do you think we could if we were careful?” She whispered.

“Not until the doctor says so. I’m not taking any chances. Not only could you lose the baby, I could lose you.” He gave her a hug. “I love you too much to take that risk, I couldn’t live without you.”

“Party pooper,” she let out a long sigh. “I miss you. If having babies mean I can’t make love to you, then, no more babies. This is it.”

Charles frowned at her. “Let’s wait and see. The doctor told you it’s just the first time that we must be so careful. Remember, this wasn’t supposed to happen. It may never happen again.”

That hurt him. She knew Charles would love to have a bunch of kids and he was right. There was no guarantee it would happen again.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” She reached up and pulled him in for a kiss. “I love you and I want lots of kids and lots of sex.” That got them both laughing.

“Don’t worry, you’re not the only one suffering, you know,” he kissed her back. “I plan to make up for lost time.”

                                                         *****

A week later, Jackie’s company arrived as planned. It gave Jackie four whole days with her cousin and a few of her new friends. They arrived Monday night. Franny Cox, Jackie’s cousin came with Heidi Chow, Becky Brooks and Bradley Fletcher.

They would stay until Saturday morning when they would have to leave to get back to Oregon and work. All four of them had been through the same ordeal. They had been kidnapped for a sick shifter sex trade. The bad part was, they didn’t know they were shifters at the time. When they were rescued, Jackie taught them how to shift. It was late when they finally arrived.

After hugs and introductions, Jackie offered them something to eat.

“Oh no, we stopped in the last town and got some burgers,” Bradley told them. “We knew we were going to get here late, we’re good.”

“How about some apple pie and homemade ice cream? I have a fresh pot of coffee.” Charles offered and gave Bradley a look that said. ‘I know you want pie and ice cream.’

“You twisted my arm. Everybody calls me Fletch,” Bradley said with a laugh. “I could never turn down pie and ice cream.” They all headed for the kitchen. Charles had two freshly baked apple pies and a whole bucket of ice cream. They sat until almost midnight catching up on everything from home.

When Jackie announced that she was pregnant, Charles had to cover his ears. The three girls screeched with delight. While the girls talked about the baby, Charles grabbed a couple of beers and took Fletch outside to get away from the noise. There was snow on the ground and it crunched under their feet. The lake was frozen around the shoreline.

“If it wasn’t so late, we could have shifted and gone for a run. We can do that tomorrow,” Charles told him.

“That would be great. Congratulations on the baby, man. What a surprise.” Fletch expressed his happiness for him. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I can’t tell,” Charles replied. “It has something to do with Jackie’s cat. She doesn’t give off a scent like other females.”

“Wow, do you know if it will be a bear or a bobcat?”

“Nope. If she was human, we know it would be a cub, but Jackie being a bobcat and this is so rare, we don’t know.”

“It’s amazing how little the rest of us know about shifters. New questions come up constantly. We’ve learned so much from you and Jackie.” Charles and Fletch sat on the bench by the lake enjoying their beers. “You have a nice place here. I love the lake. How’s the fishing?”

“The fishing is great,” Charles told him. “Do you like to fish?”

“Oh hell, yeah. I mean, I’m a bear.” Fletch was a black bear shifter. That made Charles laugh. “But beside that, I learned to fish long before I ever learned about being a bear.”

“You’ll have to come back in the summer and spend some time here.”

“I’d like that.” They finished their beers and walked back to the house.

Jackie had shown the girls to their rooms and everyone was getting settled for the night by the time Charles and Fletch returned.

Robert had said very little all evening and sat out of the way. He kept staring at Heidi Chow. There was something about her that bothered him, annoyed him. He had been looking forward to meeting her, but now that she was here, he felt differently.

Heidi had been working on a biology project for the University of Beijing at the Seattle zoo when she was abducted. Her parents were no longer living. She had paternal grandparents and an aunt and uncle still living in China, but she could never go home again.

Heidi Chow was short and on the skinny side, like she didn’t eat enough. She had beautiful long, jet black hair and gorgeous sea-green eyes. He had no idea that she would be Asian. He knew she was a panda bear shifter and hadn’t thought about anything else. He never considered what she would look like. He had to admit she was beautiful and that annoyed him even more. He finally had enough and went to bed without saying a word. He didn’t even say good night to Jackie.

What Robert didn’t know, was, Heidi had been watching him. She thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. Robert was six-foot-seven, broad shoulders, slightly long, light brown wavy hair and amazing dark brown eyes. The moment she saw him, she was drawn to him.