“Oh, dear Lord,” Nell whispered, completely overwhelmed by the craziness that had invaded her bakery today.

Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe somebody had spiked the flour with PCP or something. That would explain why she was seeing koalas and grizzly bears in her store, and the cutest little four year old on the planet just claimed she was a panda.

“She better sit down,” Lyn said in that no-nonsense way she had of talking.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” the sheriff agreed, taking Nell’s arm across the counter and guiding her out from behind. He escorted her to the nearest chair, and she let him.

She sat, only then realizing she was trembling from head to toe.

“You gonna faint on me, honey?” Brody asked, squatting down in front of her chair.

He had that boyish smile on his face that usually made her knees weak. But they were already weak. They’d turned to rubber when the men had turned into bears, and only her death grip on the display case had kept her upright.

Nell had had a thing for the sexy sheriff since she first moved into her new shop. He’d come by to welcome her to town and had been by most days since, usually eating lunch here, while she covered the store. Her sister, Ashley, got up with the roosters and stayed until after the breakfast rush. Then, Nell took the afternoons, and little sister Tina covered the evening shift, which wasn’t nearly as busy.

Nell was the oldest. She had brought her sisters here. Were they safe? Had she moved them all to an even more dangerous place than the one they’d just left?

Oh, God. Bending over, she wrapped her hands around her middle, feeling ill.

Brody’s warm hand settled on her back, rubbing slow, pacifying circles as he moved closer. She felt surrounded by his warmth, but oddly, it made her feel safe.

This was the closest she’d ever been to him. The barrier that had seemed to keep him at a distance was gone. But was her safety gone with it? Nell frowned, worrying.

“It’s okay,” Brody whispered. “You’ve had a shock. But you’re safe, Nell. Nobody in town would ever hurt you.”

A clatter on the table beside her made her look up. Lyn had brought her a strong cup of coffee.

“Drink up,” Lyn said. “You need a jolt of caffeine. Only wish I had something stronger to give you.” Lyn’s smile was friendly, and Nell realized that the woman she’d become friends with over the past weeks was still the same, even if there was some bizarre way she could turn into a enormous bear.

Brody took the mug and handed it to Nell. He was such a gentle giant of a man. She had admired him from afar over the past weeks, glad his habit was to take a late lunch when the shop was quiet, as it was now.

Nell drank a sip of the coffee, and it did make her feel a little better. The heat of the liquid and familiar flavor of the brew grounded her a bit. It wore down the shock that had been riding her for the past fifteen minutes.

“Can you call Tina in to take over a little early?” Brody suggested as she downed the coffee. “Tell her you’re not feeling well or something?”

Nell’s eyes widened. “Are my sisters safe here?”

Brody nodded solemnly. “Safer in this town than anywhere else,” he insisted. “Our residents have all been vetted, and most have known each other for many years. While it’s true we recently opened up to new faces, there’s a procedure for shifters who want to join the community. That drunken Aussie wasn’t supposed to just show up in town and go furry. He’s going to face the Alpha when he sobers up, and believe me, that won’t be pretty.”

“We don’t go around advertising what we can do,” Lyn said, picking up her daughter once more. “Secrecy is the first rule of our society. You are now one of very few humans who know about us,” Lyn went on. “Can you be trusted to keep our secret?”

Nell was surprised by the question. “I won’t tell anybody,” she promised. “Nobody would believe me anyway. I’d end up in the loony bin.” She finished her coffee and put the mug back on the table at her side. Then she realized Lyn had come in to pick up the lunch order she’d called in an hour before. “Oh, you probably need to go. Let me get your bag,” Nell said, rising and going behind the counter.

The familiar work helped calm her further, even if her world had been turned upside down in the past half hour. The lunch order was ready and sitting in the cooler. Nell took it out and handed it over the top of the display case to Lyn.

“It’s on the house today, Lyn,” she said when the other woman reached into her bag. “And there’s a treat inside for Daisy.”

The little girl’s face lit up when she heard that last part. Her mother asked the universal mommy question. “What do we say when someone gives us a treat?”

Daisy responded with a loud, “Thank you!”

Nell couldn’t help but smile at the child. “You’re very welcome, Miss Daisy.”

“I wouldn’t leave, but I have a buyer coming to the gallery in twenty minutes. Promise me you’ll come by later so we can talk?” Lyn insisted.

“I’ll take good care of her,” the sheriff insisted. Lyn shot him a doubtful look but left with a nod.

When Lyn had left, Nell found herself staring at Brody. His quirked eyebrow invited her to speak.

“So far today, I’ve seen a koala, a grizzly and, if Daisy is to be believed, a panda walk into my shop. In human form.” As observations went, it was a doozy.

“I told John he should be more specific when he sent out the call for bears.” Brody shook his head with a smile. “I was willing to bend the definition for Lyn and Daisy, but that puny Aussie? I don’t think so. Besides, he smells like cough drops.”

Nell laughed out loud but quickly stopped herself. “Eucalyptus. I think that’s what koalas eat.” She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. “God. I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.”

“Actually, I’m kind of glad we’re talking about it,” Brody admitted, moving nearer, his arms crossed and his stance contemplative. “I’ve been wanting to get closer to you for weeks, but until you knew my secret, I had to keep my distance. I don’t like lying to people I respect.”

That took her by surprise. “You respect me?”

She couldn’t imagine why. She was nobody special. She was just another rolling stone who happened to land right side up in the cove, looking for a new start.

“Of course I do,” he answered without hesitation. “You care for your sisters. You were strong enough to stand up for yourself, and for them, in front of the town council. You convinced Big John that you could make a go of your business here, and you’ve done just that. What’s not to respect?”

When he put it that way… It was kind of charming of him to have noticed, actually. Nell felt her cheeks heat as she blushed. She’d been covertly watching the big sheriff every day since they’d met. He pushed all her buttons on a physical level, but also on a mental one. Their lunch conversations had ranged from the latest tech innovations in the news to the planning and layout of the town. She’d known he had a hand in it and liked what he had to say about the way he’d designed certain security aspects right into the road system itself.

“I respect you too,” she admitted. “I like talking with you when you come in for lunch.”

Brody sighed heavily. “But you’re not sure what to make of the idea that I can turn into a grizzly at will, huh?” He gazed straight into her eyes.

She shrugged in reply. “I don’t know what to think.”

Rather than answer her, Brody reached for his cell phone and placed a call. Still feeling a little bewildered, Nell watched him as the call connected.

“Yeah, hi, Tina? This is Sheriff Chambers. I’m over at the bakery. Everything’s okay, but I think your sister could use a bit of a break. She just finished dealing with a difficult customer. Is it possible for you to come in a little early?” He paused, listening to her sister’s reply. “Excellent. We’ll wait for you to get here.” Another pause. “Yeah, I’m taking her out to decompress. I think she needs a little TLC after the day she’s had. We’ll probably just take a quiet walk around the cove.” He smiled as her sister said something else. “Thanks. Yeah. We’ll see you in a few minutes.”

He ended the call with a tap of his finger and put the phone away. That little grin never left his face. He looked a bit smug. Was he feeling satisfied that he’d arranged to take her out? And how did she feel about his highhandedness? She honestly wasn’t sure.

“You seem very pleased with yourself,” she observed.

“That’s because I am.” His smile grew wider as he came around the display case, joining her in the work area as if he belonged there.

He took one of the empty boxes off the stack she kept ready and placed a few of the honey buns she knew were his favorites into it. She watched, bemused, as he put the box into a shopping bag and then pulled a few bills out of his pocket and stuck them in the cash register.

“What’s that for?” she couldn’t help asking.

“Our picnic,” he answered, still grinning.

“What picnic?”

“The one we’re going to take down by the beach while I tell you all about the bears and this town.” He took her hand and led her out from behind the display case, even going so far as to remove her apron and fold it neatly before placing it on the counter. “Now that I’m free to speak the truth, there’s a lot I want to tell you.”

“What about my sisters? Will they be let in on the secret?” she wanted to know.

Brody’s smile dimmed as he tilted his head. “I’m not sure. That sort of all depends.”

“On what?” She put her hands on her hips as she faced him.

“On a few different things. How you handle what I’m going to tell you. How we proceed from here on out. What the Alpha decides. Any number of things, including your sisters’ temperaments.” He shrugged. “If it were up to me, I’d probably tell them, but when we agreed to settle here, we also agreed to follow Big John’s laws. He’s the Alpha. He gets to decide the big questions, like this one. But I wouldn’t worry. He was the one who approved of your plans to open this bakery. He checked you all out before he ever agreed to let you into our town.”

“He investigated us?” Nell was a bit insulted by the idea, but then again, it looked like these people—if that’s what they were—had a lot to lose if they let the wrong sort of person run around loose in their community.

“Don’t feel bad. He had us all investigated before he ever made the offer to let us live on his land. You probably don’t realize it, but this place was Big John’s dream from the get go. He quietly accumulated acres and acres of land around the cove over the past several decades. He plans long-term. And he wasn’t about to let just anyone settle here.”

“I had no idea. My rent goes to a big corporation, I thought.”

“Yeah. A big corporation ultimately owned by John Marshall. He’s got all kinds of paperwork and shell corporations that hide the fact of his ownership pretty well. That’s why the lawyer was one of the first shifters he invited to join him here.”

“The town lawyer is a…a shifter?” She tried out the unfamiliar term.

“Honey, everybody who lives here, except you and your sisters, are shifters. If you want to stay here, you’re going to have to get used to it.” He shook his head, his smile still charming, though his words were alarming.

“What if I want to leave? Would you let me go, now that I’ve seen what I’ve seen?”

Brody sighed. “That’s another thing that would be up to the Alpha, though I would definitely argue in your favor. I don’t think you’re about to go hunting up the nearest newspaper reporter. And you also had no option when that crazy, drunk Australian forced the issue. It’s not like you were deliberately trying to find out about us. You shouldn’t have to pay the price for his stupidity.”

“What kind of price are we talking about?” She had a bad feeling about this.

Brody started to look uncomfortable. “Well, in the past, some Alphas were known to impose permanent solutions for this kind of thing, but I don’t believe Big John would even consider something like that in your case.”

“When you say permanent solutions, do you mean…?” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Death,” he said succinctly, nodding as she felt herself go faint. “I won’t lie to you, Nell. Not anymore. Not even by omission. That’s a promise.” He held her gaze, and she felt some of his strength flowing into her, odd as it seemed. “But if it comes to that, I won’t let it happen. I’ll protect you with my own life, if I have to.”

She believed him. She didn’t know why, but she did.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but thank you for the sentiment.”

Brody moved closer, his hips in line with hers as his hands went to her waist. “It’s not a casual declaration, honey. There’s something between us. I’ve felt it from the first moment I saw you. In a way, I should be thankful to that stupid koala, because now, I’m finally free to talk to you about who, and what, I really am.”