The fire of Colton’s stone hearth crackled and seemed loud in the thickening silence. Genie was asleep in her cage, finally. That little rodent had glared at Ava since she’d come in out of the cold but finally got bored and passed out. Ava was cuddled up on the recliner under a blanket, knees to her chest to keep warm, her arm in full bandages and throbbing despite the pain meds Colton had given her when he fixed her up. He was really good at first aid. Too good, and she’d wondered how many times he’d worked on Trigger, and on himself. Between Kurt and Colton, Kurt’s dark-haired little three-year-old boy slept soundly all curled on the couch under a blanket.

It was Kurt who broke the heavy silence. “I’ll be leaving as soon as I heal up.”

“You don’t have to, you know?” Colton assured him.

“I do,” Kurt said, tiredly. He was pale, and his entire torso was covered in bandages, which showed through his unbuttoned flannel shirt. His cowboy hat sat on the armrest right beside him. He looked like he’d aged a hundred years in a night; his eyes were so exhausted.

“Thank you for what you did,” Ava murmured.

He gave a half smile and looked down at his son. “I couldn’t stand by and watch them carry out what they planned. Can’t teach my boy to be a good man someday if I’m not a good man. If I don’t try to do what’s right. Y’all are good people, just different. Chase never understood that there’s nothing wrong with different.”

Colton’s gaze drifted to her again. He had been watching her for the past hour since he’d come back to the cabin from helping Trigger. Watching her like a hawk on a mouse. He bit the edge of his thumbnail and stretched out one of his legs while she curled down deeper under her blanket. She’d never been so tired in her whole life, but she couldn’t sleep until Trigger came back.

She fingered the bandage on her arm and said, “Colton, just say what it is you want to say.”

He pursed his lips and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clamped in front of him. “You don’t seem scared off.”

She shook her head. “I know I should be. I know that’s the normal reaction, but maybe I have the bits that Dad was missing, too.”

“Loyal?”

She nodded. “I love Trig. I love you. I want to stay and see this thing through. I want to be here to watch things improve for you. I want to be a part of this story. It feels big.”

“You made up your mind then?”

“I’m staying. This is my place. My home.” She offered him a tired smile. “This is my Clan.”

Kurt snorted. “Two rogue bears and a human does not a Clan make.”

“We’re outlaws, don’t you know?” she asked cheekily. “We don’t follow the rules.”

The door swung open, letting in the cold breeze. In the open door frame, Trigger stood tall as a redwood, strong and steady again in a flannel shirt, worn jeans, and boots, his hat drawn low over his eyes, but it didn’t hide the bright color there. In his hand was something that instantly hollowed out her heart and made her feel empty. Empty and then stubborn. He held her suitcase. He wouldn’t meet her eyes when he said, “I’ve got a prop plane lined up for you. I know it’s a little early and we haven’t finished the business stuff, but this needs to happen.”

Ava shrugged. Numbly, she said, “Okay.” Standing, she let the blanket slip to the chair and waved to Kurt.

Colton stood and followed her to the coat rack, and together they dressed for the frosty morning.

“You’re taking this easier than I thought you would.” Trigger sounded so sad, but what was the point in arguing with him? He was running.

“I scared you last night,” she said.

“Very much.”

“And you’ll always do this, won’t you? The back and forth. Wanting to draw me in close, then push me away to keep me safe?”

“If it’s me and my life that puts you in danger, then yes.”

“Okay.”

Trigger turned and walked out to the porch. “I’ll wait in the truck.”

Oh, he was hurt at how easy she was making this, but he didn’t need to be. Ava slipped her feet into her snow boots and grabbed her purse, then led the way out to Trigger’s truck, which was smoking out exhaust, already warming up.

Colton waved and said, “See you in a few,” and headed to his own truck.

“Where is he going?” Trig asked out the open window.

“To get in his truck so he can give me a ride from wherever you drop me off at.”

Trigger’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“Hey, Colton?” Ava said.

“Yep?” he asked, walking backward.

“If I asked you to bite me…would you?”

“Gladly,” he said through a bright smile.

“Cool, we’ll do it when we get back home then.”

“What?” Trig asked louder. Now he looked mad.

Ava pulled open the passenger side door, settled in front of the vent, and buckled her belt. “If I’m a bear shifter too, then you don’t have to worry about shooing me away every time I’m in danger. And if Colton bites me, you don’t have to carry a single ounce of guilt. And look how happy he is.” She pointed to where Colton was performing a drum solo in his truck to some rock music. “He won’t feel guilty biting me.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“Ava, no.”

“Yeeeees,” she sang in an opera voice. “Do you want to listen to country or rock music on the way to the airport? There’s a hundred percent chance I’ll have a headache on the way back from listening to whatever that disaster is rockin’ out to in his truck,” she said, jamming a finger at Colton again. Probably screamo music from the way his head was thrown back. He was basically howling one long word that she could easily hear from here.

“This isn’t how this is supposed to go.”

“Mmm, I think nothing is going to be the way it’s supposed to go in this Clan.”

“We’re not a Clan.”

“Two Claws Clan. Should I update the website to say that?”

“No! Because we aren’t a Clan!”

“Whatever you say, Alpha. Can we get to driving? I’m ready to get back here so I can get some sleep. Last night was a little crazy, what with the war and the bears and the trying to survive and all. Also, I’m hungry. Can we stop for breakfast, or do you want me to wait until Colton drives me back home?”

“Home,” he repeated, his eyes round as he searched her face.

She smiled. “Yeah, silly. Home.”

He looked over at the big house, where the windows were busted out, the door had been ripped off, and the porch was destroyed from Kurt and Chase’s fight. “Home is a mess.”

“We’ll fix it. Together. And besides. Home isn’t a building, Trig.”

“What is it then?”

Ava unbuckled and scooted all the way over. “Home is you.”

He looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and her stomach erupted with that fluttering sensation she knew he would give her for the rest of their lives. He was so good at giving her butterflies.

Trigger put his arm over her shoulder and drew her in close, kissed her hair, and let his lips linger there. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Because this is the only time I’m going to ask, and this is your chance to back out. If we do this, you’re here to stay. I’ll follow you if you leave.”

Ava curled up her legs in his lap and nuzzled her face against his arm. “You’re mine and I’m yours, Trig. And that’s just the way it is. Maybe that’s what it always was, but we just fought it. At some point, we have to both pick a path. And for me, it’s so clear that my path is you. And Colton, and Darby, and this place. And a future baby reindeer.”

He chuckled and hooked his fingertips under the crease of one of her knees. “God, I love you, Ava Dorset.”

“I love you too, so quit trying to shoo me away. It’s a waste of time. I’m not going anywhere, and you yourself said I’m stubborn as a hair in a biscuit. So…either I can turn into a bear, like you and Colton, or I can stay human, and you can make an oath to me right here and now that no matter what, you’ll never push me away again.”

Trig couldn’t seem to help the smile that kept curving up his lips. “I get to keep you?”

“You better keep me. I’m very needy, and also I’m gonna get us on track with the trail rides, I have my business to set up here, and I’m going to keep you from eating tourists, and keep that one”—she pointed at Colton—“from adopting more rabid squirrels.”

Colton was now staring out the window with a “let’s go” expression on his face. He had never been the patient type.

“Trigger Massey, will you share your cans of beans with me for always?” she asked.

He bellowed a single laugh and rolled his head back against the headrest. After few seconds he asked, “I get to choose human or bear?”

“Yep. I trust you.”

He looked over at her, and she was just stunned by the easy smile on his face. She’d never seen him so happy, and it banished that hollow feeling she’d gotten when she’d seen her suitcase in his hand.

“Stay human,” he said in that deep baritone voice of his. “Stay just as you are, you perfect woman. Human, stubborn, mouthy as hell, sexy, caring, devoted, amazing woman. I don’t know how I got so lucky with you, but I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you know you’re loved.”

Her eyes prickled, and she struggled to keep the emotion from her face. “Tell me you won’t leave. I won’t ask after this. Tell me this one time, and I’ll keep it with me always.”

“I ain’t like your dad, Ava. You always had me. From here on, no more running. No matter what, it’s you and me.”

“And me!” Colton yelled out his window. Damn his bear hearing.

Ava giggled and leaned up, kissed Trig good on the lips. She felt so warm, like she was glowing, because this was the happiest moment of her life. Sitting on the bench seat of Trig’s old Ford, heaters all pointed toward her because he couldn’t help but take care of her, his arm around her, his other hand on her leg, him looking at her like she hung the moon and stars. Colton was leaning out his window, pointing to something in the distance. “Is that Harley? Your demon horse kicked through his stall again, Trig. I’m not gettin’ him this time either. He bit me in the ass cheek last week when I tried to bring him in.”

Indeed, Harley was trotting around the edge of the clearing as though daring them all to chase him. And Kurt was standing in the doorway to Colton’s cabin, a slight smile on his face.

Home is a mess, Trig had said.

Trig was home, and he was a mess.

Colton? A big mess.

And her? She was perhaps the biggest mess of all. Because she had spent her entire life fighting to be alone and build up walls, and what had happened here? Trigger tore them all down and stomped those bricks to dust so she could never rebuild.

She didn’t know how to do this. She didn’t know how to be a family, a mate, a friend, any of it. But she was damn sure going to give it her best, and none of this was scary when she was tucked up safe with the man she loved.

Home is a mess.

Damn right it was.

It was her mess.