It was a tough fit in Nellie and Edward’s bedroom, but they couldn’t move Nellie without hurting her and they all knew they wouldn’t be able to have this rather uncomfortable discussion without Nellie’s input.

Travis adjusted his hold on Grace, trying to cushion her against his chest. He brushed a kiss over the crown of her head and murmured an apology. She smoothed a hand over his chest and as her fingers ruffled his crisp hair he felt his body stir. He was thankful that Grace’s dress was made of enough fabric to hide his natural reaction to having his mate in his arms.

His mate.

He was still stunned by the revelation.

Just the day before, he’d met her and felt the instant connection, but he’d been too consumed by his worry about meeting the Itan of Grayslake to understand how deep the connection went. That was until he’d had her alone, cuddled up beside him, breathing in her subtle spicy scent. And when he had her straddling his lap, demanding his touch, he’d known without a doubt that Grace Howard was the one woman in all the world that was meant for him.

He’d endured Van’s anger the night before and had patiently waited for Ty to come and see him to discuss his missteps in Grayslake, but when they’d arrived at the house and he’d seen a man carrying her off, he’d let go of the reasoned side of his nature and become living breathing instinct.

Blood and rended flesh were good as long as it meant that Grace would still be there. Death was the right punishment for someone trying to steal his mate, but he’d heard Grace cry out. Heard her worry and fear. And when he felt her pain as if it was happening to his own self, he’d felt a terrible guilt descend upon him.

“Travis?”

He blinked back his thoughts and looked to the source of the sound. Nellie, her face full of motherly indulgence was gesturing to a chair beside her bed.

“Why don’t the two of you sit down,” she suggested.

He looked at Grace, saw the high flush still coloring her cheeks. “You can have the chair, honey. I can stand.” He started to lower her into the chair and she grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Why don’t you just sit and hold me, hmm?”

He hesitated and looked about the room. Noah and Van glared openly at him, but Ty and Nellie both wore bemused expressions. If he’d had more time to think about it, he’d wonder why Ty’s complexion seemed ruddier than Nellie’s.

Ty spoke. “Our people don’t have an issue with clothing, but unless you have a spare pair of pants on you, have a seat.”

Nellie waved her hand before her face. “Don’t do it on my account, what I’ve seen is pretty fabulous, but I think Gracie might mind the curious onlookers.”

Travis managed to squeeze in alongside the bed and sit down on the wooden chair.

Nellie giggled a little, her face lighting up with humor. “I’d offer you a pair of Edward’s pants to wear, but I don’t think they would fit. You’re all muscle and… you know.”

The mood lost its ease a moment later when Ty looked from Noah, to Grace, and finally Nellie. “Anyone want to explain why there wasn’t a lot of surprise outside when Grace saw Travis change.”

Nellie raised an eloquent brow. “I know you’re not thinking that I told her.” Her lips pinched together. “That would be rude.” She looked at Ty and Van in turn. “You may be grown, but I can still turn you over my knee.”

Van shifted against the wall, uncomfortable. “Wait, what does this have to do with me?”

She huffed. “You upset Gracie on her first night back. We had to calm her down so she didn’t call in the legal cavalry to rescue Travis from your clutches so keep yourself in check, young man.”

Van remained silent.

“Then how,” Ty was struggling to refocus the discussion, “does Grace know about us?”

“Actually,” Grace shifted in his arms, and Travis watched her expression carefully, “I didn’t know about you and Van, but okay, I can see it now.”

She stilled and Travis felt something prickle along his bare skin where it came in contact with Grace. It felt like electricity and heat and he couldn’t help but go instantly hard against her rounded bottom.

He saw the fleeting smile cross her lips as she wiggled slightly against him.

“And I can feel it now, too.” She met Ty’s gaze evenly. “You’re stronger than Van even though he’s bigger. Interesting.”

“He’s not bigger everywhere.” Ty narrowed his eyes at Grace and Travis tightened his arms around her and his low growl filled the room. He didn’t like the way the Itan was looking at his mate.

Neither did Noah. “It’s my fault, Itan.” Noah didn’t flinch when Ty turned his dark gaze at the other man. “When I was little and my grandma passed,” he swallowed hard as the memory rose up into his thoughts, “I was angry and running wild in the woods.”

“I was there just playing around,” Grace added to the memory, “I felt how sad he was, felt his pain. I wasn’t all that able to climb some of the rocks or a big fallen tree in my way, but by the time I found him he was just starting to shift. What I saw as my really good friend was suddenly a bear. I ran, and boy howdy that was a mistake.”

Noah smiled wistfully at her. “I heard something crashing through the bushes and thought prey.”

Grace lifted her arm and pointed to the faint curving line of scars along the backside of her arm. “I wouldn’t have been so angry about the bite if he didn’t tell me I tasted like chicken. Rabbit I could have handled. Deer? Maybe, at least they’re cute. But chicken?”

Travis traced his hand along the back of her arm and felt the raised scar tissue of the old wound.

Noah met Ty’s dark gaze. “I should have told someone, I know. But the rules didn’t leave a lot of room or understanding for a mistake like that.”

Remembering the discussion that he’d had with Ty the day before, Travis had to agree. The clan was secret. Shifters didn’t pull back the veil for humans unless they were mated. Humans that knew and weren’t mated into the clan faced death.

Drawing Grace deeper into his embrace, he brushed his cheek against her, drawing in her scent. He met Ty’s narrowed gaze over the top of her head. “Mine.”

“Wait… what?”

Grace turned slightly on his lap and he groaned low in his throat.

“What do you mean? What’s yours?”

Travis felt the bear inside of him hunker down, getting ready for a fight. The bear apparently knew their mate better than he did.

“You’re mine, honey.” He tried to move close enough for a kiss, but Grace put her hand on his chest to hold him back. The reactions around the room were too close to ignore. Noah looked too happy for his own good. Nellie looked puzzled. The Abrams brothers wore matching stoic masks. Grace, well, she just looked ticked off.

“I,” she poked him in the chest, “am my own. I didn’t come back here to shack up with the first bear that feels responsible for me.” She looked at Ty. “It’s not his fault that I know. It’s not even Noah’s, not really. I was somewhere I didn’t belong. And I think I’ve paid the price for it.” She unconsciously rubbed at her elbow. “So why don’t we all just pretend that today never happened. I wasn’t hurt.” She gave Noah a closer look and Travis’ bear was ready to step in and finish what he had started outside. “Besides,” she grinned and Travis’ heart squeezed painfully, “I’ve kept the secret this long. Why would I blab to the world now?”

Travis smoothed his hand up her arm and his fingers found the bow made from her spaghetti straps. The need to touch her was instinctive and he didn’t want to ignore it.

“It’s the way things are done.” Ty’s tone didn’t waver; neither did his resolve. “Things need to be dealt with.”

“And by ‘dealt with,’ are you insinuating that you’d kill my niece?” Nellie’s tone managed to be angry and cold as ice at the same time.

“There are other options,” Ty pointed out.

“Yeah!” Grace nearly sat bolt upright, dangerously close to slipping right off of his lap. “There are. You can just let it be. I’m here until my aunt is back on her feet and then I’m off to Europe. I’m not going to tell anyone about the bears here. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Just like you’ve left me alone, Ty. I know your secrets, but you’ve never tried to force me to obey by those rules.” Nellie’s face was set in a determined stare, but her eyes were watering. “I love Grace like my own, Ty. My own child. Could you force this on your own?”

“You’re the exception, Nellie. If we started making exceptions all the time the rules don’t have any meaning.”

“How many people are in this room?” Grace wasn’t going to let go of any chance to keep her life from going completely off the rails. “None of you would tell. No one saw what happened outside except for us. Why is this town so crazy?”

“Our lives depend on keeping this a secret.” Leave it to Van to state things so simply and right on the head. “What happens when you get drunk one night and start talking?”

“That could happen anyway,” she spat back.

Travis saw the telltale fangs pressing against the enforcer’s lip. “I’ll handle this-”

“What?”

Grace shifted on his lap again and he had to make a quick grab to keep her from falling.

“Just how do you think you’re going to ‘handle this’?”

It was simple and she would see it if she was one of them.

“You become my mate.”

“I become your… what are you talking about?”

Travis was suddenly struggling to find the words to explain. It was supposed to be easier than this when you found the woman you were fated to be with. “It’s like marriage for our kind.” She just stared back at him. “That’s not saying that we can’t have a regular wedding if that’s what you want. I’ll make you happy and-”

“Happy?” She stared back at him with wide eyes and shock written plainly on her features. “Who said I wanted to be married or mated or whatever this is? I want to go to Europe! I want to backpack! I want to party with the locals, learn the history, and try not to be kidnapped at one of those sketchy hostels and end up in a horror film! I want to have fun, not sacrifice my life just because I caught my friend going furry when I was a child.” Her shoulders sagged. “It’s just not fair.”

“What isn’t fair,” Ty replied back, “is losing my family because you might accidentally reveal who we are.”

Travis felt for Grace. He wanted her, but he didn’t want her forced into the situation. He’d heard of shotgun weddings in her world, but usually it was because there was a baby on the way.

His stomach twisted in his gut and his heartbeat doubled. The idea of Grace pregnant with his cub filled him with joy, but looking at her stricken face, he knew that she wouldn’t feel the same way.

“We have a number of bears in the clan who want to find a mate, you could have your choice-”

“No!” Travis felt his bear roar to the surface, his anger shook the room around them. “No, she is mine. And no one else will touch her!”

Grace pulled away from him, her eyes wide with shock and more than a measure of fear. “I don’t belong to anyone, Travis. Not in the way you want me. I can’t,” she backed away, her legs bumping into the bed, making her jump a little, “I can’t listen to this. I can’t understand any of this.” She was almost to the door, her eyes on Van as he started toward her. “I just need some air! Please!”

Van was quick. Too quick. He was almost on her when Ty stopped him. “Let her go outside. Give her some room.” Ty looked at Travis and he struggled to control himself.

His bear made his wants clear, but Travis didn’t need his pushing, he was very much on the same page. “I’ll go with her.”

“No.” The word wasn’t a command from Ty. No, the word had been a plea from Grace. “Not you, please.”

Travis felt his bear collapse within him as if he’d hit a wall at full speed and was stunned and barely conscious.

Noah got up from his chair and looked at Ty, and damn the other man for looking so confident and sure of himself. “I’ll go with her. I can answer her questions.” He turned and nailed Travis with a look. “She trusts me.”

Ty gave Noah a nod and he hustled to the door and held it open for Grace. The two left the room and Travis fell back onto the chair, the air completely knocked out of his chest.

Van started to walk out the room and stopped short when a fuzzy chenille slipper sailed past his ear and hit the doorframe.

“You stay right where you are.” The tone in Nellie’s voice said she wasn’t kidding.

Turning slowly, his hands held up in surrender, Van watched Nellie as if she was a bomb on a very short fuse.

“That’s right,” Nellie nodded. “Now you know I mean it.”

She turned her sights on Ty. “Ty Abrams, I am so disappointed in you. You’re a good leader. Most days I think you’re the best Itan I’ve seen here in Grayslake. You’re certainly the best I’ve heard of compared to the clans outside. You have a reputation of being tough but fair, but today I’m calling bullshit!”

He took her words like a slap, wincing back from her angry stare, but it didn’t last long. “My people’s lives are at stake, Nellie. My family’s lives are at stake here! Did you know?”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “You know that I’ve known for ages, long before you or your father were born. Of course I know!”

“Did you know,” he spoke through clenched teeth, “did you know that Grace knew?” He let out a long shuddering breath. “Did you know when you let her leave?”

There was a tremulous silence in the room that had them all on edge.

Nellie’s eyes radiated pain, her expression that had been proud, crumbled as Travis watched.

“I have loved you since you were a little cub, Ty Abrams. You, and your brothers too. I can’t believe you would ask me if… Ty, if I had known what Grace had seen I would have fought tooth and nail to keep her and my sister here. I knew Grace had been bitten by an animal but I didn’t know it was a bear.

“Believe me,” she continued on, “when I get a chance to talk to Noah, I’m going to grab that young man by the ear and give him a piece of my mind!” She shook her head and nailed the Itan with a look. “I know how much you care about your people, but I care about Grace just as much. We are going to figure out a way to work this out without making my Gracie miserable. We have to!”

Ty shared a look with his brother and Van nodded a long moment after that.

Travis let go of the breath he’d been holding. He could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever it took, he was going to make sure that Grace knew how he felt and he was going to convince her that she would be happy, with him.

The door of the bedroom opened and Noah stepped inside with Grace beside him.

Sitting up on the chair beside the bed, he kept his eyes on Grace’s face, but she wouldn’t look at him. He leaned forward to catch her eye, but she looked at the floor and when she moved it was only to wrap her hand around Noah’s arm.

Ty was the first one to speak. “Grace, we have to talk about this.”

“No,” Noah shook his head and turned to look at his Itan.

The movement shifted his arm and Travis saw that Grace was now holding Noah’s hand so tightly that her knuckles were white.

Noah was all smiles, albeit cautious smiles. “We don’t have to talk about this anymore. I talked to Grace. She understands what’s going on.”

“Gracie?” Nellie’s eyes were narrowed, full of concern. “What happened out there?”

“It’s okay,” she whispered the words and didn’t meet her aunt’s curious gaze. “I’m okay.”

Noah squeezed her hand and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Gracie agreed to become my mate.”