Brock jumped out of the car and went to talk to his cousin, Shaw Montgomery. Unlike Brock and his brothers, who had green eyes and dark hair, his cousins, Shaw and Zane, had blond hair and blue eyes. They all had the muscled build of the Montgomery clan.

Shaw wore a dark blue trooper’s uniform and stared down Brock with his sharp blue eyes. “We’re about to approach the suspect. You and the other witness will have to stay out of the area.”

“She wants to know why he did it,” Brock said.

“I’m sure it will come out in questioning or at the hearing.”

“We’ll watch from the street,” Brock said.

“That’s fine. Just stand out of harm’s way and don’t approach him. We’ll have to take formal statements from both of you, so stick around.”

Brock backed off, leaving his cousin to do his work. Shaw had always been like that--organized, direct, take charge. Brock could be that way, but he preferred to be to be out on his own in the wilderness. Now that he was clan leader, he had to be responsible for everyone’s safety and security, including Shaw’s. That meant Shaw had to look out for him too.

He got back in the car with Ginger and took her hand in his. He knew how hard this was for her. Later they would have to go to the police station to make sure they were able to find justice. Ginger was already shaken up. The loss of her father, the desperation she’d felt trying to find a way to survive. Now this.

How could he expect her to accept him as her mate on top of that? Ginger was a human. Jumping into a relationship with another person was foreign and strange for humans, even if it was the way of things with shifters.

He knew from the bottom of his heart that she would fulfill every need he had. Once he had come to terms with the fact that she’d arrived at this particular moment in time, he was ready to commit to her. That didn’t mean that she was ready to commit to him.

“Shaw said it would be fine if we watched from the other side of the street.”

“I’m kind of scared,” she said, looking up at him with trusting eyes.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head.

He nodded in return and turned the key in the ignition. Brock drove out into the street and around the corner, parking in a lot. They got out onto the tourist street with cute little buildings painted in bright colors. Even in the foggy weather with overcast skies, visitors filled the streets, wearing rain jackets and fleece.

Brock and Ginger stood hand in hand, the docks right behind them beyond the parking lots. The troopers pulled up across the street and parked quickly outside the tax office. They filed in the front door. Brock waited. Five minutes later the troopers came out of the building again with the tax secretary and the other partners. James wasn’t there.

Brock put his hands on his hips. His cousin shook his head and glanced across the street at Brock. Looking around and squinting into the foggy streets, Brock thought about what their next move should be if James wasn’t at the office.

He looked up at the ramp leading onto a cruise ship out on the docks. It was just across a street and two parking lots. James Salvo, the man who’d shot him, scurried up the ramp with his bags in his hands.

Brock growled and turned all the way around. “Stay here,” he said to Ginger, grasping her shoulder affectionately before he bolted forward. Bursting into a dead run, his shifter strength propelling him forward, Brock made it across the parking lot before he burst into his bear form. He charged, in a feral haze, across the second lot and up the ramp of the cruise ship.

People screamed, but Brock burst forward and grabbed James Salvo by the scruff of the suit jacket. He pulled him back across the deck. James screamed and beat at him with his bags. When Brock pulled him back to the ramp, the troopers came in and surrounded them both.

They took James into custody. Ginger came up behind him, holding a blanket. He roared as he shifted back. Ginger handed him the blanket, and he wrapped it around his waist.

As they brought James by, Ginger took a deep breath. “Why did you do it?” she shouted at him.

The troopers tried to take him but he struggled against them and stared at Ginger. “I knew there was gold on that land. I was going to sell the claim and take it all. Your dad’s been useless for years. He didn’t deserve it and neither did you.” James turned his sneer on Brock. “You were supposed to bleed out on that mountain, damn shifter.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Ginger sapped. Brock put his arms around her protectively. The troopers pushed James forward.

“You should talk, little girl,” James said.

Ginger hid her face in Brock’s chest. The troopers pushed James down the ramp and out of sight. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” Brock whispered.

“I wanted to know. Now I do. Greedy, bitter man. So senseless.”

She shook her head against his chest. He walked with her down the ramp and back to the car.

Later, after they’d given their statements, Brock took Ginger back to his house. The bag of gold had been recovered from the cases James had in his possession and was estimated at being worth half a million dollars.

Ginger sat in his living room, staring blankly at the television with her legs pressed up under her. He could tell she was tired and confused. He handed her a cup of tea mixed from herbs grown in the greenhouses and gardens of the Montgomery homestead.

She cupped it in her hands and sniffed the steam. Brock slid into the couch beside her, not knowing what to do or say. In a few days, most likely the authorities would return her gold and her property to her. Then what would she do? Would she still want him?

What they’d shared had been deeply special to him. Even if his bear hadn’t been roaring in his head most of the time he’d known her, she was still the sweetest, sexiest woman he’d ever known.

“What do you think you’ll do when they return your money?” he asked her.

“I don’t know. There really isn’t anything for me back in Seattle. I guess, pay off my student loans. Pay the taxes on my dad’s land. With that kind of money in the bank, I won’t have to sell it.”

“What do you think you’ll do with the land?”

“I have no idea. I can’t live out there. No way.”

“Winter is coming. Being up on the mountain would be a bad idea for someone without experience.”

“There’s no way I’m doing that.”

“You can stay here,” he said, his heart beating more quickly.

“I know, Brock. I understand what it means to be a shifter’s mate. I’ve heard the stories, and you’ve explained it. It’s just… humans don’t have an equivalent. We don’t just fall in love like that.”

“We can take all the time you need, sweetheart.”

“I don’t want to be the one to hold you back,” she said, looking up into his eyes. Hers were shining with unshed tears. He rubbed the pad of his thumb over her cheek and kissed her forehead.

“You could never hold me back. I don’t need anyone or anything but you. Do you understand?”

“I guess. It’s just a little scary. You just met me. How could you possibly know you want to spend the rest of your life with me?”

“For a shifter, mating is instinct. We know the one by sight and scent. Plus, Babs Bula sent you to me. There’s no better recommendation than that.”

A smile broke over her worried face and she giggled. “I still don’t understand how she could have known.”

He threaded his fingers through hers and held her hand, both of them laughing softly. “I don’t understand it either. Some things in life are better left alone.”

“Do you think she’s really a fairy godmother?”

“There are no such things,” he said, shaking his head. The thought had crossed his mind a few times, but stuff like that didn’t exist. He knew all the shifter races in the world. He also knew there were no other supernatural creatures anywhere on the planet, let alone fairies.

“Before shifters came out sixty-five years ago, no one believed they were real either,” she teased.

“I’m pretty sure Babs is just a human or a shifter with too much time on her manicured hands,” he countered.

“And an incredible intuition about finding people’s mates.”

“This is true. She did send you to me.”

Ginger sighed and put her teacup down, leaning against his chest. He enfolded her in his arms, feeling her close to him. It filled him with pride and a desire to protect and provide for her that was so strong, he had to take a deep breath and let it out.

“I never expected for something like this to happen,” Ginger whispered. “When my dad died, I was alone. I don’t have any other family. I don’t have anyone. All my friends in school I left two years ago to take care of my dad. Everyone I knew before I left for New York has moved on with their lives. When I came up here, I had no idea if I’d even be able to make it back to Seattle. It was my last ditch effort to salvage something of my life. And it wasn’t particularly well planned out.”

“Are you glad you met me?” he asked, not sure where she was going with all this.

“Of course I am. I’m just so confused. Everything moved so fast. Now I have a man. A man like you.” She looked up into his face, her eyes dripping tears. “It’s better than the money. It’s better than catching the bad guy. It’s everything. I just don’t know if I deserve it. I don’t know how to make it make sense in my mind.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense.”

“You’re too good to be true, Brock. Girls like me don’t end up with men like you.”

“What are you talking about?” he said with a chuckle. He cupped her chin in his hand and stared into her bright blue eyes. “You are perfect. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”

She shook her head, freeing herself from his grasp. She looked away and dipped her head back into his chest. “I’m broken and alone,” she said, her voice muffled in his chest.

“You aren’t alone anymore. All that’s left for you to do is accept it.”