It had been a few days since the barbecue, and Camden and Tyler were officially a couple.

Eden grimaced.

And he was a bear! This fact did not set well with Piria, Eden’s elemental spirit. Fire elemental, thank you very much.

Tyler’s twin Sean had his own place adjacent to Tyler’s. Their homes were really more like duplex cabins with a connecting door and a common foyer. Pretty much like a hotel room. Well, except for the common foyer. Camden had told Eden it was a custom-made home because the twins—Tyler and Sean–were never apart. They never wanted to be.

“Kind of like us,” Camden had said.

This elicited a scowl from Eden. Because now, Camden had taken Tyler, a bear shifter, for a mate.

A bear shifter!

Knowing how Piria felt about bears, for goodness sake, couldn’t Camden have fallen in love with any other kind of shifter?

Eden sighed.

So, Camden and Tyler were a couple now that they’d done the deed. The deed being a couplebond that marked them as each other’s mates. For life—forever. As if a shifter would accept any less than life from their mate.

“Eden!”

“What?” Eden pulled herself back to the present.

She and Camden were in Tyler’s kitchen, and Camden wanted to talk business with her.

Business being what brought the two of them to Bear Canyon Valley and its majestic mountain range and the care and management of two little girls who housed elementals and were bear shifters—again with the bears! Each of the little cuties hosted a different elemental type. Trista had a wind elemental while Tessa’s was an earth type.

Camden and Eden hadn’t had a moment to themselves, because well, let’s see, of all the excitement that had happened the last week, a birth—Laken Araya had a strapping healthy baby boy.

The infant was another bear shifter, this time polar bear though, taking from his daddy Ky Romanoff and his great uncle Mikhail Romanoff. There’d been excitement from the misunderstanding between Marie and Camden, which brought the Shifter Council all the way from New York City to take custody of Tessa and Trista away from their guardians, Tyler and Sean.

Then the council had given custody to Camden, which really pissed Tyler off. Luckily, Sean had been out of town, or Eden could only imagine the ruckus that would have been caused.

After which, Griz had kidnapped the girls and taken them into hiding.

Eden’s head was still spinning although Camden had filled her in on the stuff she hadn’t known while Eden was watching the twin girls for the council, before Griz had carted them off.

So, in the end, Camden had agreed to be the legal guardian for the girls. They’d kept the council in the dark about the girls’ true identity. The little ones had taken Mae Forester’s last name to keep them safe from their maternal relatives and enemies.

Seems the little twins came with built-in enemies in the form of a coven of European witches, who had a beef with the twins’ mother. Of course, the mother was dead, as was the father, and now…

Well, the mother’s family wanted the girls, and the mother’s family’s enemies—the witches—wanted the girls dead.

Eden heaved a sigh. Being an elemental was complicated. Of course, she knew that, and had known it since she was very young and learned of the falling out her big sister Circe had with Mae.

Eden wasn’t as familiar with their older cousin Mae since she lived so far from Eden and Camden, but she rather liked the attractive brunette. And Eden had a feeling a lot of things “got fixed” around Bear Canyon Valley because of Mae and her intervention.

Too bad she couldn’t intervene with Eden’s problem.

My problem. A problem she didn’t even understand that was brought about by Piria.

Eden sighed.

“Are you going to stick with me or just keep drifting off like that?”

“I’m sorry.” Eden took a sip of the cooling coffee on the wood and tile table before her. “Where were we?”

“I was talking about having Marie send my stuff out here. I’m going to be staying in Tyler’s room.” Camden blushed.

Of course, you are.

That blast of pink on Camden’s olive skin brought a smile to Eden’s lips. She couldn’t remember ever having seen her twin sister so happy.

They both housed elementals, Eden’s was fire, Camden’s was ice, and that was precisely the reason they were brought to Bear Canyon Valley: to help the young twin girls with managing their shifters and their elementals.

Too often in the case of shifter-elemental hybrids, the shifter ended up a casualty. It was the nature of this particular hybrid situation. Elementals didn’t trust or want to share control with shifters. So, in a tug of war of power, the shifter would end up dead. Consequently, the human would die, as well, because they couldn’t survive the firepower of these two supernatural beings.

Unfortunately, despite the time Camden and Eden had been here, they’d yet to crack through to the elementals within the twins. Between the young girls’ suspicious nature based on their history—losing both parents—and the drama of the Shifter Council and a baby’s birth, Camden and Eden hadn’t had a chance to work with either of the little girls’ elementals. Or their shifters.

Bear shifters.

Eden shuddered while at the same time, Piria’s emotions made a bead of sweat form on Eden’s temple.

“If you don’t pay attention to me…” Camden raised a perfectly arched brow.

Eden raised her hands in surrender. “Sorry. Truly. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time concentrating.” She glanced toward the window.

The day was glorious. They really should go exploring.

Camden’s lip lifted in a tiny smile. “Could it have something to do with that hunky bear shifter?”

Eden snapped her head back to her sister. “Hush!”

Too late. The bottom of the kitchen curtain burst into flames.

“Jesus, Eden.” Camden leapt to her feet and turned the sink water on, aiming the vegetable sprayer at the fire and put it out quickly.

“What?” Eden shrugged and frowned simultaneously. “You know better.”

Piria, her elemental and her fear of bears. Fear would be putting it mildly, really. Aversion was getting closer to accuracy.

And yet, Eden didn’t want to admit it out loud out of concern that Piria would react again, but there was something about Sean O’Reardon. Something that made her heart beat a little faster and a little bit unpredictably. And definitely something that got her panther’s attention.

Eden’s panther was clearly interested in Sean’s bear, and she made no bones and held no secrets about that fact. It was clear that Sean was receptive.

The problem, though? Piria. She’d kill Sean and his bear if she thought for a second Eden was seriously interested.

“Can we get back on topic?” Eden grimaced at her twin sister.

“Yes. Now that everyone’s gone…” The pink color was back in her cheeks. “I’m going to be staying in Tyler’s room.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Eden held her breath.

Camden studied her without saying a word. Eden’s eyes pleaded with Camden not to set Piria off again.

Please don’t mention Sean. Please, please don’t.

Camden nodded. “We were thinking you could stay in Tyler’s guestroom.”

Eden breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

A wave of heat passed over Eden’s body. A few tiny beads of sweat gathered on her forehead.

Piria was issuing a warning without saying a word.

In Eden’s mind, her panther snarled and roared at the elemental’s manipulative ways.

Eden knew how the panther felt. She knew very well. She’d have enjoyed getting to know Sean as well. But without Piria—this simply wasn’t going to happen. No, sir, no how. They were a package deal, and Piria wasn’t on board.

She paused. “The far one, in the left corner?”

Camden nodded. “Sure. I’m sure that’s fine.” But her eyes held a measure of sadness for Eden.

Camden hugged her.

“We need to get to work with Trista and Tessa,” Eden told Camden. “Before a backlog builds at the Order of Elementals headquarters.”

Camden’s smile was on the patronizing side. “Circe and Marco can handle it.” She wrapped her arms around her body, goose bumps peppered her forearms. “You just want to get this done so you can leave.”

“I think it will be more peaceful that way. What if I burned the house down? Accidentally, I mean.”

Camden stepped closer, leaned down, and hugged Eden. “We’ve gone through so much. We will handle this, too.”

Tears sprang to Eden’s eyes. She bit her lip to keep them from shedding. It had become too much for her. It wasn’t just the whole thing with Sean. It was the way Piria’s fears sometimes paralyzed Eden’s ability to do things. It was the fact that Piria wouldn’t tell her why she felt this way toward bears. Piria would barely talk to her at all. Never had been very communicative.

Eden dropped her head into her hands. Circe never seemed to have this problem with her elemental. And even Camden, who hadn’t been that close to her elemental didn’t seem to have this issue. It was as if Piria had erected a wall between herself and Eden and there was nothing Eden could do to breach the barrier.

“Trust me?” Camden took Eden’s face in her hands and locked gazes with her. “Trust me?”

Eden gave her a short nod, but she wasn’t sure this was in the realm of things Camden could handle.

“I don’t believe you.” Camden stroked Eden’s dark hair. “What if I told you I’d bring in the heavy artillery for this if I needed to.”

Eden looked at her quizzically. “What?”

“Nothing.” Camden planted a kiss on Eden’s forehead. “I’ll help you move your stuff into the guest bedroom. “Will that work?”