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Cole hadn’t been gone from Tess five minutes when Justin and Rory fell into step on either side of him.

Rory kept his voice down when he said, “What’s going on, Cole?”

Damn. Leave it to the curious cat in their group to figure out what Cole had been hiding. Cole said, “What do you mean?”

Justin leaned forward to look at Rory. “Are we talking about this?”

“Yes.”

“What is it we’re talking about?” Cole hedged, hoping he was wrong.

“Is that woman your mate?” Justin asked.

“No.”

“See? I told you his head is up his ass,” Justin said, leaning over to talk to Rory.

Cole gave Justin a quelling look, which had no influence on him whatsoever. These men had been through some hairy times on missions with Cole. They both knew he would step in front of a mortar blast six feet away and take the hit for them.

Rory eased his gaze over to Cole. “You’re too young to be suffering the curse, but so is Sammy. Just tell us so we can help.”

Cole should be angry, but he actually felt relief at no longer having to hide it from the people closest to him. He also couldn’t accomplish what he needed to with the time he had left ... at least not without their help.

Giving in, he said, “There’s something I want to tell you, but you can’t share it with anyone.” Just to make sure they knew what he meant, he said, “That includes the Guardian.”

As expected, Justin said, “You know we got your back. If you say it stays between us, then it does.”

Rory remained silent, a contemplative look on his face. He had always been the thoughtful one who gave balance to Justin, who never hesitated to go all in on whatever crazy plan Cole came up with to defeat an enemy.

Cole told Justin, “I appreciate your support, but to be honest, I’d rather not tell you two something that would put you in a bad position with the Guardian.”

Before Justin could jump back in, Rory said in his quiet voice, “We can hold your confidence no matter what it is. What’s up?”

That was the extent of what had to be said.

Cole trusted these two with his life, which he didn’t expect to have for much longer. “My mating curse has started.”

“Shit, that’s what we guessed, but I was sure you were going to tell us we were wrong,” Justin said. “Has to be some way to fix this.”

Cole knew that would be their next thought, so he explained about meeting Tess in college and planning to ask her to marry him the night he was taken to the Guardian.

“Shit, man, that sucks,” Justin said, frowning.

“Yes, it did and still does, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

Cole could admit that out loud now when he couldn’t before. He’d been angry with everyone, including Gray Wolf, for the first two years. The difficult relationship with his animal was as much Cole’s fault for not wanting to be a shifter as Gray Wolf’s for being an impossible beast to manage.

With enough time, the pain had turned into a dull ache in his chest as if a part of him had died.

Rory had listened quietly, but now asked, “So, is Tess ... the one? Is she a Gallize female?”

“I would love for her to be, but she only fits one of the markers we were given.” Cole had thought on that a long time. Gallize females originally descended from five women, each pregnant with female babies who had received the blessing of power from the Gallizenae druidess. He’d wanted to tell Tess more of the Gallize history, but he’d already pushed limits with what he’d shared.

“Which marker does Tess have?”

“She was born during a true blue moon month, but so were a lot of human children.”  Many people considered a second full moon in the same month at any time a blue moon, but originally, a blue moon was considered as a second full moon over the period of all four seasons. Gallize women were birthed during the thirteenth moon in one year.

“What about the marker about being second born?” Justin asked. “She got an older sibling?”

“No. She’s an only child,” Cole answered. He’d been told to watch for at least two of four markers, the other two indicators being a woman with mismatched eye color and someone who connected with a shifter telepathically.

Gallize shifters normally only spoke mind-to-mind in animal form with some exceptions. The way Cole understood it, if a Gallize shifter bonded with a Gallize mate, they could also enjoy telepathic communication while the shifter was in animal form even though she was in human form.

Those women were harder to find than a popsicle in hell. When the female guardian of Gallize women had vanished, she had not left a guardian heir.

Evidently the eagle guardians normally had at least one child to whom they passed the torch, which made sense for preservation of the Gallize warriors.

Cole’s guardian had no mate or offspring though.

A team member had asked their shifter guardian about that once and received an icy look that could freeze a fire.

No one else asked after that.

Seemed that it would be simpler to match up male and female guardians, but that apparently wasn’t the way it worked for them. Who was Cole to question any of this when he had his own problems?

“What color are your woman’s eyes?” Justin asked, clearly still trying to make Tess fit the profile.

“Blue.” That wasn’t true, because blue sounded too simple. Her eyes were the color of deep water that could pull you under.

“You sure her eyes match?” Justin would not stop. He hated to lose at any challenge, which was why Sammy hadn’t told him about Katelyn.

If Cole asked for help finding a mate, this crazy grizzly would go to the end of the world and return with one.

But Cole didn’t want any mate.

He would never be able to bond with anyone except Tess.

Rory walked along silently, his gaze staring off in the distance, which meant he was in thought. He glanced at Cole. “The Guardian says it’s not impossible to bond with a human.”

Cole had considered that and every other possibility for a long time. He said, “Even if I would try that, which I won’t, her father hates shifters. He’s Senator Janver.”

Rory groaned. “That’s ... bad.”

Justin said, “Ah, shit.” Then he asked, “Why wouldn’t you try with her if not for that?”

“Same reason Sammy didn’t want to bond with his human woman.”  Cole explained, “I would never risk opening up my power to Tess when there’s a good chance it would kill her.”

“The last one that tried survived.”

Cole countered, “Others died, which is why no one tries it.” Yes, he’d done his research on that as well.

All it took for Cole was hearing that one woman had died.

Justin kept at it. “If Katelyn hadn’t run off, Sammy might have convinced her to become a shifter. She could bond with him if he changed her into a bear. Then they’d have bear babies for sure.”

Rory snarled, “That is not what we do.”

Justin stopped.

When Cole and Rory turned back to him, Justin said, “We won’t survive if we don’t bond with a mate of some kind. Are you telling me you wouldn’t at least ask a woman who loves you if she’d consider changing into a shifter?”

Cole and Rory both said, “No!”

“You’re a pair of meatheads.”  Justin strode past them, but he didn’t make it far, because he reached the bar where they had agreed to meet up.

That was if they’d waited there for Cole as directed.

Watching Justin disappear into the bar, Cole said, “So you understand why I’m not telling the Guardian any of this?”

“He doesn’t know about your mating curse?”

“He does,” Cole admitted. “He called me on it. That’s not why I asked you two not to talk to him. I need help wrapping everything up before ... the time comes for me to do what is right. The Guardian would pull me back if he thought I was too focused on protecting Tess instead of watching out for Gray Wolf and myself. I need some room to move and react at a moment’s notice. He knows I’ll come in when it’s time, but I won’t hold it against you if you call the Guardian before I turn myself in. I feel like I know when I’m in control, but ... that could change.”

Rory listened intently and finally nodded. “You would do it for me.”

“I would, but Justin isn’t going to be easy to convince.”

“True, but he’s always done the right thing when the time came to act.” Breathing out a rough breath, Rory asked, “Is there anything the Guardian can do for you?”

“No. Nothing has ever been normal about me being a shifter, starting with my changing too early. Just so you know, once I find Sammy, I want to see Tess one last time, then I’m going to the Guardian.”

Rory put a hand on Cole’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “The Guardian is allowing you to be out here hunting Sammy while you deal with the mating curse, which is unlike him, so I take that to mean we all have some autonomy. We’re here to help find Sammy and to help you. How far along is the curse?”

“Claws come out sometimes. Gray Wolf was almost impossible to control up until three days ago, but something happened after he broke loose at SCIS and battled two jackal shifters. I have no idea. Maybe that release calmed him.”

Or maybe being close to Tess calmed him.

Cole wished it was that simple, but it wasn’t. If he stayed around Tess, eventually Gray Wolf would snap.

Rory muttered, “Good wolf. The only good jackal shifter is a dead one.”

Cole would hate losing a future with these men. “I promise you I won’t put anyone at risk, but if ... the unexpected happens and the curse progresses faster than I realize, you have to do your duty.”

“Justin will balk.”

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you. Do whatever it takes. I don’t want to die with the blood of an innocent on my hands.”

Patting his shoulder, Rory said, “I understand. Now, let’s get a beer and soothe Justin’s fragile psyche.”

Cole laughed at the idea of soothing someone who turned into a monster grizzly bear with jaws that opened wide enough to snap off a human head.

As they walked into the bar, Rory said, “Speaking of Katelyn, the Guardian says he’ll have news soon about a meeting.”

“We need to find her,” Cole muttered. “Wait, did he call while I was up with Tess?”

“Yep.”

“What’d you tell the Guardian about where I was?”

“Not me. Justin took the call and told him you were interviewing potential mates.”

“I’m gonna kill that bear.”

“You’ll hurt his feelings.” 

Cole laughed, but the sound died in his throat. He’d lost his human life to being a shifter. Now he’d lose his shifter life and brothers-in-soul from the mating curse.

He never had a chance at a future, but he now wanted to make sure Tess was safe before he was gone again.

That wouldn’t happen as long as Brantley was in the picture.