Got him!

Over here!

One more down.

I listened to their fight from a distance. They were doing fine; they didn’t need me. More than that, they knew better. They knew I wouldn’t leave Addie.

They’d all been there, linked to my mind the moment I’d seen it, and the shock crashed over me like a wave. They said plenty when it happened, but I didn’t hear a word of it. My ears were ringing.

When Addie shifted into a bear, my entire world turned upside down. Nothing was what it should have been; I was suddenly in a dream. I thought they’d killed me so quickly, my brain hadn’t caught up yet. I thought anything except that what I saw was real.

Ezra, thank god, had snapped me out of it. He’d said something like, “Dude, you’re an idiot.” The insult had made me see it. All this time, Addie had been a shifter and I hadn’t known? Yeah, I was most definitely an idiot.

As the fight moved and I was left there alone with Addie, the thoughts started to sort themselves out in my mind. How in the world could I have missed this? I took a long sniff of her. Usually, I could tell in an instant when another shifter was near. No matter if it was one of my clan, another bear, or any other shifter species. There was a certain scent that came with shifters. A sort of animal smell, but different: clean and subtler than a wild animal.

Addie’s scent was too familiar; that was the only thing that made sense to me. When I’d first become old enough to shift for the first time, when I’d learned about the shifter life and all that came with it, when I trained and learned what smells were what…all of that had happened when I was already with Addie. Whatever scent she had was something my nose had bypassed. Her deep spice was more like the smell of love to me. The scent of…my mate.

When we’d had sex in the past and the animal was stronger in the air from our sweat, I’d always thought it was me. God, I’d been so stupid. I was too new at it all to pick up the difference in the smell. I’d been too embarrassed, rushing to put on deodorant or take a shower, that I’d never stopped to really smell the scent and learn it and recognize it.

Even after spending so much time apart, she smelled the same to me when I saw her again. That hint of animal that I picked up on her, I’d mistaken for pure lust. Nothing more. I almost laughed at myself, thinking back on it. I thought she wanted me so badly that her lust smelled that attractive to me.

I sniffed every inch of her now, programming my mind to associate this scent I knew so well with a bear. To relearn what I knew of her body. When I put my nose to her neck and inhaled, at first, my bear brain said, “Want.” My body reacted in a lustful way. It was no wonder I’d thought that was all it was. But I forced myself to look at her, to feel her hair, and to keep smelling until my brain corrected itself.

Now, I smelled her sweat. Her bear sweat on her bear skin under her bear hair. And her human was there, underneath it, taking the more subtle place while in this form. I smelled the blood and dirt and cleaned her. I sniffed until I knew every inch of her in this way.

It’s over, Ezra reported. They all took off.

My clan returned to where we sat.

Emma and Julie are fine. I’d had Hailey watching them the whole time. Freaked out about the bears and because they can’t find Addie, but they’re unharmed.

Thank you, all, I said. I…

We know. Ezra sent a wave of warm thoughts to me.

They were all happy, but surprised, to say the least. Everyone was still charged from the fight, but we’d won. The crocs had taken off and none of my guys had been injured too badly; the only one dead was Aiden. The conclave would get a full report and there would be an investigation. There was much to be done, but I wasn’t going to be a part of any of it.

Let me know if you need me. I’ll…be a while.

One by one, they sent me their congratulations. They’d witnessed too much of my despair over the last week to not understand what this moment meant to me.

I shifted back to human form slowly. For a moment, I held Addie, still in bear form, and then she shifted back, awkwardly sitting in my lap. We were both naked.

I pulled her close and hugged her tightly, letting the tears flow down my cheeks. The complete relief of it all washed over me and I kissed her. I kissed her and didn’t want to ever stop.

I was vaguely aware of the bears leaving. Not long after I shifted back, they started to drop off, returning home and back to whatever they were doing before I’d called them.

She cried, too and returned my kiss.

“Your friends are worried about you,” I said after a long while.

I hadn’t let her go to them before. It wasn’t safe, but now, they needed to know their friend was alright. If for no other reason than if they called the ranger station, someone would come out, and things would get complicated.

“My clothes…” She’d torn everything when she shifted.

“They don’t know?”

She shook her head.

“Give me a minute.” I shifted back and called to Hailey in my mind, who responded quickly, so I shifted back and waited. A few minutes later, Hailey came walking out of the woods, a tote bag between her jaws. She dropped the bag and took off running back into the woods.

“It’s convenient having a clan near you,” Addie said, pulling the clothing over her human form.

I had so many questions. So much to say. “Addie.” I reached up to take her hand. “I love you.”

She smiled and got to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

I sat naked in the dark for a long time, alone with my thoughts and feelings. I’d lost track of how long she was gone for, but when I heard rustling and smelled her—that scent that was more real to me now than my own—a smile took over my face and my heart flooded with joy.