Vivian met Laurence at the docks at five a.m. on the nose, wearing a lined waterproof coat. She had a cooler with lunch and a big canister of coffee.

She found him on his boat, wearing his fishing gear and arranging ropes and cables on the deck. She slowly walked up the ramp and cleared her throat as he moved around with his back to her.

“Good, you’re here,” he said, turning.

“I am. I brought lunch,” she said brightly.

“Go sit down on the bench at the back of the cabin and stay out of the way,” he commanded.

She frowned, but she did as he asked. She sat on the bench inside the cramped cabin behind the steering wheel and the rest of the confusing-looking dashboard. The room was cluttered with tools, rain gear, fishing poles, and nets. It stank of fish.

Vivian wrinkled her nose and crossed her legs. The chill of the morning sea air shivered up her spine, even in her warm coat. Laurence came in a moment later, closing the door behind him. He seemed to take up the entire space with his massive presence. She felt like she had to shrink back against the wall, even though there was at least five feet between her and where he stood at the wheel.

Heat rose up her legs as he flipped some dials and knobs on the dashboard. She let out a sigh of relief, and the boat began to move slowly out from the harbor. The boat’s headlights glowed over the black ocean waters in the predawn darkness, and a stream of light from the lighthouse, out on the jetty, made circles around Mystic Bay.

The boat rocked over the waves as they made their way into the open ocean. Vivian opened her coffee canister and took a deep gulp. Five a.m. was seriously damn early. She’d had to wake up at four just to shower and dry her unruly red hair.

The coffee helped wash away the warm webs of fatigue crawling across her eyes, but not much. She yawned and tried to make herself comfortable on the hard bench. Laurence stood in front of her, his shoulders square and still, looking intently out at the ocean.

For the better part of an hour, he didn’t move and didn’t speak. Talk about the strong silent type. This bear shifter took that cliché to a whole new level. He could at least try to make conversation. If he wasn’t going to do it, Vivian sure as hell would. The silence was killing her. If she had to sit there for another second, she’d either scream or fall asleep.

“Have you been to Sea Cliff Island before?” she asked.

“No.”

Vivian rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and dropped her mouth in exasperation. One syllable answers for the lose.

“So how will you find it?” she asked, standing for the first time. She walked over to the dashboard and looked down at the confusion of dials and knobs.

“It’s called a navigation system. You have a GPS in your car, right?” He gave her a look that said, “You’re a ridiculous little woman, of course you need a GPS.”

“Well, no, actually. I grew up in Mystic Harbor.” He grumbled and looked back out at the sea. “Are you from around here? I just got back home after being gone for five years. I don’t remember seeing you around before,” she asked him.

“No. I’m from Alaska. Brought the ship down to be near my brother. He married into a black bear shifter family down here and wanted to go into business together.”

“Do you like it here?”

He gave her a dark look, his eyebrows creased over his nose. “Fishing isn’t as good as in Alaska. But the weather’s nice, I suppose.”

“Who is your brother’s family?” she asked, as she knew most of the paranormal families in town.

“His wife’s name is Jamie Wilder. You know her?”

“Oh my god, we went to high school together. On the soccer team, right?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Jamie’s a good wife to my brother, but I don’t know anything about her.”

“Oh…”

This guy was a piece of work. He didn’t know anything about his sister-in-law. What a weirdo. Everything in her told her to “stay away” in big, bold, neon letters. Laurence might be sexy as hell in a broody kind of way, but he definitely was not a people person. Vivian sighed and took another swig of coffee.

“Coffee?” she asked politely. Manners. Nature witches had manners.

“No thanks.”

She shrugged and went toward the door. “Can I go on deck?” she asked. Standing in this cooped up cabin was getting on her nerves. Even if it was cold out there, it would be better than the arctic freeze in here.

“Fine. Just don’t touch anything.”

Out on deck, Vivian could see the pale yellow light rising over the coastal mountains and stretching over the sapphire blue ocean waters. Wind blew cool on her face as she put her hand on the deck railing and sipped her coffee.

The salty smell of the sea air filled her nose and she took a deep cleansing breath, filling her lungs. Vivian hadn’t been so far out to sea in years, and it did something profound to her heart and soul.

As a nature witch, she was deeply connected to all of nature’s kingdoms. The ancient, primal kingdom of the sea was no different. She could sense the massive bodies of whales and the flitting of fish and dolphins far below the little fishing vessel.

As the day stretched on, she found a spot to eat her lunch. She’d come to the conclusion that she should just bear Laurence’s company for as long as she needed to. He wasn’t going to make conversation or be friendly. She might as well leave it at that. Just because he didn’t want to talk to her, didn’t mean there was anything wrong with her. Obviously, this guy had some kind of personal problem.

Late in the afternoon, a stream of dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Laurence growled at her to come into the cabin and she quickly complied.

“This storm was not on the weather forecast. It was supposed to be clear skies for the next five days.”

“Is it a bad storm?”

“My weather meters are showing massive swells ahead and those clouds look ominous. We better head back. Don’t know where this came from, but I’m going no further.”