Zoe had walked away, but she hadn’t walked far. Not to mention it had taken a good amount of time for her knees to stop shaking enough for her to be able to walk anywhere. Back in her own cabin, she sat down on the couch and stared at the empty minibar. What she wouldn’t give to have saved at least one of those tiny little bottles for a time like this! But no one in hell could have anticipated a time like this, she thought.

In slightly more than twenty-four hours, she’d fallen head over heels in love with a shapeshifter. A hotter than hell, sweeter than sugar, half-man, half-bear who could pick her up and toss her over his shoulders without a thought and who could make her come until she literally thought she’d die from it. And she was still debating. That was progress on the impulsively leaping into relationships front, at least.

Leaning over, putting her head between her knees, Zoe tried not to think about the fact that her whole life had just turned upside down and that the book she was contractually obligated to complete, that she was financially dependent on for her survival, was still not done. On the upside, the whole trip could legitimately be written off as research.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she whispered.

Her litany of curses was interrupted by a knock at the door. Getting to her feet, she trudged toward the door and opened it without even looking up. She was more than a little put out that she’d told him she needed some space and he was already there, crowding her and clouding her already for shit judgement even further. “Logan, I told you I needed a few minutes to clear my head!”

“Who’s Logan?”

Zoe opened her eyes and found herself looking down at a pair of very expensive high heels. High heels that she recognized because India had borrowed them from her a month earlier. They also had a nasty looking scuff on the toes. Another battle for another day, she reminded herself.

“It’s complicated,” Zoe said. Like paranormal shit happening in real life kind of complicated, or maybe I just need hard core psychotropic meds until the episode passes. Either or, Zoe thought as hysterical laughter bubbled out of her.

“Tell me about it,” India said, flouncing into the cabin and settling her ample bottom onto the sofa. “I’ve left Greg.”

“Again?” Zoe tried but failed to keep the skepticism out of her voice. India had left Greg so many times it was practically on her daily to do list.

India glowered at her. “For good. He’s cheating on me with my trainer.”

“The trainer he hired for you because he said your butt was too big,” Zoe reminded her. “And that is when you should have dumped him…for the last time. Or you could have dumped him and left him dumped after the first time when he stood you up for your sister’s wedding and made your whole damn family think you had made up a boyfriend. But you know, whatevs.”

India didn’t respond to that. She did however arch one perfectly bold brow and asked, “Whatevs? What the hell has gotten into you? And are you drunk?”

“No. I’m not drunk. I need to be drunk. I wish I was drunk. You don’t have any liquor in that steamer trunk of a purse, do you?” Zoe asked, once more on the verge of hysteria.

India wagged her finger. “It’s a Louis Vuitton. And I wish I had a steamer trunk. I’d sell it in a heartbeat and finance one heck of a vacation. As for booze, you’re already insensible enough. Now, who’s Logan?”

Zoe sighed heavily and sat down beside her. “He’s the love of my life, and I met him twenty-four hours ago.” When he was standing outside that door in bear form. Holy fucking hell.

“Oh, Zoe! No. No. No. They lie, they all lie. Men are dirty, dirty liars!” India protested. “We are going back to the city and getting you the hell out of these mountains until you are cured from whatever insanity this is!”

But he’s not a man. She couldn’t utter that protest. It wasn’t her secret to tell. “It’s different, India. He’s different. That’s all I can say about it.”

India shook her head and clucked her tongue like a mother hen. “That’s what I said about Greg the Asshole. Isn’t that what you call him?”

Zoe put her head in her hands again. “Yes. I call him that. But he earned that title! Logan is different, India… Not just in what he says but in what he is.”

“Honey, when you’ve had a magical dick you will believe that man can literally pull the moon right out of the sky, but that doesn’t make it true.”

A magical dick. Zoe started to laugh again. “You have no idea how magical it was. Really. No idea.”

* * *

Sam walked out of the cabin and watched his older brother strolling down the hill. Barrett was dressed in just a pair of sweatpants with no shirt and no shoes. He had a good five days growth of beard on him, which for Barrett was considerable. He looked just like what a he was… a wild man. And with the way he was stalking toward the house, he was in a hell of a temper too.

“Slow your roll, brother,” Sam said when Barrett was close enough that he didn’t have to shout. “You’re not going in there to start World War III with him.”

Barrett’s eyes flashed gold. “You’re not the boss here.”

“Last I checked none of us were. We’re brothers. And partners. He owns as much of this mountain as either of us do, and he’s in there packing a bag right now because he doesn’t think he’s welcome. I didn’t help matters much, by the way. I walked in, smelled a strange human, and shifted immediately. I likely the scared the ever-loving hell out of that girl.”

Barrett growled under his breath. “She saw you?”

“She did,” Sam answered. “She saw Logan too. But that’s not what this is about, is it? You don’t want him getting hurt and you don’t want him leaving the family, but you’re too damn bullheaded to recognize that that’s what you’re going to drive him to do if you don’t accept her!”

“Accept her? What if she won’t accept us?” Barrett fired back. “What if they have a kid and she watches it every day waiting for it to turn into a monster? Are you prepared to raise the babies she’s going to walk out on?”

Sam sighed heavily. They were all a little fucked up by that. Somehow, Logan had managed to shake it off better than they had. Maybe it was because he’d grown up in a more human part of the world than he and Barrett had. Whatever the reason, their mothers walking out on them seemed to be the hardest on Barrett.

“If we have to then we have to. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen, but if you want her to stay, to see us as we are and not as the monsters Logan’s mother called us, then you’d damn well better shave your face, cover your ass, and speak like you’ve got some damn sense. You come at her like this? Hell, she’d be a fool not to run!”

Leaving Barrett to gape after him, Sam turned and went back into the house. He could hear the sound of Logan moving around in his room, likely packing his things. His whole family was going to fall to pieces in mere minutes if Barrett didn’t remember that he was at least part human, too. Damn it all.

Taking matter into his own hands, Sam left their cabin and headed up the hill to the one that had been rented by Zoe Hawkins. He needed to figure out what the hell she intended to do about his baby brother. If he knew, he might be able to do a better job of damage control.