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  “Is that legal?”

  “I had a lawyer from a woman’s shelter look it over. She advised me not to sign, but I guess I was too tired to fight by that time. I signed it and ran to Maxwell Mountain.”

  Dan kissed the top of her head, pleased to feel her relaxing in his arms. He might have lost part of his sight and the ability to soar through the air like a bird, but at least he could still hold this small woman and her son.

  “Sounds like a bullshit move by a frat-bro.” Dan grinned. “Nothing a few weeks in basic training to take the snot out of the little prick.”

  Kimber giggled.

  “I like the sound of you laughing,” Dan whispered into the fragrant cloud of her hair.

  Kimber took another deep breath, and Dan felt her tense muscles begin to relax. “I like it when you say things that make me laugh.”

  Dan’s heart ached for the decisions she’d faced. “You made the right choice to come here. You know that right?”

  “I guess. I didn’t have any other paths, really.” Kimber looked up at Dan. “But I’m so tired of being everyone’s burden. I have a son, now. I need to take care of him.”

  “You will. But no one does it alone.”

  Kimber shrugged. “I love him so much.” Her nose nuzzled Anthony’s baby fine peach fuzz.

  Dan’s heart stuttered. “Wayne?”

  “Oh, Lord, no. Well, I mean, I obviously thought I loved him. I wouldn’t have had sex with him otherwise.”

  Dan grinned when Kimber blushed at the word “sex.”

  “But I was talking about Anthony. How do I tell him his father was a jerk?”

  “He’s past jerk. You can call him a fuck boy,” Dan said.

  She snorted. “He was, but I can’t call my son’s father that.”

  Dan didn’t respond. Maybe she was right. “So, you want to head back to Raleigh?”

  Kimber trembled with indecision. “Not really. I’d miss the mountains.”

  “Just the mountains?”

  Anthony took that moment to begin fussing and rooting for his meal. “I need to feed him.”

  “Can I stay?”

  “No. Didn’t we have enough of that a few weeks ago?”

  “There will never be enough.”

  Kimber closed her eyes, unsure of how to take his words. “I need a job, Daniel. Not this pull-me, push-me crap. I thought we were starting something and then you took off.”

  But there was so much more to it, Dan wanted to tell her. He didn’t know how to process the emotions he felt. Didn’t know how to talk to her. And so, like he often did, he stayed quiet.

  “It was so beautiful. Like Madonna and child.”

  Kimber stared at him as if not quite understanding what he said. “Let me feed him,” she finally said. She sat in the overstuffed rocker and lifted one corner of her shirt. The bottom curve of her breast peeked out followed briefly by a turgid red nipple. Anthony latched onto the nipple immediately and grunted as he nursed.

  Dan stood, frozen in place. His hands ached to hold her. Watch while she fed their son. Embrace a family he couldn’t ever have.

  This shit was real. She wasn’t a girl where if things went wrong, he could take off. Kimber and Anthony were part of the Special Forces crew who settled on Maxwell Mountain.

  He shook his head to clear it. It was one thing to want Kimber. Another to stick around. Unsure of himself, Dan went into the kitchen and got her a glass of water.

  “I read nursing mothers should drink extra water,” he said as he placed the tumbler within easy reach.

  Kimber looked up at him, a frown marring her smooth forehead.

  Unable to think of anything else to say, Dan turned and left them alone. From her spot in the living room, Kimber heard his truck start as he pulled out.

  Chapter two

  Kimber

  “Knock, knock.” Lacey St. Claire opened the door of the cabin. “Can I come in?”

  Quinn Maxwell’s family had owned Maxwell Mountain for generations. Quinn was a Mastiff shifter, and Lacey was his mate. They lived in the larger of the four cabins on Maxwell Mountain Resort.

  “Hey, Lace. C’mon in. I’m just feeding the baby.”

  Nervously, Lacey pulled the sleeves down on her lightweight sweater and clutched them in her palms. She approached Kimber and Anthony like they were some foreign species of humanoid.

  Kimber smiled reassuringly. As part of the agreement before joining the Shifter Special Forces, not only were the men told that they would not marry, but that the change in their human DNA would make having children almost impossible.

  From the hungry, nervous way the shifter mates had eyed Anthony, Kimber suspected many of the women were hoping “almost impossible” would turn into possible. But, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, there was only one natural-born shifter.

  “I saw the pirate leave in a huff. Is everything okay?”

  Kimber shrugged as she detached Anthony and burped him. “I don’t know. At first, he was all alpha and me man, you woman, us family. And then something changed.” Kimber switched Anthony to the other side and nodded to her tumbler of water. “He got me a drink and hightailed it out of Dodge.”

  “Jerk,” Lacey muttered. She took in the suitcases in the living room. “You aren’t leaving, are you?”

  Kimber sighed. “I don’t know what to do, Lace. I need a job. I need a place to live.”

  “You have a place to live. Here.”

  “This is Quinn’s business not a hotel for wayward women.”

  Lacey set her jaw. “You’re family. You’re Hunter’s sister, and Hunter is family. So, get that idea out of your head right now. Quinn rents the cabins out to shifters who need a place to go. Some of them aren’t fully accepted in the real world. Like Cree.” Cree James was the only known natural-born shifter who had shown up on the mountain ten years ago.

  “Or injured? Like Daniel?” Kimber asked. She cringed when she heard the soft, romantic inflection when she said his name. Nothing like advertising a major crush, right?

  “Yep,” Lacey agreed. “So, you see, one of the cabins is earning money, and we still have an empty cabin. You’re fine. And I like having you here.” Lacey twirled a long, blonde curl. “I don’t say this very often because I know it bothers Quinn, but girl, I get lonely up here.”

  “Besides, if you stay, magic will happen.”

  “What does that mean?” Kimber asked with a grin.

  “So, here’s the deal. I stayed in Little Yellow when I first came to the mountain. Bam, fell in love with my big goofy Mastiff shifter. Then Hadley stayed in Little Yellow, and she fell in love with your grumpy brother.”

  “Yeah, ick factor, Lace. I love that he’s found his mate, but let’s not cross that boundary, okay?”

  Lacey giggled. “And then Cree got Tams to stay here in Little Yellow, and now they’re all mated up. So, you see? It’s like magic or fate or something. Stay in Little Yellow, fall in love.”

  Kimber still wasn’t convinced but didn’t argue with Lacey’s circular logic. “You work with Cree, don’t you? At the Cat of the Mountain Rescue Center?”

  Lacey nodded and grinned. “And I love it. I trained for small animals in vet tech school. But I’ve been learning so much about the bigger cats since I started.”

  “I love your drive for your profession. I wish I had that,” Kimber said. Anthony dozed off, and she rested him on her chest to encourage a burp. “I need a job. Is Mel is hiring at the Snappy Lunchbox?”

  “I don’t think so. Cree’s mate Tamara is working there part-time. Besides, who would watch the baby?”

  “I don’t know.” Kimber hated feeling defeated. Trapped.

  “So, if everything were on the table, what would you want to do?” Lacey curled up next to Kimber and smiled encouragingly.

  That was easy. “Finish my degree and get a job teaching.”

  “Okay. Let’s do that, then.”

  “Lacey, I can’t. I mean, I’ve got the money for school. H
unter made sure of that. But as you pointed out, I don’t have anyone to watch Anthony. The closest school is still a healthy drive away, and that’s even if I got accepted.”

  “Pfft. Details. Talk to your brother. What about living on the money Hunter gave you and taking a loan out for school? You may even be able to take a few online classes to make commuting easier.”

  Kimber looked at her friend dumbly. “I could. I don’t know. I mean, I guess I could do that.” She brushed her lips against her son’s downy forehead. “I’d still need a sitter.”

  “I’m sure between shifters and mates, we’ll have you covered.”

  “It takes a village?”

  Lacey grinned. “A shifter village. A village of shifters? Whatever it takes. We love you. We’ll get it done.”

  Tears of gratitude filled Kimber’s eyes. “Hunter was so much older than I was, we weren’t even all that close. And my mom? Well, she wasn’t what you’d call motherly.” Kimber’s blue eyes lifted to Lacey’s golden-brown gaze. “I wish I’d had a sister like you growing up.”

  “Well, you have me now.” Lacey pulled out her phone and pulled up a search page. “Let’s see what kind of courses App State and UNC-Ashville are offering.”

  Kimber nuzzled her son. “Did you hear that, sweetie? Your mama is going back to college.”

  Dan

  Dan threw back another shot of whiskey and pressed the cold glass against his forehead. His heart hurt, and he just wanted to forget about the look of hope and trust that shone in Kimber’s beautiful violet eyes.

  “You might want to slow down on those,” Jason Fox, the bartender at the Lusty Leopard said.

  Dan looked around the deserted bar. “Why? You got customers lining up I can’t see?”

  “There are laws against driving drunk, asshole.”

  “Pour me another and save the lectures. I’m a fucking shifter. I think I can handle a few shots of cheap-ass whiskey.”

  Jason snorted and poured another ounce of amber liquid. “Around here, being a shifter doesn’t make you special. Look around, little bird. We’re all shifters of one form or another.”

  Dan lifted the glass in a mock salute and slammed it back. The numbness in his eye told him he was probably just drunk enough to slow down. He didn’t have a death wish or a desire to wrap his truck around a telephone pole on his way home.

  Home.

  Wherever the fuck that was.

  Except he knew precisely where home was. It was wherever Kimber and Anthony were. As long as they were by his side.

  Jason filled his shot glass, and Dan nodded his thanks. Four shots were plenty, he thought.

  If Kimber knew how broken he really was, she’d flee the damn mountain like her life depended on it. If she knew how fucked up he was, she’d hide out at her brother’s house and avoid him like the plague.

  And not look at him as if he were some kind of hero. He wasn’t. Helping out at the fire last summer proved that.

  Oh, sure, the land-shifters were awesome. Barging into the line shack. Saving those kids. Dan provided a small bit of air support for the smoke jumpers but had mostly been useless.

  Without two eyes, he was effectively grounded. And he hated it.

  Kimber was too good for him. Too pretty and pure for a wild place like Maxwell Mountain. Dan scanned the bar, registering that Jason was right. Here, being a shifter was no big deal. Here, he was just part of the scenery.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Dan looked up from his musings. “Hey, Cree. Not really.”

  Cree James, the partial owner of the Lusty Leopard, looked at him with eyes that saw too much. “Kimber is your mate,” he announced. “You should be with her not down here warming my bar stool.”

  It was on the verge of Dan’s tongue to deny Cree’s statement, but he couldn’t. “She deserves better.”

  “Well, yeah. Of course, she does. But it’s not up to us to decide on mates. Nature takes over on that one. But even I have to admit. Hawks are better than bears.”

  Dan grinned. Cree’s general dislike for bear shifters wasn’t a secret. “She’s got a kid, man. What the fuck-all do I even know about being a dad to that boy? My mother took off. I don’t even know who my father is. I couldn’t even get a single foster family to take me in.”

  Cree poured him a cup of black coffee. “I killed a guy and went to jail. And trust me, I thank all the powers that be I have my mate. You don’t see me warming a barstool when I could be warming my woman.”

  “I am the least qualified person to help her raise a child. I had no one. I aged out with no one. I joined the military because at least it gave me. You know. Something.”

  Cree took a sip of coffee. Nodded. Listened. “How’d that all feel?”

  Dan frowned and drank his coffee. “How’s what feel?”

  “Not having a dad?”

  Dan felt the skin around his eyes pulse with anger. “Fuck you.”

  “That kid has more strikes against him than a little guy needs. His actual father took off. His mom doesn’t have a secure job, yet. Although she should know she’s part of our family. We’ll take care of them even if you don’t.”

  Dan nodded absently. He didn’t like thinking about Anthony’s sperm donor. “That’s fucked up. Man rejecting his own kid.”

  “So is a man rejecting his mate’s kid,” Cree returned coolly. “You know what your mate is doing right now? She’s raising a child. She’s building him a life. Providing nourishment for him from her own body. And if that’s not fucking beautiful, I don’t know what is.”

  Dan nodded and finished his cooling coffee. “What made you all philosophical and shit?”

  Cree turned serious. “Losing my mate. Living most of my life believing she was dead. It taught me what was real and what was just my own head-space. That boy needs a father, and he’d be the luckiest kid alive to have you in his life.”

  He picked up the empties on the bar. “But don’t do it if you’re going to do it half-assed. We get one mate, douchebag. Do you want her to leave the mountain, find some khaki-wearing jerk, and have another half dozen kids with him? Because that’s what will happen if you don’t get out of your head and claim them both.”

  “Fuck,” Dan muttered. Cree was right.

  Chapter Three

  Kimber

  After waiting the rest of the day to see if Dan turned back up, Kimber decided that maybe jerk Red Tail Hawk shifter guys were just as big of jerks as college boys with trust funds.

  “We don’t need either kind of jerks, do we?” Kimber whispered to her son. After a quiet dinner, Kimber decided to call in one of those favors Lacey was always offering.

  Will you watch Anthony? I want to take a bath. Kimber texted.

  The answering text was immediate. YES!! Lacey always liked to watch the baby.

  Kimber walked the baby next door. “I have a bottle of breast milk, some diapers, and a fresh jumper,” she said, handing over her diaper bag.

  Lacey wrinkled her nose playfully at the dancing unicorn print on the bag. “Unicorns? Everyone knows llamas are the new unicorn.”

  Kimber laughed at her friend’s typical response. Lacey had a definite soft spot for llamas. “Thanks. I’ll text you when I’m done, okay?”

  Lacey was already cooing into Anthony’s little neck and waving Kimber away. “We got this, don’t we little guy?”

  But when Kimber got back into her cabin, Dan sat on her couch. For a moment, Kimber took in his broad shoulders, massive arms as they rested on his knees. His head bent as though in prayer.

  Dan wore a charcoal-colored thermal that molded against his powerful build. The shirt was threadbare in strategic places and clung to him in a way that made Kimber aware of just how long it had been since she’d last had sex.

  The long, ropey muscles made Kimber wonder what his body would feel like under her hands. Heat flushed her cheeks at the direction of her thoughts.

  He looked up and gave her the first genuine smile she’d se
en on his face since meeting him. Straight white teeth, full lips, and oh, good Lord, was that a full-on set of dimples?

  Kimber’s fingers ached to stroke through his day-old scruff and explore those dimples for herself. She wanted to stroke herself over his body like a cat and claim him as hers. Meow, little kitty, mine, mine, mine.

  She shook her head, knowing Dan was as far out of reach as ever. What was it with these broken shifters? First her brother, now her…Well, Dan wasn’t a lover. Not a boyfriend. Her crush, maybe?

  “What are you doing back?” she asked, twisting her fingers nervously. She wasn’t prepared for this conversation.

  “I know you want to leave,” Dan began.

  Kimber frowned before realizing he left before the decision was made about sticking around and going to school. She opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her.

  “And if you do, I get it. Really. I mean, what kind of life is at the top of a mountain? Away from friends and the busy city life you’re used to. But if you are still thinking of going, I’d like you to reconsider.” His sharp gaze caught her. Held her transfixed in its grasp.

  Kimber hugged herself, seeking both warmth and comfort. “Why?” Forget school and taking charge of her life. She needed to hear what Dan was thinking.

  “I want you to stay.” His words were so honest, they rang true even to her non-shifter hearing. But still, Kimber ached for more.

  “Why are you broken?”

  Dan flinched. “I’m not broken.”

  “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s rain, Daniel. My brother was broken. I can see you are. What’s going on?” Kimber longed to touch him. Comfort him. She forced herself to hold back and let him come to her.

  “I’m not broken,” Dan repeated. “Just. Injured.” He looked up, his single amber eye boring into her. “Look. I’ve never had a family. No foster family wanted me. I don’t know how to do this whole family thing.” His words came out angry. Hurt. Bitter. “I joined the Shifter Special Forces for a chance to be bigger. Better. Part of something eternal.”

  Kimber approached him and stood between his spread knees. She lifted her hand, surprised to see it trembled. “And then you lost your eye.” She placed her hand over his eyepatch.