He stepped back and swept his gaze around the others. "I don't like being here with these people and animals. I'm going to retire, but remember, courage is doing what we know is dangerous. It's risking our safety for a chance at something better. Don't let your fears shape your reality because no matter how cautious you are, someone or something always sneaks in the back door to manifest that fear. Better to face it and defeat it than to let it attack you unawares."
Before she could comment, he vanished.
Aimee stood there as she considered his words. He was right, but knowing something and acting on it were two entirely different things.
"What did he want?"
She hesitated at her father's question. Over seven feet in height, her father intimidated almost everyone who saw him. But not her. As his only daughter, Aimee knew he'd never harm her. "He was wishing me a Happy Holiday."
Her father smiled before he pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. "You attract the strangest creatures."
"Is that such a bad thing?" She looked meaningfully at her brothers.
Her father laughed.
But his laughter didn't ease her. "Papa? Can I ask you something?"
He narrowed his gaze on her. "I'm not sure I like that tone of voice, but you can try."
Before she spoke, she glanced to where her mother played with the cubs. "Had you not been fated for Maman, would you have still stayed with her?"
His gaze turned dark. "Why do you ask?"
"Curiosity."
His expression hardened and she could see that her response didn't appease him. "Don't lie to me, Aimee. I can smell it on your skin. You're thinking of that wolf, aren't you?"
She looked away, unable to answer him. Not that he didn't already know.
Her father's eyes snapped fire at her. "He is not our kind."
And in her mind that changed nothing. "I know that, Papa. I tell it to myself every day."
"If you leave us for him, I don't know if Nicolette could handle it. Your mother can be harsh, but she does love you and she only wants what's best for all of us."
"I know."
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "But this is your life,ma petite coeur . I will always be here for you."
Aimee closed her eyes as those words eased her heart. "Thank you, Papa. I love you."
"I love you, too. Now smile and join the party." He left her to speak to her brother Serre while Aimee felt suddenly out of place and she didn't know why. This was her home. These were her people and family, and yet...
She'd never experienced anything like this before and it made her ache.
"You okay, sis?"
She nodded at her brother Kyle as he paused by her side. "I have a headache starting."
"You want me to get something for you?"
She smiled at his youthful face. He was the most precious of all her siblings. "It's okay, baby. I think I'm going to lie down for a few minutes. Tell Maman that I'll be back down shortly."
"Okay."
She squeezed his arm before she made her way from the bar through the door that connected this building to the house where they all lived. It was eerily silent with everyone in the bar. This was the only time when the house was truly quiet.
Aimee made her way up to her room.
Pushing open the door, she paused as she caught a familiar scent.
Fang.
Her heart pounded as she slammed the door shut to look for him. But he wasn't here. She wanted to cry... at least until she realized his scent was still strong by her dresser.
She looked underneath a pile of papers to find a small box. Lifting it up, she inhaled the scent that was uniquely Fang's. How she missed him. Her eyes tearing, she unwrapped the gift and opened the box to find a small locket. It had a bear claw engraved around a diamond on the front. On the back was the paw of a wolf. But it was what was inside it that made her tears fall.
It was a piece of his fur. Aimee sobbed at the sight of it. Animals didn't give out things like this. With this fur, an enemy could track him through time.
But he trusted her enough to let her have it. Nothing had ever touched her more.
Her hand trembling, she closed the locket and hung it around her neck. The long chain fell down between her breasts, and she tucked it into her bra so that she could keep it as close as possible to her heart and keep it out of the sight of others.
As she reached for the box, she realized there was a note in the bottom. Unfolding it, she smiled at a typical Fang comment.
Miss you.
No "I love you." Nothing sappy or romantic. Just a short, clear truth.
"I miss you, too," she breathed, trying to stop the tears that fell. And it was then she looked up to see the remnant of a hand print on her mirror.
Fang's.
Aimee held her hand up to it, placing her palm against the imprint of his. "One day, Fang. One day..."
Fang blinked as he watched Aimee through the window. In wolf form, he was able to hide himself against the darkening sky. He wanted to hold her so badly, but he knew better than to try. His mere presence jeopardized her.
"One day, Aimee..."
His heart breaking, he backed away and padded across the roof until there was enough distance between them that he could change over to human form, flash into the clothes he'd been wearing, and climb down. He made his way to where he'd left his Suzuki GSX-R. He pulled his helmet on before he started the Jixer and headed home for the night.
It was so hard to be with his family when what he really wanted was Aimee. His brother Vane was a lucky wolf. His human mate, Bride, had accepted him, and the Fates had decreed them as partners for life.
If only a wolf could mate with a bear.
Sighing, Fang parked his bike and entered the house through the back door.
Bride had decked out the entire house for the Christmas holiday. There were bells, holly, and poinsettias everywhere. He heard laughter coming from the living room as he dropped his keys on the counter.
His brother Fury paused in the doorway. He cocked his head before he made a wolf sound in the back of his throat. "You better wash the bear off you before you get near Vane. You go in there smelling like that and he'll skin your ass raw."
Fang started to tell him what he could do with his warning. The last thing he wanted was to remove Aimee's scent from him, but it was Christmas.
Time for peace and family.
"I'll be down in a few minutes."
Fury nodded as he watched Fang head for the back staircase. He felt so bad for his brother. If he could, he'd hand Aimee over to him, but it wasn't meant to be. The bears would never tolerate their only daughter mating with a wolf. It just wasn't done. And if the Fates didn't decree it...
Man, it must suck.
"Fury?"
He turned to see Maggie coming down the hallway to join him in the kitchen. "You need a hand?" she asked.
"Nah," he said, heading for the fridge. "I was just getting some water. I don't like to drink that human stuff. It screws with me and I don't think you want your dad to see me flash into wolf form while he's here." Her father had no idea that he was surrounded by animals that were taking human form to placate Maggie and Bride's families. "My luck, I'd be so drunk I'd piss on his leg."
Maggie's mate, Wren, laughed as he joined them. "For that, I might pay you."
Maggie elbowed her mate in the stomach. "You promised me you'd behave."
"I'm behaving. But if Fury happens to piss on your dad..."
"Wren!"
He held his hands up in surrender before he gave her a wink.
"You are all so evil."
Wren only smiled as he grabbed water from the fridge before they returned to the living room where Bride's family was singing Christmas carols. Bride sat on the couch with her son in her lap while Vane sat on the floor, holding her hand as he cringed a bit from the disharmony of the a capella song.