“No, he hasn’t,” Remi said, easing back from the hyena shifter. The last thing she needed was her bear to go into defense mode right now. “He doesn’t even know I’m here. He is in a last chance Crew because his animal can’t handle the loss of his cub.”
“A last chance Crew?” Sophia murmured. She lifted Raider into her arms. “I’m just trying to make the best decision for my boy.”
“Are you?”
“He Turned his mother.”
“That’s the nature of shifters. We aren’t perfect. Our mistakes are on a high-stakes scale, but you can’t punish him for being half-animal. You can’t punish him for his instincts. Not like this.”
“We have all we need,” she said, lifting her chin. But there was a shake in her voice that said she didn’t believe her own words.
“You need a bigger team, and you know it. One you can trust. One who will do anything to keep him pointed in the right direction, right along with you guys. I’m from a place where there was a big team in raising cubs. I don’t know what I would’ve done without that support.” Remi moved to the counter slowly, peripheral on the hyena shifter. She scratched Kamp’s address onto a notepad, along with her phone number and his. “Please just consider letting him be part of your lives. For you guys, but also for Kamp.”
“I know Kamp,” Raider said softly. “That’s my lion dad.”
Remi smiled and nodded. “Clever boy.” She handed Sophia the paper. “That’s my number. Kamp’s is the one at the bottom. I don’t know, maybe you already have it, but just in case you ever need anything. I won’t tell him I was here. Your family decisions are up to you, but you should know he would give anything to be a part of this.” Remi gave Raider one last smile and committed his cute little face to memory just in case this was the only time she ever saw him. “He feels big.”
“What do you mean?” Todd asked in a gravelly voice.
“I don’t know… He just feels special.” It was an instinct in her gut that told her Raider would have a big story someday.
She made her way to the door, but just before she left, Todd asked, “You said you don’t know what you would’ve done without a big support system. What are you?”
Remi didn’t usually tell shifters who she was because they had expectations through rumors of her father. But something compelled her to own who she was with these people.
“I’m a Novak Grizzly.”
And just as she let the door swing closed behind her, she heard Todd whisper, “Holy shit.”
Chapter Eleven
Exhausted, Remi sat down on the bed at the Marriot in Eugene. She was drained and didn’t feel like driving the three hours back. Really, she just needed to sit for a minute and absorb everything that had happened and plot her next move. Or stay here for a couple of days perhaps. She was definitely already fired from her barista job in the city, so why not spend some savings while she tried to figure her life out?
She plopped back on the mattress, legs and arms spread out like she was a star. She missed him—Kamp.
She dialed his number.
“Hey, you just made my night with this call,” he said, sounding so happy to talk to her.
She couldn’t help but smile up at the ceiling fan. “What are you up to?”
“Waiting for a call from a pretty girl to tell me she is safe.”
“I’m a grizzly shifter. I’m always safe,” she muttered.
His chuckle warmed her blood, and she began to relax. “I’m safe where I’m going. Now for real, paint me a picture. What are you doing right now?”
“Uh, right now, I’m sitting under the awning, taking a break from working on this four-wheeler to talk to you.”
“Son of a biscuit-eater!”
Remi frowned. “Was that Rhett?”
“Yep. I’m also listening to him curse everything in existence because I made him work on the other four-wheeler. He just smashed his finger.”
“You made him work? How?” She couldn’t imagine Rhett doing anything he was told.
“I threatened to start a rumor in town that he has scabies if he doesn’t do it.”
“Hmm. Nicely done.”
“I hate both of you,” Rhett assured them. “And furthermore, where is my truck?” he yelled.
“So, how’s your day?” Kamp asked, ignoring Rhett’s tantrum.
“It’s going…okay. Not phenomenal, but not horrible.”
“Sounds like a good enough day in my book.”
Rhett called out over the phone, “I wish you would’ve taken Kamp with you when you left. He’s a life-ruiner. Better your life be ruined than mine.”
“Fix up the four-wheeler good!” Remi sang.
She was pretty sure she heard Rhett mutter the word “hate” to himself.
“I’m about to send a picture through,” Kamp said. “Are you ready?”
“I’m super-ready.” When her phone vibrated, she looked at the image that came through. It was of a waterfall and the river below it.
“Oh, that’s beautiful! Where is that?”
“It’s maybe a quarter mile hike from the trailer park. It’s called Whiskey Pick Falls.”
Rhett stopped his hate-song long enough to yell, “He means Whiskey Dick Falls.”
Kamp’s sigh tapered off into a growl. “The sign says Whiskey Pick, but I’m pretty sure Rhett has ruined the name forever.”
Remi laughed and admitted, “I like Whiskey Dick Falls just fine.”
“Also,” Kamp said, “I have a couple of beers in the fridge with our names on them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Me and you—we’ll shotgun them someday. And there’s plenty of trees to climb here, too.”
And then it hit her. He was offering up the things she’d told him she’d missed about Damon’s Mountains. Shot-gunning a beer, riding four-wheelers, climbing trees, jumping off Bear Trap Falls, and…
“You already Changed with a whole Crew,” he murmured. “Sure, we were all clawing each other up, but you were born a Gray Back. Pretty sure that was just another Tuesday for you.”
“You listened to me.”
“Huh? What? I can’t hear you. I wasn’t listening.”
She giggled. “No, I’m serious. You really listened. That means a lot. Kamp?”
“Yeah?”
“If I told you I like tulips, would you remember?”
“Of course. I remember everything you say.” There was such honesty in every word, she believed him completely.
“Barf. Gaaaag. Gag and barf. Garf.” Well, Rhett was being his normal, charming, moment-ruining self.
“Will you ever come back?” Kamp asked.
Remi sighed and admitted softly, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
There was a beat of silence, and then he told her, “That’s okay. You’re doing just fine, Remi. No one knows what they’re doing, not really. Anyone who seems to have it all together is just good at pretending. Someday, if you get tired of the city again, the four-wheelers will be all gassed up and ready for you.”
Right now, in this moment, she wished she could hug him. Wished he could wrap her up tight in his strong arms and make her feel safe. Wished she could end the day with a homecooked meal and then blasting through his mountains on an ATV instead of staring at a room service menu on a cold bedside table.
For the first time in a long time, she felt homesick.
And for the first time ever, homesickness wasn’t for a place.
It was for a person.
Chapter Twelve
Remi sounded a little sad, and there was this bottomless instinct to make her feel better. Kamp didn’t know why and was helpless to explain it. All he knew was this trailer park felt completely hollow without her.
How could a person have such an impact on a place in such a short amount of time?
He couldn’t stop thinking about her. How her skin felt under his fingertips, the little helpless noises she uttered when he’d made her feel good, her freckles and soft hair, her eyes that had animated to match every word she spoke. The way she could look right through a man to his soul and not run away. How brave she was when she’d gone after him. How fearless her bear was. How loyal her little heart seemed to be to that ratty old trailer at the end of the park. How funny she was. How independent. How she balanced confidence and insecurity in a completely endearing way that made him want to take care of her and watch her be a badass all at once. How she could dress down and hang with the boys but, oh, he knew she could clean herself up and be a bombshell. This girl had layers, and he was hungry to learn more. He was starving to learn everything about her.
