A feral growl rumbled across the line. Okay then. “I have to take a break on deliveries for the rest of the season. I don’t want to leave my customers high and dry, though, so I was wondering if you wanted to take them over for me.”
Tobias huffed a humorless laugh. “Ian, if you give them to me for the season, they’ll stick with me.”
“Worth the risk. I’m settled now, and I can’t get back to deliveries until after hibernation. If you took some of the load off my hands, I’d be grateful.”
The silence from the other end was so heavy, it held weight. “What do you mean by settled?”
“I got a fiancé and a homestead.”
“Fuck, Ian! Tell me you’re joking. Tell me you’re not shacking up with a human and threatening to expose us all.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you?”
Ian cast a look at the open barn door and lowered his voice. “Look, Tobias, I don’t expect you to understand, but I love her. I’m ready to settle. I can’t help it.” He lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. “This is my animal’s choice. Instinct. I can’t leave her.”
“You can’t leave? And what about in a couple months when you go into hibernation? What are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ian—”
“Tobias! I don’t ever ask anything from you, do I?”
Silence.
“Do I?”
“No.”
“And I want to, man. All the time, I want to call just to fucking chat with you and Jenner, and I don’t. I know you don’t want the relationship, but I was so fucking lonely, and this makes sense to me. I have a purpose now. I get to take care of a woman. I didn’t call for your blessing. I called to ask if you would take over my deliveries.”
“Shit,” Tobias muttered. He let off a loud sigh and said, “Well, tell me what she’s like.”
Ian straightened his spine and hooked his free hand on his hip. “She’s a foot shorter than me and skinny as hell. She’s had a rough go of it.”
“She sounds weak—”
“I wasn’t done. She’s headstrong and running a homestead by herself, and she doesn’t quit. She just doesn’t. She works hard and long, and she woke up this morning before dawn just to get her day started and fuck it all, I respect her for what she’s done with this place by herself. She doesn’t need me emotionally, but I want her to.”
“What’s her name?”
“Elyse.”
“You’ve got the McCalls hunting you, man. I saw your den on Afognak.”
“What were you doing out there?”
“I like to go back home from time to time. I was checking that your shit is in order, and it definitely is not. You got Miller after you, and you’re shacking up with someone he can and will use as leverage. You get that, right?”
“Yeah.” Ian couldn’t bring himself to admit Elyse was Cole McCall’s claim. Tobias was actually holding a conversation with him—the first in years—and if he admitted how much risk he was really taking, Tobias would disappear and be a ghost in the wind once again.
“You gonna tell her what you are?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“It won’t work if you don’t,” Tobias said in a defeated voice. “That’s where Dad messed up with Mom. Secrets destroy pairings.”
“I didn’t know pairings were a thing for us.”
“Yeah, well, your dumbass is mated, so it must be, right? Text me the deliveries and I’ll get them taken care of. I’ve got to go.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Ian?”
“Yeah?”
“She sounds real nice. Don’t fuck it up.”
The line went dead, and Ian stared at the screen as it went dark. Holy hell, Tobias had actively participated in a civilized conversation with him.
A sharp yip sounded from the doorway, and he turned, startled. The puppy came bouncing toward him, nothing but a ball of black and white fire and a curly tail.
“No!” Elyse whispered as she stumbled out from behind the open barn door.
“Elyse! What are you doing out there?”
She bit her lip and looked guilty as hell. “What happened was…I was coming out here to see if you could help me fix some broken fencing near the horses’ gate, but then I heard you talking and I didn’t want to interrupt, so I just stood there, waiting until you were done.”
“So, eavesdropping.”
Her cheeks were flushed like cherries now as she nodded once. “I didn’t know you were talking about me at first, and then I couldn’t pull myself away.”
Panicked, Ian went over and over the conversation he’d had with Tobias, but he didn’t think he’d given anything away about the bear that lived inside of him.
“You said I’m headstrong and you respect me.” Her smile was faint as she looked up at him, then back down to his work boots.
Shoulders relaxing, he gestured her to him and hugged her close. “That was my brother.”
“You have a brother?” Genuine shock painted her tone.
“I have two.”
“Older or younger?”
“The same exact age.”
“You’re a triplet?” Her voice was so loud, it hurt his sensitive ears. When he hunched, she lowered her voice. “When will I meet them?”
“Probably never. We don’t get along.”