The home was clean and swept, the dishes stacked neatly into cupboards. It was easy to see he’d been fixing the place up. Near the bed was a small stack of lumber with bent nails sticking out here and there and a box of tools beside that. And over the bed was a massive window that gave a stunning view of the evergreen woods beyond the cabin. It looked new and smelled like sawdust and window cleaner.
Vera snuggled into her pajamas as she stared out the picture window. It felt strange to be clothed and in a house again after living as an animal for so long. “What does Link do for work?”
“He fixes things. He rehabbed an outbuilding into a fine cabin on Elyse’s homestead, but moved out here to be closer to work in Galena. He does construction and handyman jobs, and he cuts firewood and sells it to anyone who is going into winter short on dry lumber to burn.”
Vera twisted toward the kitchen where Tobias was cooking venison steaks he’d marinated in lime and soy sauce. It smelled so good her stomach was constantly rumbling. “And what did you do while I was gone?”
“You were never really gone, Vera. The faster you accept that you were present, the faster you’ll fix the bridge between you and your animal.”
She padded across the cool wood floors and slid her arms around his waist from behind, then rested her cheek on his strong back. “I only remember pieces.”
“And next time it’ll be different because you know what you need to work on.”
“Next time? God, I don’t even want to think about next time.”
Tobias ran his hands over her knuckles. “I think you need to Change again.”
Dread dumped into her system, and she tried to let go of him, but he held her in place with a strong grip on her hands. “What do you mean? I just Changed, and I lost two weeks. Two weeks making your medicine, two weeks living away from Perl.” She swallowed hard, then whispered, “I lost two weeks with you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did!”
Tobias moved the pan to another burner with a bang, then spun around and gripped her shoulders. “I can’t go into this winter and a possible hibernation if you don’t have control. I can’t. If this medicine doesn’t work—”
“It will!”
“If it doesn’t, I can’t stand the thought of you out here unable to control you shifts, Vera. You aren’t Link’s responsibility when things get bad. You’re mine. And right now, I think you need to Change.”
“And then what?”
“And then Change again.”
Defeated, her shoulders sagged. “And then what?”
“And Change again and again until you and your fox trust each other enough to know you won’t be locked in one form forever. Right now, you hate each other, and until you build some kind of relationship with your animal, you have no shot at a normal life, Vera. And I want that for you. I want it for us.”
“But the medicine is important. Not just for you, but for your brothers and their mates.”
“I know. But you’re important, too. We have to find a balance.”
Vera crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her gaze to his scuffed boots. “This is hard.”
Tobias hugged her close and murmured into her ear, “No one ever said this would be easy, and you don’t seem like the type of woman to take the easy way out. You’re brave and tough, and we will figure this out.”
“We will?”
He chuckled deep, warming her from her middle out. “I’m still in this. I saw your animal, and she’s stubborn, just like you. But she’s also good. We’ll get through this. If the medicine doesn’t happen this winter, then we’ll try for next winter.”
But Tobias didn’t understand. Eliminating his hibernation wasn’t just for him and his family anymore. It was for her as well. She couldn’t imagine going an entire six months without him while he slept in some den on Kodiak Island. Pain slashed through her chest just thinking about the aching loneliness and how dark her life would be without him, just waiting day after snowy day for him to wake up again. He didn’t understand, but arguing with him was pointless. He wanted her to Change and fix herself first, but she couldn’t. That’s not how love worked. Just like he was putting her first, she had to put him first, too.
Love? Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she punched him in the arm. “You ready to bleed for me, McBeefcake?”
“Woman, I think I’ve bled enough for the time being. Go sit down, and I’ll get you fed. You can poke me with your needles after I stop that rumbling in your stomach.”
“You like to take care of me,” she accused as she sat in the old ladder-back chair at the two-seater table. “Big, tough, brawling grizzly shifter likes to cater to his mate.”
“I’m buttering you up,” he teased as he set two steaming metal plates on the table.
Steak and cubed potatoes and carrots, and now her mouth was watering, too.
“You trying to get lucky tonight?”