Link barked out a laugh and took another turn on the snowy road, adjusting his weight so they didn’t flip. “That was when she went straight fox and was out of control of her animal. She doesn’t bite anymore.”
Link pulled through a grove of bare, winter trees and passed a small homesteader cabin. There was a pen of cattle near it, a barn in the distance, and in a corral, two horses munched hay and watched them as they passed. Taking a well-worn road where the snow was packed tight, Link drove them another mile before he pulled to a stop in front of Vera and Tobias’s sprawling cabin that looked new from its crisp cedar logs to the newly stained floorboards on the wraparound porch. The windows didn’t have curtains, and from here, in the darkening evening, the glow from inside looked inviting and warm. The sound of muted, feminine laughter came from inside and calmed Nicole’s nerves a little. These were regular women who were managing lives with shifter mates, just like she was attempting with Link. Still, just for an instant, she wished she was charming and outgoing like her half-siblings.
Link helped her off the snow machine and hooked her hand onto the crook of his elbow as they tromped through the deep snow to Vera and Tobias’s cabin. The porch stairs didn’t even make a creak as she make her way up. “Your work?”
“Not this one. The Silvers helped Tobias build this house for Vera. She deserved a good home after living on Perl Island for so long.”
“Is Perl Island rough to live on?”
Link looked down at her and dipped his chin. “Perl is a place of nightmares. We call it the Island of Misfit Shifters, and Vera was the only female there for three years.”
“What was she doing there?”
“Clayton forced her to search for the cure to the McCall curse, but all she managed was to suppress some shifter animals. He had her Turned into a fox shifter against her will.”
“Clayton. You mean the Silvers’ dad did that?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s fucked up.”
She thought her family was messed up, but now she was feeling like she was in similar company. No wonder these people had all banded together. They’d gone and created their own family, and now Link was a part of it, and if she was lucky and they accepted her, someday she hoped to fit into their little band of outsiders, too.
“It’s fucked up, but Vera says she wouldn’t change anything. The fox gave her Tobias. Her years on Perl made her strong.”
And that right there was why she already had so much respect for Vera and the other women in this family. Every one of them was strong. They had to be to maintain a relationship with mates who, until a month ago, hibernated the entire winter. Vera kept Ian, Jenner, and Tobias from sleeping now, but Elyse, Lena, and Vera had all gone into a pairing knowing they would need to protect their mates’ sleeping bodies six months out of the year.
If Vera could fix hibernation, perhaps she really could help Link.
Link lifted his hand to knock, but the door swung wide open, blasting Nicole in the face with deliciously warm air.
Vera’s eyes zeroed immediately on Link. “Lincoln Dingleburger McCall. You didn’t take the medicine,” she accused.
“My middle name is Asher, and I assure you, I did take the medicine, and it sucked.”
Vera canted her head, her strange, blue and gold-colored eyes narrowing on him. “Where is the growling and the bleeding and the head-slapping then?”
“If you mean the side effects, he did his bleeding all over the ice in front of my cabin,” Nicole said helpfully, scrunching up her nose at the memory. “It’ll probably draw all the predators within a two mile range.”
“Huh.” Vera pursed her lips and leaned forward, sniffing Link. “You still smell broken.”
Link made a clicking sound and pushed past her into the house. “Let us in, woman. We’re freezing.”
He tugged Nicole’s hand, but Vera stopped her just inside in a gentle game of tug-of-war. She hugged her close and murmured against her ear, “Is he okay?”
“It’s touch and go,” Nicole whispered as she hugged Vera snuggly. “Thanks for trying to help us.”
“We’re going to be friends.”
Nicole laughed and gave her another squeeze before she released her. “I’d like that.”