Grizzly Flying Home (12 page)

Chance tried to protest again, but Sawyer was laughing too hard for him to get a word in edgewise. Chance finally gave up and grinned sheepishly at Sawyer. “I guess I was a little bit into her from the start,” he said. “Does this mean you’re not upset that I’ve invited a human to Frost Peak?”

Sawyer’s face sobered up for a moment, but he didn’t look angry—just curious. “Does she know that you’re a shifter?” he asked.

Chance nodded. “I told her last night. She actually took it really well. She wasn’t scared at all. Just excited and fascinated.”

Sawyer smiled. “Well, if she knows and you trust her, that’s good enough for me. I can tell from the sound of your voice when you talk about her that you’re head over heels for her. Now, come on. Let’s go inside. I want to meet your woman.”

Chance grinned, a flood of relief rushing over him. “Alright,” he said. “Come on, then.”

He led Sawyer toward the lobby of the motel, feeling like he was walking on air with each step that he took. His worries had all been for nothing. Emily hadn’t run in the other direction when she found out he was a bear, and Sawyer hadn’t reacted in anger when he found out Chance wanted to bring a human to Frost Peak. Chance had wasted a whole bunch of energy trying to figure out how to deal with problems that turned out not to be problems at all.

Chance didn’t even try to hold back the smile that spread across his face as he stepped into the hotel and saw Emily look up at him, her beautiful, curious eyes locking lovingly with his. Everything was working out better than he could have hoped, leaving him to believe that his secret suspicions had been correct all along—Emily Wellman was destined to be his lifemate.

Emily watched the world zooming by below her from her vantage point in the smallest aircraft she’d ever flown in. Chance had told her what kind of airplane it was, but she’d already forgotten. She was going to have to learn a few things about small aircraft, now that she was dating a pilot who flew them. A dusting of snow covered much of the landscape, but not enough to hide the dark green of the hundreds of pine trees below them. In the distance, gorgeous mountain peaks covered in bluish-white snow rose high into the sky. Emily drank it all in, feeling the kind of peace and calm that she always felt when she spent time in nature. She hadn’t even been in Alaska for a full twenty-four hours, but she could already tell that this place was going to be good for her soul. Here, she would find the tranquility that she needed, and space to heal.

The plane bounced wildly a few times, and Emily swung her gaze sharply to the two front seats, where Sawyer was piloting and Chance was co-piloting. Neither one of them looked concerned, but Emily couldn’t help but feel nervous as the plane bounced again.

“Is everything okay?” she asked into the mouthpiece of her headset, trying her best not to sound scared to death.

Chance looked back at her and smiled reassuringly. “Everything’s great. Just a bit of turbulence. Don’t worry, it’s common up here. It feels worse than what you’re used to because we’re in a small plane, but it’s just a few bumps. After you fly in these planes for a while you won’t even notice it anymore.”

Emily smiled and nodded, then went back to looking out the window. She doubted she would ever get so used to these bumps that she would be able to just ignore them, but if Chance wasn’t worried then she would try to relax.

Speaking of relaxing, she could tell that Chance was feeling much more at ease now than he had earlier this morning. She had chosen to ignore his pacing in the hotel lobby, figuring that if he wanted to tell her what was bothering him, then he would. She’d suspected that he hadn’t yet told Sawyer about wanting to bring her back to Frost Peak. Emily was new at this whole shifter clan business, but she could already tell that Sawyer was the leader and that the clan members, Chance included, were all expected to abide by his rules. Despite the fact that Sawyer was Chance’s best friend, Chance had been anxious about talking to him this morning. Emily didn’t know what had been said between them, but she could tell that the conversation had gone much better than Chance had expected it would. When he’d come back into the lobby, he’d looked like a thousand ton weight had been lifted off of his chest.

Sawyer had greeted Emily warmly, then teased her about settling for a nutcase like Chance. Chance had retorted with some comment about learning everything he knew from Sawyer, and the two had shared several rounds of lighthearted banter. Emily had never seen Chance look so alive. Sure, he’d loved the crew of smokejumpers, but it was clear that Sawyer held a place in his heart that none of the smokejumpers had. Chance was home now, really home, and it showed in his face.

After formal introductions, Sawyer and Chance had loaded the suitcases up into the truck, and the group had headed for the airport. Sawyer had apparently already been told that Emily was going to be moving to Frost Peak, because he started giving her hints on the best restaurants in town. Chance chimed in now and then to disagree with Sawyer, or to exclaim about how excited he was to go eat at a place he’d been missing. Emily was surprised by how at ease she felt around Sawyer. He felt like an old friend, even though she’d just met him. She’d mentioned this to Chance while Sawyer did some pre-flight checks on the plane, and Chance had grinned.

“Yeah, he’s awesome like that. Just wait ‘till you meet the rest of the gang. You’re gonna love them.”

Emily had smiled, but inside she felt nervous. Would she really love everyone else? And would they love her? It had been a long time since she felt like she belonged with a group of people.

Now, as the tiny aircraft she was in began to descend toward a small runway near a town nestled into the woods, her heart felt like it was beating at twice its normal speed. She took a couple deep breaths to try to steady her swirling emotions, and closed her eyes as the plane touched down with a few stiff bounces. As soon as Sawyer had applied the brakes and brought them to a complete stop, Chance turned around and smiled at Emily.

“Welcome to Frost Peak,” he said.

Emily looked out the tiny window next to her and took in what she could see. Next to her was a hangar, and beyond that there appeared to be some log cabins. The runway was adjacent to the forest, which appeared to be made up mostly of pine trees. Snow covered the evergreen branches, and occasionally the bare branches of a deciduous tree varied the view a bit.

Emily could tell that Chance was bursting with excitement. Sawyer slowly turned around and taxied back to the airport, with Chance talking the entire time. He was going over the things he needed to get done first—take care of post-flight operations, get his luggage to his cabin, prepare for a meeting with the clan elders, and, of course, go visit Sawyer’s family and Anderson’s family.

As Emily climbed out of the plane, she tuned out Chance’s chatter and went to sit down in the corner of the hangar. Her head was swimming. She couldn’t think about all of the people she was supposed to meet in the next few days. She had to take each meeting one at a time, or she would crumple into a ball of nerves. The further along this day went, the more she was fearing she had made a mistake. She loved Chance, but could she really live in his world? The reality of being a human among bears was beginning to hit her hard. What if the clan elders didn’t like her? Chance spoke of them with such reverence that Emily feared she would be given the boot if she didn’t impress them.

“Em?” Chance asked, breaking into her thoughts several minutes later. Emily looked up and realized that Chance was standing next to her, a pair of car keys in his hands. “Are you ready to go? You look like you’re a thousand miles away.”

“Sorry. Yeah, I’m ready. I was just thinking about stuff,” Emily said, quickly scrambling to her feet. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed while she sat here worrying.

Chance reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair back from her face, then looked deep into her eyes. “Look,” he said softly, smiling in a way that made the edges of his eyes crinkle up in an adorable manner. “I know you’re nervous to meet everyone. Just relax. They’re going to love you. I know it. And, even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you. I love you, and I’m committed to you. You’re my girl now. You come first. Before any of my friends, before the clan leaders, even before myself. I’ll take care of you. If you hate it here, we can leave. But I’m not even worried about that because once you settle in I know you’re going to love it.”

Emily met his gaze, and her eyes widened. “You would leave here for me? But it’s your home.”

Chance shrugged. “You’re my home now. I just want to be with you, wherever you are. And I want you to be happy. Now, come on. All our stuff is already loaded up in my truck. Want to go see my cabin? I mean,
our
cabin?”

Emily smiled. “Okay,” she said. Her heart warmed at Chance’s words. She wasn’t used to having someone care about her feelings. She could definitely get used to this.

As Chance drove his truck through town, Emily got her first real look at Frost Peak. It was mid-morning on a weekday, and the streets seemed quiet. They passed several rows of log cabins just past the airport, then arrived at what seemed to be a more commercial area of town, with small stores and restaurants. They passed a school, a community center, and some more businesses before coming to another neighborhood of log cabins. After another set of stores, they came to a neighborhood that Chance announced was where he lived. The log cabins here looked slightly larger than the ones in the previous neighborhoods, and the trees in the yards were bigger, too. Emily commented on the trees and Chance explained that these houses were the first to have been built in Frost Peak, decades ago. Back then, the log cabins usually housed two families as well, which was why they were larger.

“This whole town is bigger than I thought it would be,” Emily said. “I was picturing a small settlement not much bigger than a fancy campground. But this is an actual city.”

Chance chuckled. “Yeah. The clan has grown quite a bit over the last thirty years or so. We’re lucky. A lot of shifters in the area have had a hard time, with clan wars and disease wiping out their numbers. But our clan has managed to escape most of these disasters. We’re one of the strongest shifter clans in Alaska now.”

Emily smiled at the hint of pride in Chance’s voice. Then she furrowed her brow. “Why did you leave then? It seems like you have everything you could ever want right here, along with your best friends. Why move to California?”

Chance sighed. “It’s hard to explain the story without getting into a lot of clan rules and jargon. But, in a nutshell, there was a rift in the clan. Sawyer dealt with it, but I thought he was too soft on the dissenters. It made me angry, and I just needed some space from some of the clan members for a while. It was nice to get away and work with the smokejumpers. I made some lifelong friends, and I’m glad I took the opportunity. But I missed this place something awful. I’m so glad to be back.”

As Chance finished his explanation, he pulled up in front of a large log cabin with two giant fir trees in the front yard.

“Welcome home, babe. I hope you like the place.”

Emily’s eyes widened for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “This place is huge, Chance.”

Chance shrugged, looking a bit sheepish as he got out of the truck and came around to open Emily’s door for her. “It’s big, yeah. It was passed down to me by my parents. They always dreamed of a big family, but I ended up being their only child.”

“I take it they’re not around anymore?” Emily asked.

“No, sadly. They’ve both been gone for years now. I know this place is too big for one guy. But I could never bear to sell it. My mom and dad loved this house. And, who knows, maybe one day it will be filled with a big family after all.”

Chance looked meaningfully at Emily, and she felt her heart flutter happily at his implication. Emily allowed herself to imagine a house full of children and laughter, and a smile broke across her face. She couldn’t believe how quickly life was turning around for her.

Chance led her to the front door and opened it, and her dreams of a beautiful, big house were momentarily thwarted. The cabin was big, alright, but the inside wasn’t exactly what she would consider beautiful. The furniture was old and looked like it had been rescued from a salvage yard. The walls were adorned with posters of sports heroes, and piles of books stood everywhere, without a proper bookshelf in sight.

Chance seemed to notice her hesitation and he laughed. “Don’t worry. I know it looks like a total bachelor pad. You can’t blame me. I lived here alone for years. You can redecorate any way you want to. I’ve been meaning to get new furniture for a long time, and just never knew where to start. Hopefully you’ll have some ideas, because I’m not good at that kind of thing.”

Emily laughed, feeling slightly relieved that at least Chance realized that the place needed some sprucing up. “I have a few ideas,” she said. “No offense, but it honestly won’t take much creativity to at least improve on this mess.”

Chance laughed. “No offense taken. I will hand over my credit card and let you do what you want with the place.”

Emily grinned, suddenly excited. She had just been given a home to decorate, with free reign to do with it as she liked. This place had some serious potential. She started to feel a little less nervous about life in Frost Peak, now that she had a project to look forward to. Chance seemed to read her mind and he pulled her into his arms.

“Look, life is gonna be awesome here, okay? I promise. You have a beautiful cabin to decorate, you’re safe, and you’ll see soon enough that you have a new family of people to love you. This is a fresh start. Stop fighting the happiness and just enjoy it. Welcome home, Beautiful.”

Emily sighed and let herself rest in Chance’s arms. And then she dared to let herself believe, for just a moment, that she really was home. She believed deep down that she deserved to be happy, and life with Chance was shaping up to have some pretty damn good potential for happiness.

She crossed her fingers that her hopes wouldn’t be dashed over the next few weeks.