Dad looked around the circle and we all began to smile. He’d missed so much and he’d been gone only a day.
“When I met Claire yesterday, I knew she was my mate as soon as I saw her, and then she fainted the moment I touched her.”
Claire rolled her eyes and my father’s mouth dropped open. “Really? Well, that’s a new one.”
“It happened again when I shook her hand.” Taylor piped up.
“And sort of with me, but she didn’t quite pass out.” Jay said, his smile showing how proud he was to have Claire as his mate too.
My dad fell back against the pillows, his eyes wide with wonder. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
I laughed. “Yeah, it looks like we do have mates, Dad, but they’re not from our pack.”
“And we all thought it was the end,” my father said, almost to himself.
Claire stood up and began opening the curtain. “I have to check in before my shift tonight, but you guys stay for a bit, if you want. I left my phone and everything in my locker yesterday, so my parents probably think I’m dead.”
She headed off with a smile and I sat down into the chair she’d left.
“It’s been a pretty full on twenty-four hours, Dad.”
“I can imagine.”
Taylor leaned against the wall with a beeping machine mounted upon it. “Yeah, and with the bears attacking last night, we’re not sure what to do with Claire now.”
“What?!” My dad sat bolt upright, then winced and put a hand to his scarred chest.
“Relax, Dad. No one was really hurt, except a couple of the bears.”
But they’d heal like we had, and wouldn’t be feeling it by next week.
“Why would they attack?”
I shrugged and leaned back in the chair. “They said it was to get Claire, though I don’t know what they were going to do with her if we’d have let them in the house. Kidnap her? Kill her?”
I shuddered as prickles of unease worked their way up my spine.
“But how did they even know about her?” Dad asked.
Taylor grunted. “We either have a spy in our mix or they’re watching us and put two and two together. Claire is only the start. Once the other packs begin finding their mates, we’ll have a town again. Children. We’ll be stronger than ever and the bears aren’t going to like that.”
We talked for a while, but eventually I could see that my father was getting tired.
“We’ll come back later, Dad. I’ll bring Mom in, if you want?”
“Yes. I’d like that.”
The nurse returned and started making annoyed noises and looking at us as though we weren’t meant to be there.
“We’re going. Don’t worry.”
“He needs to rest,” she said, checking his suture wounds and tapping at the IV attached to his arm.
“Thanks for looking after him,” I said, giving her a smile.
She softened and gave me half a smile back.
And then we left to find Claire.