Chapter One – Daniel
“When we get home, can we have hot chocolate?” Teddy slurred from the backseat, his voice heavy with sleep while his eyes somehow managed to sparkle at the prospect. Classic kid contradiction, barely able to keep his head up yet still mustering enthusiasm for the little stuff.
“With marshmallows,” Maisie added.
“And whipped cream.” Teddy licked his lips.
“And chocolate sprinkles,” Maisie sighed.
“And…” Teddy paused.
“And cinnamon,” Daniel supplied, his lips curving into a smile as he glanced in the rearview mirror at his children. Their excitement over hot chocolate was a welcome distraction from the thickening snow outside, the flakes growing heavier as they danced in the headlights.
These ordinary moments, just him and his half-asleep kids planning ridiculously elaborate hot drinks they’d probably fall asleep before finishing, were the ones that stuck with him long after they’d happened.
And we cherish every one, his bear said, his heart filled with love for the two little ones who shared their lives. And ruled their hearts.
“Yes! Cinnamon!” Teddy clapped his hands together in a sudden burst of energy. “It makes it taste like Christmas!”
Daniel chuckled, tightening his grip on the steering wheel as the truck struggled to get a grip on the road. The storm was intensifying faster than the weather report had predicted. What had started as light flurries was quickly becoming a properblizzard. He slowed the vehicle, hyperaware of the precious cargo behind him.
His bear stirred, the primal need to protect their family kicking in.
We’ll be home soon, Daniel reassured his bear, though the visibility was dropping by the minute. The familiar road looked alien under its thickening white blanket.
Daniel clenched his jaw asan odd prickle swept through him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
His bear lifted his head, suddenly alert. There’s something out there. Not danger. No, this was something deeper, older, stirring like a forgotten memory.
Panic gripped Daniel, and he automatically glanced in the rearview mirror, checking that the kids were okay. But whatever it was, whatever he sensed overwhelmed him.
Something shifted deep in his chest, as if a part of him was awakening.
His bear roared loudly in his head. It sounded like nothing he’d ever heard before. It was filled with longing and something else…something Daniel could not name.
Daniel frowned, his nostrils flaring instinctively as he tried to understand what had triggered his animal. There. He felt it now. A presence. A pull. A connection.
And whatever that something…someone…was, it was straight ahead.
“Dad, a princess!” Teddy’s voice broke through his thoughts, filled with excitement.
Daniel squinted through the windshield. There, illuminated by his headlights and the swirling snow, stood a woman in what could only be a wedding dress, waving frantically beside a stalled car. The white of her gown nearly blended with the snow,making her appear ethereal, otherworldly. For a heartbeat, he wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
No. She was real. It was as if the storm had conjured her and placed her directly in his path.
No, fate, his bear said, his excitement now matching Teddy’s. But not because he thought they had found a princess. But because he knew they had found their mate.
Daniel’s breath stalled, disbelief and wonder crashing into him at once. His foot hit the brake before his mind fully processed what was happening. The truck slowed carefully on the slick road as his bear surged forward in his consciousness, rumbling one impossible word over and over.Mate.
Daniel’s breath caught.Can it really be?He’d written off the idea years ago, figuring the universe had other plans for him.
Hell yes!His bear practically bounced around his skull like a kid on a sugar high, all dignity forgotten. The image would’ve made him laugh if he weren’t busy holding himself together.
“Dad, we have to help her!” Maisie pressed her small hands against the window. “We have to save the princess!”
“I will,” he said, his voice rough as he pulled over. “You two stay put.”
His instincts sharpened, turning the world into clear, simple priorities…get her warm, get her safe, don’t startle her.
