A wave of emotion hit me. They'd all come to find me.
No... To findus.
20
Bear
A slewof shifters ran towards us, consisting of animal species I'd never seen travelling together. Ashe's family. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I doubted I'd believe it.
They were strangers to me, yet there was something already familiar about them. Maybe Ashe's fondness for his family rubbed off on me.
I rubbed my arm, feeling a prickle of anxiety. My instinct was to shift into my safer form—my bear—but I stopped myself. No more hiding who I was.
Someone poked me from behind.
I turned around to see Starry in her human form. She grinned and hugged me.
"Starry! You snuck up on me."
She poked out her tongue. "Sorry. Everyone else came that way—" She pointed to the rest of the family group coming from the opposite direction. "So I wanted to be original."
I grinned back. It was so good to see her.
I heard a loudthumpfrom behind me. I turned to see the fox and black wolf shifter change forms, then slam into Ashe in a massive hug.
"Quinn? Zak? What are you guys doing here?" Ashe squeaked as they squeezed the air out of him.
The slender one with fox-red hair, presumably Quinn, replied, "Looking for you, obviously."
"Where the actual fuck have you been, dude?" the black-haired one asked. I assumed he was Zak.
"Didn't Starry tell you?" Ashe asked.
Starry rolled her eyes. "I told him you were out with your fated mate, but he didn't believe me."
Ashe's face turned red.
"Yeah, and it sounded like a bunch of crap," Zak said. "I mean, Ashe of all people? I figured you were off brooding in the woods somewhere."
Zak seemed to notice me for the first time. He blinked, then looked me up and down. "Uh, by the way, who's this guy?"
Starry marched over to Zak and elbowed him gently. "I told you so."
His jaw fell open. "Wait, this guy is Ashe's—"
Ashe pried himself out of his cousins' arms and came to my side, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Bear, why don't you introduce yourself?"
I scanned the line of curious faces. Aside from Zak and Quinn, there was an older couple, an alpha and omega. Their resemblance to Ashe was uncanny. No doubt they were his parents.
Beside the people I didn't know stood Starry, who smiled and nodded at me encouragingly.
I swallowed back my nerves. Time to make a good first impression.
"Hello," I signed. "My name is Bear. I'm Ashe's mate."
Ashe, who was watching my hands intently, raised a brow. "You forgot a word, silly."
I blushed and corrected it. "Fated mate."
