The truth of the matter was, short of having been kidnaped by someone whowasn’talso himself in a different form, there really wasn’t any kind of justification for that. Could he claim car troubles? Could heactuallysay he’d really been kidnapped?!
“I’m waiting,” the baker said, raising an eyebrow.
But… if there’s a chance she knows about unicorns, then maybe…Kieran thought – and in that moment, he really was desperate enough to risk revealing the existence of shifters to someone who might not know about them, just to secure her help in trying to win Natasha back.
“Uh – well, you see, the thing is –” he began, not exactly sure where the sentence would take him, when he was interrupted by the sound of the back door of the bakery slamming open, followed quickly by the appearance of a tall man by the baker’s side.
“Sylvie?” he said, cocking his head at Kieran and narrowing his eyes as if sizing him up. “Everything all right?”
“Uh… yes? I thought so?” the baker – apparently the Sylvie from the sign out front – said. She glanced up at the man, frowning. “But maybeyoudon’t think so?”
It’s this man – he’s the unicorn!
The knowledge washed suddenly over Kieran’s brain. He couldn’t always tell what kind of animal other shifters turned into, but with mythical shifters, they usually had an aura of magic around them – and that magic aura was enough to tell him that this guy wasdefinitelya unicorn.
And – perhaps even more importantly – that the baker Sylvie was his mate.
If they’re mates, then I can be pretty sure she knows all about shifters,Kieran thought, his knees going weak with relief.I can just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
“You’re – you’re a unicorn,” he blurted out, his overwhelming relief getting the better of his control over his mouth. “So you’ll understand what I’m saying!”
The man – theunicorn– narrowed his eyes a little. “And you’re a griffin – I’ve never sensed you around town before. I was… surprised, I guess. That was why I came running in here. I guess I’m used to only ever sensing Caleb around town. He’s our resident dragon, by the way.”
A unicornanda dragon?!Kieran had to admit he was feeling a little dizzy with the revelation. He hadn’t sensed either of them around – but then, he’d barely spent any time at all actually in Girdwood Springs.
“You have to help me,” he said, leaning forward and gripping the bench. “I accidentally stood my mate up for a date, and I need to find a way to apologize for it. I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen – it’s my griffin. It’s like I’ve lost all control over it. It just shifts whenever it wants to, and all I can do is wait it out until it decides to let me go back to human form. That was what happened this afternoon, so I couldn’t go meet Natasha at the diner, for obvious reasons. And then –”
“Wait, wait, slow down,” Sylvie said, holding her hands up. “One thing at a time. First of all, Natasha is yourmate?”
“Yes,” Kieran said miserably. He realized now he’d been babblingwaytoo fast, and hadn’t explained himself properly at all. “Only I haven’t had the chance to tell her yet – or even to tell her that I’m a shifter.”
“And… you say your griffin has been going haywire?” the man asked, exchanging a glance with Sylvie. “I can relate to that.”
“You can?” Kieran asked, as hope bloomed in his heart thatsomeonemight finally know what was going on with him.
“Yeah.” The man nodded. “It happened to me a couple of years ago – notquitethe same thing, but similar. My unicorn’s powers suddenly started going wild – I couldn’t touch anything made of wood without it bursting into flower. Even doors that hadn’t been trees for decades, painted and varnished… they’d start growing leaves and flowers like they were still in the middle of the woods. I couldn’t do anything about it but just try not to touch anything wooden. Made my life difficult for a while, I can tell you.”
Kieran leaned forward, hoping he wasn’t beingtoointense. “But you eventually found a solution?”
“You could say that.” The man smiled, before looking down at Sylvie, a look of utter adoration in his eyes. “I found my mate.”
Kieran leaned back, swallowing. Disappointment rose within him. “I found my mate too,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem to have made any difference to my griffin.”
“But you said you hadn’ttoldher she was your mate yet,” Sylvie pointed out. “Gale’s unicorn powers didn’t settle down until he’d confessed everything to me. So perhaps that’s what you need to do with Natasha?”
Kieran looked down, sighing. “I guess I already knew that – and believe me, it was my intention to tell her everything as soon as I could, and not just to get my griffin under control… if that’s what really will help it. She has a right to know, of course, and I wanted to tell her. I just worry I may have blown it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say she washappywhen she came to see me this afternoon,” Sylvie said, in what Kieran supposed was the best way to put it diplomatically. “But I know Natasha, and although she puts up a hard front, she’s not heartless. If you went to her with a real apology and told her the truth –allthe truth – I think she’d at least hear you out.”
Hope sparked in Kieran’s heart. “Do you really think so?”
“Well, let’s just say I think these are some pretty exceptional circumstances, don’t you?” Sylvie said, with a quick wink. “Hey, it’s not every day a guy comes along and tells you he’s a mythical creature and you’re his fated mate, destined to be together for all eternity. I can tell you from experience, that kind of thing can really turn a girl’s head.”
Kieran couldn’t help but join in with the quick laugh she gave, though he still had his misgivings. “Do you think she’s the kind of person who’d… well, who’dlikefinding out they’re a griffin’s fated mate? It seems perfectly normal to me, but to a human…”
“I can’t speak for Natasha, of course,” Sylvie said after a pause. “But I can definitely tell you that in my case, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Well, top three, anyway.”
“Stop, you’ll make my head swell,” Gale laughed, putting his arm around Sylvie’s shoulder. “And from my side – well, I can definitely say no matter how nerve-racking having to explain everything to Sylvie was, it wasdefinitelyworth it. I don’t even remember feeling scared to do it now. All I remember is the look on Sylvie’s face the first time she saw me shift into a unicorn. That was priceless.”
