With a startled exclamation, Ragvald lost his footing entirely, falling flat on his face. The sudden lack of tension threw their own team off-balance. The kids went over like bowling pins, scattering in every direction.
Paige was concentrating so hard on dragging Ragvald across the ground that it took her a moment to realize she was the only one still pulling. She stumbled to a halt, the rope dangling from her mouth.
…Wait.
Why was the rope in hermouth?
Paige stood there, blinking in confusion, teeth still clenched on the rope. She’d expected the kids to leap up to celebrate their victory, yet they seemed frozen in place, staring at her.
Conleth broke the stunned silence first. He started to laugh, with his full chest, pounding the ground. As confused murmurs rippled through the watching crowd, he pushed himself up, staggering to her side.
“Well,” he wheezed, bracing a hand against her shoulder. He grinned at her, green eyes alight with pure joy. “That explainseverything.”
Belatedly, Paige spat out the rope. “What does?”
At least, that’s what she’dmeantto say.
It came out as: “Graaaaaaw?”
CHAPTER 41
“Okay,” Estelle said, much later. Lit by the flickering light of the campfire, she looked around at the rest of the pack. “Didanyonesuspect that Paige was a bear shifter?”
As everyone shook their heads, Archie’s bear huffed in bafflement.Wasn’t it obvious?
“My bear knew,” Archie said around a mouthful of buttery, flaky pastry. He passed the Tupperware container on to Beth. “It’s always talked about her as if she was another bear. Only I thought that was just because, you know, it’s a bear. I didn’t realize it meant it literally.”
“But how could Paige not know?” Nancy asked. “I mean, everyone just knows whether they’re a shifter, right?”
“Right,” Estelle agreed. “Even though I can’t shift yet, I can still hear my unicorn.”
“Not everyone’s like that,” Ignatius muttered into his slice of lemon meringue pie. “I’ve only got Rufus’s word for it that my dragon even exists.”
Rufus gave Ignatius a gentle push.
Ignatius rolled his eyes at the griffin shifter’s telepathic comment. “Yes, yes, I know. I just wish it wouldsaysomething.It would be nice not to be second-guessing every stray thought, wondering if it’s actually my own.”
“Maybe Paige’s bear did talk to her,” Finley suggested. “Only she never realized it was her animal. Perhaps she assumed any sudden impulse or inexplicable emotion was just her subconscious.”
Archie picked a fresh box of treats out of the now much-diminished pile, peeling back the lid. “Yeah, I reckon Paige’s bear must have recognized Conleth when they first met. That explains why she was so weird about him right from the start.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Beth said, somewhat defensively. “It’s only natural she was attracted to Uncle Conleth from the moment she first saw him. Heisvery handsome.”
Estelle elbowed her. “You just say that because he’s literally identical to your dad. You’ve got to admit, Archie has a point.”
“Oh, all right.” Letting out a huff, Beth took another pastry. “I suppose it does explain a few things. Though I still can’t believe she was a shifter all along.”
“A repressed shifter,” Finley corrected. “It happens, sometimes. I’ve read about it in books. Sometimes people don’t discover their animal until late in life, around times of heightened stress or change. Perhaps meeting her mate is what brought Paige’s bear out of hibernation.”
Estelle shuddered, icing sugar drifting onto her t-shirt. “I hopeIdon’t have to wait until I meet my mate before I can shift. I’d probably beoldby then. Like, twenty.At least.”
Archie was starting to get kind of achy in the middle, but it seemed a shame to stop now, when he’d tastedalmosteverything Nancy’s mom had left behind.ThisTupperware box turned out to be filled with chocolate-butterscotch-bar-things, which probably had some fancy name, but smelled good anyway. He bit into one, chewing thoughtfully.
“Y’know,” he said, rather stickily. He swallowed before continuing, “what I don’t get is how Paigecanbe a bear shifter.”
“What do you mean?” Hetta asked.
“Well, to be a shifter, you gotta have a shifter parent, right?” He licked melted chocolate off his fingers. “I’m a bear ‘cause of my dad. Only, Paige was born, like, way earlier, so he wasn’therdad. Which means Mom must have dated two different bear shifters without even knowing it. That seems an awful big coincidence.”
