The other kids exchanged glances.
“Archie,” Beth said slowly. “I don’t think you got your bear from your dad.”
Mom shook her head in vehement denial. “No. That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” Paige held her mom’s gaze, not backing down. “You said yourself that you don’t remember what happened that night with Archie’s dad. Are you surehewas the one who turned into a bear?”
Mom looked away first, watching the figures gathered around the bonfire. This late in the evening, most of the parents had already set off for home, but a few guests still lingered behind, eking out a last few moments with their kids. She let out a long sigh, shoulders dropping.
“When I was little, my foster parents said I had a demon inside me,” Mom said softly. Firelight caught in her eyes, shining in the dark. “They tried to drive it out of me. By the time I met your father, I’d learned to repress so much, I barely knew who I was as a person. I thought that was what love meant. Makingyourself small enough to fit someone else’s idea of who you should be.”
Paige reached out, taking her mom’s hand. “You’ve never really talked about what happened with my father. Why he left.”
“I couldn’t tell you the full truth when you were little. And as you grew up, you stopped asking. I was grateful, because I didn’t want to relive that time of my life.” Her mom smiled a little; thin and ironic. “I seem to have a pattern of trying not to remember things.”
“I know my father wasn’t a good person. But you found the strength to leave him.”
“You gave me the strength, Paige.” Mom’s fingers tightened on hers. “I was used to him getting angry with me. I’d learned to appease him. But you were just a baby. One day, you were crying and crying, and I could see him getting angrier and angrier, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get you to be quiet. First, he shouted at me, and I accepted that because it was normal. But then he turned around to shout atyou—and I saw red.”
“So for the first time, you stood up to him?”
“I think I did more than that,” her mom admitted. “Iliterallysaw red. And then black. When I came back to myself, you were giggling in your crib, but the rest of the furniture was in pieces. And he was cowering in a corner, screaming that I was a monster. I knew I’d done something terrible, but I didn’t know what. I just grabbed you and my purse, and ran.”
No wonder Mom had tried to repress her animal side. “As I understand it, shifters often transform for the first time due to stress. And even later, they can instinctively shift in moments of fear or anger.”
It was hard to tell in the twilight, but she thought a faint pink flush crept over her mom’s cheeks. “The last time I saw Archie’s dad, I…wasn’t angry, though.”
“Other emotions can trigger a shift too,” Paige said. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”
Her mom closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. “I ran because I didn’t want to hurt him. And I couldn’t bear the thought of him calling me a monster, too. So I ghosted him before he could reject me. Even though it felt like ripping out my own heart.”
Paige suspected there was a reason for that, but it wasn’t something to raise now. Her mother had already had enough shocks for one day.
“You aren’t a monster, Mom,” she said gently. “No more than Archie is. Or me.”
“I know.” Her mom let out a rather wry breath. “But it’s hard to convince my heart of that. It may take a bit more than a game of tug-of-war.”
Paige smiled at her mom. “It seems we’ve both got a lot to learn about ourselves.”
“Maybe we can learn together.” With a final squeeze, her mom released her hand, pulling away. “I should get moving. The taxi will be here any moment.”
“It won’t go without you. And don’t worry about your motel, I’ve already arranged to extend your stay.”
Well, technically Conleth had sorted that out, after she’d talked him down from booking her mom an entire house complete with a private chef and limo service. Paige was just glad she’d managed to convince her mom to stay the rest of the summer, rather than heading back home as planned.
“I’ve still got to work, but I’ll make time to see you as much as I can,” she continued. “And I want to introduce you to some friends of mine, Buck and Honey. Their situation isn’t quite the same as yours, but they know what it’s like to suddenly have an animal in your head. You should talk to Zephyr, too. He isn’texactly a typical shifter either. I think he could help you get back in touch with your bear.”
“Hmm,” her mom said, which wasn’tpreciselyagreement, but at least wasn’t a flat-out refusal, either. She glanced across the square. “That man of yours seems to be heading this way. My cue to leave, I think.”
Paige’s heart sank a little. “Mom, I know it’s going to take you time to process your feelings about shifters. But Conleth’s my mate, and?—”
“Oh, not because he’s a shifter,” her mom interrupted, getting to her feet. She winked at her. “But I suspect you two are going to be processing your feelings rather extensively in the near future. Just try to get some sleep tonight, all right?”
Paige was certainly looking forward to some private time with her mate, but it seemed she wasn’t going to get it just yet. As her mom headed off, Conleth strolled up—alas, not alone.
“Ah, Paige, there you are,” Conleth said. His manner was business-like, but he had a wicked gleam in his eye. “Lord Golden, allow me to present Ignatius’s other counselor, Paige Brown. I don’t believe you’ve had the chance to meet her before now.”
Paige repressed the urge to shoot her mate a dirty look. From everything she’d heard about Lord Golden, a handshake seemed unlikely to go down well, so she dipped her head in a kind of awkward bow instead.
