“Can I try one?” Percy asked, practically vibrating with excitement.
“First, let’s check if they’re ripe,” Kirk said, showing Percy how to gently tug at a berry. “If it comes off easily, it’s ready to eat. If you have to pull hard, leave it to ripen more.”
Percy tested a berry, and his face brightened when it came away easily in his fingers. He popped it into his mouth, and delight spread across his face.
“Mom! Mom, you have to try these!” he called, waving Isla over urgently. “They taste like... like blueberry but with extra blue!”
Isla laughed, kneeling beside Percy. “Extra blue, huh? That’s quite a flavor.”
She accepted a berry from Percy’s outstretched palm and tasted it, her eyes widening slightly. “Wow. You’re right. These are incredible.”
Kirk watched them together, mother and son kneeling in a patch of sunlight, heads bent close as they picked berries. Something fierce and protective rose in him so suddenly that he had to steady his breathing. Filtered sunlight caught in Isla’s hair, while Percy’s small hands carefully chose the ripest berries for their basket.
They look right here,his bear murmured.Like they belong.
That’s the problem,Kirk thought as the realization hit him with unexpected force. He didn’t just want Isla and Percy to enjoy this afternoon in his forest or appreciate the wild treasures he was showing them.
He wanted them to stay. To belong here, with him, permanently.
The force of that feeling terrified him—not just because they’d only just met, but because it meant risking rejection. Of offering his heart, his home, his world… and having it turned away.
But it was already too late for caution. Isla was his mate. There would never be another. So he would have to risk it all.
All for love,his bear said.
“What else can we find?” Percy asked, looking up at Kirk with absolute trust.
“So much more,” Kirk promised, his voice slightly rough with emotion. “The forest has endless treasures if you know where to look.”
And apparently, so did his heart. Until Isla and Percy, he hadn’t known what it had been waiting for.
Chapter Nine – Isla
Their baskets were already nearly full with wild mint, berries, and golden mushrooms tucked carefully among the leaves.
As they tramped through the forest, Isla felt as if she were breathing freely for the first time in a long while.
Maybe it was the fresh air, rich with pine resin, or the birdsong overhead. Or maybe it was Kirk. There was something deeply calming about him.
He moved with such easy confidence through the forest as though he belonged to it. He knew exactly where to step, which branches to hold aside, which path to take through the dense undergrowth. There was no hesitation in his movements, no second-guessing. And she envied him that.
“Look at this one, Percy,” Kirk said, crouching down beside a cluster of mushrooms growing at the base of a massive pine. “See how it has these little white spots? That means we leave it alone.”
Percy kneeled beside him, his small face serious as he studied the mushroom. “Is it poison?”
“It is,” Kirk confirmed, not sugar-coating the truth but not making it scary either. “Some of the most beautiful things in the forest can be dangerous. That’s why we need to learn which ones are safe before we touch them.”
Isla hung back a few paces, watching the way they interacted. Kirk never talked down to Percy or simplified things unnecessarily. He spoke to her son as though he were fully capable of understanding—because Percy was. Too few adults ever seemed to realize that.
“How do you know which ones are safe?” Percy asked, tilting his head to examine the mushroom from another angle without touching it.
“That’s a great question,” Kirk replied. “There are several ways. Some mushrooms have lookalikes that can make you sick, so you need to check multiple features: the gills underneath, the stem, and the cap shape. But the safest way is to learn from someone who already knows.”
“Like you,” Percy said, beaming up at Kirk.
“Like me,” Kirk agreed with a smile. “And someday, you’ll know enough to teach someone else.”
Someday. But they were only here for two weeks.Not long enough, the thought came unbidden.
