Her memories of being pulled out of the snow were too fuzzy for her to make sense of right now. She’d just assumed Max musthave carried her back to the road and had been able to flag down a passing car, being driven by Margot and Levi.
But now that I think about it…
She hadnomemory of being in a car. Perhaps it was just because she’d been pretty out of it, but it wasn’t like she’d been completely unconscious. Frowning, Poppy did her best to remember.
I was buried by coldness. Dark, crushing coldness. But then Max pulled me out and lifted me up. And then…
And then, she had only the impression of distant voices, before… before…
Cold, clear air rushing past my face. Being pressed against Max’s chest. And when I managed to open my eyes…
There had only been the clear blue sky of the post-snow morning, a feeling of swaying, and…
“Okay, sorry,” she said, holding up her hands. “But howexactlydid I get here again?”
Margot and Levi exchanged a glance.
“I flew you,” Levi said after a moment. “I’m a chimera shifter. It’s kind of like a winged lion. Ordinarily I wouldn’t shift during the day where someone might see, but we thought it was urgent enough to get you to the clinic that I decided to risk it.”
Haha. Okay,Poppy thought, staring at him. Well, maybe she should just humor them for now until she could get out of here. She wanted to leave, but her legs felt a little shaky – and the last thing she wanted was to have them go out from underneath her in the corridor, and then have to spend evenmoretime getting checked out.
I want to get back to Max, and ask him why he left me here with these two…
“Okay,” she said, deciding to settle in for the role of a lifetime. “What about mates – what are those? And don’t try to weasel your way out of telling me. I want to know.”
Margot looked sheepish. “Every shifter has a mate – a person who they’re meant to be with.”
“We can live just fine without them and love other people,” Levi added, “but if a shifter does find their mate, it’s – well, it’s life-changing.”
“And you know it as soon as you meet,” Margot broke in, obviously warming to her topic. “Even if you don’tknowit’s a mate bond, youdoknow it’s an instant connection – you just feel…safewith them. Like you’ve known them all your life, even if you only just met. You justknowyou were meant to spend the rest of your life with them.”
There was a twinge in Poppy’s chest.
Well… thatishow I felt about Max…
It was uncharacteristic of her to feel so strongly about someone so quickly. She’d been so busy working to build a life and a career for herself that she really hadn’t thought much about dating anyway, but even then, it had always taken her a long time to get to know people. She liked to take her time.
But with Max, the connection had been instant.
But that doesn’t mean anything, aside from the fact that Max is just an extra special guy!she told herself fiercely.Being attracted to a hot, smart, sexy man doesnotmean I have to start believing in shapeshifters!
Even as she thought it, she knew her feelings for Max wentwaypast simply being attracted to him.
But still, that’s not the point!
“So… you’re a shifter, too?” she asked Margot. She was feeling better by the minute – or at least, her urgency to see Max was increasing. If she could just play along for a little longer, she could get up and head out, and go back to the B&B and subject him to Twenty Questions.
“What? Me?” Margot’s green eyes widened, before she laughed. “Don’t be silly! I’m a witch!”
Poppy tuckedthatparticular piece of information away for later. Right now, she had room in her head for one insane concept at a time.
She rubbed at her eyes. It couldn’t be true, of course, but Margot seemed completely unaffected as she said it. “So you’re a – a witch, and Levi is a shifter, but you’re both mates? Even though you’re not a shifter?”
Levi nodded. “It’s unusual for a shifter’s mate to be human, but not impossible.”
“There’s a whole lot of us just in Girdwood Springs,” Margot added cheerily. “The odds of it happening are almost inconceivably small, but, well, here we are!”
Unusual… but not impossible.
