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“How long will she be like that? I’m freezing my nuts off.”

I snorted. “Liar. Shifters don’t feel temps like others do.”

I, on the other hand, felt like my tits had turned into blocks of ice.

Soren scooted closer to me. When I gave him the side-eye, he slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me over, so the sides of our bodies pressed together. “I can hear your teeth chattering from six feet away.”

Soren’s body was several degrees warmer than mine. Shifters always felt toasty. Ever since I got hit with all that weird magic, I hadn’t been able to control my body temperature very well, so his heat was welcome.

I sighed and laid my head on his shoulder. Soren’s hand tightened.

Once upon a time, we could have been something. And then the idiot screwed it all up. But I never hated him. How could I?

Soren was terribly likable.

Evie stirred. “There’s a blank spot about twenty miles away from here.”

Rowan’s eyes began to glow. “Where?”

“Got a map?”

We hurried back into the house. Rowan unrolled a map onto the table. Evie hunched over and peered down, moving her finger around until she landed on the spot.

Rowan frowned. “My shifters don’t go out that way too often. The weather is too unpredictable at that elevation.”

Soren was looking at something on his phone. “There’s a cabin listing. Booked for the next three weeks.”

I looked at the listing. Remote, rustic, and no people anywhere around.

Perfect for my mother.

“That has to be it.” A feeling burned in my gut. She was there. I knew it.

“Tomorrow, then?” Soren asked.

“Tomorrow,” I agreed.

Rowan was still staring at the map. “I’m going to pull in some of my people who’ve gone out that way. It’s better than going in blind.”

“Go on over to the cottage,” Evie said. “Rowan will be over in a little while.”

I led Soren over and showed him to his room, watching as he went inside and tested the spring of the bed with his palm.

“No girls,” I teased. “We’re sharing a place now.”

Was that a flicker of hurt in his eyes? “And here I was thinking about calling my harem to catch up.” The words were light but there was something in his tone.

He sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “I’ll never be ready for her,” I admitted.

Soren patted the place beside him. “Come on. I won’t bite.”

I snorted. “If you do, I’ll bite you back and it will be way less fun.”

“Promises, promises,” Soren drawled.

I hopped onto the bed beside him, feeling surprisingly at ease. We’d left things between us a little weird, but now it was like that never happened. We were almost back to where we were before it had all gone so wrong, and I wasn’t sure how that had happened so quickly.