Bearliest Catch (15 page)

And what a great life it was going to be.

At some point in the long, miraculous night,
Andrew turned to her, stroking her skin in the soft moonlight. His
eyes sparkled with the love they’d finally expressed in words as
well as in deeds.

“I’m going to call my folks soon. Maybe later
today. Do you think you’re ready to meet them? I don’t want to
pressure you, but I want us to be official. I want everyone to know
we belong to each other.”

She could have wept at that moment, with
utter happiness, but held it together. “I’d like that. And I’ll
call mine too. I’m sure they’ll want to celebrate with us. My dad
might give you the once-over though. He’s very protective,” she
warned him.

Andrew laughed, and she could feel the joy
spreading from his soul to hers. He hugged her close and rubbed
circles on her back.

“You know…” His tone had turned
contemplative. “My mother might’ve saved my life and fought for my
soul, but you’re the one who brought me all the way back.” His
whispered words touched her heart. “I went out on the water day
after day, searching for peace. Looking for something I couldn’t
find on shore, or within myself. I think…” He paused, seeming to
struggle for words. “I think I was looking for you.”

Jetty woke just as dawn kissed the sky. She
felt glorious. Her mate was with her, and she wanted to greet the
day with all the joy that was inside her. She wanted to do
something special for Andrew. He’d been so good to her, doing all
the cooking and taking care of her so wonderfully.

Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, she went
downstairs and started making coffee. She was about to check the
fridge to see what she could throw together for breakfast when she
glanced out the back window at the waters of the cove, and
stilled.

Was that…?

She opened the back door, walking barefoot
down the path toward the water. Squinting in the pale light of dawn
she looked closely at the dock and realized there were at least ten
mer in various stages of shift, standing and seated on the dock all
around Andrew’s boat.

Jetty started to jog toward the dock as she
realized her people had come to Grizzly Cove.

Drew picked up the phone and speed dialed the
mayor. John was going to have to intervene to make sure no passing
humans saw what was going on in the waters of the cove this fine
morning.

John patched Brody into the call, and they
decided to close off the road into and out of town for the time
being. Brody dispatched Zak and Peter to man the roadblocks while
he took the task of gathering whatever loose clothing could be
found on short notice and brought down to the beach for the
emerging mer to wear.

Drew hung up, letting John and Brody work
through the logistics of clothing all the water shifters who had no
possessions of their own here in town. Finding places for them to
stay was something John had asked Drew to check on, since the main
contingent seemed to be gathering on his dock at the moment. Drew
would act as spokesman, while the rest of the team got things
ready.

Drew walked down to the dock, his hands full
of spare clothing. He had emptied his closet and drawers of robes,
shirts, and athletic pants and shorts that might possibly fit some
of the mer. As a shifter, he knew what it was like to come out of a
shift and find oneself with nothing to wear. While nudity wasn’t
that big a deal among shifters, it also wasn’t something they
engaged in where humans might possibly see.

And it was too late, he thought, to change
the town mission from
artist
colony to
nudist
colony.
Although, upon reflection, the latter would’ve been easier all the
way around.

He tried not to chuckle as he approached the
dock. Jetty was deep in conversation with an older woman who had
not yet shifted, but sat on the edge of the platform, her golden
tail swishing lazily in the water.

“I brought some clothes,” Drew offered,
depositing the pile of fabric, except for one robe, on the end of
the dock.

He left it there for anyone who wanted it and
strode farther down the wood walkway to Jetty. He could feel all
eyes on him as he made his way forward.

Jetty turned and looked up at him from where
she was crouching next to the seated woman. Her smile almost made
him stumble, but he held it together. Still, that easy, intimate
grin warmed his heart. Having a mate was a truly wonderful thing,
he realized. It was so much more than he had ever expected. So much
deeper and fulfilling.

“Andrew, this is Nansee, the leader of our
pod,” Jetty introduced him as he approached.

“Ma’am.” Drew nodded to the woman, doing his
best to be both cautious and polite.

This first contact with the leader of the mer
should’ve been John’s job. Drew didn’t want to say something wrong
and mess up the political side of things.

Jetty stood and took the robe. She turned and
held it out for the older woman. Drew tried not to stare as the
blonde woman’s tail disappeared, along with the luminescent scales
that covered her from her face down, disguising her more
human…female…attributes. As soon as she had two legs again, she
stood and slipped into the robe Jetty held for her, then turned to
face Drew.

“Nice to meet you,” Nansee said, holding out
a hand for him to shake. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Marla and
Janice. Thank you for assisting their hunting party.”

“It was my honor, ma’am,” he replied
quietly.

“Jetty tells me you two have formed
an…attachment.” Nansee seemed to be testing him, if that sidelong
look was anything to go by.

This was it then. Time to fish or cut bait.
Drew had never stepped back from a challenge in his life and he
wasn’t about to start now.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re mates.” He heard the
strength in his voice, and he was well aware that all activity on
the dock had come to a sudden standstill. Everybody was listening
in. Great.

“You sound so sure,” was Nansee’s rather
vague comment.

“That’s because I’ve never been surer of
anything in my life, ma’am. Jetty is my mate, and my bear side knew
it almost from the first moment I laid eyes on her. Or don’t you
mer folk know your mates as quickly as we bears?”

He wasn’t afraid to challenge the leader of
the mer, just to let her know that he wouldn’t be easily
intimidated or pushed around. If Nansee thought she’d be able to
come in and lord it over the bears of Grizzly Cove, best she learn
right here and now that she had another think coming.

She eyed him for a moment longer, then smiled
and seemed to relax. Some kind of silent assessment had just
happened, and he suspected he’d passed some sort of test, but it
was very different than the more blatant dominance challenges among
bears. It was going to take some doing to understand the ways of
these sea dwellers, but Drew looked forward to a lifetime spent
with Jetty figuring it out.

“We often know within days,” Nansee answered.
“Even I had heard about Jetty’s fascination with a certain fishing
boat, and her captain. I’m glad to see her instincts led her to
you, and that, in turn, has led to a safe harbor for our people.
The Mother of Oceans works in mysterious ways.”

“Indeed,” Drew agreed. Reminded of the
greater issue, he remembered what he’d come down here to say. “I
spoke to the Alpha and our police chief on the way down here.
They’re organizing efforts downtown. Clothing, food, shelter and
the like. They’ve even closed down the road leading in and out of
town so no humans will see your people rising from the water except
those who live here with their mates. There are three human women
in town right now.”

“Ah, yes. The famous bakery owners,” Nansee
said, smiling.

“That would be them,” Drew agreed. “I believe
they’re making up sandwiches for everyone as we speak.”

“That would be most welcome. I’m afraid we’ll
have to rely on your charity until we establish our land
connections here. Banking, supplies and so forth. But we’re not
without resources, and we’re willing to pay our way, once we get a
little better organized.”

“Not to worry,” Drew said politely. “We know
what’s out in the sea, and we won’t send any being who serves the
Light out there. Not now. Not ‘til it’s safe again. But you should
talk to the Alpha. Big John is organizing the logistics, and he has
a team of folks working on this.”

“All right.” Nansee sighed lightly.

She really was a very attractive woman, if a
bit older. There was something very calm about her, and Drew could
see why she led the group. She was solid. He found himself liking
her.

“I can see you want me to head for the town,”
Nansee went on. “I just wanted to stop here first and see Jetty.
And meet you, of course. I wanted to see for myself if the reports
were true.” Her eyes twinkled when she looked from him to Jetty and
back again. “Congratulations to you both. I expect there will be a
party at some point.”

“That’s a solid bet.” Drew laughed as he
spoke, relaxing finally. “But I suspect we should get your folks
settled a bit more first before we raise a ruckus.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve done this sort of thing
before,” Nansee said with confidence. “Every time we come ashore,
we need a little time to gather our resources, but you’ll see. We
can live on land too. Or beneath the waters of the cove.
Whichever.” She shrugged and smiled.

Drew wasn’t sure what was going to happen,
but this woman seemed both capable and reassuring. He got the
feeling she wasn’t boasting.

Grizzly Cove was about to change again. What
had started as a community of bears was becoming something much
bigger than they’d imagined. Whether or not this was a temporary
situation, or the town continued to grow was still up in the air.
Drew wasn’t sure what he wanted…except for one thing.

He put his arm around Jetty’s waist and
tugged her close. His heart lightened when she came to him
willingly in front of her leader and the other mer still gathered
on the dock.

As long as he had his mate by his side, he
could take whatever came their way and make the best of it. With
Jetty in his life, things looked brighter than they had in a very
long time.

He turned to her, nuzzling her nose with his,
not caring who was watching. She giggled, and her hands went around
his shoulders.

“What do you want, Jet? Will you be one of
those living underwater?” he teased her.

They hadn’t yet talked about where she’d
live, but he knew her heart. If she felt the same depth of feeling
he did—and he was reasonably sure by now that she did—she would
stay with him. And since he couldn’t breathe water…

“What do you think?” she teased right back,
smiling up at him.

“I think that as long as we’re together,
nothing else really matters.” Oh, he knew they’d both be fighting
the good fight against the leviathan and its minions, if necessary,
but it all boiled down to that single sentiment. Together, they
could face anything.

“Good answer.” Nansee’s voice came to him as
if from afar. He looked to the side to find the older woman
watching them with an indulgent expression on her face. She was
smiling, which he took as a good sign. “You know, she doesn’t have
to live underwater with us. Land or sea, a mate’s place is with
their mate. We won’t hold your landlocked state against you, bear.
Promise.”

At this, all the mer started to laugh, their
musical voices filling the shore with a joyful sound, mirroring the
joy in his heart. His mer had changed him. She’d brought happiness
to a lost soul and healed the broken places within him, when he
thought nothing would ever be able to fix him completely.

Nansee would still have to talk to John, of
course, but Drew was happy to leave the politics to the leadership.
They’d figure things out. Drew would help in whatever way he could,
and he knew Jetty’s warrior spirit would keep her in the thick of
things too. He liked that. They could work together, live
together…just
be
together.

“I love you, my pearl,” he whispered for her
ears alone, right before he swooped in to steal a kiss while the
mer cheered…

Nansee and her top people held a series of
meetings with John and the town council. Drew was part of the
council, and Jetty came along with him to the meetings as
representative of her hunting party, since Sirena was still laid up
at the doc’s.

The entire pod had come to the cove, most
staying beneath the water, setting up places to live out of the way
of casual observers. A few were laying out buoys to mark off safe
paths for boat traffic. Drew had worked with Jetty and the mer
assigned to the task, since he had a vested interest in knowing
where it was safe to steer his boat in the now-densely-inhabited
waters of the cove.

When the mer set to work, things started
happening fast. Nansee had sent a group to Seattle in a borrowed
vehicle, with John’s approval. They came back loaded down with bags
and bags of clothing and all sorts of business contacts.

Within a day of their return, a small branch
office of a big national bank had opened in a disused corner of one
of the art galleries, complete with an ATM. Construction plans for
a larger permanent bank building were being fast-tracked, and the
land had already been set aside. They’d signed a lease for a term
of years, renewable subject to the agreement of both parties.

Grizzly Cove was not only getting a
shifter-run bank, but another of the mer was making plans to open a
small beachfront hotel that could accommodate the occasional paying
guest—human or otherwise—as well as any water-dwelling mer who
wanted to spend the night on land once in a while. They were
including plans for private swim-up access, as well as special
rooms on small piers, designed especially for mer
sensibilities.