It didn’t take him long before he started walking up to us. My mother turned with me in her arms so that she was positioned in between me and the man. But I could see him a little bit better now that she moved. He was tall and slender with long white hair. His light blue eyes were observant and wise. The man also had the aura of a leader or an alpha.

“Is that you, Mary? My, it’s been twenty-five years since I last saw you,” he suddenly said as a greeting. Then his eyes shifted to me, “I see you have become a mother.”

“Marcus,” my mother said coldly to the man, “I’m surprised you remember an old nurse like me.”

“How could I forget the woman I wanted to marry?” he said, to my shock. My mother never married and I thought it was because it was my fault. Most men didn’t want to raise another man’s child. There were a rare few, but most just wanted to accept their own children only.

I fought out of my mother’s arms and left her alone with her former lover. He was probably one of the many she had as a traveling nurse. It wasn’t my business to pry. I only got a few feet away from my mother when the arms of a bear shifter suddenly engulfed me.

“Seriously?” I complained as I tried to push myself out of Luke’s embrace. He let go only to hold me at arm’s length so he could look me over. I felt like I was in my mother’s presence again. I kind of wish they would stop treating me like a delicate flower that needed to be nurtured and protected.

“He didn’t take advantage of you, did he?” Luke suddenly asked. Making me slap him as a response. “What?”

“That is your biggest concern? Really?” I scolded him.

“I just don’t need him claiming what is going to be mine,” Like defended.

I rolled my eyes, “We have had this talk many times, Luke. I’m not going to marry you. You deserve someone who loves you back.”

His brown eyes just looked at me in defeat. It broke my heart and if I wasn’t strong on him finding someone who he deserved, I would have given in. It was so hard to explain to Luke that I could never see him more than a brother. I cared for him deeply, but not enough to marry him. It was probably a hard pill for him to swallow, but eventually he would see my reasoning.

Em suddenly appeared and I was happy to see her. Her presence alone made the awkwardness disappear. Her face had a little soot on it from running through the ashes. Concern shone bright in her eyes as she came and hugged me as well. I was going to be really sick and tired of hugs by the end of the day. I’m probably going to have enough of any kind of affection for the next few years.

The only thing I was grateful for was that Em didn’t hug me as long as everyone else did. She quickly let go and then held me out at arms length, “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, “I’m fine, Em.”

Relief washed over her. I’m sure her biggest fear was to lose someone else to the natural disasters. Just seeing me in front of her must have been a huge relief to her, since I was like a sibling to her. I’m just happy that my mere existence was enough to keep her happy as well. Em didn’t have much left after she lost her parents. My mom and I were all she had left.

Em’s eyes shifted to my mother in the distance. She noticed the intense talk she was having and got curious, “Who is your mom talking to?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I have no idea. I guess some guy from back when she was a traveling nurse.”

We watched from a safe distance as my mother continued her conversation with the Blizzard Region citizens. We could only guess what they were talking about, but our conversation was quickly interrupted. Luke had come by us and stood in front of us in a protective manner. Confused, I tried to see why he suddenly acted the way he did. Trent had walked up to us and held an annoyed look on his face.

“I just want to talk to Luna about something. You don’t need to protect her from me,” Trent said, annoyed. Luke didn’t move a muscle or look away from him.

“Luke, knock it off,” I scolded him. But my words might as well have landed on deaf ears. In all honesty, it was kind of getting annoying to see how he was reacting. There really was no reason for his behavior. I ended up pushing him out of the way to give Trent my attention, “What do you need, Trent?”

He gave me a small smile, “Can we talk in private? I’m afraid that what I need to talk to you about will have a bear charge after me.”

Trent glared at Luke and he returned the glance. Em looked between the two shifters, trying to figure out what was all going on. It was obvious to see what was going on, but it was hard to believe. Trent had never shown interest in anyone other than his deceased wife. This was so out of character for him. But then a part of me tried to reason, saying that he was just being nice and trying to see if I was okay. Maybe it was to explain the mechanical heart I saw.

I let Trent take me somewhere and Em had to make sure Luke kept his distance. It was kind of comical to see a small woman trying to hold back a bear shifter. Especially one that was being as possessive as Luke was being. I owe her for her help today. But I also know that she didn’t mind being left alone with Luke. He was completely blind to the feelings that Em obviously had for him, only because he just wanted to protect me. I hoped me being away from them would make it clear to him that there was a better option than me.

We walked a good distance away from everyone and the further we got, the more Trent looked nervous. His actions were making me wonder what was going on in his mind. This was so out of character. Trent kept to himself and only showed himself when there was a disaster. Other than that, he stays in the shadows, away from everyone. But my curiosity had me keep following him until he felt we were at a safe distance away from everyone.

Turning towards me, he gave me a small smile, “That bear shifter has it bad for you, doesn’t he?”

Rolling my eyes, “I don’t know why. I’ve rejected him multiple times but he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Trent let out a small chuckle, “That’s a relief.”

I looked at him with curious eyes. What was that supposed to mean? Being in a region where marriage isn’t thought about until you’re twenty-five, I didn’t have much experience with dating. My mother made sure I was trained in the medical field so that I could take over for her if anything happened to her. So to have Trent to act the way he did, confused me.

Getting serious, he looked at me, “Luna, did you know that I’ve only been attracted to two women in this region? My wife is one. The other was too young for marriage after my wife died. I didn’t want to participate in the marriage selections until the other woman was old enough for marriage.”

Nodding, I let his words sink in. That made sense to me and I’m sure whoever he had eyes on would be thrilled to know that he was picking them to be his wife. But I never thought it would ever be me. Growing up, I learned that I was the least desired woman in our region. I didn’t look like all of the other girls, just the opposite really.

“The woman I love is a descendant of a strong line of wolf shifters,” he continued, “I find that appealing, but I don’t think she is aware of her history.”

“I didn’t realize that there were other wolf shifters in our region,” I told him.

He let out a small chuckle, “I’m talking about you, Luna. Your father is a wolf shifter and he is in the region right now.”