Page 18 of Off-Limits to the Grizzly

“Like what?”

He gives me a long, searching look. “She never told you, did she?” Then he takes breath so deep, it feels painful. It’s like he’s drawing up his soul from a dark, dark place. When he starts to talk, his voice is ragged.

“We made her promise not to tell another soul, but with Kayla, you never know… she’s a big cat shifter. A jaguar.”

I literally feel my eyes bulge in their sockets. “A shifter… what?”

He sighs. “I know this is real freaky to hear. But I was thinking maybe you’d heard of shifters because there are so many in this town.”

“I mean, I have. But…” I stare off into space. “I’m sure I would’ve known if my best friend was half jaguar.” It sounds so crazy, I laugh.

He cracks his knuckles. “I’m glad she kept her promise. Although it would’ve made things a little easier now if she hadn’t.”

“We were so close when we were kids,” I murmur, the shock of betrayal burning white hot in my chest.

“My guess is if she didn’t tell you, it was to protect you. When she was little, I wasn’t sure how she was going to turn out, but when she got to around eleven, I could see she was a lot like her mom. Crazy, wild.”

“Sometimes she was so kind. So affectionate,” I mutter. “Other times, she was all claws.”

He nods sagely. “And when she hit puberty, she was totally out of control. As you know, her mom left when she was a baby, and I had no idea how to raise a little wildcat. She started to have these uncontrolled shifts. Tore the place up—”

“The claw marks in the cabin,” I cut in.

“Yup.”

“She told me she’d hand carved them.”

He gives a wry smile. “That was the main reason why I let her have her privacy in the cabin. God knows I love my daughter. I’d do anything for her, but she’s untamable, just like her mom.”

“You… you weren’t with her mom for long?” I ask, and a weird, jealous feeling rises up in me.

Sadness washes over him. “I was young and dumb. I shouldn’t have done it. She wasn’t my mate. I should’ve waited for my mate.”

“Who?”

He gives me a long look. “The one I was supposed to be with.”

As his piercing eyes burn into mine, the thought hits me like a semi-truck. “You’re a shifter, too?”

“Full-blood grizzly.”

I close my eyes. Of course. Everything about him says bear. His big powerful body, his deep, rumbling voice. I feel like I already knew, deep down.

“Wait, Kayla is half jaguar and half bear?”

He shakes his head. “She’s not my biological daughter, but she doesn’t know that. I raised her as my own.”

I’m quiet while I process everything. Kayla abandoned by her mom, then Mr Johnson taking care of his ex’s unmanageable kid all those years.

“Do you know where Kayla went?” I say at last.

“Probably to find her own kind. Maybe she tracked down her mother. She sends me a postcard from time to time, lets me know she’s okay.”

I shake my head. “What does she say?”

He gives a dry laugh. “Nothing at all. Just her pawprint—dunked in ink and pressed on the paper.”

“Sounds like Kayla.”

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