Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“Thank you!” I kiss her cheek and she boosts me up. I climb through the window and stop before leaping out. “You’re the best sister ever.”
She shakes her head, but there’s a smile on her face. “And you’re the craziest sister ever.”
I blow her a kiss and then leap down. My beautiful satin slingback pointed-toe pumps land in cold wet slush.
Frigid January wind slams into my bare arms as I hit the unlock button on Cynthia’s key.
Her little mint green car lights up and I grin when I spot it.
A few minutes later, I’m blasting the heat, blasting the radio, and singing at the top of my lungs while I barrel down the highway—the church nothing more than a speck in my rearview mirror.
Chapter Two
Leo
“Get this,” my older brother Michael says as I grab my ax and bring it crashing down onto a log. It explodes apart. “Leo doesn’t think he needs a mate.”
My younger brother Oliver bursts out laughing. He drops the tree he’s dragging through the snow and doubles over, holding his ribs.
I roll my eyes as I pick up another log and place it on the chopping block. These two guys are so fucking frustrating.
“Tell me why I built my cabin so close to you pricks?” I ask as I squeeze the ax and then heave it over my head. I exhale hard as I bring it down. It slams into the thick piece of oak with a thunk and slices right through it.
“Because you love us,” Michael says with a laugh as he rips the branches off a fallen tree trunk with his bare hands.
“And because you’re too cheap to buy your own land,” Oliver says as he picks up the tree, hoists it onto his shoulder, and comes walking over, trudging through the thick snow.
I’m not too cheap. It’s because this land is perfect. Our parents left us sixty-eight acres of pristine mountain wilderness in Montana. I’d be crazy to turn that down. My grizzly bear loves it. He would be devastated if we moved.
Once we inherited the land, the three Brook brothers each built a cabin tucked away in a little private section of the forest. I can’t see either of my brothers’ cabins from my porch, but I still see them constantly. This mountain is feeling smaller and smaller every day.
“But seriously,” Oliver says as he drops the tree at Michael’s feet. Oliver is dragging the trees over, Michael is stripping the branches, and I’m chopping them up. We can feel a big snowstorm coming on and we’re stocking up on firewood in case we lose electricity for a few days. “You really don’t think you need a mate?”
I shrug. “I think I’ll be fine without one.”
Michael and Oliver smirk at each other.
“It’s true,” I say. “I’m twenty-eight. I’ve been fine until now.”
“And what does your bear have to say about it?” Oliver asks with a grin.
I huff out a breath as I line up another log on the chopping block. My inner grizzly bear has been fine all this time, but I can tell he wants to find our mate. I do too, more than anything, but all of this waiting and worrying and wondering and constant obsessing over this fantasy girl who may not ever come is starting to get to me. I feel like my life has been on pause mode for the past few years while I wait for her to show up.
I want to get on with it already. I want to live my life, even if she’s not in it.
I just want more than this purgatory I’ve been living in. I want to move forward.
My brothers don’t understand. They’re more than happy to wait one hundred lifetimes for their mates to show up.
“My bear does what I tell it,” I say as I split another log in two. “I’m the one who makes the rules. I’m the one in charge.”
Michael rolls his eyes as he rips off a thick branch. “Wait until your mate shows up. Then, you’ll find out you ain’t in charge of shit.”
“Yeah,” Oliver says as he heads back to grab another fallen tree. “I’m with Mikey on this one. Giving up waiting for your mate… That’s sacrilege. Being on the lookout for our mates, waiting, saving ourselves, holding our breath—it’s all part of it, man. It’s just going to make it that much sweeter when she arrives.”
“Yeah, well I’m done waiting,” I say as I shove the ax into the chopping block so hard half the blade disappears. “And I’m done with this.”
Michael and Oliver watch me as I storm off into the thick snow.
“We’re not done here!” Michael shouts as I head for the forest. “The storm will be here in an hour!”
I don’t turn around. I just trudge forward as my inner grizzly paces around.