"It won't happen again," Harrison said.
"Everyone has one of those experiences from time to time. Don't beat yourself up for it."
"I won’t,” Harrison said. “But it does make me think."
"Yeah? What about?" his chief asked, driving through town. The Christmas lights twinkled from store windows, warming Harrison’s heart.
“Did you find Fluffy?”
“Ha. That cat was outside all along. Is that all you were thinking about?”
"Well, no. When I passed out in that burning building, I realized that life is short, and you can't spend it all alone."
"Harrison Cole does that mean that you're interested in finding a mate?" asked his chief who was also a shifter. Chief Harrold was a veteran of the Great War, and he had found his fated mate on Mate.com many years ago.
"I may be," Harrison said.
"Well, you know the best place to find your fated mate is on Mate.com. It's been serving the shifter community for decades.”
"Maybe I’ll give it a shot.”
Harrison thanked his chief one more time as they pulled up in front of his brick, ranch-style home. Harrison climbed out onto the sidewalk and walked inside, waving as his chief drove away. It was cold inside. He'd left the heater off to save energy like he usually did. But today it felt colder than normal.
He’d bought himself the house when he returned from the military because he’d believed it was a good investment. Now the three-bedroom home just seemed empty and lonely without anybody in it. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, went back into the living room, and slumped on the couch. He grabbed the remote, turning the TV on to watch the news.
As the newscasters told about the day's events, he pulled his phone from the pocket of his sweats, tabbed over to the dating website Mate.com, and opened the application. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he created a profile and started the questionnaire. Each of the questions was stranger than the last, but he did his best to answer them honestly.
When he was finished, he hit enter and waited for his matches to load. After several agonizing moments, the matches came up on the screen, listed in ascending order. He found an 85% match. Scrolled down further a 90% match, further down still a 93% match, then a 97% match. All lovely girls, but not his fated. Then he reached the bottom of the page. There was no 100% match. Harrison's heart sank. He had been so sure that his mate would be on Mate.com.
He finished his water and sat he empty bottle on the coffee table. Disappointed, he grabbed another bottle of water from the fridge and retired to his room. Checking Mate.com one more time, he climbed under the covers and turned off the bedside lamp. Each time he found the list of matches incomplete, he felt a little bit more disappointed.
That morning, he’d had no desire to find a mate. But now that he couldn't find her, it felt like a noose around his heart.
Chapter 3
Sunshine helped arrange Melody's veil, and she and the other bridesmaids looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror before them. Melody looked so beautiful in her mermaid cut dress with the sweetheart neckline and the dangling pearl earrings in her ears. Her ashy brown hair was scooped up into a French twist at the back of her head with ringlets that swept around her pink cheeks and down the back of her neck. Cici handed Melody the bridal bouquet of white rosebuds, dainty pinecones, and evergreen sprigs while Meredith dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.
"You look so beautiful, Melody," Meredith said.
Sunshine couldn't agree more. Her friend was glowing with the kind of radiance that only a bride on her wedding day could emanate. It made Sunshine wonder if she would look that way when her time eventually came. That thought made her remember that she had signed up for Mate.com the night before in a drunken bout of hysterics on the way home from Fate Valley Brewing.
She bit her lip and wondered where she’d left her phone. It was tucked away in her purse on the other side of the room, under her jacket and other belongings. It would be time for the wedding march any moment. While Cici, Stephanie, and Meredith continued to fuss over Melody, Sunshine stepped away from the group and dug through her things to find her phone. Her flowing silver-gray taffeta dress ran to her ankles, so she scooped it up as she bent down to grab her purse. Rifling through her bag, she finally found her cellphone and pulled it out. There was a knock at the door and the bride’s father peeked inside.
"It's almost time," he said.
"We'll be right there," Sunshine said, turning on her phone. That's when she saw the text message that she'd missed that morning in her rush to get to the chapel.
"Congratulations, we’ve found your fated mate!”
All of a sudden yelling from the parking lot outside the window distracted her from her phone. Sunshine and the other bridesmaids walked to the window and looked outside.
“You need to leave the property, right now,” a man in a suit said to a man in coveralls.
“I’ve worked here for fifteen years,” the man in coveralls said. “You can’t do this to me!”
“You’re fired Roger Ringer. Leave now before I call the police.”
“You’ll be sorry for this,” Roger said.
“What was that all about?” Melody asked, moving to the window.
“Someone just got fired and was making a scene,” Sunshine told her.
“Is he gone?” Melody asked. “I don’t want him to ruin my wedding day.”
“He’s leaving now,” Stephanie told her.
Sunshine watched the man drive off in his beat up old truck, still clutching her phone. She looked down at it and remembered what she’d been doing moments before. Her shaking finger pressed the link to open Mate.com. Her heart fluttered as she looked at the photograph of the man on the screen. His profile name was Fire Bear, but she could tell by the look in his bright blue irises that he was really a hero. He was the most drop-dead gorgeous man she'd ever seen in her life, with sandy blond hair, a strong, square jaw with just a dusting of stubble, broad muscled shoulders and a trim waist. A grizzly bear shifter through and through, just like her. She grasped her heart as it whacked in her chest.
"Sunshine what are you doing?" Melody asked, moving toward the door where her father waited.
"I found my fated mate," she said, her lips trembling.
"You did!" Stephanie said, rushing over and snatching her phone.
The bridesmaids gathered around and stared at the screen. "Boy, he's gorgeous," Cici said.
"Seriously gorgeous," Meredith said.
"He's a grizzly shifter like you," Stephanie said.
"Okay, okay. I was matched with an ultra-handsome grizzly shifter. But today is Melody’s day," Sunshine chided. "It's time to get her married to her fated mate!"
She shoved her phone back in her purse and went to the door with Melody, who gave her a sly smile and tapped her playfully on the shoulder. On the other side of the door, the groomsmen waited to escort the bridesmaids down the aisle. As the maid of honor, she was the first to walk with the groom's best friend and best man. He wore a well cut black tuxedo with a silver-gray cummerbund and a matching tie. The color matched the bridesmaids’ dresses.
Sunshine wrapped her arm in the elbow of the best man and smiled as the wedding march began. They marched under the high, open-beamed ceiling toward the wall of windows that looked out on the Lake of the Fates. The interior of the historic chapel was constructed entirely from local cedar, filling the air with the aroma of the fragrant wood. Guests sat in the pews, and garlands of white roses and evergreen sprigs hung along the aisle.
The minister stood on a rise in front of the wall of windows. A view of the winter forest and lakes rolled out behind him. Outside, little puffs of snow drifted on the air. Sunshine stepped on the rise and took her spot opposite the best man as the other groomsmen and bridesmaids marched down the aisle. Kirk, the groom, stood waiting for Melody, looking nervous and happy on his wedding day.
Cici, Meredith, and then
Stephanie walked down the aisle with the groom's friends, taking their places alongside Sunshine and the best man. When Melody and her father marched down the aisle, it was the most beautiful sight Sunshine had ever seen. Her best friend was absolutely beaming as the guests gazed at her in her beautiful dress with her delicate veil cascading down her back.
A tear slid down Sunshine's cheek when she thought about the love and happiness that Melody and Kirk shared. Melody and her father reached the rise and he handed her off to Kirk. Sunshine took Melody's bouquet as she and the groom held hands and gazed into each other's eyes.
"Dearly beloved," the minister started.
Sunshine heard a muffled pop and sniffed, smelling the scent of gun powder. She looked around wondering where it was coming from. There was a loud pop and fire burst out behind a garland of roses and evergreens in the corner. Someone screamed, and Sunshine turned around to see flames engulf the garland and leap onto the cedar wall.
"Someone call 911!” someone screamed.
The groom grabbed Melody's hand and hurried her down the aisle. The minister, the groomsmen, and the bridesmaids followed. Guests shrieked and scrambled out of the chapel as the fire grew taller.
Kirk held Melody in his big, strong arms against the cold winter air outside. Sunshine went to console her poor friend whose wedding had been interrupted by the mysterious fire.
“Everyone to the wine cellar," said the wedding planner, holding her clip board.
The reception was being held in the Fate Rock Wine Cellar, only a hundred yards from the chapel. Everyone hurried inside, but the chattering and chaos continued. Melody sat at the end of a hallway in the corner as the groom held her hand, trying to console her. The mother of the bride paced back and forth in the hall, looking frantic. The mother of the groom had her arms folded over her enhanced chest, tapping her foot and looking smug.
Sunshine sat beside Melody, wondering what they would do now that the chapel had been set aflame. She heard the sirens of a fire engine and patted Melody's knee.
"I'm going to see what's happening out there. I'll be right back."
She walked out into the parking lot and watched the fire engine roar up the road and stop in front of the burning chapel. She shook her head at the thought of the historic chapel burning to the ground. Half a dozen firefighters jumped from the truck and pulled their hose into the chapel. Sunshine's heart fluttered at the sight of them. The most delicious aroma she had ever smelled wafted through her nose over the biting scent of the flames. Her inner grizzly roared. What was going on?
Chapter 4
Harrison jumped out of the fire truck and pulled the firehose into the burning building. The blast of water shot at the wood. They had arrived just in time to save Fate Rock Chapel from destruction. As they sprayed the cedar planks and put out the fire, he pondered how the fire had started in the first place. When it was finally out, he found the melted remnants of a one-gallon gunpowder barrel behind the remains of a charred garland stand.
He left the chapel holding the melted barrel and handed it off to the police who’d finally arrived. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman in a long silver-gray dress clutching her arms against the cold. He turned to look at her and his eyes went wide. She was the loveliest sight he had ever beheld. Graceful and curvy, with tawny-tan skin and cascading waves of umber-brown hair. Her full lips parted, and her big, amber-hewed eyes blinked at him. He walked toward her as if in a dream, and she stepped over the concrete parking lot toward him in her pumps. He reached out to her, still wearing his bulky fire gloves, and she took his hand with her delicate fingers.
"Fire Bear," she whispered. "My hero."
"It's you," he said, not knowing what to say. He hadn't found his mate on Mate.com the night before. He’d received the call from the fire department upon waking.
"I'm Sunshine," she offered. "Sunshine Blackthorn."
He wanted to reach out and gather her in his arms and hug her tight to his chest, but he was wearing his sooty firefighter uniform, still damp with water.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"The wedding ceremony was about to begin when something exploded, and a fire erupted in the corner of the chapel.”
"It looks like arson to me," he said. “I found a gunpowder barrel behind the flowers.”
"Who would want to burn down Fate Rock Chapel?" she asked.
"That's a good question," he said. "Shifters from Fate Valley have their weddings and honeymoons up here all the time.”
With his mate standing before him and flurries of snow landing on her tawny skin and dark hair, the last thing he wanted to talk about was fires. But his curiosity and anger were burning bright in his heart.
"Did you see anything?" he asked her.
"I heard the bang and then the flames started to roar. But I didn't see anything other than that."
“The windows open to the back of the chapel. Let’s take a look.”
"Okay," she said as they walked around the side of the building that faced the lake.
Harrison spotted a rake sitting just below the window and picked it up.
"It's labeled RR," Harrison said. "Who do you think that is?"
"The groundskeeper Roger Ringer was fired this morning. Maybe it’s his.”
“Sounds like a distinct possibility,” Harrison said.
"I'd better get back inside," Sunshine told him. "My friend needs me."
"Of course," he said, not wanting to let her go. "Can I see you again?"
"I'm staying at the Fate Valley Resort with the rest of the wedding party for the next week.”
"A week isn't enough," he said, gulping down the lump in his throat.
Chapter 5
Sunshine hurried back into the wine cellar and found Melody and the bridesmaids holed up in a small office.
"We’ve decided to hold the wedding in the wine cellar," Meredith said as Cici dabbed Melody’s eyes with a handkerchief.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Sunshine said.
Poor Melody looked beside herself. "I feel like my wedding’s been ruined," Melody sniffled.
"It isn’t ruined," Sunshine said. "It's just different."
"The wine cellar is beautiful. They're moving back the chairs and arranging it so that the ceremony can be held in front of the window overlooking the lake,” Stephanie said.
"A lot of couples have their ceremony in the wine cellar," the wedding planner said, entering the room with her clipboard.
Melody took a deep breath and let it out. "Everything's going to be okay. I'm marrying my fated mate. What else could I ask for?" she said, putting on a brave face.
A few moments later, everything was arranged to continue the ceremony in the reception hall. The bridesmaids all lined up with the groomsmen, and they conducted the wedding march all over again. Kirk waited for Melody with the minister in front of the windows, and she looked even more beautiful the second time around. The relief of having everything work out shined in her bright smile and eyes that had just been crying. The minister guided them through the beautiful ceremony and by the time they said their “I do’s”, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Everyone tossed rosebuds over the newlywed couple as they walked out onto the dance floor and stepped into their first dance. Sunshine watched her best friend as she waltzed with her new husband, under the spotlight. Their friends and family encircled them and looked on with awe and appreciation for their love. It made Sunshine’s mind drift to Harrison. Her inner grizzly roared for her mate. What was she going to do? Her family was back on Fate Mountain.
Questions rolled around inside her mind as she watched Melody and Kirk waltz across the dance floor. When the music stopped, Melody and Kirk embraced and kissed, and everyone applauded. The couple moved back to the bridal table and the caterers brought out the food. Sunshine was famished and happy to dig into her big steak, potatoes, asparagus and crusty French bread. The excitement of the day had left her famished and the food was delicious
. When the waiters cleaned up the plates and dozens of bottles of champagne had been drained, the party began to grow lively and animated.
Sunshine laughed with the bridesmaids about the night before and the chaos of the day. It all seemed like a big joke now that Melody and Kirk were married, and everything had turned out fine. Sunshine stood and walked between the tables filled with happy guests. She passed the groom's mother and heard her speaking in a sharp tone.
"I just can't believe our son really went through with it," she said in a loud whisper.
"There's nothing that we can do about it now,” said the overly spray-tanned woman next to her.
"I’ve tried everything in my power to stop this disgrace of a relationship,” his mother went on.
Sunshine couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stumbled away from the table with shock and dread in her heart. Had Kirk’s mother really not wanted him to marry her sweet friend Melody? The thought of it darkened her mood and a stone fell in her stomach. She shook her head, walking toward the bar where she ordered another glass of champagne.
Melody had been Sunshine’s best friend for a long time, and Sunshine had never seen her as happy as she had been since she found Kirk. They were perfect together and they made each other happy. How could his mother not want that? It hurt her heart that the woman didn't appreciate the love that they shared. She clenched her eyes closed and drank her champagne. Sunshine wandered back to the bridal table and took a seat next to Cici.
"What's the matter?" Cici asked. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
"Oh, it's nothing," she said. "It's just that some people are haters, you know?"
"Don't I know it,” the raven-haired, curvy beauty said. “I've been dealing with it all my life.”
Sunshine sighed and looked down the table at Kirk and Melody. They seemed so happy and oblivious to his mother's attitude. Melody sighed and rested her cheek in her palm.
"Now it's time to cut the cake," the wedding planner said from across the room.