Sig looked around the theater nodded to his family and to Richard and Clara. He looked at me and there was a hardness in his expression that was unfamiliar. His eyes were hungry.
The predator woman cleared her throat, “We convene the Shifter Council to answer the claiming petitions for the human female, Souli Barre. Petitioners, Sigmund Laine, black bear of the Guardinnea pack. And Yuri Ebsen, grizzly bear of the WAZ neutral territory. Are the facts as they have been stated correct?”
Everyone involved nodded.
“Very well.” She continued, “The council has privately interviewed the petitioners and found them suitable to continue. We will now interview the applicant. Souli Barre, are you prepared to answer the questions of the Council accurately and honestly?”
“I am,” I said.
“Alright we will begin.”
The councilor’s questions started easy enough, name, age, birth place, parentage. Then they got a bit weird, time and duration of last menstruation, number of sexual partners, known shifters, whether I’d been ever been pregnant. Then they got into specifics about the petitioners.
“How long have you known each of the petitioners?”
“I met Sig-mund Laine when I was 18 during freshman orientation at university,” I said, “I met Yuri Ebsen my first day working at WAZ back in March.”
“When and how many times have you been intimate with each of the petitioners?”
I gulped, “Do I need to answer this?”
“Yes, Souli, answer the question.”
I sighed and looked at my hands not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes. This was not going to be fun.
“I first was intimate with Sigmund Laine early junior year of college, and we were intimate averaging once a week for two years and then once a month for another year, and intermittently after that I believe we were last intimate October of last year, but I’m not certain. I first was intimate with Yuri Ebsen in April. We met weekly averaging six or seven times per...encounter until June and now we average six or seven times... a day.”
I heard gasps from behind me. From the scandalized whispers in the crowd, I assumed that I sounded like a slut. The council members scribbled in their notebooks as if I’d provided the key testimony they needed. The whole ordeal felt so invasive. I had never been more mortified.
“Please describe the nature of these encounters with each petitioner.”
“I don’t understand the question.”
“How would you compare the petitioners?”
“I’m really not comfortable-”
“Answer the question.”
I gulped again, “Sigmund Laine has a uh, birthmark that looks like calipers on his right hip...Sex with Sigmund Laine was ok, a bit awkward and ended quickly. Sex with Yuri Ebsen is,” I took a deep breath, “awesome...I’m really not comfortable-” the councilors were glaring at me, “It’s powerful, warm, hot, carnal, I feel like my body is trying to devour his and his mine. I can’t get enough of his body. Does that satisfy the council?”
“How many children do you want?”
“Depends on a lot of factors,” I said, and seeing their dissatisfaction with my answer “Between one and four depending on how pregnancy treats me.”
That seemed to satisfy them.
“What are your metaphysical experiences?”
“I do not understand the question.”
“What is your experience with magic?”
“I’ve been living and working with shape shifters, to my knowledge that is my extent of magical experience,” unless you counted orgasms but I wasn’t going to say that.
The council seemed satisfied with that answer.
“We have completed the applicant interview. We will now have the petitioner's address the applicant. Sigmund Laine.”
Sig stood up and stood in the center of the circle on the stage, “Hi Souli.”
I nodded to him. The predator woman looked at Sig expectantly, “You may address the applicant now.”
He took a deep breath, “I am here today to make right what I’ve done wrong. Souli Barre, I’ve loved you more than anything in the entire world. You are the sun moon and stars. You make me want to be a better man. We have a strong history, Souli. We’ve grown together, learned together. You bake with my mother over Christmas. Your brother calls me for advice. We are linked, Souli. I made the mistake of not claiming you before because I was trying to protect you from all of this. I’m sorry for the way I’ve gone about our relationship the past few months. I will never forgive myself for how I proposed. But I meant every word of it. I’m in love with you. I want you to be my mate, I want you to be my wife. I want you in my life. I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”
“Does the applicant have questions for the petitioner?”
“Why do you think we broke up, Sig?”
He winced, “Because I said I didn’t want to marry you. Which was because I didn’t want to marry you, I wanted to mate you but this-”
“What did I tell you was the reason we broke up?”
Confusion knit his brows, “I don’t under-”
“Outside the pub, after you proposed?” I offered to help.
“Oh,” his face fell, “But I didn’t lie, I just didn’t-.”
“Trust me with an entire side of yourself? The most important side?” I asked.
“That’s not fair, Souli, I wasn’t allowed to tell-”
I sighed, “Sig, you want me to move back to Guardinnea with you and work at the mill and live happily ever after. In your heart of hearts, do you honestly believe that’s what would make me happy?”
He didn’t respond.
“The petitioner will answer the question.”
“I believe that I would make you as happy as you made me no matter where we live.”
I did not say anything in response.
“Does the applicant have any further questions for the petitioner, Sigmund Laine?”
“No further questions,” I responded.
Chapter 19
“Petitioner Yuri Ebsen, you may now address the applicant.”
Ebsen stood up from his chair and took a few steps toward me.
“I uh, don’t know what to say here.”
“You don’t have anything prepared to show the applicant you are worthy to be her mate?” the lady predator derided.
“I’m already her mate,” Ebsen growled, “I don’t know what to say, because there’s nothing left to say. Souli is my mate. She has my mark.”
The crowd behind me erupted into whispers and gasps.
“Is this true?” the male prey councilor asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, it’s on my back.”
“The applicant will reveal the mating mark and the councilors will take this into consideration,” the lady predator commanded.
I stood up, “So I just uh, take off my shirt here?”
Ebsen growled again.
“Behave,” I hissed at him. The last thing I wanted was to be told no because he was grumpy about this whole proceeding.
I took off my shirt and adjusted by bikini top. The amphitheater of shifters probably didn’t care about a little nudity, but I was still human, and I didn’t want to show off the goods to anyone but Ebsen.
“That’s quite the mating mark,” one of the lady prey councilors remarked when my back was to them.
“Seems more like a mauling to me,” the other one added.
Ok, these councilors were on my last nerve.
As I rotated to show the predator side my mark, Sig caught my eyes. His brow was furrowed. It wasn’t his angry face, but something was there.
I couldn’t let myself think about Sig now. My future at WAZ and with Ebsen was at stake. This mark had to be enough to
prove I could stay here.
“The council will now deliberate,” the predator said, after my spin completed. “We will return with our findings at the sound of the bell.”
The council left. Art didn’t come collect me like he had been doing. I moved to put my shirt back on but Ebsen stilled my hand, “I want them to see it,” he said, “I understand if you’re cold, but I’ll warm you up.”
I smiled up at him. “You know how much I love you, right?”
He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead, breathing in deep, “Please never use this shampoo again.”
I chuckled, “What’s wrong with spearmint?”
“It doesn’t smell like you,” he leaned in and pressed his lips back to me.
The bell tolled. Ebsen gave me one more kiss before sending me off to my chair. I was nervous. I made it back to my chair. My heart was racing. I couldn’t keep my eyes of Ebsen.
I vaguely knew the council members were back in their chairs and the predator woman was speaking. I watched Ebsen’s face, deaf to the world around me. His brows furrowed in confusion and anger. He looked at the council. What was wrong? I needed to pay attention. I looked over at her but I still couldn’t hear anything outside of the pounding in my ears. I looked back to Ebsen, he wasn’t in his chair. Where did he go?
I was in the air. I was being spun. Ebsen was spinning me around. I looked down to see his big smile.
“We’re official?” I asked. He nodded. I dipped my head down and kissed him. I kissed his so hard and so deep I wasn’t sure I would breathe again. Eventually he set me down.
“Rule one, Firebug,” he murmured into the top of my head.
“I’m sick of your rules,” I told him with a bright smile, “I have a few of my own.”
“Oh you do now?” he smiled down kissing my ear, “What are they?”
“Rule one: no running,” I said, he nodded, “Rule two: talk it out, if something’s on your mind, or on my mind we discuss it. Rule three-”
“Too many rules,” he groaned kissing my neck.
“Rule three: poison ivy,” I whispered in his ear.
He quivered and lifted me up in his arms with a low rumble, “Cabin- now.”
“Take me home, Yuri no middle name Ebsen.”
Epilogue
“Yuri! I swear to honey, marshmallows and bacon if you don’t slow down-” the fluffy butted bastard continued racing up the path. After over a year of nightly hikes, the dumb bear still sprinted ahead of me.
I trudged up the incline to the waterfalls where the grumpy grizzly sat on his butt watching me come up the path. His snout twitched as he sniffed the air, until he dropped it. The corner of the bears lips lifted in an almost grin, and he waved his massive paw at me.
“You are such a dork, you know that?” I teased. He harrumphed and grunted before roaring into the sky, scaring the living daylights out of me.
“Yuri, what the hell?” I finally reached my best bear friend and he landed on all fours in front of me, “You’re such an ass sometimes, you know that.”
The bear grunted. Of course he knew that. It was one of the things I loved about him.
After the council made our mating official, the adjustment period had more than a few growing pains. The staff at WAZ were shocked with the exception of the rangers, who actually had a pool for when Ebsen would make an honest human out of me- Irvin won- and Amber who’d basically orchestrated the whole thing.
I moved my office back to Adventure Village. As much as Ebsen loved me, he did not love that much modern technology in his cabin. I didn’t mind in the slightest, I enjoyed being in the heart of the zone during the day and retiring to the solitude of the cabin at night. Our days off were filled with camping and hiking away from everyone else, like today.
Yuri bumped into me and made his weird grizzly grumbling noise until I pet his hump. My goofy happy bear behaved more like a dog some days. A big, apex predator, kind of dog.
We reached the point where the trail widens into a small clearing but Yuri stopped me from going through it.
“Come on you big lug, let me through,” I pushed against his massive bulk, but he didn’t move.
I grumbled, but then I heard the popping of bones as Yuri shifted. A minute of gross squelching and hair receding later, Ebsen crouched in front of me buck-naked.
“As much as I love the view,” I joked, “I want to see the falls!”
“Give me a three minute head start, okay?” he said, standing up to kiss me.
“Two and a half,” I negotiated.
Ebsen laughed, but it wasn’t his usual guffaw. Something’s up.
I watched the seconds go by on my watch as the longest two minutes and thirty seconds of my life elapsed.
“Ready or not here I come!” I shouted.
I rounded the path to the clearing and was struck dumb. Where at one point, I’d erected a failed tarp shelter, Ebsen had created a picnic wonderland. There was a big plaid blanket laid out with a wicker basket overflowing with snacks. Our camping tent was just beyond. Ebsen stood in front of the blanket, wearing only a pair of pants.
“Ebsen, what... what’s going on?” I looked around the clearing. The waterfalls had always been my favorite place on WAZ lands. It was the most scenic and most sentimental. But today, the gorgeous views paled in comparison to what Ebsen had done.
“Souli Barre, the first time I saw you, was through my bear’s eyes,” Ebsen’s usually humor-filled voice was serious. His whiskey-brown eyes were glassy with rapidly building tears. I was still dumbstruck by the campsite and picnic tent. Then he knelt down.
“Oh my lord, Eb-”
“I’ve been kind of practicing this all month so can you let me get this out before I lose my place and have to start over?” he asked, the humor returned for a moment in his voice as he adjusted on the ground from two knees to one. Then he pulled a small velvet box from inside the wicker picnic basket.
“Oh my god Ebsen is that-”
“Souli, ever since I saw you through my bear’s eyes, I’ve been fascinated. From the minute I saw you through my own, I was smitten.”
Tears started forming in my eyes as I listened to him. This man that I loved so much, loved me in return. This bear who stole my heart when I didn’t realize there was any of it left to take. And here he was, telling me he’d been smitten from the first moment. I wiped the tears from my face and nodded for him to continue.
“Nothing scares you. Not lions, or fires, or bears. You laugh at my stupid jokes and make your own. When you told me you weren’t the itch scratching kind of girl, I was afraid I’d never have you. Then you fell in poison ivy and I got my chance.”
He closed his eyes and squeezed them, biting his bottom lip before continuing, “I thought that one night was the only night I’d have, and it was the best night of my life. I had no idea how I’d ever have another night to compare. But you came back for seconds.”
Tears flowed freely down my face as they did his, “You make a good pancake,” I said through a throat tight with tears.
He threw his head back and laughed, the boisterous Ebsen laugh that I fell in love with.
“You came back for seconds,” he repeated, “And thirds and fourths, and I looked forward to every Sunday because it meant I got to spend time with my best friend. The one who laughs at my jokes, who puts up with my bear, who likes me. I broke rule number two long before I even knew what falling in love really was. And now you’re my mate. You’re the one I come home to every night. But you’re human.”
“Yes, I am human,” I laughed.
“And according to Amber, this is something humans do,” Ebsen continued, opening the box to a ring. I lifted the simple delicate band from its velvet cushion, “Amber told me I should have taken you shopping for it, and we still can, but-”
“Ebsen it’s perfect,” I promised him. I loved it.
“Souli, would you do me the
honor of being my wife in addition to being my mate?” he asked.
Rather than answering, I tackled him, pressing my mouth to his. My big goofy bear wanted to be my big goofy husband and I couldn’t be happier.
Author’s note:
Hello reader! Thank you so much for taking this journey into a more traditional romance with me. I hope you enjoyed it.
This book came out of severe cabin fever. I miss the outdoors, I miss people, and I really miss smores. Seriously, for some reason there were no smores supplies in my town in February. And with the global pandemic I’m trying to be a good social distancer and not leave the house except for necessities and I haven’t quite reached the point where marshmallows and graham crackers are necessities and lacking smores is such a ridiculous thing to complain about when there are such big issues going on and this is a run-on sentence and I’m sorry.
For anyone about to say, “Oh, Lynn, you can make smores with peeps.” I tried that. It was a disaster and I’m deeply sad about it.
Anyway...
I am still hard at work on my other series (don’t worry they’re coming sooner rather than later).Syndicate book 2 will probably be the next one out, followed by pretty quick releases of the next two to three Kootenai books. I just needed a few weeks to devote to something happy, and sexy, and that reminded me of outside.
I really miss being outside.
I have pages and pages worth of thank yous I should add here, but I’m trying to keep this manuscript under 60k so I’ll keep it short.
Thank you to everyone on the front lines of the pandemic. Healthcare, grocery stores, supply chain, staying at home cowering with Netflix and a bag of Cheetos. If you’re helping, I’m grateful.
I want to thank my online writing groups for keeping me sane.
I want to thank mama bear claw for being such a big supporter of my work. As always, thank you to my husband for putting up with me coming up with more and more ridiculous ways to describe parts of human anatomy only to use the least ridiculous one. He’s such a treasure and I’m so lucky to have him.
Bonus Chapter- Amber
I never thought I’d see the day. Ranger Yuri Ebsen was in love. The hulking bear in man form had a small scrap of pink lace held carefully in his fingers looking inside the Victoria’s Secret. This was too rich. If it weren’t for the lost puppy look on his face, this would be all over ShifterSnap, probably going viral. Ebsen looked back at me his shaggy tawny mop of hair covering half of his face. His brown eyes were wide in terror.
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