by Elena Aitken
“Cabin to Den. This is Nat,” she said into the radio.
“Nat! Thank God. Are you okay up there?”
“Perfectly fine.” Across the room in the bed, Cyrus made faces in her direction and blew her kisses. She laughed and shook her head.
“I was worried,” Ryker said through the radio. “The cabin is old. You never should have—”
“We’re fine.” She cut him off. “What’s up, Ryker?” She wanted to nip the conversation in the bud so she could get back to bed, and her mate, as quickly as possible.
“Axel has the plow going. He’s on his way up there.”
Nat’s heart sank. “Already?”
“It’s Thanksgiving, Nat.”
“But the reporters…”
“Gone. Gabe took care of them. Said something to put them off the track. You guys are clear.”
Nat pressed the button of the radio but released it again, unsure how to respond. It was a good thing, she supposed. But it sure didn’t feel like a good thing. She looked to Cyrus, who’d stopped making silly faces and was watching her closely. He smiled and she knew it was a smile meant to reassure her. But even so, Natalia couldn’t help but feel that everything was about to change. Again.
Chapter Eight
The Jackson family was expanding. In all the ways, it seemed. Besides having more mates around the table than ever before, Harper and Axel’s baby, Lily, sat between them in a highchair. And with Kira and Ella’s bellies both heavy with babies who were due in less than two months, there would need to be more chairs still put around the table.
The air was thick with the delicious scent of roasted turkey and gravy. Kade, Chloe, and Zoe had taken control of the cooking this year, with Ella “helping” from the sidelines. Almost nine months pregnant, she couldn’t be on her feet very long. Besides, despite the spacious kitchen, it turned out that a pregnant woman, even one as petite as Ella, took up a lot of space.
After Axel “rescued” them from the cabin and brought them back to the Den, there hadn’t been much time to spend alone with Cyrus. Natalia had been thrust into the preparations for dinner: setting the huge dining table, fixing centerpieces, and basically helping wherever she could. Cyrus had disappeared into Axel’s office at one point to return some phone calls, but Natalia hadn’t seen much of him since then.
She was surrounded by family and it felt amazing, but there was also a lingering sense of worry that followed her like a cloud all afternoon. It was probably nothing, she continually tried to convince herself. She was just tired. After all, she’d hardly slept the night before. And after everything that had happened, of course she wasn’t feeling quite herself.
Her fingers fluttered up to her chest where the mating mark was.
She was mated.
The mark still ached, and even burned a little. It was much more intense than she’d ever expected. Much more so than any of her cousins or friends had ever made it out to be. But also, it had been the most intense pleasure of her life. Just remembering the moment they’d mated made her bear growl deep inside her with need for him.
Cyrus said the difference in the mating was because he was a Kodiak. She’d never known a Kodiak before, let alone anyone who’d mated one. But it made sense. He was a huge man. Her man. Of course it was going to be intense because now they were bonded together. Forever.
“Hey. Earth to Nat.” A hand flashed across her face, and Natalia jumped back, a cloth napkin in her hand. “Do you need help with that?”
Natalia blinked hard and turned to see Nina, her brother’s mate, next to her. She felt a flash of guilt. Not only because she’d been daydreaming while she was supposed to be setting the table, but also because when it came to Nina, she always felt a little bit guilty. She hadn’t been overly welcoming of the woman when she’d first met her. Not because she didn’t like her, but because she was not a shifter. A human. And as far as their family was concerned—at least as far as they used to be concerned—that wasn’t allowed.
Ryker had strongly felt that way, too. Until he’d met Nina, of course. They’d been fated from the beginning and as soon as he’d accepted that, he’d given in completely to his love for her by mating her without her knowledge. A fact that hadn’t pleased Natalia at all because it hadn’t been fair to Nina. Entering into a relationship with a shifter—especially when you didn’t know—was completely against code. And she’d told her brother so. It had been part of the reason Ryker walked away from Nina, leaving them both devastated.
Of course, that separation hadn’t lasted long and Ryker had come back searching for her as soon as he’d come to his senses.
Regardless, Natalia couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the part she’d played in keeping them apart, even if it had only been temporary. A mate was a mate. And the bond couldn’t be broken. Not without a whole lot of unnecessary heartache.
“It’s so good to see you, Nina.” She dropped her napkin and pulled her sister-in-law into a tight hug. “I really mean it.”
Nina laughed and brushed her dark hair back over her shoulder. “I know, Nat. I really do. And it’s so good to see you, too. And your….boyfriend?”
Nat blushed. There was no doubt that her cousins would be able to tell within moments that things had changed between her and Cyrus since they’d arrived the other day, but Nina didn’t have the same instincts and no doubt wouldn’t be able to sense anything.
“Cyrus?” She grinned. “He’s my mate.”
“What?” Nina didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “Your mate? Does Ryker know? He didn’t say anything. You didn’t say anything.”
“It’s new.” She shrugged, but Nina wasn’t about to be put off.
“Like, how new?”
She grinned. “New, new.”
There wasn’t a chance to get into further details because a moment later, Axel appeared, carrying an impossibly huge platter of turkey, followed by a train of the others all carrying dishes. “Dinner is served!”
Cyrus had never experienced anything quite like a Jackson family dinner. With no cousins and no siblings, his holidays had always been small, intimate affairs. Often just him and his father. He’d loved and cherished each and every one of those memories, but sitting at the Jacksons’ table, for the first time he could see the appeal of a large family.
Maybe someday.
He snuck a glance at Natalia, looking sexier than ever in a blue flowy blouse and tight black pants that showed off her curves to full effect. He would have preferred a low-cut blouse to be sure, because he knew he’d never get enough of her chest, but he was very aware of the bright-red mark he’d left on her cleavage. It sent a thrill directly to the core of him just thinking about it and exactly what it meant.
She was his. And he was hers.
“So, Cyrus, tell us about your business.”
His attention was pulled once again from his mate, to the greater group. They’d been asking him questions all evening and mostly he’d been more than happy to answer them. But the last thing he wanted to talk about at the Thanksgiving table was business. Particularly because he’d just spent the last hour before he’d sat down dealing with a full inbox and more voice mails than he’d like to count. It was amazing how only twenty-four hours off the grid sparked an emergency in everyone. Especially Phillip, his business manager.
“The family business used to be gold mining.” He put a bite of turkey in his mouth. “But in recent years we’ve branched out into a wider variety of businesses and also some more into charitable matters.” He winced at his use of the word we. It was still hard to get used to the idea that it was just him now, and not him and his father. “My passion project right now is bringing clean water to developing countries using solar panels.” Cyrus fell easily into talking about the subject he was wildly passionate about.
“It must keep you pretty busy?” Ryker grabbed a roll from the basket in the middle of the table. “I read that you are the CEO of three businesses.” He raised his eyebrows but Cyrus c
ouldn’t tell whether Nat’s brother was impressed or put off. “How do you have time for much else?”
Ahh…
It didn’t take a genius to see what he was doing, but Cyrus wasn’t going to take the bait.
“It’s four businesses actually, all under Steele Industries, and I make time for the things that are important to me.” He slipped a hand on Nat’s thigh under the table. It was true. He absolutely would make time for Natalia because she was definitely important. It did bring up an crucial point, though. Phillip hadn’t been very happy that he’d blown off his meetings in New York. He’d rescheduled them, but it would mean that Cyrus couldn’t put them off for too much longer.
“Ryker!” Nina turned in her chair and squeezed Ryker’s arm. “Stop grilling Natalia’s mate.”
“What? Mate?”
“Really?”
“I knew it!”
“Yes!”
A chorus of voices went up around the table, along with the clatter of forks falling to plates and coughing as people choked on their drinks and food. Cyrus took a look at Nat, who only shrugged.
“I guess there’s no point denying it,” she said.
“Not when we can see it all over the two of you,” Chloe said from across the table. “Congratulations!”
They all raised a glass in a toast to the newly mated couple and drank deeply. The smile on Natalia’s face lit her up so completely she was even more gorgeous, if that were even possible.
“I still think it’s insane that no one thinks it’s crazy how fast things happen when it comes to mates,” Nina said.
Natalia had filled him in on the story between Nina and her brother, Ryker. Nina was a human, but their fated connection had also happened hot and fast. And even though Ryker tried to fight it because she wasn’t a shifter, he was completely at the mercy of fate, and his human mate.
“I like it,” Nina added quickly. “But it’s still kind of crazy.”
“So, are you going to tell Grandfather?” It was Ryker who asked the question, but the entire table went silent waiting for Natalia’s response.
Cyrus watched carefully as her face transformed from the radiant glow from only a moment earlier, to one of twisted concern.
“Ryker,” Kira admonished from her seat at the far end. “Let’s not talk about this right now.”
“No.” Natalia put her fork down and sat back a little. “It’s okay. I can’t ignore it forever.” She sat up straight and Cyrus filled with pride for his mate and her strength regarding a situation that had the potential to be unpleasant. “I will have to tell him,” she said. “Soon.”
“It will have to be soon,” Ryker said. “We just got word.” His voice lowered. “Grandfather’s sick.”
“Sick?”
“He’s dying, Natalia.”
Chapter Nine
“Bring me that board over there, Natalia.” Gordon Jackson’s voice was rough, and a little bit angry, the way it always was when he was concentrating on something. “No,” he corrected her as she picked a board off the stack. “Not that one. The one next to it.” She moved over and looked up at him before committing to the piece. “That’s the one. Bring it here. Good girl.”
She beamed as she took the wood across the shop to her grandfather. Natalia was thirteen and when her brothers were out running through the woods, fishing, and playing pranks on their cousins, and the other girls in the clan were sitting around gossiping and braiding one another’s hair, Natalia liked to spend her spare time in the wood shop with her grandfather.
Over the years, she’d assisted him in making tables, shelves, and various other projects. But today was special because he was making her her very own chest. A hope chest, he called it. Some place to put special things. “A piece of furniture solid enough to see you through life,” he’d said, as if a hope chest were the key to adulthood. Not that Natalia cared. In fact, she wouldn’t have cared what they were making, but the fact that he’d offered to make something for her, with her—well, that was just beyond exciting to her young teenage heart.
“Do you know how to measure a piece of wood, Natalia?” She shook her head as he instructed her to pick up the tape measure. “Hold it on the end like that. Good.” He nodded as she did as she was told. “Now stretch it out to the end. Take the pencil there and leave a mark at fifteen and a half. You have to count those little lines—see that bigger one there? Yes, that’s the one. That’s the half mark.”
Natalia carefully made the mark. “There?”
“Just like that. You’re a natural.”
Her grandfather was never one to be free with compliments of any kind, but when she spent time with him in his shop, he became a different person. A softer person, as if he left all the gruffness outside as he stepped in the doors and he no longer needed to be the stern clan leader with hard rules, but could simply be her grandfather. Natalia’s brothers laughed at her for willingly wanting to spend time with him, but they didn’t understand. And they certainly didn’t see the side of him that she did.
“You know, Natalia,” he said to her later as they were cleaning up. “You’re different than your brothers and your cousins.” That caught her attention because he so rarely talked to her about the others. “You have a sense of duty and family that they don’t have.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, but continued to tidy his workbench. “You’re strong, but not loud about it. There’s a real strength in that kind of silence.” It was then that he turned to her. His lips twitched into a slight smile. It was only a flicker, but it was there. “You’ll be a great leader one day.”
Natalia hadn’t thought about that day in years. He’d never said anything like that to her again. They’d worked to finish the chest over the coming weeks, sanding and staining it, cutting thin pieces of cedar to line it with until it was finished. Life took over and Natalia got busy with her classes and then, as she became a woman and embraced her shifter side, her trips to the workshop became less frequent, but they were always sweet memories that she cherished. And she’d never forgotten his words: You’ll be a great leader one day.
She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and repeated the words in her head.
Would she be a great leader?
“What will happen to the clan when your grandfather is gone?” Cyrus asked from the attached bedroom. After dinner, they’d retreated upstairs as soon as they could politely manage. She’d been hoping, of course, to spend some quality time in bed with her new mate, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her grandfather being sick and what exactly that meant. If he was dying…no. He was dying.
“Nat?” Cyrus appeared at the bathroom door. He was shirtless and with one hand on the doorjamb as he leaned into the room, his sexy face screwed up in concern, he made her heart stutter. “You okay in here?”
She nodded quickly. “I’m fine.”
“You were taking awhile.” He stepped fully into the room until he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her so he could pull her back against him. “Everything all good in here?”
She met his eyes in the mirror and smiled at their reflection. She’d always kind of abstractly considered finding a mate one day and settling down, but now that he was here and they were together, even though it had only been a few days, she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
“I was just thinking.”
“About your grandfather?”
The fact that he knew what was on her heart warmed her inside. “Yes.”
“You need to see him.”
She turned in his arms so she could look up at him. “I do.”
“I know.”
“But he’s so…everything is complicated and his ideas about…”
“Hey.” Cyrus took a step back and lifted her chin with two fingers. He held her there so she couldn’t look away. “Obviously I don’t know everything about him. And I understand that his beliefs are different from your family’s and—”
“And mine.” She raised her eyebrows.
After all, now that she’d mated with Cyrus—a Kodiak—her grandfather might not look at her in the same way anymore. She might not be what was widely known as his favorite anymore. In fact, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be. Then again, maybe he’d mellowed. Maybe he’d accept her choice in a mate? Maybe he’d… “But he’s still my grandfather.”
“Exactly.” Cyrus took her by the hand and led her back out into the room. “If what your brother says is true and he’s not doing well, you need to see him. You’ll regret it every day if you don’t. My father and I weren’t at odds, and I’ll tell you, I still regret every moment that I didn’t spend with him at the end that I could have. Time is not something you get back, Nat.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. No doubt there’d be plenty of time for tears later. “Thank you for understanding,” she said after a moment. “I know this is kind of our…is honeymoon the right word?”
Cyrus laughed and kissed her. Just as it always did, his kiss turned her into a quivering mass and she had to lean into him to keep from falling down. A move he responded to by scooping her up and placing her on the bed. Nat laughed. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the easy way he could pick her up and move her around. She scooted back on the bed and pulled her night shirt up and over her head.
“Now that’s what I like to see.” Cyrus growled, low and deep, before he shucked his own clothes and crawled up on the bed to join her.
Cyrus didn’t have to look at the clock to know it was late. Really late. But there was no way he could sleep. Even after finding some release in Natalia’s arms, he was still wound up. She, on the other hand, was cuddled up next to him, one arm draped over his chest as she slept deeply. He looked down at her and stroked the hair back from her beautiful face.
His heart hurt for his mate because he knew without her having to say a word that she was hurting. The other Jacksons didn’t have any love lost for their grandfather, but Natalia was different. She cared and Cyrus knew what it was like to lose someone you cared about. She was going to have some hard days ahead. Especially considering her family didn’t see things the same way.