by Sienna Aylen
The fire roared, bringing balmy warmth into the room. He gently rubbed his hands up and down her arms under the blanket. When she stirred as if to move from his arms, Damien drew her even closer and growled, “Don’t even think about it. You’re staying right here until you warm up and your lips aren’t blue anymore. You scared the crap out of me disappearing like that.”
Wide eyes jerked to his and her mouth dropped open. “I scared you?”
“Yeah. I thought you had gotten lost, or hurt. None of us knew where you were and you blocked your scent. How would we have known if you were in trouble? You can’t just go off without telling someone where you’re going,” he replied gruffly. Those tense hours when he hadn’t known where she was had unnerved him. Having her safe, in his arms, he could reflect on his unexpected attachment to his vixen.
Emma was different. Unique. But that wasn’t the only thing that caught his attention. She challenged him without remorse, irritating and arousing him and his bear all at the same time. Not once had she cowed in the face of his authority and dominance, but she wasn’t in awe of it either. He felt as though they were on equal footing. Almost. Her powers were one thing in her favor. Then there was always that trick she had of disappearing without a trace that made him want to lock her up and throw away the key.
Right now, she was safe. In his lap. Curled up against him, right where he wanted her.
The adorable frown line he loved appeared on her forehead as her lips pleated in a confused pout. “I’m sorry I worried you. I needed to clear my head and I knew you would follow me. That’s why I dissipated my scent.”
Using two fingers, he tilted Emma’s head upward until their eyes met. “Then you should have just told me you needed space. I would have understood and given it to you. Don’t scare me like that again.” When she nodded, he pulled her closer and brushed a kiss across her forehead.
Damien was satisfied when Emma settled, snuggling into his chest. He tried to make her rest by massaging her chilled extremities. Back and forth he rubbed, easing her tense muscles. Emma melted right into him, her eyelids starting to droop. Surrounding her with his arms, he pulled her even closer.
Turning a bit, she put her ear directly on his chest. Damien felt her stiffen for a second before easing again. Brushing his lips over the top of her head, he whispered, “Relax, Emma.” Within a few minutes, her breathing evened out. She was fast asleep.
The scent of vanilla and honey tickled his senses, making his bear lie down and rest for the first time in weeks. Relaxing, languid warmth invaded his body. The rough voice of his bear intruded on his thoughts. She’s ours. Mate.
Damien wasn’t surprised by the statement from his other half. It was abrupt but not unexpected. Some of the shifter species knew their mate on sight. The cats were notorious for having fate knock them over the head with the information. Bears were different.
Bear shifters had an actual separate animal that resided within them. The two shared the same body, with the human in control when they were in human form and their bear taking the lead when they shifted. They could communicate at will, and did so regularly, fighting and disagreeing just as often as they saw eye to eye.
Their bear halves were the only ones who could recognize their mates and they would tell their human halves whenever they felt like it. They were ornery that way. He knew of some couples who had been together for almost a year before the bear got around to informing them that the other was their mate. If the human half was wary of finding a mate, the bear tended to be sneaky and wait until they were ensnared before dropping the bomb on them, so to speak.
Damien had always wanted to find his mate. That was probably why his bear was being agreeable for once—his bear knew he wouldn’t object to something he had always yearned for. He had tried tricking fate once before about his mate, but sitting there with a sleeping Emma in his arms, he knew how wrong he had been. Nothing compared to the feeling of having his real mate in his arms. The rightness of it.
The mating explained his unexpected connection to her, a sizzling spark all-consuming in its intensity. He still had a lot to learn about his vixen but the sheer fact she was his mate calmed his curiosity a bit. Fate could be trusted, not once had he ever even heard of a couple mating and not falling for each other. They’ve always ended up perfectly matched.
If fate had given Emma to him, then they would figure it all out. Time was all they needed.
She’s not going to accept it easily. Complete understatement. She was used to doing things her own way and damn the consequences. She took on the ills of the world and gave too much of herself in the process. That was going to change and she wouldn’t like it, if their earlier conversation was any indication. She needed someone to balance out her giving nature, someone to take care of her. Love her.
As her mate, it was his responsibility to see to her health and well-being. The first thing to change would be her little habit of disappearing without telling anyone where she was going, and without a coat no less. With that little trick of hiding her scent, he couldn’t afford for her to run. If she really wanted to hide, he knew he wouldn’t be able to find her. So he’d have to be sneaky.
Her trust would have to be earned but he had to make her want to be with him. Not just because they were mates but because she cared about him. Emma would have to come to the decision to stay herself. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t urge her in that direction, though.
She was a part of the Clan now—she just didn’t know it yet. Ours. We’re not letting her go.
Agreed. His little vixen was in for the ride of her life. He wouldn’t tell her about them being mates, not yet. But he would do everything in his power to make her fall for him.
Hell, he was already head over heels when it came to her. He just had to make her feel the same way.
Game on.
* * * *
The scent of fresh coffee and jelly-filled donuts roused Damien from his comfortable slumber. He had woken earlier to his warm, soft blanket of a woman moving out of his arms. Thinking she was sneaking away, he would have moved and growled at her but she had reached down and brushed her bare hand against his forehead.
Content with the progress they were making, that being the first time she deliberately touched him, he’d let her think he was still asleep and unaware. Hearing the shower turn on, he had just fallen back into a peaceful slumber when a donut was waved underneath his nose. The delicate aroma of his favorite pastry woke him up in an instant.
“It’s about time you woke up, boy. I’m up earlier than you, and I slept in today.”
Grabbing the donut with a clawed hand, Damien rose to a sitting position and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Slept in, my ass. It is barely eight o’clock in the morning. Did Mom kick you out of bed?” At his father’s guilty look, Damien sighed and walked to the kitchen. Some things just couldn’t be dealt with before he’d had his first cup of coffee in the morning.
“You did something, didn’t you? That’s the only reason you ever come over here to steal my food. What’d you do this time? Please tell me you didn’t trample her garden again.” Last year his father had accidentally run over his mother’s garden with a backhoe. He’d groveled for two very long weeks before she’d forgiven him. A few hundred dollars’ worth of flowers, chocolate and a new garden had gotten him back in Stella’s good graces. That, and he had to promise to leave the heavy machinery to his sons.
Seeing his father rub the back of his neck, Damien stifled a grin. More than likely his father had done something to irritate her on purpose, because, as he put it, “I can’t resist her when she’s all worked up. She gets mad, then when she forgives me…we make up, all night long.”
“Ha, after the way she chewed me out the last time, I haven’t gotten up the nerve to be within ten feet of her garden. She had one of those pink fluffy sponge things in the bathroom and I may have accidentally used it to clean out the pipes under the sink,” Augustus replied while grabbing a mug out of
the cupboard.
“One of her loofahs?” Damien asked incredulously, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“I don’t know what she calls them. They’re great for getting the grime out of the pipes though. They squish up and fit right through the opening.”
Oh, yeah, his father did it on purpose. He knew what a loofah was and that it was the type of thing to piss his wife off. Just enough that she would forgive him quickly. He didn’t like having to wait long to make up. He was just hiding in Damien’s kitchen long enough that he wouldn’t be there when she stumbled upon the evidence.
His parents had always been a strange couple. Everyone in the Clan had been sure Stella would leave Augustus within the first year after she brought him home, mating be damned. But somehow, they fit each other, warts and all. They were a passionate couple. They passionately argued and they passionately made up. More than once an unsuspecting Clan member had stumbled on their ‘making up’. Damien had only had the pleasure once, when he was eight years old, and he still wished he could wipe the image from his brain.
When his parents had decided to retire, Damien’s mother had asked him to find a way to keep his father busy and out of trouble. There was nothing on the planet more troublesome than a bored bear, she’d said, especially one who had nothing better to do than drive his wife crazy. To keep the peace, Damien had asked his father to consult in the real estate branch of their businesses. It had been Augustus who had first noticed the connection between the ‘accidents’ and had suggested that Damien contact the Council to come in and help resolve the problem.
“So, we all saw the Jeep pull up the other day. The infamous Council members, eh? I’m glad you took my advice and contacted them.” They sat down across the table from each other. Augustus reached for the open box of donuts.
Damien took a sip of his coffee and grabbed another one of the frosted pastries. “It was time to bring them in. With their help, we should have this all resolved before the end of the month.”
Augustus swallowed a bite of his jelly-filled treat. “I covered for you and told the rest of the elders that they’re visiting business associates. Don’t know if they believe me. You’re going to blow that cover to bits if you walk around smelling like one of them, though, and wearing the same clothes two days in a row.” Augustus leaned close to Damien and took a dramatic sniff. “Vanilla and honey. Nice.”
Knowing it wouldn’t do any good to keep things from his father, Damien responded simply, “Her name is Emma and she’s my mate.”
Augustus laughed outright, almost choking on his donut. “A Council member? You never did like to do things the easy way. You’re going to have your hands full. I’m glad for you, though, son. We were hoping you would find her. Your mother’s going to want to meet her.”
Damien licked the chocolate off his fingers. If there was one person on the planet who would understand his situation, it would be his father. “You’ll both meet her but she doesn’t know she’s mine yet and I need to keep it that way for a while. She’s different. If I tell her now, she might run for the hills. I want us to get to know each other before I drop the mate bomb on her.”
Augustus grinned knowingly. “I understand. Your mother was the same way. She knew I was her mate and she ran for the hills, anyway. I had to track her halfway across the world to catch up with her.” Before walking to the front door, Augustus turned and pulled Damien into a quick hug. “Bring everyone over for dinner tomorrow night. Your sister will be there, too.”
“We’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it.”
Shutting the door behind his father, Damien reflected on how the last twenty-four hours had flipped his ordered world upside down and slapped him across the face with a new reality. Somehow acknowledging his mating out loud to his father had made it real. Tangible.
Last week he’d thought he’d be lucky if he ever found his mate, now he was a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of being mated to a Council member. She was unlike any other woman he’d ever known. Self-sufficient, she wasn’t dependent on him for anything. Didn’t necessarily need him.
If he was going to be a permanent part of her life, she had to want him to be there.
Wasn’t that what he had always wanted, though? Someone who wasn’t dependent on him, a woman who was confident enough in herself that she wouldn’t look to him to sustain her self-worth? A woman who had a mind of her own and wasn’t just after him for his status or his wealth.
A woman just like Emma.
She was a member of the Council and was sure to have enough of her own money that she wouldn’t care about his. From all appearances, she had everything going for her, except for the nosebleeds of course. Beauty, wealth, status, powers, she had it all. If anything, she was almost out of his league, not the other way around. He was going to have to give it his all if he was going to gain and keep her attention and affection.
This was the fight of his life, for Emma’s heart and their future.
As far as he was concerned, he had the upper hand. She had no idea what he had planned and he had enough determination to wear down her defenses. There would be no chance for her to avoid him. He would melt through her wall of ice one layer at a time.
* * * *
Emma pulled the edges of her sweater closer and leaned against the balcony railing. The sun was just peeking out through the trees, casting a soft orange glow over the surface of the lake. Below her, the Clan had just started to wake. She could smell the decadent aroma of pancakes and bacon drifting through the valley.
She had awoken a half-hour earlier to a soft snore next to her ear and long, brawny legs tangled with her own. His arms had clutched her to him, as though he thought she would run from him while he slept. Slowly, so as not to disturb him, she had disentangled herself and pushed out of his embrace. Reaching back down, she had pulled her right glove off and gently brushed a lock of his hair back from his forehead. He’d snorted a bit and grabbed the blanket tighter around him. Even thinking about it, she couldn’t help but crack a smile. Damien was a blanket hog.
With a hard mental slap Emma banished the image from her mind and forced back her smile. She couldn’t afford to start liking Damien, not yet. There were still too many questions to be answered. Sure, he seemed caring and generous the night before, cuddling with her and admitting she’d scared him. But it didn’t mean anything, no matter how much she wanted to read it as a sign that he could potentially want her. Until she had her answers she couldn’t risk being anything but professional and detached around Damien, which unfortunately meant she wouldn’t be spending any more nights in his arms.
She had slept peacefully the entire night in his arms. That was a feat in and of itself. Most nights she got three or four hours before the memories would crowd in, but she had slept undisturbed for nine hours, by her calculation. The headache she’d had the day before was now just a buzz in the back of her neck. Manageable and unobtrusive.
The balcony wrapped around the entire second floor, connecting all the rooms. It was wide enough that it had rocking chairs placed outside each room as well, the perfect place to sit back and watch the comings and goings of the Clan. The wooden posts had long scratches in them, deep grooves that cut straight into the aged wooden beams. Emma chuckled. One of the men must have marked their territory.
Noting possible entry points, Emma was pleasantly surprised that none of the trees around the house were close enough to provide access to the second floor. The balcony had a deep overhang, so it wouldn’t be easy to gain access to the roof, either. She could manage it if she had to. But it wouldn’t be easy.
There were three central buildings in the valley—the main house, the large garage where they kept all the Clan’s transportation and the recreation building that housed the meeting rooms, as well as the business components and mainframe. From her perch, she noticed each building had three sides visible to anyone in the valley, with the fourth side backed up into the surrounding forest. Typical shifter living, easily used wh
en in human or bear form, though not necessarily the most defensive layout since anyone could enter undetected through the trees. But then again, no one would ever expect someone to be dumb enough to attack a Clan of bears.
Only one access road came in and out of the valley, if you were planning to use a Jeep. She would have to ask, but she was betting there were at least four or five other easy ways out of the valley if you were on foot, or in animal form.
The surrounding mountains provided a bit of coverage and the overall layout wasn’t the worst she’d seen in terms of defensibility from outside intruders. But whoever was sabotaging them wasn’t coming from the outside. They were on the inside.
This wouldn’t be some amateur criminal. Her guess, they practiced in another location and got a feel for crime before attempting any of the ‘accidents’ on Damien’s territory. She wouldn’t be surprised if they’d had a mentor show them how to pull the accidents off. Someone with a keen knowledge of shifters. The skills they were using weren’t learned within the Clan.
Hatred like that couldn’t be concealed for long and there must have been a trigger point for it to start in the first place. Which meant it was time to meet the rest of the Clan and start subtly collecting information on everyone. It would be a throwback to the old days, before they had taken over as the Council. Each of her sisters had been given a few years of downtime, where they had been allowed to explore and do things on their own before becoming full-fledged Council members. Emma had taken her time and had become an investigator for hire.
Those four years had taken her from Mesopotamia all the way to indigenous tribes in what was now considered Australia and South America. She had learned how to mingle with the upper-class nobility with finesse, as well as how to throw back a few with lower-class workers.
Manipulation, for lack of a nicer term. Her specialty. The games were somewhat distasteful but necessary to obtain information in her line of work. Vampires, witches, warlocks, shifters, merfolk, dragonai and humans were all a part of her training in those years.