Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  It takes minutes to reach town, and I ignore the burn in my lungs as I follow Banner and Flame, my feet sounding like drums on the road the harder I run.

  We make it to the town’s small clinic faster than should be possible and burst into the reception where the staff are already in a frenzy of activity.

  “Give her here! Logan, restrain him, we need to take her!” Althea shouts, the gurney she’s pushing hitting me in the legs.

  Logan obeys, tackling me when Dad lunges and grabs Mika, his big frame slamming me to the floor when I snarl and try to get back to my mate. I am wild and savage, kicking, hitting, biting.

  My wolf is out of control now. All he wants is to get back to her, but I know, and maybe that’s all it takes, that I need to let her go for now so that she can live.

  Somehow I get control, going still beneath Logan after retracting my teeth.

  “You good?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. Shit man, I think you need stitches.”

  He laughs, getting to his feet to help me up and looks down at his arm where I bit a chunk of his flesh free.

  “It’ll heal. Mika and Gretch need all the help they can get.”

  Nodding, I follow him into a little waiting area and turn just as Dad and Mom arrive, her face ravaged by tears when she runs over and throws herself into my arms.

  “Oh Bear!”

  “It’s okay, Mom. She’s going to make it,” I soothe, the words clogging my throat.

  Dad comes over and enfolds us both, and it’s then that I realize I’m crying, silent tears flowing freely down my cheeks. A few weeks ago, I would have been so resentful that I could feel this way, this vulnerable, but now I relish it. I love the fact that I have found someone who is so integral to me that I cannot live without her.

  It’s scary and part of me is terrified to need Mika this badly, but another part, the greater part of me who got to know her little by little over the last few months is happy and knows that this is right.

  All the running I did, the excuses and the pain I caused her are over. From the moment I let myself touch her and that bond clicked into place for me she became my all.

  I won’t live without her. I know that. And maybe that is the reason why I fought it so hard because I know that if she dies tonight I won’t live to see the dawn. Fuck going feral, no part of me wants life if it doesn’t include Mika waking up to me and loving me every day.

  If she still loves me.

  Christ, it shames me to remember the way I handled myself and all the nasty shit I said to her. Even worse, I can’t believe I actually tried to force her to accept the Hannah situation and ask her to be my friend.

  There’s a lot to make up for, and I honestly don’t know if it’s even possible to earn Mika’s forgiveness, but I will kill myself trying to do just that and spend an eternity proving to her that I love her.

  “Stop crying, son. We have to stay strong and thinking the worst isn’t going to help anyone. How is Meek?” Mom asks, disengaging from me to go over and kiss Logan.

  Of course, she sees his arm and throws me a fuming glare before stalking off only to come back with bandages and antiseptic. Logan grins, his green eyes going wide when Mom shoves him into a seat and grabs his arm.

  His hiss when she dumps the liquid on the wound makes Dad’s mouth twitch, but he holds himself together and accepts her coddling until he’s taken care of and sporting a snow-white bandage.

  “Mika is still with the doctors. We haven’t heard anything, but you guys got here so fast I’m not surprised. Haven’t heard anything about Gretchen yet, and Flame hasn’t come out, not that I think he will. He’ll gore anyone who so much as suggests he leave his mate,” I say, sitting down wearily.

  “Well, that’s to be expected. Your father says she was bleeding? Oh Lord, I hope the young is okay,” she sniffles, swiping at her eyes.

  “Hush Priss, don’t think the worst before it happens, baby. Flame blooded her before we moved them. We can only pray we got there in time,” Dad says, his eyes going hard when they land on me and Logan where we’re sitting shoulder to shoulder.

  “Clarke called. They found a hollowed-out part of the mountain. They thought it was a cave at first, but when they looked closer, it seems as if it was tunneled out by hand. The place is riddled with claw marks. They picked up the girls’ scents there, as well as the same masked scents we’ve been tracking the last few weeks.”

  Logan grunts, biting his lip and gets that contemplative look in his eyes.

  “That suggests months of foreplaning.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “You think they planned this so well they carved that place out by hand? That would have been a lot of work and pain.”

  A hell of a lot of pain at least. As shifters, no matter what breed, we have enhanced senses, strength and healing. Sometimes a family will have an ability, something that is in their blood and passes on from generation to generation, but even if those shifters were stronger, faster, and capable of super-abilities, clawing through rock is no picnic.

  These assholes are either super-human, super-shifter, or they are many. Since I have yet to see anyone that strong, I’m thinking that there are a lot of them, and knowing this, it confuses me as to how they’re getting by us undetected.

  No shifter can mask scent, no matter what they do. The only thing that can put a shifter off a scent is careful footwork like using rocks to stand on which isn’t that effective or using water.

  These guys have found a way to mask most of their natural scent to the point that shifters can’t smell them coming or what breed they are.

  That’s the weird part; how do they do it?

  “Painful but doable in big numbers,” Logan says, leaning his head back against the wall. “That doesn’t explain how they got around without being seen though. Scent is one thing, but the noise they’d make would be unavoidable.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking that too. Besides, how do they mask their scent in the first place? And what the fuck do they want?” I snarl, looking down at my hands where Mika’s blood cakes my fingers.

  Mom snuggles closer to Dad, the impact of it all making her pale and shake her head.

  “Thank God we sent Jules away. If we could have, I would have had Mika follow, but Jules is still doing poorly after her run in with that cougar a few weeks ago and Mika refused her blood.”

  “That’s why she’s not here? I thought she went away to school.”

  Dad gives me an amused look and Logan chuckles, rolling his eyes.

  “Your sister barely got through high school, man. You think she’d want to study more?”

  “No, I guess not. Where’d she go?”

  “To Tobias and Nell. They’ve got her staying in the mountains in that trailer park of theirs.” Mom giggles.

  We all join in a little, forgetting for a second that things are dire.

  “Can you just see that spoiled little female in a trailer that’s barely clinging to the mountain with countless hillbilly wolves to keep her company? The last time one of Tobi’s sons hit on her, she hit right back. Over and over,” Mom says, smiling proudly.

  Leave it to my prissy little sister to have a violent temper inside that tiny body.

  “She’ll want us to call her if…” she stops, burying her face in Dad’s chest while she sobs loudly. “Oh Nicky, our little girl is hurt.”

  “Hush now, Priss. Mika is going to be okay. Bear got to her on time and she’s a strong girl,” he soothes.

  “I know, but she’s had so much bad happen to her. And you! I hope this is finally the last straw with your new-age attitude. You finally got rid of Hannah, thank you God, since I could hardly get through dinner some nights, but you’re dragging your feet mating Mika.”

  “Because she wants to kill his ass.” Logan snorts, earning himself a glare.

  “She has every right to be pissed at me, and I’ve promised myself I’ll woo her. You know I’ve been fixing the house so that she can come home to a new start
for us.”

  “Well, your father will help you, and once she’s healthy and healed you take her home! I’ve tried to give you time, and by God I even tried to tell myself that if you don’t love Mika she’s better off loving someone else, but this is the limit! She is your mate, and she deserves the respect of having her Fated care for her and mate her properly.”

  I smile while she’s mid rant, ignoring Logan and his shaking shoulders and Dad’s twitching lips while mom gives me what for. By the time she winds down enough to shake a finger at me admonishingly, I know that she’s still strong enough to box my ears and she wants grandbabies!

  “Calm down, Mom. It’s going to happen. Just as soon as these doctors come out here and give me my breath back by saying she’s okay.”

  That makes Mom’s lip tremble into a smile, and she huffs, grinning shamelessly at Logan.

  “I’ll bet you’re going to miss that baking.”

  “Not in this lifetime. My baby doll will still spoil me.”

  “She’s my mate.”

  “And she is my best friend, asshole, so watch your step. I’d be nicer to me. You’re gonna need my help to convince that female not to cut your balls off before you’re even in the gate.”

  I snort, knowing he’s right, and lean back to wait on some news. It takes forever, and Dad has made no less than eight cups of undrunk coffee before Flame comes out to greet us, his eyes red rimmed but joyous.

  “She’s doing okay.”

  “And the young?” Mom asks, kissing his cheek and giving him a bear hug.

  Flame swallows, looking away and blinking rapidly before sighing and swiping at his eyes.

  “The little boy made it but…but there was a girl we didn’t know about. She, uh, she didn’t make it,” he whispers in a grief-stricken voice.

  “Oh fuck, bro…” I breathe, grabbing him into my chest. “I’m so sorry.”

  He shudders, taking long seconds to pull himself together and pulls back to look at us all. I see his grief and the anger he’s trying to hide, but under that, I see the joy and relief that he didn’t lose them all.

  It’s no consolation, but it’s more than either of us expected.

  “That female of yours saved my life, man. I owe her everything. If it wasn’t for her, Gretch wouldn’t have made it at all and I’d be burying three of my loved ones instead of one. She got the gun Logan gave her to Gretchen, so they could get away and she carried her for miles before her body gave in,” he whispers, the gratitude in his eyes making my heart burst with pride for my mate.

  “Gretchen told you that?”

  “Yeah. She says she started going into labor when they were running, but Mika was rock solid. Kept her going until she couldn’t go anymore and then refused to leave her behind and save herself. She killed herself trying to save my mate and young, and I won’t ever forget that. We’re naming our boy Mikhail, our way of honoring the debt we owe her.”

  “Oh Flame, honey, that is so sweet. Mika will be pleased,” Mom says hoarsely, smiling through her tears. “How is Gretchen? She must be devastated.”

  He nods, but I see him gather himself and pull his strength around him.

  “We’re going to be fine. This hurts, but we’re just grateful for this blessing and we’ll get through this together, with our son. How is Mika? Any word yet?”

  “Not yet. You know Althea. She’ll only come out once she’s completely sure of what to tell us,” I say, scrubbing at my neck. “Tell Gretchen we’re here for her too, and congratulations man, you’re a father.”

  Flame grins, his face lighting up when he starts telling Mom and Dad all about his perfect son. He stays for a few minutes to keep us company and then leaves, his need for his family strong.

  “Christ, I really, really want to kill those assholes. Painfully,” Logan grates, his eyes going light with anger. “That poor little girl.”

  I grunt, my own anger rising and agree fully. Those assholes aren’t doing this again. The next time they set foot on pack land we’ll rip them apart—and I’ll enjoy every minute of it.

  I don’t know all that happened to the females, not yet, but hearing Flame say that Mika was whipped makes me violent with fury.

  Someone is going to die. It may take a while, but I will find this fucker, and when I do, I will make him beg for death.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Meek

  My eyes feel heavy as lead when I try to open them, but I am happy as hell that when I pause to assess my body I feel nothing of the pain that drove me to pass out.

  I know I am no longer outside in the woods because I smell antiseptic, linen, and that weird cottony smell that I now associate with medical bandages, compliments of my wolf smell sense.

  Coming awake slowly, I force my eyes open, wanting to know where I am and more importantly where Gretchen is.

  Oh God, I need to know that she’s okay and that her baby made it, I think, feeling my eyes tear up.

  The first thing I see when my eyes blink open is white sheets and tubes running from my arm. The second is a dark head shoved against my right thigh, the color and silkiness letting me know immediately who it is even if my nose didn’t.

  Bear.

  God, am I ready to see him? I ask myself, closing my eyes and breathing deep. My chest aches a little but is nowhere near the pain of before, and I am able to steady my breathing that went nuts when I saw him and collect myself before sliding a hand onto his shoulder and shaking softly.

  “Bear. Bear, wake up.”

  He grunts, snuffling and cuddling closer, his nose buried in the space where my thigh meets the bed. Having him this close is torture of the sweet kind, a thrill that leaves my heart beating happily before I huff and slap his back.

  He rears up, blinking groggily and pouts when he sees my narrowed eyes.

  “What are you doing here? How did I get here? Where is Gretchen? Please tell me she’s okay because if not you might as well just start lying because I will die if she’s not,” I say, scowling when he smiles and chuckles deeply.

  “You’re awake.”

  “Duh,” I mumble, trying to pull my hand back when he takes it and starts kissing my palm.

  The sensation is too nice, too intimate, and not at all what I need right now. Okay, that’s a lie.

  I feel like shit, but I could probably have rough sex right now and not complain because it’s Bear and he’s touching me! Voluntarily.

  Which is great. But suspicious.

  “I mean that I am so glad you’re awake because you’ve been asleep so long I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t come around at all.”

  That gives me pause, and I let it sink in that I am awake, alive, and apparently healing well. I mean, I don’t feel great. It’s not as if I’m running a marathon any time soon.

  Okay, part of that is because I am lazy and running again is not one of my fondest wishes. I’ve had enough for a while.

  But I am alive, people! Me. The girl who had a busted balloon for a lung and a meaty blob for a face.

  Oh my God, my face!

  “Is it healed? Do I look okay? If I don’t, I will hunt down that baboon and use that whip on his ugly mug.”

  Bear laughs and squeezes my hand, shocking the hell out of me again when he leans down to kiss my cheek sweetly.

  “Don’t worry, lenia, you’re all back to your beautiful self. As for the,” he laughs again, “baboon, we haven’t found him or his cohorts yet. We’re still looking though.”

  “I sort of figured if you guys found us that they would have stopped coming after us. How’d you get to us by the way?”

  “The storm. Logan saw the storm and knew it was you,” he says, looking away tensely. “It really sucked having to see he knows you so much better than I do.”

  Oh Christ, are we back on the friends train again? I told this guy…

  “Because he cares about me, and we spend time together,” I say, pulling my hand back. “You found Gretch? How is she?”

  “She
’s fine.” He frowns when I won’t let him take my hand but backs off and takes his seat. “She had the baby.”

  “Oh God, thank you! I was so scared she was losing him. There was so much blood, and she’d been in labor for a while. I actually thought it was going too fast—”

  “Shifters tend to have quick labors, Mika. The female’s body would want to heal fast, so the labor progresses faster than a human woman’s would. Gretchen would have had that young in the woods if not—”

  “If not what?” I press, my suspicions rising. “Are they okay? Really? Why is your face like that? What are you hiding?”

  He shifts in the chair, looking away and then meeting my eyes with a sadness that makes my heart sink.

  “The running and strain made her bleed and that stopped labor. Her body was focused on healing her instead of getting the babies out—”

  “You said babies,” I say quickly, my chest going tight. “There were two? But Gretchen said it was a boy and—”

  “And a little girl, lenia. No, don’t cry,” he says desperately, standing to pull me to his chest.

  I can’t help it. I love babies, and I worked so hard to make it as far as we could, and now it’s all just—

  “The little boy is doing well, as is Gretchen, who is just glad to be alive and have her son, Mika. Don’t cry, lenia. Hush. It’s sad, but these things happen, sweetheart. It’s a blessing that you all survived at all. You saved them and yourself, Mika,” he says softly, rubbing my back when I cry and sniffle into his shirt.

  This is not sad; it’s a crime. That poor little thing would have been a great surprise and an extra blessing to her parents if those baboons had just left us alone. We’d have walked to get berries, found nothing, and gone home where I’d have tempted Gretch with some muffins and watched Housewives with her.

  Flame would have come get her later and pampered her at home, and she’d have carried them to term and had a little girl she wasn’t expecting but would have adored.

  Knowing that it was taken away from her makes my heart hurt, as does the knowledge that I should have moved faster and ignored my pain. I will never forget this as long as I live, and knowing me, I won’t let this go.