by Ashlee Sinn
Mated. What an interesting word. Until now, I would have thought that word simply meant being monogamous. But it was clear that it meant something totally different to a shifter. And to be honest, that didn’t scare me at all. If I’d just bonded myself to Major for the rest of my life, I was more than happy about it.
I thought about our time in bed last night and this morning and felt a rush of blood run to my sex. It tingled and I wondered briefly if he could make me come just by thinking about him. If Major could spark that kind of reaction in me the rest of my life, then sign me up. I was sold, done, cooked and ready to go. He had me and that felt wonderful.
Up ahead, the path cleared into a small meadow. The frost from the night before sparkled in the light, and as I crouched down to take some photos, I caught the hot breath of a deer in the distance. It was a doe, all by herself. I quickly switched out my lenses and watched as she seemed to ignore me. When I zoomed in on her, I noticed the gash above her right front leg. It didn’t look liked it bothered her too much but I winced in pain for her.
The fog started to clear, making me move to the edge to get a better shot. But just as I did, the doe froze, ears twitching back and forth. She turned her head to something behind her and then leaped into the air higher than I would have thought possible and took off at a full run. Something had spooked her, but as I checked out the other side of the meadow, I saw nothing. So, I continued walking through it, imagining how beautiful it must be in the summer with all of the wildflowers and wild green grasses.
At the far side, the path began to weave through the pines again but just a few yards in, there was an overlook off to the left. I stepped out onto the small clearing, being sure not to get too close to the edge this time. The ground below me sloped down into a small ravine, but it wasn’t nearly as steep or rocky. The eagle called overhead and I lifted my camera to get another fabulous shot. The sun had just started to crest over the closest mountain and I captured the exact image I wanted.
Sucking in a deep breath of the fresh, country air, I had to take a second to pinch myself. Was I really here? In this beautiful place with unlimited landscapes and with a beautiful man that had captured my heart in one day? I couldn’t stop smiling. I loved everything about Alaska and I was never going to leave.
I looked down to pick the best photos with the eagle when the bird cried out again. I lifted my head to see where he’d flown, but couldn’t spot him. I stepped forward, again, being careful of the edge and turned to look behind me. And that’s when I felt it.
A sharp, side-splitting pain that tore my body in half. I dropped my camera at the same time I heard the snap of a gunshot. The pain took my breath away and for a moment I couldn’t even identify where I’d been hit. And then the warm, sticky sensation of blood filled my palms. Without thinking, I’d wrapped my arms around my stomach when I’d first felt the pain, and now I realized that’s where I’d been shot.
I’d been shot.
The crunch of frosted leaves drew my fading attention back toward the pines where a man with a rifle and dressed in camouflage stepped forward. His face was shadowed by the bill of the hat he wore, but I could see evil in those eyes.
“You…you shot me.”
“Shifters ain’t right and they need to die.”
I felt myself slipping. “But I’m not…” I coughed and blood dripped from my mouth. Had he hit a lung? “I’m not a shifter,” I whispered.
The man swung the rifle around and up on his left shoulder. On the other side, his right hand pulled out a revolver and he aimed it at me. My vision narrowed on his hand. Everything around me turned black except for that gun and again, I felt like I started to fall.
“All shifters must die,” he repeated and then he pulled the trigger.
My body plunged backward as I slipped over the edge. I fell through the air, my leg staying upright just long enough that another bullet shattered my femur. It should have hurt worse than it did, but I knew it was because I was dying and had already lost a lot of blood.
And when my back slammed into the sloped ground a few feet below and I started sliding down the mountain, I mourned the life that I was about to lose. I didn’t want to leave Major. I wanted to survive and have babies with him and spend our entire lives together.
My side collided with a tree, breaking my ribs. But the impact slowed me down, and a few seconds later, I’d slid to a stop underneath a large pine. It was hard to get air now. My stomach ached, my ribs burned, and my head throbbed from the multiple hits.
I could just barely see the outcropping I’d stopped on, and the man with the guns was on it. He was searching for me, gun pointed. And when he started to turn his head in my direction, I mustered up all the strength I could and forced my body to inch toward the covering a little bit more. A few feet in and I couldn’t see the man anymore. I hoped that if I couldn’t see him, then he couldn’t see me, because if he took one more shot, I knew I’d be dead.
“Major,” I whispered to the air, “please don’t let me die.”
I couldn’t stand my date. Diana was the textbook definition of a groupie. So were the other ladies but the rest of the guys didn’t seem to care as much. That was because they didn’t have a Fiona.
Smiling at the memories of last night and this morning, I didn’t hear Diana until she nudged my shoulder. “Are you going to pay attention to me?” she snapped. “You know I donated a lot of money to have you on this date.”
Pushing down a growl, I forced a smile and remembered that this was for Julia and the ISC. “I’m sorry. Just distracted today.”
Zane laughed and wiggled his brows at me, knowing exactly what had me so distracted. I just shook my head and pretended to care about Diana’s social media followers, her blog about shifters, and whatever other story she wanted to share.
Seth seemed genuinely interested in his date, as did the other wolves. Zane was the center of attention as always, his girl swooning over his every word. In fact, with the way she couldn’t stop touching him, I wondered if they’d started their date the night before.
I’d just taken a sip of my tea when something caught my attention outside the window. There, sitting on a lamppost and looking directly at me, sat a large bald eagle. He had to stand at least three feet tall but it wasn’t his impressive height that captured my attention. No, this eagle had eyes that spoke words…almost like a shifter.
As I watched him, he screamed at me. Not just once, but twice, and then he spread his wings and soared over the parking lot back toward my cabin. Just then something twitched in my gut. A pain I’d felt only once before and it instantly made me nauseous. I dropped my mug and pushed back in my chair, plates clattering at my abrupt behavior. When I stood, the other shifters in the room immediately when on the defensive.
“What’s wrong?” Seth asked, smelling like his wolf.
“I…I don’t know.” I squeezed my head between my hands and tried to will the pain away. “I think it’s Fiona. Something’s wrong with Fiona.”
“Who’s Fiona?” my date asked with an attitude.
Zane jumped to his feet and threw down his napkin. “Where is she?”
“At my place,” I said, already jumping to my feet.
“I’ll go,” Derrick said when Seth stood. “You need to stay here for the fundraiser.”
“Are you sure?” he asked Derrick, with a quick glance at Julia.
Derrick nodded but said, “Keep an eye out.”
I started running for the door, Derrick and Zane following closely behind. Derrick already had his phone glued to his ear.
“You guys don’t need to come,” I said, not really agreeing with that statement.
“We do,” Zane said and he pulled me toward his truck. “You’re going to shift any second and you can’t do that while driving. We’ll get you there. You, get in here.” He pointed to the bed of his truck and I didn’t argue.
My heart twisted in pain, that same damn pain that tore me apart when I lost Annie. “No!
” I roared, the tiger already at the surface.
“Just stay in the truck, man!” Zane peeled out of the gravel parking lot and gunned it back to my place. Derrick still had the phone to his ear, but when my stomach roiled again, I let the tiger lose.
Busting through my clothes, he exploded out of my skin and landed hard against the metal bed. We barely fit in the truck, and when Zane swerved off the road and quickly back on, we almost toppled over. Zane cursed as I caught his gaze in the rearview mirror then pushed the pedal down and gunned it even faster. I lifted my head in the air, scenting and searching for her. But we were still ten miles away from the cabin.
What if she left?
The tiger voiced the thought I didn’t want in my brain. Fiona wouldn’t leave. She said she wanted to stay. She said she loved us.
Something crashed in the woods next to the road. We only had a few more miles to go, but my hackles rose when I sensed another nearby. My roar was answered with another call—the screech of a cougar shifter. Derrick must have called Calvin and I was grateful to have his help right now. He knew these forests better than any of us.
I watched the tan cat dart in and out of the shadows. He ran parallel to the road, high above us along a ridge. And when Zane whipped the truck down my driveway, Calvin burst through the trees and sprinted behind the dust.
In the air, I caught her scent. It was faded, like she hadn’t been here in a while but when I saw her orange truck still parked next to the cabin, a small wave of relief helped me focus again. I jumped from the bed, flying through the air and rolling when I hit the ground. Once back on all fours, I darted to the cabin and busted through the front door. But the space was empty and my growls went unanswered.
“She’s not in here?” Zane asked. He’d stripped off his shirt and I notice a large brown grizzly pacing on the porch behind him.
I shook my head and then bounded into the bedroom where Fiona had pulled the sheets up over the pillows but where the smell of sex overpowered my nose. Smelling her here like this tore another hole through my gut.
“She couldn’t have gone too far,” Zane said from the kitchen.
I brushed past him and walked out the front door, nose to the ground. Calvin and Derrick, in their animal forms, did the same thing. I found her scent and followed it around to the back of the cabin. She’d chosen one of my trails. And even though I wanted her to stay inside all day, at least I knew this piece of land and that gave me some comfort.
With a chuff to the others, I took off at a sprint. I could hear the three of them behind me, Zane’s grizzly making the most noise. At first I wanted to tell him to be quiet, but then I realized maybe Fiona would hear us and say something.
When we reached the meadow, I slowed. Her trail weaved in and out of the designated path, like she’d been following something. But by the time we reached the far side, she was back on the trail. Okay, I was going to find her. She couldn’t have gone too far.
Calvin suddenly jumped in front of me and stopped me from going any further. Nudging him with my head, anger raced through me when he stood his ground. I stared him down and showed my teeth. He bowed his head, but didn’t move. Zane came up beside me and watched the interaction. Calvin’s tail swished back and forth, a feral growl slipping from his fangs. But his aggression wasn’t aimed at me, and fortunately Zane had a clear enough head to see that.
Derrick whimpered from somewhere behind me at the same time Zane shifted back into a human. With his hands spread out to each side, he bravely stepped between us. “Whoa, guys. What’s going on here?”
Calvin flicked his ears to the side when I stomped my feet and kicked up the dirt around us. Derrick caught his sign and sprinted out into the meadow as though tracking something else. While Calvin and I continued our stare-off, Derrick let out a roar that sent every instinct of mine on alert. He'd found something. Oh no, he’d found Fiona.
I started after him, but the second I reached the grasses, he walked onto the path on two feet. In his hand, he was holding a dark green ball cap. “I found this,” he said. “It smells like lead.”
“Like it belongs to a hunter?” Zane clarified.
When Derrick nodded, I pounced over to him and ripped the hat from his hands. I took in the scent and then went back to the trail to find Fiona. A few hundred yards back into the pines, her scent abruptly stopped. Circling around several times, I tried to find it again. Calvin chuffed to get my attention and when I looked, he jerked his chin to the left.
But the ground drops away, my tiger told me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to push the bile back down into my stomach. If Fiona fell, I would never forgive myself for going on that stupid date. Pushing past Calvin, I darted out onto the ledge, and there my feet slowed to a crawl. Fiona’s camera lay on the mossy rock ledge, the lens cracked and the fabric strap soaking up the blood pooling beneath it.
No! No! No!
I cried into the air, my scream echoing in the valley and scaring the birds nearby. Fuck no! Without a care, I stuck my nose right against the puddle of blood and tasted it. Fiona’s blood. And only her blood. God dammit, where was she?
Zane was already following a scent trail down the side of the mountain and I trusted his nose to help lead us to her. So, I wiggled back on my hind legs and jumped out over the ledge. I didn’t care how far the fall was. My tiger was strong and agile and scared to death that he’d lost his mate. I landed hard, my leg muscles protesting the decision. After flipping around several times, I rolled up to my feet and continued running down the hill. The boys were all following behind, but I knew I was the one who had to find her first. I couldn’t have them holding me back from witnessing the worst-case scenario.
I jumped over a large boulder and as I flew through the air, I found her scent again. Scrambling back up the hill a few feet, my nose pressed against the frozen ground, scraping my skin away. I couldn’t feel it though because I knew I was close. With another ferocious roar, I called out to her. And then, ever so faintly, I heard my name.
Whipping my head around, I bounded down the hill, sliding in the piles of rotting leaves and pine needles. Ahead of me grew a large pine, larger than most around it. And underneath the lowest boughs, Fiona lay there twisted like a rag doll.
“No!” I screamed, instantly shifting back to human. “Fiona, no!”
The boys crashed in the woods around me, their large animal bodies snapping sticks until they’d all changed too. I fell to my knees just as they arrived and I cradled her head in my lap. Leaning forward, I listened for breath and checked her pulse. At first I couldn’t hear it, but then I felt the blessed heartbeat in her neck.
“She’s still alive,” I shouted at everyone. “We need to get her back to the road.”
Calvin knelt next to me and lifted Fiona’s leg.
“Is that a gun shot?” I asked.
He nodded and started to pull back her jeans from the injury. As he did, blood poured out onto his hands, spurting with each beat of her heart but slowing down right in front of our eyes. “Major, the artery is severed,” Calvin said softly.
“No!” I screamed. Then I took a breath and assessed the rest of her injuries. Her arms were crossed over her stomach and I gently lifted them to the side. They were so cold and so pale, I almost lost my mind. But I needed to stay focused to save her and to do that, I needed to know what other injuries she might have. Her light blue pullover was stained a dark purple from her sternum to her hips. I unzipped the jacket and gasped when I saw the size of the hole the bullet had ripped through her stomach.
“Shit,” Zane muttered. “Major…I don’t think she can survive—”
“Fuck you!” I yelled up at him. “She can survive this!”
“Major…” Calvin said and I started to shake my head.
“No! There must be something we can do. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose another mate.” Not caring that they were all watching, I sobbed uncontrollably against Fiona’s forehead. She remained limp and I
got zero indication that she even knew we were here.
Derrick cleared his throat and rested his hand on my shoulder. “There might be something you can do,” he whispered, the hesitation evident in the way he could barely push out the words.
Our eyes met and suddenly it all clicked. I knew exactly what he was thinking.
And I couldn’t do that.
“Derrick, no. I can’t!”
Calvin and Zane looked confused as Derrick and I discussed something unknown to them. Derrick sat on the ground and gently rubbed Fiona’s hair. I didn’t stop him even though she was mine.
“It will be the only chance she has,” he said.
“It will kill her,” I breathed.
“It will give her a shot at living.”
“Living?” I shouted. “Living? If I put my tiger inside of her, it will rip her apart from the inside! Her body will fight it and the consequences would be worse than the death she’s facing right now.”
“Have you done this before, Major?” Calvin, ever observant and astute, easily picked up on my hesitation.
I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. But when Derrick started to speak, I let him tell my story. “He tried to save Annie. She asked him to. Begged him to make her a tiger so she could fight off the cancer.”
“And it didn’t work!” I growled through my tears. “It didn’t work.”
“It didn’t work because she was sick. Her body wasn’t strong like Fiona’s.”
I looked down at the blood pouring from her leg and stomach and gave Derrick a look like I thought he was crazy.
Understanding flashed over his face. “Fiona is injured, yes. But she is not riddled with tumors and weakened from chemotherapy. If you give her your tiger right now, she will have a shot at healing.”
Zane stepped forward and focused his wide eyes on all of us. “Major, you can’t. It never works.”