by Jenika Snow
She lay on her belly as euphoria surrounded her, as she felt contentment claim her. Her neck throbbed in the places they’d bitten her, but it felt good, like she belonged to something. She knew it wasn’t just about ownership, because a part of her—the wolf part—owned them as well. It was the way of their kind.
God, that still sounds so strange.
Her skin was slick with perspiration, her emotions still on edge. But with each passing second she felt herself relax.
They flanked her, wrapping their arms around her waist and pulling her close. Ruby’s whole body felt alive. Her pussy and ass ached, but it wasn’t a horrible sensation.
“Mate,” Stanis growled out that declaration, and then the other two did the same. They each kissed her softly, and she found herself falling asleep.
“You’re ours, mate.” Malachi was the one to speak.
“Ours until we draw our last breath,” Casis said.
And she was. Nothing and no one would ever change that.
Chapter Fourteen
Ruby had only slept for a short time before she was awoken by her need to bring closure to everything. She was worried about Clint, even if he’d left her in that tunnel. She’d told Casis, Stanis, and Malachi she could handle this, but being dominant and stubborn they’d insisted on coming with her. But now that she’d allowed her inner wolf to come forward, her senses were alive. She could see clearly although the caves were pitch black. She could also hear extraordinarily well, smell the slightest scents. Right now she was searching for Clint.
Stopping when she came to a fork in the tunnels, she closed her eyes and listened, inhaled deeply, and picked up the faint scent of Clint in the left tunnel. It was insane that her senses were this heightened, but then again after all she’d learned in the last twenty-four hours this revelation was probably the least shocking.
She scented his confusion, and knew he was lost within these tunnels. She could also scent beneath that, his perseverance, his need to push forward, to find what he was still looking for.
“This way,” she said more to herself even if her three mates were behind her. They let her lead, let her track and figure this out. Ruby needed to do this on her own, because this was a part of her life.
She followed the tunnel for about twenty minutes, took a left, and then a sharp right, and continued to descend down it for another hour. But the time seemed faster because she had speed on her side, the shifter side of her making the journey swift. And then she saw Clint, the small cavern he was in confined, dark, and his only light coming from the fading lamp he’d had in the beginning. He was pacing, not realizing she was ten feet from him. Ruby held her hand out to stop her mates from approaching any further. She needed to do this on her own.
“Clint,” she said his name softly, and he swiveled around so fast the lamp knocked down and went out momentarily. In the darkness she saw perfectly, could see his frightened expression, his wide eyes, and scent the fear come from him.
“It’s me, Clint,” she said again, and slowly that fear changed to recognition.
“Ruby?” he asked, and then breathed out roughly, relief filling him. “I thought you were seriously hurt. I got lost, am lost.” He was stuttering, but amidst all of that he was still so determined to find what he was looking for. He reached for the lamp, feeling around on the ground, and finally picking it up. But the battery was dead, and the cavern continued to be pitch black. But she’d come prepared, knowing she’d find him.
Holding the small lamp in her hand, she turned it on. It was not powerful like the one Clint had possessed, but it gave off enough light they could see about five feet in front of them. She stared at him, saw his eyes were still wide, his chest still rising and falling rapidly.
“You’re okay?” she asked, even though she scented he wasn’t hurt.
Clint nodded. “Are you?”
“I’m fine, no thanks to you,” she said, surprised at her annoyance rising in her. “You left me back there when you knew I was hurt.” Ruby just spat out the words. She was okay, safe, and now she wanted answers.
Clint scrubbed a hand over his face and looked down, a war waging inside of him. “I did, and I’m so sorry. My need to find proof overrode everything. It was wrong, so very wrong, and I hope you can forgive me.” He took a step closer. “But you’re okay, so everything is all right. We can get out of here together.”
“You don’t care about the proof anymore?” she asked, skeptical.
He didn’t answer for long seconds. “Of course I care, but without a team I understand that’s impossible. I have no more supplies, my light source is gone, and I just want to get out of this mountain and regroup.”
He took another step closer, but then stopped, his eyes widening again.
She knew he now saw Stanis, Casis, and Malachi behind her. Ruby could feel their heat, their presence. They were on guard with Clint, even if he was “only human”.
“I…” Clint stuttered out.
“We have some things to discuss,” she said calmly.
All he did was nod, because really, what else could he say to all of this?
****
It was an hour later and Clint sat there in silence, his shock filling the room like the smell of wet paint. It probably wouldn’t have taken so long for her to explain what had happened in such a short amount of time, but he’d asked a lot of questions, and she’d explained everything in detail, at least what she knew.
“This is all—”
“Crazy? Impossible? Can’t be true?” She threw out a few suggestions, and Clint nodded.
“All of that and more.” He glanced at her three mates again, Stanis, Casis, and Malachi standing back, not saying a word, but their entire beings ready. She didn’t know if they thought Clint was really a threat, or if their protectiveness and readiness were all part of being mated. She knew she felt closer to them, not just on a physical level, obviously, but also on an emotional level. She was drawn to them, and the only explanation she could come up with was the fact fate, destiny, hell, some higher power, made it so they were meant to be together.
“So, do you understand everything I’m saying?”
Clint didn’t answer her for long seconds, and she could see his mind was working. “Are you talking about the fact those three … shifters are your mates, that you’re the same as them, or that there is an entire species of humans that can turn into creatures?”
“I’m talking about the fact you can’t take any samples out of here, Clint.” She’d known this man for years, and had worked beside him, grown to care for him as a friend, not just a colleague.
“How am I supposed to wrap my head about the fact you’re a…” He didn’t answer right away, just glanced at Stanis, Casis, and Malachi. They were in their shifter forms, not quite wolf, but also not quite human.
“It is what it is,” she said softly, hoping he understood. “It was different for me because things just kind of ‘clicked’, I guess is a good term to use.” She thought of everything that had happened and everything that would still happen in her life because of this. “I’m still learning and understanding as I go along.”
Clint just shook his head. “Ruby, if you come back with me we can show this to the world together.”
Stanis, Casis, and Malachi all growled low and took a step closer. Clint moved back a step, the fear coming from him like acid filling her nose.
“You can’t, Clint, not just because it’s dangerous for my kind.” God, that still sounds so damn weird.
“But also because it’s dangerous for you, too, human,” Stanis said, moving to stand right beside her. “Our mate spoke with you in an understanding, patient tone.” Stanis’s voice was distorted, husky, and deep. “We are not so kind or patient, especially when someone is trying to hurt us or the one we care about.”
“I’m not trying to hurt anyone,” Clint said, his voice tight from his fear. “I just want—”
“Fame, recognition, the whole nine yards,” she fi
nished. “If the outside world knew about us, about all of this, it would be made into a circus, Clint. You know that, how all of this works.”
He didn’t speak again for long moments.
“Clint, please think about others aside from yourself. You can go back there, take a small sample of the bacteria we found when we first excavated and show that as your proposal.”
They’d found a small amount of bacteria in the ice and rock, but because Clint had his heart set on the fur that had been found, he’d dismissed it.
“The bacteria has been stored and labeled, and is in the bag with the team outside of the mountain. Use that, Clint. It’s still a find.”
She didn’t want Clint hurt, but she knew if Clint didn’t agree to this the three very possessive and angry shifters behind her would handle things on their own terms. There wasn’t anything she could do to stop them if they went after Clint because he couldn’t see reason, and was only thinking about himself.
“I don’t want you hurt, Clint. I know you’ve been working toward something big your whole career, but this isn’t going to be that find.”
And finally he exhaled, glanced at the shifters behind her, and looked at her. “Even if your three very scary, fantastical, and intimidating bodyguards weren’t throwing off vibes they wanted to tear my skin from my flesh, I couldn’t hurt you, Ruby.”
She didn’t mention again that he’d left her when she’d been injured, because that didn’t matter anymore. He was seeing reason. She smelled that sincerity and truth coming from him. It was fresh, clean, and she was glad he could see that going through with this, or at least still wanting to, wouldn’t have anyone gain anything.
“I won’t share any of this with anyone, you have my word.” He exhaled again. “But what about the team, and what Marshall felt?” He looked at the shifters then. “He felt you.”
“Just say it was falling ice, or jagged rock. The terrain is dangerous, and the hazards are known. With no proof what can they do?”
They could come back to the mountain.
They’d have to worry about that when the time came, though.
Clint nodded. “Yes, that could work.”
She smiled at the fact he was taking this seriously and not thinking about just himself anymore.
He looked at her again, and she sensed sincerity coming from him. “I screwed up by letting everything get to my head. I let you down, pushed your wellbeing aside for my own selfish gain, and I won’t do that ever again.” He stared at her right in the eyes. “I promise I only wanted proof to better the world, to show everyone that there can be things unexplained out there.”
She knew he was a good man at heart. He had just let things spiral out of control.
Stanis, Casis, and Malachi all came forward, this low sound coming from them.
“But I won’t say anything. You have my word,” Clint said again.
“No, you won’t, because we have your scent in our lungs, have it memorized, and we can find you anywhere.” Malachi growled out the words.
“If we find out you jeopardized our species or the safety of our mate—and we can and will find out—we’ll make sure you pay with blood.” Casis was the one to speak, but the other two shifters looked just as pissed and territorial.
“You have my word,” Clint said again.
“That means nothing to us,” Stanis said.
Ruby walked over to Clint and smiled.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know, honestly. I want to learn more about myself and my kind, and that’ll take time.”
“What should I say to the board about you not coming back? What should I say to the team?”
She didn’t even think about that. “I don’t want anyone to get any more suspicious of things.” She looked at her mates then. “I have to go back. The team will know I’m still here, and they’ll send a search party out for me.”
“We will follow you wherever you go,” the three shifters said in unison.
But she wanted to come back to the mountain, wanted to learn more. The very thought of trying to figure all this out surrounded by others that weren’t her mate was abhorrent to her. She could take care of the final details of her life at the lab just hours from here, and after that she’d leave, spend time with her mates alone, in their element.
And this is my element.
“Everything will work out.”
And she knew things would, even if they were confusing right now. Ruby didn’t want to just discard her life’s passion, what she’d also loved doing. She wouldn’t just forget about the life she had before now, and wouldn’t forget about everything she’d worked for with blood and sweat.
But right now she wanted to focus on her at this incredible revelation that presented itself.
Life wasn’t cut and dry.
This was the first day of the rest of her life, and she was embracing it fully.
Epilogue
Twelve months later
Ruby felt the frigid wind whip all over her nude body, but she didn’t feel anything but heat, exhilaration, and the need to go faster. She scented Stanis, Casis, and Malachi behind her. They could have easily surpassed her in their shifted forms, but they let her lead the way.
Over the last twelve months she’d happily resigned from the position at the lab, packed up her stuff, and moved into the mountain with her mates. She’d left her professional life behind, but her passion was still strong inside of her, and she hadn’t gotten rid of that.
She’d learned a lot about herself and her heritage in this short amount of time. Although she’d never envisioned herself living in the icy tundra, least of all inside an actual mountain—even if she’d loved it—she could honestly say she’d never felt more at home. Over the last year they’d worked to make this her home. The cavern didn’t just have pallets anymore, but an actual bed that would fit all four of them comfortably. They had a rustic kitchen set up, and other comforts she’d grown up with.
Although her mates had told her they’d follow her anywhere, even if that was into civilization, Ruby didn’t want that. She liked the isolation, liked being surrounded by the desolate wilderness that was in her blood. She’d learned so much about who and what she was, but she was still learning new things every day. She may not be able to shift into the forms of her mates, but now that she’d accepted what she was, it was like all the powers she’d had buried deep, suppressed, had burst forward.
She ran toward the mountain, made her way into the tunnels, through the twists and turns, and finally went into their cavern home. She breathed in and out easily.
Looking around at the home she’d made … cozy, and her own, she smiled at the area the guys had set up for her scientific studies. She wasn’t about to give that up, even if she didn’t work at the lab anymore.
Ruby couldn’t deny that she did miss the lab, at first. But she felt more at home here, with her mates, and that’s what mattered. After she had seen Clint wasn’t the man she thought he was, that his need for fame, and at any cost to get it, would jeopardize a lot, she realized that wasn’t the life she wanted. But Ruby also knew she could leave here any time she wanted, and that her mates would come with her, no questions asked.
She heard them enter the cave and turned to look at them. Love filled her, and she couldn’t help but smile. They were taking their first trip in the following months, one that would introduce her to other shifters. She’d be up close and personal with so many like her, and she couldn’t wait. Although she enjoyed her solitude with her mates, she did want to meet others like them, wanted to see where the guys came from … where her roots came from.
“You’re fast, mate,” Casis said, grinning.
“You guys just like staying behind me,” she teased.
Stanis growled low, his arousal clear as it scented the air.
“That we do,” Malachi responded.
They were in front of her a second later, each one touching
her in just the right way, in a way that brought her to a fever pitch. Sure, everything had happened so suddenly when she’d met them, but when something felt so right why fight it? Why try to deny what was right in front of her?
They didn’t hold her back, didn’t control her—unless she begged them to between the sheets. They gave her power, space, and she knew despite how dominating her three mates were she was the one that held the control.
They were all so different, with Stanis being the one that took charge first. Casis liked to be in control, but he also knew when to let her lead. And Malachi was the gentlest of the three, but not so much that he didn’t make his dominance known. They completed her fully, each in their own way. She knew without all three of them she wouldn’t feel whole, wouldn’t feel like she was where she was supposed to be.
“You’re ours,” the three of them said in unison.
“Only yours,” she said in response, and meant it with every part of her.
Her life was fantastical, maybe even seeming fictional in its uniqueness, but it was perfect and right for her.
It was Ruby’s reality, and these were her three mates until the day she took her last breath.
The End
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