Bear my Fate (Hero Mine Book 1)

by Harmony Raines

  “So… Damn it, Jack. This is hard work. Spill.”

  “She’s my mate. At least, I think she is my mate.”

  Kurt’s arms dropped to his side and his mouth dropped open, before he recovered himself. “Your mate?”

  Jack pressed his lips together and shrugged. “There was something, something I have never experienced before.”

  “Maybe she used a spell.”

  “No.” He shook his head emphatically. “It was not a spell. Come on, I’ve had everything out there thrown at me. And this was different.”

  “So it was the Dragon’s Tear. It affected you in some way.”

  “No. It lingered even after Gareth and his degetty left.”

  “So how do you know it’s your mate?” Kurt asked, his brow in deep furrows.

  “Her scent. It made me want to smash Gareth’s head in.”

  “That proves nothing, we would all like to smash Gareth’s head in.”

  “But I wanted to smash it in because I was jealous. Possessive.”

  “So it could be the Dragon’s Tear. Projecting itself, and trying to influence you. They carry powerful magic, because they are so rare.”

  “Maybe.” Jack wanted to let it go. Kurt was determined to talk his brother out of the possibility a human was his mate. The Council preferred to keep shifters pure. Shifters mated with shifters. His mom had always told him not to worry, and that when he found his mate, pure or otherwise, she would be the right one for him. And the Council could go hang themselves if they weren’t happy.

  Trust to the fates, was their mom’s favorite saying.

  “Let’s eat, and then…” Kurt stopped talking and listened; Jack had heard it too.

  “Lucas.”

  “Good, he can help us eat Liam’s cooking,” Kurt said.

  “Or make it disappear.” Jack grinned and opened the door. A young man stood there, hand raised, ready to knock. He was tall, for a druid, six-foot, but willow thin, and pale. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, he was aloof, but not as arrogant as Gareth. Not yet, at least.

  “Make what disappear?” Lucas asked.

  “Liam has been making dinner, while we were out on a hunt,” Jack kept his voice low, he didn’t want to offend his brother. He’d made an effort, after all.

  “So I heard right. A ward has been broken?” Lucas asked, all thoughts of food gone as he honed in on the details. “You were called to investigate. What happened?”

  “We were, but Gareth got there first,” Kurt said, casting a sideways look at Jack. “He retrieved a Dragon’s Tear.”

  “A Dragon’s Tear,” Lucas said, looking over Jack’s shoulder, into the house. “Shall we talk inside?”

  “Sure,” Jack said, and they moved out of the hallway, shutting the door behind them, and heading into the sitting room.

  “How can he make his cooking smell so good and taste so bad? “Lucas asked.

  “It’s a gift. Why we ever came up with taking turns to cook, I’ll never know.” Jack cast a glance at the kitchen. Liam tried his best, but no matter what he attempted to rustle up, it was never fit for consumption, shifter or otherwise. Even his bear, who had eaten some very dodgy things in his time, would not eat Liam’s meals by choice.

  “So tell me?” Lucas said.

  “Wait, we should tell Liam at the same time, get him up to speed.” Jack decided to not to tell anyone else about the possibility the human involved might be his mate. It served no purpose, other than to detract from Gareth’s behavior.

  “Liam,” Kurt said, walking across to the kitchen. “You have a minute?”

  “What is it?” Liam came out, wiping his hands on a dish cloth. “Oh, hey, Lucas is here, good thing I made extra.”

  “I’m not staying,” Lucas said quickly. “I simply wanted to know about tonight’s mission.”

  “How did it go?” Liam asked. “Well, since there is no blood on your clothes.”

  “Gareth got there first,” Jack told Liam. “That degetty of his is too powerful, he’s an accident waiting to happen. Good thing he’s selling it.”

  “He is?” Lucas asked, the mission all but forgotten. “He told you that?”

  “Wants to buy himself a Porsche.”

  Liam laughed. “A big, flashy one, I bet, to make up for other parts of him that are small.”

  “Liam,” Jack slapped his brother across the chest. “Druids deserve our respect.”

  “Don’t let me stop you saying whatever you want about Gareth. He’d be nothing if he didn’t have his father to wipe his arse.”

  The three brothers looked at each other, knowing there was no love lost between Lucas and Gareth. “Lucas, don’t cross him,” Liam warned. “We all know he’s nothing without his father, but we also know how powerful Thaddeus is. Don’t get caught in Gareth’s crosshairs.”

  “I can look after myself,” Lucas said, his lip curling. A little more practice and his sneer would rival Gareth’s.

  “OK, back to the mission,” Jack said, not wanting to go down any rabbit hole that had a druid at the bottom of it. If they wanted to tear each other apart, that was their business, as long as they left his squad out of it. “We got there to find Gareth and his degetty had taken on the human, and retrieved the Dragon’s Tear.”

  “And you are sure Gareth got the real one, and not a fake?” Lucas asked.

  “Certain.” Jack frowned. “There are fakes?”

  “Used to be quite a black market for them centuries ago. When dragons became extinct, the Tears disappeared; they are linked to the dragon who sheds it. The price for one was so large that a man could be set for life if he found a Tear and sold it to the highest bidder. Sorcerers and alchemists worked to turn stones into a Dragon’s Tear. Some perfected it. They could make a replica so like the real thing, most people couldn’t tell the difference.”

  “Which is what Gareth did,” Jack said. “That’s how he fooled her, by swapping the real thing for a fake.”

  “A woman? A woman broke the ward?” Lucas asked.

  “And why does that surprise you?” Kurt asked. “Every time we go out on a hunt we have a woman protecting our arses.”

  “No, you have a witch, and witches are inherently females, just as Night Hunters are inherently male.”

  “Wait, a what?” Jack asked, and Kurt cast him a worried look, which he ignored. He wanted to know whatever he could about the woman who was his mate.

  “A Night Hunter. There were many of them long ago. They were responsible for wiping out the dragons. It’s what caused the rest of the others, to go underground. If the Night Hunters could take out dragons, the rest of us didn’t stand a chance.”

  “And what exactly do Night Hunters … hunt?” Jack had a feeling he was not going to like it.

  “Anything that is not human. They aren’t particularly fond of anything that has magic either. Would not be too popular around here.” Lucas cursed under his breath, words that had no meaning to Jack, but would probably produce a wart on Gareth’s nose. “And Gareth took a Dragon’s Tear from one of them. Once he gives it to the Council, he’ll be unstoppable.”

  Lucas’s mood darkened, and Kurt tried to lighten it. “He’s unstoppable already, with his daddy to show him all his tricks.”

  “This is different. This will be seen as his first step in becoming the leader of the Council one day. It’s what his father has been grooming him for. His father stood against Master Donavon and lost, when the Council chose their last leader. Thaddeus will not be allowed to stand again. His only hope to fulfill his family’s aspirations is for Gareth to step up and claim the leadership. Retrieving the Dragon’s Tear from a Night Hunter will almost surely guarantee him the leadership.”

  “That’s how things work, Lucas,” Jack reminded him.

  “And they can’t ever be changed?” he spat. “If his father had not helped him pull that degetty out from the Underworld, then he would have never been strong enough to…” He shook his head and glanced up, suddenly realizing he had lo
st control of his temper. He smoothed the creases out of his face and took on the serene mantle of a druid. “I apologize.”

  “You don’t have to. We expect you to keep our secrets. The squad swears that what is said between us stays between us. That includes you, Lucas,” Jack told him firmly, wanting to emphasize the point, not for Lucas’s sake, but for theirs too. Lucas was becoming a loose cannon, especially where Gareth was concerned.

  “I know, and I appreciate that. I do.” He nodded. “I should leave.”

  “You don’t want to eat with us?” Liam asked.

  “No, thank you.” The young druid smiled, and then turned and left, the door closing quietly behind him, so quietly that Kurt went and checked to see if Lucas had actually left, and wasn’t skulking around in the hallway, waiting to eavesdrop on the brothers’ conversation.

  “There’s trouble brewing between those two,” Jack said. “We need to make sure we are not caught in the middle of it when it goes off.”

  “Easy, we keep our heads down, and keep our own counsel.” Liam headed back toward the kitchen, but before he entered, he turned around and came back to Jack and Kurt, his voice low. “What do you think he was about to say?”

  “That if Gareth didn’t have the huge degetty, he would never have gone up against the Night Hunter, whoever she is?” Kurt cast a worried glance at Jack, warning of a conversation they were going to have to have. A human as his mate was bad enough, but one of these Night Hunters, the Council would not like it one bit.

  “And when you got the call, you went straight there?” Liam asked.

  “Yes. You know we did. I got the coordinates and picked the others up,” Kurt said.

  “Does Gareth walk around with that degetty by his side all the time?” Liam asked.

  “No, he makes him stay in the cellar. Got a cage there and everything,” Kurt said, raising his eyebrows. “Get to the point, Liam.”

  “Does no one think it strange that Gareth overheard the message meant for us, got his degetty, beat this Night Hunter, and got the Dragon’s Tear, all before you arrived?” Liam’s words came out in one long sentence, then he snapped his mouth shut and turned back to the kitchen. “I’ll dish up dinner.”

  “None for me,” Jack said. “I need to go for a run and clear my head.”

  “Jack, we need to talk,” Kurt said.

  “When I get back, I need to go over it all. Put it straight in my head.” Without waiting for an answer, he spun around and left the house, shifting immediately and heading into the trees surrounding the enclave.

  He had taken five strides into the forest when he froze.

  She is here, his bear said.

  I know, Jack answered.

  Chapter Five – Evaine

  She’d tracked them back here. OK, she’d followed them in her car.

  After taking her back to where he’d picked her up, the guy had got out of the car and disintegrated into the night. She shuddered at the thought: one minute there, the next gone. Eva was certain he’d simply walked away, but there was something about him that gave her the creeps. Hell, there was something about this whole thing that gave her the creeps.

  Her old life, the one where she flitted from job to job, never able to settle, never fitting in, was a distant memory. Even if she went back to it, she would never feel safe again, never know who was lurking in the night. Or what was lurking in the night.

  Such as a man who could change from a man to a bear on his front steps. Bile rose up in her throat. How was she supposed to tackle him? And tackle him she must, if she was going to find out the whereabouts of the Dragon’s Tear.

  What if he doesn’t tell? She blocked that thought out. If she had to cut him a little, she’d do it. Or, her sixth sense would make her do it. Bile rose once more, only this time it didn’t go back down, and she retched, wiping her mouth quickly, and looking up to see if he’d heard.

  No. The bear was moving away from her, he’d reached the trees and was heading deeper into them; she’d have to move quickly to catch him. Or should she try for the thin, pale man who had just left? But he hadn’t been part of the group who had been at the gully when she’d returned, and he wasn’t Gareth Hollingsworth. Eva didn’t want to torture an innocent man.

  None of them are innocent, a voice in her head said firmly.

  “OK, enough with the voices,” she whispered loudly. Damn it, she was going crazy. This voice was new, different from the one who had first spoken to her. It was harsher, crueler. And totally not a real person, she should not be thinking of them in terms of personas. That was one sure way to madness.

  Slipping into the undergrowth, she headed on a diagonal trajectory, hoping to intercept the bear, unless he was moving too fast. He wasn’t, she was in luck, he’d stopped by a stream to drink. Perfect, get him while he was preoccupied.

  Wait. How exactly do you stop a bear and make him talk? Her sixth sense kicked in and propelled her forward; she’d brought the sword with her, and held it out as if about to attack. He didn’t put up a fight as she placed it under his jugular. Bears bled the same as men, and had the same sense of self-preservation, it seemed.

  He looked up at her, and then a frisson of electricity filled the air, knocking her off guard, while before her eyes the bear shifted out of focus. Eva stepped back, the sword tip lowered, leaving her open to attack. She didn’t notice: her full attention was fixed on the man before her, who had appeared as if by magic. Eva held down the bile in her throat, needing to look as if she knew what she was doing.

  “Do you even know how to use that thing?” he asked. He being six-foot-four of lean, mean muscle, with shoulder-length dirty blond hair, and eyes that looked through her, right into her soul. She felt naked and her hand went to her shirt, gathering it around her, but it did no good.

  “Do you want me to slice or dice first?” she asked, the tip pointing up to his neck. Her sixth sense gave her a sense of confidence, but it was foreign, not hers, and her hand trembled. That should have been his cue to make a grab for the hilt and knock her to the ground. However, he didn’t move, just drank her in.

  “You have me?” he said, and raised his hands. Damn it, was he mocking her?

  “Listen, you know why I’m here…”

  “The Dragon’s Tear.”

  “And you know where it is…”

  “A druid named Gareth has it. He also has a big degetty who will rip you limb from limb. But you’ve already met him, haven’t you?” Dirty Blond took a step toward her. “How exactly did you get away from them?”

  “Your friend didn’t tell you?” Eva asked.

  He winced, a tiny movement, but enough to tell her they were not friends. That was a start. “No, he was too busy showing me the shiny stone. What exactly do you need it for?”

  “What do you care?”

  “Try me? You’ve got me at a disadvantage.” He leaned forward, his neck dangerously close to the tip of the sword, and it took all her willpower not to take a step back. She didn’t want to hurt him. “Why did you go after the Dragon’s Tear?

  He’s a shifter, he’s one of those we were born to hunt, the voice told her.

  “Someone has captured my mother, and they will trade her for the Dragon’s Tear.”

  “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked, his eyes studying her again, this time the surface her, not the deep-within-her-soul her. “As a Night Hunter, I would have thought you could simply attack whoever took your mother, and get her back.”

  She frowned. “A what?” Eva was not good at interrogation, it seemed; even with her sixth sense, she was giving away more than she was getting.

  “You don’t know what you are?” he accused.

  “I know exactly what I am. I just don’t call myself a Night Hunter.”

  “Then what do you call yourself?”

  A bank clerk. “Right now, I call myself in charge. So, spill. Before I start chopping pieces off.”

  He laughed, long, low, and sexy. “Go for it. Which part f
irst?” His eyes narrowed, and she saw the danger there: he would have the sword out of her hand before she had moved it an inch.

  “Listen. You told me who has it, just tell me where he is.”

  “No, you’ll get yourself killed,” Dirty Blond said.

  “And what do you care?” she asked.

  “A lot, believe me.” He moved then, the flat of his right hand, knocking the sword away, his left hand making a grab for her. Her sixth sense kicked in. She raised her leg, pulling it back, before punching it out hard, aiming for his abdomen. He slid to the side, her foot grazing his hip. A smile crossed his face, as if he were enjoying himself.

  She lifted the sword, and took a swipe at him, but before he could bat it away, she feinted and jabbed at his stomach. He sprang away, lighter on his feet than she would have thought, considering his size. Eva went after him, harrying him, keeping him on the defensive, but this was all new to her, and she could feel herself tiring.

  “Just tell me,” she said.

  “No. Put your sword down, come back to the house, and let me help you.”

  “And you want me to trust you, just like that?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’m not the one who took your mom. I’m not the bad guy.”

  He had a point, but why would he help her? She was a stranger to him. “And you are going to give me the Dragon’s Tear and let me hand it over to the men who took her? I’m sorry, weren’t you the people who stole it from me in the first place? So why exactly should I trust you now?”

  “Because I’m the only hope you have of getting the Dragon’s Tear back.”

  “You sound like your friend Gareth. Pretending to help save me while stealing from me. Is that what you are, thieves?”

  He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Damn, we wondered how he’d got the Dragon’s Tear from you. Now we know, the only magic he used was parlor tricks, a sleight of hand.”

  “He set his degetty on me, let it nearly strangle me, and then fought it off. Like a true hero.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm, and her anger simmered. If the jerk hadn’t stolen it from her, she wouldn’t be here now talking to Dirty Blond, she would be having a good heart-to-heart with her mom. The woman who abandoned me.