Sunshine Mated (Ouachita Mountain Shifters Book 8)

by P. Jameson

  Mason Miller is a lion in hiding. But what he hides from is nothing tangible. With no enemy to fight, he drowns out memories of the past using his sexual prowess to keep up his playboy reputation around Lake Haven Lodge. And when that no longer works, he throws himself into fighting other people’s battles. There is one last clanmate’s safety to secure. A Sorcera of Light who has captured his attention with her gentle grace and patient eyes. She’s the sunshine he thought he’d never feel again. But she’s threatening to pull back the shadows he’s wrapped himself in. The shadows that hide him from his past.

  Adira The Lightest is losing herself. The light magic that makes her, her, is fading and soon she will become a Magei—one who wickedly wields dark magic. The autumnal equinox that marks the date of her transition is fast approaching. With no possibility of finding an Anchor to hold her to the light, and her heart lost to a mountain lion who doesn’t return her feelings, her situation is dire. The idea of being a danger to the clan of shifters who have become her family is unacceptable. Even if they’ve vowed to fight the darkness along with her. She can’t risk them, and she can’t risk the male she loves.

  Mason must decide if the sunshine is worth facing his shadows. Adira must do whatever it takes to keep her people safe. The Ouachita clan comes together to fight its final battle in the epic conclusion of the Ouachita Mountain Shifters series.

  Sunshine Mated

  By P. Jameson

  Sunshine Mated

  Copyright © 2016 by P. Jameson

  First electronic publication: October 2016

  United States of America

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any database, without prior written permission from the author, with the exception of brief quotations contained in critical reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this work may be scanned, uploaded, or otherwise distributed via the internet or any other means, including electronic or print without the author’s written permission.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  P. Jameson

  www.pjamesonbooks.com

  Other books by P. Jameson

  Ouachita Mountain Shifters

  A Mate’s Wish (Holiday Prequel)

  Deliciously Mated (Book 1)

  Ouachita Mated (Book 2)

  Merrily Mated (Book 3)

  Secretly Mated (Book 4)

  Shadow Mated (Book 5)

  Brother Bear Mated (Book 6)

  Brave Bear Mated (Book 7)

  Sunshine Mated (Book 8)

  Dirt Track Dogs

  Racing the Alpha (Book 1)

  Racing the Beast (Book 2)

  Racing Home (Book 3)

  Racing Hard (Book 4)

  Racing Destiny (Book 5)

  Home for the Holidays (Book 6)

  Dirt Track Dogs: The Second Lap

  Dirty Looks (Book 1)

  Ozark Mountain Shifters

  A Mate’s Denial (Book 1)

  A Mate’s Sacrifice (Book 2)

  A Mate’s Revenge (Book 3)

  A Mate’s Submission (Book 4)

  Sci-fi Fantasy Romance

  Starwalker (Amazon)

  Prologue

  Beep, beep, beep…

  It was such an unassuming sound. The lazy tone that stayed steady. For now.

  It came from a machine behind his chair, piercing him in the heart with every dreaded beat. It assaulted his feline ears with its dullness. Its implication that everything in his life would be gray from now on. It was a harbinger for pain.

  It was the sound of death.

  The hospital situated in the center of Fort Worth was like a million other hospitals in existence, except for two things.

  It was his place of employment.

  And it was keeping his son alive.

  Mason Miller sat in a stiff chair he’d pulled as close to the bed as it would go. He wanted to be in the bed. Holding his boy close for these last days. But there were so many tubes and wires, it was impossible. All he could hold was his tiny hand. His hand that was swallowed by Mason’s palm. His hand that was limp until he was in pain and then it clenched to a tiny fist.

  Shit.

  Mason’s inner mountain lion snarled, aching and still floundering for a way to fix his young. But there was nothing to be done for Jordy. He was too young for his own animal to fight the cancer for him. The little leopard had tried. He was only two, and had already shifted once or twice when he shouldn’t have been able to until puberty. But the cat inside Jordy was fighting, trying, so desperately to heal him. To save him.

  It was just too young. Too weak. He wasn’t supposed to have to protect himself yet. That was daddy’s job.

  And mommy’s.

  Mason swallowed hard. Where the hell was she?

  Digging in his pocket, he pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen, hoping it wasn’t still blank. But there was no message from Deana. No return call. No nothing.

  His animal couldn’t decide which emotion to feel concerning the mate that had left him a year ago.

  In the beginning, he’d been shocked and hurt.

  He’d come home from his shift at the hospital to find little Jordy with a sitter, and Deana… “out”. It was the only information the sitter had for him. She was just out. So he’d paid the lady, fed the baby the special formula he needed, and waited for her to come back. Hours passed while he paced their small living room, wondering if she was okay.

  She hadn’t answered her phone back then either, but he tried to tell himself this wasn’t what he suspected it was. She wasn’t off on a bender. She hadn’t left their kid with a babysitter so she could go get high and ignore all their problems. That her weak-willed leopard wasn’t giving up on their life, their home, their family.

  But she wasn’t just on a bender that night. She’d left. Run. Abandoned her own young. Abandoned her mate. Because… “This isn’t the life I want. I want to be free. I want to live,” she’d said when he finally reached her after four days.

  Four days of hell, wondering if his mate was alive or hurting somewhere. Four days of Jordy crying for his mama and Mason not having a clue how to comfort him. Four days that turned into more, and more, until they were here, now, a year later. Still without her.

  He bent his head to rub the back of his son’s hand across his lips. His skin was soft and smelled baby sweet even though he was a “big boy”.

  They’d been through so much in the last year, making it on their own. Losing Deana had gimped them both, but the two of them muddled through, and Mason realized he wouldn’t trade the last year of his life for anything. He and Jordy had become best buddies. Partners. The little leopard had taught him a lot about life.

  Children were magical that way.

  But now Mason was losing him. And damn it, he didn’t know if he’d survive it.

  He swallowed the painful knot in his throat and blinked back the tears that threatened his eyes. He didn’t want to scare Jordy if he woke up.

  The door to the hospital room opened and the doctor walked in. She was a beautiful female with red hair and caring eyes, who was the best in her field. Renee knew Jordy was a shifter because she was one herself. And she was Mason’s longtime friend.

  Only his friend. Never anything more, not that his cat didn’t want more from her. His animal was a bastard like that. All male big cat shifters were. Mated or not, they still strayed, just like big cats in the wild
, because instinct guided them to. But he’d fought his, wanting to be good to his mate. Wanting her to be the only one. He hadn’t wanted to ruin her like he’d seen so many other males do to their females. Mason wanted better for her, for them. Better for their future young. And he’d been determined to see that through.

  But Deana had her doubts like all mated females did. She didn’t trust him. Didn’t believe him when he told her he’d never stray. Just like every other mated feline female, she was depressed and unhappy.

  Mason had come up with the perfect solution. He’d prove how committed he was to her. He’d give her a baby and be by her side through the entire pregnancy. By the time their young was born, she’d see he was legit. That he loved her and he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Except Deana had grown even unhappier, and after Jordy was born, she’d turned to drugs to dull her pain. Mason still cringed at the way he’d yelled at her the night he came home from the hospital to find a needle hanging out of her arm while their son screeched from his crib in the corner of the room.

  Get your shit together, Deana. You’re not fit to be a mother like this. My son deserves more than a fucking junkie as a mom. I deserve more. You disgust me.

  Maybe if he’d tried to help her instead of scorn her, things would have turned out differently.

  Maybe. But there was no telling now.

  Renee gave him a careful smile as she came to stand by Jordy’s bed. She really was beautiful. But the idea of being with her didn’t bring him comfort. Nothing could. Not with his mate in the wind and his son on his deathbed. How had his life gone so off track? All he’d wanted was the dream he’d held in his heart since he was a boy: his mate, some young, and some sort of happily ever after.

  “How are we doing today?” she whispered, resting her hand on the white sheet that was pulled up to Jordy’s chest.

  Mason shrugged. He didn’t know how to answer her question.

  “Any pain?”

  “No.” None from his son anyway. But inside, it was all Mason knew. Just… pain.

  His lion whimpered, growled, snarled. Whimpered again. His animal was a fucking mess. On the outside, he was worse. He hadn’t showered in days. Hadn’t changed his clothes. He didn’t want to leave his little leopard’s side.

  Renee gave him a searching look. “How are you holding up?”

  He swallowed hard. “How do you think? I’m…” he lowered his voice to almost nothing. “I’m waiting for my son to die.” Holding up? That phrase was a joke.

  Renee looked away, struggling with what to say. Finally she sighed. “It won’t be much longer, Mason. He’s very close. Does it help any to know that?”

  His throat locked up. His chest refused to work. Did it help? Maybe. A little. Just knowing his little one wouldn’t be struggling much longer. Soon, he’d be free. Cut loose of all his troubles.

  Like his mother. Wherever the fuck she was.

  “Can I take him home?” he croaked. “So… so I can hold him? So he can be in his own bed. His own room. With all his things? Can you make that happen?”

  Renee’s forehead crunched, and he could see she was considering his request. “Mason, it’s really better if he’s here—”

  “Please.” His voice came out rough with the evidence of his cat. “Please, Renee. He can’t die here. It’s dangerous anyway. What if someone found out what he was?”

  She chewed her lip, staring down at Jordy for so long, Mason thought she wasn’t going to answer.

  The sheet ruffled, and Mason jerked his attention to his son. Tired eyelashes fluttered like whispers until Jordy’s ocean blue eyes were revealed. They were sleep and medicine drowsy, but Mason wanted to remember them always. He wanted to remember every detail of his boy he could.

  “Dah-ee,” Jordy rasped.

  “Yeah, buddy. Daddy’s right here.” He squeezed his tiny hand to assure him, and a ghostly smile turned his pale lips slightly upward before drooping back down.

  “Don feew good,” he murmured. “Did mommy get home yet?”

  Mason’s jaw ticked with fury at his mate. How could she ignore all his calls, his messages? How could she be so heartless? Didn’t her piece of shit leopard care about its own young at all?

  “No, buddy,” he managed.

  “M’kay. Doc then?”

  Mason glanced at Renee and she eased around to the side of the bed. “Hi there, Jordy. How is my brave muscle-man doing today?”

  “So sweepy.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nodded, lifting one arm and trying to flex it. “How big are they now, my muscals? Big as dah-ee’s yet?”

  “Almost,” she said with a sad wink. “Almost.”

  Jordy slumped back against the bed, relieved. “Good. He’s da stwongest. When I gwow up, I’ll be jus like ‘im.”

  Mason grit his teeth, desperate to hold in the sound of despair that wanted to leave his throat.

  Renee cleared her throat. “Jordy… how would you like to go home today?”

  Mason watched as his son’s eyes grow big at the prospect. “And see my Mickey Mouse? My twucks?”

  Renee smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure. Would you like that?”

  He nodded, his face seeming paler with his efforts.

  “Okay then. I’ll start the paper work. Maybe we can get you home before lunchtime. Would that be good?”

  Jordy nodded again, his eyes drooping this time. He’d be asleep in minutes.

  Renee had told Mason in the last days, they’d only get small increments of awake time. Make the best of them, she’d said. So he had soaked up every tiny lift of his son’s lips, every wide eye, every slurred word, every barely felt squeeze of his hand. And while he slept, he let all the anger seethe. Let the unfairness weigh on him. Let the hate fill him. Hate for himself, his mate, the world even. Because he needed someone to blame even if the sickness was the real enemy.

  “Thank you, Renee,” he rasped as soon as he was sure Jordy was out.

  “It’s the least I can do.” Her eyes flickered with the nearness of her animal, letting him know how emotional she was.

  She hurt for him and Jordy, it was clear. But she was a bear and he was a lion. They were so different, she really couldn’t have a clue what he’d been through. She’d been entirely confused how Deana’s animal could let her become addicted to drugs. The animals were supposed to protect them. But they could only fight the human will so much. And Mason wasn’t even sure Deana’s leopard had wanted to fight.

  Renee was from a different world entirely. A world where mates stayed mates. Where females trusted males, because males were trustworthy. He’d give anything to be part of that world so Jordy could have had both parents there for him in the end.

  While Renee went to go get things ready for them to leave, Mason slipped into the quiet hallway beside his son’s room and dug his cell phone out. He dialed the number he’d called so many times before. In the middle of the night, when he couldn’t sleep. When he was confused and needed advice. When he was hurting, and needed… shit, something.

  “Mom,” he answered when the receiver stopped ringing.

  “Mason,” she breathed, and he could hear the fear in her voice. She’d been waiting for the call. Waiting for him to ring and tell her Jordy was gone. “Is he…?”

  “Not yet.”

  She was halfway across the country in Seattle, but she’d be on a plane in a couple days to come help him with things. Shit. His stomach curled at the idea of what was coming.

  “He’s… gotten worse since you saw him.” Mason’s voice was hollow and his throat ached. It had only been two weeks since she’d sat beside Jordy’s hospital bed herself. “But they’re letting him go home.”

  “Home? Oh, this is great, son.”

  “No. It’s… he’s... they’re letting him go home to die,” he choked out.

  His mom was so quiet on the other end, he could hear the whoosh of his own heartbeat.

  “Mom, I did everything you said,” he wh
eezed, pain gripping him with ruthless claws. “Everything you taught me. I did it. I wasn’t like dad. I treated her well. I was honest. I didn’t stray.”

  “I know, son. I know you did right by her.”

  “And now she’s gone, I can’t find her, and Jordy, he still asks for her. It isn’t fair. He should get to see his mother one last time before… before…”

  “Shhhh,” his mom soothed through the phone. Just like she’d done so many times when he was hurt or scared or confused as a young. “You’re right, baby boy. It isn’t fair. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. She should be there for her young. At least that much. But maybe her animal was broken long before you came into the picture. Maybe your mating never stood a chance because she was already damaged.”

  Her words hit him as right. Truth. His lion could sense the rightness about them.

  Deana was damaged before they ever met. And they were young. Mason’s love, as hard as he’d tried, could never have been enough on its own to heal her.

  “None of it really matters, does it?”

  “What, son?”

  “It doesn’t matter if males try to do the right thing. If we stay faithful. It won’t keep a female whole.” There were too many generations of past hurt. Females who’d watched their mothers and grandmothers be taken advantage of, knowing all the while, they were next.

  “I… don’t know,” she admitted. “I truly don’t.”

  Mason squeezed his eyes closed and realized tears had pooled there. Damn it. He brushed them away quickly.

  “What do I do now, mom? Tell me what to do.”

  There was a long shaking sigh on the other end of the line. “Try again, son. Call her one more time. Tell her the truth. Her son is dying, and she’ll never see him again if she doesn’t come home. One more time, Mason, and then you’ll know you did everything you could.”

  Mason nodded, his gut churning at the thought of reaching Deana’s voicemail again. He hadn’t wanted to tell her about Jordy over the phone, much less leave it in a message. But they were running out of time.