by Zoe Chant
"No, they've probably headed off to find somewhere a little more private."
Together they followed the path through sunlight and shade, pushing their way through thickets where the deer had beaten out little tunnels. Every time they passed a stand of wildflowers or an interesting-looking plant, Crystal asked its name. Cody could only tell her about half of them.
"We'll have to get a flower book too," he told her.
"I'd love to. I want to learn all of them. Oh!" She looked up at a flash of movement as a bird flew between the trees. "That was a bluebird, wasn't it?"
Cody hadn't seen it well enough to tell if it was blue or not, but he agreed readily, "Looked like one to me."
Crystal beamed.
Sunlight showed through the tree trunks ahead. A meadow, Cody thought, but then they pushed through the hanging branches and he found something even more lovely: a hidden glade with a spring in the center.
"Oh," Crystal whispered, staring in wonder.
The spring bubbled up from the base of a jumble of rocks that formed a natural pool. They'd climbed higher in the foothills without really noticing, and now that they'd come out of the trees, the side of the mountain reared above them. The forest changed here, the willows and birches they'd been walking through changing into mostly pine trees as the hillside got steeper. Around the spring, ferns and moss grew thickly, their rich greens a noticeable contrast to the pale greens and dark, dusty pine colors of the drier hillside above.
Cody dipped a hand into the spring. The water was very cold and clear. From the animal tracks around its sandy edge, it was obviously a well-used watering hole for the local wildlife. The spring twisted away into the forest and was lost to sight.
"Can we drink this?" Crystal asked, kneeling beside the water.
"Sure. No better water in the world." Cody flashed a sudden grin. "And I see we're not the first people to have that idea." He reached between two rocks beside the spring and retrieved an old, faded mug with a chip in the rim. A piece of twine had been tied to its handle and then to a fat, gnarly willow beside the pool. Cody dipped it full of water and handed it to Crystal, who took it reverently.
"Do you think my grandfather left this here?"
"I can't think who else would have."
"Oh," she murmured, turning the cup around in her hands as water trickled down her fingers from its wet sides. To her, Cody thought, her grandfather must have been an abstraction, a person she remembered vaguely from early childhood, but perhaps, not quite real.
And now here was this cup, a tangible reminder that he'd found this spring too, that he'd knelt where they were on its sandy edge, and dipped a cup of water to slake his thirst.
Crystal took a cautious sip, then a deeper one, closing her eyes. "I thought the well water was good, but you're right, this is incredible. I don't think I've had better water in my life. You could bottle this and sell it for Perrier prices. Not that I'm going to, of course."
Cody took back the cup and dipped it full for himself. "You know," he said thoughtfully, trying to map the direction they'd come in his head, "I think this might be the headwaters of that creek across your driveway. No wonder the water supply down there is so consistent, even in the driest, hottest part of summer."
"Yeah, I remember what you told me about how water is important for ranching."
"More than just important. It's key to the whole operation. Well, that and good grazing land, which you also have here—thanks to this spring."
"So in a way," Crystal said quietly, trailing her fingers through the water, "this spring is the reason why the farm was able to survive all these years."
"It's probably the reason why it's here in the first place. Whoever picked out this land, your grandpa or his dad or whatever far-back relative bought this place—they would have known that a good, reliable source of water would be necessary for running cattle. This side of the mountain was pretty dry even back then. A lot of the water sources were only seasonal. A spring like this would be a real stroke of luck. Worth its weight in gold."
"I'd rather have the actual gold," Crystal sighed. Then she looked up at the trees rustling in the wind above them. "No, that's not true. I'm glad we found this place. It's absolutely lovely. Do you feel like ..." She hesitated, then looked up at him, a little nervous, like she expected him to laugh at her. "Does it feel to you like this place is special?"
"I know exactly what you mean." He'd felt it ever since they'd stepped into the glade. There was a hushed sense of ... not magic, exactly, in the same way that shifters had their own kind of magic, but a reverent feeling, a little like being in church. It was as if the land itself knew that this spring, this source of water on an arid mountainside, was the reason why this hillside was so lush and green. It was, quite literally, the wellspring from which life on this mountain arose.
"Cody ..." Crystal scrambled to her feet. She touched her fingertips, still wet with spring water, to her neck. "That thing we talked about earlier, claiming your mate. I want you to do it ... here, right here, beside the spring."
His heart seemed to seize in his chest. The very woods were hushed, as if the forest itself hung on his answer.
"Crystal—if I do this, it'll bind us together forever. Where one of us goes, the other will go. There won't be any going back."
She nodded. "That's what I want. Do you?"
He flung himself forward, taking her mouth with his, a silent "yes" more eloquent than words could ever have been.
In the leafy shadows under the willows, they undressed each other with mounting urgency. Cody could smell her eagerness, lending extra intensity to the passion growing inside him. And yet he also wanted to savor every moment of this. The most powerful moment of a shifter's life was the moment they bonded with their mate. There was nothing else like it.
So he tried to memorize it all: the background music of the rustling leaves and burbling spring, the warm bronze of her skin in the sun-dappled shade, the heat of her body writhing against him, the smell of arousal coming off her like a hot tide.
And, in the part of his mind not overwhelmed with desire, he knew that he wanted to make this as special for her as it was for him. He didn't know what mate-bonding felt like to a human, but if this was going to be the best sex of his life, he wanted it to be for her as well. It needed to be a consummation of their bond that she would never forget.
And that was why, though his member throbbed to enter her waiting heat, he dropped to his knees instead. She was like a goddess, his goddess, standing beside the spring, naked to the sun and the breeze. She was his forest goddess and this was the only way he could worship her. He gripped one generous buttock in each hand and nuzzled at the softness of her inner thighs, teasing her by lapping delicately at her folds before burying one finger in her, then two.
Oh, she was so open, so wet. Even without having forged the full bond between them, he could feel her arousal and need, echoes traveling back and forth between them, her desire building on his own.
She clasped her hands in his hair. Her tiny moans drove him onward, encouraging him as he found her small hot nub and worked it lightly.
"Cody—!" she gasped, and then her body jerked and stiffened as she came with a hard thrust of her hips, pulsing around his fingers.
His engorged cock was quivering on the edge now, her scent unendurably good. He had to hold down his own desire along with the powerful urge of his bear to rise up and claim his mate. As her aftershocks began to fade, he struggled to his feet, and was startled when she turned around and pressed her enticing, round backside against him.
"Like this," she whispered, looking at him over her shoulder.
She didn't have to ask twice. As she spread her legs and opened up for him, he slid into her eager heat. She was so wet and ready that there was no resistance. She took him entirely, leaning forward to brace her hands against the rocks. Her hair tickled his nose, driving him made with her scent. The soft nape of her neck was right there. He bent forward, lip
s brushing across her neck, then dragging his teeth over it. Each time he did, her whole body jerked in an electric reaction.
Instinct told him to wait, to hold it down, to keep the beast within him contained until they both teetered on the edge of their shared climax. And then—then he unleashed it, gave her the bite that a shifter could give only once in his lifetime, and she cried out desperately as they both gave in to the wave that crashed across them.
The others were right. He'd never felt anything like it. They both felt the orgasm sweep across them. It was impossible to tell where his pleasure ended and hers began. It went on and on, endlessly, until finally the wave began to recede and he became aware of the sand under his bare feet, the press of her buttocks against him, the wind cooling the sweat on his back.
"Oh ... my ..." she whispered. Her legs wobbled, and Cody pulled out of her carefully, kissing her neck beneath the fresh half-moon of the bite mark, and helped her sit down shakily beside the spring. Her rib cage heaved with her breathing as she came down from the high, lips parted and eyes half closed. He could look at her like this forever, beautiful and rapt in her pleasure, with the taste of her salt still on his tongue.
Cody sat down beside her and, after another long moment, she opened her eyes. Her pupils were still blown. "I didn't know sex could feel like that. Is it, uh ... always going to be like that?"
"Not quite. But it'll always be good. I promise you, I'll always make sure that it's good for you." He reached out gently to wipe at a trickle of blood on her collarbone, though the wound was already closing. "How does that feel? Does it hurt?"
"It hurts a little, but in a good kind of way." Crystal twisted as she tried to look down at it. Of course, she couldn't see her own neck. "What's it look like?"
"Here. See for yourself."
He steered her to the edge of the pool. She bent over the gently rippling water, and Cody held back her mass of sex-tousled dark hair as he leaned over with her, deliciously conscious of her naked body against him and the smell of sex that lingered about her.
"Hmmm." She touched beneath the bite mark with her fingertips.
"It'll be healed by tomorrow," Cody said. "And if you don't like how it looks, you can probably cover it with makeup." Although, come to think of it, none of the Circle B ranch women did that. They all wore their claiming mark proudly.
And Crystal looked similarly startled at the idea. "Of course I won't do that. It's just something new, that's all. Actually, I like it." She turned her head to kiss him lightly on the corner of his mouth. "Will it change me in any other way?"
"You'll be more aware of me, and I'll be more aware of you." It was already working; he could feel the opening of the channels between them. They wouldn't be able to read each other's minds or anything of the sort; at least, he'd never heard anything about that. But there was still a sense of her presence that he hadn't had before. He would need to ask Alec whether—
Alec.
What was Alec going to say?
Thinking of his alpha was like a bucket of cold water dashed over him. Alec had mellowed out a lot over the last couple of years—he was no longer the cold, stern alpha who had fought Axl over Tara—but he still didn't like the other bears on the ranch making important decisions without consulting him.
For his entire life, Cody had been the peacemaker, the one who smiled and got along with everyone. He wasn't a rebel. He'd always assumed that if he ever did find his mate, he would do everything properly. He'd bring her back to the ranch, present her to Alec, get his alpha's blessing ...
Instead, he'd been stumbling through this, making mistake after mistake. He hadn't even thought about it, but with the impromptu lunch gathering at the bridge, he'd introduced her to almost everyone on the ranch except Alec. And now he'd put his claiming mark on her.
"What's wrong?" Crystal asked, looking up at him with wide, anxious eyes.
The idea of lying to her didn't even cross his mind. He didn't think he could lie to this woman, not anymore. "Just trying to figure out how I'm going to explain this to my alpha."
"Your alpha. That's right, if you're a shifter, you have an alpha, don't you? Who is your alpha?"
"My cousin Alec." Cody smiled at her with a confidence he didn't entirely feel. "Don't worry, it shouldn't be that big a deal. I'm the last one on the ranch who hadn't found my mate yet. Everyone but me has been expecting it."
"What do you mean, everyone but you?"
"I mean ..." He brushed his thumb across the corner of her full lips. "They all kept telling me to be patient, but I didn't think I'd find this. Have this. I was starting to doubt there was someone out there for me."
"I felt the same. It seemed like I'd dated half of St. Louis, but every prince turned out to be a frog." She put her bare arms around his neck, her body pressing wonderfully against his. "I never thought I'd find my prince on a ranch, of all places."
Cody luxuriated in a long kiss before coming up for air with a regretful sigh. "You know, as much as I've enjoyed this, I should probably be getting back to work on that bridge. Gannon and I can get the rest of the crosspieces into place today, and it should be ready for you to use after a little finishwork tomorrow."
"I guess not being stuck on the farm is a good thing." She smiled playfully. "You know, though ... before we put our clothes back on ... I was thinking about trying for a personal best."
"Personal best?"
"Yeah, you know, how many times you can make me come in one day?"
"Oh God," he murmured, as she laid him back on the soft moss beside the spring, and lowered her luscious, curvy body on top of his.
11. Crystal
The bite mark on her neck healed overnight, as Cody had told her it would. By the following morning, it looked like it had been healing for weeks; nothing was left but a small, slightly tender scar.
It had felt a bit strange in the beginning to have a new scar, but as she got used to looking in the mirror and seeing that pink mark on her neck, she felt nothing but pride. She kept having to stop and pull back her hair so she could look at it. No matter where Cody went, a part of him would always stay with her like this.
And Cody was right, she could sense him now, in an odd kind of way. It wasn't like she could tell how far away he was or what he was doing. There was just a faint sense of Codyness, especially when she touched her fingers to the claiming mark. And there was a yearning that went with it. Having him farther away than she could touch or see was too far. She wanted him with her always.
She thought she probably should have been having second thoughts about the mate bonding, but in truth, all she felt was a resolute satisfaction.
No matter what decision they made, about what to do with the farm and where to live, they were going to have to make it together. And that was exactly how she wanted it.
In the meantime, she kept herself too busy to think too much about it. Cody still wasn't spending the nights, but he came over early in the morning and left late. Usually, at least one of the ranch women came with him, most often Daisy and Saffron, occasionally Tara or brisk, cheerful, take-charge Charmian. Cody worked in the yard, pruning the fruit trees, cutting brush, finishing the bridge, repairing farm equipment. Crystal kept up her treasure hunt while she also worked on fixing up the house, trying to tell herself the whole time that she was fixing it up for whatever new owners eventually bought it.
But she could only fool herself for so long. It wasn't for the new owners that she'd cleaned up the antique vases she found in the attic and filled them with wildflowers; it wasn't to please some other farm wife that she had polished the old brass cookware until it shone. When Charmian helped her drag the aired-out furniture back indoors, Crystal set it up how she wanted it, arranging every piece just so.
And every day, she walked up to the spring again. It had become her favorite place on the farm. Sitting by the spring in the cool shade, she felt closer to her grandfather than anywhere else on the property. She had a feeling that this had been one of
his favorite places, too. There was a big flat rock beside the pool that made a sort of bench, so level and flat that she suspected it wasn't natural; it had been found somewhere else and dragged to the pool for sitting on.
"What should I do?" she whispered out loud. "I don't want to leave. Why did you have to make this so difficult? If you had an inheritance for me, for us, couldn't you just put it in your will like a normal person?"
Nothing answered except the soft whisper of wind in the trees. And yet, she almost felt as if someone might be listening. A breath of wind touched her face, and she closed her eyes.
It was late afternoon. When she listened carefully, she could hear the rumble of a distant engine. Cody had gotten her grandfather's tractor running again, and he was using it to pull stumps along the broken line of the pasture fence so they could string new fencing.
Even if she hadn't been able to hear the tractor, she would have known he was close by, through the bond they now shared.
It was so hard to believe she was going to have to leave tomorrow.
By unspoken consent, she and Cody hadn't spoken of it, instead going through this day as if it was a perfectly normal day. But her two weeks were almost up. As it was, she'd stayed a day longer than she'd intended to. Rather than having a leisurely two-day drive back to St. Louis, she was going to have to drive through the night to make it back in time for work on Monday.
How could two weeks have sped by so quickly? And to think when she first came here, she thought she'd be bored. She had wondered how she could ever fill that much time in this remote place. By all rights, she should be hungering for the city again. She ought to be yearning for a decent cup of coffee, craving her favorite Ethiopian restaurant, looking forward to being able to check her email without having to drive down to Wildcat Forks ...
But she didn't miss any of that. Instead, the idea of leaving this place felt like it would tear her soul in two.
And then there was Cody. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't ask him to leave his ranch and clan.