Nina’s hand trembled as she drank the soup slowly. However, Kevin did not move. When Heather came to check on her, she looked troubled to see Kevin laying there so compliantly. Nina wondered what was going through the woman’s head, but she did not dare ask. She had her own mission. She needed to find out about the shifter that was allowed entrance into fairy territory – but who to ask, and when.
She could not understand why Totters was so relaxed here. He was so protective of her that he would not leave her alone for more than a minute, and, right now, he was napping in Kevin’s room. When she had questioned him about his relaxed state, he had just mumbled something about her having her own personal guard.
As Heather cleared the dishes, Nina felt nervous. She needed to find all the Council members, but she did not know where to start. Heather’s graying hair was tied in a loose bun on the top of her head, and her brown eyes, albeit sharp, held traces of softness to them. Right now, she eyed the fidgety girl and asked, “Alright, what’s wrong?”
“Heather,” Nina tried to choose her words carefully, “have you ever heard of the Council?”
The female shifter studied her with an odd expression. “Now why would you want to know about the Council?”
Seeing the look on Heather’s face, Nina felt relieved. Either Heather thought that the Council was just a childish myth, or she knew something and did not want to speak about it. The young witch had a strong feeling that it was the latter.
Shifters could sense lies – or to be more exact, they could smell a lie, so Nina opted for honesty. “In the compound where I used to live, there was a huge library. I liked translating and reading the ancients texts.” She blushed under Heather’s impressed look and shrugged. “It was there that I read about the Council.” She looked the female shifter directly in the eye. “So, I know that the Council exists.”
Heather did not meet Nina’s eyes. “That’s very interesting.”
Nina agreed with her.
It was very interesting.
A commotion from outside had both women turning to see what was going on. Cassie walked in, one hand on her protruding belly and her face flushed. Luke marched in behind her, snarling. “One more word and I’ll bite you.”
Cassie scowled. “You’re not the boss of me!”
“No!” Luke grabbed a hold of the woman that he loved. His grip was firm but gentle as he snarled in her face, “I’m your mate. And I’m telling you that you are being stupid!”
Cassie opened her mouth, and then her eyes fell on their new guest and her companion. Her jaw fell open. “Is that Kevin?”
Luke turned around and looked worried. “Why is he sleeping?”
He released his mate and strode over, his forehead in a frown. He was about to reach out his hand when a sharp order came from the doorway. “Do not!”
Abigail stood there. She walked in and shook her head. “Do not disturb him.”
Luke looked confused until Abigail nudged her head, indicating that she would tell him later. Nina looked down at the still form of the bear, and she ran a hand over Kevin’s head. Was something wrong with him? She murmured the healing chant, but there seemed to be nothing wrong with him.
“He’s not injured.”
Her head shot up at Abigail’s words. The woman was studying her. “Your healing spell is useless because he’s not hurt. The boy shared his life essence with you. Your injury was more serious than even I had thought. He saved your life.”
Nina looked down at the bear and then looked up at the older female shifter, struggling to understand. “But why?”
This man was so frustrating. He was challenging everything that she knew about men. They were selfish, cruel, and greedy. All the men that the witches of the Inner Circle had kept were like that. A constant power struggle, they were not above using the witches to increase their status in the compound. However, this shifter had not asked for anything in return and had saved her life twice.
Sharing his life essence?
Nina had heard about that, but from what little she knew, it was not a simple act. Kevin could have died. Had he given too much, he would not have been able to survive.
Abigail helped Cassie into a chair and looked at Nina. Her words were quiet. “I do not know why. But he gave you a gift, so perhaps you could stop looking at him like he’s a piece of vermin.”
Nina bit her lower lip and looked away guiltily. Her fingers clenched and unclenched in Kevin’s fur, and she felt him wake up.
“I’m sorry. I did not mean to.” Her words were directed at both Abigail and, the now alert, Kevin. “I did not mean to be so rude. I really am grateful for your help.”
A quick dart of the tongue on her hand showed Kevin’s acceptance of the apology.
“Now,” Cassie said, “she apologized. Kevin is awake. Why don’t you tell us who you are, Nina?”
News traveled fast in the den, and Kevin hoped that Nina was not too uncomfortable with all the attention. The woman was covered in his scent, and that satisfied him. Now, even Luke’s presence did not feel so threatening. Any shifter in the vicinity would be able to smell his claim.
Wait! His human side rocked back on his heels. What claim? Nina was not theirs to lay claim to.
However, his animal refused to acknowledge those words. To the bear, the witch was his. She had fed him. He had groomed her.
She was his.
Chapter 6
“You can stay here with us,” Cassie offered.
Nina could not help but feel a bit guilty. She had not lied to them outright, but she had not been particularly truthful either. In order to hide the truth, she had embellished her story. So, when the alpha pair offered to let her stay until she found her place, Nina felt horrible for deceiving them.
“I know what it’s like to be on the run,” Cassie told her. Her silver eyes, which were stained with purple, burned in sympathy.
Nina looked over at the people who surrounded her, and she asked herself whether she was a monster for deceiving them. But although they were kind to her, she could not go around asking about the Council, especially when one of them knew something. If one of the packmates knew something, she suspected they all did. Her nosy questions might lead to her getting kicked out before she could actually make contact.
“Where will I sleep?” Nina asked.
“There’s a guest bedroom–”
Kevin’s growl cut off Heather in mid-sentence. Heather rolled her eyes at the bear. “I doubt she would like that.”
A growl and a huff made Heather throw her hands in the air. “Do whatever you want.”
“What’s Kevin saying?” Luke asked. “And why isn’t he shifting?”
“He cannot shift. Not for a day or so. His natural magic levels have nearly depleted. He’s going to be very lethargic for a few days.”
Nina started, and Abigail eyed her, her expression grim. “He’s been sharing his core magic with you for more than a week. I do not know how or why, but what I do know is that it’s going to take time for him to build up his reserves again.”
Luke crossed his arms against his chest. “What does Samuel say?”
“I cannot find him anywhere. He probably slipped out.”
“But he’s going to be fine, right?” Nina asked, burrowing her fingers into Kevin’s fur. She did not know why she was so anxious, but the skin on her arms was prickling, and she twitched.
“He will. It’s not completely unheard of.”
Cassie gave Kevin an envious look. “Now you can say anything to Luke and get away with it.”
Kevin made a sound, which sounded like laughter, and Luke growled, not appreciative of the joke. His mate poked him. “Oh, calm down. It’s not like…What was that Kevin?” Cassie put a hand to her ear, pretending to hear something. “Luke is a shithead?”
She laughed when Luke started grumbling something about getting no respect. However, a few minutes later, Nina saw the way he held her and the love that radiated from both of them. She wonder
ed what that felt like, to be so enamored with someone that they became your whole world.
These people were different from what she had imagined. She had barely been allowed to venture out beyond the compound walls, and all the knowledge she had gained had been from the books she had spent hours reading. Except for Totters, she had not had a single friend in the compound. Was this how friends behaved? It made her envious, these easy relationships. Feeling Kevin’s nose bump against her as he studied her curiously, she tried for a smile.
Somebody had changed the broken furniture in Kevin’s room. Heather had tried to give her a guest room, but Kevin’s snarl had had been deafening, and he had held on to a corner of the shirt that she wore, determined not to let go. Finally, the elder gave in, telling the young witch that in his animal form, Kevin would not lay a finger on her, and that she had nothing to worry about.
Nina had not known how to tell her that sleeping in the same room as the bear gave her a feeling of security that sleeping alone in an individual room would not have. Kevin, in bear form, was more prone to his instincts, and, right now, he was chewing on her shirt as she tried to pull away from him.
Totters had woken up just in time to see the tug of war begin. He stretched his wings, and then flew over to the bed post to get a better look. “Why is he eating your shirt?”
“Because he wants me to wear that one!” Nina bit out loudly, not bothering to keep the response private. Kevin stopped for a second and cocked his ear. The bear looked over in Totter’s direction who just let out a soft screech and settled to make himself comfortable.
Nina should have known that it was a futile argument. The shifter had chewed through most of her shirt and then offered her the huge, white shirt, which was ten sizes too big for her. Grumbling, she had adorned it, and she could bet that if the bear had had a big tail, he would have been wagging it.
Kevin was ecstatic. Nina was now completely covered in his scent, and that satisfied the animal. When Nina tried to ask Totters why that was so, her familiar chose to put his head under his wing and fall asleep.
After so many days of running and sleeping where she could, the idea of a warm bed and hot food made something inside of Nina relax. She knew she would find the answers to what she sought here, but for now, she just wanted to rest. She flopped back on the bed, sighing happily. Of course, she had not thought the bear would find it acceptable to join her. However, the big ball of fur made for a cozy security blanket, and burrowed in his warmth, Nina dozed off.
She dreamed of the same man, and now she was able to put a name with the face.
Kevin’s eyes were hot as he leaned over her.
The broken mirror.
So many dark dots.
When Nina woke up, panting for air, the room was dark. Somebody had switched off the lights. Kevin made a soft rumbling sound, which quieted her galloping heart. He was here. Nobody could get to her right now. She was safe.
Kevin did not shift back the next day.
Or the day after that.
Those few days were the most peaceful ones Nina had ever experienced in her life.
She roamed around in the den, Kevin by her side. However, there was not much to do inside, so she let Kevin take her outside. She had wrapped her concealment spell around her like a second cloak when she took a step out. Not that it mattered. The hunters had already pinpointed the general area where she was. But when she explored the outer area of the den, the protection spell that surrounded it fascinated her.
When the alpha first saw her running her hands over the intricate pattern work, he had growled at her, and Kevin had nudged her aside. However, when he saw that all she wanted to do was study it, he snarled at Kevin to make sure she did not ‘screw something up.’ His words had not offended Nina. She had always been a scholar at heart, wanting to learn what she could. Mother had once said that it felt like her brain would starve if it did not keep soaking in knowledge. The way she had said it had frightened Nina in a terrible way, and she had stayed away from the library for weeks on end. It was then that she had realized, that knowledge could not only be found in books. Nature had its own secrets, which it shared with a very select few. All the free time she had, she would spend on the grounds of the compound. The witches that were supposedly her peers had laughed at her for meditating, but her secrets were hers to keep. Even Mother had dismissed her new-found hobby.
Nina had not realized how relaxing it was to just lay in the grass and enjoy the sun as she watched Totters fly free in the sky. This freedom was new to her, and as she watched Kevin bathe in the sunlight, she marveled at him. From what bits and pieces she had gathered from Heather, who was the kindest one to her in the den, sharing one’s life essence could have killed the bear shifter. It was not that anyone mistreated her, but even Cassie had told her that Heather was never this nice to anyone.
The alpha’s mate was a force of nature. Her kindness baffled Nina. She had approached her this morning, asking if Nina could perform a small enchantment for her. The spell she had asked her for was very complex, but it had not taken the witch more than an hour. However, she was asked to keep the request a secret, and Nina wondered why Cassie was so overprotective of her child.
“Do you have a library?”
The bear rolled his eyes at her and then got up and stretched. For a moment, Nina thought he was going to show her to the library, and she lifted herself off the ground.
Kevin threw himself back on the ground and his tongue lolled out as he showed her a mouth full of teeth in a grin. Nina scowled and sat back down. “I do not find that to be particularly funny.”
Remaining in shifter form was relaxing for Kevin. The animal was the true form of a shifter. Their history showed their ancestors to have arrived from a different land. They had seen the two-legged beasts that walked and talked and invented things. They saw how intelligent these beasts were, and their ancestors absorbed the human form bit by bit. They gained that intelligence by living with the two-legged beings and learning their ways. However, no matter how much of the humans they absorbed, the shifters still retained their animal which remained dominant.
When Nina had first used her magic, it had startled Kevin into yelping. She had lifted the bed in the air and moved it to face the door. She told him it made her feel safer. But now, he saw that she constantly used magic every day. It was something that took some getting used to. At night, she would cuddle into him. He knew she used him as a security blanket. It pleased him.
For reasons he could not grasp, his bear had latched himself to her. It was not just her scent. He could not pinpoint what it was, but Kevin knew that he needed Nina with a desperation he could not contain. In his animal form, he was the harmless, fluffy blanket, but when he would eventually shift back, he would pursue her with relentless conviction.
Sometimes, he found himself observing the young witch. She had the oddest of habits. She treated food with such reverence that it startled him. Once, he had even seen her sneak a bread roll into her pocket. He had thought she had kept it as a snack, but it lay in her pocket all night long. He had tried to nip at her jeans, wanting to know why she was not eating the bread, and she had reacted almost wildly.
He had backed off, but she had been visibly upset that he had tried to take her food. When he thought of reasons why she would hoard food, his blood turned hot in anger as he considered the few possibilities. Kevin liked to read in his free time. He had picked up a few books from the archives section a few weeks back, but he had not found the time to go through them. Last night, he had woken up to see Nina reading one of those books, huddled in a chair, which faced the wall. A small orb of light floated next to her.
When he had jumped off the bed to go see why was she was sitting so far away, he had smelled her fear. Did she think she would be punished for reading a book? He had licked her cheek to comfort her, then taken the book carefully in his teeth, and carried it to the bed, indicating that she should read in comfort. Her wariness had been painful
to watch as she had slowly followed him to the bed. When she had started reading aloud for his benefit, he had fallen asleep, lulled by her voice.
Wherever she came from, Kevin was determined not to let her go back. She could stay here. The pack seemed to like her. Heather had taken an instant liking to the girl, and there were few people that the elder showed affection toward.
Would she want to stay? What could he possibly offer her as an incentive to stay? Because Kevin wanted her to stay. He could not mate with her. Shifters could not mate with humans, or so he had been told. But this was the first woman that his bear had taken an actual interest in. It had sniffed at a few and eyed some, but Nina was the first female that his bear had taken one whiff of and sat up in playful interest. It had made its intentions clear to every packmate. Covering her in his scent, he let her groom him, played with her, protected her. Those were all the signs of a courtship.
But to what end?
He knew Luke was a more modern alpha. He had destroyed many traditions of the pack, traditions layered in cruelty and bloodshed. He had brought a pregnant woman to the pack, not knowing she was a shifter. Kevin knew that if he chose to live out his life with Nina; that if he courted Nina, and chose to build a life with her, his alpha would stand behind him. But what kind of life would that be? It would be incomplete without the mating bond. The beauty of the mating bond breathed life into a relationship.
The way his animal was resolute, and the way his human part found Nina attractive, Kevin had no worries about being able to keep her happy. But would he be able to stop craving that intimacy that came with the mating bond? The bear made a rumbling sound, and Totters flew down to see what was going on.
Kevin felt sorry for the bird. ‘Totters’ was a horrible name. Who would name such a majestic bird that? He looked over at Nina whose right leg was resting on her raised left leg. She lay back on the ground, and her familiar stood on her knee, his head cocked.
It had taken Kevin all but one day to figure out that the witch and her familiar shared a telepathic connection. It was decidedly creepy to see them stare at each other, or Nina randomly respond to a conversation that she had been having in her head.
Desired by Alpha Bear Page 5