by Suzie Ivy
He stopped dead… Mandy stood ten feet off the porch surrounded by male and female bears. They all turned and looked at Honey. Several snickers came from his clan.
“I take it we should have made an appointment?” Dmitri’s voice flowed through the night as he stepped from the trees.
Honey looked at his liege and then to his father, who stood a few feet away from the vampire. Honey pounded one fist into his chest. “Me Tarzan, what is going on?”
The Kodiak’s lips actually twitched and he looked away obviously trying to control himself before turning back to his son. “Tyboll has asked permission to adopt your mate and make her family.” The alpha looked to Mandy. “This is an honor, but it’s your choice. As Honey’s mate, you are part of our clan and no one can take that from you as long as Honey lives. If adopted, you become sister to Patreous and daughter to Tyboll. It binds you forever to the bear family.”
Mandy turned large green eyes to her mate. Honey walked forward and took her into his arms before she collapsed.
“He wants to adopt me,” she whispered against his shoulder.
Honey could feel her trembling turn to full out shaking and he soothed her, running his hands along her back. “It’s the highest honor we give, but it won’t change anything about us. It’s entirely up to you. He also knows you have a father that you love. He would be another.”
Mandy pushed slightly away. “Did you know about this?”
He looked down at the ridiculous outfit he wore and smiled. “What do you think?”
Her lips quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks, but she turned and faced The Kodiak. “I have need of a father and brother within the clan.” She turned her eyes to Tyboll, who had stood by silently. “Are you sure you want to take me on?”
For the first time anyone could remember, the grumpy he-bear smiled. “I have need of a daughter who can cook.”
Mandy released her mate and launched herself into Tyboll’s arms. Honey didn’t bother growling, because in a few minutes Tyboll would be her father. He watched as Mandy released her hold and then picked up Patreous and twirled him around. “It will be bad manners to beat your sister in a race, so I will win every time from here on out.”
Patreous surprised everyone and gave her a large hug when she stopped spinning. He took her hand and then looked back at his father. Tyboll walked up to her other side and took her other hand. They moved slightly so they faced The Kodiak. The alpha walked forward and placed his hand over her heart.
“Inside here is the heart of a bear. It will forever beat as blood of this pack, and even in death you shall be remembered as bear.” He removed his hand and then hugged Mandy.
Clapping and cheering started from all the bears and slowly one by one, they approached with gifts—some for Mandy and some for the baby. Honey stood back and watched his mate with pride.
“You are a lucky bear,” Dmitri said.
“There isn’t a luckier one.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Two months later…
Demetria Sonora was born during the middle of the night. The small wolf cub had the markings of her mother. It would be two weeks until she shifted to human. Her father didn’t care if she ever shifted to bear, she was perfect the way she was.
The tiny cub was passed to Patreous a few hours after her birth, and she snuggled into his smaller arms. He looked at his niece in wonder as her mouth started seeking food. “Here, she’s hungry.” He gave the small creature back to her mother. “I will guard her, too, and no one will ever harm her.”
Mandy, exhausted, full of joy, and once again human after two months as wolf, looked into her brother’s eyes. “I know you will. She could not have a better brother to protect her.” She looked to her father. “Would you like to hold your granddaughter?”
“After she eats. I look forward to her mother’s cooking again on Thursday nights, too.”
Mandy couldn’t help but laugh. She turned at the knock on the front door. Honey walked from the bedroom and let Dmitri in. He rarely popped into their cabin anymore, and told her his brain couldn’t handle what he might find if he didn’t give them time to get decent. Surprisingly, the vampire’s voice blasted throughout the cabin.
“Something must be done with that damn she-cat,” the vampire thundered.
Mandy, Tyboll, and Patreous knew who Dmitri spoke of and grinned because he couldn’t see them while he stood in the other room. Nicolas’ pack had been with the bears for seven weeks and Dmitri had gone head to head with one of the females since their arrival.
“If you calm down a little, my liege, I would like you to meet your newest clan member. Mandy insisted on naming her after you.”
Dmitri walked into the room, obviously trying to hide his fury. Mandy handed Demetria to the vampire. “Should we ask what she’s done this time?”
Dmitri’s eyes softened as he looked down at his namesake, and he managed to keep his voice low as the squirming ball of fur continued to seek out food. “That damned cat put kitty litter in my bed.”
Stunned silence met his words.
His eyes turned amber. “There are clumps in the litter.”
Fang Chronicles: ??’s Story (No way am I giving that up) due out early spring, 2014
Fang goes back to the vamps!
Dear Reader,
Thank you for honoring me with the purchase of Mandy’s Story. I enjoyed giving you this glimpse into the bear clan and the characters who make it special. You’ll be seeing more of Honey and Mandy in future Fang books.
As always there are many people to thank…
If you send me emails, Facebook messages, or correspond on my blog, I love you! My life is hectic and often I am too tired to write. You, taking the time to contact me, revs up my creative drive and adds that extra little push. Thank you!
Michelle Kowalski, I know “The Kodiak” -v- “the Kodiak” drove you crazy but you patiently pointed out each inconsistency and luckily, through the internet, I couldn’t see you pounding your head against your desk. I’m very fortunate to have you as my editor.
Sally, what did I do before you found me? You give me laugher while straightening me out and sometimes it has nothing to do with writing.
To my husband, thank you for making your own dinners, fixing me lunch on the weekends, and pulling me away from the computer before my fingers fall off. I write romance because of you. I love you.
The best gift you can give an author is to write a review. The second best is to share the book with a friend. If you enjoyed Mandy’s Story please loan to as many people as you can. It hurts worse when you hit someone upside the head with an ebook but if that’s what it takes, please do it for me.
You can find me:
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://fangchronicles.wordpress.com
Twitter: @delenmcclain
Facebook Friends: https://www.facebook.com/delen.mcclain.writer
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/delenmcclain
Until the next chapter…
D’Elen
Fang Chronicles: Amy’s Story
Book I - Marcus & Amy
Amy is hot on a story as she tries to discover what life is like for teenage girls living on the street. When her disguise almost gets her killed, she’s saved by one of New York’s most eligible bachelors. His private life is filled with secrets and his story sparks Amy’s interest. Discovering the truth lands her in a world of vampires and werewolves that she never dreamed existed. She also never dreamed she could truly love a man or vampire but Marcus shows her the light. Now the two must fight the one person who can destroy their chance at love. With the help of Marcus’ clan of werewolves the war begins.
~
Fang Chronicles: Emily’s Story
Book II - Brandt & Emily
After a werewolf savagely rapes Carolynn, she hides her tormented secret below the basement stairs for nineteen years.
Emily’s entire universe was the caged room
in the cellar. She knew little kindness and received only enough food to stay alive. She understood nothing of the world above stairs. She would have died in the room of her childhood, but her world changed the day she could take no more. Her life began the day she killed her mother.
Brandt the alpha of the Northern Pack has loved the same woman for hundreds of years. Each day his heart breaks slowly because she does not return his love. Having no will to live, he invites death through challenges for alpha.
Brandt’s life changes when he hunts a feral werewolf for killing a human. Delivering death to the beautiful white she-wolf is his job but one bite of her sweet blood alters his heart and now he must tame the woman who has never known love.
~
Fang Chronicles: Zenya’s Story
Book III Nicolas & Zenya
With a beastkind war on the horizon, and his entire pack wiped out by the southern lion pride, Nicolas longs for death after months of daily torture at the hands of his enemies.
Zenya, a werecat, rescued by wolves, places herself in danger’s way because Nicolas’s dark eyes haunt her dreams. They’re natural enemies but their beasts have other ideas.
Add in a one-armed teenage hellion, a blind female with a heart of gold, and a deadly vampire with a boyish face, and Nicolas just might have a new clan.
Misfit cats, crazy wolves, and a special miracle combine with danger, love, and revenge in Zenya’s Story.
~
Fang Chronicles: Mandy’s Story
Book IV Honey & Mandy
Every beastkind knows you don’t mess with a Kodiak bear—everyone that is except Mandy, the wolf-pack Alpha’s sister. When Mandy hears whispers that the bad attitude bear, Honey, has chosen a mate, she takes matters into her own hands because her wolf decided months before that Honey was hers. If drugging, kidnapping, and making him live in a feral cage won’t work she’s planning to give Honey a little bad attitude of her own.
The bear clan is ferocious, deadly, and their fighting skills coveted by other beastkind. With war on the horizon, Honey has little time for games or courting much less more than a few grunts of acknowledgement to a young she-wolf who seems to be everywhere he looks. When he wakes up in a feral cage at the hands of that same exasperating she-wolf… all bets are off.
If anyone thought bears and wolves don’t mix, they’ve never seen Mandy on a mission. She refuses to give into the sexy he-bear when he tries to seduce her out of her tight little assets and himself out of the cage she’s locked him in. Two can play that game and in the end Honey will learn, they both need to win, or else.
~
Fang Chronicles goes back to the vamps!
Book V Early Spring 2014
Want some more D’Elen humor?
Read Bad Luck Cadet and Bad Luck Officer by Suzie Ivy, D’Elen’s other pen name! Bad Luck in Small Town due out January 2014