by Zoe Chant
Was it Kayden’s? She had no idea how to read those things. It was bigger than hers.
She swallowed thickly. Somehow, she knew it was Kayden’s.
The alarm inside her grew. Every second that she stood still it kept increasing, until she felt breathless and confused from the overwhelming need to go forward and find Kayden.
For one moment, she fought that strange pull. She managed to get her phone out of her pocket.
Eve wasn’t answering her phone, but Sidney left her a message on her mailbox. Sidney knew that she probably sounded like she was going crazy, rambling about bears and missing naked men in the middle of the night! But the need to go on was so strong now that she was trembling as she left that hasty message. Something in her chest kept aching, as though someone had stabbed her heart with a knife.
Kayden was in danger. She couldn’t say how she knew. She’d never experienced anything like it. But she knew that he was in danger, and that she needed to be there with him.
Like a bird drawn south for the winter, she followed that string that kept pulling on her heart.
The forest was quiet as she walked on and on. Twice, she surprised a fawn that stared at her with wide eyes before bolting away into the forest. Every now and then, an owl hooted. Apart from those noises of the forest, everything was quiet.
No roars. No sign of Kayden.
By the time the sun had risen enough that she could switch off her flashlight, she was starting to tire. She hadn’t had breakfast yet. She really needed a cup of coffee. But the strange urge that had taken hold of her didn’t relent.
Kayden, her heartbeat seemed to whisper with every step that led her closer to him. Kayden! Kayden!
“Stop!” a voice suddenly growled.
Sidney’s heart nearly stopped in sudden terror.
A heartbeat later, a woman stepped forward from behind a tree. She had long, black hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore black jeans, and a black shirt that clung to her curves. An aura of dangerous confidence surrounded her, and as she looked Sidney menacingly up and down, Sidney felt cold sweat run down her back.
Had she disturbed a gang in the forest? Whoever the woman was, Sidney didn’t doubt for one moment that she was dangerous.
“Better turn and run. This isn’t human territory,” the woman said with a grim look.
Sidney stared at her, taken aback. None of her words made sense. Dizzily, she wondered if she’d stumbled onto the set of an action movie by accident. But—out here, in the woods of Linden Creek?
“Hey, Glory. Leave her alone.”
A man had suddenly appeared next to her, clad in black as well, and with the same powerful build as Kayden. While Sidney was still gawking at them, too exhausted to make sense of whatever was going on, the man seemed to win whatever silent argument the two had been exchanging.
With a snarl, the woman stepped back.
“Have it your way, Darrell!” she hissed before she vanished as suddenly as she had appeared.
“Don’t mind her,” the man said and gave Sidney a curious look. “The alpha’s gonna want you brought to him. I knew as soon as I caught your scent in the forest. It was familiar—then I realized I’ve smelled you on him.”
“I... I smell?” Sidney asked, her mind still reeling.
The man laughed. “Sorry. That’s my bear speaking. What I mean is, he picked up the scent of your mating...”
“Mating,” Sidney repeated, then found herself furiously blushing when the words suddenly made sense. Did she smell like sex? “You—what?”
“I’m not doing this right, am I?” the man said ruefully. “Name’s Darrell. I’m the alpha’s second. Sorry, I’m still not quite used to human company. Come on, I’ll bring you to Kayden. He’ll have my skin if I manage to insult his mate somehow.”
Now Sidney truly felt like she’d gotten lost in a movie. Nothing he said made any sense. All that talk of bears and mates and scent—he could just as well have been talking in a completely different language.
But there was one thing she understood. Kayden. Kayden was here.
He better have a good explanation for all this, she thought darkly as she followed Darrell into the forest.
***
“Sidney!” Kayden’s eyes were wide with shock and worry.
Darrell had led her towards a small clearing, where a group of strangers had gathered. All of them were clad in dark, sturdy clothes—as if any moment, they planned to melt away into the forest again.
Sidney’s heart was beating so loud she feared that everyone could hear it, although the sight of Kayden calmed her a little. Slowly, as she took in the sight of everyone who had gathered around him, her fear decreased.
It wasn’t just a bunch of hostile strangers. She’d almost feared that Kayden had brought an evil biker gang to their town—but now that she had time to observe, she saw that there were women among the men, and several children. There were even two babies being carried by their mothers, and one woman was obviously pregnant, leaning against another man who had his arms protectively wrapped around her.
Families. Kayden had said that he spoke for families looking for a home in Linden Creek.
“Somehow I’m beginning to doubt that you’re really a realtor,” she said, her voice still trembling a little, though the glare she gave him didn’t show any fear.
Kayden winced. “Yeah. About that...”
“I think it’s time that you and I have a talk.” She didn’t back away. She was still confused, but damn it, she deserved answers now!
Kayden took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I just left. This will be difficult to explain, but I believed that I was in danger. And I wanted to draw it away from your home.”
“It?” She arched a suspicious eyebrow.
“Him,” Kayden said hesitantly. “Blood Claw.”
Blood Claw. A gang name after all?
“Maybe we should sit down for this.” Kayden’s smile was a little pained, but his eyes were full of worry.
Worry for Sidney. She still couldn’t quite say how she knew all of these things, but for some reason it seemed like all of his emotions and thoughts were right there in his eyes for her to read.
At least the strange certainty that he was in danger had lessened. She still felt a niggling sense of alarm, but it was a quiet prickling at the back of her mind, something that kept her on her toes, but didn’t tug forcefully on her heart until she had no choice but to run.
Once they had settled down, Kayden took a deep breath.
“I’m not sure how to explain it. I’ve never had to explain these things to a human before. I’m a shifter, Sidney. That bear you saw the night I appeared—I was that bear.”
Sidney blinked. His words still didn’t make any sense.
“You’re... a bear,” she repeated in disbelief.
“I know it sounds hard to belief. Maybe I should just show you—”
“Let me, boss!” Darrell called out with a big grin on his face. “We only just got you dressed again. Let’s not rip any more shirts while we’re camping out here!”
Sidney gasped when Darrell began to strip in the center of the clearing as if it was perfectly normal—although to his credit, she noted that he turned around and kept himself covered with a shirt to spare them the view.
“Ready?” Darrell called out, laughter in his voice.
“Show-off,” the voice of Glory muttered to her left.
A heartbeat later, the form of Darrell began to shift in front of her eyes.
It was difficult to make sense of it. One second, he was a man—the next he was a bear. There was no trick, no time for it to be a ruse. She’d seen the outline of his body gleam and change in the blink of an eye.
Magic. Sidney could find no other word for it.
The bear who was Darrell came trotting up to her. Up close, he was huge and intimidating.
When he pulled back his lips, giant, sharp fangs in his mouth were revealed. Sidney stared at him, her heart pounding in h
er chest with instinctive fear—and then a large, pink tongue came lolling out of his mouth and he licked at her hand, just like Mrs. Granger’s tiny dachshund did.
Surprised, Sidney giggled while Kayden gave Darrell’s snout a swat with his hand.
“Hey! Don’t lick my mate,” Kayden said sternly.
“Mate?” Sidney repeated in wonder.
“Oh, you’re in for it now,” Glory teased. “This is gonna take a while.”
“And it’s going to go much better if you would all give us some space.” Kayden raised his hand. “Leave us alone for a while.”
He spoke with a sudden air of command, and Sidney found herself shocked to observe how quickly everyone cleared out. As she watched families vanish between trees into the forest, she thought she spied the distant shapes of tents and trailers.
“I didn’t lie to you.” Kayden’s voice was soft. “I didn’t tell the entire truth, and for that I’m sorry. But I didn’t lie to you, Sidney. I would never do that.”
“You just left out the bit about shifters,” she muttered.
Kayden grimaced. “It’s a bit difficult to explain, as you see. But everything else is true. The family I’m representing that’s looking for a new home—that’s my clan.”
“You’re all shifters then?” Sidney asked.
Kayden nodded. “We used to belong to the clan of Iron Fang. He was our alpha—the leader of our clan. He was strict, often cruel. He didn’t allow his clan to mingle with non-shifters. Under his rule, there were constant fights—aggression and violence were the only way to progress through his ranks. Once you made it to the top, you had more freedom. I made it to the top, Sidney. I became one of his enforcers. I thought it was the only choice I had: a life of constant suspicion. A life where I never knew if I’d survive the next day.”
“But you did survive,” she murmured, watching him attentively.
There was pain in Kayden’s voice as he continued. “I did. I’m not proud of that life. I never hurt an innocent, but there were constant fights with criminal werewolf packs. Iron Fang had his hands in a lot of illegal activities—basically everything that paid well. I got to leave the territory of our shifter clan. I got to see non-shifter lands. I got to see how other people lived: without violence. Without fear. They were free. And I wanted the same, for me and for everyone else who suffered under Iron Fang’s rule.”
“So all of you left?”
“We ran,” Kayden said. “It took a lot of planning. But we made it. We escaped. We kept running—until we came to this place. And I saw what I’d always wanted for my clan: happy people, a peaceful life, forests where our bears could run free and our cubs could play. And I found you. I found my mate.”
“Mate.” A thrill of recognition ran through Sidney “Is that what you call—”
“That’s what we call it when our bear has found its fated match. I knew it the moment I saw you.” Kayden’s voice was a low growl now. “One look at you and I was overwhelmed. I knew instantly that I wanted you more than freedom, more than I’ve ever wanted anything else. For you, I would have challenged Iron Fang himself.”
“When I woke up tonight,” Sidney began hesitantly, “I could feel... you. That’s why I ran into the forest. I’ve never felt anything like it. I couldn’t resist it, it was like a pull. Like a voice in my head that kept whispering your name.”
Kayden reached out to gently touch her cheek. “The mate bond. You feel it, too,” he said hoarsely. “I’d wondered—Iron Fang didn’t allow us to mate with non-shifters. But when I saw you, I knew that I would do anything for you. Leaving our old home was the right thing. This was fated to be, Sidney. I’m sorry you found out like this...”
With a small smile, Sidney turned her head so that she could press a kiss to his palm. “Well, I probably wouldn’t have believed a single word if you had tried to tell me earlier,” she murmured. “So I’ll give you that. But no more secrets from now on. And—”
“Yes?”
“And I want to know everything about you! Shifters! Who knew such a thing existed?” Sidney felt exhilarated. Perhaps she should feel scared or disbelieving—but it was as if suddenly a new world had opened up in front of her. And she’d walked right into it, her eyes wide open and her heart expanding.
All of a sudden, everything made sense. That attraction that she’d felt right from the start. The need to find him. The way she’d walked right into the dark forest with only a flashlight—it didn’t mean that she was clingy or desperate. And it didn’t mean that she was crazy, either.
It meant that she was irrevocably in love with this man who’d sworn to protect her with his life. And the warmth that filled her with every heartbeat was the bond between their souls that told her that he loved her just as much.
“Wait a moment,” she then said when she felt the return of that tingling sense of unease. “When I woke up, I knew that you were in danger. I just knew. That’s why I followed you.”
“Blood Claw,” Kayden said and gritted his teeth. “Another of Iron Fang’s enforcers. The strongest of us all. He was hunting for us ever since we escaped. The night we met—I was on the run from him. I thought I’d shaken him off in the forest—but tonight he returned. That’s why I left tonight. I knew he was close, and I needed to draw him away from you.”
The alarm in her kept rising. “And did you succeed?”
Now Kayden was starting to look decided ill-at-ease as well. He frowned, standing all of a sudden to stare at the forest.
“We have look-outs set,” he murmured. “We’d hear him, if he were close...”
Suddenly there was a loud roar coming from the trees that lined the clearing to their east. It was a sound of rage and challenge, a terrible sound that rose and fell. A second later, there was a crash and the splintering of branches to be heard, and Sidney’s heart dropped to her stomach.
“Oh no....” she breathed.
A giant black bear had just come crashing out from the forest into the clearing, staring straight at Kayden with rage in his eyes.
Chapter Ten: Kayden
“Blood Claw.” There was coldness in Kayden’s voice, even though the heat of his fury was burning him up.
Blood Claw had tracked him all the way back to the hidden camp of his clan. Worse—Kayden had not even succeeded in drawing him away from Sidney, because the mate bond had led her right back to Kayden.
Back into danger.
His heart was pounding in his chest. Rage had heightened all of his senses. He stared at the giant black bear, meeting those angry eyes unflinchingly.
Blood Claw was the strongest of them all. Kayden had never beaten him. Blood Claw had been the alpha’s second for a reason.
But Kayden felt no fear. At this moment, with his mate next to him and his clan at his back, all that filled him was cold determination and the ancient instinct of the feral creature within him. His bear would defend clan and family to his death.
“You don’t have to do this,” Kayden said coldly. “We left. We are no longer part of the Iron Fang clan. I am this clan’s alpha, and you have no power over us. You are encroaching on our territory. I will let you leave without a fight, and then consider this challenge settled. But if you choose to stay... I will kill you.”
Kayden felt Sidney flinch next to him, but there was no time now to reassure her. This challenge would be settled one way or another, and he would do whatever it took to keep his mate safe and protect his clan.
The black bear opened his mouth and let out a loud, furious roar.
Then he attacked.
Before he had even halfway crossed the clearing, Kayden was running towards him. He shifted mid-run—one moment, he was running on two legs, the next, four majestic paws dug deep into the forest soil, and he opened his own jaw to let out a roar of rage. The sharp senses of his bear told him that Darrell and Glory, his clan’s most capable warriors, had stepped to Sidney’s side to keep her safe. The rest of his clan was watching from the edge of the clearing.
This was it. This was the challenge that would decide their future. If Kayden failed, he would not only fail Sidney, but also his entire clan. Their sacrifice would be for nothing. With Kayden dead, they would be dragged back to Iron Fang’s territory.
I will not fail you, he thought.
Then he met Blood Claw mid-jump.
They crashed into each other in a furious whirl of claw-studded paws and sharp fangs. Kayden could feel the burning pain of claws shredding the fur somewhere behind his right shoulder.
Blood Claw’s breath was hot on his face. His dark eyes gleamed with rage.
But Kayden’s own hind paw had found purchase, and while he wrenched his throat out of reach of Blood Claw’s fangs, his own claws opened deep wounds along his challengers unprotected belly.
With a pained, enraged growl, Blood Claw released him.
Panting and roaring, they circled each other. Distantly, Kayden heard Sidney cry out in shock, but he could not take his eyes from Blood Claw now. This was perhaps the most important and most dangerous moment of his life. He was not afraid for his own life—but he was afraid what would happen to everyone he loved, should he fail here.
I cannot fail. I cannot give up. No matter what it takes...
Again Blood Claw attacked.
Kayden was prepared; he reared back just in time to escape a mighty swipe of a paw that would have ripped open his face. Blood Claw didn’t pause even for a second. Immediately the next attack followed: Blood Claw’s head shot forward, the mighty jaw clicking shut just a hair’s breadth in front of Kayden’s unprotected throat.
Immediately Kayden lashed out in retaliation. The move had left Blood Claw’s own throat unprotected, and so Kayden went in for the kill, using the full force of his weight to hurl himself at his opponent. His own fangs opening for the vulnerable skin and the veins beneath—but it seemed that Blood Claw had foreseen his move.
He’d left himself open to the attack intentionally to draw Kayden in, and as soon as Kayden’s teeth connected with his skin, Blood Claw threw himself to the ground.
It was too late for Kayden to stop. The full force of his attack carried him forward. When Blood Claw went down, Kayden went down with him, his speed carrying him onward. He flew forward—and Blood Claw used his chance.