by Cecilia Lane
“Is that true, Everly? He’s been raising a fuss about his stolen mate,” Callum said, arms crossed over his chest.
“She will be mine at the next full moon,” Wade snarled. “Come here, woman. Your pride misses you.”
No doubt they were melting down with Wade’s anger flowing over them. They were hurting because of her. The bear clan had to suffer Wade’s threats because of her.
At the foot of the porch, Sawyer took a half-step forward. His eyes locked on her. There was a hungry need there that turned to anger and hatred when he swept a dark look toward Wade.
No doubt he thought Wade responsible for her black eye. He wouldn’t be wrong on others, but the latest was Mike’s doing.
And his claims that they were mates…
Her cat hissed and spat and swiped her paws in Wade’s direction. The huge image the beast forced in front of her was standing at Sawyer’s side. Not behind, as was expected of a mate. The sending felt more right than any part of her life.
“I can’t go with you, Wade,” Everly said in her loudest voice. A whisper, at that moment.
Then her cat pushed another idea into her head, and her tongue spoke it like she was possessed. She needed a way out for eternity, not just until the full moon. “I’ve chosen someone else.”
Wade’s face filled with red fury.
“I’m marrying him.” She jerked her chin in Sawyer’s direction. His expression was inscrutable. Please, she silently begged. Please, go along with it until Wade left them all alone. “Before the full moon. So when he claims me, I’ll be his under every law that matters.”
Chapter 7
Nothing in the world could have prepared Sawyer for the words that came out of Everly’s mouth. She’d resisted him at every turn and denied what he knew with the first whiff of her delicious scent.
The logical part of his brain knew what she was doing. Using him. Aside from Hudson, he was the only male there without a mate mark to serve as a denial of her words. His bear was pleased she didn’t pick the other man and ached to tear into the yelling alpha-hole demanding she take back her words and accompany him home to their pride.
Fuck that.
Regardless of how she truly felt, Sawyer would prove he could take care of her. He needed to keep her around. He needed to protect her. And damn, did the trembling of her body betray her utter fear of the man claiming to be her mate.
Claiming. Because she belonged to him.
He knew there was more to her story than someone knocking her around.
But dammit, there wasn’t any time to stop and consider. She needed his action, and he would not waste breath asking questions that could give away the game.
Sawyer jogged up the steps to her side and wrapped an arm around her waist to tug her closer. He locked eyes with her alpha, and with his bear urging him to take a bite out of the man, pressed a kiss to her temple.
She smelled like him. Her enticing rainforest scent was all her, but his scent lingered in her hair. By the Broken, that was how she was made to smell after a night in his bed.
Warmth spread up his arm and chest where he held her. She wrapped her arm around his waist and planted a hand on his chest. His bear rumbled in his head. If they’d been alone, Sawyer would have let his eyes slide shut and just enjoyed the feel of her.
“It’s true. We’re heading to Town Hall to draw up the paperwork before next week.”
Wade’s eyes narrowed and more red crept up his cheeks. The man looked like he wanted to explode.
Yeah, good luck with that, buddy. Wade was surrounded by some of the biggest badasses Sawyer knew and he’d be the first in line to teach the man how to treat a woman. He had a hell of a lot of baggage to throw into the punches.
The superiority, the demands, the way he spoke of her like property… It was all too close to home and made the scars on his back itch.
“Why wait?” Wade asked sharply. “Why not get this little love fest started?”
“It’s not— We’re—” Everly sputtered.
“Late start this morning,” Sawyer covered. True, too. Shifts at the firehouse started right before dawn to give the vampire crew a chance to get into their tunnels. It was a day off for the clan, but Wade didn’t know that. “You know how it is with ladies wanting to get their beauty sleep. Have to respect that.”
Wade’s snarl grew louder in his throat. Sawyer didn’t much care if he went too far. His fault if he felt goaded into a fight. Alphas were supposed to be better than that. Callum was fair and measured in all his dealings. He took more than a single comment to pull out his fangs. Wade wasn’t worthy of the title, just like Sawyer’s stepfather.
“A witness,” Wade pushed thickly from his throat. “Can’t have a marriage without a witness. She needs someone from her pride.” He looked first over one shoulder, then the other, before pointing at his chest. “Looks like I’m the only one here to stand for her.”
“It’s just signing a piece of paper and saying a few words. No one needs to be there for that,” Everly insisted. “Just us, in fact.”
“That ain’t right.” Wade folded his arms across his chest. Smugness filled his scent. “You need someone from your family. And if it’s just signing a paper, let’s head down right now.”
Sawyer found calm in the steady heartbeat of his mate. The man wasn’t going to disappear easily. He called their bluff. A fight was brewing, because he wasn’t about to let Everly leave with that asshole.
“I need to get dressed.” Everly pressed her fingertips harder into Sawyer’s chest and fixed him with a beaming smile. “If that’s all right with you, mate?”
He matched her smile. “My heart is yours. If this is what you want, then we’ll do it.”
“Oh, cut the shit,” Wade snarled. “I know you’re faking and—”
On Everly’s other side, Becca leaned hard into the railing and groaned. She brought a hand to her forehead and placed the other on her stomach. “The babies,” she gasped.
Everly turned immediately and offered Becca her support. It was the same flip of a switch he’d seen in her earlier. The need to help was strong in his mate, and she ushered Becca back into the cabin with Nolan right on their heels.
Wade tried to follow, too, but Sawyer kept him from walking through the door with a hard hand on his chest backed up by a stiff arm. “Family only, don’t you think? You wouldn’t want to disturb a pregnant woman, would you?”
Wade glowered at his hand, then followed the limb to his face. Murderous gold eyes stared back at him. “You think I don’t know what you’re up to?”
Sawyer shrugged. “I honestly don’t care what thoughts are formed in that little brain of yours. You won’t harm Everly again.”
“She’s mine,” he snarled.
Sawyer’s bear rose up and Sawyer didn’t hide the growl or the sharpened fangs set in his gums. One more misstep and he’d end the bastard. “No. She’s mine.”
They regarded each other with growing rage. Sawyer begged for him to make the first move. He’d send him flying off the porch and into a clan of bears waiting for a piece of the action. Maybe he’d even let them join him for the kill.
Nolan poked his head out before blood could spill. He ignored Wade entirely. “Sawyer, get cleaned up. Send the ladies in. Becca and Everly have some favors to ask.”
Sawyer didn’t move. “What for?”
Nolan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’re getting married, that’s what. Now go, before Becca turns this sweet little elopement into a three-ring circus.”
“You got enough bears for it. Do you all dance for your women like this?” Wade snickered.
“We could add a cat to the act, too. See how he fares with whips and chains.” Sawyer growled, shouldering past the man and trying his damnedest to contain his anger.
He was getting married. Grievances had no place in the day, even if he was a convenient groom. He’d prove to Everly he was more of a man than Wade could ever hope to be.
The doo
rs to the mayor’s office swung open and Sawyer drew himself straight. Callum did the same at his side. It was appropriate that his alpha stood as witness. The man had welcomed him into the clan instead of ending his life so many years ago. He’d also called in a favor with Bearden’s current mayor, Olivia Gale, to preside over the ceremony.
The man’s actions were only a fleeting thought. Everly stepped through the doorway and stole Sawyer’s breath.
He didn’t know which of the mates loaned her a dress or fixed her hair, but she looked stunning in the simple white dress. Tiny white flowers had been braided into her hair. They’d even added color to her cheeks and lips.
“You sure about this?” Callum asked under his breath.
Across the room, she lifted her eyes. He couldn’t quite say what color they were. Green and brown mixed together in different lights. Identifying a single color was much a challenge as he expected her to be.
“Absolutely.” Sawyer never expected a mate or marriage. He didn’t deserve those things. But she needed him, and he’d step up to make sure she was cared for.
A small, shy smile lifted her lips and more color flushed her cheeks. Her eyes widened just slightly, as if to say she couldn’t believe they were doing this.
Yeah. He couldn’t either.
They hadn’t discussed anything after the announcement that Wade had forced into action. There’d been no time. He wasn’t a fool; he knew he was a simple tool for her to use.
Wade stepped up beside her, and his bear growled.
The man shattered whatever happiness Everly found about the situation. He pressed his lips close to her ear and each whispered word made her face fall a little more.
Fuck that. Asshole could take his bullshit elsewhere.
Still growling, Sawyer marched up the makeshift aisle and took the man’s place. They were already an unconventional couple. Walking his bride down the aisle wouldn’t make or break a thing.
“You look gorgeous,” he whispered.
“Thank you.” She said the words to her shoes.
He wanted to tell her so much more. Promise her the moon. Take her mind off whatever that bastard told her. There just wasn’t enough time before they stood in front of the mayor.
“Are we ready?” Olivia asked with her usual promptness.
He glanced down at Everly. This was her call. He wanted her for more than convenience. He wanted her for life. The urge went against the words that dug deep into his brain, but he didn’t want to listen to them anymore. All he wanted, all the desires and instincts pushing at him, centered around Everly.
At her nod, Olivia started the brief ceremony. She picked up a long length of gold cord and walked around the desk, speaking as she closed the distance. “We are gathered here today to witness the union between Sawyer Strickland and Everly Mather.”
Olivia took her spot between them and raised the cord. “If they will join hands?”
Everly switched the small bouquet she carried to her other hand and laid her palm on his. Heat flared under his skin and slowly spread up his arm. In his head, his bear rumbled. The beast wanted to get closer to the woman in a permanent way. Cords and paper didn’t mean much to a beast that would mark the woman as his with fangs and scars.
The first wrap of the cord went around their hands. “Sawyer and Everly, will you share in each other’s hardships and do all you can to support your partner?”
At the same time, they answered, “I will.”
Olivia twisted the cord around their hands once more. “Will you share in each other’s laughter and do all you can to bring smiles to each other’s faces?”
Again, they answered, “I will.”
“Will you use the heat of your anger to forge new strength in your union?”
“I will,” they answered.
Olivia tied the cord one final time. “Will you honor each other as equals from this day to your last?”
The last was a request he specifically made.
Everly glanced at him with surprise and stumbled over her affirmation.
His was strong and honest.
They’d gotten off on the wrong foot, he saw that. He would fix it and win her over and treat her like a queen. She was more than a person to be ordered around and forced into mating her alpha. He’d make her see that.
“Sawyer Strickland and Everly Mather, I pronounce you married.”
A chorus of cheers made them both wince. When he glanced over his shoulder, the entire clan shoved each other to get through the door. Everyone grinned.
Except Wade.
Sawyer took pleasure in the grim look on the man’s face as he put his signature to the certificate declaring Everly out from under her alpha’s thumb.
And just like that, he was married.
Silence clung to them as he ushered her out of the building, partly because he didn’t know what to say and he’d be damned if he clued Wade in on any of the uncertainty riding him. He needed to get Everly alone.
At least the others were loud enough that their quiet went unnoticed. It was far from a proper ceremony, but the mates showered them in loose flower petals and blew bubbles and loudly asked when they’d be getting their own weddings. Someone even cued up a traditional wedding march for the makeshift exit.
He and Everly made it to his truck without incident, but Wade threw himself into the bed before Sawyer could pull out of the parking spot. The drive back to the cabins was as tense and silent as Everly’s entrance into his life.
Back at the cabins, Sawyer hustled around the side of his truck to help his new bride to the ground. He’d carry her over the threshold if he thought he could get away with it, but slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow and ushering her to his porch was good enough for him.
Only their steps weren’t the only ones to thump against the wood.
“What, no celebration?” Wade demanded from behind them.
“Go on inside, Everly,” Sawyer urged in a soft tone. She made it as far as the door before Sawyer shoved the man back down the steps. “Are you trying to watch us consummate this marriage? Or is it prima nocta you’re after?”
One of the others, he thought Rylee, muttered under her breath. “Gross.”
A sick grin filled Wade’s face. “We both know this is a sham, bear.”
“I know if you try to lay a hand on my wife, cat, I will gut you. No one will touch her but me.” He rubbed a thumb across fingertips sharpening with the black tips of claws. “Stay or go. Just know you’re not getting inside.”
Knowing a dismissal would get under the man’s skin more than a fight, Sawyer turned on his heel and shut the world outside.
Which left him in his home with his bride. Their home, now.
His bear rolled through him with a powerful need to claim her properly.
Everly stood in the kitchen, about as far from the door as she could manage without heading into his bedroom. He understood why she saw that as dangerous territory.
“We need to talk about this,” he said as he crossed the space slowly.
She fidgeted with the ribbon tied around her bouquet. “I know.”
“Was he why you didn’t snap up your chance to leave?”
She nodded. Her jaw tightened but her lips trembled like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be angry or cry. “You shouldn’t have taken me.”
“If I hadn’t, you’d be mated to that asshole in a week’s time.”
“That was what was expected of me. I didn’t have any say in the matter.”
The sadness in her voice kicked Sawyer in the gut. He closed the space between them and took her chin between his fingers. Hazel eyes blinked at him with uncertainty. “You always have a choice.”
The uncertainty vanished into hardness. She was a fighter, his cat. Oh, she hid it way down deep and tried to pretend that power didn’t pulse inside her. Lowered eyes didn’t mean shit when someone got between her and something her cat wanted. She squared up to Callum to save his hide. Probably the only thi
ng that kept his heart still beating.
And she stood up to her alpha to avoid mating the fuckface.
“I didn’t have a say when you brought me here.” She jerked her chin out of his grasp and put several feet between them.
“No. And that sin will weigh on me for the rest of my days.” He leaned against the counter. No point in chasing her. It’d only make her run faster. He needed to snare her attention and trigger her instincts. It was really fucking hard when under the dark looks she shot him, he could see her eyes wandering.
She denied and ducked the call of their inner beasts, but she felt some pull to him.
“We’re in this together now. I went along with your plan. You need to give me a little trust and tell me how you got here. Most people don’t latch on to the nearest unmated male to avoid going home.”
“I know, I said,” she snapped. Her mouth twisted and her eyes flashed gold. “I’m sorry. It’s just… nothing is what I expected. Wade wanted a second mate, and he picked me.”
The thought turned Sawyer’s stomach. Mates were for life. They were supposed to mean loyalty. “He has a mate already? Marked and all?” At her nod, he frowned. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“The Oracle told him to do it. My sister hasn’t given him any heirs and I’m… special.”
Too many questions. Who the fuck this Oracle was, why she placed any significance on their opinion. “Special? How?”
She shrugged with one shoulder. “My coat is different than the others. They look like regular jaguars. I’m all black. A rarity to be prized above all others. Possessed, more like it.”
“And this Oracle? Is that like your version of the Broken?” The sleeping figures under the enclave protected them all. Or did, until the secrets of the supernatural population and their towns were spilled to the world. Then the orbs powered by the Broken were disconnected and the barrier hiding away their world disappeared.
Sawyer wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it all. Pretty neutral. But then, he’d seen violence at the hands of other shifters. Monsters walked among humans and supernaturals alike. Keeping the populations apart didn’t do a damn thing for protection.