Stolen Mate_A Shifting Destinies Bear Shifter Romance
Page 22
She leaned into his embrace. Nothing about Emery said she was a threat. Feral and fearful, yes, but not actively seeking destruction. “This is something I need to do alone. Rain check on the waterfall?”
He sipped her lips for a tiny second. “Whenever you want. Let me know if you need anything.”
“You’re going to follow us, aren’t you?”
He didn’t even smell embarrassed. “I told you, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Everly shook her head and followed her sister out the door. Fall colors whizzed by on the silent trip into Bearden.
She parked at the far end of the main drag and linked arms with her sister. Halloween decorations hung in many windows. Paper skeletons and pointed black hats were as common as carved pumpkins sitting on the edges of counters or at the sides of doors.
Emery took everything in with a slight look of awe. Their childhood lacked in celebrations. The people of Bearden found excuses to celebrate every little thing. Everly thought of it as catching up on everything she missed.
Everyone they passed tipped their heads in greeting instead of giving the blank stares and scents of warning that were common with the pride. Everly spotted Becca visiting with Faith at the coffee shop, and she waved. They were just two of the many friends she’d made in the months since arriving. Leah, Rylee, Meghan, all of them were like sisters to her.
She wanted Em to round out that list.
After a spin around the square packed with hay bales and a pumpkin patch, Everly turned her sister toward Tommy’s Diner.
The smells of greasy, filling, delicious food made her mouth water. Emery’s set lips turned into another smile, and Everly knew she’d picked the right spot. She led them toward a corner booth and let Emery have the spot with her back against the wall to give her an added bit of security. Tommy came and went with their orders while her sister stared out the window at the small town bustle of a weekend afternoon.
Everly didn’t push. She simply watched and waited. Her recent escape from the pride gave her insight into the difficulty of cutting ties with the only life she’d known. Too much prodding in one direction sent her flying in the other. She wanted to wrap her sister in her arms and tell her everything would be okay, but she didn’t want to overwhelm her and scare her off.
She wasn’t the only one to watch. Her cat stared out of her eyes and scented with her nose. The creature paced in her head. Emery was part of them, but also separate. She recognized the kinship and the connection to those that hurt them. Even so, the panther’s agitation wasn’t in viewing Emery as a threat; she wanted to comfort the woman.
Sawyer would probably say she cared too much. Too bad for him. She fully accepted her drives to help others.
It was only after plates piled high with food arrived that Emery found her voice.
“Wade’s dead, isn’t he?” Em rubbed at her chest. “I can feel it.”
Everly nodded. “He’s gone. The rest of the pride is scattered.”
“Good. I—” A tiny growl interrupted Emery’s words. She dug her fingers into her thighs and got a grip on herself. “I left them the night of the battle, just like you said.”
Everly tracked Sawyer cross the diner and take up a spot at the counter. Emery turned and spotted him, too. “He cares about you.”
“He’s my mate. That’s how it’s supposed to be,” she answered gently. “I picked him, and he’s good to me.”
Emery’s eyes shined with the hint of tears. She stared at her food and then set her fork down with a heavy clink. “I’m sorry for everything. Wade made me make those calls. He wanted you back so bad. I couldn’t stop him. I tried, I did. You were always the stronger one.”
“That’s not true. You were the alpha’s mate. I ran away because I couldn’t handle the thought of being that to him. You always kept your composure. That took strength.” And a solid stomach. Even with the man dead and burned, her cat hissed at the idea of bearing cubs for him.
“I was jealous of you. You always had the babies and the doctoring to keep you busy. I had nothing. And now I’m on my own for the first time, and I don’t know what to do.”
Everly inched her hand forward and rested it on her sister’s. “Em, stay. Stop running. Let me find a place for you here. I don’t want you to vanish into thin air and never hear from you again.” She didn’t want to wonder if her sister was alive or dead for the rest of her life.
Emery leaned forward, eyes darting. “Was it hard for you, at first? Sleeping in a big house? There are so many noises.”
Everly tried to hide her smile. “Right? All the creaks and groans? At least I knew every noise the camper made.”
“Like Father’s snoring?”
“Or Mom rolling him over to steal the blankets?”
“The fight to close the folding door on the bathroom? It always got stuck at the worst possible moments!” Emery covered her mouth to quiet her laugh.
That sound was pure joy to Everly. Even her sister’s eyes looked a little less wild. “I think the only good out of it was traveling across the country. Not many people can say they’ve gotten carsick in so many states.”
“Shut up! That was one time!” Em laughed again, louder, then glanced shyly toward Sawyer. “But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stay in one place.”
Progress! She thought Em might like a room at the inn until something more permanent could be found. Or she decided bigger was acceptable. The rooms held everything a home could provide, just in a tinier package.
Everly wanted to give her sister the ability to prove all the old ways were wrong, just like Sawyer had gifted her. They were strong and capable women, even if someone needed to spell it out for them.
“What’s this about getting carsick?” Sawyer asked and slipped into the booth beside her. He darted a look to Em and leaned in with an air of seriousness. “Do you know Everly can’t go on boats? Not even one tied to a dock. Just... spewing everywhere.”
Emery’s eyes went from narrowed and suspicious to bright and laughing. Everly elbowed Sawyer in the side, but he only shot her a grin.
The months had done him good, too. He was more relaxed than when she had first met him. He still hung back and stayed quiet for the most part, but like now, he jumped into conversations more often. It was like he took a step forward in choosing their family with her.
There was still a wildness to him and a sense of a storm about to break, but that was meant for her and her alone.
“Never been on a boat before. How was I supposed to know my stomach can’t handle it? You’re the one that made me try a second and third time and I’m not apologizing for your ruined shoes.”
“And shirt. And shorts. And vision of you as attractive in the slightest. Hey!” He yelped with another connection of Everly’s elbow, then leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
The rest of the meal was spent in fits of laughter and teasing. Emery lost her stiffness around Sawyer almost immediately. Everly’s cat curled up into a ball of relaxation and contentment.
They were whole.
After, Sawyer paid for their meal and walked ahead toward the truck. They had details to work out and decisions to make. But in that moment, it was just her and her sister and hope.
“Everly, I don’t think I’ve laughed in so long. Is this how it is for you? Good food and a man that lurks around the corner to make sure you’re okay?”
“There are good days and bad days.” Everly looped her arm around Em’s middle and they meandered down the street. Others passing nodded their heads in greeting. “You know, everyone in the pride said the enclaves were like cages. There was no escaping and everyone was out for each other. This place isn’t a cage or a camp or a shackle. This place is space to breathe and live.”
Everly inhaled the crisp fall air and felt the final hole in her heart close. “It’s home.”
Thank you for reading Stolen Mate! I hope you loved Sawyer and Everly!
Shifters of Bear’s Den return with Unt
amed Mate!
Next in Series
Untamed Mate: Shifters of Bear’s Den Book Six
A Lioness in Peril.
Three years ago, Mara watched helplessly as hunters killed her brother. The men promised not to harm others if she complied with their evil demands. Now, she's serving time in a cell beneath Bearden, trying to atone for the crimes they forced her to commit.
Mara's penance brings her face to face with a fierce and rugged and heavily tatted bear shifter, Hudson Vaughn.
He stirs all sorts of feelings inside her. Desire. Yearning. Need. But now is not the time for that foolishness. The hunters have returned. Their demands are even more sinister. They want shifter children, and they want her too.
Mara intends to confront the hunters. Alone. But Hudson has a different plan...
Together they'll attend a shifter auction, posing as handler and leashed pet. It's all just a fake act. A ploy. And her yanking his leash and taunting him is part of the act too. It's working fine. Right up until the end of the night when all pretense falls away, the lights dim and the growly bear-shifter crowds her into a corner and makes a promise...
I don't need my bear to make you submit, kitty...
Hudson Vaughn has a plan to set his mate free. First, he must convince Mara they're fated to be together. Then, he needs to convince her he'll protect her from every threat. Even the shifter-traffickers that murdered her brother.
What starts as a plan to infiltrate the hunters' auction, becomes something so much more. Mara poses as his handler, but she seems to enjoy her role a little too much. The entire evening, she delights in snapping his leash and full-on flirting with him. None of that was part of the plan.
Little tease.
His mate has a wild side. A naughty side he never imagined, but one he likes very much. His bear snarls and snaps, hungering to make Mara his.
Hudson must destroy the evil forces that stalk Mara, so he can finally claim his sassy, curvy fated mate...
Untamed Mate is available for preorder!
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About the Author
Cecilia Lane grew up in a what most call paradise, but she insists is humid hell. She escaped the heat with weekly journeys to the library, where she learned the basics of slaying dragons, magical abilities, and grand adventures.
When it became apparent she wouldn’t be able to travel the high seas with princes or party with rock star vampires, Cecilia hunkered down to create her own worlds filled with sexy people in complicated situations. She now writes with the support of her own sexy man and many interruptions from her goofy dog.
Connect with Cecilia online!
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Also by Cecilia Lane
Shifting Destinies: Shifters of Bear’s Den
Forbidden Mate
Dangerous Mate
Hunted Mate
Runaway Mate
Stolen Mate
Untamed Mate
Shifting Destinies Standalone Stories
Her Christmas Wolf
Claiming the Wolf Princess
Wanted by the Bear
Cursed Dragons
Dragon’s Touch
Dragon’s Desire
Dragon’s Demon
Cursed Dragons Books 1-3
Fated Hearts Club
Burning for the Dragon
Bear’s Baby Blues
Howling for a Mate
Fated Hearts Club Books 1-3
Dragonsworn
Smoulder
Singe
Scorch
Dragonsworn Book 1-3