by Mercy May
“Cyrus?” A woman’s voice called out, shock and concern interlacing in her tone. I looked up to see her and immediately knew who she was.
The woman had soft features with long, graying curls. She was full-figured and curvy, and I could smell the dominant she-bear on her. This was the woman that Mark had spoken so highly of. This was his mother.
“Cyrus, what are you doing?!” Mark’s mother called out again, this time with more force.
Cyrus turned toward her, an evil smirk on his face. “There you are, you wench!” he snarled.
A flash of pain washed over the woman’s face, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Mark had told me just how much she loved his Father, but that the love had never been reciprocated. No one deserved that sort of scorn from their mate. No one.
“Look what I have here,” Cyrus growled, waving my chains in the air. “Our own pet tiger!”
He gestured toward me, playing to the crowd. A series of murmurs and shouts broke out among the crowd, with some calling for my immediate death. These people were not to be trifled with, that was for damned sure.
“Cyrus, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you need to stop. Right now.” The woman looked at me, pity in her eyes. “Are you okay, honey?”
I shrugged my shoulders, unable to speak. I was too tired, too weak.
“It’s going to be okay, honey,” she said to me. Then, she turned back to her mate, “Cyrus, loose the boy now. You’ve lost your head.”
“No, woman!” Cyrus snarled, and I could feel his bear rising to the surface. “The only one who’s lost their head here is you. You’re the cause of this. You who sympathized with an abomination, who coerced with these abhorrent mongrels. You, Kerra, are in the wrong here.” Cyrus gestured to a few members of the crowd, “Grab her!”
I could only look on weakly as a group of large men grabbed Kerra and dragged her out into the center of the street. Once she was out there, standing beside me, Cyrus tossed another set of chains to the men and ordered them to chain her up alongside me. Once it was done, Cyrus turned back to the crowd.
“What we have here, my fellow bears, are two conspirators to destroy my clan!” Cyrus bellowed.
“You’re out of your mind, Cyrus,” Kerra shot back. “This poor thing doesn’t have anything to do with anything!” She tilted her head toward me. “I’m willing to bet you just snatched him up out of nowhere!”
Cyrus turned to her, extended a hand, and slapped her across the face. Kerra’s face turned beet red and tears streamed down her face. The poor woman was breaking down entirely, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it. She didn’t deserve this. No one did.
“This ‘poor thing’,” Cyrus snarled, “Is related to the tiger who stormed into our sacred ground and disrupted your son’s mating ceremony. This ‘poor thing’ is an abomination, just like the rest of his kind!”
The crowd exploded in applause and cheers. For whatever reason, these twisted minded people were eating up everything Cyrus was saying. Part of me wondered if it was because of his extending dominance. He was bending them to his will.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Cyrus continued, staring Kerra down as he spoke. “You’re going to send a message to that abhorrent son of yours, and you’re going to have him and his abomination come here. And you’re going to do it now.”
Kerra just shook her head. “Cyrus, please,” she begged.
An evil grin flashed on Cyrus’s face. “Please? Yes, you traitorous wench. Do please me. Do as your alpha commands!”
“He’s not your alpha!” A voice rang out over the crowd, sending a jolt through my chest.
I looked up, scanning the crowd, and watched as my mate sauntered down the street behind me, the crowd parting as he walked by. Much to my surprise, he was joined by Asher, who offered me a slight nod in acknowledgment.
“Mark!” Cyrus hissed. He turned to Asher, “Boy, put an end to this.”
Asher cocked his head to one side, his icy stare locked in on Cyrus. Then, flatly, he said, “No.”
Cyrus’s eyes went wide at the resistance, but quickly reformed into an angry glare. “So be it,” he growled, turning back to the group of men who had shackled Kerra up next to me. “Kill them!”
The group of men exploded out of their skin, each one dropping to the ground in the form of a massive grizzly. My eyes went wide and I struggled against my chains, doing my best to shift. My tiger was still too drugged up to do anything, and I watched in horror as the group of grizzlies stalked toward my mate.
Asher glanced down at Mark who nodded. A wild smile formed on Asher’s face, then he exploded into the form of an enormous polar bear. He was easily the largest animal I’d ever seen, and stood at double the height of the grizzlies. Half the crowd took off running then, leaving only the bravest of onlookers cowering behind whatever they could find as Asher’s monstrous polar bear tilted his head and waited for the grizzlies to near him. Just before they got close enough to take a swipe at him, however, Asher sprang into action.
The enormous bear moved with grace that shouldn’t have been possible for his size, swiping and clawing and biting with more speed and efficiency than even I could have managed in my best health. It was beautiful watching him work, and I knew then just how deadly a weapon he had been for the Trounce Clan.
In a matter of moments, Asher devastated the group of grizzlies and sent the ones that could still walk scampering away bathed in blood. Then, Asher just stood there. He kicked back on his haunches beside Mark and waved a hand at Cyrus. Cyrus’s face was red with fury and his muscles were shaking.
“You dare defy me?!” Cyrus called out. Then, in a blur, he shifted. His clothes and skin erupted, dropping him in the form of an enormous grizzly, much larger than the ones that Asher had just dispatched. Still, Asher made Cyrus look diminutive, and I had to wonder if Cyrus really thought he stood a chance.
That’s when the unexpected happened. Rather than Asher moving forward and confronting Cyrus, Mark took a few steps forward, bored his golden-brown eyes into his father’s unrelenting glare, and shifted. From Mark sprung deep-brown grizzly only slightly smaller than his father. His eyes were almost luminescent in the fading light, and I felt my heart skip a beat as I looked at his magnificent animal. He was beautiful. My Mark was beautiful.
And, I then learned, lethal.
Mark dove at his father at a breakneck speed, his claws coming down with precision just outside Cyrus’s hind legs. Mark himself seemed to already be wounded on his rear legs, but it didn’t faze him that I could tell. He moved with grace and power all at once, colliding with Cyrus’s bear over and over again as the two bears vied for dominance.
I stood there in a trance, watching the two grizzlies fight each other. My mate was trying to save me. He was fighting his own father in an attempt to save my life. Hell, he’d somehow tracked me down, halfway across the globe, and was saving my life.
This man who, only weeks ago, couldn’t bear the thought of being with me, had risked his life to save mine.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I did my best to brush them off despite my chained hands.
“You okay?” Kerra asked, her eyes glued to the fight and just as tear-stained as my own.
I nodded. And despite all the pain I was feeling, it was true. I’d found my mate, and he’d been more than I had ever dreamed of. Zeke had managed to settle my tiger, and now he was fighting to save it.
The fight continued on, drawing back curious onlookers who stayed back a distance in fear of Asher. Each time one of the grizzlies seemed close to claiming dominance, the other resisted and tore into them. At times, worry began to overwhelm me, and I began to fear for Mark. But that worry would soon dissipate, replaced instead by trust in my mate. He’d win. He had to.
And he did.
In a single, sudden movement, Mark wrapped his arms around his father, dug his claws in deep, and flipped him on his head. Mark quickly bared his fangs and bit down
into Cyrus’s shoulder, causing the older bear to let out a painful roar. When Mark stood back up, Cyrus lay on his back, unmoving and barely breathing. Cyrus’s bear faded, leaving the crumpled and aging man lying barely conscious in the center of the street.
Mark stepped back from his father and shifted back into his human form. He stood there, naked and bleeding, and let out a low, bestial scream. When he finished, every bear in the surrounding area, aside from Asher, was on its knees, looking to him as alpha.
Asher shifted back into his human skin and walked over to Cyrus. He looked down at the old man, then up at Mark. “He’s still alive,” Asher stated.
Mark nodded. “Death is too good for him. After the crimes he’s committed, he needs to stand trial before the Council.”
Asher blinked once then nodded slowly. “I understand,” he said. “I will take him. And surrender myself as well.”
“Are you sure?” Mark asked, concern on his face.
Asher nodded. “Yes. I’ve lost my alpha and have committed the same crimes. It’s only fitting.”
Mark walked over to Asher and threw a hand up on the larger man’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for your help, Asher. No matter what happens, you’ll have a place with Clan Bruner.”
Asher just stood there, stoic as ever, and nodded.
Mark looked down at Cyrus. “As for you, Father. I hereby strip you of your title and your name. You are banished from Black Canyon, exiled from Clan Bruner, and are subject to the judgment of the Council.”
Cyrus let out a weak groan before Asher leaned down, scooped the broken man up, and threw him over his shoulder.
With a wave, Asher started up the street and disappeared into the distance.
Once Asher was gone, Mark ran over to his mother first, unchained her, and embraced her. Then he turned to me and a smile erupted on his face.
“Zeke…” Mark whispered, his eyes suddenly bleary. He walked over to me, quickly undid my chains, and took my face into his hands. Without waiting another second, Mark buried his lips on mine, taking me in fully as we stood there. His tongue slipped past my lips and danced with my own. I took my weary arms and wrapped them around him, feeling his warm skin against my own, and just held him.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I managed between sobs.
Mark just shook his head. “Never,” he whispered, kissing my neck. “You’re my mate. I won’t ever lose you.”
EPILOGUE
“I still can’t believe you went with Alexander and Adelaide,” I told my brother, rocking back in my chair. “Who the fuck names their kids Alexander or Adelaide?”
Matthew let out a low snort. He was seated beside me, rocking in his own chair while nursing a beer in one hand. “Hey,” he shot back, “Those are regal names.”
I just shook my head. “No, they’re the kind of names that are going to get your kids beat up and picked on all throughout school.”
“Yeah, right. One’s a bear, the other is a tigress. I doubt they have any problems with bullies.” He smiled at me.
I shrugged. “Fair point.”
I looked over at where my mother was sitting in her own rocking chair on the other side of the porch, a grandchild in each arm. The woman was in a land of bliss. Despite all she’d been through over the past few months, she’d somehow come out the other end even happier. It had been hard for her at first, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain of having your mate eternally separated from you. Father’s judgment from the Council hadn’t been kind, and the ramifications of it had been felt all throughout the bear clans. Fortunately, Matthew and I had been there to step in when the potential windfall ensued, and we’d managed to save Clan Bruner. Better yet, we’d managed to improve it.
No longer was our clan situated in Black Canyon. Instead, we’d relocated to Mumbai. Ezra and Zeke had gotten to work on expanding the cottage, something that had been made easier by the fact that I’d pretty much trashed the entire thing in bear form, and now, half a year later, the work was complete. Good thing too, because in another couple months there would be another infant in the house.
Matthew’s pregnancy had gone well enough and he’d delivered exactly on time. His doctor had been phenomenal, and the C-Section (while miraculous in and of itself) had gone relatively normal. I still felt weird about the whole thing, and was still trying to wrap my mind around the idea of having a person inside me. And yes, only one. Fortunately, because I’m pretty sure I would have lost my mind if Zeke and I were having twins.
“So, have you guys thought of any names yet?” Matthew asked me.
I shook my head. “Nah. But it definitely won’t be anything as pretentious as Alexander or Adelaide.”
Matthew shot me a quick glare then punched me in the arm.
I just laughed at him. It was nice finally being able to be myself with my brother. For over twenty years, we’d been brothers and lived down the hall from each other. We just didn’t really know each other. Now, though, we were closer than ever. Somehow, I owed that to Father. I suppose that’s the one good thing he managed to do for us.
Zeke came around from the side of the house and jumped up onto the porch. He rubbed my belly, smiled at me, and planted a deep kiss on my mouth before I even had a chance to say hello. He pulled away slowly, winked at me, and whispered, “I love you.”
I smiled at him and placed a hand on his, lacing my fingers between his. “I love you back, mate.”
Zeke’s face beamed at that, just like it did every time I used the word. There was something about him, something about my tiger, that just thrilled me. Something that made me want to abandon formality and duties, and just be. He’d done that for me, and he didn’t even realize it.
Zeke spoke almost nonstop of how I’d rescued him. How I’d saved him from certain death.
What he didn’t realize, though, was that he’d saved me too. He’d brought me out of my own stupor and depression, dragged me out of my own personal hell and abyss, and had dared to love me even when I rejected him. He was it for me.
And I planned on spending the rest of my life letting him know just that.
***
Thank you for reading Bear My Stripes.
While Mark and Zeke’s story can be read as a standalone tale, readers will better appreciate the characters and storyline if they’ve read through Striped and Bear. If you haven’t read it yet, please grab your copy by clicking HERE.
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Book three, White and Striped, follows Asher and is already in the works. It’s due out soon.
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From The Author
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About the Author - Mercy May
Raised among the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, Mercy May has long had a passion for the wild, dangerous, and paranormal. Today, she channels that passion into her writing, working to develop and produce stories about protective, strong and often ferocious alpha shifters and the soul mates they’re destined to fall in love with.
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Also By Mercy May
Coming Soon!
The Furbidden Mates Series
Bear My Stripes
White and Striped
The Bears & Beauties Series
Bear With Me
(Chase & Andrea’s Story)
Bear & Beautiful
(Grayson & Amber’s Story)
Bear & Broken
(Kalvin & Megan’s Story)
Bea
r & Bold
(Anthony & Julie’s Story)