by T. S. Joyce
His time was now.
Chapter Two
Corin Dunbar shouldered her duffle bag and closed the door to the small cottage behind her. It was barely light out, but she was accustomed to waking early to work at the old diner in Sheridan. Four shifts a week there and on her days off, Juan supervised her early mornings in the wheat fields. Even if she wasn’t headed off to war, she wouldn’t be able to sleep late if her life depended on it.
She was a morning person and usually jovial, but by tomorrow, her friends would be maimed and killed. She’d be killed. Her headspace was filled with fear and anticipation, leaving no room for happy thoughts and musings on what a beautiful morning it had turned out to be. Inhaling the moist, earthy air, she stepped onto the path that would lead her through the woods and toward the alpha’s house.
She’d volunteered with her friend, Anya Bure, to load supplies in preparation for the trip deep into the mountains. Her wet hair bumped against her shoulders with each step, and she bit her lip as she checked off everything she’d brought once again to make sure she didn’t forget anything. The mental list was short. She only needed to get through today, because tomorrow morning would likely be her last on this earth.
She was a realist, and also a black bear on the small side. She’d fight for her people against the Long Claws, but she’d be one of the still mounds on the battlefield come tomorrow. Training had helped to strengthen her, and taught her how to fight, but what chance did she have against a brown bear? None in the world, that’s what.
Maybe when she died, she would finally be reunited with him again.
Tears had long ago dried over the loss of her childhood friend. No, he had been more than that. They had been promised. And not the archaic promise of binding two children too young to know better together. They had picked their path, she and Daniel, and the Long Claws had shredded both of their futures.
Now Daniel was nothing but bones in a shallow grave, and she would soon join him at the claws of the same murderers who had killed her entire clan. Anger simmered in her blood. Now, they would hurt the life she’d pieced together after they had demolished her birth clan.
She would die tomorrow, but she’d take every Long Claw she could down with her into the bloody beyond to protect her friends here.
Doves cooed from the branches above, telling the forest the time for morning had come. The first streaks of pink light brushed the horizon. She stopped and watched the edges turn orange. After she was gone, the sun would still rise and the doves would continue greeting the dawn. Life would go on, just not for her and countless others who would fall tomorrow. She was just a small part of this world. She would need to remind herself of that when the fear got too great. Everyone died. And she’d been spared ten years ago from a battle she hadn’t seen coming. One of the only survivors from her birth clan, she’d had ten years to live a full life where her people’s had all been cut short.
She’d escaped her fate for a decade. It was sad how the Long Claws had come back to collect her last breath like death reapers.
In the clearing ahead, the bustle of activity was dizzying. Like angered ants around an abused mound, Bear Valley shifters moved this way and that, loading hummers, pickup trucks and jeeps. Someone had attached a flatbed trailer to Riker’s jacked up truck, and Anya nodded her head in greeting from the other side.
“Hey you,” Anya called, then winced.
Jogging, Corin took a box of water bottles from her hands and settled it onto the trailer. “Did you not take your herbal tea this morning?”
Anya had been maimed by the last alpha of the Long Claw Clan. Claw marks drifted across her neck and tapered off in her cheek. It should’ve looked gruesome, but the scars made Corin admire her friend even more. Thanks to her shifter healing, Anya looked like a warrior now. The mouse she’d been when Anya first came into the training ring the first day Corin set eyes upon her didn’t exist anymore. Now, Anya seemed fearless.
Hannah, Riker’s human mate, frowned and hefted another box of waters to the trailer. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Crap, they were holding up the line. Corin pulled Anya by the elbow off to the side and Hannah followed.
“I’m fine,” Anya said unconvincingly.
Tears were already welling up in her eyes and Hannah frowned at Corin.
Shrugging, Corin asked, “Is it too soon to be putting a strain on you?”
“It’s not the scars,” she said through a trembling smile. Slowly, she slid the collar of her shirt to the side to reveal three fresh cuts—a mate’s mark.
“Holy hell balls,” Hannah whispered as a grin cracked her face wide open. She shoved the shirt out of the way further, exposing Anya’s entire shoulder.
Corin hugged her, hard. Her heart was filled to bursting with happiness for Anya. She’d been misused under the care of the Long Claws and was told she was the mate of the domineering alpha. He’d tried to kill her when she wouldn’t betray Bear Valley and in the midst of the chaos, Anya had found an inspiring love with Chase—with her true mate.
Anya was claimed.
Suddenly, the war seemed even more tragic. Chase was leading the bears to battle with Riker, Juan, and Brody.
“When?” she breathed against her friend’s neck.
“Last night.” Anya’s voice hitched and she eased back to wipe tears.
“He was so quiet yesterday, and it was only our second night back in Bear Valley after Nathan died, and I thought maybe he was still mad at me for the betrayal. But he led me into his bedroom and the ceremonial knife was sitting on his dresser. He just kept watching me in the mirror, like he was afraid of my reaction, and I just burst out crying. Chase looked terrified. I think he was scared of cutting me after what Nathan did. He said he didn’t want to hurt me anymore, but he wanted to claim me as his mate before we went off to war. He said if we lived two days or sixty years, he wants me for always.”
“And then he cut you?” Corin asked. This was the most romantic thing she’d ever even heard of.
“Well, eventually he did.”
“He boned you good first, didn’t he?” Hannah asked, grinning.
Anya laughed thickly and nodded. “We made love, yes. He was so tender with me and couldn’t seem to stop looking at me, and we cut each other as he said the sweetest things.
“What did he say?” Hannah breathed. Her eyes were wide, like she was watching the end of a good romance movie.
“That’s just for me to know, you nosy human.” The smile drifted from her face as realization seemed to dawn on Anya. “I’m claimed,” she uttered, reverently.
“Congratulations,” Hannah said, hugging her up tight.
Corin wiped moisture from her eyes with the back of her hand and waved to Chase, who was watching them with a worried furrow to his brow from Riker’s porch. She’s okay, Corin mouthed. She’s happy.
Relief flittered across his features, and she thought about Daniel. About how he should’ve been here to give her marks like Anya’s. The Long Claws treachery had touched all the lives here, from the scars on Anya’s face, to the worry Chase would always carry about how his mate was adjusting after abuse, to Hannah’s kidnapping, and Joanna’s years of mishandling at the hands of the rival alpha.
Now, the brutal clan would try and annihilate Bear Valley entirely.
“Go see your mate. He’s worried,” Corin said, smiling when Anya glowed under the new title.
She and Hannah watched her jog up the porch stairs. Chase took her in his arms like he hadn’t seen her in weeks and Corin’s heart thudded painfully as she remembered the kiss she and Daniel had shared before he died. Dragging her eyes away from them, she smiled at Hannah. She didn’t know her very well, though she liked the alpha’s mate a lot. When she and Anya had started hanging out after training sessions with Chase, Hannah had always made sure to include her in invites to Riker’s house and went out of her way to talk to her in passing.
“You’re a really good friend to Anya,” Hanna
h said.
“More like she’s a good friend to me. I was displaced from my clan and came to Bear Valley when I was older. It’s been nice talking to someone who understands.”
“You’ve helped her transition here too, Corin. Don’t sell yourself short. I adore Anya. She is an asset to Bear Valley and she’s so strong. I admire her so much, but I can’t figure out how to talk to her like you can. I think I will eventually, when she’s had time away from the Long Claws, but for now, you’re that comfort for her. You and Chase.”
Corin frowned and shook her head, confused. Anya had become someone important in her life, but did she need Corin’s friendship? Anya seemed so strong. It was Corin who was reaping most of the benefit from their closeness.
“I want you to ride with us to Bridger Teton,” Hannah said.
Hannah was close with Jenny, Joanna, Anya, and their mates and Corin had figured Anya would be riding with them. “Will there be enough room?”
“Jenny is staying behind with Blaine to organize the evacuation for the young families here, in case we lose the war. The Long Claws will immediately come after anyone remaining in the valley if we fall. Jenny’s pregnant and Riker doesn’t want her anywhere near the war so there’s an extra seat. It won’t be comfortable, and you might have to sit on a lap, but so will the others. You’ll ride in Riker’s truck with the rest of us. Here.” She took Corin’s duffle bag and hoisted it onto her shoulder. “You go help load up, and I’ll put your things with mine in the back of Riker’s truck.”
“Okay, thank you.” Corin was starstruck as Hannah strode off. The mate of the alpha was offering her a seat in the lead truck. She’d get to make the ride with Anya inside of the cab instead of hanging onto one of the hummers like a lot of the Bear Valley shifters would have to do.
An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and as Corin tied the last bungee cord over the supplies in the back of the trailer, the first hummer roared to life. Everywhere, able bodied men and women piled into vehicles and onto trailers. They hung onto grab bars and sat in windows.
Riker was checking that everything was tied down properly and Hannah, Chase, Anya, Juan, Brody and Joanna were streaming into the oversized black pickup truck. A wave of insecurity took her. Surely there wasn’t enough room for her in there with all of those giant men. She should just go get into a trailer with the others at the bottom of the clan.
“Where are you going?” Riker asked, resting his hands on his hips. “You’ve got a seat up front with Hannah.”
Lamely, Corin took one look behind her to see if perhaps he was talking to someone else, but no, he was staring at her with those inhumanly lightened eyes. He was a lot more terrifying than he probably knew.
“Sorry,” she said.
“For what?”
Taking up space in his truck? For assuming Hannah had reneged her earlier offer? For breathing the same air space as the most influential alpha in the history of Bear Valley? She didn’t know. Apologizing had always been her go-to response. A little gift from her inner bear’s crippling submissiveness.
He canted his head and nodded once to his truck. “Load up. The supplies will hold. Thanks for the help.”
Thanks for the help? No one did more for this clan than Benson Riker, and he was thanking her? This morning was just getting stranger and stranger. “You’re welcome. Anything you need, just ask.” With a shy smile, she sidled the trailer and hopped into the open passenger side door.
Hannah sat in the middle of the front bench seat, while Chase, Juan and Brody sat in the back. Joanna and Anya sat comfortably on their mate’s laps, talking easily over a map of the Big Horn Mountains.
When she pulled the door closed, Riker slid behind the steering wheel and turned the engine. Hannah patted her leg once and they were off.
Away from Bear Valley land.
Away from the safety of home.
Away to war.
Chapter Three
Corin was drowning. Six hours of jouncing around back roads and forest paths in a truck full of the most dominant bears in the entire clan, and she was seconds away from asking if she could ride in the bed of the truck with the tents.
Somewhere around hour four, Hannah had reached across her lap and hit the window button, like she could feel the weight of their bears too, even with her less sensitive human instincts. The crack of power made Corin’s blood hum and the hairs on her arms stand on end, even with her head hanging halfway out of the window, gasping breaths of fresh mountain air like a landed fish.
Riker stared at the road ahead with a hard, unreadable expression, but Hannah looked like she was trying not to smile.
“You look terrified,” the alpha’s mate observed.
“I am,” Corin admitted.
Anya reached forward from her seat in the back and squeezed her shoulder once. “The boys won’t hurt you. They’re just all riled up for battle.”
“You want to sit on my lap?” Juan offered. “I’ll make you forget all about these assholes.” The brute even waggled his eyebrows when she turned to see if he was serious.
“Your bear is part of the problem,” Corin deadpanned. “You know that, right?”
His dark eyes danced with humor. “Not my bear. He’s docile as a kitten.”
“A tiger. Is that what you mean? You have my bear wanting to change and run for the woods.”
“Corin,” Chase admonished her. He kissed Anya’s forehead and leaned back against the headrest, closing his eyes. “Surely, I’ve trained you better than this.”
Crossing her arms, Corin huffed a breath and leaned against her chair. “You didn’t train me to party with grizzlies, Chase. And furthermore, I’m thinking the only way I’ll survive this battle is if I find a squirrel to fight.”
Brody snorted and she scrunched her face. She’d been serious. “I’ve gone to battle with Long Claws before, and from what I remember, they’re all giants. I’m doomed.”
Riker growled and she hunched her shoulders. “Corin, you go into a battle thinking like that, then yeah. You’re as good as dead.”
“Riker,” Hannah scolded.
“No, she should get her head right before we do this. Find your inner beast, Corin. How old were you when you fought the Long Claws?”
“Fourteen.”
“Shhhit,” Juan drawled from the back. “How did you get away?”
Corin balked against the question. She didn’t want to revisit that day. It had tainted her nightmares for years and now the people she respected the most would witness her breakdown. “I can’t.”
“How, Corin?” Riker demanded.
“A boy saved me.” The words sounded strangled in her throat, like there was a noose around her neck.
“Every shifter seems giant to a fourteen year old,” her alpha said in a gentler tone. “You aren’t that same little girl anymore. You’ve trained and become strong. Don’t let them mess with your head before you even see them.”
Hannah grabbed her hand, and Corin watched the passing ponderosa pines out the window.
“Say what’s on your mind,” Chase rumbled from the back.
Corin hadn’t the foggiest idea who he was talking to, so when no one answered, she scanned their waiting faces. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. Say what’s on your mind.”
“Okay, it’s easy for you guys to say don’t let them in my head. You’re a dozen feet tall and have won fights against them. My bear is half your size, and I watched them slaughter my people.” Shit. “Well, there it is. I saw it happen, but what could I do against so many? I ran as the boy…my boy…fought them off me. He died…fuck.” Her shoulders sagged and misery tightened her throat. “He died for me. Almost all of them did.”
“Who was your clan?” Joanna asked quietly.
“The Kodiaks, back when they numbered in the hundreds.”
Anya already knew all this. She’d been the first person Corin had been comfortable enough with to share the story. Her friend rubbed her shoulder soothingly from th
e back seat.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she said, “It’s hard not to be afraid of the people who took everything away.”
“That won’t happen this time,” Riker said, pulling his eyes away from the road long enough for her to see the promise in his gaze. “We won’t let it. You’ll be on the second wave and we’ll try to pull the brown bears to us. You find black bears or Andeans your size, do you understand? You engage to the side of the battle, not in the thick of it. When you win your first match, your adrenaline will kick in and your training will come back to you. You and Joanna and Anya stick together, help each other and protect each other. Tell me okay, all of you, so I know you understand.”
“Okay,” she, Joanna and Anya said in unison.
Corin swallowed hard as she watched Riker’s rigid profile. He didn’t want this war. The realization hit her like a wrecking ball. He’d led the clan through more winning battles than any shifter on earth, and he was balking against fighting the Long Claws.
“You know they have to be stopped,” she whispered. She wished she could swallow the words back down again because they were so out of line, but they were out there, hanging in the thick silence of the cab.
“I know. I just don’t want to lose our people to stop them.”
“If we don’t, there’s no one left to stand between them and the extinction of every non Long Claw bear shifter in the world. They’ll demolish every last bear, and then they’ll eat themselves from the inside out until our kind is extinct.”
Rocking against the divots in the washed out mountain road, Riker ghosted her a glance. “We’ll stop them, Corin.”
He looked tired, battle-weary already. It was impossible to tell the toll the clan members and friends he’d lost through the years had taken on his soul, but she wasn’t the only one who needed to get her head on straight.
No one spoke after that, and for the next hour, they were connected only by matching lurches as the off-road tires hit gaping potholes. She couldn’t guess at what thoughts made the others so somber, but for her, it was memories of the day she’d lost everything to the Long Claws playing over and over on a loop.