by Lia Davis
“We don’t mark.”
“Perhaps…” The healer touched his mate again, this time closing her eyes and humming. As her eyes opened, her brow furrowed. Shauna repeated the action with both hands.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, unable to stay quiet.
“Are you sure she has no shifter in her?”
“She’s mundane.”
Shauna stared down at a sleeping Jenny. “Something in her isn’t all human, but I’m not sure it’s shifter. Something long repressed in her DNA.”
“Don’t you think if she could shift she would have known, or I would have sensed it in her?”
“Perhaps you tapped something when you mated?”
“I sense nothing.”
“You are not exactly in the best state of mind, either.” Shrugging it off, she crossed the room and picked up the bag she had dropped at the door. “I brought some teas and items Quinn found helpful. Erin offered me the use of one of the cabins. She assured me I would not be imposing.”
“It would be a great relief to have you near. And all the young are bunking together in a safe location. Perhaps, while you are here, you won’t mind checking one of the girls. She is complaining of stomachaches.” The children didn’t leave the protections of their mothers until they were teens. It gave the illusion there were more babies born to this herd than there were.
“I would be happy to.”
“Is Brutus out there?”
Shaking her head, she headed for the door. “Brutus and Darius have brought out their sentinels to check the park’s northern borders. Can I get you anything before I leave?”
“No, thank you.”
“Might I make one more suggestion?”
At this point, any thoughts would be welcome. “I would be pleased if you would.”
“Instead of being across the room from your mate, climb in next to her. Place your chest against her back so her heart can sense yours. Learn to beat together. And sleep.”
Such a simple answer. He thanked the healer and a few of his female herd lingering outside before closing the door. For a moment, she tensed under his touch, but as his body melded against hers, she pulled his arms tighter around her.
Chapter 5
The sun had yet to rise over the park when Jenny awoke with a burning desire to run. Run as fast and far as she could. As she had never been a runner nor had any interest in the activity, her need to do so shocked her. She eased out from under the covers so she wouldn’t wake Lars but sat on the edge, fighting the urge to ask him to join her.
Memories of the evening before lay hazy in her brain. Some moments came to the front like vivid mini movies, and others remained in cavernous pits in her brain. Memories of his lovemaking heated her flesh even now.
“Good morning.” His husky voice washed over her, easing a tightness inside her. He touched her shoulder and followed it with a kiss. “How are you feeling?”
“Claustrophobic?” It didn’t seem the correct term but close enough to get her point across. “I need space—movement.”
He froze behind her. “Space from me?”
“No, this cabin. I need fresh air.”
“Then let’s get out of here.” He opened the drawers and pulled on running pants and a T-shirt. He grabbed a bag from the table and placed it next to her. “Quinn sent over some clothes for you. She wanted you to be comfortable this morning.”
“Very thoughtful of her, but how would she know where to find me?”
“I might have called the bear healer in a panic when you were at the worst of it last night.”
“I don’t remember much past us making love. Beyond sex, it’s pretty hazy.” Inside the bag lay some running shoes, sweatpants, and a T-shirt from the gift shop printed in big block letters I heart bears.
“Absolutely not.” He threw a plain white T-shirt at her.
She giggled as she put it on. “Is this normal, this need to run after you mate?”
“Are you asking as in did I need to after my first mating?”
She didn’t know what she meant, but if they didn’t get out soon, she would pull off her skin. “I guess.”
“I don’t remember.” Then, as if reconsidering his answer, he said, “It was a long time ago. And we had known each other our whole lives. But if my mate needs to run, then I will run with her.”
“I hate running,” she said as they exited the cabin and started to stretch.
“Then why are we out here instead of in there making love again?”
“I feel if I don’t run, I will go insane. Something inside needs to be set free.”
He paused, bent at the waist, one leg straight out behind him. “What needs to be set free?”
She didn’t know, but her skin itched, almost as if it were too tight. One second she stood on the porch, the next she ran for her life through the dark forest. She sensed him hot on her heels, but she didn’t stop. In the predawn darkness, she should have been struggling to see the trees coming up on her, or stumps, or even the rocks, but she could sense the objects before she came across them.
When she came out into the opening and the moon shone down on her, a burn took over. She turned to Lars, confused and frightened. “What is happening to me?”
“You’re shifting.” He cocked his head. “Relax and let it happen.”
He stood before her, and the glow covered him before he shifted into a large bull with huge antlers. He raised his head and called out to the night.
At the call, she doubled over, fighting the need to drop to her knees. He called again, and she fell to the ground, and with the third call, she opened her eyes to see it through an elk’s viewpoint. Her mate grunted, and she ran, not out of fear or panic, but because she could. Free for the first time in her life.
On the top of a hill, as the sun crested over the landscape, the human in her forced its way back out. On weak knees, she stumbled. But her mate remained in elk form. Standing proud and strong. She waited, and he came to her. Magnificent didn’t start to describe him in this form. “Can you understand me?”
He nodded, dropping into the tall grass. She sat next to him with her back against his muscular trunk. She had so many questions, but they had plenty of time to deal with her issues. But as she lay, watching the dark sky above her head transform its morning light from pink to light blue, peace covered her. The part of her she had been searching for came to the surface, making her whole, body and soul.
A flash of light from the corner of her eye had her sitting up. Lars got to his feet before she could make out what happened. He ran full speed towards the light. An earth-shattering bang broke the silence of the morning. Birds squawked and flew in all directions. She realized she had seen the light reflecting off the scope of a gun. The second shot rang out, and Lars faltered but still ran. The hunter moved into the opening. As he leveled a rifle, a gigantic grizzly bear rose to his full height behind the hunter. She knew without being told the beast had to be Brutus. She turned away, covering her ears against the screams she couldn’t block out.
Screams turned to deafening silence and fear of what she would find when she opened her eyes. A hand touched her back, and she flinched. “Jenny.”
Her head shot up, and she found her mate standing over her, concern etched into his handsome face. She threw herself into his arms. “You’re okay?”
“Relatively,” he assured, but she sensed something in his forced word.
Stepping back, she noticed his white shirt turning red above his hip. “You’re shot.”
“Grazed,” he said, but a second later stumbled and fell to the ground.
“Help us,” she yelled to the hills, knowing at least one bear had to be within shouting distance. She ripped at his shift-shirt, pulling it over his head and pressing it against the bleeding wound. “Why the hell was he shooting at you?”
“He liked my rack.”
“You aren’t funny.”
“Not trying to be. I think we found our hunter.” He closed
his eyes and grunted as she pressed harder against his wound.
Two bears dashed their way at full speed. She should have been concerned or had a sense of self-preservation. If these were real bears, not shifters, she and Lars would be in a great deal of trouble. Ten feet from them, the two bears shifted. Brutus and a beautiful tanned woman with gray braids approached. Crossing his arms over his chest, Brutus tsked. “Lars, I have told you a million times, zig and zag, not zag and zig. Amateur.”
“Do shut up, laughing makes it worse,” Lars coughed between laughs.
“Both of you shut up.” The woman put out a hand. “Brutus, your shirt.”
Without question, he stripped off his flannel shirt and handed it over. Brutus turned his attention to her. “Are you all right?”
“As well as can be expected.”
“Jenny, I need you to release the pressure long enough for me to tie this around his waist.” The older woman worked fast, and before she knew it, the healer had Lars wrapped up. Brutus lifted him and headed for the tree line. “Can you walk, Jenny?”
“I wasn’t shot.”
“No, but you ran like you never have, and your muscles aren’t used to the shift.” The other woman offered her a hand. “My name is Shauna. I am the bear healer. You make a magnificent deer.”
“You saw?”
“When I checked on you last night, I sensed something deep within you had been awakened.” They reached the woods where an all-terrain vehicle waited for them. Lars lay in the back. Brutus sat next to him. “You take the front, I can ride on the side.”
She offered a weak smile to the driver who from his size and beard had to be one of Brutus’ people. Shauna tapped the top, and the ATV took off. She hadn’t realized how far they had run until they made the drive back.
Brutus took Lars into the cabin, followed by Shauna, leaving Jenny outside, staring at the cabin and wondering how much had changed in the last few hours.
“Is it true?” The woman who had attacked her on the commons the week before met them at the door.
“Lars will be fine,” a tall svelte blonde woman said.
“Not Lars. Her.” She pointed at Jenny.
The driver stood and growled.
“I’m fine. Let me handle this. Bear brute strength isn’t going to help me with Lars’ people.” She placed a hand on the large man’s chest. He grunted but acquiesced to her request. She turned her attention to the forming crowd. “What about me?”
“Did you shift?” the woman demanded.
“She did,” Shauna said from the doorway, wiping her hands. “She was amazing. Even as a bear, I could see that. Now your alpha has requested his mate, so you can all Kumbaya another time.”
“Thank you, Shauna,” Jenny said as they entered the cabin.
“I knew what you were even if Lars didn’t believe me. Brutus and I went out earlier this morning and saw the whole thing. We were close when the shot rang out. We followed at a distance because I suspected your legs wouldn’t hold out for the walk back.”
“Come on, Shauna. Let’s leave them alone. There is plenty of time to let everyone know you are brilliant later.” Brutus offered her a wink and pulled his healer out of the cabin with him. “Lars, I’m dealing with the hunters and I’ll catch up with you later.”
She turned to find Lars staring at her from the bed. They had propped him up with every pillow in the cabin, but at least the bandage around his waist remained white. “After a day’s rest, I’ll be back on my feet again.”
“You shouldn’t have charged them.”
“I didn’t have any choice. I knew Brutus was out there somewhere, but my only thought was what if they had shot you.”
“Why would they have shot me?” The hunters were after game not humans.
“It’s possible the hunter saw you shift.”
“Is that why you didn’t shift with me?”
“I sensed humans in the area. I couldn’t chance it. I suspected if they had seen you, they would have come to investigate. But when they didn’t, I figured they were just hikers out for an early morning stroll.” He tapped the bed beside him. “I would heal better with you next to me.”
“I thought I’d lost you.”
“Believe me, you would know.” His voice held a world of pain. “When your mate dies, you know it to your core. There is no question.”
“You think it makes it any easier to have witnessed you being shot. Shot! And you still ran toward the gun.” She stalked to the bed but didn’t make a move to get in with him. “I finally accepted I love a man who is more than a man. I realized with you I feel I belong. It’s why I decided to mate with you last night. Not because we couldn’t fight the attraction, but because with you I felt complete.”
“Jenny.”
“No. I need you to understand. I might have to accept that as an alpha you might find yourself in danger, but I never have to like it. I never have to accept you might be hurt.”
“You’re right you don’t have to accept it. I know I wouldn’t. Please sit down so I can touch you.”
Not happy she couldn’t vent her spleen a bit more, she plopped down. After all, he had been shot, and the least she could do was nurse him back to health so she could chastise him later.
He pulled her into his embrace and kissed the top of her head. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
“Which part?”
“The holding your tongue until later part.”
“How did…?”
“Shhh. Injured. Yell at me later.”
She listened to his heart’s steady beats. “Perhaps we should discuss my hidden ability to turn into an elk.”
“I told you. You’re perfect for me.”
“How is my shifting even possible?” She still couldn’t wrap her mind around it.
“You’re asking the wrong person. But my guess is a shifter lurks somewhere in your family tree. Over the years, the shifter gene became dormant.”
“But when we mated, it awakened?”
“It makes sense. But perhaps Shauna has an idea as well.” They lay quietly for a while before he continued, “You said your mother didn’t feel a part of your life?”
“Disconnected.”
“Elk females rule the herds.” He grunted, repositioning himself against the pillows. “I’m the alpha, but the females are in charge. It’s possible the gene is from your mother. And, like you, she believed something had to be wrong with her. She ran, but unlike you, her elk never came out. The feeling of the walls coming in around her wasn’t you and your father, but an inability to know her true self.”
“I guess.”
“You have a large family now.”
“They won’t accept me.”
“Why?” His voice slowed as his lids closed.
“Because they’re appalled.”
“They are shocked, but they’ll accept you.” He yawned. “I need to sleep. Don’t be surprised if you wake up alone.”
“Alone?”
“I need to be in elk form to fully heal.”
“Then why are we in here in human form?”
“Because I don’t have the energy to shift yet. After I rest, I can shift and then heal.” His words slurred as he faded off to sleep.
Her questions, comments, and anger could all wait.
He never awoke for the rest of the day. Although Shauna came by to check his wound, he remained in restless slumber. Jenny watched over him until the sun set and the need to sleep overcame her.
Morning rays woke her. Reaching for her mate, she found him gone. The sheets next to her were cold. Ignoring her protesting muscles, she crawled out of bed. After a quick shower, she put on her ranger uniform. For the first time, she didn’t want to go to work, but she didn’t have a great deal of choice. None of the people hanging around the night before remained in sight. As she made her way to the ranger station, she passed the elk lying on the grassy commons. She stopped. Lars, in elk form, slept in the center. The females who surrounded him droppe
d their heads as she approached.
“He’s fine but thought if he had to rest, why not do it where you could watch over him,” Erin said approaching her dressed in shorts and a Grand Teton T-shirt looking like any other tourist in the area.
“Thank you.”
“The herd would like to welcome you tonight. But if you would prefer to be alone with your mate, we understand.”
“Welcome me?”
“Yes. I know you have some reservations about us, as did some of the females about you, but I promise all any of us want is our alpha happy. A happy alpha is better able to take care of his people.”
Lars lifted his head before lowering it again, almost as if drugged. “Is he okay?”
“We get groggy when we heal. He’ll go into a deep sleep for a couple of hours and wake up sore but healed.” Erin stepped to the side as Jenny dealt with a group of teens more interested in selfies than safety.
The other woman waited on the sidelines throughout the day.
“You don’t have to watch over me,” Jenny said.
“I wasn’t. You are more than capable of taking care of yourself. I thought you might have questions or need someone to talk to.”
“I appreciate it. Really I do. I think I’m just overwhelmed at the moment.”
“Would you prefer we postpone tonight’s celebration? I know you probably want some alone time with Lars.”
“I can’t imagine he’ll be up to anything physical.”
“I can guarantee he’ll be up for something with you.” Erin bumped her with her shoulder.
“I didn’t mean it that way.” Jenny blushed but laughed along with the other woman. “If you have already gone to any trouble, tonight will be fine.”
“Get it out of the way, too?”
“Perhaps.”
“All four herds will be present, and we have invited the grizzlies.”
“Really?”
“They promised to eat before they arrived.”
“Very considerate of them.”
“I think Quinn is worried about you.”