I talked about my childhood. How I felt about my family and specifically about my mom, dad, uncle Nik. Jeremy helped me to realize that their relationship was theirs and not for me to judge. Then we talked about my siblings and the pain I experienced when Nathan, Natalie and Noah passed away. I told him of the guilt and shame that I carried about being alive when they all passed away from old age. Jeremy helped me to understand that my guilt was unfounded. He also pointed out that they lived with their mates and had great lives. Then he said the measurement of a successful life wasn't based on the number of years but the quality of the years.
Then we talked about my fears, desires, hopes and dreams. I even told him about my grandfather and the real bastard he'd been. I told him how maybe my dad and brother had kept me out of pack business because I was so like him. That's when he explained that the Bastet culture was very different from the wolf culture. Jeremy explained how roles were not defined by sex but by choice and skills. Then he told me how he hoped I would use my skills to help him run our Bastet pride. Not just in theory but in practice. He said we would make decisions together and that my opinion would count. He also said he thought I would make an excellent law enforcer. That my years of combat training would make me an excellent candidate for the job. In order to become the Bastet pride enforcer I would have to both challenge the current enforcer and win a fair fight.
Throughout the night Jeremy helped me to see that I'd created most of my own problems. For the first time in my life I felt like I was finally in the right place at the right time. I realized that the fates knew exactly what they were doing when they put Jeremy and me together. I was meant to be in a Bastet pride not a Lycan pack. I saw Jeremy finish the food on his plate and quickly grab more off the shelf. I smiled and reached out for the bag of Doritos. I know they are not traditionally considered breakfast food but with my fast metabolism I never worried about calories. Jeremy looked up at my choice and chuckled then said
"You just continue to amaze me. Any other woman would still be recovering. I have to say thank god for your amazing healing abilities and your phenomenal appetites" I smiled back and said teasingly
"Which appetite are your referring to? The one I have for food or the one I have for your body?"
The moment the words were out of my mouth our eyes connected. That's all it took. I felt the air shift and watched as Jeremy tossed the table aside and pulled me back into his arms. Our lips meshed together and our hands instantly began roaming and touching. Jeremy had me back on the bed in less than a second. It was a few hours later when we both climbed out of the bed again. Without too much conversation we managed to head down to the lake and wash each other. I was enjoying myself when I realized it was getting late in the day.
Based on the amount of time it took us to walk here I knew we would need to head back if we had any chance of arriving at his Bastet pride before sunset. I watched Jeremy look up at the sky and knew that he too estimated that it was past three in the afternoon. I had expected him to say it was time to go. I was surprised when instead he suggested we head back to the cabin for one more round of lovemaking. When I pointed out we were due back at his camp before sunset he said
"So, you can run like a hundred miles an hour. We're only thirty miles from my pride. I want to keep you all to myself for as long as possible. Give me two more hours, and then when we are out of time you can carry me there?"
His words sent desire bolting like lightning through my body. It was such a turn on to know that my strength didn't make Jeremy uncomfortable. In fact he was quick to point out all the advantages. I smiled brightly and said
"That plan pleases me immensely."
We arrived back at the Bastet pride just before sunset. Jeremy called his entire pride together and announced us as true mates. His pride erupted in celebration. I was inundated with congratulations and welcomes from the Bastet pride members. Each family approached us one at a time and gave an official introduction. Jeremy had instructed me on the way here how to introduce myself the Bastet way. For the first time in my life I was sorry I had such a large family. With each new family I listened as they listed out their lineage then would state mine. After several hours of constant introductions I found myself mind linking with Jeremy and asking
"Just how big is your pride?" Jeremy smiled and said back
"Too big for tonight; then he held out his hands to his Bastet pride and said out loud in a commanding voice
"Thank you all for coming and wanting to personally welcome my new mate. I am pleased that you have all so readily accepted her. Unfortunately we have to deal with an edict from Queen Renalda. I promise Laura and I will have an official ceremony and celebration. But tonight we need to retire and come up with a plan on finding our missing pride members. Head in for the night since I am sure I will be asking for volunteers in the morning. Thank you all again and have a great night"
CHAPTER 27
Jeremy's POV
I tried to concentrate on the conversation. Laura and Chase had a lot of valid ideas. We could save a lot of time and possibly lives if we broke into four different groups. One group for each missing couple. The leaders would be Chase, myself, Quinton my current enforcer and Laura. Each group would retrieve one of the missing couples. Everything about the plan made sense. Yet I was struggling to agree. I could feel Laura's emotions and knew that she thought my hesitation was because I had a lack of confidence in her skills. I could see her old fears rearing their ugly head in her eyes.
I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach and knew that I had to agree. Any other choice would cause Laura to doubt my sincerity. I knew she was capable. Hell she was better trained and had more experience than anyone in my Bastet pride. Of the four of us she was the most suited to be a mission leader. Laura's abilities were not what were causing me to hesitate. The truth was I felt needy and just wasn't ready to be parted from her so soon. I found the idea of being separated so soon after blood bonding nerve wracking. Something was causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand at attention.
I looked over at Laura and again felt her fear and saw the uneasiness on her face. She was sitting on pins and needles praying that I would be the man she needed me to be. Pulling a false sense of courage around me like a blanket I forced myself to raise my hand effectively silencing Chase. Then said
"Then the plan is set. Four team leads with groups of three."
I saw a genuine smile bloom on Laura's face. I stopped and pulled her snugly into my arms before continuing
"My team will consist of me Joe and Toby. Laura can take Mora and Johan with her. Chase you take Joanna and Uri with you. Quinton can take Tory and Roxy with him. My parents are with Rena visiting the cubs. I'll send Henri tonight to ask them to come home. I think it would be best if I put my mom and dad in charge of the pride while we're all gone. Chase, you go inform the others. Tell everyone we will have a meeting tomorrow morning in Pride Hall. We can review all the details we know and head out."
With each word out of my mouth I felt my courage slipping. The more I thought of being separated from Laura the more my soul ached. I had this uncomfortable feeling that I just might never see her again. I pushed it from my mind and nodded towards Chase and finished with
"Thanks for all the help tonight. I'll see you in the morning. I find I am desperate to have alone time with my mate."
Then I quickly twisted Laura in my arms so that her face was just inches from mine. I looked into her warm loving eyes and allowed my lips to press gently against her warm swollen lips. I heard Chase exit at the same time a soft sensual moan escaped Laura's throat. I lifted us both from the floor and laid us on our bed. I was in a frenzy to bond my body and soul with hers. I needed to feel completely saturated and surrounded by Laura. That feeling of dread and loss was back with a vengeance and I needed to fill myself with Laura.
My hands roamed and touched as our souls joined and interlaced with each other. Our bodies moved against each other in harmony as
I found peace within her arms. I felt my soul light with a thousand tiny electrical shocks as in union Laura and I reached complete and rapture and fulfillment. I awoke with my heart slamming against my rib cage and my body trembling with fear. Sweat and the smell of terror clung to my flesh. I had a nightmare that I'd messed up bad and managed to get myself killed while collecting my pride members. I was filled with despair as my soul shuddered with misery and sorrow. In the dream, I watched in shame and horror as I watched my beautiful strong mate collapse in heartache as she watched my body being placed on the funeral fire.
I forced the dream from my thoughts and slipped quietly out of the bed. I didn't want Laura to smell the fear on me and mistake it for a lack of confidence in her skills. I knew that no matter what I was feeling it was important that I kept a strong front for Laura. She would never believe my trepidation and concerns for the upcoming mission had anything to do with my own abilities. I just prayed the foreboding feeling and my dream wasn't some type of premonition.
I flicked on the shower water and climbed in. I let the searing hot water pound my back as I considered my best options. I'd just found my mate and I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I would need to keep myself alert and ready for anything while I was leading the mission. My main goal would be to prove these uneasy feelings were nothing more than honeymoon jitters. I was just about finished washing when I heard the bathroom door open and close. I smiled in anticipation of Laura joining me in the shower. Only seconds later the curtain was pushed aside and my beautiful mate popped her head in.
Her hair was a mess and her lips were swollen and red. She had the look of a woman that had been thoroughly loved the night before. She moved slightly and I caught a whiff of her desire and found my body instantly reacting. Then she slowly stepped in making sure that every movement of her body screamed of sexuality. I pulled her into my arms and placed a soft kiss on her lips. I tried to concentrate on nothing but the present but the fear was still nagging at me. I wanted to allow myself to submerge in all that was Laura. With that single purpose I found myself saying
"Hey baby, I'm glad you decided to join me in the shower. We have about an hour before we need to meet the others in Pride Hall. How about you give me the honor of bathing you. You know for my people when a man is allowed to bath or feed his woman with his bare hands its considered nirvana. I would love it if you would allow me this honor."
I was forcing myself to remain still as I waited for her consider my offer. Then she said in a husky and somewhat timid voice
"I missed you in bed when I woke up. I think I was hoping we would pick up where we left off last night. If you want to squeeze in a bathing and some food too I could live with that."
Laura's POV
I'd was filled with satisfaction and delight the moment Jeremy said I would be a mission leader. For the first time in my life I was proud to be me. I could feel Jeremy's confidence in my abilities in every word he spoke. I was filled with anticipation as we entered Pride Hall. I saw the faces of the other team members and almost squealed in excitement. I forced myself to tamper down my emotions and schooled my face into what I hoped looked like a consummate professional.
Jeremy and Chase presented all facts including their lineage, past Bastet pride member affiliations and any leads that were available on the four missing couples. Then they passed around the photo's we looked at the night before. The entire meeting took less than a half hour. Before we finished Jeremy passed out new satellite phones and demanded that every mission leader check in once a day with a report on findings and locations. The Jeremy wished the group as a whole good luck and dismissed us.
I asked my team to step outside for a moment so I could say my goodbyes to my mate. They smiled knowingly and left without a word. I turned to face Jeremy and found every word had simply evaporated from my mind. I opened and closed my mouth several times before I finally managed to squeak out
"Thank you for allowing me to contribute to the pride this way. You confidence in me means the world to me. I promise I will be safe and bring home your pride member."
My soul burst from me and wrapped around his. Jeremy pulled me into a warm embrace in his arms and said.
"I know you will Laura" Then he kissed me.
I knew that it was time to head out but my soul was almost screaming at me to stay just a moment longer. My heart ached with the thought of separation and I knew I wanted to say the words that continued to get stuck in the back of my throat. I forced myself to pull away from him and say
"I know I haven't said this before and maybe right before a mission isn't the best time to say it but I have to tell you before we head off but um well..."
My mouth went completely dry and I had a hard time swallow. I tried to push the words out but for some stupid reason I was still afraid to expose myself that way. I watched Jeremy blink several times. I could see he was holding back a small smile when he took pulled me back into his chest and forced me to look into his eyes. Then he ever so gently touched his lips to mine before he said
"Never one for words are you Laura. No worries... I love you Laura and I know you love me too. I'll talk to you tonight when you call me to give your report."
CHAPTER 28
Laura’s POV
We kept a slow but steady pace of ten miles per hour as we trudged east through the jungle following the Amazon River. We had a lead indicating that the missing couple were holed not far Santarem City. We would follow the river until we reached Santarem then go south until we found the small village they were supposed to be hiding in.
For ease of travel and to keep the wild life from becoming overly worried about our presence; we decided to keep to our human forms but were communicating through our pride mind link. To keep ourselves occupied we decided to play twenty questions. I was enjoying getting to know the members of my team. I was surprised by how easily we conversed and how much we had in common. The only down side to the game was I was trying to learn about two people while they both concentrated on me.
Of my two team mates Johan, is the younger than myself and Mora by more than three hundred years. Johan was just over two hundred years old and was the last to be born and raised in the Brazilian pride before my mate. He’s tall with broad shoulders and short black hair. He’s got a great smile and from what I’ve learned so far he seems to be pretty easy going with a quick wit and quirky sense of humor. I haven’t seen his cat form yet but he indicated he was a rather large cheetah with a rare mutated spot pattern. I’m not really sure what that means but Mora seemed to enjoy making fun of him for it. She poked him several times then said cheerily
“Well they call him a ‘King cheetah’ because he has long black stripes down his back. But if you ask me they got it wrong. I’ve seen them and I definitely think he looks more like a ‘queen cheetah’. You can decide for yourself when you see him shift.
Anyhow, you asked me. Well, I’m a jaguar with a pretty normal spot pattern. I’m large for a female probably two hundred pounds and close to six foot long. Like all jags, I am great at swimming and climbing but my best asset is my bite. I have over two thousand pounds of pressure; by far my bite is the strongest of all felines. I am twice as strong as even a male lion.
Okay so… did you always believe that you would find your mate?”
I looked at Mora smiled softly. I shook my head letting her know that I too at times doubted that I would find my mate. Mora made a sad face as she watched me shake my head. Then her face reflected and emotion that I easily recognized as fear. Fear was in her face, her eyes and even in her unspoken words. Even though Mora was my age for some reason I felt like she was so much older. Maybe it was from her pain and fear or maybe just the hard years of traveling from place to place. From what I’ve learned so was born in Canada but only lived there until she was two.
Mora's parents were killed in an attack and Mora was forced to go live with a distant aunt in Africa. When she came of age she chose to travel from Bastet pride to Bastet pride
in search of her mate. She relocated to the Brazilian Pride in the last ten years. Before me, she had been newest member of the pride. Mora said she’s been searching her entire life for her mate. Unfortunately like most Bastet she’s still waiting.
“So, it’s been a long time and I understand Bastet like to keep company with others. Do you have anyone in our pride that you share more time with?”
I asked knowing it was a double edged question. What I really wanted to know is if Mora had a lover stashed away at home. My question got an immediate reaction. I noticed her face turned bright red and her eyes darted towards Johan.
“No one in particular” she said through our mind link then darted her eyes towards Johan again.
I was observant and right away I could see that she and Johan must have a thing. It made sense since Jeremy and Chase said they like keep couples together where ever possible. It was part of the reason Jeremy said he hated that both of us were leading separate teams. According to him being lovers automatically makes you better fighters together. Some crap about knowing what the other will do and all that. Jeremy hadn’t mentioned to me that Mora and Johan were together but both of them acted so strange every time I asked anything about their love life it was the only thing that made sense. I saw their eyes connect then they both looked in different directions.
Shredded Bonds, a Blood Ties Novel, Book 4 Page 14