“Wow, this mating bond is strong,” she said in awe, her eyes widening as she clutched her chest.
He frowned. “You heard that?”
She nodded. “Yes. I also heard you congratulating yourself on being such a fine catch. Pa-leeze.” She snorted. “I do believe it’s the other way around, Neanderthal. Now, on to business.”
He laughed. “I love your fire.”
Sticking out her tongue at him, she nodded as if to say, “of course you do.”
They had been reunited barely three hours, and he already knew one thing: he could never, ever be without this woman again.
Her shoulders sagged a little. “Aw, teddy, you think the sweetest things.”
He frowned. She was clearly reading his thoughts, but so far, he couldn’t read any of hers.
She laughed, but said nothing to that. “Okay, I do believe I promised you sex and a solution to our problem. You ready to hear it yet?” she asked smartly.
“What do you think, woman?”
Snickering, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I’ll make this quick. I must give birth to a cub and not a chick.”
He frowned. Chance didn’t know much when it came to women and babies and all that nonsense.
She cleared her throat, tossing him an exasperated look.
“Well, it’s true.” He shrugged. Since she could hear his thoughts anyway, he might as well just say it. “How exactly do you do that? I thought only if I had sex with a female grizzly could we get a cub.”
She tapped her foot almost angrily. “Hm.”
He grinned as he felt a warm blast of her rage rake against his flesh when she thought of him lying with another. Finally, he was starting to feel her mind, and he reveled in the simple beauty of it. It was pure, pristine, polished, and like a breath of cool, wintery air.
“Because of the fact that our men are sterile, unlike many other species of Breed, we can choose which form we wish to pass on to our offspring. But we can only choose once. If I give birth to a chick the first time, all subsequent offspring would also be chicks. I’ll be forever tied to my lands and my people.”
His jaw slowly dropped as his heart raced. “But if you choose a cub—”
“Then they would have no choice but to release me from among them, severing my ties to the Blackfoot Clan forever.”
Yanking her to his chest, he hugged her with a fierceness that left her breathless. “You’re brilliant, Bronwyn. How do you do that?”
All seriousness, she grabbed his hands and squeezed tightly. “You have to keep me safe from them for the next two weeks, and you have to make sure that the temperatures stay above eighty. If you can do that, Chance, then we can be together forever.”
Then come hell or high water, that’s exactly what he would do.
Chapter 6
Chance
They’d lain together that night, cradled in each other’s arms, not talking, hardly moving, and not even daring to breathe too deeply.
The woods had been thick with the Queen’s guards. He’d heard their quiet chatter and rush of wings, the disturbed brush as they’d once come within mere feet of Bronwyn and him.
The crows weren’t permitted to walk on his lands without Phoenix’s express permission. Phoenix, being the eldest, had to declare them free to pass.
Phoenix, however, wasn’t around. In fact, neither was August. Chance hadn’t seen hide nor hair of either of his brothers since the ritual began. But the land space and airspace were two separate matters entirely. While the grizzlies controlled their lands, they held no sway over the air—a fact the crows had ruthlessly exploited.
But so long as they remained hidden, nothing could come of it… not until Phoenix returned, and Bron’s mother declared war on them. Then his brothers would cut his effing balls off for bringing that kind of heat down on them.
Meh. Tomatoes, tomahtoes. If this situation had befallen either August or Phoenix, he was sure they would be in the same predicament.
A little voice nagged at the back of his mind, saying that wasn’t entirely true because his brothers tended to be much smarter about thinking before acting than he was.
Bronwyn’s gentle warmth flowed over him, calming him despite his growing fears and false bravado. He gave her a grateful smile, squeezing her tighter.
“We’ll be all right as long as we don’t leave,” he whispered, and she nodded.
If there was one thing a grizzly knew how to do well, it was build a den.
When in bear form, he could camouflage his scent. Grizzly Breed fur had a natural repellence to it, which helped conceal him during a hunt. Now, it provided a crucial role in concealing them.
Bronwyn had rubbed her naked body along the length of him, covering herself in his scent so that she too would be disguised from her sisters.
They had only separated after several hours had passed, and he’d determined their best chance to move without being seen was by using what little darkness remained to help conceal them.
Chance shifted and helped pick twigs and brambles out of her hair. He gently massaged her lower back with his free hand as she groaned miserably.
This was not at all what he’d hoped to do for her once he’d gotten her free of the nest.
“I will take care of you, my little bird. I promise.”
Her smile was as bright as always, but it was also shaded with exhaustion. Dark circles rimmed the bottoms of her eyes. “I know you will.”
Grabbing her hands, he kissed the tops of them. One good thing had come from her cuddling into him all night—his body heat had remained a steady and toasty ninety degrees Fahrenheit.
Spring in Alaska was different from spring in other parts of the world. The overnight temperatures dipped to a chilly forty degrees. At least her cheeks were pinkened again.
“Where to now?” she asked.
“My cabin,” he said resolutely.
She frowned. “Where your brothers live?”
He shook his head, still rubbing his thumb along the backs of her petal-soft hands. “We only stayed together during the pre-mating ritual. The cabin will be ours for now. But I’m sure if they were there, they’d hand me over for the hassle. Your family would have found me and strung me out to dry for this.”
She laughed. “Don’t be silly. They’d only skin you alive.”
“Gee. Much better death.”
She kissed him soundly. He still hadn’t gotten sex yet. He was growing desperate and horny. No, he was way past horny. He was like a randy teen with his first hard-on. If she so much as brushed her hand against him, he would erupt. And that blew because he didn’t want her thinking he didn’t know what he was doing.
Her smile was gentle. “I promise, when we can, I’ll take care of you. But for now, hotness, let’s focus on the task at hand.”
Blowing out a heavy and slightly pained breath, he rolled his eyes. “Gods, I’m a wreck.”
She held his hand, and suddenly the mood turned serious as the gravity of their situation impressed itself on him. He nodded, giving her a silent agreement that he promised to be a good bear for the moment.
Walking them both toward the exit to his den, he jutted his chin toward it. “Our best and fastest bet is to shift into our animal forms and—”
She shook her head resolutely. “Can’t. My wings have been clipped.” Her hand dropped to her belly.
Bears could and often did shift into their animal during pregnancy. They found the more brutal nature of the beast to be safer for the well-being of the mother as well as the cub.
“Birds are not built like bears, or most other Breed for that matter. Shifting now could damage our child.”
He covered her bump with his hand. This would make the situation a little trickier. He’d hoped to keep her hidden as her crow in a satchel strapped to his back. But every problem had a solution.
“Can you still run?”
Her grin widened. “I was half-blinded last night. But aye, I can still fly on my feet, caveman.�
��
His chest swelled with pride at the return of the fire in her voice. He knew she was tired. He could read it in every line on her face, but she was brave, a warrior through and through.
“Good. Then let’s fly, bird. I’ll shift into my bear—”
“Why?” She snorted and hip-checked him. “So that you can actually hope to keep up with me this time?”
“Keep up? You wish.” He grinned, refusing to let go of her hand yet.
“Oh yeah, I wish. Okay. I do seem to recall a certain man sucking in wind and—”
He poked her in the ribs, causing her to squeal, slap his hand away, then giggle with delight.
“Keep it up, and I’ll forget you’re my mate. I am rather partial to bird for breakfast,” he teased.
“Do it, and I’ll poke your eye out, you naughty bear.”
Caught up in the moment, Chance realized how domestic and… natural this all felt. He tugged her into him and kissed her softly on the lips, taking his sweet time to taste her. He wanted to memorize each little breathy sigh and whimper, the way her fingers gently raked down his biceps whenever he increased the pressure of his touch, and how her soft baby swell rubbed up against the hard planes of his abs.
Never again would he scoff at the ancient magick of his people. Never again would he question August or Phoenix on anything. He couldn’t wait to show his brothers his mate.
Chance finally forced himself to break the kiss. He could have actually lingered on her lips all day, feasting, sucking, and nibbling all over them. But there was still the matter of her safety to attend to.
Though they were already deep into grizzly territory, the Crow Queen could demand her daughter back by law. If Bronwyn had been a grizzly, then the mating ritual would have given him full rights as the acknowledged mate. But she was a crow.
In their eyes, he’d kidnapped her. Whether she’d gone willingly or not wouldn’t matter to them. His “crime” was punishable by death.
He gave her one final stare and transmitted whatever strength he could to her. Then he tossed aside the pines, twigs, and leaves that had camouflaged the entrance to his den and peeked out.
The woods were alive with the sounds of insects and the first songs of birds. The sky was tinted a pale shade of blue. The sun would rise in less than thirty minutes. Squeezing her hand one final time, he stepped out fully before shifting.
As a bear, he was far more attuned to the world around him. He could sense the steady vibrations of the beasts and creatures that roamed, sounds that were near silent to the human ears along the forest floor.
He sniffed the air and smelled flowers, nuts, rodents, and even a few jays. But no crows.
Turning back toward the den, he gave Bronwyn a low growl of approval, letting her know it was time to leave.
She moved like a hesitant little rabbit, framed in the doorway. Her already big eyes looked impossibly wide and frightened as she gazed around.
It would slow them down if he constantly shifted just so he could talk with her. He head-bumped her thigh instead, rubbing his cheek along her sweet-smelling flesh as if he were a contented cat.
She scratched the top of his head gently. With a determined nod, she gravely said, “Let’s go then, caveman.”
And with that, her feet flew. In seconds, she’d left him in her dust. Chance wanted to roar in satisfaction. There was very little in the world he loved more than the chase.
He didn’t think he could ever tire of chasing Bronwyn. In less than a minute, he’d caught back up to her. It shouldn’t have been possible that he could run faster as an almost five-hundred-pound bear than in his human form, but he could. He also had more endurance in his bear form.
His breathing was nice and even, and though Bronwyn remained a few feet in front of him, he never once lost sight of her.
The fact that she knew where he lived came in handy. If she had been forced to keep his speed, he would only have slowed her down. He wanted her locked inside his cabin as soon as possible.
They were splashing through a brook twenty minutes later, within the final ten miles of his home, when he spotted a black streak circle in the sky. Then with a great cry, it dove for them.
Bronwyn shook violently, clutching her robes with white-knuckled intensity as she stared, horrified. Chance was beside her in an instant, shielding her body with his much larger one.
Before the black blur even landed, it was already shifting, standing on the thickest branch of the tree just ahead of them, technically not on their lands.
A woman with long dark hair, and far curvier hips and breasts than his Bronwyn, raked his form with a frosty glare. It wasn’t difficult to figure out that though there were differences between the two women, they definitely shared the same blood.
“Bronwyn, how could you?” the woman asked flatly, anger evident in the rough texture of her tone.
His woman, who had been terrified just moments ago, seemed to dig down deep for courage. She transformed in front of his eyes from an unsure, delicate female, to one made of steel and fire.
“You know why, Casia. So you found me. Have you told Mother yet?” Bron’s chin couldn’t have been notched any higher without doing permanent damage to her nerves and tendons.
Chance rubbed his body along hers, vibrating with coiled-up energy. At the slightest twitch or hint that Bronwyn wanted him to, he would pounce her sister bird, ripping her lovely head from her lovely neck.
Bronwyn, already in tune to his emotions, dropped her hand to his head and rubbed gently, easing much of his strained nerves with her tender touch.
Casia glanced down, her hawk-like gaze missing nothing between them. Her upper lip curled back with a hint of distaste. “So this is he?” she asked, never bothering to answer Bron’s first question.
Chance looked up at his woman. A muscle in her cheek twitched repeatedly as she clenched her teeth. Tense silence rang between them before she finally gave a hard nod of her head.
“Then you’ve chosen?” Casia clutched her hands together, fingers squeezing together tightly. “You will birth a cub?”
Again, Bronwyn gave a jerky nod. “Aye. So long as you keep my secret, yes, I will.”
Casia’s eyes, not quite as dark as Bronwyn’s, turned sad. “You will break her heart.”
Chance held his breath, wondering if his gut instinct was right, and his bird’s sister planned to keep their secret for them after all.
The world seemed to go perfectly still. The only noises he could hear were the rush of all their breaths as they waited for one of them to break the silence.
Casia was the one to finally do it. “And Rolo? What of him?”
“Rolo loves another. And his secret is not mine to share.” Bron took a step forward, clutching her hands together in a prayerful pose. “So please don’t ask me to. Just know that his heart has been given long ago. And now I wish only to follow my own. Let us go, Cas. Let us go and keep my secret. Please.”
Taking several deep breaths and never breaking eye contact, Casia simply said, “As you wish. From this day forward, I no longer consider you part of my clan. You’ve chosen. May you never live to regret it. I shall keep your secret until the day of the cub’s birth.”
And though Bronwyn stood straight and proud, Chance could see the fire of pain that glittered through her eyes like broken shards of glass at her sister’s cruel words.
With a stiff bow to them, Casia turned her face up to the sky. In moments, she was engulfed in the fires of change, shifting instantly from woman back into bird. The crow circled their heads once before flying off with an angry cry.
Once she’d gone, Bronwyn collapsed into his side. Chance shifted immediately, his hands going around her waist before she fell. Blinded by her tears, she could only wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his chest.
Chance walked them the rest of the way toward the cabin, knowing he could never fix this pain she bore. Losing her clan, the only family she’d ever known, couldn’t be eas
y.
But that was the way of life for the Breed. Real life was far from the life of a fairy-tale princess. It was messy, and complicated, and full of horrible decisions.
“I will be your family now, little bird.”
She looked up at him with a tear-stained face and sniffed. Giving him a watery smile, she said, “And our child too.”
He nodded. “Yes. And our cub too.”
Chance hated to admit that he was overjoyed in the face of such misery. He felt ashamed, but he would be a liar if he said it wasn’t true. If Casia really did keep their secret for the next two weeks, then he would never need to worry again of losing his woman.
He was just about to reach for the door of his cabin when it was suddenly and violently kicked open. Splinters of wood exploded like tiny missiles in every direction.
Chance stumbled back, clutching desperately onto Bronwyn so she wouldn’t be hurt in the blast. Slivers of heated wood pierced through his flesh like a hot knife through butter.
He hissed even as he turned into the blast to take the full brunt of it into himself.
Bronwyn cried out, struggling to break free. “Chance, you’re hurt!”
“I’ll live,” he snapped.
But a thunder-like roar erupted behind him, shaking the very ground beneath his feet and silencing any further words from them.
He turned just in time to see a nightmarish thing come winging through the blasted-out door. A green-and-golden-scaled dragon moved with astonishing speed into the sky, but that wasn’t the oddest sight.
No, the strangest thing was the fact that his brother Phoenix, who was easily twice as large as Chance, was clutched in its taloned grip as it flew them both toward the clouds.
Chance’s eyes grew wide as he watched his struggling, roaring brother disappear from sight just seconds later.
He and Bronwyn stood in silence for some time before she finally chuckled. “And you thought you had it bad with a crow. Seems like your brother tagged himself a dragoness.”
He shook his head. “Not just any dragoness.” He’d recognized those scales immediately. Madison worked at August’s bar and had a temper like… well, a dragon. A dragon he’d dumped not once, but twice. A dragon who, at this point, pretty much hated his guts. “Phoenix is in for hell.”
Chance: Mating Fever (Bears of Kodiak Book 1) Page 5