There's so many more of them.
Their ranks went far back enough that I couldn't even guess at how many. Enough. Three or four of them for each one of us.
All armed, all trained, all angry.
I glanced at the others, at Cole, at Adanna, at Steve and Joe and everyone else I recognized from the corner store, from walks down the street, from the gas station and from the front counter at Joe's Automotive.
And they were afraid. Every single one of them felt the same sick terror as I did.
But they didn't move. Not once. They didn't so much as flinch.
I realized, as an afterthought, it was the first time I had actually seen their animal forms. Adanna transformed effortlessly into a huge, beautiful lioness. A few paces down the line, Steve shook his head a few times before he turned into a huge black bear, while Andrea became a sleek doe with smooth tawny fur. There were foxes, raccoons, even a mountain beaver. Joe became a badger, squat and angry. I struggled to take it all in, my eyes finally drifting back to the only one here that I'd seen transform before.
A massive shudder went through Cole's body as he began to change. I braced myself for the pain, but it felt so different than usual, a slow creeping ache, and my heart pounded, but there was no spiking agony. I stood still, watching him grow and change, while the enemy ranks shifted impatiently.
When it was done, Cole's black wolf eyes scanned the crowd. His nose twitched, his tail swished, and then, he threw back his head.
He howled. The sound made goosebumps rise all over, heating my blood. I wanted to snap my teeth and bite and scratch. I wanted to destroy them all, and mate with Cole on the freshly torn battlefield. I wanted to rip and tear and fight and fuck.
I just wanted.
Cole howled, and the warriors froze, fear in their eyes, no matter how hard they tried to hide it.
And chaos broke loose.
They advanced on us, swords and axes raised high, and the clan charged forward. I tightened my grip around my katana, as ready for the fray as I would ever be.
The first warrior to take a swing at me was middle-aged and paunchy, not quite as intimidating as he'd seemed at a distance. I kept a wide stance for balance, parrying with my sword, pushing him back and off-balance. His arms windmilled comically as he fell over, his machete falling from his hand and skittering several feet away.
Well, how about that. Maybe that warrior's blood in my veins was actually good for something.
Pushing forward, I felt strong and fast and powerful in a way I never had before. Like I'd been waiting my whole life for a chance to do this.
How sick was that?
Everything seemed to be moving very slow, and very fast, at the same time. I'd lost all sense of how much time was passing, and at times I almost felt like I was floating above my body, watching everything from the sky above us.
It took a long time before there was enough of a lull for me to hesitate and look around me. As I did, my heart started to feel cold and heavy.
The clan was being beaten back. Slowly, but unmistakably.
Heather.
I looked around, as if I could hear the source of the voice. But I knew it was in my head.
And more than that, I knew exactly who it was.
Heather. Heather. Can you hear me?
I pushed one of the warriors off-balance with his own spear. Then, very deliberately, very carefully, I formed the word YES inside my head.
Good. Baby, listen. We need help. The animals are nearby. I can smell them. They're watching us. Tell them you need their help. They'll come for you.
I don't know how.
Yes you do. Just reach out to them. Same way you're reaching out to me now.
With as much energy as I could muster, while I continued to fight my way through the throngs, I brought up a picture of the cougar in my mind. The mother bear. Her baby. He must be fully grown by now. Every creature I'd seen during my solitary hikes.
Please come. Please help us.
Please help me.
If you want to keep the fountain -
A strange, unearthly roar came from behind me. I didn't dare turn to look, but I didn't need to. The ashen face of the man in front of me, suddenly dropping his axe and turning tail to run, told me everything. Moments later, a massive dark blur lumbered past me, shaking the ground. When it came to a stop, knocking over and trampling several of the warriors, it finally took definitive shape.
A grizzly bear.
He huffed and grunted, inches away from my face, and then lowered his head and shoulders in front of me. It only took me a moment to understand what he was offering me.
I climbed on his back, grabbing a handful of fur with my free hand. With a bellow, he charged forward, rearing up to swat the warriors aside like so many flies.
All around us, the animals were coming. Bears and bobcats, even the cougars - one of which had a scar across his face, and I had a halfway decent idea of who gave it to him.
But they were fighting for me.
They were fighting for the fountain.
I felt a rush of triumph as we charged across the battlefield. The animals leapt on the warriors, pushing them back, and the clan slowly started to regain their ground.
As my eyes scanned the crowd, I felt my chest constrict with sudden panic.
Cole. Where's Cole?
I reached out to him, silently, as the bear galloped across the field.
Sunshine…
In the back of my throat, I tasted fear.
My head jerked towards the further corner of the battlefield, and I saw him. Down on all fours, crouching, panting heavily with his ears flattened against his head.
And standing in front of him, with his battle-axe raised, was my father.
Why doesn't he attack? Why is he…
Then, I saw the glint of the silver chains that were holding Cole down.
No one had bothered to explain it to me, but I understood. The lore was true. It burned him, it robbed him of his strength. I could feel it.
I wanted to scream, but it died in my throat. The bear charged forward, but we were far, so far, and my father would hear the sound, and would he turn his axe on me? Would he ever hesitate?
Could I raise my sword to my own father?
He hauled his axe further back, and for a moment, the whole world froze.
And then I saw something I hadn't before.
Standing just a few feet away from them, sleeves of his pressed white shirt rolled up to his elbows, and his maroon tie wrapped around as a makeshift headband, was Arthur Craven.
I gripped the bear's fur, and he stopped, chest heaving. But we were close enough to hear my father's voice, now.
"I'm going to enjoy this," he intoned, his voice dripping with venom. "Did you ever stop think -"
"Excuse me," said Arthur. "But I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
One moment, he was standing there, fists clenched, grinning viciously - and in another, his clothes crumpled to the ground, and a massive crow flew out of his shirt collar.
With a screech, he flew talons-first into my father's face. The axe fell harmlessly to the ground, and my father flailed his arms helplessly while Arthur pecked and clawed.
I urged the bear forward again, hurrying towards Cole, jumping off and running towards him when I was close enough. The chains were heavy, and as I threw them aside, I saw the burning welts they'd raised on Cole's skin, even through his thick black fur.
Silence had fallen over the battlefield. As Cole straightened up, slowly, I surveyed what was left.
The few remaining warriors were on their knees, or barely standing, subdued by the clan and our animal allies. My father was groaning on the dirt, hands covering the scratches all over his face. Hovering over him, Arthur let out one single definitive cawww.
With a shake of his head, Cole shifted back to human form. Streaked with blood and sweat, eyes hard, he walked over to my father and loomed over him, fists clenched, chest heaving.
Slowly, my father opened his eyes.
The rest of the clan was slowly gathering around, some of them shifting back, slinging their cloaks back around themselves. Someone tossed Cole's to him, and he grabbed it out of the air, without looking.
My father was scrambling backwards on his elbows, his eyes filled with fear.
"This isn't over," he sputtered, his voice shaking. He managed to stand up, barely, his legs shaking.
"Look around you, Bill." Cole's eyes were like flint. "There's no one left."
My father's eyes skittered over the bodies of his fallen comrades, and he turned around, as if he expected to still see an army at his back. When he turned back, he saw nothing but us - the clan, slightly beaten and bloodied, but still upright. Still ready for more.
"Please, God," my father groaned, falling to his knees. "Jesus, no…"
"You can pray for His mercy," Adanna snarled, drawing herself high, seeming somehow to grow even taller. "But our gods are much older, and less forgiving."
For the first time in my life, I saw tears leak out of my father's eyes.
"So you find remorse on the brink of death," Adanna said. "Like all cowards." She turned to me, slowly. "Heather, if this man was anything but your flesh and blood, I would have already taken his head. Ask for mercy on his behalf, and there's not one of us who would go against your wishes." Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at my father again. "No matter how much we might want to."
A fire burned in my chest, but no matter how much rage I felt when I looked at him, it was eclipsed by pity. Someone had twisted him, filled his mind with hate and fear, when he was too young to know any better. The same could have happened to me, if my mother hadn't stopped him.
"He should live," I said. "But far, far away from here."
Adanna nodded once. "So be it, Mr. Alexander - you've done one good thing in your life, at least. You raised a merciful daughter. More than you deserve. Now crawl back to whatever hole you came from, and if you lay one finger on another of my kind, I won't ask for her permission before I hunt you down."
Still weeping, my father tried to stumble to his feet. He stopped when I walked towards him, until I was close enough to bend down and whisper by his ear.
"You'll never know your grandchildren," I said. "Not that you'd want to, of course."
I stood up straight and tall, feeling as if a massive weight had been thrown off my shoulders. For the first time in my life, there was a lightness in my chest unburdened by memories.
There was just one burden left in the back of my mind, but it would be resolved soon enough.
I had to know the answer.
By some miracle, none of the clan had been seriously hurt. I never realized how resilient they were. In fact, in my ample view of Cole's naked back, I couldn't see the scratch marks I had left just hours before.
His kind healed fast. But some of the wounds were deeper, and needed attention. The clubhouse was our sanctuary. On the walk there, I deliberately fell back, staying out of Cole's eyesight, so I'd have a chance to answer a very important question.
Once we got there, before Cole could pick me out of the crowd, I disappeared into the bathroom with the pregnancy test that I'd been carrying around, unopened, in my purse.
I washed my hands carefully, just like the directions said - watching the blood and dirt swirl down the sink as my heart tried to escape from my ribcage.
Hands shaking, I tore open the wrapper, and prepared for the longest three minutes of my life.
Cole was standing in the middle of the room, looking lost. He'd pulled on his civilian clothes again, jeans and a faded logo tee, his muscles bulging under the sleeves. Any other time, my mouth would have been watering, and I'd forget what I was about to say.
But not now.
"There you are," he said, his face instantly breaking into a smile when he saw me. "Heather, I…" He stopped suddenly, seeing my face. "Heather, I'm sorry about…everything. Your dad, and…I don't even really know what to say."
I just shook my head, gesturing him over to a quiet corner where we could talk. "I need to tell you something," I said, my throat trying valiantly to close up. "Before you say anything else."
"What is it?" He leaned forward, worry etched across his face. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, no. Nothing like that." Fuck. My pulse pounded so loud I could hardly hear anything else in the room. Two simple words, that's all it was. But I couldn't find the breath to say them.
"Heather, please. Just tell me what's wrong." He was pleading, reaching out for my hands. I let him take them, rubbing them soothingly between his own, hearing the chatter of all the voices around me, the hum of activity, the sounds of bottles being uncapped and bandages being wrapped, in the makeshift infirmary on the opposite wall of the room.
Finally, the words forced their way out - almost of their own accord.
"Turns out, I'm pregnant."
I had to stifle a laugh at how stupid that sounded. Cole's face was frozen - white as a sheet, his mouth hanging open, his mind racing to process what he's just heard. But he didn't look upset. So that was a good sign.
"Heather," he said, finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "I…that's…that's…great, isn't it? Is it great? I mean, I think it's great. But you…" He swallowed hard. "You don't know what that means, do you? For people like us?"
"I talked to Adanna already," I told him. "Before I knew. I just suspected, but I had to talk to somebody. But she told me. She told me that it means we're…"
He was grinning.
"Cole," I said. "We're, I guess - soulmates, or whatever."
"I know," he said, simply. "At least, I've been pretty sure for a while now."
I frowned at him.
"I didn't know you'd get pregnant!" he said, quickly. "I mean, at least - I didn't even know it was possible until afterwards. By the time I realized what was going on, I'd already had ample opportunities to knock you up."
His grin was a little sheepish, now.
"You've got such a way with words," I said. "But how did you know? And why didn't you tell me?"
"How could I, Heather?" He took my face in his hands, his expression filled with so much tenderness and longing that it made my heart ache. "I wanted you to have a choice. Just because we're, you know, connected like this, it doesn't mean you have to be with me. It's your life."
"That's very noble," I said, "but you still haven't explained how you knew."
He cleared his throat. "There's all kinds of things," he said. "The way I feel about you, and the way it just overtakes everything else. I ignored it for a long time, until I couldn't anymore. The way you were able to keep me from changing all the way, when we fought. And even in the woods, when you needed - when you didn't want me to stop."
I blushed hotly. "I thought you were just feeling extra-passionate," I said.
"I was," he assured me. "But that's sort of a thing. The males of our kind, when their mate is in heat, there's basically no limit to what they can do. How long they can perform, and how many times, until their mate is satisfied."
Laughing, I bit my lower lip. "Interesting," I said. His eyes sparkled. "Good to know."
There was a moment of silence where all I heard was my heartbeat, and I tried to make sense of everything swirling inside my head and heart.
"Heather, I…" he paused, with eyes downcast, gathering his thoughts. When he looked back up at me, his expression was more guarded. "I know what you must be thinking. I know you've got no reason to trust me, still. But if you want me here, I'll be here. I'm never leaving this place again if I can help it. I can't stand the thought of it - of leaving you. But it's your choice.
"I want this. I want to be with you, I want to raise kids with you. I want to be able to reach out and touch you in the middle of the night, and hear you breathing, and know you're safe. But more than that, I want you to be happy. I want you to have what you want."
The answer was so simple. I felt light-headed and gid
dy.
"You," I said, watching his face slowly break into a smile again. "That's all."
He squeezed my hands tight, and I thought maybe it was the time to say I love you, but it seemed too trite and so shallow compared to how I felt. We'd said it a hundred thousand times to each other, as kids, when we hardly knew what the words meant.
"All this time, I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't your girlfriend," I said, shaking my head at my own stupidity. "I guess that should have been a sign that I was bullshitting myself."
"I don't want you to be my girlfriend, Sunshine," he said, softly, reaching up and brushing the side of my cheek with his thumb. "I want more than that."
My heart hammered in my chest. He licked his lips, nervously, I realized - he didn't want to put it into words. Because it was crazy.
But not doing it was even crazier.
"Say it," I whispered. "I need to hear you say it."
"I want you to be my wife."
We stared at each other, awed by what was passing between us. Even though my heart leapt, what I felt most of all was peace. It was the feeling of walking into a warm house after a long walk in the snow, of seeing a light in a window from far away, and knowing that you'll be welcome there.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me close, smothering my laughter and my tears in the crook of his shoulder.
"Is that a yes?" he asked softly, teasingly.
"You didn't ask me a question," I pointed out, my voice muffled.
"True enough," he admitted. "Heather, baby, will you marry me?"
"Yes, Cole." I squeezed him tighter. "Yes."
Chapter Twelve
On the day I became Cole's wife, it was raining.
This shouldn't have been a surprise. Even with every forecast calling for one more unseasonably sunny day, fall had finally come in with a vengeance, and the skies had cracked open like an egg. "Torrential" barely began to cover it.
"Think we should build an ark?" Steve had his nose pressed up against the glass.
"Lived here his whole life, and still he can't stop bitching about the rain," said Andrea, affectionately. "Really, Heather - I'm sorry this happened."
Becoming His Mate: Douglas Mountain Shifters (Fountain of Love) Page 12