Mating Instinct (Morgan Clan Bears, Book 2)

by Theresa Hissong

  Rex didn’t know how he was going to pull off housing six other shifters, but he knew they needed to get something done. The elders would need beds, while Luca and Ransom could take couches.

  “We need to talk about sleeping arrangements,” Rex announced as the room settled from Mrs. Downs comments toward his brother.

  “We don’t want to impose too much,” Alfred Downs stated. “My mate and I can make due for now by shifting and sleeping in the forest.”

  “There will be none of that,” Drake interrupted.

  “You are welcome to the bed in my room,” Gunnar offered to the female in his kitchen. Rex was proud of Gunnar. It was different when it was just the brothers and Tessa there. The youngest Morgan brother was adamant about the kitchen being his responsibility, but he seemed to be drawn to Martha as soon as Tessa had given him a look. Rex knew it was out of a little bit more than respect. He’d been so young when their parents were killed.

  “…our room.” Ada’s voice slipped into his mind, but he didn’t pay much attention to what she was saying because of his thoughts. “That’s okay, right? Rex?”

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he stammered.

  “Alfred and Peggy can use our room,” Ada repeated. “I don’t want to displace Tessa and Drake with the cub.”

  “That’s perfectly fine,” Rex agreed, smiling warmly at the other mated elders. “Ada and I can take the couch and chair in my living quarters.” He’d give Ada his big couch and he’d sleep in his recliner. He’d done it many times before when he was unmated and exhausted from working from sun up to sun down on the fields.

  “Luca and I will take the couches out here,” Ransom suggested. “Anything is better than our car.” The males had been faking their search for Ada for some time, and Robert O’Kelly had sent them off with only two hundred dollars to live off of, and getting a hotel room wasn’t an option.

  “So, I’m sorry to ask this, and please forgive me,” Ransom spoke up, looking between the three brothers. “Who is the leader of your clan?”

  “Leader?” Gunnar chuckled. “We don’t have a leader. We live under the rule of unity. We are equals here.”

  “That’s the way of the old world,” Alfred spoke up. The elder was well into his seventies, his weathered face showing many years of a life on the land. Rex wondered what his story was, but didn’t want to ask.

  “Robert O’Kelly was a self-imposed ruler,” Doug sighed. “He took over our clan and forced us to be his slaves in a way. There was many a time I thought he was going to kill us, but he didn’t. That male was no alpha.”

  “Grizzly bears are the only species who do not need an alpha to live,” Peggy spoke up.

  “Here you are your own ruler,” Rex announced. “My brothers and I are trusting you to do your part to help out on our land and to keep it safe. If you want to work with us in the fields, you are more than welcome. If you’d like to get a job in town with the humans, we are not going to stop you. We just ask that you keep our secret safe. We are the only species the humans don’t know about.”

  “I’d like to keep it that way,” Alfred snarled. “I heard what happened to the others.”

  “Let’s spend the day showing everyone around and preparing for tomorrow,” Rex announced. “The sheriff may come by later on to discuss what happened after we left, but then again, he may not.”

  “Are we safe here? Will they come looking for us?” Peggy asked, taking her mate’s hand.

  “No, we are protected,” Rex promised. “The sheriff isn’t like us, but he’s on our side, and he has ways of making sure you and your mates are not connected to the guns or Robert O’Kelly.”

  “I have nothing there of importance. It was just a place to keep the rain off my head and a place to sleep at night.” Alfred shook his head. “We are better off without him.”

  “Robert took everything from us,” Martha chimed in from the kitchen. She stood with her hip propped against the countertop like she’d staked a claim to Gunnar’s favorite place in the house. Rex couldn’t wait to see how that worked out over the next few months.

  “He stripped us of our identity,” Doug added.

  “I don’t want the name O’Kelly,” Luca sighed. “I feel responsible for not being able to remove my uncle from power.”

  “None of that is your fault,” Anna Claire said from the hallway leading to Gunnar’s quarters. “You are honorable males. Robert was evil.”

  The elder females cried out at seeing the young female. All of them rushed to her side, doting over her as she tried to move toward the kitchen table. The males moved out of her way, Luca pulling a chair out for his cousin.

  Rex noted Gunnar’s narrowed eyes and the flash of gold ringing the outer edges. His brother was worried for Anna Claire, but he wouldn’t do anything but stand on the sidelines whenever the young female moved about the house. Rex understood. If he was younger and in Gunnar’s shoes, he’d be wary of approaching the female his bear wanted to claim.

  Not that it had been much different when he’d found Ada. Although Ada hadn’t been brutalized in the way Anna Claire had been, his mate’s trauma was still heartbreaking.

  “I’m fine,” Anna Claire said in her soft voice. Rex saw her eyes flicker toward his brother before settling back on the two elder females. “With time, I’m going to overcome this.”

  As the remaining members of the O’Kelly clan caught up, Rex motioned for his brothers to meet him on the front porch. There were a lot of things that needed to be discussed amongst them.

  “Are you both okay with them becoming part of our clan?” Rex asked as soon as Drake pulled the door closed, blocking out their new guests.

  “Actually, I am,” Drake replied with a single nod. “They’re of our kind, and they mean a lot to your mate. They’re her family.”

  “They are,” Rex replied, smiling when he remembered seeing how happy Ada was when he had arrived home with the elders.

  “I’m actually not as upset about Martha taking over my kitchen,” Gunnar admitted with a scowl. “I mean, if I really think about it, having someone take over the meals here will keep me in the fields for a little longer during the day.”

  “Wow, don’t let Tessa hear you say that,” Drake chuckled, giving a rare form of expression. Tessa really had changed that grumpy bear inside his oldest brother.

  “Never,” Gunnar joked.

  “Where are we going to build the homes for them?” Rex sobered.

  “We should walk the property and find a suitable place,” Drake suggested, tucking his hands in his front pockets. “I’m good to do that now while they are catching up with the females.”

  Rex ducked inside and let Ada know they were going to walk the land and they’d be returning shortly. She nodded and turned back to her friends.

  The three brothers set out to the side of the house closest to the barn where all of their equipment was stored. Beyond that, the forest behind their home awaited them. There was a trail leading back into the rest of their land, but Rex already knew they’d have a better chance of putting homes in this area than anywhere else.

  “We could cut a road here,” he began, pointing to the trail. “The land is flat enough we could easily build four homes; one for each of the mated pairs and one for Luca and one for Ransom.”

  “We need to get this build started soon,” Gunnar suggested. “All of us piled up in the main house will get old quick.”

  “I’ll contact those cats and see if they can spare some help,” Drake replied, pulling out his phone. “If Luca and Ransom can run equipment, we can get them to start clearing the land as early as tomorrow.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Rex replied, looking back at the home he owned with his brothers. A year ago, they would’ve never entertained the thought of allowing anyone, other than their own mates, to take up residency on their land. Ada and Tessa had brought them so much more than a mating. They were teaching these bears about family again…something they hadn’t had in a
very long time. “I need to see my mate.”

  With his hands in his pockets, he turned for the house, but froze when Ada was standing on the back porch, a thin blanket wrapped over her shoulders. The soft wind blew a few strands of hair around her face. Her big, brown eyes held so much faith and love in them, Rex felt his heart squeeze.

  “Did you mean what you said?” Rex asked as he approached.

  “That I love you?” A smile tilted the corner of Ada’s mouth.

  “Yes,” he replied, pulling her to his chest. With his arms around her, he swallowed her up. No one would hurt his female ever again.

  “I do love you, Rex,” she admitted. “I think I fell in love with you the day you found me in the woods.”

  “I promise to love and care for you until the day we take our last breath,” Rex announced, his voice holding steady. “I will wait for you in the afterlife if you’ll wait for me should you get there before I do.”

  “I will, Rex.” Ada nuzzled against his chest and they stood there for the longest time, feeling the bond between them. The scent of their unborn cub wrapped around them, binding them even further than the mark on each other’s neck.

  Chapter 18

  Ada’s knees were in the dirt as she picked weeds from her garden behind the main house. It’d been two weeks since the others had joined them and Robert O’Kelly had been killed for his crimes against his own kind. Drake and Rex had bought temporary mobile homes for the others from the O’Kelly clan to live in until their cottages were completed. Ransom and Luca decided to share a home until the time came when one of them found their mate.

  The sound of hammers hitting nails echoed in the woods, voices of the panthers who were building the four homes reached her ears, but the sounds of happiness was what made her heart swell. She had a family again, and a mate who loved her dearly.

  “Can I help you with that?” Anna Claire asked as she approached. The young female had shaken most of her trauma since hearing of her father’s death. Ada had spent many nights counseling the young female, but there was still a lot going on that Anna Claire needed to address on her own.

  Gunnar had taken to coming home from the fields at lunch everyday just to sit and talk with Anna Claire while they both ate. He still hadn’t touched her, and Anna Claire hadn’t mentioned anything to her about her feelings toward the male.

  “If you could pull the weeds over by the tomatoes, I’d really appreciate it,” Ada sighed, wiping the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. It wasn’t overly hot outside, but her body was on fire. She didn’t know why, and it was starting to get quite annoying. “I’m exhausted.”

  “You’re also pregnant,” Tessa complained as she exited the house. “If Rex comes home and sees you are out here on your knees in this heat, he’s going to have a stroke.”

  “Bears don’t have strokes,” Ada retorted, rolling her eyes.

  “It’s a figure of speech,” Tessa huffed. “I’m not going to fuss at you for doing the gardening, because I’ve been in your shoes. Drake wouldn’t let me lift a finger, and I was miserable. All he wanted me to do was rest, and you can only rest so much before you go insane.”

  Anna Claire and Ada chuckled at Tessa’s example of her mate doting over her while she was with young. Tessa had been human and had lived differently than female bears. She didn’t understand the male’s need to care for their mates.

  “I’ll be done and cleaned up before he arrives,” Ada promised, but her eyes widened when she heard the truck tires crunching on the gravel driveway.

  “You were saying?” Anna Claire teased.

  “Shit,” Ada cursed as she climbed to her feet.

  “Don’t worry,” Anna Claire said. “It’s probably only Gunnar. It’s about time for him to show up so we can have lunch together. I doubt Rex left the field.”

  Anna Claire was right. Rex didn’t usually come home for lunch, preferring to take something in a cooler so he could eat while he worked. With Rex out of the house, Ada had more time to tend to her garden without his worry for her being out in the heat.

  The panther’s healer, Harold, had been by the day before to give her a checkup, and she was given a clean bill of health. The cub was perfect.

  “Ada,” Rex said from the back door. His voice was as disapproving as usual when he caught her working on a project he thought was too taxing.

  “Rex, I’m not going to address you when you use that tone with me,” she scolded, plucking another weed. “You can go right back in that house until I’m finished.”

  “Ada,” he began, but a hard glare over her shoulder shut him up. With a curse, he left her to go inside.

  Anna Claire chuckled under her breath. Tessa choked a little, and when Ada caught the female’s eyes, they all burst into obnoxious laughter. Tessa slapped her knee as she caught her breath. “You told him.”

  “He’s going to be so angry,” Anna Claire chuckled.

  “I better go inside,” she sighed and stood, brushing the dirt off her knees.

  “Sucker,” Tessa teased under her breath.

  Ada shook her head and walked past Tessa, knowing she couldn’t let Rex think she was mad at him. When she entered the kitchen, he was sitting at the table with his head over a plate of leftover chicken and vegetables from the night before.

  “Don’t be mad at me,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. The fork clinked as he set it against his plate.

  Warm hands enveloped her arms and he sighed, “I shouldn’t be so hard on you when you’re doing what you love.”

  “I know you worry,” she offered, kissing the mating mark on the side of his neck. “Is there any way you can stay home after lunch.”

  “For you, anything, sweetheart,” he promised.

  “Really?” she asked, a little shocked he’d leave the males in the fields.

  “With Luca and Ransom helping us, we’ve knocked out almost all of the planting. I never realized how much a set of extra hands would help us,” he admitted.

  “I’m glad they’re here,” she sobered, remembering the uncertainty Rex had when they’d first met them. They’d definitely proved their worth when they helped kill Robert and the men from Montana.

  Ada had caught a news report the day after. The home she’d lived in with Anna Claire and her father had made the nightly news. The home and three other buildings on the property had caught fire. The bodies inside were never named, but the government had been called in when firearms were found in one of the outbuildings.

  The sheriff hadn’t come around since, and Rex assured her all was well. No one knew who Robert was selling the guns to, and they hoped the law would find them. If it was a shifter who’d been dealing with Robert, the Shaw pride would take over, but if it was a human, Ada was happier to let the law deal with the illegal guns. She wanted no part of Robert O’Kelly or his nefarious dealings ever again.

  “Come,” Rex said as he interrupted her thoughts. “I want to spend the afternoon caring for my mate and our cub.”

  “I think I would like that,” she replied.

  Gaia sat on her living room floor, surrounded by candles, sending the healing powers of the earth to Gunnar’s destined mate, Anna Claire. The pain reflected back to her was enough to take her breath away.

  There was no way she could do anything to help the young female, other than make her days full of sun and warmth. It would take the love of a worthy male to bring Anna Claire out of her depression.

  Knock!

  Gaia’s head jerked up as she faced the door. No one knew where she lived, and she liked to keep it that way. Visitors were not allowed. Whoever was at her door was there for a reason, and she stood, feeling the power of lightning electrify her hands. She didn’t need human weapons to defend herself.

  “Who is it?” she called out.

  “It’s Garrett,” the sheriff said from the other side of the door. “We need to talk.”

  “What can I help you with today, Sheriff?” Alt
hough her voice was welcoming, she wasn’t too happy with the lawman finding out where she lived.

  “I need to know why you are not protecting the bears,” he stated as she moved out of the way to welcome him into her home. She pulled back on the electricity in her palms enough to wave her hand toward the candles, using the air to blow them out.

  The sheriff raised an eyebrow. “Nice.”

  “Have a seat, and I’ll tell you only the things you need to know,” she offered. “Tea?”

  “No,” he said, staying upright. He didn’t sit as she had requested, and Gaia knew the angel was there with questions for a reason. She didn’t know if she wanted to answer them, but she would give him the most basic answer possible. No one needed to know why she was there or what she was doing.

  “Tell me what your business is with the Morgan clan,” he repeated.

  “I am here to watch over them,” she hedged. The sheriff wasn’t buying it, but Gaia didn’t care. What she did was not regulated by heaven, hell, or the other gods.

  “That’s it?” he scoffed. “If you were to watch over them, why didn’t you see what was happening to those females since they are destined to be the mates of those Morgan boys?”

  “The extent of my job here is none of your business, Garrett,” she scolded.

  “Why, out of all the places Mother Nature would take up residency as a human, did you pick this town?” he pressed. The dark-haired male was big and powerful, but he held no rights over her. They were different. He was made by the gods, and she was born of the earth.

  “I have obligations,” she answered. “However, I am not to disturb the course of nature.”

  “So, those tornados a few weeks ago were natural?”

  “Ah, I may be able to do a few things to guide the ones I care for in the direction they need to follow for their future,” she shrugged.

  Sheriff Lynch finally relaxed and sat on the couch when she didn’t answer. “Gaia, please, tell me what it is you’re doing here.”

  “What’s it to you?” She returned his question with one of her own. “You are in charge of those panthers. Leave the Morgan clan alone.”