Mating Fever (Morgan Clan Bears, Book 3)

by Theresa Hissong

  “Are you going to be able to do this?” Drake asked Luca the moment he sat down.

  “I’m fine,” he mumbled and hung his head. “I have to avenge him. Those hunters need to be taken out tonight.”

  “They do,” Drake rumbled. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt, and if you are going to have a hard time focusing on the fight tonight because you are mourning, I don’t want you…”

  “I told you I was fucking fine!” Luca snarled and pushed back from the table, dumping the contents of his cup in the sink, and left out the back door before Drake, or anyone else for that matter, could stop him.

  Drake and Rex’s eyes shifted toward the door, but Gunnar held up his hand to get their attention. “He’s hurting, and he has every right to do so. As far as tonight, I’m not worried about him. He will be a fierce fighter when the hunters arrive.”

  “We have a few hours before the panthers arrive.” Rex stood and stretched. “Let’s get everyone up and inside for a meeting over lunch.”

  Gunnar agreed with a nod and found his place in the kitchen. Cooking would take his mind off the events that were coming. Even if it was a little bit of peace, he would accept it and have a clan meal ready for them when everyone gathered.

  It was a little later when tiny, warm hands wrapped around his waist as he stirred a pot of stew at the stove. Her scent and touch soothed him even more. Turning around, he closed his eyes and took her lips. “Good morning, honey.”

  “Morning,” she mumbled and rested her head on his chest. “That smells amazing.”

  “It’ll be ready in twenty minutes.” The stew was forgotten as he took her over to the large table. From a glance out the window, he noticed Drake and Rex were on their way with the elders. Anna Claire noticed them too, and she smiled widely. “I know why they’re here, but I don’t care. I’ve missed them so much.”

  “Take the next few hours to catch up before we have to send them home to shelter,” he replied, knowing how much she loved the two couples from her old clan.

  His mate clung to Peggy and Martha once they arrived. The two elder males sat at the kitchen table, watching protectively over their mates. Both of the males’ weathered faces brightened when they saw the females they’d mated so many years ago. Gunnar joined them, then rested his head in his hands for a few seconds before sighing and clearing his throat. “We have no idea what will happen tonight.”

  “We are willing to fight alongside you,” Alfred stated, leaning forward in his chair. The male was in his seventies, and while they could use the help, he needed them to stay hidden.

  “I appreciate your offer, but I would prefer you stay with your mates,” Gunnar replied, casting a glance at Anna Claire. The thought of someone hurting her brought an unexplainable rage to his mind. “The females need to be protected, and you are the best ones to care for your own mates. The panthers are coming, and we have come up with a plan for Tessa, Ada, and Anna Claire.”

  “And what is that?” Doug asked.

  “They will be locked in their quarters. We don’t want them together. It’s too dangerous to keep the mates in one spot,” he answered.

  The elder males nodded and resumed drinking their coffee as the females chatted in the front living room. The clock on the wall moved slower than it should, and Gunnar was feeling the adrenaline start to pulse through his veins with each passing minute.

  Once everyone was fed, he spent time putting away the food and washing the dishes. Anna Claire asked if he needed help, but he sent her off to visit more with the females. He could see the fear in her eyes as she tried to put on a brave front for the females.

  Drake, Rex, and Luca arrived a little later, shaking the elder males’ hands in greeting. As Gunnar looked around the room, he realized just how much his new family had blended so well. The elders had done as they said and helped out over the last year to make their clan even better. The crops they’d planted were growing, and in the fall, they’d harvest what would probably be their best yield in years.

  Their crops wouldn’t mean a thing if the hunters succeeded in killing them. Gunnar was making it his personal goal to ensure everyone in his clan was safe from that moment forth.

  Gaia returned to the pride after going to secure her home. The hunters were coming, and they hadn’t heard from the sheriff in hours. She’d hoped he was there by the time she arrived, but he wasn’t.

  “Where are the panthers?” Gaia asked as she entered through the back door. Gunnar had her park her car behind the barn and Luca walked her toward the house in case any of them were already in place.

  “They’ll be here soon,” Drake grunted. “We should get in place.”

  “I’m going with you,” she blurted, but froze when the males turned to glare at her. She called upon the elements and a clap of thunder rumbled the windows. “I have to be outside.”

  “Absolutely not,” Drake snarled with a slash of his hand. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “I’ve stopped ninety percent of the attacks, and this is the most important one,” she yelled. They knew how much they meant to her, and if she couldn’t control the weather, they might perish. “You cannot stop me.”

  “Damn it, Gaia,” Rex bellowed. “We can’t protect you while we are stopping them.”

  She dug deeper into her soul and thickened the clouds around the land. Lightning cracked close and everyone jerked where they stood. Her eyes swirled and clouded over as she pulled at the elements to get them ready for the moment the humans arrived.

  “Gaia!” a voice blared next to her ear. When she shook herself from the fog, Garrett was there holding onto the tops of her arms. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, why?”

  “You almost collapsed,” he replied. “What’s going on with you?”

  Once she got her bearings and glanced around the room, she realized her body was at the wrong angle. The ceiling was in front of her, and Garrett must’ve taken her to the couch in the living room.

  “What happened?” Confusion set in, and she tried to remember what her humanly body was doing while she was far away, building a storm to protect the clan.

  “That’s what I want to know,” Drake interrupted, kneeling in front of her.

  When she sat up, a wave of nausea came over her. She pressed her hand to her stomach and took a few deep breaths. “I was building a storm.”

  Her words were understood, but the Morgan brothers tensed. Gunnar frowned at her and came to his brother’s side, but he didn’t kneel. “You’ve done too much over the past twelve hours.”

  “I have to get into place,” she said, pushing the males away. “It’s almost time.”

  “There is no way you are going to be outside,” Garrett ordered.

  “You don’t have the right to tell me what I can or cannot do,” she reminded him.

  “Wanna bet?” he pushed, reaching behind him to remove a set of handcuffs from his utility belt.

  “You wouldn’t!” Gaia narrowed her eyes.

  “If you don’t stay in the house with the other females, I will,” he replied, his eyes flashing white.

  She felt that flutter in her heart, and she took a step back, thankful she didn’t lose her balance. Ignoring him, she walked around the males and made her way into the kitchen where their mates were waiting. The elders must’ve left when she went into her trance.

  A knock on the back door stopped her from explaining anything to the females. Drake marched over and pulled the door open wide. A shirtless male stood there with three others at his back.

  “Booth,” Drake greeted.

  “Are you ready to do this?” Booth asked, looking over his shoulder. “Looks like there’s a storm coming. It’s going to be a rough night.”

  Anna Claire watched as the males took seats around the living room while Drake and Gunnar stood. They worked with the sheriff, confident their plan on stopping the hunters was solid.

  While Garrett went over his vision, she noticed how Gaia’s eyes tracked his
every move. The female didn’t put off any type of mating scent, so Anna Claire wondered what was going on.

  “Are you going outside with them?” Tessa asked, interrupting Gaia’s staring.

  “You better believe your ass I am,” she snarled. “I have to control the weather to keep the hunters from succeeding.”

  “I saw the destruction of the other hunters around the world,” Anna Claire whispered. The other females gathered around her as she told them of what she’d read when she looked on the message boards earlier in the morning.

  “They’re running?” Gaia smirked.

  “A lot of them thought it was odd, and a sign to back away,” Anna Claire advised.

  The look of pride crossed Mother Nature’s face as she folded her arms across her chest. She looked very proud of her work, but even Anna Claire wouldn’t show the males she was right in her actions. If they knew the females were still checking up on the hunters, it would cause too much of a headache when they blew their lids, so to speak.

  “Good,” Gaia smirked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to slip out the back door while they’re occupied.” She tossed a wink over her shoulder as she left.

  “We aren’t going to tell them?” Ada fretted.

  “Not at all,” Anna Claire replied. “She knows what she’s doing.”

  “I hope so.” Ada sighed. “It’s almost time.”

  Gunnar entered the kitchen and came over to take Anna Claire by the hand. “It’s time to go to our quarters.”

  She stepped away to hug the other females. Rex and Drake took Ada and Tessa, letting the panthers know they would be back shortly. The sheriff leaned against the kitchen counter and waited for everyone to get into place.

  “I want you to stay in our room until I, or my brothers, come for you,” Gunnar began as they walked down the hallway to their quarters.

  “Please, be careful,” she said as he closed the door. Gunnar hummed and pulled her close. The mating touch singed across her skin as he captured her lips.

  “I will be back in your arms before the clock strikes midnight,” he vowed and deepened the kiss.

  Anna Claire closed her eyes and absorbed his touch. She was falling in love with him more and more every day. He was a large, scary male, but to her, he was a gentle giant. In all of her daydreams, she never imagined her mate being more perfect for her.

  He pushed back and placed his large hand on her small baby bump. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer before turning away and walking out the door.

  Chapter 18

  “Where’s Gaia?” Drake asked as soon as he returned to the living room.

  The males narrowed their eyes on the back door, but it was Garrett who cursed the loudest. “You get into place. Let me worry about finding Gaia.”

  “She isn’t like us,” Gunnar reminded him. “If she takes a bullet, it could be the end of life for everyone.”

  “I know,” Garrett groaned as he left the house.

  Gunnar trusted the male with Gaia, but he knew Garrett was up to his eyeballs with her. She’d been on her own for eons and stopping her from doing something to help was going to be a fight.

  The panthers shed their clothes, dropping them into the bag Drake had brought from their homes. After their shift, Rex, Drake, and Gunnar grabbed their weapons and headed toward the front of the house. Out on the porch, they stood their ground. They’d never hidden from an enemy before, and they weren’t going to start now. Those hunters would have to go through them to get to the mates.

  A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon. The scent of rain tickled Gunnar’s nose, but he ignored the storm to search for the humans. It was nearing the time Garrett said his visions predicted. After that, they were on their own.

  Drake’s deep throated growl alerted them to the presence of humans. At the road, a group of men approached their lands. They were on foot, and every one of them were carrying rifles. With his enhanced vision, Gunnar saw each and every one of them as they marched forward.

  Black panthers slinked up from the woods on each side of their home. The humans didn’t see them, and that was the plan. Those cats blended in well with the night. Rex shifted to his right as he palmed his shotgun. Gunnar cracked his neck from side to side, preparing for the fight.

  “Get off our land,” Drake bellowed. They’d planned everything down to the words they would say to the humans. “I won’t tell you again.”

  “You are an abomination!” one yelled, raising his gun. He was ahead of the group by fifteen feet. Before he could fire off a shot, a panther pounced at the male’s gun, ripping it from his grasp. From the sound of the male’s screams, the cat must’ve taken a chunk out of his arm.

  “We can do this all night,” Drake called out.

  As the first human dropped to his knees and cradled his mangled arm to his chest, another one came forward, raising his gun. Again, a panther swiped the weapon away as a gust of wind came from behind the house, blowing right into the humans’ faces. Their steps faltered as leaves swirled around their legs.

  “I would advise you to go back from where you came,” Drake continued. “Take a message back to the hacker that we are stronger and will fight back.”

  As planned, Drake, Rex, and Gunnar descended from the porch. Gunnar’s bear was sitting right below his skin, preparing for a fight to the death. They wanted those males’ blood. He knew the sheriff would intervene should the humans get the upper hand, but like in their ancient times, shifter law was in force.

  The humans brought the fight to their lands, but the shifters would win. When it came to the protection of their mates and land, any species of shifter would kill to keep their families safe. Gunnar’s chest ached at the thought of someone harming his mate and unborn cub.

  “We aren’t going anywhere until we have your pelts on our walls.” The oldest one of the group, probably in his mid-forties, reached at his side, abandoning his rifle to draw a pistol from a holster at his hip, but…again, the panthers were there to swipe the weapon away.

  “Wrong answer,” Gunnar mumbled. He was primed and ready for a fight. He wasn’t going to shift. The plan was to keep themselves human unless it was necessary. The panthers were backing them up, and the Morgan bears shouldn’t need their animals to win this fight.

  Luca was out back, keeping an eye on the elders’ cabins. Although the sheriff hadn’t seen the humans coming from the woods, they wanted them protected. He didn’t know where Garrett had run off to, but he sure hoped the angel was on alert.

  “Turn around and leave,” Rex warned.

  Another human male moved slightly from behind the crowd. Gunnar didn’t miss his step, and he knew the dark-haired male was going to break away from the crowd to try and fire his weapon.

  A flash of lightning bathed the area in enough light for the humans to see the four panthers at the males’ sides. Two of the men took steps back, but the one who’d moved earlier advanced another step.

  Gunnar’s eyes were on him. Drake jutted his chin out slightly, directing Gunnar in that direction. The wind howled as he stalked the male. The human tucked his chin and smirked as Gunnar’s bear pushed at his human skin. The golden color to his eyes proved the shift was close, but he held the bear back. He needed to end this in his human form.

  “Last chance,” the human yelled. The males around him surged and began to walk toward the house. With each step, they moved faster, but they weren’t fast enough to catch any of the shifters.

  “Bring it,” Gunnar snarled and took off at a dead run as rain poured down across their lands. Wind swished and swirled. A clap and rumble of thunder was the only warning they had before the panthers jumped into action, taking down some of the humans.

  Drake engaged one of them, taking him to the ground. Rex did the same to the other, but Gunnar had the cocky son of a bitch who’d tried to break away from the crowd.

  The male darted behind a tree, bringing his gun up an
d firing off a shot at him.

  He missed, and didn’t that just piss off the beast inside him even more?

  Gunnar roared as he approached the tree at inhuman speed. His canines were thick in his mouth as he grabbed the male, spinning him around. He was fully prepared to rip the male’s throat out when he saw something move on the porch.

  “Noooo!” he yelled as a human male entered their home. With a twist of his hands, he snapped the male’s neck and dropped him to the ground.

  Gunnar ran, using his second nature abilities to get him to the house. Fear pushed him harder. He focused on the house, not caring for the sounds around him. He didn’t care if there was one or a hundred humans in his yard. The fact that one had gotten past them to enter sent him into a feral rage.

  “Where is he?” Gunnar snarled through his partially shifted face. His ears ached with the pressure of the storm brewing outside. His clothes were soaking wet, but he didn’t care. Killing that male for coming so close to the mates and cubs was at the forefront of his mind.

  As the front door closed silently behind him, Gunnar heard the wind howling out on the lawn. He knew Gaia was somewhere hiding out so she could control the elements and scare away the humans. Maybe they’d consider it witchcraft and run away with their tails tucked between their legs.

  The human made a noise in the kitchen, and his breathing became rapid. Gunnar moved quietly across the living room, coming to the threshold of the kitchen. The male slipped down the hallway toward Anna Claire, and Gunnar felt his heart drop.

  Gunnar charged the human, running at full speed. The male turned, his eyes widening at the sight, but it only took half a second for the man to draw a pistol from his side and fire, hitting Gunnar in the middle of his chest.

  A mighty roar tore from his throat as his bear tried to explode from his body, but the injury was just too much. The pain bloomed and blood splattered on the hallway walls as he slumped to the floor. The last thing he heard was the human scream and the sound of a grizzly’s roar.