by Celeste Raye
“Wait, I would like to talk to you more. You talked of opportunity…we could really use some of that in our lives. As well as the sun and moon.”
Donovan smiled, but it wasn’t in a shifty way that made him nervous. Chris was starting to think it was real, and the smile that responded to Donovan was one of relief. It was really happening…
Chapter Three
“You’re quite a man, Donovan. Are you sure that you don’t want to stay longer?”
Donovan had drunk too much, and now he was about to go further than he should with the leader’s daughter. It was just something that would happen, something that he wouldn’t be able to stop—if he actually wanted to. Deidre. That was her name, he thought. He’d had a lot to drink throughout the celebratory evening the Altrues had.
He should have been paying attention. Just because one good deal had been struck didn’t mean that all of the animosity that had welled in wait for fifteen years was going to just disappear. It was there, simmering just under the surface, and Donovan could feel it. He should have been bothered by it, but at the moment, the tall blonde woman with long legs and roaming hands was getting all of his attention.
“Come on, baby. I am bored, and you look like you would be a lot of fun to ride. All you have to do is come with me. Or we can try doing it here…”
As she was saying the words, she was straddling his legs, and Donovan was stuck not knowing what to do. He had this eerie feeling that all this generosity was fake. How could they forgive him so quickly? They had, in fact, lived inside of a coal mine away from the sun and the wind and the moon for over a decade. Donovan didn’t think there was any way that they could forgive someone that quickly, for such deep wounds.
But she felt good against his leg, and he could feel the heat that was emanating from between her legs. It was tempting, and he had to tell himself several times that she wasn’t for him. Diedre was playing him, and he should know better.
Donovan hadn't been thinking about women lately because his life had been such a mess. Now he was thinking about it hard, but he knew better. If they wanted to do something to him, which he couldn't imagine them not, they would involve a woman like the one in front of him. Dierdre was probably there to soften him up. She was doing a damn good job of it.
Finally, he pushed her back, but not so hard that she fell back or anything. He did not want to do anything that would be considered wrong, even if it was turning down a sexual approach. But he did want to make it clear that he wasn't interested. His manhood was, and that was showing off pretty clearly, but the rest of him was not ready for such a thing.
“I am sorry, Dierdre, you are a beautiful woman, but I have a lot of road ahead of me, and I can't get distracted by anything, even a beautiful woman like yourself.”
Dierdre was pretty, but probably not beautiful. She had a hint of desperation in her actions. It seemed like she had waited too long to find a mate, and now she was having trouble with it. Donovan was not in the mood to be that man and he wanted to make it clear before he got roped into something that would be hard to get out of. Like marriage.
There was also the idea if he was going to get jumped, they were going to do it when he was distracted. He switched to a non-alcoholic beverage. Donovan wasn't going to be stupid and put his faith in something. Even though Jake felt like they could all be friends, Donovan wasn't so sure. He still had his father's words echoing in his brain.
“Can never trust a swamp shifter.”
He stayed a little bit longer but then begged away because he had places to go. Chris seemed to be a little taken aback by it but not too offended, so Donovan was going to take that as a good thing. Once he was back in the fresh air, he took a deep breath and sighed. What would it be like to live there and never experience that?
Donovan left with a new sense of what all his father had done and how it affected everybody in the community. It wasn't just the many Rebel Bears that had had to live under his tyranny, but the rest of the land as well. Donovan had been the one to enforce it all, which made him feel even worse.
The only hope that he had was that, like the clan he had just left, other ones would be able to forgive him. He hadn't thought it was possible, but now at least Donovan had hope.
“Come on, brother, what did you think was going to happen? They are living in a damn mine. Can you imagine?”
Silence on the other side of the line. Jake couldn’t imagine, and if Donovan wouldn’t have been down there himself, he wouldn’t have been able to either.
“Do you think they will ever come to truly be an ally?”
Donovan would have said no that morning, but he was starting to wonder if maybe there was a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
“Maybe, I mean they didn't kill me when I was down there drinking. So, I guess that's a good start, right?”
Another bit of silence and Donovan told him about the mines that they lived in. It was like nothing that he had ever seen before and probably would never see again. So much for swamp people; they were subterranean people. What had Chris called them, moles?
“Well, I guess that's the best we could hope for, isn't it? I want you to be careful from now on though because I hadn't really thought about it. You're right, though; our father pissed off a lot of people. Maybe the idea that he's gone now will help people to see that we are serious about change.”
Donovan again wasn't sure about that, but he wanted to mimic the optimism that his brother had. It sure felt better than all the pessimism he'd been feeling lately. There was also a relief to be away from the clan and all the accusing eyes. Donovan was able to breathe a little bit more, just like he had felt when he had gone topside from the mine. He was determined to keep that approach going forward.
“I will be careful, brother. I left a little earlier than they wanted me to, but it was just because I started to get a feeling. You know how it is. It could have just been me feeling guilty that they had been stuck down there that long. It was so dark and dank. I mean, they tried to make it like home, but, how could they? It had no windows, no sun, no moon. It was hard to be down there, and I was only down there a couple of hours. Some of the children had never been topside except for special occasions. Could you imagine living that way?”
“No, I can't. I never knew that our attacks did that to them.”
“That was the point. Father wanted them to go, and he never really cared where they went. As long as they're out of his territory, messing with his money. That’s how our territory is so big now.”
“I've been thinking about that. It seems like more than we need and that's why I'd like to bring in more people to take care of their part of it. It's just going to leave us thin and cause more trouble to keep it. I really don't know what Father was thinking.”
“He wasn't thinking; he was just ruling by fear. It worked for quite a while.”
“Yeah, it did, but at what cost?”
Donovan wasn't going to argue that. While he could see now that his father was way too harsh and unnecessarily cruel, at the time, it just seemed like something that had to happen. His father had convinced him because he thought that was the only way to do it. Now, Donovan was supposed to hate Dean, but it was hard for him. He looked up to him for so long.
“I hear ya, brother. I was just letting you know what was going on. Thought you would like an update.”
“It’s good, Donovan. I knew that you were the one to do this. You always had to pick up Father’s messes. You’ve gotten rather good at it.”
Donovan pressed his lips together. It was meant to be a compliment, but that’s not how he felt. It was like his mistakes were being thrown in his face again. He tried to ignore the nagging words in the back of his mind.
“Well, Jake, I’m getting off of here. Bennigans are next, so I will let you know how it turns out.”
“Good, Don. I will see you soon. I look forward to what you can get them to agree to. Remember what we have to offer. They would be crazy to say
no.”
He agreed but wondered if they were vengeful. His father had done worse to their clan and Donovan had been there, and even done some of it himself. It was a part of his life that he didn’t want to think about. It was the part of him, the decisions he’d made, that he wanted to forget.
Donovan wasn’t looking for forgiveness, but it would have been nice to think that it was possible.
Chapter Four
Donovan was on his way to the Bennigans after his conversation with Jake. He knew that it was in the middle of the swamp, and it was certainly not a place that he was excited to visit. Bad things happened in the swamps, and the magic that was found there was a lot darker than magic found elsewhere. There were witches and sprites and a whole lot of things that he wanted nothing to do with.
When he had gone there as a child, it had felt like the end of the world, and it was no different now. Except now, he was supposed to find a way for them to get along.
Donovan was sure that they would remember what they had done. A lot of it, Jake did not know about. Those were the sort of things that his father had kept him out of. It was most likely because he had known that Jake was more moral than Donovan was. That didn't make him feel any better.
He was only a few miles from the place, already surrounded by plenty of swampland, when he heard a woman scream. It came out of nowhere and pierced the air around him. His head jerked up, and he listened for a moment longer to see if he could hear anything else. Something was happening, and someone needed help.
His first instinct sadly, was to ignore it. How many times had there been somebody in need of help and he had just pretended like he didn't hear it? It was another trait that his father had really pushed into him, and it almost offended him that it was still that way.
It should have been easy for him to find the heart to help, but sadly, it wasn't. Finally, he forced himself to shift into his true form and run through the swamp, mucking around in the dirty water. All to help whoever it was that screamed out to him. It didn't seem like a good idea, but quickly, he was upon the person who had made the noise, and he stopped short.
There were two other people in front of him, and the one who was screaming surprised him the most. It was a woman: a female human.
There were two men pulling her down to the ground. One was standing up with his hand on his belt buckle, and the other one had her pinned to the ground. They were not human, and it immediately offended him that one of his kind would do such a thing. Especially with a human.
They were considered less than shifters and it was not against some law or something, but it was just known throughout the clans that it was not something to be done. To sit there and try to take one by force, went against so many rules and regulations, that it sort of blew his mind away. Why would anybody do that?
“What is going on here? Who the hell are you?”
The guy that was standing up had eyes that were a yellowish color. They started to glow, and he wished then that he hadn't shifted back into his human form. As soon as he had realized that it was a human that was calling for help, he knew that he was going to have to assist without showing her what he truly was. He wanted to help, but he didn't want to put his whole clan in jeopardy because of one human, even if that human was one of the most beautiful ones he had ever seen. So much so that it took his breath away, and he had to focus for a minute to realize the guy standing up was coming towards him.
“Look, I don't know who the hell you are, but you get off the girl and go now and we won't have to do this. I promise you that you don't want to do this with me.”
It occurred to Donovan that they were probably one of the very clans that he was supposed to be bringing to his side. Donovan should have just let it go. But the way she pleaded with her eyes, there was just no way that he could say no. He had to help her, no matter how it panned out in the end. It was a knee-jerk reaction to a beautiful woman begging for his help; of course, he had to help her.
The man that had been standing up and preparing himself for the woman on the ground quickly felt out the situation and realized that he was going to have to fight Donovan. As he started to come towards him, Donovan smiled to himself. It had been a while since he had been able to take out some of the emotions bottled up inside of him. When he worked for his father, there was always someone that needed an attitude adjustment, as Dean liked to call it.
What he hadn't expected, though, was that the man in front of him would do the unspeakable. He turned right in front of the woman. Donovan had every intention of fighting him in his human form.
He could not fight a panther as a human, though. The man was immediately twice as strong, and his reflexes quickened to a degree that caught Donovan off guard. This was something that he remembered quite well. Several of his men had been killed by those panthers, and Donovan knew that he was going to have to go back to a tactic he learned from his father. Violence, cold, hard, and with a quickness that they wouldn't see coming.
For a moment, he forgot about the human woman that was still being held down by a now worried man. What they had thought would be an easy lay was becoming more complicated as Donovan switched into his bear form. He ignored the way the woman's eyes immediately started to grow. He turned away from her and it was a good thing that he did so, because the first man was already upon him. The reflexes of the cat were nothing to mess with. He would not turn his back to such a beast. Donovan was very aware of the danger that they posed; he was also very aware of the simple fact that he probably deserved to lose. Everything that he had done to them...
He had to push that thought out of his mind. Whatever he had done in the past was in the past, where it belonged. He couldn't pay for it forever. The idea of it just reminded him of how it felt at home with everybody still looking at him like he had done it all himself.
As the large cat came towards him, his bear body started to pick up on all the small nuances that he hadn't been able to feel before. He knew that the man on the ground was going to get up and attack him. He also knew that he had only a few moments to take one out before the other one did the same thing.
All of it happened in a matter of moments. He had to kill the first quickly so that he could deal with the second.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not, his father's words went through his head. Damn swamp people. They were as dirty as the water they lived in.
Chapter Five
About two minutes into being saved, Claire was more afraid than she'd ever been in her whole life. Large beasts, rapists: it was just too much for her to handle all at once and her mind had shut off like it just needed a reboot.
She wasn't sure how it happened. One minute, she had been walking home from a late shift at a catering company that her aunt owned. The next, she had been in the back of the van and then dragged out in the middle of a swamp. They had ridden for a while to get there. Claire wasn't quite clear exactly where she was, but she knew that she was a long way from home and doubted that she was ever going to get back there again.
Their intention had become clear almost immediately. They meant to have their way with her, and the very idea of it had sent shivers through her body. Claire had always known that it was something that happened to women. Especially women that walked home late at night by themselves, in a town that wasn't exactly that safe. But it was always other women. It was never going to be her.
She never would have imagined that she would be in such a predicament. She felt completely helpless; it was the worst feeling she'd ever had in her life.
At some point, Claire just wanted to give up on the whole thing. The two men were huge, and she couldn’t fight them off. She knew the ending to such a scenario.
She told him that she wasn't going to fight them; she wanted to get out of the swamp at some point. They could have their way with her body, as long as they didn't take her life. One of the guys, the one that was called Butch, had agreed to such an arrangement. Claire didn't know if she believed that he would keep h
is word, but it was the only thing that she had to hold onto at the moment. The only hope.
The next thing she knew, she no longer thought she was going to have to sacrifice her body to save her life. There was a man that was even bigger that ran right up to them, asking what it was that they were doing.
Claire had been in shock, and as much as she wanted to believe that she was a strong independent woman, she had never been so happy to see a man in her life. A big, strong man that could save her.
All the jovial Butch was suddenly very angry, and then the next thing she knew, he was a fricking panther. How was she supposed to wrap her head around that?
And then the guy that had been holding her down wasn’t a person anymore either. It was another panther, black in color, and all she could see from him when he looked at her was this glowing yellow ring around his eyes that looked supernatural.
If that wasn't enough, there was another animal added to the mix. There were no longer three men standing around her, but three beasts. One being the biggest, darkest bear that she had ever seen in her life. Granted, she'd only seen a couple in the wild and maybe a few at the zoo, but this bear was not just any bear. The bear was like the panthers, unnatural, and he had a glowing orange rim to his eyes that looked like the corona of the sun. It was all so different, mystical, and beautiful, as well as scary as heck.
Her first instinct was to run, but she was so afraid of what was happening in front of her that she couldn't even talk her feet into moving. The men were not men, and even though one had wanted to help her, he was now a bear. All it did was scare her even more.
She was just stuck there to watch them battle it out.
In her mind, she told herself to run, repeated it over and over, but it did her no good. She watched while the bear ripped out the throat of one of the panthers before returning to the other and battering it with his huge paws.
