This was bad.
Much worse than her explaining Reylean’s to this one human female.
“I’ll take your wide eyes and silence as confirmation.” Connie shoved the phone back beneath the expanse of blankets covering her small body where it perched in the purple chair. “As far as the public is concerned it’s someone’s attempt at a science fiction prank. It’s being explained away with holograms and projection equipment and such.”
“But that’s not what they were. They weren’t a joke.”
“Well, I know that and you know that and your friends know that.”
“What about the government?” Ava asked, visions of herself and her mate and everyone in Mystery being carted off to a deep dark hole of a prison crawled up her spine and threatened to suffocate her completely.
Connie frowned. “There’s no telling. I mean I have a brother who works for the government, some high-level something position. He’s vague about it. But even if he did know something about something, there’s no way he’d break protocol and tell me classified information. But if there was a way to tell anything about them. I would bet the government knows something. They were reported to have been visible for hours all around the globe. Reporters call it the most coordinated prank in history.”
“So they at least know they aren’t fake.”
“Yeah. There’re no public videos of anything coming through the portals. So, if that was ever posted the government took it down before it could spread. Did you guys come through as people or animals?”
“We came through as bears. Most I saw were in beast form for protection. We had no idea of what environment we were entering, and we are stronger in beast form than our human shape.”
“Well that probably works in your advantage. At least they don’t have your faces on camera.”
Ava sighed, Connie’s words took the slightest edge off the tension eating at her insides.
“The dragons will be a problem,” Ava said, knowing from talking to Naomi that there were no natural dragons on this world. So far all the other animals were similar or the same to natural born animals on Earth.
Connie’s mouth opened. Shut. Opened. Shut. Then she shook her head and frowned. “Nope. Nope. Nope. You can’t be serious.”
She hopped up from the purple chair and flung the blanket to the floor. “Dragons aren’t real. They are made up stories that belong in King Arthur legends. Definitely not in Alaska. Please say there aren’t any dragons here. I’m pretty sure that will not go over well with the locals.”
“I…” Ava started and then stopped. She really shouldn’t say. It wasn’t her place. It was really bad enough that Connie knew about their existence at all. A play by play of their Tribal species wasn’t necessary.
“You know what. You shouldn’t tell me. It’ll be better if I don’t know.” She nodded, crossed her arms over her chest and paced the room behind the couch where Ava sat. “Nobody has seen them. And I know it would’ve been in the gossip mill around here faster than snow drops in January if they had. So, if they are here, they are staying off the radar. Good for them. Also, I think if the government was going to poke it’s nose around in Mystery, we would’ve heard about it by now. Gossip mills and all.”
Ava nodded, hoping the woman was right.
“You ever want to know the what’s what, you go play dominos with the old farts down at the MCC or knit with the grandmas on Tuesdays.” Connie whirled and headed for the small kitchen. “I’m gonna make us some breakfast. You think he can keep anything down?” she hollered over her shoulder.
Ava took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. Connie was right. There would’ve been signs if someone was looking for them. This was a small town. Everyone knew everything. Which is why she and Owen and everyone else had been so extremely careful to hide what they really were. Or what they weren’t—which was not human. The tension she’d been holding in her neck melted away just a little.
They were safe in this little out of the way town. That’s why they’d stayed. There was a tiny airport. A sheriff’s office and a deputy. A tiny shoebox of a post office and city hall officials met in the community center for meetings. They would know if someone showed up unannounced because Connie was right, the whole town would be chattering about it.
The whole town had chattered about them when they’d shown up in January. But they’d been kind. Everyone had been helpful with finding a place to stay. Getting them jobs. People had prodded for information for a while, but they hadn’t been rude about it and eventually they’d accepted that she and her brother weren’t going to share their story.
“Ava?”
Ava stood from the couch. “Sorry. Yes.” She joined Connie in the kitchen. “What can I help with? I’m sure he will be able to eat something. It will be good for him.”
7
Ryder opened his eyes just enough for the light in the room to peek in—a sunrise inching its way over a mountain. Warmth radiated toward his body too, just like the rising suns back home. His skin was warmer than he liked, and his bones ached from knitting themselves back together.
The fall should’ve killed him.
But it hadn’t. He was breathing. His heart beat. And his mind still wanted her.
Somehow she’d managed to carry him all the way down the mountain and into town. And now they were inside the other female’s home. The one he’d heard speaking in the vehicle. And here in this house.
How long had he been lying on the floor?
Both feminine voices floated in his mind even now, whistling and whispering like a breeze through tall forest trees. They were talking, but it wasn’t worth the effort to focus on what they were saying.
He needed to move. And he hated being in this form. Being a man was strange and uncomfortable. On Reylea, wolves lived in their beast form most of their lives. A pack functioned perfectly without conversation. Every being knew their place. Knew their job. Knew their duty.
Here in this new world it was chaotic.
Their prince sought vengeance for a lost mate, and it had cost the pack dearly. So many lives lost. The magick-bender had saved them on Reylea, sacrificed her life so they could live, but their leader’s stupidity—his best friend’s stupidity—had drawn them into a battle they couldn’t win.
Raish was a good alpha. At least he had been before the death of his mate.
Ryder’s friend and prince and alpha was dead now. The pack had been decimated by the dragon and the other shifters. Blood had been everywhere when he ran. He’d abandoned his pack. When Raish had fallen, he’d been ready to leave the area permanently. Disappear into the snow and find another life. Start over.
Then he’d seen her. Ava.
He’d seen the glow of his mate’s soul. He’d seen his tribe—his pack—about to rip her to shreds. In that moment there had been no other choice. He’d fought for her. And won.
His tribe-mates died. He’d tasted their blood. Heard their last breaths. Watched as their blood had stained the snow red.
He was a traitor to his pack. To his family.
He should’ve died on that mountain so Fate would have to find her another. Another more worthy.
Ryder called the magick of his beast and shifted noiselessly into his wolf. The wounds were closed, but far from healed. Bones and muscle were still knitting themselves back together.
Everything was sore.
Pain shot from the tips of his paws, up his legs, along his spine. Every breath moved his lungs and stretched ribs that had been broken. There wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t ache. Still. It was better in this shape.
Less vulnerable. Less desirable.
His mate was a bear. She didn’t want a wolf.
It didn’t matter that she’d saved him. It’d been in the heat of the moment. Now that she was off the mountain. The fighting over. She would realize it would be better if she just let him go.
He looked at the fire burning in the black iron box in front of him and then turned t
o stare at the closed front door. He would have to shift to open it. And in this still-wounded condition, he wouldn’t be able to hunt.
Ryder turned back to the warmth of the fire, curled up and went to sleep.
For now, he would stay.
Almost a week later…
He never opened the door and left. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to leave her. To leave Ava. One day he’d come close. He’d shifted, opened the door, and stood looking down the street and off into the forest. And there hadn’t been a thing out there he wanted.
Wide open space. Animals to hunt. Freedom.
Nope.
Everything he wanted was in this cozy little house.
The woman—his mate. She was here. Ava was here.
The three of them had been existing together in Connie’s house. Of course, he’d been a wolf the whole time, refusing to shift, hoping Ava would give up on him while secretly wishing that she wouldn’t.
Well the secret wish had come true in a way. Ava told him before she left for her shift at the café today that no matter how long he stayed a wolf, they belonged together and if he wanted to be her pet instead of her mate, she could live with that for now.
Pet.
It’d been a lie. He could hear the hurt in his mate’s voice, and it was all his fault. He was breaking her, and it tore at his heart worse than any blade or claw ever could.
He huffed out a breath and lifted his head from the blanket where he was sprawled out on the floor. Connie was always calling him a prehistoric canine—whatever that meant, but the human female seemed to have gotten used to him. Her pulse didn’t speed up anymore when she saw him, and she’d pet his head a couple of times while telling him how weird it was to know he was a guy in a wolf’s body.
He really saw it the other way around though. He was a wolf who sometimes happened to be a man.
Ryder glanced toward the door. Footsteps crunched on the gravel outside. Not heavy enough to be male. The strides were too long to be Connie’s. It was unlikely Ava would be back to the house this early, but it did sound like her.
His lip curled and a growl started low in his belly.
The lock on the door clicked and Ava entered, her long brown curls caressing her shoulders. She glanced his direction and smiled a wistful-sad smile that made him want to be a man more than he’d ever in his life before.
“Your fur is looking better. Wounds are too. How’s the inside feeling?”
Ryder gave a low annoyed woof. She was baiting him. She was always trying to get him to talk. Talking was difficult. Uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t she just sit with him? He loved hearing her voice. Feeling her hands on him. She’d said she was okay with him being an animal for now—which had been an outright lie—but was he? Was he punishing them both by lying to himself?
He wasn’t going back to the pack. Most of them were dead. The ones left would more than likely leave the area as he would’ve.
Ryder wasn’t going to leave Ava but staying put her in danger with the Reyleans living in and around the town. Except no one had come looking for them. She’d been going to her job all week. She’d spoken to her brother. He’d heard her tell Connie more than once.
“Good chat. I had an entire table’s order of soda spill on my jeans and I’m sticky.”
Ryder sniffed the air. He could smell the syrupy sweetness in the air and see the brown stain splashed across her pants—jeans—she called the blue pants jeans. He was learning. Slowly.
He stepped toward her, expecting a pat as she walked by. Maybe a scratch behind the ears. Also, no one had left any food out on the table this morning before they left. He hadn’t wanted to make a mess in Connie’s house looking around and risk angering their host.
Ava gave a frustrated sigh and walked behind the couch toward the hallway, keeping the furniture between them. No pet. No scratch. No smile at all. The faint scent of sadness wafted from her wilting body as it disappeared from his view.
It’d been getting stronger all week.
The sadness.
Every day there’d been less interaction. She said she wanted him, but she was pulling away a little more each day, withdrawing and shutting down. Her smiles were less often. Her laughter less happy.
It was his fault.
He shifted, calling up the magick inside him, and stood on two legs. It was a strange feeling. He flexed his hands, opening and closing his fists. He breathed deeply. His sense of smell changed drastically as a man. His vision. Everything was weaker. Everything was less.
Except how much he desired his mate.
He wanted Ava more than ever. His body was tense. Hungry. His cock was hard and straining beneath his tosa. His pulse roared in his ears, driving him forward. Driving him toward the sound of the water running down the hallway. His mate was showering.
His mate was naked and unclaimed.
If she would have him, Ryder intended to inform Ava he wanted to be much more than her pet.
8
Ava slipped out of her stiff sticky jeans one leg at a time and tossed them to the tile floor. The rest of her clothing quickly followed. She glanced at the mirror over the sink but the steam from the hot water had already fogged it up.
She needed a good hot soak. She needed to forget that her mate was laying in the middle of Connie’s floor and didn’t want her. All this time. Through a portal. Into another world. He fought for her. She chased him down and saved his damn life and he just laid there like…Connie called him a lazy hound dog. Ava didn’t really know what that was, but it didn’t sound like a compliment.
Her bear wanted to maul things, but pieces of her heart were being peeled away strip by strip. The pain in her soul was like breathing smoke and ash. It burned. Everything hurt. Everything was messed up.
Her brother would hate her when he realized what she had done. She still hadn’t told him. Refused to answer his texts with more than an ‘I’m fine.” Didn’t answer his calls either. She didn’t have the willpower to not tell him.
At least he’d respected her wishes and hadn’t hunted her down. They’d been at Connie’s place over a week. The Tribe was made up of apex predators. Any one of them could’ve found her if they really wanted to. She’d had to go back to work. Losing her job wasn’t really an option unless she wanted to starve.
She pulled her hair loose from its braid, cringing every time her fingers slid through a sticky spot. The drink had splashed all the way up into her hair.
Ava pulled back the pink and purple floral shower curtain and sighed as the scalding hot water lanced over her skin, cutting away the syrup. It didn’t wash away the pain and frustration though. That it just warmed up. Loosened. Pried it from the clutches of her chest where she thought she locked it up safe and sound.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She sniffed and ran her face under the hot water. She wouldn’t cry. Fate had made a mistake. She’d given her a mate who didn’t want her.
Was she unappealing?
Too tall?
As a bear she was larger than many other species females. She was taller than almost every woman she’d met in Mystery too. Maybe she was intimidating.
Or not pretty enough?
Was he not attracted to her?
She ran her hands over her curvy hips and larger than average breasts. Other males—humans—had tried to mate with her in town. They told her she was pretty. She’d been approached by more than one since she’d arrived in town.
Turned them all down. Walked away hoping for the story she really wanted—a Fated mate.
Her fingers curled into a fist. Her fingernails bit into her palms, digging just deep enough to cause pain but not enough to break the skin and draw blood. She wanted to draw blood though. It would be easier to bleed from a wound than to keep hiding her broken and bloodied heart from the wolf that slept and ate and moped around Connie’s house.
Her chest tightened and her stomach turned over, making her suck in a quick breath. She took a few slow breaths and
let the rhythm of the water pound against her shoulders. Slowly the urge to retch up her breakfast passed.
“Ava.”
The vaguely familiar male voice came from inside the bathroom. Ava’s heart leapt in her chest like a bird taking flight. It couldn’t be.
She swatted the shower curtain aside and swallowed. Her mouth dropped open and she stared.
Ryder was naked. And the magick of the soul call made his tanned skin glow like a beacon of light in the dark calling her home. It was beautiful. She could see the light when he was a wolf too, but in human form it was so much more ethereal and alluring. Her body craved to be closer. To touch.
His tosa—the leather kilt all warriors from Reylea wore—lay in a heap at his feet covering one of Connie’s bright pink bath rugs.
Muscles layered upon muscles. Lean and hard. Massive. His shoulders sloped down to strong arms that would dwarf hers. She hadn’t taken the time to appreciate his physique the few times she’d seen him in his human form.
But now. Like this. Up close.
She let her eyes drift lower to the line of his hips. To the cock she wanted to touch and taste and let him do everything to her she could imagine.
He was everything her body desired and then some.
A rumble rolled up her throat along with every primal mating instinct within her. Her heart beat wildly, excitement heated her body, but then the worm of fear wriggled in the pit of her stomach, and she couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. He hadn’t wanted her before now.
What changed? Why was he standing before her now like an offering from Fate herself?
“I…” He paused and his gaze flicked to the wall, like he was searching for a word. “I was a fool, Ava.” He canted his head and took a step forward, meeting her gaze once again.
She still couldn’t talk. Only look at him. Only want.
“I do not deserve a mate like you, but I want you Ava. I’m willing to do anything to get you to give me another chance.”
Bearly A Chance Page 4
