by Adele Niles
I grab E. J. by the throat, but he just smiles. I throw him to the ground. I run back to my bike and fire it up. I grab jeans and a t-shirt out of my saddle bag, pull them on, and let out a yell. Every URSA who can stand and hear goes for their bike. I sweep an arm for them to follow and ride over a carpet of wolf carcasses to lead them to the right road.
If anything has happened to her. Anything at all…
I gun the motor and power the bike up the rise. My brothers follow behind.
Chapter 14
Belinda
I love my mother.
Sometimes.
And this is not one of those times.
She waltzes in my room at eight o’clock and announces she wants to move back to the city.
“You’re not getting an opportunity to pursue your photography here,” she says.
“Mom, this is the age of the internet,” I say. “I don’t have to be in the city to interact with publishers and show them my work. Here I have access to unique subject material. New York City has been documented by every photojournalist since the camera was invented.”
“I know. But all your friends are in the city.”
“You didn’t like my friends there any more than you like them here. So, what’s the real reason?”
She starts to walk around my bedroom, tidying up. This is what she does when she’s stressed. I watch her and wait.
Finally, she comes out with it.
“It’s just that there is such a disagreeable element here and I’m afraid—out of boredom or loneliness—you might fall in with them. You don’t understand, but things like this could ruin a young woman’s life.”
I sit up straight. “You know what could ruin a young woman’s life?” I throw my legs out of bed. “A mother who tries to run her life and won’t leave her alone.”
Usually comments like this are sufficient to turn on my mother’s waterworks and for her to back down, but this time it isn’t working.
“Really?” my mom says. “So how many kids have you raised? What makes you the authority on how to raise children?”
“I’m twenty-three. I think that’s old enough to make decisions for myself!”
“Is that so? Two years ago, you weren’t even considered old enough to decide if you could have a drink or not!”
She strides to the front of my bed and wags a finger in my face.
“You can’t even rent a car by yourself until you’re twenty-five. That tells you how much confidence car companies have in your ability to make decisions.”
“Fuck, Mom, I just got up.”
“Is that how your new friends are telling you to talk to your mother? With filthy words?”
“Mother!” I shout, standing up.
She stares at me in horror. “So now this is how you sleep? Naked?” Her face pales. “Oh my god. Are you even a virgin anymore?”
I grab my robe and put it on. “ No, I am not, if it’s any business of yours.” I cross over to her and we stand nose to nose. “And the person who took my virginity was one of those unsavory bikers you’re so afraid of.”
She draws back with her hands over her mouth.
I’m not finished, though. In a low, confident voice, I say, “And one more thing, Mother. I love him.”
I’m about to say more when we’re interrupted by rumbling motors in the distance. They’re getting louder.
“I suppose those are your so-called friends now,” Mom says. “You didn’t tell them they could come here, did you?”
I go to the window and look out. I speak quietly to myself. “No,” I say. “I didn’t.”
The motorcycles burst into our yard and begin to circle our house. I look down and see the insignia is clearly not URSA. These are Howlers.
I run over and grab my phone off my nightstand. My mother goes to the window.
“Mom, get away from the window.”
I realize in horror that even if I call, there is no one who can get to us in time.
“Go lock the back door,” I scream at my mother.
I run to lock the front.
Chapter 15
Drake
I hit the driveway to Belinda’s house so fast, I squirrel the bike and have to put down my foot to stop it. When I’m finally still, I see that I’m within inches of a Howler bike.
The Howler gets off his bike and walks toward me. A couple of others do the same. I’m looking around at a bunch of Howler faces closing in when my bros hit the yard.
URSA riders surround the Howlers that surround me, and it’s a standoff.
Until the Howler closest to me pulls a piece and points it at my head.
“Back off,” is all he gets a chance to say.
I hear a shot gun blast and his head disintegrates along with the head of the Howler standing behind him.
I dive for cover. Everyone around me does the same.
And it is on.
Howlers fire from behind trees, and URSA return fire. I see Griffin with the shotgun that lit the fuse. He gives me a nod as he walks forward, calmly blasting shell after shell.
The Howlers didn’t bargain for this response. They mount their bikes, circle once, and retreat. Griffin stands next to me as one of the Howlers decides to let loose a parting shot. It misses us by a mile –
But then we hear a blood-curdling scream from the second story of the house.
Then another.
I didn’t recognize the first. But the second was Belinda.
Griffin and I get the door broken down in seconds. I take the steps four at a time. When I find Belinda, she’s holding her mother, and her mother’s shoulder is a mess. Luckily the bullet got slowed down by the wood window frame as it went through, but she’s losing a lot of blood.
“Call 911,” I yell at Griffin. I yank off my belt for a makeshift tourniquet.
Belinda stares at me. “But the bodies—they’ll put you in jail!”
I shake my head. “When a werecoyote shifter dies, it changes to its animal form. All they’ll find is a headless coyote. Not that unusual with all the hunters in the Catskills.”
Belinda looks at me with her mouth open. “Shifter? Werecoyote?”
Shit. I didn’t mean to say that. “I’ll explain later. Griffin took care of the bodies.”
It isn’t a complete lie. Griffin created the dead bodies, so it’s pretty accurate to say he took care of them.
I adjust the belt to keep the bleeding down but not starve the arm of oxygen. I look up at Belinda. “Are you okay?”
She meets my eyes and holds them. “Yes. Now that you’re here.”
I sit with Belinda on the floor by her mother while Griffin watches out the window for the EMTs. The rest of the bros have gone back. I told them it would be better not to confuse the issue.
Belinda and I hold hands while Belinda comforts her mother. Her mother is unusually quiet.
“Ma’am,” I say. “I’m gonna tell the authorities some fool hunter was chasing a coyote and sent the round through the house that got you. Okay?”
I’m ready for her to say no, but instead she nods.
When the EMTs arrive, they replace my belt with a real tourniquet and tell Belinda’s mom she’s lucky her son-in-law was here to stop the bleeding. One of them adds, “Your son-in-law probably saved your life.”
Belinda’s mom’s eyes flash between Belinda and me.
Belinda smiles and pats her arm. She whispers in her ear, “Don’t worry about the son-in-law thing.” But then she shoots a glance to me. “At least not yet.”
Chapter 16
Belinda
Drake tells me to ride with my mother in the ambulance and he’ll follow on his bike.
I climb in beside her and hold her pale hand. They have her stabilized with an IV and have given her something for the pain. As I look into her eyes, I remember all the cruel things I have said to her lately and realize suddenly I could have lost her.
I feel the tears well up in my eyes. “Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry. I’ve been s
uch a brat. You’re right. I’ve been acting crazy and hanging out with people I don’t even know. I’m sorry I caused you so much worry. We’ll go back to the city like you want.”
To my surprise, she shakes her head.
“No, Belinda,” she says. “I’m the one who should apologize to you.”
I look down at her incredulously. “What are you talking about?”
She grips my hand. “Let me finish.”
I nod my head slowly and lean close to listen.
“I lied to you about your father,” she begins. “He didn’t chase after a bunch of women. There was only one woman, and he said she was his destiny.”
I want to ask more, but she is speaking again.
“When I got pregnant with you, he was the proudest man on the block. He always loved you and would do anything for you. You must know that.”
She blinks back tears but continues. “Then when he met her, he was honest. He told me. But he also said he would stay and take care of you and me as long as we needed him and he kept that promise. We never wanted for anything and he was always there for you. For us. But I knew his heart was elsewhere.”
“Mom, I didn’t –”
“I know,” she says, patting me on the hand.
She takes a deep breath. “So when you graduated college, I decided it was time to stop fooling ourselves, and I turned him out.”
I can’t believe what she’s telling me. All this time, I questioned, but I never really knew.
“The problem was I didn’t know how angry, how bitter it would make me.” She turns away. “That’s when I told you all those lies.”
“Where is he now?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Somewhere with his fated mate.”
I feel my jaw drop open. “Fated mate? That’s what Drake says I am to him.”
She frowns and looks at me curiously, but then smiles. “Then you need to go to him, Belinda. You belong together.”
She turns away. She is exhausted and my heart is in turmoil. We ride the rest of the way in silence.
* * * * *
The hospital is in a larger metropolis outside Maiden’s Fork. Drake is there waiting when we arrive. They take Mom immediately to surgery and then intensive care, but after that, she’s stable enough to move to a room. They tell us to go home and get some rest and that she’ll no doubt be ready for visitors the next afternoon.
Drake and I walk to his bike.
“Your chariot awaits,” he says with a smile. “Where would you like to go?”
“I’d like to go home,” I tell him, “but I’m a little afraid to be alone.”
He brushes his hand through my hair. “I could stay with you if you’d like.”
I think for a minute. “Yes,” I say. “That would give us a chance to talk.”
His forehead furrows, but he doesn’t ask anything more.
The ride home in the mountain air with the starry sky above lifts my soul.
But once we are at my house, my heartache begins again.
When we walk in the kitchen, I sigh and sit down. Drake goes to the refrigerator to search for a beer. After finding one, he comes to the table and sits with me.
I stare at the wall. He sets down the beer.
“Going to tell me what’s on your mind?” he asks in a soft voice.
I let out a long breath. “My mother told me some things tonight about my father. About how he found his true love after I had been born and he lived my whole life as a lie. He stayed with my mother to take care of me while he still loved someone else.”
“I’m sorry, Belinda,” he says. “That’s sad.”
“Yes,” I say. “And maybe unnecessary.”
“What do you mean?”
“If my parents had waited until he was really sure before they went too far, a lot of pain could have been avoided…”
“And I wouldn’t have you,” he says. “And I wouldn’t vote for that.”
He leans over and kisses my lips. When I don’t respond, he pulls back, frowning.
“But that’s what I’m saying, Drake. Maybe we should wait. And be sure. We should be certain you won’t find someone else.”
He picks up my chin. He looks deep in my eyes. “There will never be anyone else. You are my mate. You were put here for me.”
Tears fill my eyes. “But how can we be sure?”
“I am sure. Are you sure?”
I look at him and then reach and touch his chiseled jaw. “Yes, I am.”
“Then it’s too late for regrets. We are already one.”
He takes my hand and we go upstairs.
Chapter 17
Drake
I undress her gently and lay her naked body on the sheets. Then I take off my own clothes and roll her on her side to spoon her. My cock responds to the warmth between her legs and presses up into her sweet darkness. She pushes back and I can feel her wetness. She’s swollen with desire.
I run my hand over her breasts and knead them until she moans and pushes back toward me. Her ass rubs my belly and my cock throbs. I run my hand down between her legs and touch her with my fingers. She opens her legs to give me entry and I dip my fingers in her juices. I rub her pulsing wetness and then bring my fingers to my lips to taste and smell her. My bear wants to go wild.
I begin kissing her shoulder and then move down her side to her lovely ass. I roll her toward me and straddle her from above. My face is now at her mound and my cock is at her face. I feel her hands on me.
My cock is hammer hard and she pulls me into her mouth. I spread her legs wide and shove my face against her folds. I lick and kiss her lips, wringing sounds of pleasure from her. She wiggles against me, arching into my mouth for more.
We lick and suck together, her tongue licking the head of my cock and my tongue lapping her clit. My fingers find their way inside her.
I work her clit until I feel her buck beneath me and she grabs my face with her thighs.
When I feel her last shudder, I pull my cock from her mouth and turn around. I open her thighs and kneel between them, stroking my cock with my hand.
She watches with a hungry look in her eyes.
I reach around and flip her over, face down. I grab her ass and pull it up until she’s on all fours. Using my knees, I kick her legs wide.
I inhale sharply as I view her dripping openening before me.
I press just the head of my cock into the welcoming lips. Then I shove in, slowly, until I’m deep. I hear her gasp then start to moan as she pushes back on me.
I fuck her hard and steady till she comes again, and then I let loose my load.
My body convulses with power. I can’t hold back my bear.
He roars with victory. Possession. I grab her ass and hold her to me. Leaning forward, I bite into the back of her neck.
I mark her as my mate forever.
Under me, Belinda yelps. “Ouch!”
She rolls over, holding her neck. She looks up at me with wide eyes.
But no fear.
I smile down at her. “I have marked you as mine forever.”
She rubs her neck. “Next time, let’s get matching tattoos.”
Gently, I move her hand away from her neck. Interesting—I see the bite is starting to heal already.
I fall into the bed next to her. I kiss her neck. I kiss her face. She kisses me back. We hold on to each other and fall into deep dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
I wake before her in the morning. I hate to leave her, but I have club business to think about.
And I need to figure out how I’m going to tell her about the shifter thing.
When I get to the clubhouse, almost everybody is already there and patting each other on the back for the job we did on the Howlers. Some of the bros got pretty fucked up in the process, but their shifter blood healed the wounds, even if it didn’t remove the memory of the pain.
“I’m glad everybody’s having a good time,” I tell them, “but you gotta remember that they’re st
ill out there. We need a mop-up mission.”
Some of the bros volunteer. They take prospects with them for back-up.
I settle back with Griffin and Zane to try to sort out the last couple of days.
Zane wades right in. “So how’s it going with the city girl?”
I groan. “Would’ve gone better if the Howlers didn’t show up and shoot her mother.”
“Oh, yeah. Is the mom okay?”
“Physically, yeah. But mentally, she’s gotta be a basket case. Getting shot gives you a lot to think about.”
Griffin clears his throat. “Speaking of stuff to think about, have you thought about how you’re going to tell this little miss you’re a shifter?”
“Nope, not exactly.”
“Have you marked her?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Zane broke in. “How the hell did you do that without showing her your bear eyes?”
“She had her head in a pillow at the time—and you don’t need to know more besides that.”
Griffin gives a nod. “Then I guess it’s done.”
Zane walks over to the window and checks the yard. Then he walks back. “You know there was a time when we said fucking the humans was okay, but taking one as an old lady was out. Remember that?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I do.”
He frowns. “Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.”
“Tell it to the bear,” I say. “The bear picked her.”
“So you’re saying that our Alpha can’t keep his bear under control?”
I stand up. All six feet. And I go stand over Zane.
“I’m sayin’ I’m the Alpha and what I say goes.” I put my hands in fists on my sides. “You want to challenge me, it’s your right.”
Griffins stands and walks toward us. I ignore him.
“Any place,” I say to Zane. “Any time.”
Zane considers this. “No, bro. I got no beef with you. I’m just saying some things you might consider.”
But there is no time to consider.
My shifter ears pick up a low rumble of motors in the air and the rumble is becoming louder.
I yell, “Those assholes are coming back!”
Zane gets on his phone and sends out the alert.
