“I…suppose so,” she muttered.
“To claim the jewel, your alphas must both mark you. The mark binds you to them forever, and always. Only a human marked by two alphas, in love with both, may claim the Jewel of So Sur.”
“But…” Her heart started to pound in her chest as she stared at the Keeper.
The Keeper smiled. “Your bear is awaiting you back at the river. We detained him for the trial.”
“And my…”
The woman shrugged. “You must obtain the tiger on your own.”
Cressida’s heart skipped a beat it was pounding so hard then. Reza. She needed Kelly and Reza to get the jewel. She needed them to love her, and she needed to love them both. And Reza was getting married as the sun set on that very day. She had to stop it.
She shoved to her feet, wobbly but determined. “Thank you. I’ll be back.”
And then she hurried, jogging until she could fully run, back to the path that would lead her down to the river, to Kelly, and then back through the jungle to the village, to Reza. She needed them both, always.
Chapter 11
This time, when Kelly came awake, it was not a gentle shake from Cort. It was the horrible breath and persistent snuffling of a great grizzly bear. With a hack and a curse, he sat bolt upright, waving Fat Tom off.
“Desist,” he snapped, wiping at his face. “What in the bloody hell?”
“Came back and found you unconscious, Cap’n,” Cort said worriedly. He pointed to a nearby waterskin. “I even doused you in river water and you didn’t wake up.”
Kelly realized his top half was, indeed, soaking wet. “Snakes. There were snakes. I…but I seem to be fine…Did you find—”
“Kelly!” That was Cressida’s voice.
He got himself to his feet, grabbing ahold of Fat Tom’s furry shoulder to leverage himself up, and turned, watching with incredible relief as Cressida came stumbling out of the jungle, waving her arms at him.
“Where have you been?” he shouted. “I was worried sick!”
“I found the Keeper of the Jewel!” She was soaked too, he realized, his head tilting in perfectly normal male appreciation as she came running towards him, all her beautiful curves bouncing and swaying with her movements.
“Wait, what?” But to his surprise, she flew right into his arms. He caught her, the force of it knocking him back a step, his arms tight around her. “Cress? You found it?”
“Yes.” She’d buried her face in his shoulder. “Yes, and don’t argue with me, but we have to go back and get Reza.”
His sails lost some wind at that. “Why?”
“Because we need him to get the jewel,” she said, squeezing him. “It’s got to be you and me and him. We have to stop him marrying that other girl.”
“I don’t understand…” He loosened his arms so that he could look down into her face. Her expression, he thought, was a tangle of things he couldn’t untie. Some mixture of hope and terror and confusion and relief. “What did the Keeper tell you?”
“It’s complicated,” Cressida said. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but there isn’t time now. I want to tell you both together. Just trust me, it has to be the two of you.”
Kelly looked down into her bright blue eyes and knew he’d relent, no matter what it she wanted. Wouldn’t he? The idea of returning to the tribal village, especially empty-handed, especially to find Reza, did not sit well in his stomach, but his heart told him to follow Cressida Avery to the ends of the earth if he had to. She seemed so determined now. The thought of having the jewel, this woman, and being able to save his den was more a dream of peace and paradise than he had let himself hope for. And that hope, even now, might have been folly. But he found he was so close to having these things he so desperately wanted that he didn’t care, and hoped violently for them anyway.
He nodded. “All right. Let’s go get him.”
Chapter 12
Reza was slumped in a corner of the jailer’s hut, a group of six guards huddled outside to keep watch over him. They needn’t have bothered. He was still weak from his fight with Chaiya, and by now his heart was empty of hope. He’d no fight left in him, and nowhere to go even if he did manage to escape. He watched as the shafts of sunlight that mottled the floor moved slowly along, day waning into afternoon. Soon it would be time for his wedding, if indeed Sajja still intended him to marry Prija. Either that or, as the sun set against the canopy, he would be made to fight Chaiya again, and he would almost certainly lose.
Kamala had come and gone several times over the course of the day. First, she’d brought in a basin of clean water and a cloth, and cleaned his wounds, bandaging him as best she could, mewling nervously over each scratch and bite and bit of blood. She told him that Chaiya refused to talk to her, and that he and his father had been holed up in the chieftain’s hut for hours. Deliberating, she supposed, or arguing. Chaiya was openly calling for the blood fight now, but Kamala didn’t think that Sajja wanted to grant him the rite. Better to bring Reza into the tribe, not discard the last scion of his father’s line. But Reza thought that Sajja would buckle to Chaiya in the end. It was cleaner. End the line of rebellion, squash any further resistance with an ancient rite and be done with it forever.
The second time she came to him, she brought food. He had no appetite, but forced himself to eat some of the fish and fruit, knowing it would help improve his strength. There still had been no decision one way or the other. But Reza knew, as he watched those slats of sunlight turn orange and edge toward violet, that the news would come soon enough. Sajja would not let the decision extend beyond the appointed time for the wedding.
Just before sunset, Prija came to see him. He didn’t particularly want to look at her, but she sank down to her knees before him, and he found it difficult to avoid meeting her gaze. Her expression was earnest, her face beautiful, and he thought again that had he never left this island or his tribe, he could have honestly loved her.
“They’ll decide soon,” she said softly.
He nodded.
“I’ve spoken to Kamala. I know that this is not an insult aimed at me. I wanted you to know that I respect you greatly for standing up to my father.” Her eyes flashed, bright and green.
“I’m sorry, Prija,” he murmured.
She shook her head. “I love another too, Reza.”
At that, he blinked, surprised. “You do?”
“Yes, but father wanted me for you. I would not have been brave enough to fight him.”
“Well, it may yet be Chaiya I have to fight.” Reza laughed humorlessly.
Prija grimaced. “Maybe. I’ve made a bid to keep you, to save you.”
Reza was touched by her generosity, but his heart sank a little. He could defy Sajja and Chaiya, but he knew if it came to it he would have to accept Prija. If she saved his life today, he could not turn her away. Even if neither one of them wanted it. He reached out and touched a bit of her orange hair, smiling though it hurt his wounded face to do so.
“Thank you, Prija.”
As though the sun itself was satisfied with their words, it set.
The tribal gongs began to thrum, the sound of drums lifting to meet them. Prija helped Reza to his feet, and both of them turned towards the hut’s entrance, watching for the telltale slide of shadows across the threshold, heralding the chieftain’s arrival.
“Oh no, Reza,” Prija gasped, a hand flying to her mouth, eyes widening in fear.
He realized it, too, in the same moment. The drums were not beating out either a celebratory tattoo or one calling the tribe together to witness a rite. The rhythm was one that shook down into Reza’s bones, one that he had not heard since the day he’d been stolen away from home. It was the warning drum. A call to arms. The village was being attacked. And as Reza’s mind took a dizzying turn, his heart flip-flopping in his chest, he heard the roar of a bear and turned towards the hut’s far wall, watching as claws rent through the thatchi
ng, tearing a hole right through it. Stepping into the tear, her back lit by the last vestiges of the sun, was Cressida.
Chapter 13
They had chased the sun all the way down the mountain. Through the jungle to the Stone Leap, across its wide expanse once more, past the Wailing Mother and her serpentine vines, back to the village. As soon as the perimeter guards caught sight of them, the drums and the gongs began to sound and Cressida knew that they had precious little time. Cort had shifted to join Fat Tom, engaging the guards and the warriors that followed, and Kelly had discarded his rapier, hulking down and transforming as well into a massive black bear, joining Cressida to fight their way to the hut surrounded by guards. Which, if Cressida was going to imprison Reza, she knew enough that she’d have to surround him with guards as well.
She had never seen Kelly’s bear form like this before; she had only caught a glimpse of it when he’d lunged at Reza on the Oso Armonia. He was gigantic and gleaming, a solid rock of glossy black fur and glistening white fangs. Magnificent as the tiger that she had seen Reza become, but in an entirely different way. More beautiful now that she knew she loved the man beneath it, perhaps, just as much as she loved the tiger.
Once Kelly had ripped apart the hut’s wall, Cressida hurried inside and right to Reza. She threw her arms around him, withdrawing quickly when he yelped and winced back, and she realized how wounded he was. Bruises littered the length of him, his midsection covered by sticky leaves and some kind of healing paste, but she could see that blood encrusted the edges. Lesions broke the smooth bronze of his skin, inflamed and painful looking, and one of his gorgeous gold-green eyes was swollen nearly shut as he looked down at her. Despite the black eye, though, she saw awe and gratitude in his gaze.
“We have to go,” she said quickly, glancing at the tiger girl in the hut with him. “I’m sorry, there’s no time. We have to go now.”
“What’s going on?” Reza asked, confusion plain in his eyes. “Why have you come back?”
She felt her heart swell, knew that desperation and love must have filled her eyes. “For you, idiot. I came for you. I need you. Please, come with us.”
Reza looked back at her for a long moment before he looked to the tiger girl and gave her a nod. “Good luck,” he said to her.
Then he reached down and took Cressida’s hand, and she squeezed his fingers before pulling him to the hole in the hut and back to Kelly, waiting for them on the other side.
“Hurry,” she said. “There must be a place in the jungle we can hide.”
“I know of one,” Reza told her.
She looked at Kelly, and the big bear lifted up onto his hind legs and tipped back his head, loosing a deafening, bellowing roar at the sky.
Two roars replied, and Kelly turned to go barreling back towards the jungle, clearing a wide path, swiping at any of the guards that came too near. Cressida ran after him, hand in hand with Reza, and she heard the thunderous clamor of at least one other bear falling in behind them before the sun had set completely, and they plunged back into the darkness of the jungle itself.
As they ran, Reza shed his trousers and the wreath around his neck, diving for the ground. He landed in his tiger skin, stripes rippling across sprouting golden-orange fur, and in two great gallops he overtook Kelly, dashing ahead to lead them. Cressida found herself sprinting madly through that darkened jungle, following after a bear and a tiger, the two great loves of her life. She didn’t know if it would work, if what the Keeper of the Jewel had told her was even possible. To love both, be loved by both? She didn’t know what the mark was, but she had a feeling it was not going to be easy to achieve, or accept, for any of them. But for now, at least in these wild moments of dashing to what felt like freedom, she could carry hope in her heart that all things were possible, especially if they began with love.
Mated By Beasts
(Alphas of Black Fortune: Part 4)
By Scarlett Rhone
Copyright 2015 Enamored Ink
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 1
As they raced through the jungle, the sounds of the tribal village fading at their backs, Cressida counted: one, two, three bears, and a tiger. All of them were there, and her heart began to calm, though when their pace slowed down, she perceived that Fat Tom was lumbering along with a considerable limp on one side. It was quickly the full dark of night as they ran, and Cressida found herself nearly trampling Cort’s paws as she hurried behind him, keeping his dark fur visibly ahead of her, the rounded movement of his bear hindquarters against the dark her guide.
Reza led them, his long, sleek form a darting shadow as he prowled ahead of them, clearing a path and often finding one that already existed, but that Cressida was certain none of them would have ever seen on their own. But of course he knew the secrets of the jungle, the hidden doorways, because it was his home. And Cressida had perhaps just ruined any chance he had of remaining here. Even as she felt the guilt of that tighten on her heart, she reminded herself that he had made a choice too. They would not have dragged him away. He’d chosen her. And she kept that truth close in her thoughts like the treasure it was, alongside the notion that perhaps Kelly loved her too.
It seemed to her at once impossibly selfish and yet not at all, the idea of the two of them loving her. It made sense in her heart because she was certain now that she loved both of them, but was it selfish to expect them to love her without forcing her to choose? Was it cruel of her to keep them both so close? Perhaps. But the Keeper of the Jewel had made it sound like it was also right, like it was the very thing that might save them, that she could love them both.
When at last they slowed from their punishing escape pace down to a more reasonable clip, Cressida watched Kelly prowl a ways away from the group. She tracked his progress, her view of him occasionally blurred or blocked by the thick vines and branches of the jungle path. Then, between one step and the next, his silhouette changed altogether. Cressida felt a quick gust of wind, and heard the shiver of the atmosphere as Kelly changed, then emerged back onto the path with them in his man skin.
He looked around and frowned when he saw what Cressida had already perceived: Fat Tom and his limp. He made a hsst noise at Reza, and the tiger came to a stop altogether, long tail lashing this way and that as he half-turned to look at the naked pirate. Cressida couldn’t really help staring at him; it wasn’t the time or the place for it, but Kelly was a tall, muscular man and Cressida had always appreciated his nude figure. He caught her looking at him, though, and arched an eyebrow at her. She blushed and looked away.
Cort shuffled up to Kelly’s side, a satchel still dangling from his big bear jaw. Kelly dug into it and pulled out a pair of trousers, climbing into them as Fat Tom came to attention as well.
“You take Fat Tom back to the ship,” Kelly instructed Cort. The brown bear made a whining noise, and Fat Tom growled, but Kelly shook his head. “It’s not up for discussion. We’ve just made enemies of an entire tribe of tigers, and you’re hurt. Go back to the ship, make sure that repairs are coming along double time. I suspect we’ll be leaving this island in something of a hurry, so it’s up to you two to get us stocked with as much food and supplies as you can without drawing the tigers’ notice.”
Reza had taken a seat back on his haunches, tail wrapped neatly about his gigantic paws.
The bears lowered their heads eventually, acquiescing to their captain, and Kelly nodded and took the satchel from Cort’s mouth. “Go on. We’ll sort things out here and meet you on the beach. Check in every evening, just after sunset, where we landed.” He looked at Reza. “Will you show them? Cressida and I will wait for you here, if you think it’s safe.”
Fat Tom made another noise of disagreement, but Cort headbutted him in the side and the huge grizzly bear stumbled on his bad leg. Point made. Reza got back to his feet with a low growl, rubbing up against Cressida’s legs as he slinked around her and over to the two bears. She stumbled a little, but smiled at the brief contact. He sniffed at the two bears and then just continued on, leading them in another direction, through the jungle toward the beach. Cort cast Kelly a lingering look of sad brown eyes and then turned to follow the tiger. Fat Tom limped on after him, and Cressida and Kelly were left alone there in the dark, the noise of the jungle obscuring everything around them.
She felt Kelly’s hand brush hers, and then he took her by the arm, leading her a little ways off the path that they’d created by tromping through the jungle.
“Can’t see a thing, can you?” he muttered to her, and she could hear a smirk in his voice.
“No, not with my boring human eyes,” she replied.
“Then stay close. You must be tired.”
She said nothing to that, but she was very tired. Their mad dash back down the mountain, through the jungle and to the tribe’s village to get to Reza had been fast and difficult. Getting him and getting out again, not knowing until she actually laid eyes on him that he would go with her, had been maddening. And all of it with the image of the snakelike Keeper of the Jewel hissing through her mind, with the hope and promise of what the jewel could offer her knotting about her heart.
“We’ll rest here until he comes back for us,” Kelly decided. He sank down to a seat, his back to a wide, fat tree trunk, and pulled her down with him. Once she was settled beside him, he got an arm around her shoulders and fit her against his side, and she perceived that it was possessive even if he didn’t intend it to be. A way of enveloping her after Reza had rubbed against her legs. She would have pushed him off but she was too tired and she knew that they were in for a fight as it was, once Reza returned. So in the dark, in Kelly’s arms, with his warmth seeping into her skin, she let herself relax a little and actually drift to sleep. But her dreams were unkind. Instead of tumbling her through the twists and turns of her current situation, they thrust her into the past, where she found her husband waiting.
Alphas of Black Fortune (Complete Boxed Set) Page 14
