“Thanks,” she said with some effort. “Can we go now?”
They both sprung to action, opening the door for her and following her out. She took a deep breath once in the open air again, and it calmed her a tiny bit, but their presence was still too much for her.
“How long is it to get to her?”
“She’s close. About twenty minutes?”
She turned and looked up at them both. “I want to go alone. Just tell me how to get there.”
August frowned and Julian stepped toward her. “You need us . . . ” He trailed off and raked his hands through his hair. Finally, he sighed. “All right. Just tell her you asked us to stay behind. The path is through the gate at the top of the hill. Just follow it a little ways and you’ll be there.”
Emma smiled and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon enough, I hope.”
When she pulled back and looked at them both, they were frowning. August gave her a sad smile. “Of course. We are always at your service, Princess.” His expression looked even more forlorn as she started to move toward the gate at the far edge of the stone patio they stood on.
“Emma, wait,” he called to her and she turned. Both men stepped swiftly toward her. August grabbed her in a fierce hug and kissed her. When he let her go, she found herself pulled into Julian’s arms and given the same treatment. The desperation in their actions confused her and aroused her at the same time, the unbearable confusion of pain and desire threatening to overcome her again, and something more than that now. Something she wasn’t prepared to comprehend.
“Guys, we just met. You’ll see me again, I can promise you.”
“It may not be up to you,” Julian said. “Just know that today meant everything to us. To have been permitted to service the Princess of the ursa was the highest honor any ursa male could hope for.”
She stared at them, trying to understand what the hell they were talking about. A sinking feeling settled in her stomach. Without another word, she nodded and turned to leave, deciding that if her parents were indeed at the end of this walk she was about to take, they would have to give her a lot more answers than she’d expected.
Emma let out a sigh, trying to let the beauty of the forest settle her mind. Too many questions tumbled around for her to find peace, however. First there was the incredibly intimate awakening she’d had, followed by the most overwhelming need, which both men had fulfilled more expertly than any lover she’d ever had.
She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that they weren’t even really human, and neither was she.
Something rustled in the foliage nearby and she turned, but nothing was visible in the darker shadows. Yet out of the corner of her eye, she was sure she caught the dark shape of a huge, black-furred animal keeping pace with her. After a few more steps, she believed another one walked through the woods on the other side of the path. She kept her gaze fixed on the way ahead of her, strangely comforted that they’d chosen to follow her, even though she’d asked them to let her go alone.
“You’re more worthy than you give yourselves credit for,” she whispered.
* * *
Emma couldn’t have imagined a more spectacular home for what she now understood was ursa royalty. The majestic structure was part living tree, part mossy stone. A long, wide veranda spanned the entire front of the lodge that seemed to go on forever. Instead of wood columns along the front, the massive trunks of ancient, living poplar trees shot up through the roof and high above, their greenery speckled with the familiar orange-yellow of the tulip-shaped flowers Emma had always loved so much.
As she made her way closer, four figures ventured into the sunlight in front of the lodge. A regal woman in a long, green dress came first, her long, silver hair spilling in cascades of curls down her bare shoulders. She wore a wreath of flowers around her head and her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. From the eager smile on her face, they couldn’t be tears of sadness.
Emma’s throat closed up and tears of her own threatened to spill when she saw the familiar man at the woman’s side, his arm wrapped around her and his other hand at her elbow, as though supporting her.
“Papa!” Emma yelled, and tore the rest of the way up the stony, tree-lined path.
He stepped toward her with open arms and a wide smile splitting his bearded face. “Emma, baby. I knew you’d make it in time.”
She buried her face in his chest and held him tight. “God, I missed you.” In her peripheral vision, she saw the other couple step close to support the woman her father had been standing beside.
Emma pulled away and looked at the woman, smiling, then to her father. He rested his arm across her shoulders and turned to face the others. “Emma, this is your mother, Maia Stonetree, and your aunt Mona, Maia’s younger sister. I think you know this other numbskull already.” He casually pointed at her uncle Ted, who rolled his eyes in mock irritation.
Emma laughed and stepped in to hug the silver-haired woman. “Mama, I’ve waited my whole life for this.”
“Oh, baby, so have I. So have I,” her mother said in a reedy voice. She shook a little with emotion, her arms far thinner and her body more delicate than Emma had expected. Now that Emma had her arms around the woman, she was suddenly concerned she’d hurt her if she hugged too hard.
After a moment, they released each other and Emma wiped her eyes, turning to greet the others. “Aunt Mona,” she said, gripping the woman’s hands. Mona was dark-haired and robust, with shining brown eyes fringed by long lashes. She greeted Emma with a warm hug.
Emma’s Uncle Ted stepped in close and gave Emma a half-hug, squeezing her close and kissing her on the crown of her head.
“It’s good to see you again, Em,” he said.
Her father ushered them all inside, and as Emma followed, she was alarmed to see how much the others doted on her mother, her father giving her support as she struggled to climb the steps. They started toward what looked like a throne room of sorts, directly inside another set of doors. A giant chair, elaborately carved from a single tree trunk, rested on a dais, surrounded by greenery. It was illuminated from above by a skylight, sun streaming down directly onto it. Emma stared in awe.
Her mother shook her head and tugged at her father’s arm. “Sweetie, not in there, not yet. She needs time to get used to the idea.”. Emma’s father nodded and switched directions, leading them through another set of huge wooden doors into a comfortable sitting room.
“Get used to what idea?” Emma asked, unable to wait any longer to talk to them both, to find out everything she could about who she was.
She found a seat on an overstuffed sofa near the large leather armchair her mother rested in. The other three settled in as well, and her uncle emitted a whistle that reminded Emma of birdcalls he used to teach her when she was little. A moment later, three young men came in with stoneware platters loaded with food and arranged them on the coffee table in the center of the room.
Emma’s stomach growled in response to the spread, but she forced herself to wait.
Maia sat up a little straighter and glanced at Emma’s father. He cleared his throat and looked at Emma gravely. “As our daughter, you’re Maia’s heir, Emma. And the truth is, she isn’t well. As the heir, you need to get used to the idea of ascending when she’s gone.”
“And there are other obligations, as well,” her mother said. “You must take a mate. And my hope is that you would agree to do so before I die, so I have the chance to bless my grandchild with my magic before I am too weak.”
“Oh, God, Mama!” Emma stood up and went to crouch at her mother’s side, holding her frail hands in both of hers, tears threatening to fall again. “What can I do to help you?”
“Your presence means more than you can imagine, Emma,” her mother said, squeezing her hands.
Emma shook her head, struggling to process ev
erything, but this was the worst. The heir part made sense, but her mother dying now, when she’d just found her? A tightness gripped her chest at the idea of losing the woman so soon. But they wanted her to find a . . . a mate and have a baby. Apparently, right away. The last part held surprising appeal to her, and her mind flashed to the accidental outburst she’d had with Julian and August. Her core ached savagely.
“I think I can do this for you,” she said, voice quavering with uncertainty over the sudden shift in the course of her life over the past twenty-four hours. “Be your heir, find a . . . ” She hesitated over the word, but finally got it out. “A mate.” She already had a couple candidates in mind and smiled to herself at the thought. Could she have them both? Would that be too indulgent of her to ask?
“You don’t have to decide yet, honey,” her father said. “But if you do change your mind, we just ask that you stay with us here where it’s safe. Jade is second in line after you, and she’d take your place when your cousins are old enough to make the passage through the portal.”
“What do you mean? Jasper and Jade came with me. They should have come through, too. At least August said they probably came through another portal. They were right behind me for the entire hike, at least until the end. But I lost them somewhere. If they really aren’t inside, I have to go back out, to find out if they’re all right.”
“Oh, Gaia, no!” Her aunt Mona stood up abruptly. “Tell me my babies didn’t try to come through. They won’t come of age for three more months.” She turned to Emma’s uncle. “Edward, if they passed through the portal before they were ready, they’re in danger. The barrier won’t be ready for them until the Spring Equinox, after their birthday.”
A chill ran down Emma’s spine. She’d had strong reservations about letting them come with her to begin with, but had given in to their desire to join her.
“What’s happened to them? What do you mean about the barrier not being ready?”
Her uncle stood to calm Mona down. She brushed him off and left the room, agitated. “I’m going to call the guardians and the other clans in the Sanctuary. We need to start a search for them immediately.”
When Emma turned back to her parents, they both looked grim.
“I should have left you clearer instructions, baby. I’m sorry,” her father said. “It’s never safe to leave too many overt clues in the human world of where to find us. We have enemies who would exploit anything they could to find their way inside. The safety of the Sanctuary is the reason Ted and I left with you and your cousins when you were infants to begin with—usually the inner guardians are sufficient to maintain the strength of the barrier, but when it started growing weaker, we needed the power of royal ursa on the outside to strengthen it. You and your cousins were the keys to the Midsummer rituals we always performed, even though you didn’t realize it at the time.”
Emma gaped at him, then whispered, “They were never just stories, were they? When we were on the hike last night, I told a story I thought I was just making up, but it was true, wasn’t it? You’re not one of them, are you, Papa? You’re human.”
Maia shifted in her seat and looked at Emma’s father with naked adoration. “We knew the barrier was failing and that our children were the key to replenishing its power. Mona and I had no choice but to find mates, to produce offspring with fresh magic, who could perform the rituals from the outside to heal it. But ursa males wouldn’t do as mates if we wanted you children to be raised in the human world. We didn’t choose by accident, though, as your father learned after he joined us the first time.”
Emma’s dad chuckled, and explained. “I had a bit of an unexpected discovery of my own, when I first met Maia. I knew my family had unusual secrets going back generations. Old legends and tales that were passed down for hundreds of years, since long before this country was settled.”
Emma listened, rapt. She knew there was Cherokee blood in their family, and some of the old stories her father had told her were fantastic. Before he could finish, she knew what he was about to say and cut him off.
“It’s true, isn’t it? The Stonetree clan’s always been allied with the ursa. You were destined for her, weren’t you?”
Her father actually flushed, and for the first time in her life, she believed he was speechless. After a second, he finally found words again.
“Ah, something like that, yes. We took the family name of the ursa leaders to prove our loyalty. My family’s existence was to provide a loyal bloodline to the ursa queen, and any other member of her family who needed a mate in the event the barrier’s failure would come. Now that its strength is restored, a worthy ursa male has been chosen for you as your mate, if you choose to accept your role as heir. He’s the son of one of the other clan leaders. Of course, if you change your mind, he would belong to Jade.” He eyed her, seeming to sense her uncertainty. “We would understand if you left someone behind, but only a handful of humans are allowed to know about this place. If you choose to leave once we’ve found your cousins, you can’t come back.”
“I didn’t leave anyone behind. What do you mean a worthy male has been chosen for me? If I can choose to leave, why can’t I choose who . . . who impregnates me if I stay? Why can’t I decide who’s worthy of me?”
Before they could answer, Mona bustled back in, agitated. As if conjured by her thoughts, the two men she believed most worthy rushed into the room in Mona’s wake. Emma stood up and took a step toward them, but Mona diverted her, gripping her by the arms and staring into her eyes, frantic. “You came in by the Stonetree portal, didn’t you? How long had my babies been lost before that?”
Emma closed her eyes, remembering the strange apparition in the icy winter dawn of the tree sprouting through the boulder in full leaf: the harbinger of summer in the middle of winter.
“Yes, that’s where I came through. I think they disappeared within half an hour of me reaching it.”
Mona nodded, looking slightly relieved. “Good. They can’t be much farther back, then. A few of the males with the best tracking skills are on their way, but these guardians will leave now to start searching.” She waved at August and Julian without even glancing.
Emma raised her head and met Julian’s eyes. “Find them, please,” she said. Her gaze drifted to August and settled there, sending him a silent, pleading message. He nodded.
“We are at your service, Princess,” August said. His voice carried a deeper message that sent a tingle down her spine. Then he and Julian turned and were gone.
A little shiver coursed over Emma’s body. Her core ached. She felt a little dizzy from the brief encounter and sat down. She’d been hungry just moments ago, and all the food laid out still enticed her, but she couldn’t eat, not with this overwhelming fear for her cousins or the need for the two men who had just been in the room.
“The guardians will find them,” her mother said gently. “They found you, and took care of you after you came through. They’ll do everything they can to find your cousins.”
Emma felt suddenly indignant about her mother’s tone where it concerned August and Julian.
“Do you even know their names, Mama? Do you know who they are? The two men who found me and . . . took care of me. They took very good care of me, by the way, so good they’re worth more to me than any man I’ve ever met.”
Her mother sat back, took a breath, and closed her eyes. “Yes,” she breathed. “I know their names, but they are guardians. When you mate, you need a worthy ursa male. One from a powerful clan. Not a lower-ranking male. You’re in estrous and will likely still need their help before you can mate the one chosen for you, but don’t let yourself get attached to the males who service you through it before then.” Her mother sighed, a dark cloud passing over her face. She looked pained for a moment, and Emma couldn’t tell whether it was from actual pain, or from emotion.
“Were you worthy, Papa?” she asked her father.
The question made her mother’s eyes open wide. Her father started to speak, but her mother cut him off.
“Your father was an exception. I was happy to sacrifice having a true ursa mate to have him. I’ve never regretted the choice, and the clans understood the necessity.”
Emma didn’t think there could be any other men who could satisfy her as thoroughly as August and Julian had. Or be as sweet and deferential to her needs. Her heart fluttered a little at the memory of August’s kiss when they were alone in his room, and the way he’d fled afterward. Oh, God he wanted her. Her. They both did. And she wanted them, too.
“Why can’t I have them?” she asked, irritated at the rise in her voice. Her entitled tone irritated her. She sounded exactly like a spoiled princess told she couldn’t have everything she wanted. If she had to find a mate and get knocked up to please her dying mother, she would in a heartbeat, but she’d like some say in the matter, at least.
“Baby, you’re royalty. The clan leaders would revolt if one of their sons wasn’t promised to you. Aidan Sundance is every bit as impressive as the pair who greeted you. Please, give him a chance.”
Emma let out an exasperated breath and nodded. If it meant so much to her parents, she would give the guy a chance. It was the least she could do, under the circumstances.
After that, they waited. Emma had more questions, but was so anxious that she didn’t speak. She just ate. At least the food was good.
Her father stood after a while and wandered to the window. He’d never been good at sitting for long periods. Emma finally spoke, hoping to distract them all from worry.
“Got any new projects, Papa?”
He’d always been busy with something or other when she was growing up, whether it was adding on to their house or smaller things. Woodwork, in particular, but other projects occupied his time, as well.
His eyes lit up and he grinned at her. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” he said. “Let me show you, instead.”
Clawed (Black Mountain Bears Book 1) Page 6
