The male shook his head. “Old friends,” he said. “I’m the true Windchaser.” He glanced at the woman beside him. “Autumn is our resident mutt.”
He let out a grunt when the woman elbowed him in the ribs. Grinning at her, he amended his introduction. “Autumn’s a high-ranking Sundance by birth, but sired and raised by Windchasers. She’s earned the title of true clan member. She’s the fastest of us all. We’d never have made it so swiftly without her.”
Emma sagged back down by Jade’s side in defeat. “I suppose you went to all that effort getting them here for nothing.” Her voice caught in her throat and she buried her face in her hands. This was all her doing. If she’d simply followed her instincts—told them not to join her—they wouldn’t be near death.
“All is not lost,” a soft male voice said.
Emma looked up into the disconcerting red eyes of the other male. What had her uncle called him? Gunnar?
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Gunnar held her gaze for a second longer, then seemed to brace himself. He looked at Emma’s mother.
“My lady, I am here. I may not be the chosen mate for the princess, but under the circumstances, I am willing to take Aidan’s place as the son of a clan leader.” His lips quirked conspiratorially. “Aidan won’t be happy, but I believe he would forgive me, all things considered.”
He looked back at Emma. “That is, if you would have me, Princess. With the aid of a rite of fertility we might . . . ” He paused and his pale cheeks flushed brightly. Not even the strong cut of his jaw could disguise the pure innocence of this lovely young man. He cleared his throat. “We might ensure you’re pregnant by morning.”
“Gunn, are you sure about this?” Autumn said, clutching at her friend’s arm. In a loud whisper, she said, “Your mother will be pissed that she missed it, not to mention when Aidan finds out . . . ”
He stared down with determination at Jasper’s body and Autumn followed his gaze, a look of understanding crossing her face. Her eyes lingered a little longer on Jasper’s face and she let out an almost forlorn sigh that Emma sensed was more than just capitulation. These two both seemed unusually captivated by her cousin. Jasper was worth it, with the same rugged good looks her father and uncle had, and the beginnings of a short beard growing on his lean cheeks and square chin.
“More sure than I’ve ever been in my life,” Gunnar said, gripping her hand and squeezing. Autumn gazed back at him adoringly, then sighed and nodded in quiet surrender.
Hot tears pricked at Emma’s eyes, her throat closing up at his selflessness—and at Autumn’s, for the female clearly had a strong attachment to him. She gave him a nod, unable to speak. The knot in her throat developed a painful burn when she glanced up and saw Julian and August paused in the doorway, watching her. They both had matching expressions of resignation. August glanced down at the inert forms of her cousins and gave Emma a sad smile.
“Very well,” her mother said, sounding relieved yet restless. “The sun is setting and the rite must begin at moon-rise. We can’t waste any more time. Mona, go gather the other females who are of age so we can perform the fertility rite. Emma, come with me. There are some things you need to know before the mating begins.”
Emma cast a glance back over her shoulder to Julian and August, wishing she could speak with them before she bound herself to another man. She hoped they would understand, but the look of sadness they gave her only made her heart ache more. Her gaze fell on Autumn for a second as she passed by, and the female’s eyes flitted between Emma and the guardians, her eyebrows rising with interest.
“I’ll come with you,” Autumn said. “You are about to mate my closest friend, after all. Gunn’s been like a brother to me my whole life. I think I’m most qualified to warn you what he’s like.”
Gunnar chuckled ruefully and Autumn turned back and winked at him before jogging to catch up with Emma and her mother.
Chapter Seven
At the top of the stairs, Emma’s mother paused, hand resting on her heaving chest. Emma stepped beside her and took her elbow.
“Mama, don’t push yourself too hard. Just tell me what you need to tell me. I can take care of the rest.”
Her mother shook her head. “It’s tradition for ursa mothers to dress their daughters on their mating night. And since you weren’t raised within the clan, you have a lot more catching up to do. I had hoped we’d have more time for this.”
Squaring her shoulders, she marched forward again, across the balcony and back into the huge bedroom they’d been in earlier. Emma followed, trying to ignore the anxiety roiling in her stomach. Add to that the slow burn of her libido and she was a complete mess. But her cousins might die if she didn’t follow through with this.
Emma gave Autumn a hesitant smile. “Thank you for bringing Jasper and Jade here so fast. I just hope this rite thing works and I can help them. Not that I have a clue how that even works. Yesterday, I thought I was human.”
Autumn squeezed Emma’s hand. “You’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Have you learned to shift yet?”
Emma stared at her. “Shift?” A chill crept over her, soon replaced by the warmth of understanding. She remembered the two shapes shadowing her in the woods. The pair of bears who she’d simply understood were watching out for her, guarding her. Her nature was the same as theirs. “Um, no . . . I haven’t learned yet.”
Autumn nodded. “You’ll need to learn for the mating ritual, but Gunn is the best teacher—I’ll tell him to take it slow with you.”
Once in her mother’s room again, they followed the older woman to a set of doors on the far wall opposite the bed. The doors seemed to be part of the wall at first, made from the same shining wood that the entire lodge was paneled with. If it hadn’t been for a pair of gleaming blue knobs, she wouldn’t have known they were there.
“Why do I need to shift for it?” Emma asked, a little concerned that she’d wind up coupling with a beast. She kind of enjoyed her human body. And she really enjoyed a man’s body, especially if he was anything like the two men she’d been so intimate with earlier that day. She’d only had the briefest encounter with Gunnar, but he had been every bit as built as the others, though his features were much more refined.
“You will need to mark your mate while in your true form,” her mother said over her shoulder, then pulled open the doors she’d stopped before, revealing a closet filled with clothing of the most beautiful, sensuous fabrics. She immediately started pulling down dresses, inspecting them, and tossing them on the bed.
Emma watched, agape, until Autumn pulled her aside, her eyes bright with eagerness.
“Shifting is easy, once you become attuned with your magic. You’re already feeling it—that burn down low. It’s stronger when you’re horny, and when you’re in estrous, the magic is even more drawn to you, preparing to infuse the baby when you conceive. After you’re pregnant, you’ll have more magic than you know what to do with.”
“You’ve been pregnant before?” Emma asked. She had far too many questions but her mother beckoned her over and urged her to undress and start trying on clothes.
Autumn’s face clouded for a second and Emma was worried she’d asked too personal a question.
Pursing her lips, Autumn said, “A female’s fluctuations of magic are no secret. Fertile females are powerful. Horny fertile females even more powerful, but mama-bears are the most powerful until their cubs are born and grown.”
She lifted her hand, holding it palm-up, and before Emma’s eyes, the perfect image of a tiny green sprout emerged from Autumn’s palm. Emma watched, enthralled as the sprout became a miniature tree covered in delicate pink buds that gradually blossomed. She let out an amazed gasp as the cycle of seasons continued, with the tree’s leaves turning to flame-colored reds and golds before falling into Autumn’s cupped palm, and out of nowhere, snow gathered on the bare branc
hes and around the trunk.
Emma’s mother cleared her throat, urging Emma to raise her arms and slip into a dress.
Autumn clapped her hand shut, the beautiful tree disappearing in a puff of white powder. “I can show you that trick later, but you get the idea.”
Emma chuckled. “I do. That was amazing,” she said, gazing at her mother in wonder. How much power had her mother had in her prime? The woman had seemed so frail earlier, yet was full of vibrant energy now. She paused to catch her breath halfway through tying the laces of a loose-fitting tunic that draped luxuriously over Emma’s breasts and hips.
“And when we’re old, we just fade away,” her mother said with a sad smile. She looked into Emma’s eyes. “I’m so proud of you, Emma. Of everything you’ve accomplished. But even more, I’m proud of everything you will accomplish.” She pulled Emma into a hug and Emma clutched at her.
“Mama, your heart is pounding out of your chest. Take a break, please. Autumn can help me find an appropriate wedding dress.”
Her mother nodded and made her way across the room. She settled into an oversized chair beside a giant stone fireplace.
Autumn tugged the tunic Emma wore off over her head and chose a different one of deep blue fabric that draped even more provocatively over Emma’s curves. It was loose, with long, bell-shaped sleeves. It laced halfway down the front, and was so short it barely covered her bottom.
“This doesn’t look like a wedding dress,” Emma commented, turning to regard her ample backside in the full-length mirror that occupied a corner of her mother’s room.
Autumn stood behind Emma, her reflected face smiling. “Ursa wedding attire isn’t the same as human. It’s meant to be easily removed. You’ll only be wearing it for a little while, after all. Speaking of which, you need to know what to expect.”
Autumn continued speaking, giving Emma the rundown of how a mating ritual worked, and what the fertility rite entailed. It sounded positively pagan, and Emma grew more excited every second. She would meet her mate naked in a clearing while the mature women in the clan arranged themselves in a wide perimeter in the woods surrounding them. They would begin a chant, combining their power and focusing it toward the mating couple.
“They’re going to watch?” Emma asked, unable to contain the sound of shock.
Autumn shook her head. “Oh, no. We won’t be close enough to see you. The mating glade is very private. We’ll be in a pretty huge circle surrounding you, though. You’ll be able to hear us, but won’t see us.”
Emma continued trying on clothes, but her eyes kept drifting back to the blue tunic. Finally, she called a halt to the entire ordeal and donned that one again.
“This is it. We shouldn’t waste more time with this, anyway. What do you think, Mama?” She turned and did a little pirouette for her mother.
“More beautiful than I could have imagined.” Maia slowly stood from her seat, bracing her hands on the arms. “Now, I need to go see if Mona has everything under control for the fertility rite. Autumn, I’m leaving her in your very capable hands. You know where to find us when the time comes.” She crossed the room to Emma and placed her hands on either side of Emma’s face, kissing her gently on the lips. “I will see you and your new mate in the morning, baby.”
Emma blinked at her mother. “Wait, you won’t be there for any of it?”
Her mother shook her head. “No, baby. The actual mating is not a public affair. It is between the female and her chosen mate or mates. There would normally be days of revelry beforehand, but we don’t have time for it. I am sorry.”
Emma stepped toward her mother and hugged her. “Mama, don’t worry about it. I would do anything to help Jasper and Jade. Before I came here, I was pretty sure I’d wind up single my whole life, anyway.”
When her mother left the room, Emma turned back to give herself another look in the mirror. She grabbed her unruly curls and lifted them atop her head. Anticipating her needs, Autumn handed her a pair of carved wooden hair combs from her mother’s collection.
“So, you and the Rainsong boys, huh?” Autumn said, giving Emma a sly look in the mirror.
Emma glanced back at her. “What do you mean?” she asked, though she had an idea what Autumn was referring to.
“Julian and August. The infamous boys of summer. They’re from the Rainsong clan, and rumor is that laying eyes on either of them will make you wet your panties for months afterward. The thing is, they’ve never so much as touched another female together.”
Emma’s cheeks heated. Hell, her entire body seemed like it was encased in flames at Autumn’s words. They’d done a lot more than just touch her. She shook her head to clear the enticing images of all the things they’d done to her.
“It doesn’t matter. My cousins need me, and your brother stepped up. Julian and August are apparently not ‘worthy’ of me.”
Autumn snorted indelicately and took the combs from Emma’s hands, then grabbed a hairbrush and started working on Emma’s hair.
“Sit,” she commanded, and Emma sat on the low stool by her mother’s dressing table.
“They’ve been waiting for the right female for them both as a pair, is the rumor,” Autumn said as she worked at the tangles in Emma’s hair. “A sort of pact they had with each other, I think. They volunteered for Stonetree portal guardian duty together, back when you were born.”
Emma turned abruptly and looked up at Autumn. “What do you mean, when I was born? They’re my age . . . aren’t they?”
Without missing a beat, Autumn placed her hands on either side of Emma’s head and turned it back to face the mirror, continuing to work through the tangles.
“You have a lot to learn about your kind. Everyone in the Sanctuary is a lot older than they look. Those two are young, by most standards, but August is still about three hundred years old. Julian is nearly one hundred.”
Emma’s breath escaped her lungs and her mouth worked ineffectually in the mirror, trying to find more air to breathe. When she finally did, she said, “Three hundred? And . . . they’re still virgins?”
“Oh, they’re not inexperienced, if that’s what you’re worried about. Ursa males learn to service unmated females from a young age, but they only ever have intercourse with each other or with the female who chooses them as her mates.”
“I’m not . . . worried . . . about it. I’m mating your brother, remember? And I know they’re not inexperienced, but how . . . ? Wait, don’t answer that.” After sniffing their pillows earlier, she was pretty sure how they’d managed staying virgins. At least, where women were concerned.
Autumn only grinned at her. “You’re catching on.”
“How old are you?” Emma asked.
“About as old as them . . . Don’t worry about it. Gunnar is actually your age. Late child. His parents baby him too much, so I’m pretty impressed with how much initiative he’s taken since we found your cousins . . . ” She trailed off, her brows creasing as she fitted a comb into Emma’s hair, securing it into a pretty up-do.
“Jasper’s pretty amazing,” Emma ventured, meeting Autumn’s eyes in the mirror again. “He’d like you, I think. Both of you.”
Autumn smiled, brushing her hands down Emma’s shoulders. “Are we that transparent?”
“A little bit,” Emma said. “How did you get so attached in one day?” Good question to ask yourself, too, for that matter.
“When we found them, he was belligerent, protecting his sister, convinced we were predators. Granted, we were in our true forms at the time,” Autumn said. “When Gunn shifted into human form, your cousin was dumbstruck and passed out. Gunn’s hard for even our own kind to look at. He’s the only albino ever born to the entire race. Some members of the other clans think he’s a harbinger of doom.”
“Jasper wouldn’t have cared about that,” Emma said.
“I didn’t think so. Eithe
r way, when he came to a few minutes later . . . well, I’ve never seen a male so determined to protect his own, and so beautiful. He regained consciousness a few times during the trip, tried to escape once, until . . . ”
“Until what?” Emma asked.
“I kissed him and said ‘we’re saving your life, dumbass.’ He settled down after that. Remained conscious enough to actually talk to us for an hour or so, then we lost him again shortly before we got here.”
Emma chuckled. “That sounds like Jasper. So is Gunnar . . . Gunn . . . Is he as attached as you are? And exactly how attached are you to Gunn?”
Autumn’s face flushed a bright crimson. She settled the second comb in place and arranged the curls around Emma’s cheeks. “We’re about as attached as you are to those guardians. I have a plan, Emma. A plan that gets us all what we want and saves your cousins, too.”
Chapter Eight
Emma walked barefoot along the forest path, her mother on one side, her aunt on the other. She clutched their hands tightly, letting them guide her as she stared up at the gibbous moon, even fuller now than the night when she’d made her winter hike to get here.
Twenty-four hours ago, she was a human woman simply trying to prove herself among her peers. Now, under the same moon, she walked through a magical forest on her way to her very destiny.
Clad only in a loose shift, with her hair bound up, she felt like an age had passed since that hike. Her heart pounded, her palms clammy in the night heat. She wore no undergarments under her dress and a soft breeze carried through, tickling her bare skin where it penetrated the fabric.
Autumn had left her an hour ago, and she suddenly wished for the other female’s company. Her mother and aunt were wonderful women, but guarded and preoccupied with their own worries. Autumn was the first ursa female she’d met here who she could relate to. But Autumn had a plan, and Emma’s pulse raced faster in the hope that it would work.
The path they were on seemed familiar, and soon the rushing sound of the waterfall reminded her where they were. With each step, the sound grew louder until she was led out onto the solid, smooth rock that served as the small beach she had had one of the most erotic experiences of her life on the day before.
Clawed (Black Mountain Bears Book 1) Page 8
