by J. K Harper
Not too long after, I found an opening in some rocks that led back into a cave. It was mostly hidden, if the setting sun hadn’t glinted just right I never would’ve seen it and I’d have run right on by, probably to both of our deaths.”
“So you took cover in a cave? For how long?”
“For years. I didn’t know it when I slid between those rocks, holding that baby tight, that that was more than just a cave. It was the entrance to a wolf den. And it was packed!”
Chapter 2
“I’d skidded in, desperate, paying way more attention to what I knew was behind us, chasing me, than to what was in that cave in front of us. It was dark when we went inside it, but I thought I saw a flicker of light deep inside.
“I was hoping it was a short tunnel-like cave that would allow me to pop out the back and run in a different direction, so my husband couldn’t track me. But when I followed the light, it wasn’t the setting sun shining through the back that I was seeing, it was a torch.
“I almost turned back, because obviously a lit torch meant humans, and I figured I was probably unwelcome. But I knew for a fact that the human behind me meant to kill me, and the human ahead was at least a possible ally.
“I followed what became a trail of torches, their ends buried in the rocks, until the tunnel opened up into a large, open area. I’d heard voices as I got closer, but as soon as I called out, announcing myself as I stepped into the open space, all talking suddenly stopped.
“Men and wolves alike stared at me and my heart stopped in my chest.
“I spoke, trying to fill the heavy silence with calming words, babbling nonsense like, ‘I’m not here to hurt anyone, I’m alone. Well, except for the baby, of course. He’s trying to kill me. Not the baby, the man. I’m so tired. I saw your cave, I followed the lights. I don’t mean to interrupt; I was just hoping for a place to rest…’
“I guess my words appeased no one, because the only answering voice was a booming, ‘Kill them!’
“’What? No! You can’t just kill a woman and child who come in peace. I’ll leave, I’m sorry. I just…’
“’I come in peace,’ she says,’ the booming voice carried on. ‘Ha! Like she thinks we’re too stupid to notice the animal scent she reeks of. What was your plan, woman? Obviously the bears sent you. Did you think we’d see what looked to be a helpless human and child, take you in, let you wander around our den, and not smell that god-awful stench?
‘What are you all waiting for? I said kill them both.’”
“Oh, no! Did they?” It was little Ash who asked the question, breaking the tension among the women in the room.
“No, honey,” Sandra reassured him. “They couldn’t have killed her. She’s standing here, perfectly alive, telling us about it.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding disappointed. “I thought maybe she was a ghost! Cause that would be so cool!”
“That would be…cool is one word for it, but nope. She’s alive. What happened next?”
“I started backing out, slowly. Like a den full of wolf shifters were just going to let me backtrack. But I was surrounded. They’d started to spread out and I heard more coming in behind me, from the same tunnel I’d arrived through. I had traded one certain death for another, and I was terrified.
“I was rambling, more nonsense about how I was most definitely not a bear shifter, I was completely and totally human. It’s been almost thirty years, but if I remember correctly I think I insulted them, too. Saying something like maybe they were stupid, scenting a bear in a perfectly normal human.
“Booming Voice did not take that well at all. He said, ‘Do I have to kill everything around here?’
“Then he shifted wolf, growled at me, making me almost piss myself in fear, and he lunged for my throat.
“I ducked, turned my back to him, and wrapped my body around that baby I’d picked up, basically cowering in a ball. I waited for wolf fangs to bury themselves in the back of my neck. Should he be hearing all of this?”
The lady stopped her story and pointed to a very enthralled Ash with her chin.
“Oh, yeah. He’s a wolf himself. He’s seen, and done, worse.”
“Oh, okay then. So I’m cowering, right? Waiting to die, only this other wolf, one of the ones who came in behind me from the tunnel, leaps over me and attacks the wolf that was about to attack me.
“When I don’t die, and instead hear all this rolling and snarling, I peek out. The two wolves are just going at it, fighting to the death, until the first one shifts back human again, yelling at the one who saved me before he’s even fully finished shifting.
“‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing? She’s a fucking bear,’ stuff like that.
“Only then, the other one yells, too, not backing down an inch.
“‘She’s my fated mate, you ass! I’ll not have you tearing her apart, I just fucking found her.’
“Sorry for my language around the kids,” she stopped her story again. “But that’s what they were yelling. Hey, you’re Sandra, right? Naythan’s mate? Oh, so that makes this little guy Naythan’s cub! Nice to meet you both. I heard he found himself a mate, but he’s been away from the den so long. I’ve missed a lot!”
“Wait,” Bella said. “Your husband was a wolf, too? And he tracked you into another pack’s den to save you? I thought he was trying to kill you, too. He just didn’t want someone else to have the honor?”
“Oh, no. My husband was human. This wolf yelling about mating me? Yeah, I’d never seen him before.”
“So you’re human, scenting of bear somehow. You were running from your human husband, you grabbed an abandoned baby out of the snow and ran into a wolf den. You were about to die, and another wolf said he scented you as his? Do I have all of that right?” Keelyn asked.
“I know, I know. You think I’m lying, right? Making it all up?”
“Oh, no. After the last few weeks we’ve had? I believe you. I was just making sure I was following this. Okay, go ahead, I’m good.”
“Turns out, the wolf who told the pack to kill me was the Alpha of that pack. The wolf saying that I was his mate told his Alpha that he scented me out in the woods somewhere and was following my smell.
“I guess he was quite confused when my scent was also full of fear, desperation, and then became mixed with bear before conveniently leading him back to his own den, where he walked in to see me under attack.”
“Wow, and I thought my story of meeting Bane was a convoluted one.”
“Keelyn! Nice to meet you, too! Sorry, I guess we should’ve started with introductions, but I just jumped right in with my story. I’m…”
“Not to be rude, but introductions can wait,” Ivy said. “Someone is going to come get me any minute now and tell me it’s time to march down that aisle and I have got to hear how this ends first, so keep talking. And pass that flask back around again, if you don’t mind.”
“Good point. Where was I?”
“Between an Alpha and a mate. One wanted to kill you, one wanted to fuck you, I’m sure. Then what? Why did you smell like bear?”
“Right. I’ll get to that. So, I was standing there, listening to the two of them argue, slowly backing out in the hopes that they were too busy with each other to notice. I was thinking that I’d rather take my chances out in the woods in the snow, being chased by my husband.”
“I’m guessing that didn’t work. There’s no way a wolf who scented his mate would just let her go wandering off like that.”
“You guess correctly. I backed up into more wolves blocking me in, right as the one calling himself my mate said, ‘Let me scent them closer. I smell bear, too, but it’s not her.’
“So he turns toward me, and I actually get a good look at him before he shifts wolf again. He’s naked as the day he was born, of course, and damn.
“I look him down, and then I look him back up, and did I mention damn? He was sexy as sin and his eyes glowed with this heated need that just melted me to my core.<
br />
“I didn’t say a word, but I could see him register my reaction to him, and he gave me this sexy ass wink with this shit-eating grin, right before he shifted wolf again directly in front of me.
“I just stood there, letting him poke his nose into pretty much anything he wanted to poke into, until he tried to go…you know, there. That’s when I swatted him. One handed, of course, ‘cause I was still holding the baby.
“After I swatted him away, and he surprisingly let me, not growling or biting me or anything, he padded back over to the Alpha. He shifted, keeping his very nice backside toward me, while they talked in hushed tones.
“Finally, they came to some sort of decision. They both stared at me, serious looks on their faces, and the Alpha was the only one to speak.
“’Fine. You can claim her. She has two days to decide to accept you, but she does not leave this den. Figure out that cub situation first. She’s your problem now, but in two days if she is not wearing your bite, I will kill them both.’”
“Nice guy,” Bella said sarcastically.
They were interrupted by a knock. Without waiting for a response, the door swung open, and a head popped inside.
“There you all are! The music has started. Enid, you’re already supposed to be seated. Hurry, hurry, the wedding has begun and we’ve no bride.”
“Crap,” Ivy said, making the woman at the door frown.
“You haven’t changed your mind, have you? You’re already bitten, it’s not like this is going to change anything.”
“What? No, I haven’t changed anything. I just want to hear how this story ends first. They can’t start the wedding without me, I’m the damn bride. Tell them to hang on a minute…”
“Nope,” Enid said, walking out the door. “We can finish this later, come on. The show must go on. You aren’t going anywhere, are you?”
She aimed that last question at the lady who never had given her name.
The lady shook her head no as Enid took Mae out of her arms.
“I’ll be around, don’t you worry. There’s a lot more to this story, too much to rush through. I can finish it later.”
She let herself out as Enid woke Mae up.
“You’re in the wedding my child, come. You’d never forgive me if I let you sleep through this. Let’s go, guys, it’s a beautiful day to get married. I love you all, you all look amazing. Now get your asses down that aisle and make me proud.”
She countered her tough sounding words with a grin and a wink before disappearing with Mae and fully expecting all of them to file in behind her, baby duckling style.
Chapter 3
Bella’s Wedding
It was a week closer to Christmas, and Bella was a week farther along. As the castle and the surrounding grounds started to fill with visitors from all over the kingdom, and even from surrounding kingdoms, humans and shifters alike started placing bets on Bella’s belly.
Would she make it until her due date just past Christmas, after all the festivities? Would she even make it through the day before the child, who was often seen rolling and stretching impatiently inside her belly, demanded to come out and be a part of the festivities?
“You know,” Keelyn teased Bella as they all filled the same dressing room again, a week after Ivy’s wedding, to dress Bella for her own. “The odds on you popping today, on your wedding day, are looking like they’ll pay six to one. They’ve added a secondary pool, just for today. Those who picked your wedding day as the day that baby decides to come out have been given a chance for a bonus, double or nothing bet, if they correctly call it as ‘before the wedding’ or ‘after.’ Triple or nothing if they call it correctly as ‘during.’”
“Ha! Tell them all to save their money for better uses, like putting it toward our wedding presents. This baby seems to like it in there. As much punching and kicking as there is going on in there, I think it’s just his way of readjusting his grip to hang on better. This baby is still up under my ribs, she hasn’t even dropped yet.”
“Still alternating referring to it as a he one sentence and as she the next, huh? No gut feeling on if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”
“Nope, no idea. Mom swears it’s a girl, ‘cause she says I’m carrying high, exactly like she says she always did with all three of us.”
Enid jumped in right then to fortify her belief.
“It’s a girl, all right. A mother knows these things.”
“But Mac, of course,” Bella continued, shaking her head at her mother’s ‘knowledge.’ “He swears it’s a boy, ‘cause that’s what dads-to-be do. I guess we’ll just see when we see. I’m surprised no one is betting on that, too.”
“Oh, they are. Whoever nails the day, time and sex is going to be swimming in coin, for sure. I’m half convinced that’s the real reason so many people are showing up so early. It’s still two weeks ‘til Christmas, but the castle is already full. I doubt they’re all here to watch another of mom’s daughters marry another of Bane’s pack. They’re here to see if there will be a birth right there on the alter, mark my words.”
“I would die of embarrassment if that really did happen,” Bella said, imagining giving birth in front of everyone, wedding dress flipped up, the officiant catching the baby as he announces them as shifter and wife.
“Ugg, I need something to take my mind off all of this. Where is that lady that was telling us that story? She promised to finish it, but I haven’t seen her since right before Ivy got married. When I didn’t see her after, I thought for sure we’d see her during the week.”
“Beats me, I haven’t seen her either. Maybe she disappeared into the same cloud of smoke she pulled that story out of.”
“You think she was making it all up?”
“You don’t?”
“All right, ladies, it’s time,” Enid said. “After today we’ll be halfway through all this madness. Two daughters down, one, and myself, to go.”
* * *
After the wedding, as they all took a breather from all the dancing and mingling and smiling at strangers, Ivy interrupted Bella’s complaints about how badly her feet ached when she saw the woman they’d been looking for all week.
“Grab her, Keelyn,” Ivy pushed. “You’re closest. Hurry, before she disappears again. True story or no, I still want to hear how it ends.”
Keelyn did as she was told, bringing the woman back to the table in tow. They shoved a huge piece of uneaten wedding cake in front of her and begged her to tell them more.
“My pleasure, of course. Where was I? Oh, yes. I had forty-eight hours to decide my own fate. Mate the handsome wolf, who was a complete stranger to me, try to escape somehow, and take my chances with the husband I already had, who was determined to kill me so he could marry someone who might be able to give him children, or stay, deny the claiming bite, and die at the hands of the Alpha, who wanted to kill both me and the babe I’d found in the snow.”
“The babe. I remember you saying last week, right before you left, that the Alpha had said something like, ‘Figure out that cub situation, first.’ And, your suiter said that he scented you, and your fear, but at some point your scent mixed with bear, and then it led him into the den,” Keelyn summed it up before hazarding a guess.
“Was the babe you found a bear shifter? Is that why he called it a cub and you scented so strongly as bear?”
“You got it. Over the next two days Bryce and I, that was my suitor’s name, Bryce. Suitor, such an old-fashioned title for the man I was to choose to be with or die denying, but it works.
“Over the next two days, Bryce and I talked, a lot. I wasn’t allowed to leave the den, and as I had been assigned by the Alpha as ‘his problem,’ and since he was dead set on making me his mate, we naturally spent most of those two days together.
“Well, he, I and the baby, of course. I didn’t dare let that poor babe out of my sight, as I was quite sure one of the wolves would eat the poor thing. He never shifted bear, he just stayed human. He slept and ate, reco
vering mostly.
“I liked him a lot. Bryce, I mean. Though the same was true of the cub. I’d always wanted babies, but since I wasn’t able, and the poor cub’s parents must surely have been dead or why else would they leave him like that, I felt like we belonged together, you know? Me and the cub, I mean.
“Sorry, I’m rambling, as usual. Back to Bryce. I was very attracted to him, right from the beginning. And he was very persuasive in his pursuit. But of course I was no virginal young maiden blinded by lust, at least not this time around.
“I knew better than to let his sweet talk and even sweeter kisses decide my future. I’d already made that mistake and I was in no hurry to do so again.
“I enjoyed my, how should I say it? My getting-to-know-you sessions with Bryce immensely. That man made me feel things I’d only heard about from my more experienced girlfriends before that. But I knew from my own experience that once you give a man what he wants, well, he often becomes someone else entirely.
“So, I did a lot of very wonderful things with Bryce, and I let him do a lot of very wonderful things to me. But, I wouldn’t let him—finish the job, so to speak. Not until I was sure about what I was going to do.
“I knew I had no interest in returning to my old life. That was out of the question. I figured out pretty quickly that if, by some miracle, I managed to escape the den unmated, they would hunt me down mercilessly and kill me and the baby. I was under no misconceptions there.
“So, I figured that accepting the claiming bite was in my best interest. The pack would protect me. As a mate I knew I’d never have to worry about my human husband again, as if he came after me, the pack would kill him.
“I was honest about my situation there. I figured hiding that was pointless as I knew he was still out there looking for me. I figured that tying myself to Bryce would buy me some time.
“I assumed that one day, when Bryce had his fill of me and me of him, I’d leave. Not ‘til the cub was a bit older, though, of course. But once he could shift maybe he and I would escape together and take care of each other. Either way, though, my best bet for us both to survive longer than the forty-eight hours we were given to decide, was to stay, adapt, pretend to become one of them, and bide our time.
