by J. K Harper
Enid’s only response was a silent, narrow-eyed look and a pointed finger at each of them in turn as the music inside started up.
* * *
Leesa had them all enthralled again around the table, as wedding guests mingled all around them, oblivious to the story picking up where she’d last left off.
“Just when I had finally settled into happily spending my life with a wolf pack, just when I’d finally accepted that maybe Bryce truly did love me, even knowing that the bear cub I’d brought with me was the only cub I’d ever be able to give him, I stumbled upon his Alpha, having what he thought was a private conversation with his mate.”
“Bane’s parents’ then, right?” Keelyn asked.
“Right. Did you ever meet them? Wait, no. They’d both died already by the time you met and mated Bane,” Leesa realized, doing some quick figuring in her head before starting her story once again.
Keelyn let her carry on without correcting her.
She was right, they had both died before she met Bane. Five years before, to be precise. But she didn’t have the heart to mention that she had met Bane’s mother. Since that meeting was how his mother died, years before she met Bane himself, she just sighed heavily and let the story begin to flow over and around her.
She and Bane had already made their peace with their beginning, and as much as she wished that hadn’t been how their story had started, she knew she couldn’t go back and alter anything.
She wasn’t even sure she would if she could, if it meant that she wouldn’t have Bane now. That rabbit hole was best left stepped over, she knew, so she just shook it off and tried to concentrate on the story at hand. She told herself that this was Leesa’s story, and Mac’s, and as such it had nothing to do with her.
“He was really on a roll, talking about how unseemly it was for the Alpha’s son to be so close with the orphaned or abandoned bear club he’d really had no choice but to allow Bryce to take in.
“His mate, Bane’s mother, told him how stupid he was being, but that didn’t stop him from ranting anyway.
“She was trying to get him to imagine that it was them and their pack who’d met some unknown demise, asking what if it had been Bane’s infant, human form that was stumbled upon in the snow. Wouldn’t he want someone to take him in the way he’d let his pack take Mac in?
“’My son? Being raised by bears? Oh no, I’d prefer that he died with us, at least we’d all be together in death. That’s way more honorable than being raised in the ways of bears.
“’If his parents are dead, they’re probably wishing he was with them. Or, what if they knew something we don’t yet. What if he wasn’t orphaned at all? What if they left him there on purpose, for the fairies to take?
“’I’ve heard stories of all kinds leaving kids they knew had issues in the forest, thinking the babies were changelings or something of the sort. Maybe that stupid human interfered in a changeling exchange, bringing ill will down on all of us.’
“’Are you hearing yourself? Fairies? Changelings?” she countered his arguments, but she made little progress. “You can’t even bring yourself to say his name out loud. Whatever you think of him, you can’t let it be known that the Alpha of this pack won’t utter that child’s name for fear of the fairies! Someone will try to challenge your position as Alpha sooner rather than later and I’m thinking they’d have cause.
“’Look, what you see as a weakness, I see as a strength. Many in your position would be too afraid to bring another shifter kind in, but not you. You are strong enough, and brave enough, to take in a weaker soul, regardless of where it came from, and you certainly fear no other in doing so. As if anyone would dare question your decision to feed and shelter one who came to you as an innocent, having done nothing against you or yours…’
“Her words faded off as they walked away,” Leesa continued. “I only caught bits and pieces after that, as her voice rose and fell, fluffing up the ego of her man, as all women must at one time or another.
“But the damage had been done in my heart. I was no wolf, bear, or fairy. I was but a weak, troublesome human who stumbled upon them, bringing my human problems with me and affecting their pack obviously for the worse.
“Who was I to come between Bryce and his Alpha when I’d never intended to stay as long as I already had anyway? My husband had supposedly been killed, so that threat was no more. Obviously Mac wasn’t nearly as welcomed there as Bryce had led me to believe. Of course, that got me wondering what else Bryce was lying about.
“I was still too young in my knowledge of the ways of the wolf to know that there was no way in hell one of them would let their claimed and bitten fated mate just leave,” she said with an innocent shrug.
As she met the faces, one by one, of the already much wiser fated mates listening to her story, wide-eyed and smirking back at her around the table, she laughed at their knowing expressions.
“I see you all already know where this story is headed,” Leesa laughed.
“Oh, no,” Ivy said first. “If I just disappeared one day, and David and Ryker didn’t know why, or where to…”
She didn’t even finish her sentence, shaking her head.
“If any of us did,” Bella agreed.
Ivy added, “Of course I’d do the same if they were in danger. Or any of you. In a second.”
“Can’t you just see it? The ground would tremble with the unstoppable force of just one of them looking to protect and avenge whoever did their mate harm. Then, once the entire pack was mobilized,” Keelyn added, her voice thick with awe just imagining the response.
“Lord help anyone who stood in their way. Entire kingdoms have fallen to shifters defending their mates. I’d bet money that the story of Helen of Troy and her disappearance starting the Trojan War was really about shifters instead of gods.”
She teased, exaggerating, but not by much.
“So, you took Mac and high-tailed it out of there at your first chance, then?”
“I did. And that’s how I discovered that whoever had been killed in that small hunting party we’d heard about, it most definitely was not my husband.”
Chapter 6
“The worst part about leaving like I had, upset instead of carefully planned out, was the lack of preparation, of course. I grabbed as much food and water as I could comfortably carry, but I didn’t want to weigh myself down too much to be able to travel quickly, either.
“If Mac was human, I also had to carry him, as he was still quite young. But, in his bear form, he could move faster than I could, so he scouted the easiest route. With him around to find us water and food, I figured we’d do fine for a while. At least long enough for me to decide where to settle.
“I wasn’t sure if we should head into bear territory, where he might possibly be able to learn from others like him, or if that was the worst possible move I could make. Do bears kill newcomers or welcome them? Would we be going toward whatever trouble his parents had been fleeing? Or toward others of his kind who’d help?
“I didn’t want to live with bears and trade their world for the wolves, but if there were possibly some nearby that we could call on as we made our way alone, that could’ve been a nice safety net, you know? But I had no idea what I was doing.
“I just knew that Mac wasn’t welcome where we had been, so we weren’t going to stay. I didn’t think I needed a man around to protect us, as I figured a bear that would do nothing but grow bigger and older would be all the protection I needed. Once we figured out a where, I had every hope that we’d do just fine alone together. We just needed to pick a direction and keep going until we decided we were home.
“We were only a few hours out when we stopped to rest. Mac stayed close, climbing trees in his bear form, and just generally goofing off and burning up some seemingly bottomless kid energy as I refilled our water from a nearby stream and had a snack.
“I realized it had been a little too quiet for a little too long, and when I looked to where Mac ha
d been sitting to eat while I was filling the water container, I saw that he was asleep in the grass. He was napping in his human form, the sun warming him as he slept. He looked so peaceful, so carefree, I just watched him sleep for a while.
“He was always moving, always going, so it was nice to just enjoy the stillness of his sleeping face. After a time, I decided to check a bit upstream and a bit downstream, to see if there were any deeper sections that might have fish we could catch for that night’s dinner.
“I kept the depression he was sleeping in sight. I couldn’t always see him, as the grasses were thick and tall between us. I knew, though, that if he sat up suddenly I would be able to see him, and he’d also be able to see me. Since he was lying down, his sleeping form was hidden from sight, though, as I explored the creek bed.
“I’d found some herbs that I knew would be useful, so I was concentrating on digging them up when I heard what I thought was Mac slowly ambling toward me, rustling the grass. He and Bane liked to play games like that, sneaking up on each other in the woods, so I assumed by his stealthy approach that he was doing the same with me until I heard a voice that chilled me to my very core.
“’Well, well, well. What do we have here? I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Leesa. I always knew I’d find you out here someday, but you’ve been gone so long I assumed it would be your dead body I’d stumble across. I never thought I’d find you out here alive after all this time.’
“’I heard you got mauled to death by some kind of cat shifter,’ was all I could think of to say to the man I never in a million years expected to ever see again, nor did I ever want to.
“’That would explain why you never bothered to come home then. Wouldn’t it, wife? If you’d heard I had died, then that would make sense. So you just went crazy with grief, did you?
‘Wandering the woods, inconsolable. Nothing to live for, thinking I was dead, you did the only thing you could think to do to end the pain.
‘What a sad, awful way for me to finally find you after all this time, just swinging from your neck in that tree over there. Very traumatic for me, you know, finding you like that. But at least I finally have some answers. And a body.
‘I couldn’t remarry until I was sure, after all. I couldn’t very well settle into a new life, with a wife who wasn’t broken beyond repair, one who could actually give a man children, just to have that wife show up out of the blue one day, alive, now could I? Oh no, that just wouldn’t do.’
“’You’re the reason I’m broken beyond repair, you ass,’ I told him.
“I’m not sure where the nerve to speak to him like that had come from, as I never would’ve said anything like that back before I’d run from him. Maybe living with the wolf pack had fortified my spine some.
“’I wouldn’t have had a problem giving you children if you hadn’t beaten the first one right out of me. You broke me, and you’ll probably just break any new wives you take on anyway.’
“’Watch your mouth, bitch.’
“’Or what? You’ll hang me from that tree over there? Oh, right. You’re going to do that anyway.’
“’Mom?’”
“That was when my blood ran cold.
“’Stay there, Mac!’
“Our heated words must have woken him, and he was slowly toddling over to investigate, saying the only word he knew. It was also the worst possible word he could have uttered.
“’Mom? Did he just call you Mom? So it’s just me you won’t have kids for. I guess you aren’t broken after all, you lying whore.’
“’Seriously? Are you that stupid? I haven’t been gone long enough to have had a kid his age. Mom is the only word he knows.’
“’What’s he doing out here all alone with you then? Where is his mother?’
“’Just over that rise by now, I’d imagine. There’s a whole group of us around here somewhere, so maybe you ought to disappear before they come back. He was sleeping, I offered to stay with him while they went hunting. Unless you’re looking to take on his whole family, I’d pretend you never saw us and keep moving.’
“I was buffing, of course. No one was coming for us. I was kicking myself for not bringing any kind of a weapon, though. I’d never had use for one with the wolves, so it didn’t occur to me to take one.
“Things moved rather quickly after that, though. I probably wouldn’t have had time to use a weapon anyway, although he sure did.
“’I don’t believe you,’ he said, raising his gun as he spoke. ‘I’ve been watching you for a while, making sure this wasn’t some kind of a trap. There’s no one just over any rise, so I’ve got all the time in the world to decide how I want this to go.
“’I’m thinking I’ll kill the boy first, just to hear your screams as you’re forced to watch. Then I’ll hang you. Once you’re good and dead, I’ll cut your head off, just under the rope marks, so I don’t have to drag your whole body back with me to prove I found you having killed yourself out here. I’ll leave the rest of you, and the boy, for the animals to dispose of.’
“Not wasting any time after that, he swung the barrel of the gun toward Mac, who threw himself into a shift, instinctively turning bear before our eyes.
“The boy shifting bear threw George, my husband, off and he pulled the trigger. Whether he shot in defense, or shock, or if he’d already started to pull the trigger anyway, to follow through on his plans, I had no idea. All I knew was that Mac had been shot, and George had done it.
“I screamed, Mac roared, his baby bear roar somehow sounding angry as hell and hurt at the same time. George shot again, this time as a pissed off and pained bear lunged at him, swatting, growling and biting any part of George he could reach.
“Being the helpful sort I am in a crisis, I screamed some more.”
“Hey, Keelyn?”
“No! Not now, damn it,” Ivy groaned, protesting the story being interrupted yet again.
“I just need the bride for a minute,” the voice said. “Bane’s asking for her, something about the king.”
“I swear, next time we are dragging you off to one of our rooms, Leesa. We’re locking the door, and we’re not coming out until the story has been told to completion,” Bella said.
Keelyn agreed, but let herself be dragged away, saying, “Don’t tell any more of it until I get back.”
“No promises!” Bella yelled at her retreating back. “That’s my husband we just left mid battle, I’ve got to know what happens next!”
“We know he lives, you married him. Don’t say a word, Leesa!” Keelyn threw the last bits over her shoulder and walked away in a swirl of skirts.
“Hmmm. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. What happened next?” Ivy asked.
“Nope, my lips are sealed,” Leesa grinned, drawing an almost bear-sounding growl from Bella that was half-frustrated and half-teasing.
“I’m not kidding. Next time we are going somewhere private and locking the door.”
Chapter 7
Enid’s Wedding, Christmas Eve
Enid watched her girls dress and prep, this time for her own walk down the isle. She was so very proud of all three of them, and she couldn’t help but smile as she watched them tease each other and help each other out as they got ready for the last wedding.
Keelyn glowed with a heady combination of happiness and pregnancy, her eyes were shining as she helped Bella with her hair. Keelyn’s mate and now husband, Bane, seemed to be treating her well and Enid was glad Keelyn had found a friend and an equal in him.
She figured that probably by spring, she’d be just as round to bursting with her baby as Bella was now.
Bella.
Her middle child smiled at her sister behind her in the mirror as she rubbed her belly absentmindedly, listening to whatever Keelyn was saying as she arranged the intricate hairstyle atop her head.
Enid squinted at Bella, mentally making her own bet on when she guessed her first grandbaby would arrive.
A Christmas baby, s
he thought. I’d bet anything I’ll be a grandmother by the end of the day tomorrow. What a perfect present.
Ivy caught her eye over Bella’s head and smiled.
Ah yes, her youngest. A lion, happily mated to two wolves. Who would’ve imagined that any of their life paths would’ve led here?
She winked back at Ivy as she happily took them all in. Married women now, the lot of them. And tomorrow morning, on Christmas Day, they’d all officially become princesses as she herself was crowned Queen, standing beside Drake, the dragon king who’d somehow managed to steal her heart.
What an adventure. Look how far we’ve come.
The knock on the door was expected this time, and with a satisfied sigh, Enid opened it.
“You’re right on time,” she beamed at Leesa. “Come in, come in.”
Her girls all welcomed Leesa, shouting hellos at her from where they were planted in front of mirrors, as Enid closed the door behind her, locking it this time.
“Mom?” Ivy asked, the only one to see what she’d done.
“One of the perks of marrying the king, sweetheart. No one would dare rush me, and I’m not going out there until we finish this story.
“Mac has been waiting long enough. We last saw him shot, bloody, and as a bear cub attacking your not-so-dead husband, George. He has waited long enough. Leesa? You have our full attention once again. What happened next?”
Her eyes shining bright with untold stories, Leesa picked up where she left off for the last time.
“Yes, Mac and George were rolling together, locked in battle. If Mac had been an older bear, George never would’ve had a chance, but as it was, he did.
“The two of them were a blur of fur and blood to me. I managed to grab George’s gun when he dropped it, but I couldn’t tell where to aim. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.
