by C. L. Stone
Mathin caught up with her beyond the stands. “Ellie? What did Julia say?”
“We need to hurry! Is there a way we can make it to the car faster?” She pushed her way through the crowd not stopping to apologize when she almost clobbered some guy.
“Not in view of this many people, this way,” Dov signed. He took them into the trees just beyond the fairgrounds and threw Ellie over his shoulder. She shrieked in surprise, but held on tight. The guys ran through the woods faster than Ellie could have ever imagined was possible. She closed her eyes when the sight of the trees whizzing by her head was too upsetting.
“Luckily, we parked by the tree line. We’re almost there, Ellie.” Torben pushed them faster.
Dov gently placed Ellie in her seat, gesturing for her to buckle up. Mathin took the wheel, since he was the fastest driver. Arriving back at the house in half the time it took them to get there, they noted a strange truck was in the drive.
Torben held Ellie’s wrist gently to stop her from getting out. “Alright, who’s here?”
“Your father,” she said directly, unsure how to soften the news.
“My father’s dead, they all died the night we left.” He was certain of it.
“Well, Julia said a shifter arrived calling himself your dad. We can either sit out here talking about it all night or go in and find out the truth.” Ellie pulled her wrist loose and unbuckled herself.
The four of them climbed out of the vehicle. Torben walked toward the back of the group. He was too confused to think straight. What if Dad lived? It would change everything; they wouldn’t be allowed to live with Julia. They’d have to find their place in the community. While he didn’t want any of that, Torben couldn’t help the hope that bubbled up in his stomach. He wanted his father to be alive, his father had been alpha, but he was a good man who loved his pack.
The moment they stepped into the house, they were filled with a werebear’s scent. Whoever the man was, he was an alpha bear. Torben knew the scent well, but he wouldn’t let himself believe it. He pushed through the others racing into the kitchen. Sitting at Julia’s table like he owned the place was Ran, Torben’s father. Torben’s eyes burned with suppressed tears. His father had survived; the thought raced through his head, never finding a place to land. Even Dov’s steps faltered as he caught a look at his uncle, Mathin stepped up to the table and sat down across from Ran.
“So you lived?” Mathin asked the obvious question on all their minds.
Ran nodded. “I did. So did you it would seem.”
Mathin eyed the graying man. “How did you know where to find us?”
“I’ve been searching for you for the past few months.”
“Why didn’t you come for us before?” Torben crossed his arms, bracing his feet wide apart. Why the hell are you only showing up now?
“We found the trail of blood in the woods which led us to Dov’s mother, but we couldn’t locate you boys. The scent trail was fading, and we had to make a decision. We thought the hunter that killed Amber, Dov’s mother, had taken you all too. So we tracked the bastard down and took care of business, but you boys weren’t there.” Swinging to face Torben, Ran leveled with him. “We scoured the woods for weeks, but with so many shifters in the search party, any scents remaining after the rain were buried. We couldn’t hang around too long and risk getting involved in the murder investigation. There was also the matter of Amber’s body, we had to get her body cremated as pack law requires.”
“How did you know we were alive?” Dov signed—Torben translated.
Ran stared at Dov’s hands. “What’s with the signing? You don’t speak now?”
Dov glared at Ran.
Really, asshole? Torben spoke through his teeth. “He hasn’t talked since that night, please answer the question.”
“There have been reports over the years of bear sightings. Now, Missouri has black bears naturally, so most of the reports were dismissed. But lately, we kept getting reports of three black bear males traveling together. One black, one brown, and the last one red—it was too much of a coincidence.” Ran leaned forward in his chair. “It seems we were right, why didn’t you boys ever come home?”
“You mean go back to the burnt shell we grew up in?” Torben seethed inside. How dare he act like they were the ones who screwed up, when he gave up on them so easily!
“No, to the bear community up north, where Amber was headed.” Ran leaned back in his chair, forcing it onto two legs.
“We didn’t know how to get there! None of you ever told us much about them, we didn’t know if they would even welcome us.” Torben spat each word at his father. He the peacemaker, was ready to throw something.
“They’re your relatives, of course they would have welcomed you.” Ran raised his hand to run it through his hair. “I guess we never thought about how young you all were when we’d last visited them.”
“Okay, so we have family—alive. Now what?” Mathin pulled Torben down to the seat beside him.
“Well, you can come home with me. I’ve taken over as alpha up north, there won’t be any problems with you boys joining the pack. Torben, it might take some work on your part, but there isn’t any reason why you can’t take over as my beta.” Ran smiled thinking of his son as his heir to the pack.
“We have a mate,” Mathin whispered.
“She can come with you…wait, you said we?” Ran asked, puzzled.
“Yes, she’s mate to all three of us,” Dov signed.
Ran waved a dismissive hand at Torben’s translation. “Okay, well that’s not common, but it’s not unheard of. It might take everyone some time to adjust, but I can assure you it won’t be a problem.”
Mathin cringed. “There’s more…”
“How much more?” Ran asked, narrowing his eyes.
Torben fisted his hands in his lap, ready for a fight. “She’s human.”
“Human? Mated to three bears? Are you sure you boys aren’t just hung up on some girl? Three shifters mated to one human girl? That’s unheard of!” Ran banged his hand on the table, causing Ellie to jump from where she stood just beyond the doorway.
Torben reached out a hand. “Ellie, sweetheart? Come here.” Ellie straightened her back, ignoring Torben’s offer of comfort, coming to stand in front of his father. Ran rose to his feet; they stood staring at each other.
“Well, there is something special about her, isn’t there?”
Mathin blushed. “We would have completed the mating ceremony, but we never learned how.”
“That’s not something we should talk about here. I’ve already shared too much with the humans.” Ran broke eye contact with Ellie.
“They aren’t just humans, Uncle, they’re our family,” Dov spoke. He actually spoke! Everyone’s mouths were hanging open, and Ellie’s eyes began to tear up.
“Dov, you spoke! You really spoke!” Ellie flew to him, hugging him tight.
Rather than vocalize, Dov saved his words and nodded. He returned Ellie’s hug, before shoving her behind him. “You can’t take her from us,” he said in a loud voice, a tad scratchy from lack of use.
“Alright, alright. I got it, the girl stays with you. You’re so much like your father, he was as much of an alpha as you are…you boys are all alphas, aren’t you? That’s going to shake things up back home, of course, your little human mate will cause a riot.” He laughed harshly.
Ellie spoke in a strong voice, although her volume was soft. “I’m not going to your community.”
“You claim to be their mate, but you’d leave them?”
“No, but I don’t think they should live with you.” Ellie planted her hands on her hips.
Ran turned to face Ellie full on. “Why’s that?”
“In all the time you’ve been sitting there, face to face with them, you never moved to hug them. You never asked them how they are or how they survived.” She paused. “You don’t deserve them,” Ellie said in a low voice before stomping off.
“She’s a
little spitfire.”
“I’ll go get her.” Dov turned.
“No, leave her be, she’s right.” Ran turned to the guys. “I told myself you were dead for so long…I didn’t want to let myself believe.” He hung his head a moment in thought before rising. “Come here, boys.” While Ran didn’t hug them, he did clap them on their backs and shake their hands.
“I can see it doesn’t matter what I say, you boys have made up your minds to stay. If you’re set against coming home, you can establish your own pack here, but I’ll expect you to visit several times a year. No shifter survives entirely on his own.”
“What about Ellie? How do we bind her to us?” Mathin stepped forward, nudging his cousins aside.
“It’s more about the intent than the words, but I can give you the gist. There’s two parts to the ceremony, much like an engagement and a wedding. The first part declares your intent, it’s what actually links your thoughts together and creates the bond. The second part is what makes you like man and wife or mates.” Ran adjusted his belt. “It changes her scent to match yours, alerting other weres she’s off limits.”
Mathin shuffled from one foot to another. “What else does the ceremony require? Ellie was worried about blood being involved.”
“There’s no blood, but you do exchange…vows, of sorts. The first ceremony requires an act of desire to complete, it can be as simple as a kiss. The second ceremony requires the joining of the bodies and souls…I’ll leave that to your imaginations.” Ran coughed suggestively.
Even Dov blushed. “Oh…”
“So we have to ah…if we want her to be ours?” Mathin bumped his fists together.
“That’s generally what happens in a relationship,” Julia said, appearing by the kitchen sink and the guys’ eyes widened. How the hell did she come in so quietly? “On that note, it’s time for me to find something else do to.” Julia wasn’t willing to stand around listening to the boys talk about consummating their relationship with her granddaughter. They waited until Julia was once again out of hearing range before finishing their conversation.
“Yes, you have to physically mate. I’ve never dealt with a case of three males with one woman. I’m not entirely sure if you’ll need to all be there or…” Ran trailed off, brushing the back of his head.
“No,” Dov said, matter-of-factly. There was no way he was sitting around watching his cousins mate with Ellie.
“Come on Dov, if that’s what it takes…” Mathin laughed nervously.
“I’m not watching that. I really don’t want to see your pecker either.” Dov growled as Mathin wiggled his finger in Dov’s direction.
“If, and I mean if, it comes to that…we could use blind folds and ear plugs.” Torben smacked Mathin’s hand out of the air. Dov groaned, but didn’t argue.
Ran puffed his chest out. “That’s my boy, you always were a problem solver. I won’t say I would have chosen this path for you boys, but since it’s the hand you were dealt…I guess you’ll have to play it. Ellie seems to be a strong girl, she should make a good mate for a bear.”
Mathin smiled, lost in daydreams of Ellie. “She’s awesome.”
“You boys haven’t been with her yet, have you?”
“No, why?” Torben’s eyes were tight, and his mouth drawn down. I’m not going to like whatever he says next.
“The pheromones in here are enough to choke a horse or a bear!” He laughed.
“No, we haven’t touched her.” Dov pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Best get to it boys, mates can be stolen. The maker picked her for all three of you, there must be a purpose. Maybe she’ll give you lots of bear cubs, no reason to beat around the bush.” Ran laughed at his own dirty joke. “Just mate her and be done with it.”
Torben growled. Really? “She’s not a brood mare.”
“No, she’s a brood bear. Or she will be, after you get business done. She’s got good hips and a nice figure, she shouldn’t have any problems carrying your cubs.” Dov snorted his distaste. Mathin was too busy daydreaming about mating with Ellie to be offended. Torben was simply annoyed. He wanted Ran to leave; they’d been having such a good day with Ellie. Now, she was pissed off again and they were back at square one. There wasn’t time to be imagining her large with their cubs. If they didn’t get back in her good graces, they’d never convince her to mate with them in the first place.
“There’s another thing you should be aware of…” Ran chuckled.
“What’s that?” Mathin sighed.
“When you perform the first ceremony, it doesn’t matter when it occurs, but the second is a bit trickier.”
“Tricky how?” Dov eyed him wearily.
Ran sat, gesturing for the boys to do the same. “When animals mate it happens for a reason. Nature aligns things to occur at a certain time, so that the cubs are given their best chance of survival. For humans, that isn’t necessary, but we’re not human.”
“Get to the point, please.” Torben was quickly losing patience with his father.
“She needs to be in heat. Mating season for werebears is at the end of summer, if you want to claim her this year, you need to get a move on. I’m guessing since Ellie is mated to you, she’ll go into heat like a werebear does, but without the bear physiology, I don’t think she’ll be driven to mate in quite the same way.” Ran shrugged.
“Are you talking…like her time of the month?” Mathin grimaced.
“No, ovulation. She needs to be fertile.” Ran smirked at the boys’ identical looks of horror.
Dov plopped his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands. “Well, shit.”
“The whole point is to produce more werebears. Love is great and all, but nature will have her due. You can try to get her on contraceptives before then, but they take months to be affective—if you’re shooting for this year—it’s too late for that. Condoms are a good back up, but bears have a tendency to break them.” Ran might as well have pounded his fists on his chest; his tone was so boastful.
“We’re not getting her pregnant at twenty years old.” Mathin stood.
“Think about it, if you won’t, I’m sure some other bears will volunteer. I would, if I were a younger man.” Ran laughed, making Dov clinch his fists until his knuckles turned white.
Torben growled at his father. “She’d never have you.”
“Good, she should be devoted to the three of you.” Ran walked to the entrance of the kitchen. “Julia agreed to let me stay here for the time being. I’d like to spend some time with you before heading back. Hopefully, you boys will grow some balls and mate your girl before I leave.”
Mathin’s mouth fell open. “I thought you said we couldn’t do that till the end of summer?”
“That’s right, I’m not going anywhere until then.” Ran adjusted his belt on his waist as he rose before nodding and taking his leave.
“Lecherous old bastard.” Torben spat when he spoke; he was that mad. He didn’t like hearing his father talk about his mate like that. She was theirs, end of story. Her hips or any other part of her was none of his father’s concern. It was a problem though, needing to mate Ellie during the end of summer. He couldn’t imagine they’d be willing to let her return to college without claiming her, but still, it was awfully soon to be thinking about making love to her. He grabbed the first thing he could find and starting squeezing it, luckily, he’d grabbed a napkin.
“Wow…should we really do it? I mean mate her by the end of summer? What if she gets pregnant? She’d never forgive us!” Mathin spoke fast, getting himself worked up.
With a hand on Mathin’s head, Dov pushed him down into his chair. “Calm down, we’ll figure this out. There’s no guarantee she’d get pregnant. The real problem is getting her to agree to mate with us now, she still hasn’t forgiven us, remember?”
“I still can’t believe you’re talking!” Mathin clapped Dov on the back.
“Focus, Mathin.” Torben threw the crumbled up napkin at him.
“Sorry.”
“There’s another problem.” Torben waited till the guys focused on him. “We know when mating season begins, but we’re going to have to ask Ellie about her cycle.” He grimaced, baring his teeth.
Mathin pulled out his phone; he looked up ovulation. “Or we could count the days…” He thumbed through the first results. “It says we can estimate when she ovulates based on when she has her monthly.”
Dov shook his head violently. “No. We are not going there, that’s not something we should know.”
“If we’re going to be mates, it’s something we’ll find out eventually.” Torben knew Dov didn’t like the idea. He wasn’t really thrilled about diving into it either, but it was important. They couldn’t risk another werebear—or even another human—trying to steal Ellie. Especially not someone like that Josh kid.
“Fine, but I won’t be the one to ask her,” Dov signed, refusing to talk about the subject anymore.
“Don’t be like that, Dov. It’s been so long since we could talk like this.” Mathin hung his head until Dov relented.
He waved a hand through the air and growled deep in his chest. “Okay, but I won’t go asking her those kind of questions.”
“Fine.” Mathin turned to Torben. “Two out of three?” He mimed Rock, Paper, Scissors.
“I guess, but no cheating.” Torben chose rock first while Mathin went with paper. Mathin picked scissors next and Torben, paper. Torben would have to ask Ellie when she ovulated; he wanted to bang his head against the wall. He should be celebrating the return of his father. Instead, he was preparing to ask the girl of his dreams when her body would be preparing an egg for fertilization. How have I fallen so far?
5
Ellie sat in the living room fuming when Ran approached her alone. “Did you come to give me a talking to?” Ellie snorted.
“No, I wanted to say you were right, but the boys and I have fixed that. Now, I want to talk to you.”
Ellie looked up at him through the tiny slits in her narrowed eyes. “What about?”
“How long have you known they were werebears?”
