"I know." Nika couldn't meet his intense hazel eyes. "I'm sorry. I panicked, and then it was too late to try and fix things."
"It's never too late to fix things with your mate, Nika." He rose to his sock-clad feet and extended his hand. "C'mon, let's go beard the bear in her den. Her growl is worse than her bite, I promise."
"I heard that, Dane." His mother's voice came floating down the hallway amid the sound of clinking cups and the soft whoosh of a gas stove lighting. "You two can join Justin in the living room."
Nika followed Dane down a carpeted hallway further into the house. Everything had been beautifully restored to maintain the nineteenth-century look and feel of the old house, right down to the long carpet runner covering the hall's hardwood floor.
Dane stopped at a large doorway to her left and slid apart a pair of large, dark varnished hardwood pocket doors that looked original. The doors parted to reveal the living room, also furnished in Victorian style, complete with an antique horsehair sofa and a big bay window hung with lace curtains and heavy green velvet drapes.
Nika let Dane usher her inside.
The room was already occupied by a tawny-haired man with a weathered, deeply tanned face and striking blue-green eyes.
He was seated in a big armchair with an iPad resting on a cushion placed on his lap. His long, jeans-clad legs were propped up on a low needlepoint-covered footstool. One foot was enclosed in a bulky plastic and Velcro walking cast.
Nika caught his scent. To her surprise, he wasn't a bear shifter or an Ordinary, but rather, some kind of cat shifter.
"Howdy, Nika, and I apologize for not gettin' up to say hi," he greeted her with a crooked grin and a Texas drawl. "I'm Elle's mate, Justin." He looked past her. "Hey, Dane."
With his keen shifter hearing, Justin must have overheard every word of the conversation at the front door.
Elle Swanson actually mated someone outside the bear shifter lineage? Nika thought with disbelief as Dane nodded in reply to Justin's greeting.
"Hey, Justin. How's the foot doing?" Dane asked.
A mating between different types of shifter wasn't forbidden—not anymore—but it was still unusual.
Ash had told her that his mom had been widowed a long time ago, while she was pregnant with him. He hadn't mentioned anything about her having found another mate.
Nika walked over the armchair and extended her hand to Justin, glad that Elle's mate was willing to give her a friendly reception.
"I'm pleased to meet you," she said.
Justin hand was callused and scarred, but his grip was warm and firm. He smelled of clean soap and freshly cut wood…and underneath that, a faint tang of smoke tinged with the scent of asphalt and the acrid edge of burned plastic.
"Have a seat," he invited. "Elle will be back in a sec, and I'm sure she has a lot of questions to ask you."
Nika looked at his cast and made a sudden connection. "Are you one of the firefighters?"
He nodded, and his expression went somber. "Ash saved my life the other day by throwin' me off a roof when it started to collapse. I was lucky. I got away with a broken ankle. He got hurt pretty badly."
Dane had already told her the bad news, but Justin's words felt like a vise, squeezing her lungs. "I heard," Nika said quietly.
Nika badly wanted to ask Justin for further details on the incident, because Dane's account while they were driving to the ranch had been notably sparse. He'd been more interested in the possible threats against his youngest brother.
But then the sounds of gentle clinking and the sweet scents of black tea and cinnamon coffee cake heralded Elle's arrival. She entered the living room bearing a large tray with a teapot and a platter of cake, plus cups, saucers, plates, creamer, and sugar bowl.
Elle served her mate first, then Dane, and finally Nika.
As she poured Nika's tea, Nika saw that Elle's expression was absolutely neutral. Her hostility had apparently dissipated while she had been in the kitchen.
She didn't look overjoyed at Nika's presence in her house, but she did at least look ready to listen to what Nika had to say.
When everyone had gotten a slice of cake and cup of tea, Elle settled herself on the big antique sofa in the place closest to Justin.
Nika didn't miss the look that Elle gave Dane, or his nod in reply.
Then Elle turned to Nika. "Now, why don't you tell us why you're here?"
Nika took a deep breath. "Last August, after Ash and I decided to mate, my parents apparently did some digging into Ash's background and your family."
Elle's lips thinned.
"They found out that Ash had never shifted. That he probably couldn't shift. Mama and Papa forbade the match, and ordered me to stop dating him."
"And you agreed to this, because you found out that my son wasn't completely perfect?" Elle asked coldly.
How dare she! A wave of pure rage swept through Nika at the question. She felt her skin prickling as her bear stirred inside her, and knew that her eyes had gone shifter gold.
"No," she said, and her voice was rough with the growl fighting to get out. "Ash told me everything on our second date. I didn't care…I love him. But Mama told me that she'd kill him if we mated, because she'd never let a so-called 'defective shifter' pollute the Medved bloodlines. I was ordered to break off all contact with your son, and to protect him, I tried to keep our mating a secret from my parents and clan."
"My son is not defective," Elle snarled, gold washing over her eyes in turn.
"I know," said Nika. She placed her hand over the curve of her belly. "Then I found out that all the things I'd done to protect Ash weren't enough. My parents know about us, know that we're mated. And they know that I'm pregnant."
Dimitri would have told them by now, but she was still grateful for the time her brother had bought her.
"They're going to kill Ash. And now that they've found out about the baby—" To Nika's horror, her eyes began burning and her nose running.
She tried to push it down and keep going. Elle needed to understand how serious this was, especially if Ash was badly injured.
"You have to help—" And then the first sob ambushed her. "They're going to kill—"
She choked and wiped frantically at her eyes, but it didn't do any good. Hot tears began pouring out faster than she could wipe them away, and they burned her cheeks like acid.
Someone handed her a tissue and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Nika turned blindly towards the source of that comfort, and found herself in Elle's warm embrace.
She buried her face in Elle's shoulder and stopped trying to fight the storm of weeping. It wasn't doing any good, anyway. Months of emotional agony followed by days on the run poured out of her in hiccupping sobs that shook her whole body.
To Nika's surprise, Elle stroked her hair and patted her back soothingly and let Nika cry it out without a word.
Elle doesn't even like me, and she's still being nicer to me than Mama ever was!
When the storm of weeping finally passed, Nika knew she must look like a wreck. She didn't cry very often, and when she did, it was never pretty.
Nika was sitting upright on the sofa once more, blowing her nose and trying to find a better way to convince Elle of the danger, when Elle spoke.
"I can't believe that your parents would really want to hurt you like that. I can understand that they might be angry or disappointed if you mated someone they disapproved of, but to kill your mate and hurt your baby?" Elle sounded bewildered. "It's just—it sounds absolutely unbelievable to me."
"Doesn't sound unbelievable to me," Justin muttered.
At his mate's look, he shook his head.
"Elle-honey, you have no idea how lucky you've been. You were raised in the kind of shifter clan where every child is accepted and loved whether or not they can shift. Hate to say it, but that ain't true everywhere."
"But—" Elle began.
Justin wasn't finished. "If Ash was a sabertooth shifter in my old pride, he'd
be dead by now, especially if he was tryin' to mate a shifter girl. Even if he survived the challenge duels for his place in the pride, the girl's family would still make him prove that he could fight for her, and if he couldn't…" He shrugged expressively.
Sabertooth? Justin is really a sabertooth shifter? Nika had heard about them, but they were rare and mostly stayed in their own territories in the southwestern states.
"We Swansons protect our own," Dane said firmly. "Always have, and always will. Ash will be just fine."
"I beg to disagree," Justin said. "Now, from what I hear, Ash has always been a fairly competitive person. Which ain't unusual for the baby of the family."
Dane snorted. "'Competitive' doesn't begin to describe Ash. I worry sometimes that my baby brother is going to try to take over the world like some kind of comic book supervillain."
"Ash is a sweet boy," Elle said angrily. "He'd never hurt anyone."
"Maybe he wouldn't lay a finger on someone who pissed him off," Dane conceded. "But he'd hack all of their accounts, ruin their credit ratings, and generally make their life hell." He grinned. "Didn't Steffi ever tell you what he did to the troll who was harassing her online?"
Elle blinked. "No," she said. "Steffi hasn't said a word about that. And you know Ash. He's very…quiet…about a lot of things."
"Huh," said Justin. "I haven't heard that story either. But I'm not surprised, given everything y'all have told me about him. Gotta tell you, though, I've been worried about your boy for a while now. When we're out on firefightin' calls…well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's tryin' to get himself killed, but if there's danger, then he's jumpin' in with both feet like he don't care if he survives."
Dane frowned. "Now that you mention it…he has been taking more chances than he should. I wouldn't call his behavior 'reckless,' exactly, but…"
"It's like he's decided he's got nothing left to lose," Justin finished.
Nika winced. Was it because of her? Because she'd tried to break their mate bond?
"I want to see him," she said.
Her heart began pounding at the prospect. She was terrified. And she wanted it more than anything else in the world
"And then what?" asked Elle, with a scalpel-sharp edge to her voice. "Are you planning to stay here with him?"
Nika's breath caught in the throat as a wave of pure longing swept through her.
To see Ash every day…sleep in the same bed with him…have breakfast together, just like we used to do back in Seattle…
She forced herself to admit the truth. "I can't. This is the first place my parents will look for me. I just had to warn him…and you."
Elle's expression had turned hostile again. "So you came to see him, break his heart all over again, and then just leave him?"
His heart wasn't the only one broken, thought Nika.
Defeated, she bowed her head.
"You're right," she murmured. "It was a dumb idea. I just—never mind."
She took a deep breath. She was running low on the cash that Dimitri had given her, and she had left her cards behind at her Seattle apartment so that she wouldn't be tempted to use them. Up until this point, her only thought had been to get to Ash before her parents could take action, and warn him.
"Can you recommend a motel in town? Something that's not too expensive? I'll take the next Greyhound out tomorrow."
Speaking those words felt like tearing her heart out all over again. She hadn't realized how badly she had wanted to see Ash, even if he hated her now.
Inside her head, her bear howled in protest at being denied its mate.
"See now, I disagree with your plan," Justin said, steepling his fingers under his clean-shaven chin. "You're Ash's mate. I think you need to tell him in person what you told us." His brilliant aquamarine gaze dropped to her waist. "And he needs to know that he's gonna be a daddy pretty soon."
Elle's sharp inhalation was a wordless protest. Justin reached over and took her hand.
"That boy's actions have been verging on suicidal since the summer," he told her. "Maybe he'll come to his senses if he wakes up with his mate at his side." He shifted his attention back to Nika. "Ash mentioned that you were studying to become a doctor. Seems that might be useful just about now."
"Yes!" Nika said, before she could stop herself. "I was applying for residencies when Di—uh, when I had to leave Seattle."
"You have to promise to stay until Ash wakes up and you two have a chance to talk," Dane said unexpectedly. "I know you're scared, Nika, but don't run away. Not yet."
She stared down at the taut bulge of her belly beneath her sweater. She desperately wanted to stay here at the ranch, but could she really risk it?
How soon before Papa and his goon squad arrive in Bearpaw Ridge, looking for me and taking out their anger on Ash?
"I think it's a bad idea and will only cause more trouble," Elle said.
"Elle," Justin said softly. "Do you think your boy would ever forgive you if you sent his pregnant mate packing when he couldn't stop you?"
"If she was really his mate, she wouldn't have left him in the first place!" Elle exploded.
"I didn't have a choice!" Nika protested.
The old, familiar shaft of guilt lodged deep in her heart twisted painfully. Mates were supposed to stick together through thick and thin, for better and for worse.
"Elle. Be reasonable, sweetheart." Justin's voice was just as soft as before, but now there was something hard running beneath it.
Nika saw him squeeze his mate's hand.
Elle heaved a sigh and capitulated. "All right."
Nika blinked at her in surprise.
Elle glared at her. "And here I thought I'd be happy to have a bear shifter daughter-in-law at last!"
She looked as if she were digesting something that disagreed with her.
Nike felt the weight of Elle's disapproval like a boulder crushing her spirit. She fought the urge to apologize and beg for Elle's forgiveness.
But instead of exploding into rage as Mama would have done, Elle just sighed.
"Well, since you're his mate," she said, after an awkward silence, "I guess I should take you over to his house, so that you'll be there when he wakes up. We hired a nurse to keep an eye on him, but now that you're here and you have medical training, we can send Raymond home."
Nika nodded, worried about Ash's condition. It sounded worse than Dane had led her to believe. Bear shifters were tough and healed fast, but they weren't immortal or invulnerable.
"And I'll call Bill Jacobsen—he's the sheriff—and ask him to keep an eye out for any strange shifters who might turn up in town," Dane told her.
Reprieved…for a day or two, anyway, thought Nika. And they were going to let her see Ash!
But despite Dane's assurance that Nika was family now and that the Swansons protected their own, Nika noted that Elle hadn't yet offered Nika the protection of the Swanson clan.
And as the matriarch bear, Elle's refusal meant that even if they wanted to, Ash's brothers wouldn't be able to help Nika if their mother forbade it.
Nika was still on her own…but at least she would have the chance to see Ash one last time and apologize to him for what she'd done.
Chapter 4 – Reunion
Nika's first glimpse of her mate in seven months came as a shock when Elle escorted her into Ash's bedroom.
It looked like a hospital room, with a heart monitor, oxygen monitor, and IV stand set up around a king-sized bed that held an unconscious Ash.
Nika's breath caught at the sight of him. She froze, drinking in every detail—his shoulder-length hair, the strong dark brows, and the long sweep of lashes against the tanned skin of his face.
Her mate looked older now than the last time she'd seen him. There were lines of stress and pain chiseled around his mouth and eyes that hadn't been there before. He was on a ventilator, with an IV line inserted into his jugular vein and taped down.
Her shock was quickly drowned by a torrent of oth
er feelings—guilt, pain, longing, and underneath it all, the overwhelming urge to touch him and reestablish contact after all the lonely months without him.
She knotted her fingers together to keep from reaching out and running her hands over every part of him. Elle, who was standing grim-faced next to Nika, glanced down at Nika's hands and shot her an unreadable glance.
"Hi, Mrs. Swanson." said the nurse, a young, handsome Chinese-American man who smelled like some kind of cat shifter.
He smiled warmly at Elle, who returned the smile with equal warmth. Then his curious dark brown gaze came to rest on Nika.
Elle said briskly, "This is Ash's mate, Nika. She's come from Seattle to see him."
"I'm Raymond Chang," said the nurse. "I usually work in the ER at Steele Memorial Medical Center over in Salmon, but I also do home care for shifter patients when there's a need. Ash is in a medically induced coma at the moment, but we should be waking him up soon."
On the brief walk over from Elle's Victorian to Ash's home, which was a large white single-story ranch house located just a few hundred yards away, Elle had explained that she had hired Raymond to care for Ash during his convalescence.
Nika nodded a polite greeting and shook hands with Raymond while her blood ran cold at the words medically induced coma.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Veronika Medved, but everyone calls me Nika." Her gaze was irresistibly drawn back to Ash, and the worrisome sight of the ventilator tubing. "Can you give me some information on Ash's condition?"
Raymond looked at Elle for permission before replying. At her nod, he said, "He suffered significant head trauma after he fell from a roof. Dr. Jacobsen decided to keep him in a medically induced coma for a few days so that he could heal up."
Nika already knew Ash had been badly injured a few days ago, but this piece of news was far worse than she had imagined. It meant that there was likely significant swelling in Ash's brain that needed to go down before he could be awakened.
Ash really should be in an intensive care unit right now, not hidden away on a ranch located so far from a hospital.
Ash (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 6) Page 4
