by T. S. Joyce
“Did you hear?” Daniel asked. “They’ve approved us for a match.”
His excitement was catching and Corin leaned against a stately spruce. “You sure you want to be tethered to me forever?” she asked, teasing.
Daniel was tall, with dark hair and patient eyes the color of coffee. Some people found it unsettling that his eyes were black as pitch, but she saw the adoration in them when he looked at her. Like now, as his gaze dipped to her lips.
The smile fell from his face as he frowned. “Don’t talk like that, Corin. I would be honored to be mated to you when we get older. You know that.”
And she did. They’d been friends since they were cubs, and when the other girls their age had started paying attention to how Daniel was changing for the better, he seemed to only have eyes for her. She’d never felt threatened for his affection.
He linked his hands in hers and rested his chin on top of her head.
“You’re so serious,” she murmured. “I was only joking.”
This was usually the fastest way to get a rise out of him. He didn’t understand jokes like the others, but she didn’t care. His mind just worked differently than the other kids. She understood him, even if they didn’t.
“Oh,” he said, easing back so she could see the confusion swimming in his shadow colored eyes. There it was, that tentative smile that told her he knew he was being teased.
Ducking out from under him, she laughed and ran toward a deer trail that led away from her parents’ cabin. His chuckle followed her as she bolted. Faster and faster she ran until she was sure she’d lost him. Spinning, she heaved breath as she searched the woods. Nothing stirred, save the leaves above in the gentle breeze.
She’d finally bested him.
“You’re always running from me, Corin,” Daniel said from behind her, startling a giggle past her lips. “Are you sure you’re not the one who doesn’t want to be tethered to me?”
His hands rubbed down the back of her arms, and she shivered under his touch. He made her feel…everything.
Turning, she lifted her gaze to his and allowed him to see the genuine happiness in her eyes at him touching her. He’d only recently grown comfortable enough to hold her hand. He didn’t do well with touch. She’d never even seen his parents hug him, though they seemed to love him a great deal.
“I’m yours for always,” she said, lifting up on her tiptoes and brushing her lips against his.
It was her first kiss, and she didn’t know if she was doing it right, but when she pulled away, his eyes were wide with surprise and a silly grin stretched slowly across his mouth. He brushed her hair from her cheek, settled it behind her shoulder, then slowly lifted his palm to cradle her cheek. The pad of his thumb brushed a gentle stroke as he leaned down. His eyes closed just as his lips touched hers again. The kiss could’ve lasted minutes, or maybe hours. She didn’t know. Time left her.
When he finally pulled away, he whispered, “I wanted to kiss you first.”
A scream tore through the woods, and then another. Smoke touched the sensitive lining of her nose, and Daniel looked in the direction of the cabins with narrowed eyes.
“Come on,” he breathed. “Something’s wrong.”
The screaming turned to roaring as they ran through the woods, back toward the clan. She gasped in horror as they skidded into the clearing. All of the houses were burning, engulfed in giant flames that reached for the sky. And everywhere, bears fought.
A man stood back against the tree line and she recognized him. He was the Long Claw representative that had come to speak with her father and the council two days before.
Daniel’s chest heaved as he panted for breath, but black fury took his eyes as he watched the stranger.
“Run, Corin. Don’t look back, just run west toward Bear Valley. Tell them what’s happened here. I’ll find you if I’m able.”
Her family and friends were out there, being slaughtered. “I can’t leave!”
He spun and gripped her shoulders, then kissed her fiercely. “Do as I say. Go!”
She turned just as his bear ripped from him. Not grizzly or brown bear. Not even a rare Andean graced his family tree. Daniel’s bear was all that remained of an ancient lineage of giant short-faced bears.
She’d always been in awe of watching his animal, but today he’d asked her to run and she trusted him. She looked back in time to see him clash with a grizzly twice his size. He wasn’t big enough to do battle with the adults yet, but he fought the enemy viciously.
Something hit her from the side like a falling brick wall and she flew into the trunk of a tree. Fur and claws flashed before her as her vision cleared, and just as an unfamiliar black bear lifted her paw to end Corin’s life, a mass of fur and muscle hit her from the side and sent the she-bear sprawling.
Daniel!
His eyes were panicked when he swiveled his head to her. Run, his look said as he lunged for the bear who had tried to kill her.
Two brown bears crashed through the woods toward them and Corin lurched upward, trying to clear her head. With an echoing slap, Daniel sent the brown bear’s limp body tumbling down a ravine, and he spun to face the grizzlies.
She owed him. Get to Bear Valley, he’d said. If she could only get help for her people…
Pumping her legs, she pushed faster and faster until the brutal fight disappeared behind her. He was trying to give her time.
As long as she lived, she would never forget the roar of Daniel’s pain as it echoed through the woods.
Corin jerked awake and pain shot up her spine with the motion. She’d fallen asleep against the window of the truck, and now her stiff neck didn’t want to turn to the left.
“We’re here,” Hannah said. Her green eyes were soft and sympathetic, and Corin hoped she hadn’t been talking in her sleep.
Massaging life back into her neck, Corin opened the door and stepped out. “Where’s here?”
“We’re about a quarter of a mile south from where the Long Claws have chosen to do battle,” Riker said.
From the somber tilt of his lips, what he really meant was they were a quarter of a mile away from where he was going to lose some of his people tomorrow. Maybe all of them.
The hummers and jeeps pulled to a stop in a straight line behind Riker’s truck, and the shifters began to unload.
She made her way north through the trees, and Anya followed behind.
“Where are you going?” her friend asked.
“I want to see the battlefield.” Before it was haunted, preferably.
But when she arrived that the edge of a grove of pines, she realized she’d been wrong. This place was already haunted by ghosts. A dark-headed, dark-eyed figure stood across the meadow on the other side, and when she blinked, he was gone.
Shaking her head, she scanned the trees, but no one was there.
“What is it?” Anya asked, catching up. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Corin’s heart pounded against her chest as she compared the shadowy figure with the Daniel of her memories.
As quiet as a breath, she whispered, “I think I have.”
Chapter Four
Back pressed against the rough bark of a lodge pole pine, Brooks stared into the woods before him. Shit. She’d seen him. Running his hand roughly over his hair, he tried to calm his erratic heartbeat.
So what if she’d seen him? Riker had to know the Long Claws were here already. Brooks had wanted to study the battlefield to assess any unnecessary risks in the meadow he’d chosen.
What the hell was that fool woman thinking, coming out here alone? Sure, the alliance didn’t end until midnight tonight, and by shifter law, they couldn’t fight before the battle tomorrow morning, but still. His people weren’t exactly known for minding the rules.
She could’ve gotten herself killed.
Wait. Why the fuck did he care? If she was dumb enough to go traipsing through the woods on the eve before battle alone, she was beyond his helping.
/> Why wouldn’t his damned heart stop trying to leap from his chest? When he’d seen her, he had felt…something. The temptation to peek around the tree and see if she was still on the other side of the clearing was so great, his insides were being shredded with every moment that he stood hidden in the shadows of the forest.
He hadn’t been able to tell her eye color from this distance, but they were light. Wide and pretty, and he perceived shock in them when she’d seen at him. There was a spark of something there before he’d ducked behind the tree. Her chestnut colored hair was long and shone with bronze highlights in the sun, and her skin was fair and fragile, like porcelain.
Despair struck him in the gut. She would die tomorrow. How could anyone so frail survive what was coming for her clan?
Closing his eyes, he muttered an oath and rocked his head back against the tree. He didn’t have time or energy to waste on worrying over the enemy. She was a part of the clan who had killed Nathan. She was the problem, and Brooks would wield his vengeance like a sword at dawn.
The woman would have to die, and the weak sympathies inside of him would have to be suppressed.
He limped away, but here, he was able to. Back at camp, he’d have to appear as strong as the Long Claw alpha was supposed to. Alpha challenges had been brutal and bloody, and Omar had ripped into the tendons of his leg just before Brooks’ victory. Bad timing, but he wouldn’t let it slow him down.
He’d had worse.
With one last glance back to the sliver of clearing that still showed through the thicket of trees, he made his way back to the trail that would lead to his clan’s camp.
If he saw the woman tomorrow, he couldn’t hesitate. If at dawn, she stood between him and victory, he would kill her.
****
“Come on,” Anya whispered. “It’s dangerous for us to be out here alone.”
“You aren’t alone,” a deep baritone voice sounded behind them.
Startled, Corin was rattled free of her daydream. Chase stood against a tree with his arms crossed. Disapproval was written all over his face and Corin cowered, exposing her neck.
“Cut that shit out, Corin. You can’t be doing that tomorrow morning. I’m depending on you to have Anya’s back, not expose it. Find your fight, girl.” He turned and called over his shoulder, “If you decide to come prancing around the battlefield, do bring an escort. A brown bear at the very least.”
She couldn’t tell exactly what he said after that, but she was pretty sure he called her a runty black bear. Not kind.
She flipped him off behind his back and he growled like he could see her. When she looked at Anya, her friend had sucked her lips into her mouth and looked like she was stifling a smile. Chase did this kind of crap in training all the time, and it was downright unsettling. The man could always tell when she was slacking, even if he wasn’t looking at her.
Raise your knees higher, Corin.
Stop talking, Corin.
I said twenty-five push-ups, Corin. You only did seven.
Roll your eyes at me again and you’ll do three more laps. Okay, three more laps, Corin.
The man’s instincts were obnoxious.
She kicked a pinecone into the forest and Chase shook his head in front of them and sighed. Whatever. Even if he did have eyes in the back of his head, she would only have to deal with his bossiness for one more day. Then she’d be a ghost bear and wouldn’t ever have to do high knees again. Maybe she would haunt him for fun.
Turning, she squinted at the clearing behind her one last time. She hadn’t believed in ghosts before, but then there had been the shade at the edge of the woods. Now she didn’t know what to think.
Riker stood in the back of his truck, addressing the gathered shifters. Corin skirted the edges and settled next to Joanna.
“The treaty still holds until midnight tonight, which means none of you are to engage in a fight with any members of the Long Claw Clan.”
“Are you sure they’ll follow through with that clan law?” Brad Barker asked from the crowd.
“I’m having a meeting with their new alpha shortly, and I’ll make sure to reiterate no attacks on either camp tonight. To be safe though, we’ll have sentries on shift from now until dawn, and I want you sleeping dressed and ready for battle. Chase and Juan, you take first shift. Daria is setting up a medical area near the edge of the clearing, and she and Hannah will be preforming first aid there. This will also be off limits from the Long Claws, and likewise, steer clear of their injured. Other than that, anything goes. We’ll set up camp and get a good meal in us. I don’t want you staying up late. Tomorrow could be the most important day in Bear Valley’s history. Some of us won’t come home from this. Some of us will come back scarred.” He clasped his hands behind his back and looked out over his people. “I wanted to stop this war, but it isn’t in our control anymore. The Long Claws will come after us whether we fight now or next week, and I’d rather be prepared. Tomorrow we’ll fight for our land, for our people. You’ll fight for your friends and family. Help each other. Have each other’s backs like the proud Bear Valley shifters who have dotted our lineage before you. Who have battled for peace and honor, and won.” Riker nodded to Juan, who stood leaned against the truck.
Juan turned and pulled the first tent from the back, then he handed it to Brody to dole out to the first group.
“Most are sleeping five to a tent,” Joanna said. “You can stay with me and Anya if you want to.”
“Sure, thanks.” Except spending her last night on earth in the same tent as two newly mated couples sounded like the least fun slumber party ever. Beggars and choosers, though, so she helped Joanna wrestle their tent to a flat area thirty yards away.
It was a simple set up that didn’t require instructions, so while the boys were unloading supplies, she and Jo put up the tent, and Hannah built hers right next to it.
This would be fun if death weren’t imminent.
By the time camp was set up, the smells of cooking stew simmering over several fire pits wafted through the woods. Corin was so hungry, her stomach hated her. The bear inside of her was kicking up her instincts to find the nearest blackberry bush and take food matters into her own hands, but she needed more than fruit if she was going to have enough energy for tomorrow. She needed protein.
“Snake,” Juan said casually as he pointed to something at her feet
Corin screamed and fell backward off the log she was sitting on.
“That’s your defense mechanism?” Juan asked through uncontrolled laughter.
Corin sat up and brushed leaves from her hair. The snake in question was actually stick, which made Juan a floppy cock-face for scaring her like that.
The gargantuan shifter seemed to be enjoying himself, his shoulders shaking as he spooned stew from the iron pot over the fire. She wanted to kick embers at him.
“It kind of looks like a snake,” Anya said with her nose scrunched up.
The branch was covered in leaves and didn’t look like anything other than a tree limb. “It doesn’t, but thanks.”
Hannah snatched the metal bowl from Juan’s hands. She looked positively green and Corin frowned. “Hannah, are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said, sitting heavily onto a log Chase had pulled near the fire. “I’m just nervous about tomorrow and my stomach is in knots.”
Joanna was staring at her with this calculating expression, then she shot Anya a significant look. “Maybe you should go see Daria. She can give you something to calm your nerves. Ask her for some ginger.”
Hannah was shoving stew into her maw like she hadn’t eaten in three days, and Juan was still sitting there with his hands hovering in the air like he didn’t understand where his food had gone.
“Ginger,” Hannah scoffed. “I’m not a pregnant—” She retched over the back of the log, and Corin rushed to hold her long hair out of the way.
Juan’s annoying face appeared beside her. “That was my food.”
Exasperated, she
gritted out, “Make another plate. and go tell Riker we’re taking Hannah to Daria. She’s not feeling well.”
“Oh my gosh, I’ve turned into such a pussy,” Hannah groaned.
“That would be gross and weird,” Juan said, scooping another bowl of stew.
“What?” Corin asked.
He licked a drop of broth off his thumb. “If Hannah turned into a pussy.”
“God, Juan, just stop talking,” Joanna said, helping Corin lift Hannah to her feet.
A smile touched the corners of Jo’s lips though, and Corin fought hard not to laugh. The man didn’t need encouragement.
“I think I have a tapeworm,” Hannah groaned. Sweat dotted her brow and she looked pale and shaken. Her hands trembled when she reached out to Corin for balance.
“I think what you’re carrying is much cuter than a tapeworm, love,” Riker said from behind. “At least, I hope it is.” He scooped Hannah up in his arms and with long strides, made his way toward the medical area.
“Uh, is Hannah pregnant?” Corin asked.
Anya and Joanna were watching Riker’s retreat with the strangest expressions, joy and hope and disbelief all rolled into one.
“I hope so,” Joanna breathed.
“I thought she couldn’t get pregnant,” Anya said in a small voice. “She’s human.”
“It’s harder to breed, but not impossible,” Juan said from right behind Corin, successfully scaring the piss out of her.
“Stop doing that,” she said, punching his arm. Now her hand hurt and the man didn’t even budge, which just pissed her off more. “And since when did you become the baby whisperer. What, you read a book on shifter-human breeding and now you’re an expert?”
“No.” His dark eyebrows drew down like he was offended. “Chase told me.”
Anya spun with her mouth hanging open. “Chase told you what?”
“That Hannah was pregnant.”
The shock on Anya’s face was almost comical. “And how did Chase know she was pregnant?”
“Because Riker told him. You look mad.”
