The Shifter's Mate (Other World Series Book Three)

by Ramona Gray

  “Fuck!” She cried again. She panted harshly as she bent and ran her fingers through her long hair, rinsing the soap from the dark strands. Soapy water pooled at her feet and she straightened before beginning to wash her body quickly. As he watched her lips turn blue he wondered if she was regretting her decision. She ran the soap over her throat and chest, and he wondered why she briefly winced.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she stuttered through trembling lips as she ran the soap over her arm. He walked up behind her and she screamed when his large arms circled around her and he pressed his chest against her naked back.

  “What are you doing, human?”

  “Sh-showering,” she said through chattering teeth. “I smell.”

  He laughed. “You don’t.”

  “I do,” she insisted as he took the soap from her numb fingers. “Give that back.”

  “Be quiet,” he instructed. He washed her other arm and then lathered the soap between his hands before handing it to her. “Hold this.”

  She took it, her entire body shaking and trembling with cold, and he quickly washed her breasts and abdomen before washing her back and ass. He knelt and cleaned her legs before standing and taking the soap from her. He lathered his hands again and pushed at her thighs.

  “Open your legs, human.”

  She parted her thighs and he slipped his hand between them, cupping her sex before beginning to rub his hand over it. He washed her quickly and then cupped water from the rain in his hand and rinsed her sex clean.

  He pulled her back from the ledge and wrapped a pelt around her shivering body. He stared at her pale skin before squeezing the water from her hair. “Better?”

  She nodded. Her lips were blue and she was trembling violently but she smiled gamely at him. “Are you going to shower?”

  “Do I smell?”

  She blushed. “Actually, yeah. A little.”

  He grinned and stepped out into the rain. She watched as he quickly soaped his naked body before rinsing clean and stepping back into the cave. Even his skin was covered in goose bumps and she handed him a pelt from the bed.

  He dried his body and dropped the pelt to the floor of the cave before taking her by the arm and leading her to the nest of furs. She dropped the damp pelt and crawled between the dry ones. She breathed an audible sigh of relief when he crawled in beside her. She wrapped herself around him like a vine and he grunted when she rested her cold feet on his calves.

  “Is being clean worth this, human?” He asked gruffly.

  She nodded. “Y-yes.”

  He studied her carefully in the dim light. “Your lips are blue. How do you humans survive in the winter? You’re so fragile.”

  “We normally have clothes and fire to keep us warm,” she replied.

  He felt a moment of guilt and briefly considered building up the fire before he bent his head and kissed her cold mouth. She sighed and returned his kiss eagerly, opening her mouth so he could slide his tongue between her cold lips.

  He cupped her breast. Her nipple was a hard pearl against his palm and she moaned quietly before arching her back. He dipped his head to kiss her chest and paused, his hand tightening on her breast.

  “What’s wrong?” She murmured.

  “I hurt you.”

  Anger and a bit of shame flooded through him. His sharp teeth had left her skin bruised. He traced the bruising and bite marks on her chest and throat. “Why did you not tell me I was hurting you?”

  She shrugged. “It didn’t hurt at the time.”

  He scowled and slipped out from the pelts, returning with the jar of salve. He gently rubbed the thick salve on to her chest before turning her and rubbing more salve into the healing bruise on her back. When he was done he set the jar down and pulled her into his embrace. He rubbed her lower back gently as she sighed quietly and stared up at him.

  He didn’t care what she said, humans were fragile and he would have to be more careful the next time he took her. Her soft skin could not handle his roughness. A frown crossed his face as he pictured the way she would look when Dagon was done mating with her. His alpha wouldn’t care about her fragility. He would take her as roughly as he took his shifter mates, and he would feel no remorse about bruising or hurting her. His arms tightened around her and she squirmed in his grip.

  “Kane? Why are you angry?” She asked.

  He shook his head. “I’m not. Go to sleep.”

  “I just woke up. I’m not tired,” she replied.

  He scowled at her. “Go to sleep, human. You need your rest.”

  “I’m not tired,” she repeated stubbornly.

  She ignored his sigh of annoyance and stared up at the ceiling of the cave. After a few moments, she said softly, “Do you have any siblings?”

  “No.”

  “Is that unusual? You guys live in packs, right? Wouldn’t you normally have big families?” She asked hesitantly.

  “My parents died when I was a boy,” he said gruffly.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied sincerely. “I know what it’s like to lose your mom and dad. My parents died less than a year ago.”

  He didn’t reply and she cleared her throat nervously. “Who raised you after your parents died?”

  “I have other family in the pack. My father’s siblings. They all kept an eye on me.”

  “It must have been lonely for you.”

  He hesitated. “I have a cousin – Radek. He is like a brother to me.”

  “That’s good,” she replied quietly. “You must miss your parents though. I miss mine terribly. I wasn’t super close to my dad. I made a lot of choices he didn’t approve of but I was really close with my mom. Still, I miss them both equally. Isn’t that strange?”

  “How did they die?” He asked suddenly.

  “In a car accident,” she replied without thinking.

  He frowned at her. “A car?”

  She gave him a nervous look and shook her head. “Never mind. They just – there was an accident and they died.”

  “How did your parents die?” She hurried on.

  “The humans hunted them down and slaughtered them like dogs,” he said shortly. He expected that would quiet her tongue and he grunted with surprise when she sat up and stared at him.

  “Oh my God! That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. No wonder you hate us.” She patted his broad shoulder timidly. “Do – do most humans hunt shifters?”

  The pelts had slid to her waist but she either didn’t notice or didn’t remember her nakedness, and he eyed her naked breasts quickly before shaking his head. “No. Back then, we had hardly anything to do with humans. It’s only in the last ten years or so that we’ve started to openly interact with them. Not that shifters haven’t been fucking humans for years, they have, but until recent years they would never have brought them into their packs.”

  “Why did the humans kill your parents?”

  “They thought my parents were taking their cattle.”

  “Were they?” She asked bluntly.

  “No. We enjoy hunting. There’s no enjoyment in hunting dumb, defenseless cows.”

  “I’m surprised they were able to – to kill your parents. You’re so large and, well, scary.”

  “There were many humans hunting them,” he said briefly. He gave her a considering look. “Do I scare you, human?”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t scare easily though, never have. My dad said it was because I didn’t have a lick of sense, but my mom always said I was just tough as nails.”

  A rueful smile crossed her lips. “If she could see me now, she’d probably take that back.”

  “What do you mean?” He asked curiously.

  She shrugged. “I’m afraid.”

  He felt an odd tingle of dismay go through him. “You said you weren’t scared of me.”

  “I’m not afraid of you, Kane.”

  She abruptly fell silent and stared moodily out the entrance of the cave before raising her knees and resting her arms on them.

/>   “What are you afraid of?”

  He blinked in surprise at the sound of his voice. Why had he asked that? Why would he care what the human was afraid of?

  He waited patiently for her answer and scowled when she said, “It doesn’t matter. You’re right, Kane. I should get some more sleep.”

  Before she could lie down he had sat up and gripped her arm firmly. “Tell me what you’re afraid of, human.”

  “I have a name!” She said angrily. “How would you like it if I just referred to you as shifter?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t care what you call me.”

  He was lying. He liked how his name sounded coming from her mouth. He especially liked how she moaned his name when he was inside of her. His groin stirred and he took another quick peek at her breasts before squeezing her arm.

  “What are you afraid of?”

  She made a grunt of frustration and he stared, a little amused, at the frown lines that appeared between her brows. He wanted to touch them with his fingers, to try and smooth them away but he resisted as she yanked again at his grip.

  “Tell me,” he ordered.

  “Oh for God’s sake!” She snapped. “I’m afraid of freezing to death. I’m afraid that somehow I’ll end up back at that awful slave house with that sadistic warden. I was nearly killed by a flower for fuck’s sake so now I’m afraid of flowers. I’m afraid of – of tagens and starving to death because I don’t know what’s edible and what’s poisonous in this world. I’m afraid of being mated to your damn alpha and having him kill me like he did his last mate, and I’m so fucking tired of being afraid all the time!”

  She stopped, breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at him as her body trembled wildly. He put his arm around her. “I will not let any harm come to you, human.”

  She snorted derisively. “You and I both know that I’m going to die in this world, Kane. And it will be a horrible and painful death.”

  He flinched a little as she tried to shrug free of his grip. His arm tightened around her and she sighed loudly. “I really, really miss coffee and indoor plumbing, and just getting in my car and driving somewhere. Oh, and bubble baths. God, I’d sell my soul for a bubble bath right now.”

  She was shivering violently from the cold and he made her lie back with him in the pelts. He drew the covers up around them and tugged her against his warm chest. She resisted but he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her easily against him. She rested her head against his chest as he stroked her bare back.

  “What’s a bubble bath?”

  She laughed and a thread of relief went through him at the sound of it.

  “It’s – well – you sit in a tub of warm water and you pour this liquid in that turns to bubbles when the water hits it.”

  He was silent for a moment. “What is coffee?”

  “It’s a type of bean that you grind up and add to hot water to flavour the water. It gives you energy.”

  “And a car?”

  She sighed. “It’s a machine that moves really quickly. It runs on a flammable liquid called gasoline. You drive the car and it can go long distances in a very short amount of time.”

  Reese glanced up at Kane. He was giving her a careful look that she recognized well. He thought she was mad, just like everyone else in this world. She really needed to stop talking about her own world.

  “How big are these cars?” He asked. His tone was one that suggested he would humour the crazy person for a little while longer, and she shook her head in defeat.

  “Never mind, Kane. There is no such thing as coffee or cars or bubble baths. I’m – I’m just being crazy again.”

  She turned away from him and curled up on to her side. She was feeling lonely and incredibly sorry for herself and she was dismayed to realize she was close to tears. She blinked rapidly but the tears slipped down her cheeks anyway. Kane had curled up behind her and he cupped her head and turned her face toward his.

  “Are you crying, human?”

  “No,” she sobbed.

  He rubbed the moisture from her cheeks and showed it to her. “Why are you crying?”

  “Because – because I’m homesick, and because you think I’m crazy.”

  “Please stop crying.”

  “Sure, I’ll get right on that.” She pulled her head away and buried it in her arms. He watched as she shook with the force of her sobs and he touched her back roughly.

  “Stop crying, human.”

  She lifted her head long enough to glare at him. “Don’t female shifters ever cry?”

  She buried her head back in her arms before he could reply.

  Kane stared helplessly at her back. Females of his kind did cry, some of them annoyingly so, but seeing the large human cry was upsetting him for some strange reason. It was because he had never seen her crying before, he decided abruptly. She was tough, one just had to look at the bruise on her back and the multiple times she had come close to dying without breaking into hysterical sobbing, to know that.

  Of course, crying now simply because he thought her to be mad was strange but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He just wanted her to stop her crying. It was making him feel helpless and weak and he didn’t like that.

  He thought about demanding she stop crying again and perhaps giving her a slap to the ass. He shook his head. He was a fool. He may have limited experience with crying women - hell zero experience, really - but he had observed how his pack brothers had handled their crying females. He had rolled his eyes with derision at the time and vowed never to act so foolishly but now, desperate to stop her sobbing, he was willing to try it.

  He scooted closer and rubbed her back soothingly. “Don’t cry, human. You – you hide your madness well. It’s only because you talk so much that others know of your madness. You talk too much. You should hold your tongue and then you will appear normal.”

  She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly ajar, and he smiled eagerly at her. “Do you feel better now, human? Will you stop your crying?”

  To his utter dismay she burst into even louder sobs and wiggled away from his warmth.

  “Human, what – “

  “Shut up, Kane. Okay? Just – just leave me alone. I know you want to shift anyway, so just go ahead and do it. Since you find my talking so annoying, I promise I’ll do my best to keep my damn mouth shut.”

  “That isn’t what I meant, human,” he protested. “I meant – “

  “I know exactly what you meant.” She glared at him and then shoved him hard in the chest. “Get out of the bed. I want to be alone and you’re happier in your wolf form, anyway. Leave me alone!”

  He blinked in surprise and confusion but slid out from under the pelts. She turned her back and yanked the heavy furs over her head, hiding herself completely from his view. Shaking his head, he shifted to his wolf form and lay down a few feet away from her. He stared silently at her for a few minutes before closing his eyes.

  Chapter 11

  Kane stared at the human through half-closed eyes. It had been nearly two days and she hadn’t spoken a single word to him. He had shifted to his human form yesterday afternoon. He hoped that it would draw her out but she hadn’t even looked at him. She spent most of her time sitting at the entrance of the cave and staring at the rain, or lying in the furs with her back turned to him.

  He chuffed loudly and sat up when she walked by him but she ignored him before climbing back into the pelts. He barked his annoyance, the sound echoing in the cave. She turned her back and pulled the furs over her head.

  He growled softly and stood before circling and collapsing back on the floor of the cave. He hated to admit it but he missed the sound of her voice. He had grown used to both her talking and the way she looked at him. The scent of her desire for him had disappeared completely and it bothered him. He still wanted her, more now than ever, and it was driving him crazy that she no longer wanted him. He chuffed again and stared at the rain. It was still pouring down and tonight was
the coldest night yet. Even he was feeling the chill.

  Reese listened to the large shifter chuffing loudly and wrapped her arms around her shivering body. It was freezing in the cave and as night approached, it would only get colder. She considered inviting Kane to join her in the bed and then snorted softly to herself. She would rather freeze than take the shifter back into her bed.

  She sighed and pulled the furs more tightly around her. She knew exactly how childish she was acting and although she was embarrassed by it, she couldn’t seem to stop. Kane’s words had hurt her feelings and she didn’t have a clue why. There was nothing happening between them other than his need to experiment with having sex with a human, so why did it bother her that he thought she talked too much? Hell, she did talk too much. Always had and always would.

  She sighed again and closed her eyes. The cold and relentless rain, homesickness, fear, and her anger at Kane had combined to leave her feeling tired and weak. She was sleeping too much and using it as a way to hide from her problems, but what did it matter? She was just going to die in this miserable world anyway.

  * * *

  When she woke, she had no idea how long she had been sleeping or what had woken her. She listened to the rain falling steadily, and realized that despite the cold she was warm. She was too warm in fact, and she felt a thread of fear when she tried to move her legs and they didn’t budge. She pushed the furs back and squinted into the darkness as a loud whimper resonated through the cave.

  “Kane?” She stared in confusion at the large shifter. He was in his wolf form and sleeping across her lower body, his large head resting on her pelt-covered hip. As she watched, he twitched violently and made another loud whimper. His tail was sweeping back and forth and he curled his upper lip and growled loudly before it trailed off into a whimpering cry.

  “Kane? Wake up.” She pushed on his broad shoulder hesitantly. He didn’t move and she stroked his fur roughly. “Wake up, Kane. You’re dreaming.”

  He barked and she winced before pushing at him. “Wake up, you big lug!”