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

by Ramona Gray

  “You will stay in my bed until I give you permission to leave it,” he said firmly. “Do you understand?”

  He waited for her fiery response and grunted in surprise when she relaxed under him and gave him a sweetly submissive smile. “Of course, shifter.”

  He released her wrists and leaned down to lick his claiming mark. “That’s my good girl,” he murmured before tracing the scar on her shoulder with a light stroke of his tongue.

  She shivered beneath him and he grinned in satisfaction. He liked the stubbornness and independent nature of his mate but the sudden submissiveness was not entirely displeasing to him.

  He grunted in surprise when she punched him hard in the stomach. He rolled off of her and she pushed him on to his back and quickly straddled him. Although he could have easily stopped her, he didn’t protest when she yanked down his arms and pinned them to the bed with her knees.

  She grinned happily at him. “Not so tough after all, huh, shifter?”

  He gave her a mock glare. “Were you trying to break my ribs?”

  “Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “My hand probably hurts more than your stomach. It’s as hard as granite.” She stroked his abdomen muscles as he stared at her large, firm breasts. Her nipples had hardened in the cool air of his cabin and she made a soft sound when she felt his cock rise against her.

  “Be good, shifter.”

  “I am being good,” he said innocently. “It is not my fault you feel the need to walk around my cabin half-naked.”

  She whacked him lightly on the stomach and he grinned at her. The grin dropped from his face and was replaced by a hard look of lust when she cupped her breasts and tugged lightly on her nipples. He watched, his cock growing harder and his need for her overwhelming him as she pulled and stroked her nipples until they were hard, tight buds and swollen from her touch.

  She paused and he growled under his breath. “Keep doing that, Reese.”

  She smiled sweetly at him before stretching. He licked his lips and made another soft growl. “Do not stop.”

  “I’m tired, shifter,” she said teasingly as she slid off of him and lay with her back to him.

  He curled his body around hers. His cock was throbbing and pulsing with need but he had to grin at his mate’s bravery. Of course, she didn’t realize the way he would torment and tease her mercilessly for this once the moon was no longer full for her.

  The smile dropped from his face. When she was finished her cycle, if Dagon chose her, he would have no choice but to take Reese and leave. His wolf made a whine of dismay and panic at the thought of leaving his pack and Kane could think of no words to comfort it.

  “Kane?”

  “Aye?”

  “Has Dagon said anything about…”

  She trailed off, her body tensing, and he cupped her breast in a soothing manner and kissed her bare back.

  “I believe he will choose Adina. Ghita is too timid for him and he does not have the patience to wait for you to grow thinner.”

  He expected her to relax at his words but she remained stubbornly tense. He reached up and stroked his claiming mark, touching the raised skin with his fingertips as he nuzzled her neck. “What is wrong? Are you not happy that he will most likely not choose you?”

  “I’m worried about Adina,” she said quietly. “What if he decides to kill her like he killed his other mates?”

  “We don’t know that he – “

  “You’re not stupid, shifter. Don’t pretend to be,” she interrupted.

  He sighed loudly and buried his face in the soft skin of her throat. “I do not know what you want me to say, Reese.”

  “Tell me about the farmhouse,” she said abruptly.

  He frowned at the sudden change in conversation. “What?”

  “Tell me about the farmhouse,” she repeated. “I want to know what you and Radek did.”

  He didn’t want to speak of it but unable to deny his mate’s request, he said, “I was young and foolish. It does not excuse my behaviour but it perhaps will help you to understand why I did it.”

  When she didn’t reply he sighed and tugged her closer to his warm body. “I was fifteen and got it into my head that I needed to take revenge for my parents. Radek was more than happy to join me. There was a humans’ farm not far from here, only a few hours travel, and so we snuck out one evening and headed toward it.”

  “Was it the farm where your parents were accused of killing their cows?”

  He shook his head. “No. But it didn’t matter to me that the human I would take my revenge against was an innocent. My parents were innocent and the humans showed them no mercy.”

  “An eye for an eye,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Go on.”

  “When we got there, the humans were in their beds. Radek and I began to terrorize the animals in an attempt to lure the humans out. It worked. The human and his mate left the safety of their house when they heard the frightened cries of their livestock.”

  He fell quiet. Reese turned in his arms and stared up at him. “Did you hurt them?”

  He shook his head. “No. Raina had overheard us talking of our plan the night we left, and she had gone to her parents. She was only a young pup but even she knew how dangerous and foolish we were being. Radek’s parents went to Maven and he came after us.”

  “So he stopped you before you could do anything.”

  “Aye. The humans had barely left their house when Maven arrived. He shifted to his human form and told them to go back into their home and not leave it until morning. Then he shifted back to his wolf form and went after Radek and me.”

  “How did he convince you to return without killing them?” She asked.

  A small smile crossed his face. “He used his teeth and his claws until we were covered in blood and begging him for mercy.”

  She frowned at him. “I thought Maven was a good alpha.”

  “He was.”

  “Doesn’t sound like it to me.” She scowled. “How does hurting foolish teenagers do anything? What if he had seriously injured you?”

  Kane brushed her hair back. “We deserved it, Reese. We would have killed those humans without hesitating. Maven knew he needed to use more than words to make us understand how foolish we were. If Radek and I had killed the humans it would have put our entire pack in grave danger.”

  She didn’t reply and he kissed her lightly on the mouth. “Get some sleep. It is late.”

  Chapter 21

  “You’re big for a human.”

  Reese turned to stare at the shifter standing in the doorway of the cabin. She pasted a smile on her face. It was mid-morning and she was hungry and irritated. She and Kane had joined the pack for breakfast and she hadn’t been surprised to discover that Dagon had ordered her to be given only one meal a day. She had sat in silence as the others ate their breakfast and forced herself to be polite and cheerful to the pack members who had approached her. Like the evening before, many of them were anxious to touch her hair and her skin and she hoped the novelty of humans would wear off soon.

  Dagon had spent some time sitting with Adina and he had appeared kind enough to her. When breakfast was done, Dagon had returned to his cabin. Reese had wanted to question Adina about what they spoke of but the weather was cold. After staring at her blue lips and the way she shivered, Kane had insisted she return to his cabin before she had a chance to speak to her.

  Kane hadn’t stayed in the cabin with her and she had hoped he would return with food but it had been nearly two hours and he hadn’t returned. She had been about to leave the cabin despite the way the wind was blowing, and find Adina when the old shifter had walked in.

  “I get that a lot,” she said briefly.

  “Aye, I imagine you do.”

  He joined her at the fire, easing his body into the chair across from hers and fanning his face before studying her thin shirt and skirt. “I am surprised that Kane keeps it so warm in his cabin for you. He ha
tes humans and it’s odd that he would care if you froze to death or not.”

  “I’m certain he has no wish to anger your alpha.”

  “Perhaps not.” The shifter reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of charkas. He peeled one and as the smell of the rich meaty insides drifted to her, Reese tried not to drool. Her stomach growled loudly and a brief frown crossed the shifter’s face before he tossed the charka to her.

  She caught it and studied him closely, trying to decide if he would tell Dagon if she ate it.

  As if he had read her mind, he said, “Go on and eat it, girl. I won’t tell my alpha.”

  She continued to hesitate and he gave her a look of irritation so similar to Kane’s that she knew he must be related to him. “You have my word.”

  “Thank you.” She ate the charka quickly and nodded her thanks when he handed the rest of the charkas to her. She finished them off and threw the peels into the fire before returning to her chair.

  “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”

  “We haven’t met yet,” he replied. “My name is Asher.”

  “I’m Reese. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Aye, you as well.”

  They sat in silence for a while before she gave him a tentative look. “You’re related to Kane?”

  “I am. How did you know?”

  She shrugged. “You have similar manners.”

  He laughed. “I am his uncle. His father was my youngest brother.”

  “Kane said his father’s siblings raised him.”

  “Aye, we did. Although Maven did his fair share of it.” Asher cocked his head at her. “What else did Kane share with you?”

  “Nothing,” she said nervously. “He doesn’t talk very much to me.”

  He continued to stare at her and with her nervousness growing, she said, “I just wondered why he hated humans so much. He told me what happened to his parents.”

  Asher raised his eyebrows at her. “What did he tell you?”

  “Uh, nothing specific, just that his parents were hunted and killed by humans.”

  “That is more than he usually shares.” Asher was giving her a scrutinizing look and when he leaned forward and inhaled deeply, she leaned away.

  “You’re covered in his scent, human.”

  “He’s just trying to prevent me from freezing to death before your alpha makes his choice.”

  “Indeed. Tell me about yourself, human.”

  “I’d rather not.”

  Asher laughed. “Theran and Hanif say you like to talk. They say it’s why my nephew acts so strange now. They believe you drove him nearly mad with your talking when he was trapped with you during the rains. Yet now your tongue grows quiet?”

  Reese shrugged. “Perhaps my time in the cave with your nephew has taught me to hold my tongue around shifters.”

  “Was Kane cruel to you?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Good. I am the last of his elders and it would have fallen to me to discipline him if he had been cruel to a defenseless female. I am way too old for that sort of thing.”

  “What do you care? I imagine you hate humans as much as Kane and Radek do.”

  “My advanced age gives me clarity that Kane has yet to discover,” Asher replied. “Although I believe that is changing.”

  “Why does Radek hate humans?” Reese asked suddenly.

  Asher stared into the fire before sighing loudly. “Many years ago our pack lived at the edge of the forest, closer to the humans. We did not have much to do with them. We occasionally traded with them, but we mainly kept to ourselves and they did the same. And then - when Radek was young he was captured by the humans.”

  “Why did they take him?” Reese asked.

  “For their own amusement. They beat him and collared him and forced him to perform tricks for their own children like he was a dog. We are afraid of water. Did you know that?”

  Reese nodded. “Yes. Kane almost drowned when we were traveling here.”

  “The humans repeatedly held him in the lake, nearly drowning him. They starved him and hurt him just to see how long it would take for him to heal.”

  “Oh my God.” Reese’s stomach churned. “How old was he?”

  “Only five or six, if I remember correctly.”

  “Jesus.”

  “It took us nearly a week to track his scent down. His parents were going crazy, as you can imagine. When we finally discovered him chained to a wall in one of the human’s barns, Maven, Radek’s father and Kane’s father, killed the humans that lived there and returned Radek to the pack. He has hated the humans ever since.”

  “That’s terrible. Poor Radek.”

  “A year later, other humans killed Kane’s parents. Maven moved the pack deeper into the woods and here we have remained. Despite the dangers lurking in the forest, the humans were more of a threat to us. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Why would Dagon bring humans into the pack, knowing what they did to Kane and Radek?”

  Asher sighed again. “A number of reasons. Our numbers dwindle, while the human numbers grow. Dagon is right in believing that sooner or later we will be forced to coexist with them. As well, rumours have spread of his cruelty to his mates and females from other packs have refused to even consider becoming his mate.”

  He hesitated before looking at her. “Truthfully, I believe his strongest reason was simply to torture Kane and Radek. He always envied the bond they had with his father, especially Kane’s. I find it rather amusing to see his plan to torture Kane with humans in the pack backfire so spectacularly.”

  Reese cleared her throat nervously and stared into the fire as Asher grinned at her. “Has my nephew mated with you?”

  “Why would he?”

  “I see the way he looks at you. He desires you for himself.”

  “No he doesn’t,” she said briefly.

  Asher sighed irritably and leaned forward. “Perhaps if I share a secret, you will be more willing to spill yours. What do you say?”

  She just shrugged and Asher rolled his eyes. “I despise our alpha, human. I believe him to be weak and cowardly at heart. Maven would have been better off to have drowned him at birth. But he loved the boy and in return, was killed for it.”

  “Did he kill his other mates?” She asked.

  He nodded. “Aye, I believe he did. The others do not speak of it. They pretend that the stories he weaves are true but I am too old and too tired to pretend. I believe our pack needs to be led by another. Dagon is too unstable, too cruel, to be a leader. Do you know who our pack needs, human?”

  “Kane,” she whispered.

  “Aye, it does. He is a natural leader, is he not?”

  She nodded and he smiled at her. “Even you, a mere human, can see that he is meant to lead. I have spent many nights urging him to challenge Dagon for alpha position but he refuses.”

  The thought of Kane challenging the bigger, stronger, Dagon sent icy tendrils of fear down her back and she gave Asher a sharp look. “Perhaps it is because he is smart enough not to challenge a man who would kill his own father.”

  Asher cocked his head at her. “Your feelings for my nephew are readily apparent, human. You should hide your emotions better. If Dagon does choose you, he will not be pleased that you are in love with another.”

  “I have no feelings for Kane other than gratitude for not killing me as he is so obviously tempted to do,” she said shortly.

  He laughed loudly. “He may be able to hide his affection for you from the others but I am his blood. I see the truth.”

  “You speak foolishly, old man,” she replied.

  He laughed again. “You are brave for a human. I can see why Kane desires you.”

  She didn’t reply and he gave her an oddly gentle look. “Do not fear, human. Your secret is safe with me.”

  “I have no secrets.”

  “Do you not? You try so hard to convince me that you and Kane have not mated. Why is that?”
>
  “Because Dagon will kill him!” She suddenly snapped. “I would think you would understand that.”

  “The rumour is that Dagon will take the blonde one as his mate. Will you still deny Kane’s feelings for you when he takes you as his mate?”

  She gave him a scathing look. “Did I mention that you speak like a fool? I feel like I did but maybe that’s just my imagination.”

  “My nephew will claim you as his mate. Make no doubt of that, human. I can see it in his face, in the way that he looks at you and how he reacts when other shifters touch you. You will find yourself mated to him the moment that Dagon takes the blonde one.”

  “No, I won’t!” She suddenly hissed at him. “Do you want to know why your nephew fucked me, Asher? Because I was a goddamn experiment for him! He wanted to know what it would be like to fuck a human and I was lucky enough to be the human he chose. He has no feelings for me other than that weird possessive bullshit you shifters seem to thrive on. His behaviour is nothing more than keeping other shifters from playing with his new toy until he hands me over to his alpha. He told me himself that he would not disobey Dagon’s orders and that he has no desire to be mated to anyone, let alone a human. He hates us and you know what? He should. Humans murdered his parents and if anyone has the right to hate us, it’s him!”

  She took a deep breath and glared at the old shifter. “If Dagon does choose Adina, Kane might keep me for a few weeks longer. If I get really lucky he’ll keep me for the winter before he tires of me, and maybe I won’t fucking freeze to death. If he doesn’t, then I guess I’ll be whoring myself out to someone else in the pack in exchange for warmth and food. If, that is, your fucking asshole of an alpha ever lets me eat something more than fucking plants!”

  The door opened and Kane walked into the cabin. He closed the door firmly behind him and checked the window as he opened the bag tied around his waist. “Reese, I have brought you some charkas. You must eat them before – “