Darn it. That’s exactly what I was doing. Hurting him by dragging my feet on giving him the answer he deserved. I couldn’t let my fear do that to him. “Yes, there have been situations where a witch has been matched with their consort and the pairing didn’t result in a relationship in the truest sense of the word.”
“Truest sense of the word?” he echoed. “Is there another kind of relationship witches and consorts can have besides a sexual one?”
“I’ve heard of a few, rare instances where they’ve been close friends instead of lovers,” I admitted softly.
“Friends? I’m not sure how my bear would feel about you having such a close connection to another man, even if he was only a friend, but I could definitely work with that if it meant I got to keep you.”
“And there have been other witches who’ve chosen to have no relationship with their consort.”
“Even better,” he drawled, bending low to give me a passionate kiss.
“Very, very rarely,” I stressed when he let me up for air again.
“It doesn’t matter to me how uncommon it is. Fuck Fate. I’m my own man. I make my own destiny, and it’s led me right where I belong—with you.”
He sounded confident in his decision, but I wasn’t convinced it was that simple. Not when neither of us had experience with healthy, romantic relationships and the people who’d be hurt if things went wrong were our children and grandchildren. “What if my consort finds me?”
“I refuse to let that rule our decision, not when we don’t know if it’ll ever happen. Or when it might not mean your Goddess had intended for you to be a couple. I’ll do everything in my power to make you too happy to ever consider leaving me, and we’ll cross that bridge if it ever comes to pass.”
“Are you sure?”
He kissed me again, showing me exactly how certain he was with his decision. By the time he was finished, I was straddling his body with my wet core sliding against his hardened length. “I should probably say some bullshit about stepping aside if that day ever came, but I’m too damn selfish when it comes to you. So fuck Fate, and fuck that guy too. The only person who can convince me to walk away from you is you.” He canted his hips upwards. “I refuse to believe that’s what you want to do, not with what we have. And I don’t mean just the sex, even though it’s fucking fantastic.”
Even with as worked up as I was, I didn’t doubt his sincerity. Not for a second. He just wasn’t that kind of guy. He was trustworthy, down to his bones. Any woman would be lucky to have him in her life. And here I was with all of his sexiness beneath me, telling me he wanted a relationship even though he was the one who would be taking the biggest risk.
“You’re right. I’d much rather do this.” I wrapped my hand around his length, lowered myself onto it, and went about proving again how fantastic the chemistry was between us.
Chapter Nine
Carrick
Between several rounds of sex to try to make up for the drought we’d both gone through while we were apart and checking in with Camden and Selene multiple times, Audra and I didn’t get much sleep that night. The ringing of my cell just as the sun rose in the sky wasn’t a pleasant surprise, especially when I saw it was Damien calling. “Fuck.”
Audra sat up, rubbing at her sleepy eyes. “Is it the kids? Is something wrong with Nixon and Nyssa?”
I clicked on the button to answer the call and promptly hit the mute button. Damien could damn well wait while I alleviated Audra’s concerns. “No, sweetness. It’s just Damien being a pain in the ass like usual. Go back to sleep.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I pressed a kiss against her forehead and nudged her shoulders to get her to lie back down. “I’ll wake you up if it’s anything important. I promise.”
She nodded, snuggling against the pillows as her eyes drifted shut again. That’s how exhausted she was.
I waited until I tugged on a pair of athletic shorts, walked out of the room, and shut the door behind me to unmute the call. “This had better be a fucking emergency, Damien. I’m not in the mood for any bullshit. Our grandchildren were just born yesterday. Neither of us has gotten much sleep, and Audra has jet lag from traveling.”
“I’m sure it’s just the birth of your grandchildren and Audra’s jet leg that left her so tired.”
“Don’t start, man. Don’t even fucking start.” The sarcasm was thick in Damien’s tone, and it had pissed me the fuck off. “I’m not going to play your usual game where you know shit you’re not supposed to know and you say cryptic shit. Not today. Like I said, the reason you called had better be an emergency.”
“Sorry, you’re right. Now’s not the time to give you hell, but not for the reason you think.” I had made it downstairs to the kitchen. Partly in shock from receiving such an easy apology from Damien, I dropped onto one of the stools at the counter and braced myself for whatever it was he needed to tell me. “I didn’t wait to call because this concerns Nixon and Nyssa.”
My bear came to attention, pushing to the surface. Fur rippled on my arms, and I struggled to maintain control as I asked, “Is there some kind of threat to my grandchildren?”
“Not an immediate one, no. Our council has received a petition in regard to their standing in the shifter community, and I’ve learned that a similar complaint has been filed with the witch council. In and of themselves, the requests are concerning. But timed the way they were? Less than twelve hours after their birth, and sent to the leadership of both communities? I think it’s something we need to take very seriously.”
The only way it could have been done that quickly after Nixon and Nyssa’s birth was if there were spies in Bear Creek. I stood and walked to the window over my sink, my gaze scanning the back yard before I moved through the living room to look out front as well. After I confirmed that there wasn’t anyone nearby with a line of vision into my house, I switched the call to speaker phone and tapped out a quick group text to warn my sons and Parker that they needed to be hyper vigilant because there was a possible threat to the family. “What are the chances that these protests were made completely separate from each other?”
“Slim to none.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.” I set the phone down and rubbed my face. “Witches and shifters banding together against infants. Not just any babies, but part of my clan. And not just any members. Nixon and Nyssa were my flesh and blood. My grandchildren.”
“You going to be able to keep your shit together?”
“Who the fuck do these people think they are, daring to question Nixon and Nyssa’s place in my clan? I’m the motherfucking alpha of the McMahons.” My voice rose during my rant until it was a bellow.
“I’m going to take that as a no,” Damien sighed as I heard Audra’s footsteps on the stairs. “Can I talk to your witch instead?”
I was so angry; I didn’t catch how he referred to Audra as mine. Swiveling on my stool, I turned to face her as she raced into the kitchen. “What’s wrong? I thought you said it was just Damien and nothing for me to worry about, but then just as I fell back asleep I heard you yelling something about the babies.”
Hearing his deep chuckle through the line, I hit the mute button again. “C’mere.” I held out my hand, and tugged her towards me as soon as our palms touched. I waited until she was standing between my legs with my arms around her to explain the reason behind Damien’s call.
She took it about as well as I did. Her green eyes burned bright as she muttered, “By the Goddess and all the powers she’s given me, I vow that whoever is behind this foul deed will pay. And the price will be high.”
“You’d better fucking believe it. They’ll have to go through the entire McMahon Clan before they’ll be able to get near Nixon or Nyssa. Bear Creek is about to experience a lock down unlike they’ve ever seen before. It’s hard to believe anyone connected with the clan would conspire against us in such a manner, but nobody outside of the family is free from suspicion. Not until w
e can determine beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re not a part of this.”
“Selene and I will set up several layers of protection for Nixon and Nyssa. Protection amulets they can wear around their ankles. Spells on all the homes and cars. And I’ll call Tempest. She already proved her loyalty a year ago and can be trusted to provide assistance.”
I nodded, and my gaze slid back to the phone. “Damien has proven himself as well.”
“He has.”
I begrudgingly un-muted the call. “Can we count on you for your assistance?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you, Damien.”
Audra poked me in the chest, and I took it as a hint. “We appreciate it.”
“You almost sound like you meant that,” Damien chuckled.
“I actually do. It’s a relief to know you’ll have our backs when the council meets to discuss the petition.”
“About that,” he drawled. “Seth is going to call for a meeting this afternoon, and he’s going to give everyone forty-eight hours to gather. But he wanted me to give you an early warning so you wouldn’t be caught unaware. It’ll give you a head start on setting up protection for your family before you and Audra need to leave.”
The wolf shifter who served as the head of the council had also proven to be a valuable ally in the past. I hadn’t appreciated how he’d handled certain things—like allowing Selene to risk her life in order to prove to other shifters what she was willing to sacrifice for her mate—but he’d demonstrated his support when he’d asked Selene to serve on the council. It wasn’t the easiest path he could have taken, but it had been the right one. He’d earned my respect with that decision, and giving us advance notice of the trouble heading our way only reinforced it for me. “Let him know I appreciate it.”
“Will do.”
“Does this new development change the plan for me to step into Selene’s position on the council?” Audra asked.
“Not at all. They might’ve been fast with their petition, but they weren’t quick enough because Seth already made that announcement last night. Had they gotten their request in before that, it wouldn’t have been good.”
“Would it have made that much of a difference?”
“Definitely,” I answered. “With a decision undecided on the petition, if Seth had moved forward with placing you on the council, it would’ve appeared that he was giving my family preferential treatment since I serve on the council. His hands would’ve been tied until after the situation with Nixon and Nyssa was settled.”
“It’s possible that’s exactly what they were hoping for,” Damien added. “But we ruined that plan by being quicker than they expected, even if it was only by a handful of hours.”
Our win was by a small margin, but I’d take it. A win was a win. Period.
Chapter Ten
Audra
Carrick and I had spent the next thirty-six hours ensuring our family would be safe while we were gone. We’d barely gotten everything in place before we needed to leave to ensure we had enough time to make it to the council meeting since it was one we couldn’t possibly miss. Not when Nixon and Nyssa’s safety was at stake. We’d run ourselves ragged, mostly in opposite directions.
Tempest had quickly agreed to come to Bear Creek and help in any way she could, which included watching over my daughter and grandchildren until I returned. She, Selene—who used a healing spell to quicken her recovery time and then quickly wore herself out helping with the protection spells for everyone—and I focused on all the magical ways we could keep our loved ones safe. Carrick and his sons concentrated on more practical, but equally lethal, methods.
By the time we boarded the plane, I felt confident that nobody would be able to take advantage of our absence. If that had been part of their plan, they were in for a nasty surprise. Quite a few of them actually.
Since Carrick and I had seen so little of each over since Damien’s call, the children hadn’t really had the opportunity to see us together much. As such, they hadn’t noticed any changes in how we interact with each other now that we’d decide to pursue a relationship. The dire situation we’d found ourselves in had necessitated that we wait before we shared the news with them because they didn’t currently have sufficient time to come to terms with what was going on between Carrick and me. Heck, we hadn’t even had the time to figure it all out ourselves.
One thing was certain, I was proud to have him standing next to me while we faced the challenge ahead. He was fierce. Loyal. And determined to destroy anyone who wanted to hurt the family—a goal in which we were united. Our enemies had only brought us even closer together.
About five minutes after the plane lifted into the air, I fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of the landing gear engaging, and I had to shake Carrick awake because he slept through it. “Hey, we’re about to land.”
“Fuck, that went by faster than I thought it would,” he groaned.
His dark hair was messy, his eyes were heavy lidded, and his clothes were rumpled. It made him look like we’d found a more energetic way to pass the time over the past few hours. “Did you pass out as quickly as I did?”
“A few minutes later.”
“Then no wonder it went by so quickly, we both slept through the whole thing.”
He scanned my face with a concerned gaze. “Too bad it wasn’t twice as long.” His thumb gently brushed the skin underneath one of my eyes. “You never got to recover from your original jet lag, and now you’re just going to double up on it. And that doesn’t even take into consideration all the sleep you’ve missed in the past few days.”
“Is that your way of telling me I look horrible?”
“Fuck no,” he growled. “You couldn’t look horrible if you tried.”
“Trust me, I really can.”
“Impossible,” he insisted.
“Maybe to you.”
“Are we really arguing about how gorgeous you are?”
“No.” I thought about it for a moment. “Maybe.” And another. “Okay, yes. I think we are.”
He flashed me a grin. “Just like an old, married couple.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you calling me old now?”
“If I was going to call one of us old, it’d be me. Definitely not you, sweetness. I wouldn’t want to ruin my chances at make-up sex.”
“Oh, hush,” I laughed, swatting at his arm.
The wheels touched down and our moment of levity evaporated.
“You ready?”
“Yes.” I nodded, but it was an attempt to try to convince myself that I really was ready when I was actually super nervous. “We never did get the chance to talk about what I should expect at the council meeting.”
Carrick gave me a quick rundown. “Huh,” I snorted. “For all the supposed differences between shifters and witches, that sounds an awful lot like how the Council of Four operates.”
“Really?” he chuckled.
“It sure does.”
“Imagine that.” He pulled me onto his lap and claimed my mouth in a deep kiss. “With as amazing as the only witches I know are, I was expecting your council to be leaps and bounds ahead of ours. There are times when I feel like the rules we still follow are archaic.”
“That’s clearly an issue with both councils,” I sighed. “Or else it wouldn’t be possible for anyone to petition to have infants excluded from our communities.” Because that’s what was at stake here. The petition to the Council of Four had the potential to prevent Nixon and Nyssa from being trained as witches, should we discover they had talents in that arena. The one to the shifter council would stop them from being recognized as members of Carrick’s clan, even if they were bear shifters.
Decisions were going to be made for their future well before they should be, and the councils were going to be involved when they shouldn’t be. People who didn’t have their best interests at heart had ripped the control away from our family. For whatever reason, they wanted to cause harm to our famil
y through the twins. That was unacceptable. Not when I had no doubt Nixon and Nyssa would be accepted by those who loved them whether they turned out to be witch, shifter, or a combination of both.
“We won’t let that happen,” Carrick assured me. “The person behind this either did it out of fear of the unknown—since Nixon and Nyssa are the first children born of a recognized union between a witch and a shifter—or because of their exclusionist beliefs.”
I hoped it was the latter since I’d been battling those kinds of people within my community with much success for the last nine months. They believed witches and shifters should remain separate because that’s how it had always been, but they weren’t necessarily afraid of shifters. They could be reasoned with; convinced to let the matter be since a mingling of our communities didn’t necessarily mean they had to be welcoming to the other side.
Outright fear of the kind of power Nixon and Nyssa might wield when they grew older would be trickier to battle. It would require a show of force so compelling that they’d back down. We’d need to convince them that it was futile to go after the twins because they’d never succeed. That they’d only bring unwanted attention to themselves and those they loved. Or else they’d never stop coming after them. Nixon and Nyssa would never be given the chance to grow into the people they were supposed to become. We had no choice but to succeed since their entire future was at stake—along with the fate of any other babies born from shifter-witch pairings.
Luckily for us, we had staunch allies who’d stand with us against our newest enemy. Carrick froze for a moment after he opened the rear door of the car waiting for us after we stepped off the plane. He shielded my body as he leaned in and did a quick scan before nodding his head and ushering me in. Two people were waiting inside; a man I’d only met once but had heard much about—Seth, the head of the shifter council—and a woman I’d never seen before. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders protectively, in a gesture similar to Carrick’s with me once we got settled on the seat opposite them.
Bear Your Fate: McMahon Clan 4 (Fated Mates Book 7) Page 5
