by P. Jameson
Theo blinked.
“Fuck… really?”
Nastia nodded. “We start as babies just like you.” Her tone was almost defensive. “We grow just like you, raised by our tutors instead of parents. Our coven sisters are our family. We aren’t that different. And… we die like you. Our origin is just… well, unconventional, let’s say.”
“And you can have young?” His gaze went to his mate, and she bit that lower lip, her eyes looking worried.
If the answer was no, he’d still love her. He wanted cubs, but damn, Mirena was the one thing he couldn’t live without. Together, they could make it through a challenge like that. He’d just need to come up with a new plan to anchor her.
“If it was impossible, the ancestors wouldn’t have written it. Sorcera are human, just not commoners. They have all the physical attributes and qualities, just… altered. Similar to shifters really,” Nastia said. Her gaze settled on Adira, whose cheeks were still a blistering red. “It’s worth a try. What have you got to lose?”
The sister known as The Lightest was ramrod stiff on the couch, her fingers fisted tightly in her lap. Her eyes were on the floor, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
Mirena looked to Mason.
“You’re the only unmated male left in the clan. You could do this for her. And I know the two of you have a connection, because when you came to her door, the stuttering and rhyming went away—”
“For fuck’s sake, stop,” Mason exploded. “Don’t you see how crazy this is? And you’re… you know… embarrassing her. There has to be another way. Babies aren’t tools. You can’t just dig through a pile of ‘em, like wrenches, and find the solution for your problem. Having a young is complicated. It’s messy. It doesn’t solve jack shit.”
Mirena’s mouth snapped shut, her expression stricken, and Theo wanted to kick the cat in the face. He straightened from the wall, fisting his hands, but something held him back.
“I’m not suggesting you have a baby just because it could anchor Adira,” Mirena croaked. “I was simply giving you an option. A heads-up, so that if you wanted young in the future, you could start now rather than later.”
“I don’t,” Mason snapped.
“I… I thought there was something between you two.” Mirena looked at them, her brow furrowing. “I thought…”
Adira gave a quick shake of her head, her eyes still glued to the floor and her cheeks still flaming.
Theron stared across the room at Mason. He knew the cat had feels for one of the Sorcera. He’d more or less admitted it when he and Theo were trying to find a way to help Thames and his mate. If it wasn’t Nastia and it wasn’t Mirena… there was only Adira left. So why the hell wasn’t he jumping at this? Why wasn’t he trying to mate her?
Theo narrowed his gaze on the cougar. He was strung tight. Eyes glued to Adira, the awkwardness making the room feel even more crowded.
“I… I’m sorry,” Mirena stammered. “But I think you’re both full of… you know...”
“Shit,” Theo filled in for her.
“Yeah. That.”
Nastia’s eyes went wide, looking from one sister to the other. And Mirena’s accusation even pulled Adira’s gaze from the floor.
“You call her Sunshine,” Mirena reminded Mason. “You stand close to her. You watch her, don’t you? And you…” She looked to Adira. “You fought him the hardest when we first arrived. Chose him back then, because you felt something, didn’t you? Like I did with Theo. Like Nastia did with Thames. Can you deny that? Either of you?”
Mason fumed, gaze burning her. But when he spoke, it wasn’t to anyone in the room.
“Not now, Destiny,” he hissed between his teeth.
“What does she say?” Theo asked.
But Mason locked his jaw, his head giving a threatening shake. This wasn’t the time for him to be stubborn. Adira’s life was at stake, and if he didn’t care, fine. But the rest of them did.
“Damn it, cat. What does the Elder say?”
“It’s not for you,” he ground out. “And I’ve had enough of this. I’m not making a baby for anyone. Got it? No matter how important they are. You’re asking too goddamn much.” He pushed off the wall and stalked to the door. “I’m outta here.”
Tense silence filled the room as his hand landed on the knob, but for some reason he stopped. His head dipped low. Seconds ticked by. Then he marched back over the couch, reaching for Adira’s hand and pulling her to a stand. She went rigid at his touch, but didn’t pull away.
“Let’s go,” he demanded. “Not leaving you here. We’ll find another way.”
He didn’t wait for her answer. He pulled her toward the door, and she let him.
“Wait, Adira,” Mirena called, and her sister hesitated. “I just… you have to know… I’d never have a baby just to save myself. If I couldn’t love it, it would never have enough magic to anchor me anyways. This isn’t me turning dark. It’s me finding my way.”
Adira spoke for the first time since Mirena dropped the bomb of her plan. “You’ve always wanted a family, sister. I know your heart.”
With that, Mason pulled her from the cabin, leaving the rest of them in awkward silence.
Chapter Ten
Two days later, Mirena folded the last of her nightgowns and placed them in the dresser drawer Theo reserved for her. She took note of the lacy numbers he’d purchased ahead of time. They lay in a neat row of various colors. Black, blue, red, and purple. Her bear sure liked to be prepared.
He’d talked of re-decorating the entire cabin. Her choice, he said. Anything she liked. As long as it wasn’t terribly flowery.
She grinned to herself as she closed her suitcase and stowed it in the top of the closet.
Things hadn’t gone well with Adira and Mason. Mirena could admit, she hadn’t thought that one through. Perhaps she should have taken her sister aside and clued her in to the plan. But she hadn’t wanted to waste time. Telling everyone at the same time seemed the most expedient way to do it.
Instead, she’d embarrassed Adira and made an enemy of Mason.
But Theo promised her the shifter would come around. He just needed time to listen to his animal, he’d said. Things between him and Adira would straighten themselves out.
Mirena decided to believe him. He knew more about their kind than she did, and she had to believe Adira would find a way out of the darkness too. When she was ready for help, Mirena and Nastia would be there for her.
Turning to leave, she smacked into a hard-as-steel body, hard enough to push her backward. Mirena let out a yelp of surprise as Theo’s arms came around to steady her. She lifted her gaze to find his sexy grin, and knew he’d run into her on purpose. She gave his chest a playful smack.
“Hi, mate.” His silky, sultry rumble hit her right between the legs. Legs he’d kept spread for his attention most of the night and day until they’d decided to retrieve her things from the lodge. “You finished unpacking?”
He tilted her head for a kiss before she had the chance to answer, but she wasn’t complaining. His lips had become her favorite pastime.
“Just finished,” she said, when he pulled away. “You surprised me, sneaking up like that.”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t sneaking. You must have been lost in your head or something. This floor creaks like a fucker and I pretty much stomp when I walk. Thinking about last night, were you?”
Fucker. Her bear had a colorful vocabulary. It had taken some getting used to when they first met, but she didn’t mind now. Especially since he used that fuck word a lot when they were making love. It was how he expressed himself. Like the music he played.
“Huh. I didn’t hear you coming at all.” It was strange.
“Aw, damn,” he said, his expression turning grave.
“What?”
“Well… I’ve heard this can happen, but I never thought it was true.”
Mirena frowned. “Heard what can happen?”
He pulled her closer so their hips
touched, and she could feel his hardness through his jeans. It made her go hot all over.
“That you can rut and fuck so much that your girl goes deaf from all the screaming.”
“You heard that, huh?”
Theo nodded. “Scouts’ honor.”
Mirena scrunched her forehead, fighting a grin. “That’s odd though,” she mused. “Because my voice seems fine. Not hoarse or anything. So we obviously didn’t rut and fuck enough for that.”
Theo froze in surprise and then a laugh exploded from his lips. His head tipped back on his shoulders and his entire body hitched with laughter until his eyes leaked tears. The sound of him so happy was contagious, making her giggle as well. Because this wasn’t his snarky humor that he used a shield. This was him, actually content.
“Aw hell, Rena,” he murmured, hugging her close and dragging his hand up the back of her neck to tangle in the hair she’d left down. “I fucking love you.”
He froze a second time as the words left his mouth and became air. She did too. What would happen now that he’d said it out loud?
Theo pulled back to look in her eyes. “I mean…”
He was like a deer in the headlights. As shocked as she was that it slipped out.
“I… well, damn. That was something I was saving for later.”
She dropped a kiss to his cheek. “You can tell me later too if you want. I don’t mind.”
He let out a relieved breath. “It’s not too fast?” His question was quiet, careful.
“No. I told you. I’m all in, Theo. And I live by the ‘why wait’ rule, remember?”
“I feel like I’ve already waited long enough for you, mate.”
“What does that mean?”
His mouth curved in a half-smile and he took her hand.
“Come on. I need to get you fed, and then I’ll tell you.”
She followed him out of the closet and into the kitchen where he’d set up two tin camping plates piled high with chicken and pasta. A basket of bread sat in the middle of the tiny dining table, and two mason jars filled with ruby colored liquid topped each place setting. It wasn’t fancy, which meant it was perfect.
“When did you cook this?” she asked.
“I didn’t.” He gestured to the take-out cartons on the counter. “Eagan did. I just promised him I’d help him install the new flattop grill for it.”
He pulled out a chair and she sat as he pushed it in.
“Chicken Marsala?”
Theron nodded. “You like it. I remember.”
Mirena smiled big, recalling how she’d scarfed down her first meal at the lodge. She’d tried to keep her manners but Eagan’s pasta was too good for dainty eating.
Sitting in the chair across from her, Theo dug into his dinner. He ate with his arm wrapped around his plate, and hunched low. Like he was guarding it. She’d noticed this before and always wondered why he did it. Nastia once said the bears ate prison-style, so if you reached in to sneak a bite, they could fork you.
Mirena twirled some pasta and tried to go slowly. But her stomach was rumbling, and Theo heard it. He looked up, frowning.
“I should’ve fed you earlier. I’ll do better next time.”
“It’s fine, really,” she laughed.
Theo grunted a disagreement and reached for his jar, swigging the drink while he watched her take a bite, like he was making sure the food made it to her mouth. When he was satisfied she was eating, he went back to his prison stance.
“This is sweet,” she said. “No one’s ever done this for me before.”
He looked over his plate without lifting his head, causing his brows to furrow. “I didn’t ask before. Didn’t want to know. But… did any males ever pursue you, Rena?”
She pressed her lips together, unsure how to answer him. The way he’d reacted at the lake when he thought Mason was moving in, meant her bear was territorial. But she couldn’t blame him. She was too. The idea of anyone else getting him the way she had, made her want to wear him like a fur coat. All four seasons. Forget the one hundred percent humidity.
“Not exactly,” she said, and his frown deepened.
“Explain.” His voice was barely there. “Please,” he added.
Mirena put her fork down, leaning forward because she wanted to touch his hand. But then she remembered Nastia’s words about being forked.
“Well…” she began, “It was nothing really. But you know Mr. Briggs?”
Theron couldn’t frown harder. It was impossible. “The accountant? Stays at the lodge once a month, according to Gash.”
Mirena nodded. “Yeah, him. Well… he did ask me to have dinner with him, but I politely declined, and it was never brought up again.”
Slowly, he sat back in his chair, quietly considering this. “Should I kill him?”
For the second time, he’d said something outrageous while she was taking a drink. And for the second time, she coughed and sputtered, trying to get it down before it came out her nose.
“No, Theo,” she choked, one hand slapping at her sternum to calm the coughing reflex. “You most certainly should not kill Mr. Briggs. He is no threat to us.”
Theo eyed her, and she couldn’t help the grin forming on her lips. He was so serious when it came to her. It reminded her of the night she got her scar.
Joking Theo was nonexistent that night. There had only been this Theo. He’d stood over her, furious and threatening, demanding someone fix her. Demanding everything of his own brother’s mate, in order to save his. Save her. Nastia had done it, and now here they were, and still… he was forever guarding, protective, attentive. He’d be this way always, she knew, with anything that was his. A perfect mate, with perfect flaws.
“Tell me,” she said. “Tell me why you’re so careful with what’s yours.”
His gaze narrowed.
“Me, your home, your brother. This clan. Your food.” She gestured to his plate. “You protect everything like it could be ripped from you at any moment.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had the answer. The way he stiffened and let out a resigned sigh. Theo watched her with those careful eyes, his mouth open to answer but nothing coming out.
“Is that it?” she breathed.
He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table, staring at his plate. She waited for him to gather his words.
“When I was nine, the Mother of our clan had my parents put down.”
His confession sent a shock of pain through her middle, but she didn’t react. She was determined to be brave for him.
“I didn’t understand it at the time, why. But I later came to realize the Mother Bear was threatened by us. Me and Thames were the first Ursa Gemini born of our clan. Twins are so uncommon that the bears regard them as blessed. But we were loved more than her, and she wouldn’t have it. Blessed,” he muttered, shaking his head, the twitch of his lips somewhere between bitter and ironic. “That was the first thing taken from me, but it wasn’t the last. Mother Bear cursed us Ursa Inferior, and Thames and I were shunned by the clan. We lost our home, our belongings, our place in the world. But they were still responsible for us, so we were allowed to live on the streets of our village, and beg for food or collect it from the trash. We were allowed to be trained as the other bears, because the Mother liked to use us as targets for them to practice with.”
The few bites of food Mirena ate soured in her stomach and she shook with fury for what his people had done to him. She felt the darkness tug at her, wanting to feed off her anger. Like she felt as a child when memories of the Before haunted her. Like she felt when they’d fought the Alley Cats, when Nastia was filled with it.
It wasn’t part of her. Couldn’t be. Not until she let it in. But she could feel its seductive pull. She wanted vengeance for her bear. For the loss of his family, and the loss of his childhood.
“As a rite of passage, the Mother Bear prophesies over each transitioning young. A reading they call it. She had the gift of foresight, so s
he could reveal your future mate. It was what every young bear shifter looked forward to. Even Ursa Inferior. On the worst nights, me and Thames would huddle up under a tree or behind our dumpster where we kept the treasures we’d collected from the trash, and pass the time by imagining that day. The day we’d go before the clan and the Mother, and she’d tell us all about our mates. And we could finally move past our shitty reality. We… we had plans to find a cave and make it perfect for our females. We remembered our pop, and how he was a good mate to our mama. We didn’t have him for long, but our bears remembered how to do good by a female. We were determined to do it right, me and Thames. No matter what people thought of us.”
Theo hadn’t looked up from his plate, and she could feel that things were going to get worse before his story was over. She locked her jaw, determined to keep any tears from falling. He needed to get this out, and she needed to let him.
“So our day came,” he sighed. “And instead of doing our reading, she wanted to punish us for something that wasn’t our fault. She wanted to beat us before the clan, and I just couldn’t stomach any more of her shit, so I stood up to her.”
“Good,” Mirena blurted, her voice distorted with rage and sorrow.
Theo’s gaze found her, and his eyes softened.
“No, Rena. It was a mistake. She was going to kill me, but a female stopped her. One she was soft to, and she spared me.”
The breath eased out of Mirena at this revelation. “A female saved you?”
Theo dipped his head in answer, and her mind scrambled to make sense of what he was saying.
“A… mate?” She barely formed the words, her throat aching.
“No,” he whispered. “This female was nothing of mine. She was cruel. Whether it was because she feared the Mother Bear or because she despised me like all the others, she ridiculed me before the clan. Denied me flat out. She only stopped the Mother because she didn’t want her own Reading Day marred by my death.”
“But she stood up for you.”
“And then she denied me.” He shook his head. “My bear could never bond with a female who hurt me like that.”
