by TJ Cross
First things first, I thought. Assess the damage.
I cleared my head and began checking the condition of my body. Nothing was broken, that much was good. But my ribs were heavily bruised and I was pretty sure I’d have a headache for the next few weeks. There was something about golf ball sized knots on the rear of the skull that made things like that a possibility.
Once I’d ensured that my body was at least functional, I set out toward the rear entrance of the hotel. I slipped inside, using the ID that - fortunately - was still in my pocket, and raced toward the elevator. Before I could get across the lobby, though, Cherise called out to me from the front desk.
“Mr. Alexander! I didn’t realize that you were friends with Mr. Greystone. How has that not come up before?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Mr. Greystone? I knew that August was a Greystone, but I didn’t understand how that was relevant.
“What’s that?” I asked, walking over to where Cherise was stationed.
“He just left with your guest. I assumed you knew?” Cherise cocked an eye at me.
Holy shit. It dawned on me. The bear, Mr. Greystone. It was August’s father. He’d somehow found us, and he’d gotten rid of me in the process. Then, somehow, he must have convinced August to leave with him. I checked the wall clock behind Cherise’s desk. It had already been several hours since I’d lost consciousness.
The thought of that broke something inside me. For the first time in my life, I suddenly felt abandoned. Alone. Defeated. It was as though half of who I am had been torn away and scattered. That’s when I knew. That’s when I understood, really and truly, what being a mate meant. It was more than just unbelievable sex and reluctant companionship.
No, it was deeper. It was ingrained, inscribed on the essence of my very being, and there was no escaping it. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about August willingly abandoning me, leaving me, the more my heart ached. The more my tiger yearned to be in August’s arms, to be with him, to take him and claim him and to be claimed by him. I needed him.
I shook my head, trying to shake off the thought that August would desert me. There had to be a reason. He either thought I was dead or his father had forced him to leave. Probably both.
I had to get to him then, had to find him, had to save him. He was mine, and I couldn’t let anyone hurt him or harm him in any way.
“Say,” Cherise started. “How did you get outside anyways?”
But I was already on my way out the door, racing to where I hoped August’s Camaro would still be parked. Unfortunately, the car was gone.
Shit, I thought, scanning the area. And then I saw it, sitting there and waiting as though it were meant for me to find. A fiery red crotch rocket with the key still in the ignition. Without so much as a second thought, I climbed onto the bike, revved the engine, and abandoned the hotel. I had a long way to travel and, I reckoned, not much time to get where I needed to be.
AUGUST
Tears streamed down my face as I stared into the mirror, doing my best to knot the tie around my throat despite my shaky hands. My world was coming to an end, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I examined my appearance, trying to find something worth smiling over despite the situation. The tuxedo fit me well enough, though, to be honest, it felt a little snug around the belly. I’d either put on a few pounds since the last time I’d been to the local tailor, or he’d somehow screwed up my dimensions. Not that it mattered, really. I’d only be wearing the tuxedo for a short while, before shifting into my bear during the ceremony and publicly mating with Monica in our bestial forms. It was an old and tired custom, but for some reason, bear clans from colonies all over the nation still practiced it.
At least they don’t make us publicly mate in human form, I thought, trying to find some humor in the situation. Despite my best efforts, though, my mood never lifted. And, I suspected, it wouldn’t.
We’d left the hotel and arrived home several days ago now. Apparently, the cycle of life within Black Canyon had continued to turn without me. In fact, my father had managed to keep the details of my sudden departure secret. As far as I knew, my mother and brother were the only two people besides myself and my father who knew. To everyone else, the world kept turning and the arrangements for my mating had continued unfolding unabated.
My father had had one of his private helicopters waiting on the roof of the hotel, so the travel from Washington to Black Canyon taken relatively little time. He’d even called a tow company and had my Camaro taken to a nearby shop, where it still sat for all I knew. I seriously doubted that I’d be getting it back anytime soon. After all, I couldn’t be trusted with freedom.
A sudden wave of nausea washed over me and I dove toward the toilet, spilling the contents of my stomach into the porcelain bowl. I must have come down with a bug sometime over the past couple days because I’d spent more than a few desperate moments leaning over the toilet since I’d gotten home. Then again, maybe it was just nerves?
Ever since arriving back at my ancestral home, I’d been essentially locked in the house and held under the watchful eye of my younger brother. It didn’t matter, though. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t want to be anywhere, besides in Rhys’s firm and muscular arms.
I sighed, making my way over to the sink where I proceeded to brush my teeth. With a final check of my appearance, I shook my head, wiped away the still-streaming tears, and started out of the bathroom. I headed down the hallway toward the house’s entrance where I found my mother and brother waiting for me.
“You look absolutely handsome,” my mother affirmed upon seeing me. She moved to embrace me in a hug, and I reluctantly accepted it. Of everyone in the house, she had treated me the best upon arriving home. In fact, she’d continued on as if nothing ever happened, happy to play the role of an oblivious and doting mother while my father took to me like a violent overlord.
“Thanks,” I managed, hugging her back. Then I turned to my brother, “I guess it’s time?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go, everyone is waiting.”
I frowned and walked behind him as he guided me out of the residence and onto the sidewalk. We made our way through the small mountain town, my mother in tow behind us, as we headed toward the mountain sanctuary. The sanctuary itself was seated in Black Canyon proper, an enormous and foreboding cavern that had long ago been carved out as a hallowed ground and refuge for the early bear clans. Within the cavern sat a large garden, complete with various fruit trees and vines and a bubbling brook that had once been a mighty river, if the tales were true.
Several bears had already gathered when we reached the site of the ceremony and I had to fight back another wave of nausea once I saw them. They stood there, six enormous bears, on either side of the cavern, each one an alpha representing one of the six most powerful bear clans in the region. They all dipped their head in respect as I passed by them, and I acknowledged them with a forced grin. My father stood at the end of the line, the last bear to my right. His eyes pierced mine as I passed, reminding me of his words from the night before: Play along, or I’ll find and destroy your man-whore.
I didn’t have a choice. I had to go through with this.
Monica and her father stood in the center of circular outcropping of small boulders, hand-in-hand as they stood in human form. Monica was wearing a short white dress, her curvy figure hugging the fabric in a way that would have had any of the other men in the canyon groveling at her feet. My brother, in fact, stopped short upon seeing her, glanced once at me, then stepped off to the side with my mother where they then shifted into their own bear forms. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that my brother was jealous of me. Which, to be honest, was a pity. He could have the woman for all I cared. All I wanted was the sexy and exotic tiger who had stolen more than just my heart.
With a sigh, I strode toward Monica and her father, crossing into the circular outcropping that represented unhindered unity. In a few more
minutes, I’d be mated and my life as I knew it would be over. And, I suspected, so would Monica’s. She certainly hadn’t signed up to be mated to the only gay alpha in Black Canyon. Giving her cubs, I imagined, would be more than a little difficult.
“Is this August Greystone?” Monica’s father boomed, citing the ceremonial introduction.
I nodded to him, dipping my head in a show of respect. It was customary during the mating ritual for the father of the female to officiate and hand over his daughter. It was also customary for the male to feign the offering of dominance to the female’s father, no matter what their social station actually was. Yet another confusing bear ritual. “I am,” I said to the man, my voice wavering. “And I am here to mate with your daughter. To claim her as my own.” I quoted the lines from memory, meaning none of them.
“Are you worthy?”
“I am,” I lied.
“Are you vigilant?”
“I am.”
“Are you mighty?”
Again, “I am.”
“So says who?” Monica’s father questioned, turning to the bears gathered outside the ring of stone.
“So says I,” six alpha bears roared in unison.
“Then so be it -” Monica’s father’s voice trailed off, his eyes turning to saucers as his jaw dropped. Something outside the ring had clearly startled him, and I turned to follow his gaze.
Just beyond the mouth of the canyon, a massive tiger crouched, its fangs extended and fury glinting in its eyes.
My heart skipped a beat.
Rhys.
RHYS
I crouched low, my fangs and claws extended, and prepared myself for the fight I knew was to come. Everything in me screamed to attack now, to annihilate every bear in the place, and steal back my mate. My heart had almost broken as I heard August recite the lines to his mating ceremony, but I had to remind myself that he was being forced. I could see the reluctance in his posture, smell the fear and disgust in his breath. He didn’t want to be here, doing this.
I’d spent the past few days wandering around the mountains, searching every path and road for access to Black Canyon. I’d had a vague idea of where the bear colony was situated from hearing August recount stories of his childhood during our travels, but I didn’t realize finding the place would be that difficult. Eventually, I’d abandoned my stolen motorcycle altogether and had set out in my tiger form, tracking August’s scent for miles through the forests and hills. And, it seemed, I’d arrived just in time.
A sudden blast of anger emanated from one of the bears lined along the wall and I immediately recognized him as the bear who had assaulted me back in the hotel.
There you are, I thought, letting out a venomous growl as I did.
As if in time with my thoughts, the massive bear let out a loud roar and shouted in his deep bearish voice, “Get him! Kill the cat!”
Half a dozen bears roared in answer, and all but August’s father and another, smaller, female bear charged at me. One of the bears smelled eerily similar to August, and I recognized him as his brother, Jonathan. I’d never met him, but the resemblance in their scent was more than enough to confirm the fact. August had spoken highly and almost regretfully of his brother, so I decided that I’d spare him the fate that awaited the remainder of the beasts who were now bearing down on me.
I let out a massive roar, all but shaking the cavern in its intensity. For a brief second, the onslaught of bears paused. That second was all I needed.
With August still standing bewildered in the ring of stones alongside his presumed “mate” and another man, I dove into the pack of bears, slashing and biting as viciously and as furiously as I could, taking care to not harm Jonathan in the process. I’d already felled the first of the six beasts by the time the rest were able to respond. Soon, I found myself caught up in a flurry of claws and teeth, winding my way toward August’s position in the ring as I slashed and clawed my way through the pack of bears.
Nothing was going to separate me from my mate. Nothing.
Another pair of bears fell to the floor, licking at the gaping wounds I’d left all over their flesh. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand. Tigers were natural predators. We were the most evolved, the most powerful, and the most vicious beasts to walk the earth in centuries. There was no bear on the planet that could go toe-to-toe with a tiger and hope to get out unscathed. Yes, they had the numbers. They had the strength. But they didn’t have the experience, the instincts, the skill set.
I was a born killer. They, in all of their size and strength, were nothing more than oversized beavers, hell-bent on fattening up and gathering resources for a later day.
I let my tiger run loose, letting his instincts and intentions guide my own as I cut down one bear after the other. I had no intention of killing any of the bears. Most of them were innocent bystanders who were merely in the way - collateral damage, really. Instead, I only did enough damage to send them to the floor of the cavern, licking their wounds, and out of my hair for the moment.
Finally, all of the bears were down for the count. Even Jonathan had caught a stray claw on his hind leg and lay injured on the floor. I stood still for a moment, feeling the adrenaline pump through my veins in time with the tiger’s own killer instincts. He wanted to keep going, to tear August’s father limb from limb. He wanted pure and unadulterated vengeance. But I was in charge. And I knew that despite everything that had happened, August wouldn’t want that. He was far kinder than I was.
August’s father, however, didn’t seem to share the same gentle nature of his son. Before I knew what was happening, the massive bear crashed into me, heaving me once again off the floor and threw me against the cavern wall. I slammed into the wall, my already-injured ribs flaring up with lightning-hot pain as I slumped to the ground. I’d gotten distracted. I’d let my emotions get in the way of my goal and it had cost me.
I tried standing, but my legs gave out beneath me, sending me crashing back down to the cavern floor. I’d hurt something bad and August’s father knew it. The bear darted toward me, his massive size flailing wildly as murder filled his eyes. I had to get up, had to get to my feet, had to defend myself. Or else.
Just as the massive beast neared me, something else, something even larger collided with it. I raised my head in time to see the second form, an enormous deep-brown grizzly bear stand over the crumpled form of August’s father. Where he’d come from, I had no idea. More than that, I had no idea why he was defending me.
The grizzly bellowed a roar at the smaller bear, rising to its full height in a show of strength. In fact, it looked as though the newcomer was signaling its dominance over August’s father. Something that gave me pause entirely.
Seizing the opportunity, I scanned the ring of boulders for August, but couldn’t find him. Only the older man and his daughter stood - no cowered - behind a boulder in the ring. August was nowhere to be seen.
And then it dawned on me.
August wasn’t in the ring because August was standing over his father. August was the enormous grizzly. August had come to my rescue.
And now August was declaring himself alpha in a humiliating show over his own father.
“You listen to me,” August roared in his bearish voice at his father’s still-crumpled form. “I will do as I please. I will dictate my future. I will mate whomever I see fit.” He glanced over his shoulder at me, his golden eyes meeting mine for the first time. In that single eternal moment, everything that I’d ever wished, desired, and dreamed of seemed to come to life. My entire being felt warm. My fur, my bones, even the immaterial me. It was unreal. Unnatural, and yet, the most natural thing in the world.
“Is that understood?” August roared at his father, who only raised his head enough to nod. It was obvious that August had truly taken charge. He had asserted his dominance, claimed the pack as his own, and was now calling the shots. In a way, it was both frightening and unbearably sexy all at once. I’d known that August had alpha blood in h
im - he’d even shown hints of his dominant and assertive side at times during our travels, especially at the bed and breakfast - but I in no way realized the immensity of his reach. If he wanted, he could be the alpha of not only his clan, but of all the bear clans. I’d never seen a bear as large or defined as him, and I’d never felt such an emanating sense of power.
My sweet, shy, August. He’s been hiding that all along.
August turned to the nearby female bear, dipping his head to her, signaling his respect. “Mother,” he growled. “I love you, and I thank you. But now…now I’m done. I’m taking my leave, and I am leaving my clan in your care.”
The female - August’s mother - dipped her head. “Go, my sweet boy. Go and be.”
Then, without so much as a word to the rest of the on looking and staggered audience, August strode over to me, knelt down and lifted me from the cavern floor. Safe in his arms and against his furred chest, I shifted back into my human form, feeling minuscule in comparison to the beast who so tenderly held me.
“August,” I whispered, forcing the words out. I was confident that I’d shattered at least a few ribs.
“Shhh,” August shook his head, then started walking toward the cavern’s exit, leaving the would-be alpha bears to tend to their wounds. “I’m sorry,” August finally started once we’d broken into the clearing and he’d shifted back into his own human form. His still-large and powerful human form held my broken body tight against his chest. “I’m sorry that he hurt you. That I let him drag me back here. I’m sorry for all of this.”
“Don’t be,” I managed. “It’s my own fault for not telling you…for not letting you know…”
“Letting me know what?” August asked, still carrying me far away from the brutal scene behind us.
“That I felt it too. The connection. The love.” I blushed as I said it. It felt odd, but right at the same time. “I’m in love with you, August Greystone. And I don’t think I can help it.”
