by Fel Fern
His own bear felt truly home now, especially with their mate in their arms.
“I heard you had a productive day,” Dimitri said, amused Cal started drawing circles on his chest with his fingers.
“I did. Did you hear from Cassandra?”
“Yes, I did. So, you were with Dustin and Mila?”
“They’re surprisingly easy to get along with, and they introduced me to the other bear shifters in the same age group.”
“You’re finally opening your heart to others. I’m glad.”
“I missed you badly though.”
He placed a kiss on Cal’s forehead before tipping Cal’s chin upwards with his fingers. Dimitri claimed Cal’s mouth, having missed the taste of him. Cal parted his lips so he could thrust his tongue down his throat. Dimitri moved his hand past the sheets and fur to fondle Cal’s dick.
Dimitri’s own cock began to harden. He pulled his mouth away but kept stroking Cal’s shaft.
“Me too.”
Cal flashed him a knowing, wicked smile. “My ass, too?”
Dimitri growled, rolling on top of him. “Of course. Now, beg me for my cock.”
“Pretty please, Alpha?”
That, Dimitri couldn’t deny.
Chapter Eleven
Cal rolled off bed and fell, which finally woke him up. On the floor of Dimitri’s and his tent, he groaned, seeing the sun through the tent flap. He slowly stood up, not surprised to find Dimitri had left. The Alpha was always an early riser.
“Cal? Are you still in there?” came Dustin’s worried voice.
“Yeah.” Cal searched for his pants, found them, and put them on.
Dustin opened the flap, dressed head to foot in light-weight leather armor. “You’re not dressed yet?”
“It’s our day off from training,” he stated. “Right?”
Since Dimitri returned from making his rounds visiting other clans, he’d passed basic shifting training and started joining the other junior soldiers. A month had passed. Cal had a harder time than most, but having Dustin around helped.
“What? No, that’s tomorrow. Today, we’re going on a scouting mission with Maurice, remember?”
“Oh shit. That’s today?” Cal swallowed.
After Dimitri found out about Maurice a month ago, he had a talk with the other enforcer. Given Cal started training with the other clan soldiers, it was inevitable he had training sessions with Maurice. Enforcers also gave the younger clan members lessons, and Maurice as his teacher was Cal’s least favorite.
“Come on, I’ll help you get ready,” Dustin said, stepping in.
A few minutes later, they scrambled to meet their group at the edge of the base. Naturally, Maurice spotted them trying to blend in with the others.
“Cal and Dustin, I’m not surprised you two are late,” Maurice said in a dry voice.
Cal knew it. They were in for a lecture, followed by some kind of punishment like extra guard duty or something worse. Maurice loved giving him a hard time, but he sucked it up, knowing joining the other junior soldiers was a chance he couldn’t afford to miss.
Already, some of the other shifters had warmed up to him, considered him their own. There would be always those who would see him as an outsider, not appropriate for the Alpha, but Cal couldn’t please everyone.
To his surprise, Maurice only shook his head and turned to the rest of the group. “We’ve wasted enough time already. Everyone, have your weapons ready. We’re heading out soon.”
Dustin and he traded surprised looks but nonetheless did as the enforcer asked. He checked the knives at his belt. All the clan soldiers were taught to hunt and fight in both human and animal form, to not rely on their bear form all the time. A valuable lesson, according to the senior soldiers, because they might find themselves in situations where they might not be able to shift fast enough.
That was especially true to Turned shifters like Cal. If he came face-to-face with a naturally born shifter, that enemy would complete the shift first and easily maul him down.
“Lucky,” Dustin whispered to him as their group headed out of the base.
“Thanks, by the way. You didn’t have to stay behind and help me get ready,” he said.
Dustin looked embarrassed but only waved him off. “It’s nothing. Besides, we didn’t get punished, so it’s fine, right?”
“I was kind of taken aback, too,” he admitted. Cal couldn’t help but wonder if Maurice had anything malicious planned.
Dimitri kept assuring him that Maurice was still a clan enforcer, that his priority was the Skull Crushers, but Cal was distrustful of people like Maurice. Maurice might not be corrupt or greedy like Keys, but power did strange things to people. Maurice might still see him as a threat, although Cal didn’t know why.
“Less talking,” came Maurice’s annoyed tone from the front of the party.
It wasn’t like they were the only two talking, but he had a feeling Maurice aimed that comment at them. They hiked for almost an hour. Cal might be fitter than he’d ever been, but he was still out of breath, trying to match his speed with the others.
“We’ll split into teams of two and spread out. Report any suspicious sightings to me. Remember, don’t engage if you spot any trespassers on our land. The mission is to scout,” Maurice said. “Here are your areas.”
Once Dustin and he received their location, they headed out toward that direction. They were assigned to the western part of the forest Cal had never been to before. The trees here, he noticed, were clumped closer. Plus, there was plenty of overgrowth.
“This is pretty big, huh? Usually, they don’t let us junior soldiers go off on our own,” he told Dustin.
Dustin nodded, looking around the area. Cal did the same, relying on his shifter senses. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but the further they headed out, the more his bear grew agitated. When he accidentally brushed shoulders with Dustin, Dustin let out a soft growl.
“Sorry,” Dustin muttered. “For some reason, I’m on edge.”
“Me too. Do you think there’s something ahead?” he whispered back. Cal reached for one of his hunting knives.
“Maybe.” Dustin sounded uncertain.
Cal had always looked up to Dustin, who always didn’t seem to mind staying back and helping him out with extra practice or training. It only struck him now that Dustin was scared, just like him. Unlike the more seasoned warriors, Dustin had never seen an actual battle.
They were both in this together, and he found some relief in that knowledge.
The rustle of bushes nearby made them both jump. Seeing a squirrel darting out of the bushes and up a tree, they both relaxed. Laughed.
“Damn, I feel like an idiot now,” Dustin grumbled, kicking a bunch of fallen leaves on the ground. “Can you, like, keep this secret from the others?”
He snorted. “Of course. No one needs to know about that squirrel.”
Dustin grinned, but spotting a large shadow moving through the trees, he gripped Dustin’s shoulder in alarm. The other shifter narrowed his eyes and looked up. He sniffed, grimaced, scenting decaying flesh. Old blood.
“What the hell is that?” Dustin demanded, both of them looking at the dark figure through one of the trees’ thick branches. “Cal, back-to-back fighting stance.”
Their backs hit against each other. Cal drew his knife. There was no time to retreat, not when that thing, whatever it was, drew closer and closer to their spot.
“I should shift,” Dustin said. “I’m faster, but you be ready.”
“Let’s do it.”
As Dustin fumbled for his clothes, the shadow dropped right in front of Cal. He sucked in a breath. Recognition hit him like a painful blow to the head. The monster seemed to have grown bigger in size, if that were possible. Very little clothing hung off the wolf man’s frame. Its fur was more matted, and crazed bloodshot yellow eyes zeroed in on him.
“Shit.” His hand shook terribly.
Cal still couldn’t block out the image of the rabid shifter
digging his claws into his belly, unearthing his insides. The scar there ached. Behind him, he heard a series of pops.
Dustin was shifting. Okay. Cal wasn’t alone now, and he wasn’t completely defenseless, either. Questions raced in his head. It couldn’t be sheer coincidence that this monster was here. For one, this area was far away from the woods around Thorne Village. Could it have tracked his scent here?
Horror filled him. Did Maurice assign Dustin and him this particular area, knowing what awaited them? Could the enforcer have somehow lured the rabid shifter to this part of the woods?
He readied himself to a fighting stance, only to feel a heavy paw shove him to the ground. He yelped, face tasting dirt. Dustin, in bear form, rushed past him to tackle the rabid shifter head-on.
“Dustin, you ass,” he yelled. Dustin probably thought he was being all heroic and shit.
His knife would serve no use here. Dustin bought him enough time to shift. They could do this, handle this monster together. Cal quickly got out of his clothes and reached for his bear. Dustin and the rabid shifter growled at each other and collided, a fury of fangs and claws.
I need you now. My friend needs us. His clan… he silently pleaded to his bear. The animal understood. Sometimes, the stubborn animal refused to work with him, constantly wearing him out, but not today.
Fur covered his entire body. Bones broke and organs realigned. Claws and teeth emerged. He’d barely finished shifting just as Dustin’s body sailed past him and hit the ground. Seeing his friend all bloodied up and torn enraged Cal. Dustin let out a weak snarl, but he could see the throw had broken his leg. That would take some time to heal.
The rabid wolf shifter howled at him in challenge.
He was scared out of his mind, but he shoved old fears aside. This time, Cal wouldn’t go down easy. He wouldn’t be defenseless, either. Cal let out a roar of his own and met his enemy head-on, claws and teeth out, ready to do some damage.
Chapter Twelve
Dimitri frowned, sensing disparity in the clan bonds, the bond that connected him to all his bears, including his mate. Once they were finally mated, Dimitri would be able to sense Cal’s emotions, but Cal was doing so great. Slowly but surely, Cal was fitting in with the rest of the Skull Crushers. Dimitri didn’t intend to wait any longer. He’d already sent word to the other bear clans that he’d already chosen his mate, and he intended to announce Cal soon.
“Alpha? Do you have any further questions?” asked Gordon, the new mayor of Thorne Village.
Dimitri remembered where he was. Duncan, he, and three other senior clan members had taken an early morning trip to Thorne Village to see what could be done to help the village on its way to recovery. A couple of weeks had passed since he executed Keys, but Gordon, the former head guard turned mayor, seemed to be doing a decent job of reorganizing the village.
Would Cal be happy about the news? Cal claimed he no longer wanted to have anything to do with Thorne Village, but it was still the place where Cal grew up. His bear growled softly inside of him.
Dimitri grew certain. He hadn’t imagined the tension in the clan bonds. External enemies were easy to deal with, but internal conflict within the clan?
“No, I’m looking forward to your quarterly report,” he told the new mayor. Duncan flashed him a worried look but didn’t comment in front of Gordon and his newly elected advisors.
They shook hands. Dimitri and Duncan left the town hall and exited the town. A few weeks without Keys and the village seemed to thrive better. Plenty of townsfolk greeted Dimitri and his bears, wished them a safe journey back.
Once outside the village walls, Duncan asked him. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t put my finger on it, but we need to head back home,” he said.
“There’s something strange about the clan bonds, I can feel it, too,” Duncan admitted.
Dimitri had a gut feeling it had to do with Cal. Duncan once mentioned he was being overprotective, told him to let Cal spread his own wings, but he couldn’t shake off this uneasy feeling.
“Maurice is in charge of training the junior soldiers, yes?”
Duncan nodded. “He said he intends to take them on their first scouting mission.”
“The rest of you can head back to base. I want to see how the other trainees are doing,” Dimitri said, glancing upwards. It was nearing noon now, and Maurice’s training session would take up the entire day.
“I’ll come with you,” Duncan said with a nod. “My bear also tells me something isn’t right.”
“We’ll go in bear form, easier to take the short cut through the woods,” he said.
They both stripped down, handed the other soldiers their gear and weapons. Dimitri shifted to bear form and felt Duncan doing the same.
He didn’t waste any time. Dimitri sprinted toward the woods, trusting his bear to lead the way. He sensed a tug on the clan bonds again, felt fear and anger, but with so many bears connected to him, it took him time to identify who the emotions resonated from.
Dustin and Cal.
He roared, sprinted faster, identifying where those two were located. Duncan and he nearly bumped into two more junior soldiers, Alisha and Aaron. Twins.
“Alpha,” Aaron said with surprise.
Dimitri changed back to human to ask, “Where are Dustin and Cal stationed?”
They didn’t question him, probably sensing the urgency in his tone. “Maurice sent them to the western woods,” Alisha answered, looking worried. “Did something happen?”
“Duncan, get Maurice, make sure you bring him back to the base, guarded,” he said. “You two, as you were.”
His second didn’t argue. Rage built up inside of him as he transformed back to animal form. Dimitri reached the spot within minutes. Junior soldiers still didn’t know the lay of the Skull Crushers’ land completely, but every senior soldier worth their salt had memorized every terrain and short cut.
Dimitri immediately scented blood. That didn’t help his bear’s mercurial mood. There was reckoning to be had, and Maurice was a dead man walking. He didn’t sense the presence of the enforcer, but Maurice possessed a certain amount of cunning, probably sent someone else to do his dirty business.
Growls and snarls erupted ahead of him. Dimitri ran faster, found two of his bears, badly injured and bloodied, trying to fight off a familiar figure. The same rabid werewolf that nearly killed Cal. He roared, enraged. Both Dustin and Cal had done well in fending off a feral and adult rabid male.
Both bear shifters gave him space as he barreled toward the wolf man. Rabid shifters didn’t possess much human intelligence, and this area wasn’t easily accessible by outsiders. That meant only one thing. His enforcer lured the creature here on purpose. Hell, Maurice probably scheduled this scouting mission today, knowing Dimitri and the others were away from the base. Maybe Maurice would act all shocked and tell him the terrible news that his mate and another soldier were killed by accident.
The rabid werewolf and he collided. This time, Dimitri wielded his fury like a weapon, unrelenting using his claws, his fangs.
In seconds, he had the rabid shifter under him. The werewolf sunk its claws into his chest, but Dimitri anticipated that move just so he could sink his fangs into his enemy’s throat. With one yank, he tore the werewolf’s head from its body.
Silence filled the space. Dimitri stepped away from the corpse, roaring in triumph. Both Cal and Dustin echoed his roar, answering the Alpha’s call. He heard the echoes of his other junior soldiers in the vicinity, doing the same. Maurice would also recognize his fury, understood he’d lost. His former enforcer might run, but he knew Duncan would apprehend him.
He silently assessed Dustin and Cal’s injuries. Relief washed over him. Nothing lethal. Their regenerative abilities would kick in soon.
It was all over. Dimitri had one more ugly business to attend to. After that, he intended to tell his mate how proud he was of him for standing his ground like a true warrior.
A Skull C
rusher.
Chapter Thirteen
“What do you have to say for the accusations against you, Maurice?” Dimitri asked in tone that was all ice.
Cal stood next to Dustin amongst the other gathered bear shifters. A day had passed since the attack. He rubbed at the scars on his arm, which had already faded to white lines thanks to his new shifter healing.
He didn’t know what would have happened if Dimitri hadn’t arrived to finish that rabid werewolf off. Both Dustin and he had been pushed to their limits. Cal himself knew he’d collapse any time soon. Dimitri told him he sensed a certain discord in the clan bonds and took off to find him, trusting his gut instinct.
“I have nothing else to say,” Maurice said with a defiant look. Maurice seemed to search the crowd, gaze meeting his. No apology in those gold eyes. No remorse. Maurice didn’t think his actions were wrong, Cal thought numbly.
“You don’t deny any of the charges against you?” Duncan asked next to the Alpha.
The entire clan had gathered by the bonfire, with the Alpha, Duncan, and the other enforcers at the edge. Maurice stood amongst them, without any chains, but there was no need. Even Maurice couldn’t fight his way out of this.
“No. If you can’t see the truth, I pity you all. That half-breed deserves to be gotten rid of, and the Alpha needs to find a more appropriate mate.”
So much for acting like a prick. According to the rumors, after Maurice realized Dimitri and Duncan had discerned his plans, he bolted, but he was no match for Duncan. Maurice acted like a coward, and the Skull Crushers didn’t tolerate cowardice in their ranks.
“Cal is one of us. He could have run, but he fought off that rabid werewolf you sent after us without hesitation,” Dustin yelled.
There were murmurs of agreement at Dustin’s proclamation. Cal shifted on his feet, uncomfortable with his friend defending him in front of the entire clan. Yet, he was pleased at the same time.
“Silence,” Dimitri said as the crowd grew quiet again.
The Alpha only had eyes for Maurice, and Cal knew the former enforcer was done for. Part of him was relieved, because he had a feeling Maurice’s hatred ran deep. Maurice would never stop finding ways to get rid of him.
