Stolen Mate: A Shifting Destinies Bear Shifter Romance (Shifters of Bear's Den Book 5)

by Cecilia Lane

  “We’re trying to get to the truth, Ms. Mather. We think you’re the one to help with that.” Scar opened the file under his hand and started to line up pictures. The first made her cringe, and her stomach turned by the third.

  Bomb blasts, all of them. Wreckage strewn about. They weren’t just debris, either.

  She could handle pictures of stuffed animals blown to bits and tableware cracked and broken on the carpet.

  They showed her all the gore and aftermath of Wade’s misguided hatred.

  Shifters outside the pride were dangerous, he always said. Enclave shifters were the worst. And the ones adding their names to the registration lists and flashing off their otherness to the world? They were just asking for trouble.

  Wade gave it to them. Sawyer’s accusations were spot on. Her father danced around the subject without outright denying it.

  “Stop.” She flicked the nearest picture away and turned her face. She didn’t want to look at the damage.

  Scar went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Seven devices sent to seven shifter families. Six were lethal. The seventh failed to detonate completely and only dispersed the silver shavings into the Bearden Fire Department, resulting in bodily injury.”

  Baby picked up on the heels of Scar’s words. “We’ve been watching the Corbray pride for a few weeks now, Ms. Mather. But your people are good at hiding their tracks and not leaving much behind.”

  “Why are you telling me this? I don’t know anything. You know where they’re at; go get them.”

  Male subjects. Mind your place. Find somewhere else to be. Back to your own work.

  So many lines were drawn between the males and females of the pride. She wouldn’t be surprised if none of the other women knew exactly what their men schemed with Wade.

  She’d let Wade, her father, and all the other males dictate her silence and complacency. It’d been Aileen who saw her dark moods and gave her a worthwhile activity as midwife and healer. Aileen hadn’t seen anything wrong with standing up for herself or defending others.

  Aileen had also paid a heavy price for Everly’s actions.

  Her heart thumped with guilt. Everly had sent that mother to the hospital against a male’s wishes, and Aileen had taken the blame and the punishment.

  She’d gone to pull Emery out of the pride and put the Strathorns in SEA custody.

  How many more lives could she wreck?

  “Frankly, no one gives a shit if shifters murder other shifters. Vamp on vamp crime? Whatever. Fae hexing each other’s heads until they explode? Fine,” said Baby.

  Scar tapped an image of the park. “But today’s fight got a little too close to the people we do care about. This escalation can’t be allowed. If it was my choice, every last one of you would be on a bus for lockup right now, instead of the four on their way.”

  Everly straightened. They had her attention. “Sawyer?”

  “Callum Strathorn, Nolan Byers, and Hudson Vaughn as well. They instigated this fight, according to the Corbray pride.”

  Her anger, quieted by her pain, flooded right back. “They are innocent. They tried to help me. You want real criminals? Go after the ones mailing the bombs!”

  Baby smiled. “And that’s why we’re telling you, Ms. Mather. We need your help.”

  “I can give you names. Dates when we were near the people hit. I’ll… I’ll sign statements and sit in court.”

  It was betrayal, but she didn’t care. They weren’t her people. Her loyalty belonged to the man who would follow her into danger, even against her wishes.

  Sawyer wanted to give her a good life. She’d do whatever it took to ensure he had one outside of a cage.

  She’d been tricked by the people she wanted to believe would love her forever. Once again, Sawyer and his clan paid the price for her sins. She dared leave the pride, and they were sent fire and pain. She tried to bring her sister out of the madness, and they were shipped off without a word to their families.

  Sawyer didn’t deserve the trouble she caused him. From the first moment they met, he was on her side.

  The list of who she wouldn’t turn on to save Sawyer was a very short one.

  She picked him. Everyone else in the world be damned. She wanted Sawyer.

  “Too bad your word is worthless,” Scar snorted.

  “You’re a member of the Corbray pride, Ms. Mather. Anything you say can be challenged by them. We need hard evidence to go along with your story. Like we said, they’ve been very good at hiding their tracks.”

  The cold realization settled over her. Even dulled, she felt her cat’s apprehension. “Because if I get caught and they kill me, no one will care. And you’ll just go on, waiting for evidence to drop in your laps while more shifters are targeted. Right?”

  Both shrugged.

  “If you get us the evidence we need, you and the Strathorns we have in custody will be free to go. After registering, of course. You did brawl in public.” Baby smiled wider.

  They might just kill her anyway. Showing her face after locking up the strongest males?

  But no. Nothing would be as simple as that. Wade wanted her alive more than he wanted her dead. A dead panther couldn’t produce his heirs. She could leverage her value to take her place in the pride.

  Everly agreed without hesitation.

  Chapter 22

  The ringing buzzer echoed in Sawyer’s ears. Between the snarling complaints of other captive shifters, the too-bright lights, and the lack of his bear, he was losing his mind. He didn’t know how to cope without the stabilizing force that’d been inside him his entire life. Even when they were at odds—always—his bear was there for him. The near-silent growl and throb of tension didn’t do a damn thing for his sanity.

  The door to his cage swung open, and he took a step forward into the walkway. He refused to think of the cell as anything but a cage. Thick walls, thick bars, silver in the guns the guards carried… All of it designed by humans scared of their weakness and wanting to get back at the animals more powerful than themselves.

  On the surface, the prison didn’t seem so cruel. When shifter law failed, someone needed to step in. But like a final straw breaking the camel’s back, one grievance after another piled up to turn Shiftermax into something darker.

  The constant light without ever dimming. The lack of windows or a view of anything but the sky. A concrete yard with smaller, individual cells where a man was allowed ten minutes a day in his other shape. The collars around their necks to keep them locked to their human forms.

  They were animals and didn’t deserve anything resembling comfort. Hell, his month in a human jail and hiding his bear saw him treated with more respect than this bullshit.

  Fucking Wade. The whole damn pride could burn for all Sawyer cared. They had Everly all twisted up and then preyed on her innate need to care for others. He understood the drive to save her sister, by the Broken he did. Those fucks just couldn’t let her escape their wasteland of a group. That’d spark too much free will, and Wade couldn’t allow that.

  Sawyer was well acquainted with the drives. The same need for control stripped his mother of her spirit, closed ranks against him, and ultimately allowed his stepfather to declare him dead in the eyes of the others and let him suffer on his own. Sawyer had no doubt if he’d decided to just leave instead of challenging Curtis for his role as alpha, the events would have been closer to Everly’s. Men like Wade and Curtis couldn’t abide others thinking for themselves.

  He would never be like the asshole who did nothing to raise him. He couldn’t be another Wade to Everly. But he’d come too damned close to stepping into that role when he tracked her to her pride. Part of setting her free meant he had to accept the decisions she made, even if he thought they were the wrong ones.

  And if he had backed off and hadn’t followed her to the park? None of his clan would be locked up. She’d be back under Wade’s control. His bear would drive him insane with the possessive need to find her. Damned one way and fucked t
he other.

  “Turn.”

  The order shouted from down the walkway allowed no objections. Sawyer had witnessed what happened when a shifter failed to obey an order. They were taken down with silver and jolts of electricity.

  He turned to his right and followed the silent line of others heading for lunch.

  In the crowded mess, he found Callum and Nolan already at a table. Hudson took two steps back to the end of the slop line so they could stick together.

  The buzzing harshness in Sawyer’s mind faded a little with the nearness of his clansman. He’d be able to think a bit better once they joined Callum and Nolan. Lunch and recreation were the only times they were allowed to interact. The SEA had the decency to let bonded groups meet up, but Sawyer knew it had nothing to do with compassion. Occupying the same space soothed their wild halves, which kept the inmates steady and easier to manage.

  Even so, the near week spent inside the facility drove them all crazy. Nolan bared his teeth in what should have been a smile, but just looked like he wanted to gnaw off his arm. His leg didn’t stop jumping, even when Sawyer and Hudson took seats at the table.

  “Any word?” When they all shook their heads, Nolan growled. “I need to get out of here. Becca is due soon. I can’t miss the twins being born over this bullshit.”

  In a nearby corner, a pair of guards twitched their attention.

  “Calm down,” Callum ordered. Even with his bear locked away like the rest of them, the faint wave of alpha power was like a breath of fresh air.

  Nolan wrapped his hand around his fork and glared at his tray, then flicked a silent question to Sawyer.

  No word. The others had been allowed to make a single phone call once they arrived at the facility. Sawyer was handed an already connected line and received a punch in the gut and hope for their future.

  “Sawyer?” Everly whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m going to make this right. I can’t tell you how, but please believe me. Hold on, because I’m working on getting you out. I can’t lose you.”

  He hadn’t even been allowed to respond before he was shoved through processing.

  Those words were their hope. She gave them without any other specifics. They felt like a dream of achieving the impossible the longer they remained inside the facility.

  After they shoveled tasteless food into their mouths, the group passed through into the yard. The space wasn’t any different than the inside of the facility. Tall walls kept them from seeing the outside. Sky and clouds and a shitty basketball hoop without the netting remained the only entertainment. They weren’t even given weights or benches to sit on because they couldn’t be trusted.

  Hudson straightened and jerked his chin toward a latecomer being escorted into one of the changing cells. “Is that...?”

  “Bentley Moore.” Callum chuckled. “Now, that is a sight that almost makes this worth it.”

  The man’s involvement with pushing SEA policies through donations and business deals didn’t reward him with immunity once his shifter nature was revealed. Bentley’s business empire was now a mess of frozen assets and legal action. Under shifter law, he’d have been killed for changing a human against her will. With the right people bought off, he had his own entourage of guards inside the facility.

  The asshole that had forced a bear into Meghan calmly stepped into the changing cell and let the guards remove his collar. He stared hatred at the yard’s silent occupants as they watched him strip down and let his bear break through.

  Sawyer didn’t feel the smallest speck of guilt for enjoying the spectacle. He couldn’t wait to tell Gray and Meghan how the asshole had been reduced to nothing.

  In that quiet, another unexpected and unwelcome presence made himself known.

  “Sawyer, m’boy!”

  The booming voice brought Sawyer’s bear as much to the surface as the silver allowed. It was still far quieter than he liked. He had to focus to feel anything, really.

  After the initial stiffening shock, blood pounded in his ears. He wanted to bathe in his beast’s rage. They both deserved the emotion after all the shit his stepfather had put them through.

  How many hours was he forced to lay still and endure the pain? Wounds had closed up and more were applied, with a hard boot ready to catch him in the ribs if he made a sound. No one had stopped Curtis. No one had stuck up for Sawyer. And the proof itched with a scalding ferocity.

  Sawyer turned slowly, refusing to give the man anything but boredom at being disturbed.

  None of the men standing with Curtis were part of their former clan. Sawyer didn’t know if that was good or not. Had Curtis destroyed them all or just found himself a new group to stick with inside Shiftermax?

  His aged face didn’t fit the monster of Sawyer’s past. They all aged well, just a benefit of their blood, but Sawyer wanted to see the man’s ugly insides marring his outsides. His jaw was still strong, his eyes still bright. There were a few more light scars from fights and deeper lines around his mouth, but that was it. No horns or scraggly beard to warn others away.

  “Not your boy. Never yours,” Sawyer growled. He rolled his shoulders to ease the itching of his scars. The man terrified him as a boy, taught him what true hatred felt like as a teen, and cut the bonds to the only people he knew when he reached adulthood. Sawyer wanted nothing to do with him unless it involved bloody violence. “You made that clear.”

  “You always were too much like your father,” Curtis sneered. “That noble trait got him killed. Never saw the knife before it was already in him. I’m sure he thought he could beat me anyways and didn’t want to shame me before my death. Too bad he lost so much blood before we shifted, or he might have stood a chance.”

  Fucker. Mother-goddamn-fucking cheater! Alpha challenges were sacred. No one in the clan could interfere until someone died or tapped out.

  Sawyer eyed the guards. Deep inside his head, his bear whispered a roar and slapped the ground. The beast wanted blood, faint as the desire could be felt. Sawyer wanted to give it to him. Curtis would be a fine offering.

  If they were anywhere else... Too much silver and too many guns were in the yard. If they weren’t filled with holes, they’d extend their time in that dreadful place.

  Above his desire to get the fuck out of the facility was a need to not let the man break him. Curtis had taken too much from him. He wouldn’t steal more of his time. He had a cat to find and claim.

  “But look at you now. Maybe you learned more from me than I thought could penetrate that thick skull of yours. Did I do that, boy? Did you finally lose your weakness? I remember carving so much of it out of your hide.” He shrugged. “Carved it out of your whore mother’s, too. She didn’t last as long.”

  Hands latched on his arms to hold him back. There was no need. He knew what Curtis was about. The dead eyes and the prodding sought a reaction. He wanted a fight, and Sawyer wouldn’t give it to him.

  How many times had Curtis done the same to his mother? Picking at one thing, switching to another, and slowly wearing her down until she snapped and gave him something to bleed her over.

  Growls filled the air. They were drawing too much attention. His clan would back him up immediately, and Curtis’ people looked ready to brawl.

  “That what you’re in for? Killing my mother? Like her body housed anything anymore. You destroyed her spirit long before you threw me out of the clan.”

  “She’s one. Tried to leave me. Tried to tell me how to run my people and who to let stay. Woman didn’t know in the animal kingdom, the new king eats the young of the former.”

  “I haven’t been eaten yet. Maybe you just knew you couldn’t be bested without a knife to help you,” Sawyer snarled.

  Guards headed their way. He took one last shot at the fucker who ruined his life and set him on a path to find his true family. They were the ones holding him back and growling right next to him. “Weak. That’s all you ever were. No wonder you had to steal someone else’s mate. No one wants to wak
e to the stench of a coward every day.”

  Curtis roared and threw a punch. Weak man, to be taunted so easily. Stupid man, to do it with guards so close.

  The prods of a taser caught Curtis in the back. His body spasmed as he went to his knees.

  The guards were on them, then, shoving the groups apart and shouting orders. “Break it up! Back to your cells!”

  Sawyer raised his hands in compliance and shot a final smirk at the man who fucked him over.

  Back in his cell, Sawyer stared at the ceiling above him. He wanted to memorize the shaking of Curtis’ body and the hatred in his eyes, but his wasn’t the face that kept coming to his mind.

  He told Everly he didn’t need to know what happened to his mother. He’d wondered, sure, but the pain he endured kept him from seeking any news.

  Sawyer growled. He tried to focus again on Curtis, but his mother invaded his thoughts.

  She smelled like open fields and freshly baked pie. Her laugh was his favorite sound, and he loved her more than his stuffed bear or running on four paws through the woods. She had loved his father and always had a treat ready for him when he arrived home. Her tears after Curtis won the role of alpha lasted for months before they finally dried up. Then came the requests to just listen to Curtis so he’d stop hurting them both.

  Now that he knew, a hole inside him closed over. One more wound healed. He no longer needed to wonder if he did the right thing by leaving his birth clan as far behind as he could manage.

  Sawyer dug his fingers into his palms and imagined more space around him than the narrow cage. He was bigger than Curtis. He was better than Wade. His time in Shiftermax would be a distant memory soon enough. He had to hold himself together. That was what Everly needed from him.

  He wanted her to be safe. He’d free her from the shackles of her pride. He saw his mother go dead in the eyes while he grew up, and Curtis made sure she didn’t live long after she tried to leave.

  Everly couldn’t end up like his mother. Somehow, someway, he had to make sure she stayed safe. She took a stand and picked him. She whispered her promises to get him out of the facility. Those words would sign her death warrant if Wade sniffed them out.