by P. Jameson
Maxim stared out at the people, looking proud as she’d ever seen him. God, that look. Like he’d won the lottery. Or something better.
“You ask me why I chose this female, why I brought her here,” he called out. “You question my reasoning, my authority, and you do it out of ignorance. I chose her because she is the one my heart grew for. The one my heart changed for. And now we have a bond like none other. One that can heal all sorts of wrongs. A true bond.” He emphasized the word true, and somehow she knew the next words out of his mouth were going to sting. “She is my true mate. Chosen by my heart, and accepted by hers. And not one of you in this room can say the same.”
There was a beat of shocked silence while Maxim’s declaration sank in, and then a flurry of confused chatter.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” one angry male voice spoke up. Tabatha couldn’t see where it came from, but it was familiar. “Are you saying our matings aren’t real?”
The buzz of the crowd grew louder as men shouted their disagreement and women perked up. Tabatha wasn’t just imagining it either. It was as if for the first time, the spark that should be there in their eyes was coming to life. No more dead stares. Instead, there was curiosity.
And where there was curiosity, change wasn’t far off.
“I’m saying that your bonds are broken. Or maybe never grew. Not to the strength they could be.”
“How could you know that?” The furious voice lashed the air and all at once, Tabatha recognized it.
Nash.
She scanned the crowd and found him over by the octagon. Sela stood beside him, her brow furrowed tight. And that familiar fear was evident even through his furious glare.
Fear… of losing her, his mate that he had killed for? That he had risked his life to save from a dangerous mating.
“I know because none of you can do what my mate just did. You can’t heal each other because there’s no solid bond. No gut-deep connection that makes you as one. You can’t bond because there is no love. There is only force. And a smart vixen once told me, no heart wants to be forced.”
Again, the noise kicked up. Nash blinked, showing something other than anger for the first time. He looked devastated. And Sela dropped her eyes to the ground, looking so sad Tabatha wanted to hug her.
But before anything else could be said, a furious growl came from behind her. The sound sent chills over her skin, and she turned her head just in time to see a blur of tawny fur coming straight for her.
Chapter Eleven
Maxim felt the air change at the same time he heard Axl’s threatening growl, and he acted without thought. Protect mate. Relying on his instinct, he twisted Tabatha away from him, shoving her hard toward Rocco before turning back to face the threat.
She had healed him. He was like new. And the angry fox leaping for his female was still battered from their fight. There’d be no winning for him. It was a suicide by alpha.
But that didn’t stop Maxim from grabbing the animal around the throat, mid-air. A choked yelp split the air as his hand made contact with Axl’s windpipe, and squeezed hard. Barehanded, he took him to the ground, not even bothering to shift.
He didn’t need to.
His mate made him stronger. Whether by what she’d done to him physically or what she did to him inside. She gave him something to protect and cherish.
She gave him a reason to believe.
As he glared down at Axl, his animal eyes bulging, Maxim crushed his neck in one fist.
“Touch mate, and die. Understand me?” He looked to the crowd, his people who were shocked and angry. “That goes for all of you.” His voice was garbled with the evidence of his animal. They would know he meant every word.
Looking back at Axl, he increased the pressure of his fist.
He should kill him for even trying. For even thinking it.
“I’m going to let you live.” He heard the words coming from his mouth even though his grip didn’t let up. “But you should know, you have a human to thank. A sweet goddamn human that you won’t live to disrespect again. Understand me, hound?”
Maxim didn’t wait for an answer. It was a rhetorical question anyway.
He released Axl and stood to his feet, turning to see that Tabatha was well guarded with Rocco at her back, Jett at her front, and Lexington and Aaron by her sides. Maxim nodded at his crew and stalked to the octagon. He topped it in one solid leap and stood to face his people, naked and bloody… but not wounded.
What a goddamn miracle.
“All mated couples need to take heed.” He let his voice boom through the place with all the dominance his female brought out in him. “Your future depends on it. Not only yours and your mate’s, but the future of the entire skulk.”
Nash spoke up. “How do we know this is truth? Just because your mate can heal you doesn’t put every mating in question.”
Several people agreed with him.
“Yes, what proof do you have that this affects us all?”
“It could be a coincidence. Something unique to an alpha.”
Maxim shook his head. “If it was unique to an alpha, my father wouldn’t be broken and dying as we speak. But you want proof that it’s not just me? I’ve got that.” He looked to Lexington. “Vixen, bring your mate.”
He waited for Aaron and the vixen to join him on the octagon. The human had a smirk in his expression, like he knew exactly what was coming.
“You are way too naked for me to be this close to you, fox.”
Humans and their obsession with nudity.
“Jealous?” Maxim asked, raising one eyebrow. “I know you’re used to much… shall we say smaller… assets.”
Aaron narrowed his gaze. “I’ve been wanting to hit you for a long damn time. Please tell me I get to do that now.”
Maxim glanced at Lexington. She looked amused.
Good. Let their people see it.
“Yeah, lets show ‘em what you got. Just know that I’ve got to bleed you good for this to work.”
Aaron nodded, shrugging off his shirt and tossing it to the ground. “Seems only fair that I get the first punch then.”
With that, he decked Maxim hard enough to fling his head backward.
Good human.
Maxim laughed as they began sparring, trading jabs that were enough to bruise them both to hell. All for a reason though. Aaron ducked and spun to avoid one that would’ve broken his nose and instead, landed a hit to Maxim’s middle.
Fancy fucker.
Time for the claws.
He smashed Aaron’s face on his knee and dragged his animal’s claws up the man’s back before jumping back out of his reach.
Good enough.
Aaron smiled at him, blood gushing from his nose and back. “That all you got, changer?”
Well, shit.
Maxim just needed to make him bleed so Lexington could heal him. But now he wanted more?
It hit Maxim, the reason why, the same time Aaron’s kick knocked his legs out from beneath him.
The human also had something to prove, didn’t he? He wanted Lexington’s people to see that she hadn’t made a mistake choosing him, and that he could protect her as well as any shifter.
Well, Maxim could respect that.
He got to his feet, giving the human as much a chance as any to rough him up before beating the hell out of him.
By the time they were finished, Aaron’s face was unrecognizable and Maxim was limping from what he thought might be a broken ankle.
Shit. The human was a wrecking ball.
Maxim stood, breath heaving. “Heal him,” he told Lexington. “Show them what a true bond can do.”
Lexington dropped to her knees beside her mate, whispering something in his ear. And for the first time, Maxim realized just how intimate something like this needed to be. More proof that it could only come by true love and respect.
She brushed her fingers over his hair, over the swelling of his face, and they all watched as the
redness faded. All witnesses to a miracle. No one would be able to deny it now.
Minutes passed and cuts healed as Lexington continued using her bond on Aaron. And when it was finish, he stood, smirking at Maxim like a motherfucker. He wrapped the vixen in his arms and kissed her hard before flashing Maxim his middle finger.
Asshole.
“Do you see why you need a true bond?” Maxim asked his people. “Forget what it can do for you inside, forget what changes deep down, where no one can see.”
“It makes you stronger,” Nash said. “Wounds heal. It means, we would be unstoppable in battle. The bears wouldn’t stand a chance at taking our land.”
Maxim nodded. “The damage to your bonds has been done, but there is a way to heal them.”
“Tell us how,” Nash called.
This was it. This was the make or break moment for his clan. The way they reacted to his next words would either be their downfall or the beginning of a bright new future.
“You must allow your females the power of choice.”
The entire hall blew up with erratic voices. Desperate growls. Anger… which was really just fear with a mask on.
Maxim raised his voice to be heard above the others. “They need to choose you the same way you chose them.”
“With a spur?” Nash asked, disbelieving.
“No. Not by fighting. They only have to accept you.”
“Well, fine. Mine has accepted me,” he said, followed by a chorus of mine too.
Maxim raised an eyebrow, focusing on the females scattered about the room. Many were head-down, all were silent. “That might be, hound. Or has she only accepted you because she was given no other choice? Give her a choice and see what happens. I challenge you all to give your females a goddamn choice. If you want a true bond, if you want to save our skulk… you will.”
Nash’s mouth snapped closed on whatever he was about to say. He frowned hard, turning his gaze to Sela. Her head remained bowed and his breath came faster, giving his frustration away. Maxim could see it in the man’s gaze. The devastation that would come if she denied him. He cared for the female. Cared enough to change? Maybe.
Moments passed in silence as the males took in Maxim’s challenge. Eventually, Nash took Sela by the hand and stalked out of the meeting hall.
Little by little the men cleared out, some dragging their mates with them, others grumbling that Maxim had lost his mind and how the alpha would be so ashamed. Maybe that last part was true. But he had to believe his father would hold their peoples’ safety over his pride.
When the hall was empty except for his mate, his boys, and the vixen and her human, he finally let out the breath he’d been holding.
Shit. It was out. His purpose, his reasoning. His plan to save them all. It was out in the open for the others to do what they would with it.
Now, only time would tell if it was enough.
Chapter Twelve
Weeks later…
Maxim lay on the thick blankets that spread over the thick rug that covered the hardwood floor in his living room. Beside him, a fire roared, warming the cabin. And above him, tiny lights twinkled on the branches of the Christmas tree Tabatha had decorated.
He stared over at his mate.
She was beautiful with her long hair strewn over the pillows they’d thrown in the floor. Naked, with only a fuzzy throw blanket covering her. And her eyes. Those pretty eyes, blissed out from what he’d just done to her.
He knew the feeling. His female satisfied him so thoroughly that moving seemed impossible. He’d just have to lay here, loving his damn life.
If this was how Christmas could be every year, well then, he was definitely a fan.
He twisted a piece of Tabatha’s hair around his finger while he considered all that had happened over the past couple weeks since they’d arrived on the mountain.
Things were going as well as could be expected. Better even, if he was dead honest.
Couples were talking. Thinking about the future, and really talking it through. That was never done before. Not with their old ways. But now, for the first time, males were listening to their female’s needs.
Not all of them. Some were harder than ever, fighting the change with a strong fist. But those males were few, and Maxim knew this was something they’d have to find their way through on their own. Either that, or live with a weakness that could ruin them.
Choice. It was all about choice, and this was theirs to make.
Tabatha was taking a liking to his people. The ones who would let her. She’d done some sort of cookie recipe exchange with the other females and showed them how to set up their own Christmas tree if they wanted. She even taught the kids how to make snow angels and told them the story of Santa and his elves.
And tomorrow, the skulk was going to have its very first Christmas celebration. Tabatha was planning on teaching them how to make paper snowflakes and shit so they could decorate their own homes. And she’d convinced fucking Rocco to rig up some lights around the biggest evergreen in the center of town. There was going to be a tree lighting.
A goddamn tree lighting.
In fucking fox territory.
It was damn unbelievable really.
But Maxim couldn’t deny how the spirit around the village had changed. How things seemed lighter, and people seemed… happier. Hesitant, sure. Scared, sure. But it was there. Hope and joy, just waiting to grow into something bigger.
Everyday, he visited his father. Maxim couldn’t understand why he was able to hang on this long and not actually heal. It was as if he was stuck in some sort of stasis. Not able to get any better, but also not deteriorating further. After two weeks, his wounds still gaped and he was still unable to shift. But he didn’t pass on. Like he was unsure if it was okay for him to go.
When he visited, Maxim always kept him apprised of what was happening with the skulk. He told his father about his mate and that she was human, and how she could heal him. He told his father about how the vixens had found happiness in Cedar Valley. How people here were slowly learning to love each other, and how it was going to change everything for them.
In his heart, Maxim hoped his father hung on, just to hear how it all panned out. Maybe he didn’t want to go before hearing the end of the story.
As for his mother, she’d kept herself scarce since the fight at the meeting hall. He wasn’t sure how she felt about everything that had taken place since he and Tabatha came to town. He knew his mother wanted change for their females. She had begged him to return just so he could help them. Then when he did, she had made sure to keep her distance. He didn’t know what to think.
“So?” Tabatha murmured, bringing his attention back to her. “Do you think we’re making a difference?”
Intuitive mate. She knew exactly how far his mind had drifted.
“I do. I think we’ve done all we can for them. The rest is up to the people.”
She turned on her side, curling against his chest like some sexy kitten. “Does that mean we’ll be leaving soon?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think we can at least wait until after Christmas?”
He moved her hair out of her eyes so he could see them clearly. “Aren’t you anxious to get home?”
“I am. But I like it here too.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I mean, most people still don’t like me much. But I’ve made friends with a few, and I like helping them. I like it more than I ever thought I would.”
Damn, he was glad she was his. Big heart, sweet face, smart mind. She was fucking perfect.
But he already knew all that.
He kissed her forehead. “Maybe when it’s all said and done, we’ll have two homes.”
“Now, if I could just get your mother to like me.”
Maxim ground his molars at that. He was angry with his mother for the way she’d treated his mate. For the way she’d handled it all. But he tried to remind himself she’d endured a lifetime of hurt. It mi
ght take her longer to come around.
“You got any tips?”
Maxim shook his head. “I feel like I barely know my mother.”
Tabatha’s eyes turned sad. “It won’t be that way with our children.”
“No, mate. No, it won’t.”
“The good news is, it’s not too late. And with everything changing, it could open the door for a whole new relationship with her.”
Maxim had to grin as she snuggled closer, giving him another dose of hope. Maybe she was right. Maybe this was a new beginning for him as well. Maybe if he just kept believing things could be better, they actually would be.
Hell, it had worked out okay so far.
***
Jingle Bell Rock played on the little speaker in the corner of the meeting hall. It wasn’t nearly loud enough, but Tabatha was just happy to have Christmas tunes at all. She took in the scene, weighing it in her heart to determine if there was enough Christmas spirit to cover even the grouchiest of foxes.
Streamers she’d made out of strips of flannel hung across the windows and doorways. She used the red and green straws to make cute little Christmas trees that she’d convinced Jett to hang from the ceiling. Popsicle stick snowflakes, painted pinecones collected from the forest, emergency candles that she’d spruced up with pine needles and cinnamon sticks. It really did feel like Christmas. Which was exactly what she’d hoped for.
But there was one more thing she was waiting on. She hoped Rocco would come through.
As people started entering the hall, her nerves ratcheted up a notch. They’d come so far in just a few weeks, and she wanted to give them something good to remember this time. The holidays seemed like the perfect memory-maker to exploit. And she knew that if they wanted to toss out some of their old hurtful traditions, they would need new ones to take their place.
She spotted Sela over by the hot chocolate station. The female had become a good friend over the past weeks, introducing her to other females and giving her a chance to show them that at the core of things, she was just like them.
And the best thing was Sela was no longer an outcast among her own kind. Now the females of the skulk talked to each other, confided in each other. Helped each other when things were going rough with the males.
