by Cecilia Lane
The little fox continued her assault, jumping and biting where she could reach. She was swatted down again and again, but nothing kept her away. The bear dropped to all fours and snapped slavering jaws at Nolan’s throat, but Becca dug her teeth into the scarred one’s ear and jerked his face away just before he sank fangs into Nolan’s flesh.
With a roar, the scarred bear went back up on his hind feet and pawed at the irritation that snapped at him repeatedly. A sharp cry pierced the night as razor sharp claws found a home in the soft belly of a fox, then threw her away like garbage. She landed in a heap and didn’t move.
Nolan went for the bear’s face. Snarling, biting, clawing, he drove the scarred bear away from his mate. Her limp body fueled his rage. There was no light left in him if she didn’t get back up. There was no reason to live without her. At least when she’d been outside the enclave, he knew she still lived. Her sister wouldn’t have been able to hide if she died.
Nolan slammed into the scarred bear, slashing and snapping. His claws dug into new and old wounds. His fangs sought to tear out the bear’s throat. Every second Becca stayed down tripled the fury with which Nolan fought.
He’d come too far to lose her now.
A roar to Nolan’s left stole his attention. It almost sounded like Callum. But that was impossible.
He swung his head and found his alpha running straight for him. A second later, and the big bear barreled right into his opponent, knocking the scarred bear to the ground and roaring right into his face with an unmistakable order to stay still. And when that failed, the crunch of bone and swift shake of a killing blow ended the threat entirely.
The others were there, too. Hudson and Sawyer circled a trio of snarling cats. Leah rose on her back legs and slammed a heavy paw into the face of another bear. All around him, his clan and Bearden’s best fighters worked to end the destruction.
None of that mattered. He couldn’t find the will to pay attention to the ebb and flow of the fighting.
He nudged Becca with his snout. Blood pooled underneath her and coated her fur. Nolan shoved his bear to the side and knelt by her body.
“Shift for me, sweetheart. You need to shift now,” he urged. From one form to the other, that was how they did most of their healing. At least it’d stop the worst of the seeping wounds.
If she still had enough energy and blood in her body. There was so much on the ground.
Long seconds stretched into eternity.
Her eyes screwed shut and a tiny whimper pushed past her lips. But a crack of bone and a sudden intake of pained breath gave him hope.
He stroked her fur as it slowly receded. Her limbs twisted and grew, her face pulled back. He held his breath when the shift stopped halfway.
With a final shudder, her human body replaced the form of her fox. Nolan peeled her fingers away from her sides. Still cut, still bleeding, but nothing that would drain her life away.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he muttered and crushed her to his chest.
Bruised and bleeding, she still had a comeback for him. He doubted she’d ever let him have the final say in anything.
“Entirely on purpose. You were going too easy on him. I had to get you to fight mean.” Becca twisted and sank fangs into his shoulder.
Nolan hissed at the sharp sting of pain. And then he blinked.
“Sweetheart?”
“It seemed the thing to do.”
She marked him. She claimed him. Out in the open, for all the world to see, she took him as her mate.
Nolan’s bear nearly purred with delight. And damn, did he feel like a weight lifted off his shoulders.
He needed to mark her with his fangs. His feisty, impulsive mate wouldn’t ever slip between his fingers again.
Becca insisted on being the one to retrieve Kate and her children, and she was glad of it. The family was well away from the fighting and marching steadily onward. Their steps were easy to track, but Kate found her inner hellcat and tried to swing a branch she’d fashioned into a club at Nolan. It was only Becca’s intervention that saved him. Again.
That was the story she was sticking with, anyway. She winced at a sudden drop in the landscape. Nolan caught her by the elbow before she could trip. She shot him a silent thanks.
She was glad Nolan refused to leave her side. And not only because she’d claimed him and still didn’t have his matching mark. Her steps had turned into stumbles and she needed the extra support. For once, that didn’t bother her.
“You might want to cover Jack’s eyes,” Becca murmured to Kate. The smell of death thickened and even without the noise of activity and voices, she knew they were close.
“No.” Kate shook her head. She squeezed Joy’s hand and rubbed her cheek against Jack’s. “They need to see that there are good people in the world willing to fight against the bad ones.”
Becca’s eyes slid over the still body of the scarred bear, now in human shape. She met Kate’s eyes and nodded. There was no need to tell Nolan what the man intended to do, maybe what he’d already done. He paid the ultimate price, even if he extracted a temporary one in return.
By the time their little band skirted the first bodies and entered the center of the hunter’s camp, the Bearden force had cleaned up and subdued a good number of the captive fighters. An even smaller number of hunters were grouped together and cast gazes filled with hate and fear over their new guards.
The first of many hugs came from Leah. One after another, the Strathorns pulled her and Nolan close. They needed the touch to soothe their inner beasts. And while she didn’t have a large monster in her middle, Becca felt better for the touches. They were her clan now.
Or would be, as soon as Nolan stopped dicking around and claimed her properly.
“How did you find us?” he asked the group at large.
“Jacob.” Cole beamed a smile at his crazed pet wolf. “He’s a better tracker than he ever let on.”
Jacob ducked his eyes, but his scent turned pleased. “It was dark enough for the vampires to handle the fire, and I followed your scent to where the vehicle must have been parked. From there, it wasn’t difficult to track the stench of gas until you hit the main road.”
“Nearly lost you when she took a turn, but you stopped for a piss and he picked the scent back up.” Gray grinned.
“We called in reinforcements,” Sawyer pointed into the sky. Above them, a dragon circled. “From there, it was simply figuring out the best way in with the least casualties.”
“They cut the power. They waited until everyone was packed together like a school of fish and then they cut the power for mass confusion.” Leah shook her head in amusement. “No need to make it sound fancier than it was. It worked.”
Hudson stiffened. He tilted his nose high in the air and sniffed. Then he rounded on the group and stared into the tree line.
Mara shambled forward, skirting the group and stepping into the light. She dropped to her knees and laced her fingers behind her neck.
Hudson watched her progression with great intensity. His shoulders stayed squared with hers and he turned his body as she moved around the circle. He stared hard at Mara, nostrils flaring with each long inhale. His pupils blew wide and what was left of his eye color glowed with his inner beast.
“I’m turning myself in,” Mara whispered. She shifted her glance over Kate and the children, then returned to Hudson. No matter where she looked, she always settled her focus back on Hudson.
Becca leaned into Nolan’s chest. His arms wrapped tightly around her. Reassurance was found there. They’d gone through hell at Mara’s hands, but she made a promise to Kate to try keeping the woman alive.
It would have been better if the lioness just stayed away. She had her small moment of redemption, but it didn’t wash out all the bad she’d done.
Kate cleared her throat and gave life to Becca’s thoughts. “What… what will you do with her?”
“Who knows how many she lured for the hunters or what ha
ppened to them after,” Leah growled.
“Seven,” Mara answered without hesitation. “I took seven and I can tell you where to look for them if they’re still alive. I know of other camps just like this one.”
Callum’s face was a mask of rage. “And the fires? You lit those. You killed my father.”
“No!” She threw herself at his feet. “Not that one. That wasn’t me. That was a message from my handler. He knew what I was doing and he wouldn’t let me get caught before I brought them another.”
“She should die for these crimes,” Gray condemned.
“No.” Hudson, quiet through it all, stepped forward. He didn’t tear his eyes away from Mara. “She can’t die. I think she’s... Alpha, she’s my mate and you can’t kill her.”
Silence filled the space between the clan as the information sank in.
“Fuck.” Callum cursed and paced several steps away.
“She saved me and her family.” Becca felt like she choked on the words. “The barn was a madhouse when the power cut out. Some of the other fighters wanted us for toys. Mara pulled one off and fought the others as a distraction so we could escape.”
“Please. She will pay for what she’s done. Just don’t kill her.” Kate balanced her son on a hip and held her daughter’s hand.
“Besides their mother, she’s the only relation to their father they have left.” Becca didn’t meet Mara’s baffled expression or even Kate’s thankful one. She stared straight at Jacob.
He’d infected her with understanding at some point. Kate’s words were an echo of his own desire to keep a part of his pack alive through Becca.
“If Ephraim’s death wasn’t her fault, then she is no different than me,” Jacob added somberly. He swallowed hard and avoided looking at any of the freshly captured shifters. “I helped my captors take more than seven.”
“You tracked them with a gun pointed at your head,” Cole said. “And what about the other fires? Were they her, too? Others could have died in those. Becca could have died.”
And Hudson’s proclamation only made the situation more complicated. They weren’t mated yet, but his bear recognized the lioness as his.
Putting down Mara would wreck too many lives.
Callum scrubbed a hand through his hair. “This is... We’re not dealing with this tonight. There’s too much to sort out. Put her with the others and we’ll—”
“Alpha,” Hudson said tightly.
Callum’s lips pressed into a thin line. He glanced between the man of his clan and the woman that had hurt them. “She won’t die by my hand. I give you my word. For now, though, she’s to go with the other prisoners.”
Hudson and Kate both sagged with relief.
Chapter 26
Nolan stayed lost in his thoughts on the entire ride home. Becca cuddled close to his chest, with Callum and Leah in the front seat and Cole taking up the only other open spot. Nolan started to growl when one of the unmated males tried to slide into the truck with them and only stopped when Becca slipped her hand into his.
She settled him in ways he didn’t think he’d ever experience again. The feeling began the moment she marked him and only grew as the landscape flew past on their way home. He was weightless. Felt like a splinter had been removed from his skin. Something shifted inside him and slid a poking, irritating part of himself back where it should lay.
Nolan tightened his arm around Becca. A quick kiss brought a renewed inhale of her scent over the dusty scent of clothes found locked away in that hellhole. Her unique sweet, spicy smell was pure heaven. He’d come so close to losing her. He was a big enough man to admit it scared him shitless.
But pride swelled through that fear. He hadn’t lost her, and there was no use dwelling on what could have happened. They had years ahead of them for worries. Right then, he was simply amazed by her bravery and willingness to throw herself into a fight. After the horror she’d been through and hiding a family from danger, she still found enough courage to streak back into something she feared.
And if that wasn’t enough to strike him right in the face with the depth of his love for her, she went and claimed him. Without any prompting or discussion, she put her fangs against his skin and marked him as hers. He couldn’t imagine a more Becca thing to do.
It was the culmination of a truth they’d been circling for over a decade. Distance and hurt didn’t lessen the desire or change the outcome. She was his and he was hers.
His bear knew long before he had any inkling. Even when he should have admitted what they were to one another, he held himself back. They weren’t even out of high school. What did he know of lifelong commitments?
And then their shared loss happened, and she left. He’d waited ten years for her to return. Now he had her, and he was frozen all over again.
It wasn’t indecision with her. He knew he wanted her at his side. He’d dreamt it for years while she was gone. No. He wanted to make their mating special, and he just didn’t know how to give her what she deserved. A hot air balloon ride that landed on a trail of flower petals ending with a sunset ride on horseback, that was what Becca should have. What she’d chosen was a simple man who fought fires for a living.
Gray’s advice circled in his head. He couldn’t wait, or he’d lose her. He had to commit to her and make her see he wouldn’t back away from her again. They were a team, they belonged together, and he wouldn’t survive if she left. It was now or never, do or die and he felt inadequately prepared.
Callum threw the truck into park and hurried around to open the door for Leah. They held each other close as they mounted the stairs to their cabin.
Rylee waited at the top of the steps of the cabin she shared with Cole. The man waved a quick farewell and jogged to pull his mate into his arms.
At the end of the night, both men had their mates. The other part of their souls were there to complete them.
Nolan kept an arm around Becca’s waist. Neither spoke until they were behind his door.
Something heavy hung between them. She was quiet. Waiting. Testing.
He wasn’t going to lose her again.
“You marked me,” he said softly. Anticipation hummed in his veins.
She turned then, facing him and still taking steps further into his den. Her lips twitched at the corners, but her eyes couldn’t hide the smile she tried to downplay. “You’re reading too much into it. So I got a little fangy.”
“You claimed me. You put a mate mark on my shoulder.” He took a step forward, tugging down the collar of his borrowed shirt. His fingers passed over the jagged mark and fire shot through him. His voice was raw when he spoke again. “Still there.”
Becca flicked her eyes to his neck. Her tongue shot out of her mouth and ran over her lips. The brown of her eyes slowly churned to a light gold. “We almost died. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
“Nothing like the fear of death to make you realize who you care for, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say care for,” she teased.
He cut off her faked objections with a hard hold on her hips that brought her flush to his body. Her noise of surprise was swallowed with a kiss he’d been desperate to give her as the fallout of the camp drew to a close. His bear bellowed in triumph and a growl rattled in his chest.
Becca’s hands slid up his shirt and over his shoulders. She locked her hands behind his neck and met his kiss with equal ferocity. They claimed each other through velvety strokes of lips and tongue, egging each other on.
Nolan reached for her legs, and she jumped for him, locking her ankles around his back. Air. They needed air. But air wasn’t each other, and he left a trail of biting, sucking kisses down the column of her neck as he walked them into their room.
“Nolan, Nolan,” she chanted his name.
Then he set her on her feet and stepped away.
Her eyes flew open and shined with confusion and anger until he spun her to face away from his dresser. He dragged his palms down from her shoulders, cupping
and kneading her breasts while he planted more kisses on her neck.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “And no peeking.”
A frustrated growl was his only answer.
He turned his back on her for a brief moment but kept glancing over his shoulder. As suspected, she twisted the moment she thought he wasn’t looking. “Turn around, you cheater,” he chided.
Becca huffed and spun on her heel.
Nolan opened the top drawer in his dresser and reached under all the unpaired socks he owned. Deep in the back, buried and hidden like he wanted to forget, was the jewelry box. It’d faded over the years, and some of the red velvet had rubbed away, but it was the only thing he had to give to Becca that would make the night special. She deserved special. She deserved the world.
He dropped to both knees as silently as possible. His bear rumbled in his head and his stomach churned with nerves. She already chose him, he told himself. There was nothing to fear.
Do or die.
“You can turn around now.”
She found him on his knees and a box in his hands. Her eyes widened and her hands covered her mouth.
He felt no small amount of pride that he’d shocked her into silence.
“You chose me already, but I want it all. You are the only woman to ever bring me to my knees. I’m nothing without you, Becks. I want you as my mate and my wife. I want you to be the mother of my cubs. I want to grow old with you and watch our babies find mates of their own.”
Nolan reached for her hand and juggled the plain ring out of the box. Catching her eyes, he slipped it around her finger. “I hope this fits. I didn’t know what size to get when I bought it.”
Her brows drew together. “When did you buy it?”
He shrugged and slashed his eyes to the side. “A bit ago.”
“A bit ago,” she echoed flatly. “Really? When?”
“I started saving as soon as you told me you were pregnant. I had enough to buy it two weeks before…” Grief welled up and he swallowed hard. There was no changing the past. Being with Becca after so long opened up old wounds that never fully healed. They needed to mourn together. “Nothing seemed special enough. I didn’t want to do it at school or when we skipped or at the doctor’s office. I planned to take you to the waterfall for our anniversary and ask you then.”
