by Amy Ruttan
“Is he close?” she asked, interrupting the arguing.
Gordon nodded. “He is but he likely won’t get here until dawn, which is what I’m hoping for.”
“Why?” Jared asked. “What difference does the dawn make?”
“My detachment will most likely get to us by then and deal with Levi.”
Jared snorted. “Levi is a clansman and the clan chief must deal with his crimes. I must deal with his crimes. Besides, he won’t listen to some Lone Mukswa Mountie.”
“Levi, from what Sheridan has told me, is a drug dealer and a murderer.”
“My parents’ deaths will be dealt with by our clan.”
“His selling and dealing with methamphetamines to non-clan people is not clan business, that is my business as a constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
Jared sat down but he was glowering at Gordon.
“Why don’t we have dinner and discuss what’s to be done. Does that sound like a good idea?” Sheridan asked.
Gordon and Jared grudgingly agreed. Once she had them civil she finished cooking the stew and beans, hoping her thoughts were being ignored by Gordon as she hid the butcher knife in her coat pocket. She didn’t care if she became tainted forever if she had to kill Levi. If she got her chance she was going to bury the blade in Levi’s spine.
Gordon startled, his chair scraping back as he pushed himself from the table. Her heart skipped a beat. She was worried he heard her morbid thoughts, but he didn’t appear to regard her. He was sniffing the air for signs of Levi.
Sheridan calmed her erratic heartbeat by taking a deep breath. She ladled out the stew and beans onto plates.
“I’ll take first watch tonight after dinner,” Jared said as she slid a plate of food in front of him. He hungrily began to dig in.
“I have no problem with that, but when it comes to the moment I need to protect my mate I will be taking on Levi. Alone. You will protect your sister.”
“I am the chief of my clan.”
“Yes, and as the chief you need to stay alive to lead your clan, you need to protect your sister.”
Jared smirked, shoveling the stew into his mouth. “We’ll see about that.”
“About what?” Gordon asked, clenching his fork so tight Sheridan saw it bend.
“About you taking all of the glory. I am the chief and I will take care of our clan’s problems.”
“Enough. Just eat your dinner!” Sheridan snapped.
The rest of the meal was silent. Sheridan could barely eat. The food was like sawdust in her mouth. She was edgy and she tried not to think about the knife she had hidden. If Gordon or Jared found out about it they would most likely lock her up somewhere while they got themselves injured or killed.
Instead she directed dirty thoughts, naughty thoughts toward Gordon. How he made her blood sing when he licked her pussy. She recalled every lick of his hot tongue, the way he hit every nerve ending.
Erotic fantasies of her riding his cock slowly up and down filled her mind and it was one fantasy that she fully intended living out after her brother went on patrol. She could feel Gordon’s hot gaze boring into her and she knew her ploy had worked. She glanced up and met his gaze across the table, grinning in self-satisfaction.
Jared seemed to sense the friction between them. “I’m going outside.” He stood and headed toward the lean-to door, disappearing behind it. Sheridan knew he was going to shift.
When she heard the thunk and the following snort and growl she knew Jared had finished shifting. She headed to the lean-to door, but Gordon grabbed her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To let my brother out. He’s shifted, he no longer has opposable thumbs at the moment.”
Gordon let go of her arm and nodded. She opened the lean-to door and in the small, wooden room off the side of the house was her brother, a very cramped polar bear.
“Just a moment, Jared.” She squeezed past him and opened the door, the cold air biting at her skin as Jared squeezed out. He paused in the snow, looking up at her with deep black eyes.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his fur. “Please, stay safe,” she whispered. Sheridan stepped away and watched her brother lope off toward the woods.
“Come inside, Sheridan. Your brother will blend in with the snow well and with night falling he will be virtually unseen.”
Sheridan nodded and allowed Gordon to lead her inside. Once the door was closed Gordon pulled her close, holding her tight.
“Do you think Levi won’t be here until the morning? I am worried about, Jared.”
“He will be fine. Jared is a strong Mukswa.”
“And what of Levi?” she asked with trepidation. The sense of dread she was feeling weighed heavily on her heart. She didn’t need to ask the question, she knew Levi was close and that he would get here before Gordon’s detachment arrived.
Gordon didn’t answer her. Instead he just ran his hand down her back, comforting her.
Never since she fled her clan to get away from Levi did she ever imagine she would find such a strong mate. A man willing to stand up for her family, to fight for her family’s honor.
To die for her.
Her throat constricted. She wouldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t let Levi take from her again.
Sheridan turned to Gordon and touched his cheek, his stubble tickling her fingers as she caressed him. He grabbed her hand and placed a searing kiss on her wrist, making her blood hum in anticipation.
“I won’t let him hurt you or anyone you love again.” Gordon kissed her gently, a butterfly kiss brushing her lips. “Trust me.”
“I do. It’s him I don’t trust.” She cupped his cheeks and pressed her lips against his. “I want you, Gordon. Please make love to me,” she whispered before capturing his lips again.
Gordon deepened the kiss and led her to the mattress. They sank down on top of the spread-out sleeping bag, quickly shucking their clothes.
No words were needed. All Sheridan wanted right now was physical reassurance. All she wanted was to be joined to her mate—the man who claimed and marked her as his own.
Sheridan parted her legs and Gordon moved between her thighs. His cock pressed against her core and with a quick thrust he buried his shaft inside her. She arched her hips as he thrust in time with her.
There was nothing to say. All she wanted to do was savor and feel this moment of them joined together.
All too soon her muscles contracted around his hard cock. She bit her lip, holding back her cry as she came. Gordon stilled as he orgasmed, holding her hips tight as he spilled his seed in her.
They remained locked in that position as the last remnants of their shared ecstasy fluttered away. He rolled over on his side, pulling her close to snuggle up against him. Sheridan listened to the sound of his heart beating, its steady rhythm calming her as she drifted off to sleep.
* * * * *
“Come out come out wherever you are!”
Sheridan bolted upright, her pulse racing as she recognized the voice from her nightmares. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep nestled up against Gordon, but the wind had stopped. It was eerily quiet.
“I’m waiting, Sheridan. Don’t keep your mate waiting. I am not a patient man and I’m tired of playing this game with you.”
Gordon leapt up from bed and began to pull on clothing. “Stay here,” he whispered. It wasn’t a request but a command.
Sheridan began to dress. “I’m not staying put while you deal with Levi. He’s a homicidal maniac.”
“Sheridan,” Gordon warned. “I don’t plan to shift to take him on.”
She froze. “What?”
“I have controlled the bear for so long and I am glad for it. I don’t plan to face him as a bear. I told you. I won’t shift again.”
Panic rose in her. “He’ll kill you.”
“Sheridan…I can’t shift. I’m no long a Mukswa.”
“You are! You can’t fac
e him in this form. He’ll shift and tear you apart.”
“Sheridan—” There was a loud, primeval growl that made the hair on the back of Sheridan’s arms stand on end. It was her brother, she’d recognize that sound anywhere, but just as she realized her brother was out there alone with Levi, she heard the crack of a gunshot and a scream of pain.
Chapter Seven
“Oh my God, Jared!” Sheridan lunged for the door but Gordon stepped out in front of her. He could feel her pain, the anguish, the worry and most of all her anger. She struggled in his arms, trying to fight him, but he held her tight. She broke down and began to cry. “He’s my brother. Please, Gordon, let me go.”
“I know,” he said soothingly, trying to ease her pain. “It’s what he wants. He’s hurting Jared to get to you.”
There was another scream of pain. Jared was still alive and back in his human form. To shift, Jared must have remained conscious. If he had been rendered unconscious he would’ve remained in his bear form. Sheridan thrashed again, fighting to go to him.
“Sheridan, I am tired of waiting. I will have to teach you obedience.” Levi’s voice was taunting.
Gordon growled, the bear inside him begging to be released on Levi. It was the way he said teach that set his teeth on edge. He scooped up Sheridan, who was shaking, and tossed her down on the mattress.
“Stay here, I will deal with Levi.” Gordon didn’t mean to snarl at her, but he didn’t want her coming to harm. He didn’t want her to see him if he let loose on Levi and tore him from limb to limb. His bear had been contained for far too long and if he let go he might not be able to find his way back. No. He wouldn’t shift.
He opened the door. A bright moon illuminated the yard, but he didn’t need the light. His night vision allowed him to see the pantomime that was playing out before him.
Jared was lying naked in the snow, a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. He was in pain, his face furrowed, and he was panting. Gordon knelt down and Jared jumped, his eyes wild.
“It’s all right. I just need to check your wound.”
Jared pursed his lips together and nodded. Gordon gingerly rolled him over and could see the bullet went straight through. He pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around Jared’s shoulder, tying it to help staunch the bleeding. Though as a Mukswa he would have a faster healing time.
“Well, well, Jared. I didn’t know you had such an attentive boyfriend.”
Gordon glanced over his shoulder and got his first look at Levi. The male was nothing impressive. In fact, as clan men went, he was small and a bit wiry.
That explains a lot.
From what Gordon had seen in his years in the RCMP, the ringleaders—the ones with the violent tendencies—were weaker, the ones who felt they had more to prove, more to make up for.
Levi was no exception, though if his shifted form was a Kodiak then that in itself was impressive and it didn’t make sense why Levi would feel so threatened to be involved in such violent criminal activities.
Unless he was just outright sadistic.
Levi cocked his head and Gordon knew he was sizing him up as a potential opponent.
“You’re a Mountie?” There was humor in Levi’s voice. “And a clan member too, although from your appearance you’re from one of the older, more secular clans.”
“I’m not a member of any clan. I am a Lone.”
Levi grinned and Gordon caught the glint of a gold-capped tooth. He couldn’t help but wonder how that affected him when he was shifting. Levi was a curious individual and fit all the right categories of a psychopath.
Well-groomed and he exuded charm that would trap any unsuspecting innocent.
“You’re a Lone? How intriguing indeed. Did you leave or were you banished?”
Gordon didn’t answer. Instead he cocked his shotgun while Levi chuckled, but his laughter died and Levi’s gaze focused in just behind him. Gordon glanced over his shoulder and saw Sheridan huddled down in the snow, cradling her brother’s head.
“Constable Thomas, as a man of the clan surely you must know about mates, well I have come for mine. I am chief of my clan and that young lady is my bride. I have come to claim what is rightfully mine.”
“According to the man you just shot, he is chief, not you. In fact, both he and your bride told me you murdered their parents. Clan or not that is a criminal offence and I am placing you under arrest.”
Levi let out a loud guffaw as if what Gordon had said was the most ridiculously funny thing in the world. “You make me laugh, Constable. The laws of Canada don’t apply to Mukswa. We abide by our own laws.”
“You are a still a citizen of Canada, clan or no clan, and for that you are hereby charged under section two twenty-nine of the Criminal Code of Canada—”
“You try my patience, Constable.” Levi nodded and two large bears—what looked to be grizzlies—stepped out of the woods and flanked him. “Hand over my mate.”
“She’s not your mate.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Sheridan Stevens is my mate now.”
“What?” Levi snarled, his eyes flashing red in the darkness.
“Sheridan is my mate. I mated with her, I planted my seed inside her…I marked her with my claws. She is my mate and you will not touch her.” The bear inside him was loud and insistent, begging to be released, but Gordon restrained him.
Levi hunched down and let out a god-awful snarl as he shifted, tearing his expensive clothes off his back into shreds. He was a Kodiak in shifted form, but a bit on the smaller side. The two grizzlies that flanked Levi were a lot larger.
If I shift I would be much larger than him.
Gordon shook his head. He wouldn’t shift. He couldn’t shift and let that part of him out. He wouldn’t let Levi reduce him to a monster.
“Levi, she is my mate. It’s over. Don’t do this, turn yourself in.” Though Gordon knew it fell upon deaf ears.
She is mine. MINE. Fight me like a clansman.
Gordon was impressed by Levi’s telepathic abilities. “I will fight you, but not this way.”
“Gordon,” Sheridan pleaded, her voice shaking. “Don’t be a fool. Fight him in shifted form. You don’t have a chance.”
Gordon smiled at her briefly. He couldn’t take his eyes off Levi, for if he did he was sure he would attack him. But Levi didn’t know that part of his training when he had been a member of his father’s clan in Ontario was fighting against bears. It was common practice in training of males for one to shift and the other to remain in human form and fight.
He had grappled with all sorts of bear forms—including his adopted Asian brother who was a panda. Gordon could fight Levi, though Levi was unaware of his prowess and that gave him the upper hand.
You’re a fool, Mountie, and for your foolishness you will die.
Gordon widened his stance and opened his arms, bracing himself for the impact. He did not have to wait for long as three hundred pounds of fur and muscle ran into him, causing him just to sway.
So, Levi is a lightweight bear. Gordon could sense Levi’s confusion about not being able to ground him and that made Gordon chuckle as he pushed Levi away.
The bears on Levi’s flank advanced, but Levi snarled at them. He’s mine. Levi turned again, his eyes blazing with fury. Levi wanted his blood and it was taking all of Gordon’s strength not to allow his inner bear to draw Levi’s blood, which is what he wanted to do.
Levi lunged at him again, his teeth bared and ready to sink into flesh. Gordon sidestepped him and the bear tripped and stumbled in the snow. Levi rose up on his hind legs and let out a roar that would’ve scared any common man out of his mind, but it didn’t faze Gordon in the least. No, it empowered him.
“Scared, Levi?”
Gordon ran straight for him and barreled into the Kodiak’s chest, knocking him to the ground. He had no intention of killing Levi, but every intent of humiliating him in front of his lackeys.
Levi gnashed his teeth and they grazed
his shoulder, causing a small sputtering of pain, but Gordon ignored it as he pinned Levi’s paws to the ground, proving he was indeed the stronger bear to the other males.
“You’re a fool, Levi, and a coward. You will pay for your crimes.”
Levi snarled as Gordon held him against the snow. Soon Levi shifted back to his human form, unable to keep himself shifted.
“You will regret your actions tonight, Constable.” Levi spat in Gordon’s face.
“You are under arrest for murder, do you understand? You have the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay. We will provide you with a toll-free telephone lawyer referral service, if you do not have your own lawyer. Anything you say can be used in court as evidence. Do you understand?”
Levi began to laugh. “You honestly think I am going to respond. You’re a fool, Constable.”
“Gordon, watch out!” Sheridan screamed.
Gordon looked up in time to see a large paw crash into the side of his face. He was flung from Levi’s body and landed in the snow. His vision grew groggy as Levi rose and walked over to him. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done, Constable Gordon. I’ll make you pay.”
Sheridan watched the whole fight play out like a nightmare, she wasn’t sure she even breathed as she watched Gordon take on Levi without shifting. Gordon had been so focused on taking down Levi and putting him in his place that he didn’t see the two other males sneak up from behind to take him down.
She opened her mouth to warn him, to scream, only nothing but a squeak came out. Sheridan stood and pulled the butcher knife from her coat. Gripping the handle, she found the strength she needed and she called out to warn him, but it was too late. The largest male had knocked him away like a rag doll.
Levi walked over to Gordon and she recognized the sadistic glint in his eyes. She steeled her resolve and hid the blade behind her back as she slowly rose. The other two bears wouldn’t harm her, she was a female. Only someone like Levi would harm a female.
She crept toward Levi who was gloating over Gordon. Taunting him.
