Chapter Two – Naomi
Naomi burrowed her hands deeper into the sleeves of the parka Joshua had given her. So far the fact that she had left home without any of her possessions wasn't bothering her at all. Joshua had received bags of donated clothes for her to go through the first day she was there. Bears, she decided, had excellent fashion sense.
They were also surprisingly friendly, especially considering that she was a Wolf. She had expected barely-restrained hatred, but for the two days since she had arrived, they had treated her with nothing but respect. Although that might be because Joshua hadn't been more than ten feet away from her in that time, and they must have heard about the female's banishment the first day she was here.
She snuck a look at him as they walked down the street. He greeted everybody they passed. If it had been her father, she and her sisters would be lined up behind him, and the Wolves they encountered would move out of their way as James did whatever it was he had decided to do. Joshua, however, was welcoming to his fellows, and if Naomi ever fell behind, her shorter legs unable to quite keep up with his huge Bear strides, he would stop and wait for her.
I made the right decision by agreeing to be his mate, she thought.
Other than banishing the woman Bear who had tried to attack her, he hadn't shown the slightest bit of anger. He seemed to have a calm head, and he was quite handsome. He was taller and more muscular than she ever thought she wanted her mate to be, but his features were well formed, his blond hair thick and straight, his blue eyes sharp, decisive.
He also said it was her choice whether they remained celibate until their mating or not. She had been tempted the previous night to go to his room, already desiring him, but she had stopped herself. Among Wolves, there was no fancy mating ceremony. If two individuals slept together, they were mated for life. She wanted the option to go back to her people and find a mate there if it turned out Joshua was more like her father than he appeared.
Her thoughts turned to her sisters and she shivered. Anne and Heather would be hiding in their shared room right now, listening to their father rant and rave. Her heart ached for them, but once she was established here, she would send for them. She'd get them away from their father.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they passed a cute little café that boasted French onion soup on their sidewalk board.
"There are certain ceremonial rites we have to perform before we mate," her Bear replied, his voice like thick maple syrup.
It made her mouth water–and maybe some other bits of her, too. Sexual arousal was not new to her, but being able to act on it was. The idea of mating was exciting if a little frightening. That was another reason she wanted to wait. Her hormones would easily get the best of her with this huge, handsome male.
"Are we going to perform one of the ceremonies now?"
Joshua nodded. "We have to go out in the forest and agree on a creature to hunt together, and then bring it down."
Naomi wrinkled her nose. That sounded utterly ridiculous to her. "Why?"
"It's meant to symbolize that we will work together for our goals and that we trust each other with what is important."
"Oh. That's… actually quite beautiful. Wolves don't have ceremonies like that. We have the full moon run when the Alpha leads us through the forest, but lately, my father has only taken whom he calls his 'elites.' He says that the rest of us have to prove our worthiness to come with him."
She bowed her head a moment, her hands clenching. If her mother was still alive, none of this would have been happening. She had been the daughter of the previous Alpha, and the pack loved her. When she died and James took over leadership as her mate, things changed. At first, Naomi thought it was because he was so maddened by the loss of his mate. Now she wasn't so sure.
It occurred to her that in order to be Alpha, Joshua must have lost his parents, too. She glanced at him. How had they died? Did they die in an accident like her mother, killed in a head-on collision? Or were they murdered?
With shifters, there weren't many other options.
Joshua was silent as they continued walking. Eventually, the stores faded away to residential buildings, and then even these became more spread out until they reached the edge of the forest.
"Why did we walk here? Is it part of the ceremony?"
Her Bear gave her a cocky grin. "No. I was just showing you off. Now let's go."
He quickly stripped off his clothes, clearly not bothered by the fact that the people in the nearby houses would be able to see him. Naomi certainly didn't mind. She fingered the zipper on the parka, admiring his form. Nudity was common among the Wolves like it was among all shifters, but she rarely had to opportunity to ogle a man without earning herself a lecture from her father.
"Like what you see?" Joshua asked, facing her.
Heat crept into her cheeks, but she nodded as she traced her eyes down the perfect V his abs formed. "You're nicely put together."
"Thank you. Now let's see you."
Naomi continued to toy with her zipper, considering. She had never deliberately bared herself to anybody before. It happened, of course, when she shifted in public, but taking off her clothes in front of another person was strange.
Maybe this was part of the ceremony, showing each other their bodies. She took a deep breath and stripped, shivering as the cold winter air brushed against her skin, causing goosebumps to break out everywhere. Joshua cast an appraising glance at her and nodded in satisfaction.
"You're as pretty as I thought you would be. I think I'm going to enjoy mating you very much."
The heat in her cheeks increased. The cool air didn't seem as cold anymore as something clenched inside her, heat flooding that area thoroughly. She was going to enjoy mating him, too. She only hoped that she knew enough from her readings to know how to please him.
"What do you want to hunt?" he asked.
Naomi shrugged. "A pine tree? I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat and hunting… I don't. Actually, I should say I won't."
"You're a Wolf and you don't eat meat?"
Naomi shrugged. "Go ahead and laugh. Everybody does. But my mother was a vegetarian also, and she was a strong Alpha."
Joshua frowned a moment, then nodded. "We can just run together, then. The point of this is to help one another, and I would not be helping you if I tried to force my lifestyle on you."
He smiled at her and shifted smoothly. Naomi was shocked for a moment that he'd be so understanding before she shook herself off and shifted as well. Joshua's Beast form was huge, with a cream-colored fur that was darker on his paws and over his shoulders. His head was vaguely polar-bear-shaped, but his shoulders had the distinctive grizzly hump. A grolar bear then?
She was the first to dash into the trees, yipping at him to chase her. He followed her, and they ran through the trees. Naomi's eyes brightened as she breathed in the clean air, feeling full of life and vitality. The drifts of snow weren't big enough to really slow progress yet, and she dashed through them joyfully.
Until a thin wail reached her ears.
Naomi came to an abrupt stop. She swiveled her head from side to side. The wail came again. A baby? What was a baby doing out here in the woods? Joshua grunted at her. Didn't he hear what she was hearing?
When the cry came again, Naomi turned on her paws and flew towards the sound. The deep drifts slowed her but she ploughed through them.
The baby was in a car seat, bundled up tightly in a thick blanket. There were even hot water bottles tucked in beside it. Naomi Shifted again and quickly pulled the baby out of the car seat. The hot water bottles were cold, although the baby's tiny hands and face weren't too chill. She held it close to her chest as Joshua joined them.
He sniffed the car seat before shifting. "Wolf. We get babies like this sometimes. Best we can figure is they're abandoned because they can't shift. But that they're left so close to the Bear town, we figure the parents don't want them to die."
Naomi wished she could say that shocked her, but the truth was it wasn't surprising in the least. "My father," she snarled.
Joshua put a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll take it to the humans. They'll find a good home to adopt it."
Her heart jolted at the thought. A feeling of steel crept into her spine and she stood and faced her mate.
"No."
"Excuse me?"
She could feel the baby searching for something to drink from. Poor thing must be starving. "You're a Bear, I'm a Wolf. Doesn't it make sense for our first child not to be a shifter?"
Joshua stared at her. "You want to adopt it?"
"Yes."
"But… but you just found it. And we just met. Don't you want to try for our own before resorting to adoption?"
"Adoption is not the lesser option. This baby needs parents. Why not us?"
So much for waiting to see if she actually wanted to be his mate. Her father always said that her stubborn streak was going to cause her trouble. Well, maybe this would be when it did, but she found herself unable to control her temper as she glowered at her bear.
"When I decide on something, I do it. Just because this baby isn't a shifter doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve to be brought up in a community of shifters. They still have our instincts. It's not fair to them!"
Joshua held up his hands. "We'll discuss this back in town. Right now that baby need to get to a hospital, to make sure it's okay. I'm going to shift, you can ride me on the way back."
Naomi opened her mouth to keep arguing, but he was right. She nodded. Joshua shifted again and the Wolf scrambled onto his back awkwardly, holding the baby with one arm. Its cries actually grew louder as Joshua ran, which Naomi thought was a good sign.
They were almost to the tree line when a shot rang out.
Joshua roared in pain, his whole body twisting. Naomi lost her grip on him and fell. She wrapped her body around the baby as she came crashing down. Her head swiveled and finally saw a man with a hunting rifle pointed at them.
No. Not them. Joshua.
The Alpha roared and charged. The hunter let off another bullet, then ran. Naomi scrambled to her feet, heart in her throat. She held the baby tightly against her chest as her Bear disappeared through the trees again.
What have I gotten myself into?