Mate Bond

Ryan’s smile came through. “Actually, I’d like to see that. I bet my mom could beat the both of you.”

They all laughed, including Jamie, who prided himself on being the top fighter in Shiftertown.

Bowman shot his son a smile, though his pain was still intense. Ryan’s fear had climbed down, and Bowman silently thanked Kenzie and the others for that.

Ryan still needed reassurance, though. He needed touch, a hug, the close confines of family. Ryan was trying to hold it together in the presence of Cade and Jamie. One day, Ryan would become a tracker—those Shifters who guarded the leader and helped him keep an eye on everything in and around Shiftertown.

“So, why are you all still sitting here?” Bowman asked them. “Get out there and start hunting.”

“Got it.” Cade levered himself to his feet. He was a head taller than Jamie, who was long and lanky, but Cade was just big. Bears grew that way. “The sooner we find and get rid of it, the sooner I can start fixing my truck.” He threw Bowman a pointed look.

“I want to help track it too,” Ryan said. “I’m old enough—”

He was cut off by both his parents’ sharp, “No!”

They hadn’t kept the fact that they’d been attacked by some unknown, huge creature secret, because neither Bowman nor Kenzie believed in protecting their cub through lies. The problem with that approach, though, was that Ryan thought he should be able to join his parents in tracking, fighting, and dealing with anything, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Ryan raised his hands, looking pained. “All right, all right. Don’t have a cow, Mom.”

“Moo,” Kenzie said, frowning at him.

She unfolded herself from her chair, setting down the empty soup bowl, and caught Ryan in a rough hug, ruffling his hair. Nothing that would make him look weak in the eyes of Cade and Jamie, but enough that her closeness would ease his fears.

Bowman always felt a touch of envy for other Shifters, whose cubs climbed all over them—Ryan was always conscious of his position as the alpha’s first cub and liked his dignity. He’d run the pack one day, and everyone knew it.

The way pack leaders in the wild had been replaced by their offspring had been a father-son fight to the death. But a few years ago in the Austin Shiftertown, the leader, Dylan Morrissey, had defied convention by stepping down and retiring, letting his son, Liam, take over. No deaths necessary.

The handoff hadn’t been as simple as that, from what Bowman had heard, but they’d all pretended it had. The Morrisseys had set a new precedent—sons didn’t need to kill their fathers.

Even so, there would come a time when Ryan and Bowman went at it, and both Ryan and Bowman knew it.

Not now, though. Ryan was still a cub—the little wolf he became was adorable—and it might be another hundred or so years before there was need for confrontation. And hell, whatever that thing in the woods was might kill them all in the next week.

“Out,” Bowman said. “Ryan, stay here. Someone needs to protect me while I’m healing.”

Ryan stood up from Kenzie’s embrace, surreptitiously wiping his eyes. “Yeah, that’s true. Don’t worry, Dad. I got your back.”

Kenzie ruffled Ryan’s hair again as Cade and Jamie left the room—Cade with the slow, long strides of a bear, Jamie with the lightning-quick moves of the fastest wildcat on earth.

Kenzie gave Bowman a long look, golden sparks smoldering deep in her eyes. Kenzie needed him, and he needed her, their mating frenzy always close to the surface. Healing would speed with Kenzie in his bed, and both of them knew it.

“Go,” Bowman said, his voice softer. “I need you out there, Kenz.”

“I know.”

Her look spoke of promise for later. Any other day, Bowman would reach out, latch his hand around her wrist, and tug her down to him. But he was lying here, injured and out of it, and Kenzie had to go. He meant it when he said he needed her to watch the others.

Kenzie smiled at him briefly, gave a more brilliant smile to Ryan, and left the room.

Bowman knew when she walked out the front door, because their little house seemed suddenly emptier.

Ryan stood a bit forlornly in the middle of the room. He still didn’t want to admit to fear, but Bowman again sensed his need for reassurance. It was tough being a cub, and tough being the only cub of the leader. Bowman remembered that well from his own childhood.

“Come on up here,” Bowman said, patting the bed beside him. “I’m going to fall asleep, and I need you to be on guard.”

Ryan didn’t hesitate to kick off his shoes and climb upon the bed. He immediately snuggled down into his father, and Bowman let his arms come around him.

Bowman needed the reassurance too, he realized as he started to relax. Just having his son next to him made him feel better.

Knowing he was responsible for the small lad who warmed his side scared the shit out of Bowman, but father and son drifted off to sleep for now, each of them comforted by the other.

* * *

Kenzie wanted to be anywhere but back in the woods near the roadhouse, but she sniffed around in her wolf form without fuss, pretending not to be worried.

The world out here was transformed by daylight. What had been blackness and strange shapes last night were now soft and kissed with sunshine. The woods weren’t as dense here as they were nearer to Shiftertown—sunlight reached the forest floor, illuminating undergrowth, mud, and the trampled footprints of what looked like every Shifter in Shiftertown.