Chapter Four
For six days, Jenny avoided Lars. She worked the commons less frequently. When calls came for extra help with bears on the road, she volunteered to go every time. The one afternoon he’d also been on the commons, she’d kept a wide berth. An hour ago, he’d slid a note under her door. If she wanted to be moved, now would be the best time. He would meet with the superintendent along with Brutus Chintok, Otto the black bear alpha, and Darius in the morning. The ram and coyotes’ alphas were invited to attend this annual meeting, but they never did. They discussed what both sides needed and how best to help the park. He would also ask the others if they would be willing to take on his mate. He suspected Brutus would be the first one to say yes.
The pile of papers on his desk grew larger, while he fought the desire to claim his mate. Nothing kept his focus. When someone knocked, he considered ignoring it, but one of his herd wouldn’t go away if he did. “Come in.”
Clutching the sheet of paper he had slipped under her door, Jenny demanded, “Do you want me to leave?”
“I merely wanted to give you the option.” He stared at her, drinking in her appearance. Blinking, he set his pencil down and indicated the empty seat on the other side of the desk. If he stood, she would get a full view of the cock-stand he fought to contain. “I meet with the park superintendent tomorrow. Should you want a new assignment away from me, tomorrow would be the most convenient time to get it approved.”
“Do. You. Want. Me. To. Leave?” she repeated.
Couldn’t she tell he held on to his sanity by a thread? Through gritted teeth, he answered, “No.”
“You couldn’t prove it by this.” She shook the paper.
“I’m trying to give you space. I’m desperate to give you what you need. Letting you go is detrimental to my sanity.”
“Will you become impotent if I leave?”
The pivot in conversation had him speechless for the moment. “Where did you hear that?”
“Quinn. I went to visit her yesterday. I got a tour of the den, and she helped make sense of everything going on.”
“So it all makes sense now?” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“More than it did two days ago.”
“And you couldn’t come to me with your questions?”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“You aren’t a woman, and you aren’t human,” she yelled as if he were too dense to hear her any other way. “So is it true?”
“I don’t know? Perhaps. I suspect it is. I had no interest in anyone after Liesel died until I saw you last year.”
“Will there be another mate coming along one day?”
“No, we are granted but two.”
“So, no more.”
“None.”
“Okay.” She walked out the door.
“Okay?” he yelled after her. When he got no response, he jumped to his feet and strode out the door into the hall, spying her walking away. “Okay what?”
Not turning, she waved him off and headed out of the back door, leaving him confused all over again. He stood openmouthed, wondering when he had lost control and doubting he’d ever had it.
“Alpha, you wanted to see me?” From behind him came the voice of his number one beta, Erin. She leaned against the wall, and he didn’t have to ask how long she had been there.
He cast one last glance at the back door and shrugged. “Come on into the office, Erin. I want to talk about security.”
“Has something else happened?” She followed him inside and took the guest chair in front of his desk.
He sat down, too. “It’s a feeling. The other alphas are sensing it. A buzz in the park.”
“The herd is on high alert already.” Erin glanced out the window. “The mothers feel safe on the common, but not behind the inn.”
“How long have they felt this way?”
“A couple of nights.”
“I think we need everyone in human form after dark.”
She nodded. “I’ve made sure the cabins are ready for occupancy.”
Unlike other shifters, the elk women were happiest in animal form. Their offspring could spend the entire summer as elk and only shifted when their mothers demanded they do so. Because of this, the series of small cabins reserved for them could stay empty for weeks. He couldn’t remember the last time they had used them as a herd. The park superintendent had asked about opening his cabins to the public, but every time he had been tempted to do so, the fates played a hand in reminding them they needed shelter.
In the difficult winter months, they migrated with their animal counterparts to the southern parts of the park. Unlike the bears and wolves who had reason to be in the parks off-season in human form, his people did not, forcing them south to prevent raising suspicions. Cabins used by tourists in the summer acted as the perfect place for the children who hadn’t the abilities to control their body heat. They had shelter, and the cabins were inhabited and prevented squatters.
“How do things stand with Ranger Jenny?”
If she would feign ignorance of the earlier exchange, so would he. “When I know, you will. What is the feeling amongst the herd?”
“Some are thrilled, others worried about the logistics of making it work with a human. Some…”
“Logistics?”
“It won’t be easy on her in the winter months. Pregnancy will be dangerous if not planned right. And before you remind me Quinn handled it well, they are stationary. We aren’t. They also have healers, we do…”
“Not. I know. But I have no control over who the fates choose for me.”
“Those who have not found a mate are frustrated. The bears, wolves, bison, and even the rams, all have greater numbers of male than female. So bringing a human woman in makes sense to them. It doesn’t for us.”
“Perhaps she is able to birth sons.”
“Anders argued the same thing. And I’m in agreement.” She stood. “Let me go break the news to the mamas about the cabins. I think they’ll be relieved.”
“I meet with the alphas and the superintendent tomorrow. I’ll request some added security. I have faith in our own to protect us, but we have too many young at the moment.”
“A bit of brawn would be welcome.” She turned at the door. “May I speak freely, Alpha?”
“When have I been able to stop you?” He’s learned long ago his betas were wise women, and he would be foolish to ignore their words, whether of advice or consternation.
“If you want to convince your mate to join us, the bears are not a great choice for information.”
“You believe Quinn would say anything negative against us?”
“No, never, but they are not us. Their ways are not ours, and there is a reason Quinn is mated to a bear, not an elk.”
“Meaning there are reasons Jenny is my chosen and not another shifter’s.”
“Exactly. Think about it. When Brutus marked Quinn as his, but before they mated, the park swarmed with shifters of all kinds trying to convince her to choose them.”
“Well, if Brutus had let them within one hundred yards of her, they might have had a chance.”
She smirked. “He’s heavy-handed. But you laid your claim to Jenny on the hill the other week. Every shifter in the park knows she is your chosen mate, and that you have not mated. Yet not one came to fight you for her attention.”
“Brutus said she held no interest for the bears.”
“Because we are a breed apart, not better or less, but different. So talking to Quinn gives her a skewed view of who we are.”
“I can’t prevent her from talking to her best friend.”
“Nor would we ask you to. We love Quinn, but the answers Jenny is getting aren’t going to necessarily be the correct ones.”
She had a good point. He didn’t know what Quinn had told her, and there were things he didn’t know about the bears and things the bears didn’t know about him. The problem was, he didn’t know what he didn’t know.
“You will figure it out. She is strong, and your young will bring new blood to the herd. Perhaps males.”
“Fates willing.”
“She is on the hill behind the inn.” Erin pointed through the window at the sole figure standing in the distance.
He waited no longer than it took to hear the front door close before exiting out the rear door and running full speed toward his destiny.
She turned as he rounded the hotel, a silhouette of gold backed by the sun. His breath caught, every step infusing in him the need to be one with her. Fear crossed her beautiful face for a brief second before she squared her shoulders and stood her ground.
Reaching her, he pulled her into his embrace, his lips claiming hers in a kiss speaking louder than words what he wanted and what he hoped for. She met every stroke of his tongue, accepting his challenge and bringing her own. Fingernails bit into his shoulders, her breasts pressed against his chest.
She pulled back and nodded. “Okay.”
“I need you to say it’s more than okay.”
The brilliant blue of her eyes glossed over, and she swallowed hard. “I want to be your mate.”
He took her hands in his. “Come with me.”
Neither spoke as he took a path well hidden from the public. To the west lay an area of woods not as dense as other areas of Yellowstone but enough to hide a series of small cabins. His people might not have caves, but they did have a series of cabins connected by a series of tunnels. The geology in the Mammoth area didn’t allow for deep cellars, so the tunnels acted more as a backdoor escape system.
A twenty minute hike found them on the front step of his personal cabin. He’d rarely come here since the loss of his first mate, but the herd kept his rooms ready for him at all times. “It isn’t much. We don’t spend a great deal of time inside during the summer months.”
She stepped into the large open room, spun around, and declared. “It’s perfect.”
”The omegas made it pretty for you.” Fresh flowers adorned the small dinette table in the kitchen area, the coffee table in front of the love seat, and both nightstands. The small fridge would be stocked as well.
“Where do you spend your time if not here?”
“The herd prefers to sleep out under the stars. This place is ours. You can decorate it as you want.”
“I have a great sleeping bag. And I love sleeping under the stars.”
How he could have questioned the fates’ choice, he didn’t know. “You are perfect for us.”
“Before we mate, I need to know what to expect. What is going to happen?”
“Happen?”
“I know I have to bite you.”
He drew back as if she had hit him. “Why would you need to bite me?”
“Quinn said part of the mating ritual is I bite you. She made it sound like I won’t be able to stop from doing it.”
“Quinn bit Brutus?” Shock didn’t begin to express his reaction to learning that bears bit each other.
“And Morgan bit Grant.”
“So all bears get bitten?”
“Apparently, the men do. I even got to see the evidence. Brutus seems happy to show anyone who asks. But Quinn wasn’t as happy about him showing me.” She paused and cringed. “You don’t bite your mates?”
“No, but I didn’t know the bears did, either.”
“So no biting.”
“If biting is your fetish, by all means bite me, but, no, it isn’t our thing.”
She relaxed. “Oh thank god. The thought makes me queasy.”
The king-sized bed lay a few feet away, under the picture window. Taking her hands, he encouraged her to sit on the edge of the mattress and squatted before her. “No blood no violence. The only thing required in our mating is for you to come to your alpha of your free will. To become my partner and equal. Once we are joined, we place our hands on each other’s hearts and declare we belong to one another.”
“That’s all?”
“Trust me, in the moment, it will be more than you believe you can take.” What all had Quinn told her? “Once we do, there will be no turning back. There isn’t divorce for our kind. And I don’t know how the mating will affect you.”
“Quinn mentioned there might be some side effects.”
Lars could imagine what else Quinn said, but this was foreign territory to him. “What did she say?”
“She said they both need to be in contact with their mates. Morgan struggles with absences longer than a few hours. Grant needs to be within reach, or Morgan suffers from anxiety. It’s gotten better, but she struggles.”
“I can’t say how you will deal with the mating. No human has ever mated with an elk, at least not here in the park. Perhaps elsewhere, but those I have reached out to didn’t know of any, either. Or they are keeping it quiet. The wolves first mated with humans. Brutus was the first in the park, but as you can see, not the last. And I think there might be a reason we are seeing more now.”
“‘Quinn said you are considered the fairest of the alphas, levelheaded and highly respected. The bears would protect you and yours with their lives.”
“Our people are not defenseless, but most of our resources go to protecting our young.”
“Brutus didn’t mean you were weak. He assured me the women of your family are some of the strongest betas in the park. But I have to admit I lost the track when he talked about betas. I get the alpha and omega references…”
“Betas are my strong seconds. They act in my stead when I’m not available. There are four herds I am alpha to in the park. You will meet all the betas in the next few days, I’m sure.”
“I thought your sons would be your betas.”
“No, we are led by our females.” He cupped her cheek. “I’m not sure I can assure you any more than I have, except to say I’ll be there with you every step of the way.”
“My heart says you’re the one for me.” She leaned into his touch, reaching up to cover his hand with hers. “My soul’s been drawn to your people my whole life, and now my head says I need you to make love to me before I chicken out. When I overthink…”
“No more thinking,” he muttered against her lips before claiming a kiss.
With a groan, she leaned back onto the bed, never letting him break the kiss. One arm under her, he moved her to the center of the large mattress and followed her there. She ground her hips against him, effectively making it impossible for him to undress her until he said, “If you want me to make love to you, we have to get rid of these clothes.”
No sooner were the words off his tongue than his shirt buttons flew across the room. Mating heat burned strong and bright in her eyes. If he didn’t get her undressed, he figured their clothes would end up shredded on the floor. He had clothes here; she did not. He placed his palm over her heart, and she stilled. “I will help you, but first I have to get you undressed.”
This time, she stilled. Her heart beat faster as it prepared to take on his heart rhythm. Only after he stripped them both did he trust either of them with full contact. Lying over her, he ran a hand up her side from hip to under her breast. A hiss long and steady escaped her. When he repeated the action on the other side, she wrapped her limbs around him, bringing his cock into contact with the apex of her thighs, hot and wet, ready for him.
Fighting her eager hands, he flipped her to her stomach. “Behave.”
“Help me,” she begged as her skin heated to his touch. The more he tried to control the situation, the more she squirmed. “It burns.”
Ah hell. He should have talked with Brutus. “What burns?”
She attempted to turn in his arms, but his hand on her hips prohibited it. “Everything. Your touch.”
He pulled back.
“No, worse.” She panted, frantic. “Ready. Please, now.”
He could but interpret her words as she was ready for him now. He positioned himself at her opening and leaned over her so they connected from shoulder to foot. Nuzzling her neck, he inched in slowly and gently. She hissed then calmed under him. Without leaving her body, he maneuvered her to face him, one leg resting on his shoulder for deeper strokes. When he judged her to be at the edge, he stopped, placing a hand on her heart.
She mirrored his actions. “My heart is yours.”
“As mine is yours. My soul claims yours.”
She threw her head back and moaned. Her inner walls tightened around his cock, pushing him over the edge. Together they crested, hearts beating as one and soul living together. Coming down, Jenny panted, lids closed. But as his heart raced, so did hers. He placed his palm over her heart. “Calm.”
She glanced at him and nodded, but her breathing didn’t ease one bit. She scurried to the edge of the bed and leaned over her knees, hyperventilating. Lars rushed to the kitchenette, fetched a glass of water, and returned to place it in her shaking hands.
“Heart too fast,” she managed between sips.
Her heart fought the new cadence. She lay down again, clutching her chest. “Hurts.”
For a man used to being in control and the calming force in the park, the ineffectiveness he experienced left him uncertain. Grabbing the phone that connected all the shifters in the park, he rang the bears.
“This is Will.” The gruff, bored voice of the grizzly buzzed through the phone.
“Will, it’s Lars. Is your healer in the den?”
“She is. Hold on.”
The phone clattered to the desk, A few seconds later, he could hear voices again. “Who could be calling me… Hello, this is Shauna.”
“Shauna, it’s Lars.”
“Lars?”
He eased his mate’s head into his lap and ran fingers through her hair. “My mate is struggling with the bonding.”
“Jenny?”
“Yes.” Good lord, would there be another?
“I’m not sure how much I can help. You understand, your mating is different than ours.” Her voice held empathy.
“I have no one else I can call.”
“Tell me what’s going on, and I’ll see if I can help.”
He made a mental list before sharing it with her. “Jenny’s heart is racing but seems to be in rhythm with mine. She complains it hurts. She’s sweating.”
“Her breathing.”
“More like pants.”
“She needs time to acclimate. Run a warm bath to help her relax. Some lavender in the water might help. Chamomile tea couldn’t hurt.”
“Okay.” He placed a gentle hand on Jenny’s forehead as she arched in agony.
“Hold on.” Shauna covered the mouthpiece. He heard unintelligible mumbles. A minute later, she returned. “Brutus is heading up your way to assist with the security search tonight. Would you like me to come as well?”
“Yes.” Any other time he would have said no, his people would handle this, but his herd didn’t have healers. And although there might be great differences between the bears and the elk, the bears had experience with human mating. Leaving Jenny in the fetal position on the bed, he made his way into the small bathroom. The last thing he would have in his cabin would be lavender, and the elk rarely drank tea, so he would send someone to get both later. But he could run a warm bath.
Five minutes later, he eased Jenny into the water, shaking and sweat drenched. After an excruciating couple of minutes, the shaking eased and her breathing calmed. She fell into, if not, a peaceful sleep, a slumber. He didn’t move her until the water cooled. Tucking her under the sheet and coverlet, he watched her sleep. He left the door open so Shauna wouldn’t have to knock and wake Jenny. He hadn’t moved from his position holding up the wall when Sauna arrived a few hours later, holding a bag of supplies.
“Thank you for coming.”
“I would have been pacing the den with concern had I stayed there. Convincing Quinn to stay behind wasn’t easy.” Tying her gray braids behind her, she placed a weathered hand on Jenny’s forehead. “She’s warm, but that is to be expected. Her heart is working hard while her systems are slowing down.”
“How long do you think she’ll need to acclimate?”
“Hard to say. You bond but do not intertwine life forces, correct?”
“Correct. Our rhythms mesh, but we don’t die if our mate does.”
“So this is a ‘rhythm’ adjustment.” She tapped her chin. “Bear mates are up and about the next morning, no problem, but it is our men who endure the brunt of the mating. Wolves can take days to heal. My knowledge of the mating of elk or bison is very limited, so I don’t know. My normal prescription would be lots of rest and extra protein.”
“So, it’s a wait-and-see.”
“I am afraid so. Bears’ and Wolves’ matings are rough and can be violent. Not the case with elk? I see no marks on her.” She lifted the blanket to reveal the perfect alabaster skin of his mate; she then turned her focus to him. “And I see nothing on you.”
“We don’t mark.”
“Perhaps…” The healer touched his mate again, this time closing her eyes and humming. As her eyes opened, her brow furrowed. Shauna repeated the action with both hands.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, unable to stay quiet.
“Are you sure she has no shifter in her?”
“She’s mundane.”
Shauna stared down at a sleeping Jenny. “Something in her isn’t all human, but I’m not sure it’s shifter. Something long repressed in her DNA.”
“Don’t you think if she could shift she would have known, or I would have sensed it in her?”
“Perhaps you tapped something when you mated?”
“I sense nothing.”
“You are not exactly in the best state of mind, either.” Shrugging it off, she crossed the room and picked up the bag she had dropped at the door. “I brought some teas and items Quinn found helpful. Erin offered me the use of one of the cabins. She assured me I would not be imposing.”
“It would be a great relief to have you near. And all the young are bunking together in a safe location. Perhaps, while you are here, you won’t mind checking one of the girls. She is complaining of stomachaches.” The children didn’t leave the protections of their mothers until they were teens. It gave the illusion there were more babies born to this herd than there were.
“I would be happy to.”
“Is Brutus out there?”
Shaking her head, she headed for the door. “Brutus and Darius have brought out their sentinels to check the park’s northern borders. Can I get you anything before I leave?”
“No, thank you.”
“Might I make one more suggestion?”
At this point, any thoughts would be welcome. “I would be pleased if you would.”
“Instead of being across the room from your mate, climb in next to her. Place your chest against her back so her heart can sense yours. Learn to beat together. And sleep.”
Such a simple answer. He thanked the healer and a few of his female herd lingering outside before closing the door. For a moment, she tensed under his touch, but as his body melded against hers, she pulled his arms tighter around her.