| |
TAYTE
The weeks went by and our beautiful mate grew bigger and bigger.
Claire said the baby would arrive in a few short weeks, and although we were excited, we were on tenterhooks waiting for the arrival.
Every day one of us would stay home from work, and if we had no choice but to be away, one of our moms would stay with our waddling, grumpy girl.
She was “done” according to her.
Done with being pregnant, and with being “fat”.
We loved her being so big, but only being a hair over five feet tall, it was obvious how uncomfortable she was.
There was a knock at the door. I left Sam with Celeste to answer it.
“Oh, hey, Gray. How are you doing?”
Another great thing about us finding our human mate was the closeness we’d developed between our pack and Grayson’s.
Dexter’s pack, too.
Having our women had brought us all together.
“I’m good, we’re all good. Hey, Celeste. How are you doing?” He waved from the front door and Celeste waved back.
“I’m okay, Grayson. Looking forward to getting this baby out.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, Claire is, too.”
Grayson dropped his voice. “Can you come outside? I need to fill you in on something.”
Sounded serious.
“Yeah, of course.” I stepped outside and shut the door. “What’s up?”
“The bears are on the hunt. We’ve had sightings and their scent is everywhere.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. They were looking for Celeste.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve gone out myself to check. They’ve surrounded the pack. The smell of them is everywhere.”
I suppressed my shudder. My mate. My baby.
“Do you think this is because of Celeste? Do you think they’ve seen her? Tracked her here?”
Grayson shrugged. “Don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. They’ve been coming for us since the moment Claire was found.” Grayson’s jaw clenched and tightened. “And they hid Nevaeh from us for years.”
I nodded. “I told the elders what Celeste had told me when she first came to the pack. That the bears believe we’re meant to die off. And that Fate wants us to be the last of the wolf shifters.”
Which was totally fucked, but what could we do about it?
Grayson crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yeah, we’ve been talking about that. So, would the bears attack again to grab our women? Even though they knew the humans were our fated mates? Will they try to grab them now they’re pregnant? Or will they attack the whole town?”
Tension tightened in my shoulders and I rolled my neck.
“If that happened, a lot of people would die. They’ve got an extra generation of female shifters, not to mention more numbers in total. We have our mothers, who would want to fight, of course.”
I grimaced.
Grayson continued, “There would be chaos. Our fathers would be split between protecting their mates and fighting for the pack. It would be a complete and utter cluster fuck.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “We can’t let that happen, Gray.”
“I know... I know... but what do we do?”
I crossed my arms over my chest.
I had an idea, but how the hell did we mediate it?
“If we could put together a meeting, Alpha to Alpha, between the bears and us, maybe we could establish some rules, a fair fight, something...?”
Grayson nodded. “Yeah, that’s an option. Otherwise, we’re going to have to go on the offensive and take a hunting party to their den. We can’t just sit here and wait for them to attack. We’re too vulnerable. The way we have the town set up, it’s beautiful, but a whole pack or two could go down, and the rest of the pack at large wouldn’t even know.”
Fuck.
He was right.
I’d have to ask Celeste for help with this plan.
“I agree. Maybe I can.... Shit, I didn’t want to have to do this.”
Grayson knew what I was going to say. “Maybe you can ask your mate for some help? She’d know the layout of their den, maybe ask them about the structure of their day? Weaknesses? Anything that could help us?”
I groaned.
Deep down I’d known it would come to this. After the bears had attacked Dexter’s pack, then Grayson’s. They wouldn’t stop until one of our shifter families was dead.
And it wasn’t going to be us.
“I’ll ask her. I didn’t want to put Celeste under this sort of pressure, feeling like she has to betray her own family. But I will.”
I’d known we’d need Celeste’s help, but I hadn’t wanted to ask her. After everything she’d been through, this was additional stress she just didn’t need, especially at this time during her pregnancy.
“I’ll speak to her and get back to you.”
I patted Gray on the shoulder and walked back inside my home.
Celeste was up and making some dinner for us all.
“Can we help you, sweetheart?” I asked, glaring at Sam. He knew she was meant to be resting.
My Beta glared right back. “Don’t look at me like that. I tried.”
Celeste grunted.
Yep, grunted, from the kitchen. “I’m not helpless, Tayte. I know I look like a beached whale, but I’ve got four weeks to go, so I’ve gotta keep moving or I’ll go crazy. So... spaghetti for dinner?”
She didn’t sound like she was asking, and an annoyed vibe was radiating from her now.
“Um, sure, sweetheart. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions while you’re doing that?”
She looked toward me while she pulled out the pasta and put some water on to boil.
“Yeah, of course. Sit. Is this something to do with what Grayson came over to discuss with you?”
She wasn’t slow, this one.
“Yes. The pack has noticed the scent of bear shifters around town, and we were hoping you could tell us more about the den where you lived.”
I kept my voice as soft as possible, but I saw the way my once steady girl began to shake.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe here, with us. I promise.”
She dried her hands with a towel. “Yes of course. I know that. It’s just... well, the thought of them so near. Even if they were just passing by, or maybe scouting around for info.” She shuddered. “What do you want to know?”
“Things like numbers within the den, how many do you think would fight if they all attacked at once?”
I knew it was a hard question to start with, but it was what I most needed to know. What gave us the most concern.
Celeste bit her lip and leaned against the island bench.
“Okay... let me think. Forty-five apartments, times five, at least.”
I didn’t know what she was calculating but I trusted what she was doing in her head.
She caught my eye and continued. “There’s at least two-hundred-and-fifty bear shifters in that den.”
“Ah... say what?”
I couldn’t believe it. That was twice as many as we had anticipated.
“Not all of them would fight if they attacked here. There’re children and lots of elderly, too. But I’d say at least a hundred of strong, fighting age. All shifters. Male and female.”
“Whoa.”
Now I was surprised they hadn’t attacked already.
Celeste smiled at me. “You’re wondering why they haven’t wiped you guys out already, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Was I that obvious?”
She began to move around the kitchen, getting things out to make a tomato-based pasta sauce.
She grinned like she already knew the answer. “It’s because they’re lazy, and unorganized, not to mention unfit. To get all of them to attack at one time would be way above their capabilities.”
“So, we have the advantage, then?”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. But what for? You’re not thinking of attacking first, are you?”
“I honestly don’t know, sweetheart, but we can’t wait. We’re sitting ducks.”
We had to improve the security, set up an alarm system.
Something.
We were under attack, or would soon be.
Celeste came around the bench and slid her hands around my neck. “Please be careful, Tayte. You know you’re the anchor of this family. We’d all die without you.”
I chuckled as I ran my hand over the swollen belly that housed my child.
“Sweetheart, I have more to live for now, than I have ever had in my life.”
But I also had more to protect. More to lose than I’d ever had before.
I kissed Celeste and excused myself.
I needed to talk to Dex or one of the elders. I had to give them the information I had, and perhaps set up a meeting for them to talk more with Celeste.
They’d have more questions, and I was sure she could answer them.
I was stepping out the front door when suddenly Dexter arrived, dragging a bleeding Omega with him.
“Dex! Speak of the devil, I was just coming to find you. Who have you got here?”
I didn’t like to step into another man’s pack and tell him how to do his job, but this Omega needed some protection, obviously. But it wasn’t Dexter’s Omega, so whose was he?
“We found out who the mole was.” Dex spat as he threw the Omega at my feet.
I helped the guy up, but he could only stand on one leg. His left eye was swollen shut and his shoulder looked oddly-shaped. It had clearly been dislocated. The man must be in enormous pain.
“What do you mean?” I asked Dex.
Mole? We had a mole in our pack?
Dex nodded at the bleeding guy. “I mean... we knew there was someone feeding information to the bears. It was the only thing that made sense. How else could they have attacked within a day of us bringing Claire home? Now we know they’ve been scouting for more information.”
I turned on the Omega, who’d obviously been beaten to reveal the information.
“Is this true?”
He ducked his head. “Yes, Alpha.”
“But why? Why would you betray us?”
He lifted his gaze and deep in the darkness of his eyes, I saw true hatred. Hatred for us. For his own kind. It disgusted me.
“Because I could. Because they paid me. Why wouldn’t I?”
He stuck his chin out in defiance I’d never seen in a pack member, particularly an Omega.
I was tempted to punch him right in the face. To wipe that look off his mouth.
But he’d taken as much beating as he could, and I not the kind of Alpha to beat an Omega half to death.
“What the hell do you mean? You betrayed us! You could have gotten Claire, or any of the others, killed.”
He shrugged and looked away. “What do I care? I’ll never have a mate like you guys have. I don’t even have a triad pack.”
He tossed his hair and glared at me with his one remaining good eye. “And thanks to me, you guys probably never will, either. Once they get here.”
I grabbed his bad arm and he cried out in pain.
I didn’t let go.
“Tell me their plan. Now.”
There was movement behind me as my pack surrounded us, but I didn’t take my eyes off the Omega.
“Tell me.”
I squeezed his arm a little harder. What was a little pain compared to what the bears would bring our way?
“They’re going to... ah....”
He swallowed hard, his eyes closing, probably from the pain.
“Tayte. You’re hurting him.” Celeste drew close to me and the Omega looked at her, his one good eye bulging when he saw how pregnant she was.
I took advantage of that moment. “Is that what you want, Omega? To have Celeste captured? Killed? Because you know that’s what’s going to happen when the bears arrive.”
“The bears? They’re coming? I thought they were just, I don’t know, scouting around a bit.” Celeste gasped and shrunk back.
I couldn’t look at my mate to reassure her, because my wolf teeth were bared and I couldn’t retract them. I didn’t want to scare her even more.
“Omega, you’re going to call the bears and set up a meeting with them. I want to work out what the fuck is going on, and you’re going to help me.”
The Omega, bless his courageous heart, actually threatened me.
“Or what?”
I laughed and gripped tighter to his shoulder. He wanted to know what I’d do to protect my pack?
I pulled his dislocated arm down and twisted until he was kneeling on the dirt screaming at me to stop.
I let go, a little.
“Or I’ll rip you apart, piece by piece, I swear it. On the life of my unborn child, Omega. You have no idea what I’d do to keep them both safe.”
The Omega nodded and I let him go.
“Okay... I’ll call them.”
And he did.
The meeting was set.
We just had to work out what they wanted more than our extinction, and figure out how to give it to them.
***
I CONVINCED MY PACK to go to bed, to stay safe, while Gray, Dex and I went into the forest to talk to the Alpha of the bear’s den.
We didn’t have much of a plan, other than to broker a truce.
Somehow.
“If Trevor actually turns up, guys, I swear I’ll kill him,” Grayson said as we walked up the road and into the clearing where we’d organized to meet.
Not too far from the pack, if we needed back-up.
“You keep your feelings to yourself, Gray,” Dex threatened. “We need this to be as impersonal as possible.”
Grayson snorted.
I had to laugh. “Impersonal, Dex? Then you should have sent some of the elders to this meeting. It doesn’t get much more personal than this for me, you and Gray.”
The others grunted in agreement.
Dex nodded. “So, we stick to the plan, and hope to God they haven’t brought an army with them.”
Grayson said. “If they have, we shift and run. We won’t stand a chance of winning out here against a hundred bear shifters.”
Dex said, “My pack’s on standby, and so is the rest of the town.”
We trudged forward and I glanced behind me again.
I had the strangest feeling we were being followed, but every time I looked behind us, I saw nothing.
My heart, which was already beating too hard, began to bang against my ribs.
“Do you smell that?”
The scent of bear was on the breeze, and it suddenly became too strong to stand. A stench.
Why did they never bathe or clean themselves? Disgusting creatures.
I forced myself not to cover my nose, so they didn’t see my revulsion if they were around.
And then they were there, in front of us.
Five of them, all big brutes. But at least they were in human form—for now.
I’d half-expected them to bring bodyguards in the shape of their bear shifter forms.
“I see you brought back-up,” Dex called out.
The agreement had been for three only.
“Well, you can never trust a wolf to keep his word,” the big guy in the middle said, then laughed at his own joke.
I heard Grayson’s low growl and stepped closer to him, but didn’t say anything.
I didn’t know if everyone could keep their cool at this meeting, but doing so was the best chance we had to avoid outright war.
“We kept our word, Trevor. There’s three of us. And we’re here. How about we get down to business?”
Trevor narrowed his gaze at me. “And what business is that, wolf?”
“I’m Tayte. I’m...”
“I know who you are. You’re the guy who knocked up Celeste.”
The bears around Trevor growled all of a sudden, the mood within the group changing. The anger ramped up a notch and my wolf threatened to rise up in response.
I took a slow, deep breath.
I needed to play this carefully. Cards close to my chest.
They couldn’t know how important Celeste was to me, or we’d all be lost.
Brains over heart, in this case.
“Yeah... that’s me. How’d you know?”
“I can smell her on you, even now. That stench we all had to put up with for years. Ugh.” He shuddered as though my mate repulsed him and the wolf inside of me howled.
But I pushed him down.
I needed to show Grayson and Dexter how to stay calm, even when the bears baited us.
“Back to the business at hand, Trevor. We know you guys have some sort of plan to attack the pack, and we need to come to an agreement before that happens.”
There was a beat of silence.
Yes, that confirmed it.
“Why would I want to do that?” Trevor asked.
I could see his point, but no matter how they played their attack, they’d lose numbers on their side, too.
“Because there’s no fight between us. We’ve done nothing to you, you’ve done nothing to us. There’s no reason we need to fight at all.”
And as far as I knew, that was true.
Even the elders couldn’t understand why the bears wanted a war with us.
Trevor grunted. “My father believed that you wolf shifters were meant to die out. Become extinct.”
I’d heard this from Celeste and was ready for this argument.
“But Fate found a way around it and sent us human mates. Doesn’t that say something? That we’re not meant to die off?”
Trevor grimaced and I saw a small amount of reasoning come to life in his eyes.
“There are a lot of people who believe what my father believed. That you all should be left to rot. And after Celeste betrayed us, then ran off, my den wants revenge. They want to attack.”
I paused. He didn’t want this. Nevaeh had told me once that Trevor’s father had forced him to date her. Surely, he’d want to just walk away?
And I could work with that.
I smiled calmly. “But if you don’t want to risk your den by attacking us, surely you, as the Alpha, must be followed.”
Trevor was nodding and I could almost hear the cogs in his brain clicking around. “I may be able to hold them off until a treaty can be organised, but you need to give us something in return.”
Anything.
“What do you want? Supplies? Cash?”
“We want Celeste back.”
Cold dread skittled down my spine. I had expected that, but hearing it out loud made the threat against my mate seem more real. “Why?”
I already knew. They wanted to kill her. Punish her. I could tell.
Trevor looked amongst his den mates, puffing up his chest like a dickhead.
“She was sentenced to death by me, and the sentence must be carried out. It’ll be the only way to appease my den, maintain order. A sacrifice for the greater good. Surely you’d do that.”
I didn’t move, or speak, I couldn’t.
And the Alphas alongside me weren’t helping.
They knew my struggle and would never sacrifice their own mates for the good of the overall pack.
“You want me to send her back to you so you can kill her?” I had to repeat his words back to him, just so I was one-hundred percent sure what he was saying.
And I had to hold my temper.
Dexter and Grayson and I had sworn to each other not to show our cards.
Not to declare the importance of our fated mates in our lives, as Celeste had confirmed that the bears didn’t have such mates.
And he showed me she’d been correct when he said, “You can get another mate. Women are interchangeable.”
I nodded and cleared my throat, working out what to say. I had to buy us some time to work out a new plan. Because I was never giving her up. I would die first.
“I agree... women are interchangeable.”
The lie tasted like ash on my tongue.
Dexter turned to me and shook his head in the smallest of gestures, but I focused on Trevor, a plan forming in my mind.
“You know our pack is childless, woman-less.”
“Yes.” He grinned and exchanged satisfied looks with his den mates.
I wanted to squash their arrogance with my fist. But I pushed down my anger.
“Then give me four more weeks. After that, I’ll hand Celeste over to you and you can do with her as you will.”
There was the faintest gasp, a whisper on the wind that tugged at my attention, but I couldn’t focus on it.
This was too important. I had to buy us time, so I could save our pack.
“What will four weeks change?” Trevor asked.
“I told you, our pack is childless, and she’s pregnant with my baby. Let me get my kid from her first. It’s only a few short weeks away, then you can have her.”
Oh my God, my heart actually hurt to say the words.
Never!
“You’ll surrender her to me?”
Like hell I will.
“Of course, once I’ve got my baby you can have the human.”
My wolf screamed inside my mind. Howled like a crazy at the moon. But I wasn’t stopping this line of argument. Not now that I’d started along this path.
It gave us time, and it showed the pack how crazy the bears truly were.
“Okay, then we can talk about a treaty. My father is gone, and honestly, I just want to get on with our lives. Though... I’ve seen your houses and I want one like that. We don’t have what you do.”
That’s because you’re fucking lazy!
“We’re all tradesmen; we can help you with everything. Let me go back to the elders to work out a deal.”
Like hell we’ll work for free for these guys.
“Fine, wolf. You get your four weeks. Then we’re coming for the little slut.”
I nodded as if I agreed with his statement, though I wanted to reach out and close my hand around his neck. Squeeze hard until the life left him and he fell to the ground at my feet.
How dare the bastard threaten my mate? My true love?
I swallowed rage, and then we retreated.
We had to get back to the pack.
The smell on the breeze as we turned away from the bears was strangely familiar.
What was it...?
“What the fuck was that?” Dex spat at me, finally speaking.
My wolf was practically bursting through my skin.
“Calm your farm, Dex.”
I began to strip and so did the other two, the energy between us burning angry and bright. No way could I stay in human form with this much adrenaline rushing through me.
“I bought us time. Nothing else. Those bears are gonna die.”
My wolf ripped through my body, my human side unable to stay in control with the rage that filled me boiling through my blood.
We ran back to the pack as quickly as we could, around the forest that protected our families.
There didn’t seem like a way around this war now. We’d have to fight.
Because there was no way they were ever getting my mate.