Chapter 17

Ada and Tessa jumped from their seats at the kitchen table when the sound of vehicles coming up the driveway reached their ears. Ada’s heart continued to gallop no matter how many deep breaths she took to calm it. The males had been gone for only three hours, even if it felt like a lifetime.

Tessa reached the door first, pulling it open wide. A heart-wrenching cry spilled from her lips as Drake exited the truck, holding his hand to his chest; his eyes pure gold as his bear was pushing at him to shift.

“Drake!” Tessa screamed as she barreled down the steps. The male wrapped his uninjured arm around her, pulling her tight to his chest, careful of the bloody wound to his shoulder.

Ada was frozen on the top step, her eyes examining Rex’s body as he lazily stepped from the driver’s side of the truck. The truck the panthers were driving pulled in, but she wasn’t concerned about them. The wind blew a strand of Rex’s long hair across his neck as he looked up at her with a soft smile. “Come see your elders, my mate.”

“What?” she gasped as Doug stepped out of the back, reaching inside to help his mate. “Martha!”

Ada’s feet pushed off the porch, and she ran toward them. Tears blurred her vision as she passed Tessa and Drake heading toward her. The elder female who’d been one of the few people in her life who was like a mother to her, straightened her white hair and opened her arms for Ada.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, my dear,” Martha whispered into her ear as Ada cried. “Shh, now, now. Everything is done. It’s over.”

“It’s over?” Ada sniffled, pulling back from the elder female.

“Oh, my,” Martha’s gasped as she inhaled. “My sweet, Ada. You’re with young?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ada blushed. “My mate and I are expecting.”

“I’m so happy for you, dear,” she sniffled and hugged Ada with all the strength of a young shifter.

“I can’t believe he’s dead,” Ada said, releasing her elder friend and turning toward her mate.

“Robert is dead, and so are the Knobs brothers,” Rex announced as he placed his hands on her shoulders for strength. Ada closed her eyes in bliss when the feeling of her mate’s hands sent a calming presence through her.

“We’re free?” she asked again, still unsure if she truly believed it or not. “They won’t come for me or Anna Claire?”

“No one will come for you,” Rex promised. “I told you I would take care of you.”

“You did,” she nodded and turned to wrap her arms around his waist. “I love you, Rex Morgan.”

He froze for a moment, his hands tightening on her biceps. Ada hoped she hadn’t said the wrong thing. In fact, she pressed her face into his chest, taking in his mating scent as it grew stronger. A soft rumble started in her chest. The beast inside her was content…happy.

“Ada, let’s get everyone inside, dear,” Martha urged. Ada didn’t want to let go of her mate. She didn’t care about anything else at that moment, but the elder female was right. They needed to get everyone inside.

“We will pick up where we left off as soon as everyone is settled,” Rex whispered as she pulled away from his chest. Her mate gave her a wink and kissed the top of her forehead. “Go see the others.”

Ada shook off the longing to be with her mate and found Alfred and Peggy Martin standing close. She fell into Peggy’s arms in the same manner she’d done to Martha.

“Ada, I’m so happy for you,” Peggy cheered, but lowered her voice. “He’s quite handsome.”

“He is,” Ada blushed. “Come inside. I want to catch up, and we have so much to talk about.”

The group entered the home, and Rex ushered everyone into the kitchen. Gunnar made his way to the stove and started pulling pots and pans from the cabinets.

“How is everyone?” she asked, looking at the weathered faces of the elders. She’d cared for them as much as they’d cared for her over the years. Without them, she wouldn’t have survived long in Robert’s clan.

“We are happy,” Alfred replied, accepting a cup of coffee from Rex. He moved back and forth between each of the elders, serving them coffee one at a time.

“What happened at the clan?” she blurted, making Gunnar and Rex pause in their motions. “What?”

“We took care of it, Ada,” Rex answered as he set a cup in front of her. “The sheriff is taking care of the rest, and we are not to speak of this day again.”

“What is going to happen to the land, Rex?” she asked, noting all of the faces around her. The pain of loss etched every inch.

“We need to discuss moving everyone onto our lands,” he stated, clearing his throat. “I need to speak with my brothers regarding this.”

“There’s not enough room,” she pointed out.

“If you are willing to allow us to be a part of your clan, we will gladly build our own homes,” Luca announced as the back door opened.

Tessa and Drake were coming inside from what Ada assumed was his shift to heal the bullet wound. Drake nodded for Rex to continue, and Tessa released her mate to come over, wrapping an arm around Ada’s shoulders for support.

“I’m willing to allow them to build on our lands,” Drake stated, looking over Rex’s shoulder. The youngest Morgan brother agreed with a nod.

“It takes a lot for Drake to allow anyone new on our lands,” Tessa whispered. “This will be a big change for him, but if he’s willing, that means he thinks of you and your clan as family.”

“I’m honored,” Ada said in awe. Drake must’ve heard her and inclined his head in her direction. She saw a hint of a smile lift at the corner of his lips before he pulled out a chair.

“We need to come up with a plan for today and this week,” Rex announced. “My brothers and I have to work on our crops, and will need to be away from the house.”

“We can help you,” Ransom offered.

“Do you have experience?” Rex asked.

“We can run and fix any piece of equipment you have,” Luca supplied. The O’Kelly brothers were very mechanically inclined. When Ada was growing up, they were forever fixing broken down cars or equipment at Robert’s request.

“We can take care of the home and meals,” Martha interrupted. “If you are working in the fields, you’ll need a good…what?” She paused when the Morgan brothers and Tessa all turned toward the stove. Gunnar was standing there with his arms folded.

“Gunnar is the cook around here,” Tessa chuckled. “But I promise you, he would be honored to have you man his kitchen until everyone gets settled. Isn’t that right, Gunnar?” Ada held back a chuckle when Tessa narrowed her eyes, reminding him to be respectful.

“Yeah, I can show you around my workspace, Mrs. Downs.” Gunnar didn’t show his worry or concern about handing over the reins of his job to the elder female. Drake chuckled and shook his head slightly, but no one else remarked. Ada smiled warmly at Martha as she ambled to her feet to enter the young shifter’s domain.

The elder female clasped her hands in front of herself and smiled warmly at Gunnar. “Son, I promise to respect your kitchen just as my own mother taught me to respect the kitchen of another female’s home.”

With that, the entire room burst into laughter, and at that moment, Ada saw the beginnings of a family unit. Her old clan and her new one, binding themselves over respect and a need to care for each other.

Rex didn’t know how he was going to pull off housing six other shifters, but he knew they needed to get something done. The elders would need beds, while Luca and Ransom could take couches.

“We need to talk about sleeping arrangements,” Rex announced as the room settled from Mrs. Downs comments toward his brother.

“We don’t want to impose too much,” Alfred Downs stated. “My mate and I can make due for now by shifting and sleeping in the forest.”

“There will be none of that,” Drake interrupted.

“You are welcome to the bed in my room,” Gunnar offered to the female in his kitchen. Rex was proud of Gunnar. It was different when it was just the brothers and Tessa there. The youngest Morgan brother was adamant about the kitchen being his responsibility, but he seemed to be drawn to Martha as soon as Tessa had given him a look. Rex knew it was out of a little bit more than respect. He’d been so young when their parents were killed.

“…our room.” Ada’s voice slipped into his mind, but he didn’t pay much attention to what she was saying because of his thoughts. “That’s okay, right? Rex?”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” he stammered.

“Alfred and Peggy can use our room,” Ada repeated. “I don’t want to displace Tessa and Drake with the cub.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Rex agreed, smiling warmly at the other mated elders. “Ada and I can take the couch and chair in my living quarters.” He’d give Ada his big couch and he’d sleep in his recliner. He’d done it many times before when he was unmated and exhausted from working from sun up to sun down on the fields.

“Luca and I will take the couches out here,” Ransom suggested. “Anything is better than our car.” The males had been faking their search for Ada for some time, and Robert O’Kelly had sent them off with only two hundred dollars to live off of, and getting a hotel room wasn’t an option.

“So, I’m sorry to ask this, and please forgive me,” Ransom spoke up, looking between the three brothers. “Who is the leader of your clan?”

“Leader?” Gunnar chuckled. “We don’t have a leader. We live under the rule of unity. We are equals here.”

“That’s the way of the old world,” Alfred spoke up. The elder was well into his seventies, his weathered face showing many years of a life on the land. Rex wondered what his story was, but didn’t want to ask.

“Robert O’Kelly was a self-imposed ruler,” Doug sighed. “He took over our clan and forced us to be his slaves in a way. There was many a time I thought he was going to kill us, but he didn’t. That male was no alpha.”

“Grizzly bears are the only species who do not need an alpha to live,” Peggy spoke up.

“Here you are your own ruler,” Rex announced. “My brothers and I are trusting you to do your part to help out on our land and to keep it safe. If you want to work with us in the fields, you are more than welcome. If you’d like to get a job in town with the humans, we are not going to stop you. We just ask that you keep our secret safe. We are the only species the humans don’t know about.”

“I’d like to keep it that way,” Alfred snarled. “I heard what happened to the others.”

“Let’s spend the day showing everyone around and preparing for tomorrow,” Rex announced. “The sheriff may come by later on to discuss what happened after we left, but then again, he may not.”

“Are we safe here? Will they come looking for us?” Peggy asked, taking her mate’s hand.

“No, we are protected,” Rex promised. “The sheriff isn’t like us, but he’s on our side, and he has ways of making sure you and your mates are not connected to the guns or Robert O’Kelly.”

“I have nothing there of importance. It was just a place to keep the rain off my head and a place to sleep at night.” Alfred shook his head. “We are better off without him.”

“Robert took everything from us,” Martha chimed in from the kitchen. She stood with her hip propped against the countertop like she’d staked a claim to Gunnar’s favorite place in the house. Rex couldn’t wait to see how that worked out over the next few months.

“He stripped us of our identity,” Doug added.

“I don’t want the name O’Kelly,” Luca sighed. “I feel responsible for not being able to remove my uncle from power.”

“None of that is your fault,” Anna Claire said from the hallway leading to Gunnar’s quarters. “You are honorable males. Robert was evil.”

The elder females cried out at seeing the young female. All of them rushed to her side, doting over her as she tried to move toward the kitchen table. The males moved out of her way, Luca pulling a chair out for his cousin.

Rex noted Gunnar’s narrowed eyes and the flash of gold ringing the outer edges. His brother was worried for Anna Claire, but he wouldn’t do anything but stand on the sidelines whenever the young female moved about the house. Rex understood. If he was younger and in Gunnar’s shoes, he’d be wary of approaching the female his bear wanted to claim.

Not that it had been much different when he’d found Ada. Although Ada hadn’t been brutalized in the way Anna Claire had been, his mate’s trauma was still heartbreaking.

“I’m fine,” Anna Claire said in her soft voice. Rex saw her eyes flicker toward his brother before settling back on the two elder females. “With time, I’m going to overcome this.”

As the remaining members of the O’Kelly clan caught up, Rex motioned for his brothers to meet him on the front porch. There were a lot of things that needed to be discussed amongst them.

“Are you both okay with them becoming part of our clan?” Rex asked as soon as Drake pulled the door closed, blocking out their new guests.

“Actually, I am,” Drake replied with a single nod. “They’re of our kind, and they mean a lot to your mate. They’re her family.”

“They are,” Rex replied, smiling when he remembered seeing how happy Ada was when he had arrived home with the elders.

“I’m actually not as upset about Martha taking over my kitchen,” Gunnar admitted with a scowl. “I mean, if I really think about it, having someone take over the meals here will keep me in the fields for a little longer during the day.”

“Wow, don’t let Tessa hear you say that,” Drake chuckled, giving a rare form of expression. Tessa really had changed that grumpy bear inside his oldest brother.

“Never,” Gunnar joked.

“Where are we going to build the homes for them?” Rex sobered.

“We should walk the property and find a suitable place,” Drake suggested, tucking his hands in his front pockets. “I’m good to do that now while they are catching up with the females.”

Rex ducked inside and let Ada know they were going to walk the land and they’d be returning shortly. She nodded and turned back to her friends.

The three brothers set out to the side of the house closest to the barn where all of their equipment was stored. Beyond that, the forest behind their home awaited them. There was a trail leading back into the rest of their land, but Rex already knew they’d have a better chance of putting homes in this area than anywhere else.

“We could cut a road here,” he began, pointing to the trail. “The land is flat enough we could easily build four homes; one for each of the mated pairs and one for Luca and one for Ransom.”

“We need to get this build started soon,” Gunnar suggested. “All of us piled up in the main house will get old quick.”

“I’ll contact those cats and see if they can spare some help,” Drake replied, pulling out his phone. “If Luca and Ransom can run equipment, we can get them to start clearing the land as early as tomorrow.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Rex replied, looking back at the home he owned with his brothers. A year ago, they would’ve never entertained the thought of allowing anyone, other than their own mates, to take up residency on their land. Ada and Tessa had brought them so much more than a mating. They were teaching these bears about family again…something they hadn’t had in a very long time. “I need to see my mate.”

With his hands in his pockets, he turned for the house, but froze when Ada was standing on the back porch, a thin blanket wrapped over her shoulders. The soft wind blew a few strands of hair around her face. Her big, brown eyes held so much faith and love in them, Rex felt his heart squeeze.

“Did you mean what you said?” Rex asked as he approached.

“That I love you?” A smile tilted the corner of Ada’s mouth.

“Yes,” he replied, pulling her to his chest. With his arms around her, he swallowed her up. No one would hurt his female ever again.

“I do love you, Rex,” she admitted. “I think I fell in love with you the day you found me in the woods.”

“I promise to love and care for you until the day we take our last breath,” Rex announced, his voice holding steady. “I will wait for you in the afterlife if you’ll wait for me should you get there before I do.”

“I will, Rex.” Ada nuzzled against his chest and they stood there for the longest time, feeling the bond between them. The scent of their unborn cub wrapped around them, binding them even further than the mark on each other’s neck.