“Have you been drinking, Jennaveve?” Lula asked. What the heck was the other woman was talking about? Here she just told her she ran from her mates, and Jenna was talking about some guy swallowing some other guy through a bed of water with a television. Son-of-a-biscuit-eater, she really needed to talk with the wolpire twins about what they allowed the queen to drink. She was a nursing mother of twins for dragon’s sake.
“Again, you really should stop broadcasting your thoughts because they’re rude. I’ll have you know I’m not drunk. My mates have terrible taste in movies. Now, back to you and your...mates as in plural? Who or what the hell are they?” Jenna rolled to her side, propping herself up on her elbow.
Lula again copied Jenna, facing her. “They’re bears. As in twin bear shifters.” She closed her eyes, waiting for the explosion.
Silence descended between them. Finally, when she was sure Jenna had passed out from shock, she cracked one eye open. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked once both eyes were peering down at her, and she found herself with a totally stunned Jenna. Well, she wasn’t alone since Lula was still in a state of shock herself.
“Well, that sure as shit wasn’t what I saw coming.” Jenna held up her hand. “However, I think it’s just what you need. I mean, one man err, bear wouldn’t do for you and your dragon. Kinda like me. We are so awesome. We need more than one to—”
Lula slapped her hand over Jenna’s mouth. “Do not even say it. My mother could be near.” She whipped her head around them, opening her senses. “How do I tell her?”
Jenna’s body shook even more, making Lula’s eyes narrow further. “Are you laughing at me?” Lula asked.
A mumble came from the Fey Queen, but Lula had her fingers firmly over her mouth, preventing the words from escaping. “If I remove my hand, you promise no more talk of...that?”
At Jenna’s vigorous nod, Lula pulled away. “Your mother will be happy for you, Lula, and besides, I’m pretty sure she knows about the bowchicawowow between men and women. Hello, you’re here,” Jenna pointed out.
Lula sat up, a heavy sigh escaping. “You don’t understand. My mother didn’t exactly want to have me, or rather, my birth wasn’t the same as yours. I think she expected me to stay chaste for my entire life. Dragons only mate with other dragons, but with me not knowing any other dragons and not ever going to a realm where they dragons reside, I sort of assumed I’d be alone, forever. Sex and mating don’t have to be one and the same, but don’t tell my mother that. Not that I went out and banged an entire football team or anything crazy, but I was curious. I will admit, though, I don’t get the whole sweaty, panting, oh yeah baby, stuff. That was when I decided I’d be the auntie to all those little nuggets the wolfies and you seem so good at having. You know, the cool one everyone loves who sneaks them off to...do cool shit you stuck-up parents say no to.”
“I am not going to ask you why you gave it up because TMI. So, my real question is this. Is that why you’ve been giving a part of yourself to all those in need?” Jenna dropped her query like a boulder into the clearing.
Lula wrapped her arms around her legs, heart banging against her chest. “What did it matter if I wasn’t whole if I never was to mate?”
“WELL, FUCK. THAT’S not who I thought would be our mate,” Abyle whispered staring toward his twin brother, wondering if he too felt poleaxed.
Atika punched a hole in the wall. “What the hell do you mean?”
Abyle stared at the space where Lula had stood. “She’s not a bear.” What the hell did his brother think he meant? The two of them were bears. Huge-ass grizzly bears. They were among the largest predators on Earth. When he’d thought of his future mate, he’d pictured another bear. She didn’t have to be a grizzly; a little black bear would’ve been fine.
Shauny, their younger sister, turned to face them. “What is she? I couldn’t sense what exactly her animal was, but she seemed—off.”
Joni swiveled her head toward at Atlas, waiting for him to explain.
“Lula’s not from Earth, boys. I think it’s best you forget about her and hunt for your mate or mates elsewhere.”
Both he and his brother turned toward Atlas, their alpha and little brother, lifting their lips in a snarl.
“Would you have left Joni alone and found another?” Atika asked in a quiet voice.
Through their twin connection, he could feel what the other man had already decided, which was good, because even if his heart and mind were at war, his bear already claimed the tiny female. A damn magical being was their mate for bear’s sake.
Atlas shook his head, pulling Joni against his chest. “Not a chance, brothers.”
Abyle shook him off, staring at the damage. “You said she’s not from this Earth. What do you mean?” It didn’t matter who, what, or where the female was from, she was theirs. His bear snarled inside him, agreeing, wanting to go after her. Only her scent had disappeared, as if she’d not only left their property, but the whole damn state. Fucking-A, they not only had a truemate who was more powerful than the two of them, but one who could transfer from one place to another, within the blink of an eye. It would make for some interesting fights. His bear did a happy sigh inside his head, the crazy bastard.
“You boys might want to sit down for this,” Atlas began.
Their brother had only recently found his own mate and claimed his rightful place as alpha to their clan, taking White Bear Clan from their crazy mother and her machinations. Of course, none of them saw his mate being a little wolf from South Dakota named Joni, but she was perfect for Atlas. She’d been through hell and back, needing a savior as much as Atlas needed an anchor. Shit, his brother was a thing of fables, a white bear, and not a damn polar bear, but a fucking white grizzly literally twice as big as he and Atika, yet he was wise beyond his years. The title of Alpha settled on his shoulders like a second skin. Some of the clan had thought he and his twin would’ve been better to run them but fuck that shit. They made much better enforcers. Kick ass and let somebody else take names, someone like Atlas and his dire bear.
Atika came to stand next to Abyle. “Atlas, we’re your older brothers. We may have fucked up all those years ago when we didn’t stand up to our father, but you need listen very closely to what I’m about to say. Dire bear or no, that female is ours. Our mate. Try to keep us from her, and we’ll go to war.” Atika thumped his chest with his right fist to punctuate his words.
Their brother was the last known white bear who was a dire bear, larger than three bear shifters put together. What he didn’t know was Abyle and Atika were more than they appeared as well. They came from the same father, who was also a white bear, gifting them a little something they didn’t announce to the clan, knowing anything that was deemed different tended to send fear throughout the clan. Different meant many things in a clan. Mostly it set you apart, made you not one of them. Their father had been an abusive bastard who took great pleasure in using his alpha status to abuse whomever he chose to, mostly his sons and wife.
When Atlas was just seven years old, their bastard of a father and their mother took him on a fishing trip where they took turns beating him, and then tried to drown the small boy. But his dire bear emerged, shredding their father, ripping him apart even though poor Atlas had been beaten and eviscerated by the older man. Neither Abyle nor Atika felt any sorrow for the loss as they, too, had been beaten their entire lives. Never knowing what horrors, he faced, they thought Atlas had been the loved child, always getting to go on outings. Their mother had been too high, her drug abuse constant in their lives, to do anything to stop the abuse. She made up a story of how her husband had died, keeping her hold as alpha bitch until one of her sons took the clan.