Page 32 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

A word growls in my head:mate.

Even though excited at finding his mate, my bison is not happy to see her in danger. As I release a nasally huff, my hoof paws at the snowy ground. Using our telepathic link, I call Connor for backup. I can handle three wolves on my own, but I don’t want my mate to take off or get hurt. I’ve waited decades for her, and the thought of losing her is worse than death itself. I won’t be able to survive it. And neither will my bison.

Chapter

Three

CONNOR

The worry in Grant's voice has me instantly alert. He’s not one to overreact, so it tells me something is very wrong. I rush out the front door of our house and immediately shift. The clothes I’m wearing shred and fall from my body.

My stomach bubbles with nausea caused by Grant’s emotions. It’s as if they’re my own. Our connection doesn’t only come from us being in the same herd, but from our twin empathy.

I pick up my pace, racing toward him. My cloven hooves trudge through the snow, shaking the ground beneath with their force. Sensing him close by, I slow down and look for him. His large figure dominates the field he’s standing in. Having shifted back to his human form, he’s hard to miss at six feet and three inches tall, with no clothes to cover his large body. Being bison shifters, our physiques are soft and round, with an undertone of muscles.

Noticing someone in his arms, I shift and walk toward him. “What happened?”

“She passed out,” Grant says. “She was threatened by wolves, but once they noticed me, they took off.”

He stops in front of me. A flowery scent fills my nose, hitting me somewhere deep within. I suck in a sharp breath.

She’s my mate.

I reach out to take her, but Grant pulls back. My bison growls in my head, not liking his possessiveness of our mate.

“I’ve got her,” he says. “We need to take her somewhere safe. It’s getting worse out here and she’ll freeze to death.”

I nod, trying to pacify my bison counterpart.

It’s fine. She’s our mate, but Grant won’t hurt her.

He settles down quite easily, to my surprise. I expected I’d have to argue with him more, but he relaxes and drifts to the back of my mind lazily.

I frown. Finding my mate with another man shouldn’t sit well with my bison. Especially when touching.

But it doesn’t bother us all that much to have Grant hold her.Why is that?

“Connor.” Grant furrows his eyebrows. “What’s wrong with you?”

I shake my head and concentrate on the situation rather than my internal questions. I’ll get answers soon enough, I hope.

“Nothing. Why don’t we take her home? It’s not too far from here. We can ask her where she’s staying when she wakes up.”

He studies me, not speaking for a moment. A knot forms in my stomach. I chuckle, knowing Grant is suspicious of my behavior. The feeling dissolves and relief fills me. Grant may not show his emotions much, but he can’t hide them from me.

Finally, he replies, “Lead the way.”

Turning back the way I came, we head home. In our human form, it takes longer than I’d like for us to get there. Grant moves even slower due to the unconscious woman in his arms. The snow fall gets heavier, clouding our path, but our strong senses ensure we don’t lose our way.

As soon as we’re in our front yard, I offer to take her. “Give her to me.”

Again, Grant pulls back. “Why?”

I tilt my head. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

She’s my mate.

I don’t understand his need to hold her. Maybe being alone so long has him wanting to keep her. My chest tightens at the thought. I don’t want him to be upset. Finding my mate is great, but I do feel guilty that Grant will remain alone.

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