Page 93 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

Marco extends his wing, and I examine the scales along the bone. They could be used as stairs the way they overlap along the bone. I carefully climb along the scales on his wing bone, being very mindful not to step on his wing’s leather. I reach his back, and trust me, I’m fucking thankful I made it up here.

Great Bears are not known for being the most graceful creatures. My eyes move along the planes of his massive back and see the area where I was instructed to sit. I finally get myself situated when the dragon starts to stand up. I hold onto the spine for dear life. Aurora, on the other hand, is standing up, leaning back against the spine behind her. I see her hands are shifted, and she has a good grip on the horns in front of her. Aurora lets out a call that’s a true mixture of her dual nature; it’s a cross between a roar and a howl. The moment her call is done,Marco launches us into the air. I feel my stomach head towards my ass from the sheer power of Marco’s take-off.

Aurora is laughing hysterically, enjoying the wind in her face. I can feel through the bond the worry from Jayce and Klaus; Dominik is playing it cool. Alaric is the only one I’m not really sensing.

A few moments later, I see exactly why I’m not sensing him. He has shifted to his dragon and has decided to escort us to the edge of the pack lands. Aurora is smiling and waving at Alaric as he flies beside us. With a dragon Marco’s size, we should reach the bear territory’s outer edge in about forty-five minutes. Alaric roars his goodbye at the edge of the region. Aurora turns her head and calls back to him; I can see a sadness there. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous of the bond that they share. Alaric and Klaus have the best understanding of her beast’s nature. I have the best understanding ofwhomshe is.

Marco starts making a clicking noise, and I see Aurora nod. Slowly, that crazy female makes her way back towards me. Aurora is walking down Marco’s back like she would around the porch on the house. “D, we’re getting ready to land. I came back here to help you through the landing. Unlike last time you rode in the carriage box, this is much different. You need to stand up.” Slowly, I slide my way up the spine I’m leaning against, then look to Aurora for the next step. “Okay, so here’s the easy part, brace yourself between the spine behind you and the one in front of you. Marco will lower his head before he starts the descent, so that will give you a warning to brace. Alaric said that Marco is going to take every precaution to make the landing as soft as possible.”

Aurora leans forward and kisses me softly before she turns and runs back up to her position on Marco’s head. Aurora raises her arms over her head like we are on a roller coaster, then it happens. I watch Marco’s head lower, and I feel like the groundis coming out from under me. I hope I don’t embarrass myself by puking. Quickly, the falling feeling lessens, and I’m okay with the speed we are going. I’m guessing Aurora said something to Marco because he changed his approach.

We land softly on one of the higher hillsides overlooking the forest of my youth. I smile, breathing in the air of my homeland. Things have changed since I was last here; there’s actually a dirt road leading towards where our camp used to be. I slide off Marco’s back and look around at the hill’s grass and dirt. The bear prints I find are old, but it’s a good sign my people are nearby. I look at my right forearm and roll up my sleeve. I have the brand of my clan and the brand of the house of Marelup as a royal guard. If we find my people, I will have to show them my brands to validate who I am.

Aurora eventually goes and talks to Marco, and he takes off, leaving us till we need him. “Ready to play hide and go seek, D?” Aurora smiles at me as she adjusts the straps on the backpack she’s brought with her.

I slowly take my pack off of my back and start to strip. “I’m going to shift so it’s easier for me to track my people. Besides, each family covey has specific markings as their bear. I may be the last of my bloodline, or maybe not. Either way, they will accept who I am much faster as my animal than if we both approach as humans.” Aurora nods in understanding as I remove the last of my clothing. I feel her eyes roam all over my body. It’s times like this I am thankful for all the extra training I do.

Aurora finishes stuffing my clothes into my bag then waits for me to shift. My bones break and realign slowly. Unlike the wolves, unless I’m angry my shift is slow and methodical. When my shift is finally over, I stand on my hind legs and roar, alerting the others to my presence. It’s a cultural thing for a dominant boar to announce his presence before enteringanother boar’s territory. I lower myself back down to four legs and listen for any kind of a response. In the distance to the north, I hear an answering roar. For now, we are welcome in his territory. I swing my head back to Aurora and lie down; carefully, Aurora climbs onto my back. She manages to clip the two packs together, arranging them to rest over my shoulders so she doesn’t have to support their combined weight.

Slowly, I start to head in the direction of the roar I had heard. The silver fir trees along the main game trail randomly bare the dominant boar’s claw marks. Aurora looks at the marks then back down to me.He’s not as large as I am; if anything over time, my people may be no bigger than the common brown bear.I say to Aurora through the bond.

“Do you think he’s smaller than I am, D?” Aurora asks. I’m pretty sure she is just testing me. Her beast rivals mine when I’m on my hind legs.

It’s safe to say. I believe he’s smaller than both of us,I say to her through the bond again. If my bear were able to smirk, we would definitely be smirking right now. The game trail leads us through some of the most beautiful sections of the forest. Aurora is enjoying our journey; she’s looking in all different directions, catching all the new scents. I can tell she’s trying to resist the urge to hunt the roe deer, as well as the chamois.

We come up to a water crossing, and I stop then lie down. Aurora takes the hint and slides off my back, taking the bags with her. Slowly, I wade into the water to test its depth. It’s not bad at all, and for the most part I’ll be able to keep her dry. While I stand in the stream, I notice a good-sized wild trout population swimming in and out of the current.

Quickly, I plunge my head under the water and catch a medium-sized trout. I whip my head to the side to throw the trout towards Aurora on the bank. She starts to laugh hysterically as she catches the fish when it hits her on her chest.“Lunch!” Aurora yells as she moves back a bit, then smashes the trout’s head with a rock, ready for me to catch another. I haven’t seen her so happy being in the outdoors in such a long time. I throw three more fish to her, and she’s having giggle fits over it.

I climb back up onto the bank and shake out my fur, sending water flying everywhere. Aurora is still laughing, now over the water getting to her from way over here. I shift back to my human form and grab my pants from the bag. It felt good to hunt for my mate and to provide for her as my bear. He’s so proud of himself right now it’s not even funny anymore. Aurora has shifted her hands and started to use her talons to gut the fish.

I pull the fire starter out and make a small fire to cook our fish. I turn around to find Aurora already eating one of the fish raw. I just end up double blinking as I watch her. I was not aware that she can still tolerate raw fish. “What? I was hungry, and cooking would take too long,” Aurora states so matter of fact, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I just start laughing and join her in eating my fish raw. I’m just thankful one of her natures just made this trip a fuck-ton easier. We enjoy our meal in relative silence before going and discarding the skeletons far away from where we stopped.

Aurora cleans up quickly, then walks over to me and kisses my lips softly. “Thank you for lunch, D. I haven’t had fresh fish since the last time I went hunting. Trust me when I say fishing is not in my wheelhouse. I missed more fish than I came close to catching. My only really successful fishing trip was in the birthing cavern,” Aurora says, shrugging her shoulders. “If you want a deer, I’m your girl. Fish, yeah, we’ll starve before I catch one.” She starts laughing at herself. At least she knows what her strong suit is.

“Let’s get going. It’s going to get cold when the sun sets. I’m hoping we find the camp before then.” Aurora nods, agreeing with me, so I begin to strip so I can shift and carry her. My shiftis smooth and comfortable; it feels great to spend so much time as my bear. After I stretch out, I lie down and make it easier for Aurora to load the bags and get back on. Once she’s situated, I rise up onto my paws and start walking towards the stream. After having fished the stream, I know where the shallow parts are. I take the higher route to keep Aurora dry.

CHAPTER 79

Dimitri

March-

We get to the other side and back on the main game trail. It’s not long before the scent of other bears fills my nostrils; we are close to their camp. I can feel it. Out of nowhere, I get blasted in the side by something huge. Aurora goes flying, and I can hear her clothing rip as she shifts midair.

I hit the ground hard and scent the boar flying towards Aurora. She catches him and slams his bear to the ground. I can hear bones crack from the impact. Aurora is growling and drooling venom on the male’s face. I go nose to nose with the male, and his eyes widen in recognition. Immediately he shifts back and looks up at me as Aurora releases him. “You’re of the Kovac line, I know those markings,” the man says in Romanian to me.

I raise my eyes to look at Aurora and explain what’s going on through the bond to her. She runs and walks back to the bags and shifts back to her human form. Quickly, she dresses and returns to me with my clothes. I return to my human form and get dressed. “Yes, I am of the Kovac line; my mother was Svetlana, and my father was Beck.” I answer him in Romanian, and he nods slowly.

“They’ve been dead a long time, my friend. You cannot be their Dimitri. He should be long dead.” He continues speaking in Romanian to me.

I show him the family brand on my forearm and the brand given to me the day I went to work as the queen’s guard. Aurora silently steps up beside me and rests her bare forearm next to mine. She bares the Marelup seal as well as the seal of the Ice Dragon Royal House. The man visibly pales, looking at her markings. Quickly, he drops to one knee and apologizes for attacking.

Aurora walks over and gently touches the man’s chin and raises his eyes to meet hers. Her steel-grey eyes examine him, then look back to me. “Tell him why we are here and that I forgive him. Make sure he realizes you’re my mate and your life span was extended because of me. Tell him we seek your descendants,” Aurora says, looking back down at the man. Slowly, she releases him, and she returns to my side where I hold her tightly to me.

Quickly, I relay what Aurora had said to the man before us. He’s in shock that I’m almost a hundred and fifty years older than the oldest living Great Bear in our history. He gets up and grabs our bags, offering to lead us to the clan. Aurora is happy with this turn of events and smiles as we head towards camp.

Everything is almost how I remember it, except the clan is much smaller in numbers these days. My mother’s hut is still standing where it was all those years ago. Planks have been changed out and the roof updated, but yet the same shape. A robust woman steps out of the hut, and she reminds me of my mother. I stare for several minutes while the man explains who we are to her and the others gathered.

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