Page 104 of Pain

Drak’s blue eyes lit up a little, and he nodded. She could probably feel the flash of jealousy that raced through me, but I shoved it away as fast as I could. She mate-bonded with me. She loved me. She was also fated to mate the three of us. I needed to accept that and be grateful for the piece of her I did have. I’d never have her completely to myself. That wasn’t how the Fates designed it, and I needed to be—weallneeded to be—okay with that. There was no arguing, no negotiating, no bargaining with the Fates.

While Drak taught Omaera some basic war strategies and Zandren continued to rub his ass on a rock, I went to work felling more trees. There was something so utterly satisfying about dragging my flaming broadsword through the thick trunk of a pine and watching the bark char and smoke. And the smell … oh, I fucking loved the smell of burning wood.

A grunt and a growl behind me pulled my attention to the bear. He was sniffing the air like he either smelled another rabbit, or danger.

Drak and Omaera noticed too, and we all paused to wait for Zandren to either goCocaine Bearin a second, or shuffle off to scratch his furry ass again.

A deep growl rumbled in his throat, and he sniffed the air some more. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, then he lifted up to his hind legs only, bringing his enormous body to its full height of over ten feet tall.

I already had a fire sword in my hand, and Drak was covering Omaera as we waited for the threat Zandren smelled to reveal itself. It very well could be just an actual bear, but either way, we needed to be ready.

Brush and twigs rustled and snapped, and when a gust of air ruffled the shrub beside me, even I could smell something.

Then I saw them. Three absolutely massive grizzly bears ambling toward us. One was older than the others and by far the biggest beast on four legs I’d ever seen. The other two were quite a bit younger, and smaller, but not by much.

I glanced at Drak, who pushed Omaera behind him more, but she shoved the vampire out of the way. “Pooh Bear, is this your dad?” She stepped toward Zandren, who had dropped back to all fours and made his way toward the otherbears, a little bounce in his step. “You guys can relax. This is King Ryden, and I’m assuming, two of his lieutenants.”

Zandren answered her with a nuzzle of his nose against her hip, then a lick on the back of her hand. The big, older bear in the middle approached Zandren, and the two rose onto their hind legs again, only to collapse against each other in a bear hug.

Omaera giggled, which caused father and son to glance at her, drop back to all fours, and each of them licked her hands.

“Please to meet you as well, Your Majesty,” she said, smiling to the King of the Shifters. “Your son has told me a lot about you.”

Ryden glanced at Zandren and growled.

“All good, I promise,” Omaera said quickly.

“Why don’t they shift so they can speak to us?” I asked, snuffing out my sword and coming to stand next to Omaera—which, of course, earned me a glare from the old grizzly.

“Because they’re more comfortable in bear form,” Omaera said simply. “They’d also all be naked, and I’d rather not have the first time I meet my father-in-law in person be when he’s naked.”

All four bears chuckled in a way only bears could.

Drak hadn’t come any closer to us though, and judging by the way the Shifter King looked at him, it was probably a good thing.

I’d been around shifters all my life, but it was still weird when the conversation with them was so fucking one-sided. I didn’t like it. Luckily, Zandren, his father and the two lieutenants wandered off toward the edge of the woods, grumbling with each other. So I went back to work as a sexy lumberjack. Drak finished up teaching Omaera how to spot threats, quizzing her on places where various attacks could come from, until the sun began to sink behind the mountain.

“We should get back,” Omaera said, creating a blue torch of her own. “Bears in the front, bears in the back?”

“Sounds like the name of a shifter porno,” I murmured, which actually earned me bear chuckles from our furry allies.

We walked mostly in silence until we reached the vehicle—well, thevehicles, because King Ryden and his lieutenants also had one—a big diesel truck they parked beside our rental.

“Are they coming back to the B&B with us?” Omaera asked, directing her question to Zandren.

Zandren shook his head right before he lifted onto his hind legs again and shifted back into human form, giving his head a big shake right before his snout receded back into his normal Homo sapien nose. “No. Dad, Groy, and Leno are going to sleep out here tonight.” He reached into the back of the rental and tugged on a pair of loose-fitting shorts.

Omaera approached King Ryden, and cautiously, but with confidence, reached out her hand. He took a step forward so that her palm made contact with the top of his head. She smiled and scratched his ears, which made the old bear close his eyes and a noise akin to a purr rumble in his chest.

Grinning even wider, Omaera turned to Zandren. “He’s purring like you do.”

“Of course he is, Little One. Dad loves you.” Zandren roughly, but affectionately, ruffled the top of his father’s head. “Don’t you, you big old bear?”

It was impossible not to be envious of Zandren’s relationship with his father. Omaera glanced at me, clearly feeling my envy, and her gaze softened, as did her smile.

I had faint, fuzzy memories of my childhood with my parents. And a handful of happy, blurry memories with my father. None really with my mother. I was so little in all of them. They were arrested when I was only four, after all. Then they were gone. Imprisoned in Hell for choosing hate over love. For choosing darkness over their own child. I would never choose anything over my own children, over Omaera. I wanted what Zandren and Ryden had, and with any luck, Omaera and I would have that one day.

Ryden made some noise as if speaking to Zandren, and Zandren rolled his eyes. “Lay off, Dad. We have to deal with Lerris and Howar first.”

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