Page 5 of Mitchell's Untamed Mate

“Why?”he asked, wincing when his voice came out sounding like Jayden’s.“Why is it a mystery?Can’t you open it?”

Cyrus slid the lid closed and laid his hands on top of the box.

“My father told me that when the time is right, then the contents will be revealed.Until then, it must be kept safe,” Cyrus replied, rising.

“How will you know when the time is right?”

“Settle down in your bed and I will tell you.”

Mitchell twisted in his seat, attentively watching Cyrus as he replaced the box under the table.Elaina walked over and wrapped her arm around Mitchell's shoulders, leading him to a small pallet on the ground on the other side of the firepit.He sank down on the pallet while Cyrus shrugged off the heavy fur coat he was wearing and draped it over the makeshift table.Mitchell looked away from where the box was now hidden to Cyrus, who sat on the raised pallet and removed his leather boots.Mitchell scrambled under the warm fur and laid back, rolling onto his side.Elaina climbed onto the pallet next to Cyrus, beneath the covers.

“When a human chooses a shifter as his or her mate, and is accepted, then it will be time.Now sleep,” Cyrus said before he blew out the candle next to him.

Mitchell rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling of the hut.Outside, the gentle sounds of rain continued.Light from the fire danced across the woven ceiling.For a time, he could almost imagine the orangutan king in a battle against his own kind, fighting to save the few humans that still lived.

What was in the cylinder?Was it a map?The ashes of the king?A hidden message that would bring shifters and humans together?

Folding his arm under his head, he rolled onto his side and let his thoughts wander to Jace.When the boys were five, they had sworn a blood oath to always protect each other.At just eight-years-old, Mitchell already understood the potential havoc that could be unleashed by the profound anger he had seen in Jace's eyes.The year before, there had been an incident involving a man named Dennis who had violently confronted his father over the ownership of some fish traps his father was using.

Mitchell didn’t know what had happened to Dennis.He had been there one day and gone the next.No one ever spoke his name.It was as if the man had never existed.

Would they do that to Jace?

He pulled the fur up under his chin and blinked at the fire in the firepit.What would he do?He had sworn to protect Jace.What if the anger in his friend’s eyes spread—the way it had in Dennis’s eyes?What would he do?

It won’t.I won’t let it.

Unable to contemplate harming his best friend, Mitchell turned his thoughts back to the cylinder.Soon, the warmth, his full stomach, and the patter of the rain lured him into a deep sleep filled with dreams of great hidden palaces where humans and shifters lived side-by-side.

Chapter1

Present day:

The dense canopy of the Olympic National Park filtered the early morning sunlight, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor.The air was crisp and filled with the rich scent of pine and damp earth.Mitchell moved through the underbrush.His senses were attuned to his surroundings.After a lifetime of living with the dangers of discovery, he had become a master of navigating these wilds, always on guard for both prey and predators.

Today, however, his instincts buzzed with a different anticipation.There was something—or someone—out there, moving with purpose and skill.He paused, crouching low and letting the forest’s natural sounds guide him.A rustle of leaves, the snap of a twig, and then he saw her.

The woman moved through the forest with a natural grace.The markings along her hairline and along the exposed column of her throat showed she was a shifter.The markings reminded him of Ty Bearclaw, Ella’s new husband.

For centuries, Mitchell's people, the last known humans to exist on Earth, had hidden from the shifters who had nearly wiped his people out.Ella had been discovered after she and Jayden had ventured beyond the forests.Their recklessness had forced Mitchell, as leader of the clan, to move their clan repeatedly to remain hidden.But as long as Ella was with them, they could not stay hidden from Ty Bearclaw.The shifter would not forget her.

The elders had been relentlessly urging Mitchell to marry Ella.The two of them had been lifelong friends, and deep down, Mitchell couldn’t deny the relief he felt when she decided to be with someone else—though her choice was the most outrageous she could have made: a shifter.

When the other villagers had called for Ella and Ty’s execution, Mitchell had refused.The tale Cyrus had told him long ago had drifted through his mind.Humans and shifters could live as one.

He did not know how the choice to spare them would ultimately affect his clan, but he believed the connection between humans and shifters was inevitable.He would not add more deaths to the long-standing conflicts between their peoples if he did not have to.Ella had been banished from the village, Ty had been returned to his people, and Mitchell hoped that their love was still going strong.

Love finds a way.

Mitchell's headaches, however, had continued: the elders who were unhappy with his choice, his own insatiable curiosity about Ella’s bond with a shifter, the logistics of moving his clanagain, and now another shifter was here in hisforest.

His breath caught in his throat as he watched her.Her presence was commanding.Her movements were measured and confident.It was one thing to hear stories about grizzly-shifters, but actually encountering them in person was an entirely different and unforgettable experience.

Ty Bearclaw had impressed him.The man’s love for Ella had been clearly written on his face.Still, that didn’t mean he would welcome the female shifter who was here now.Mitchell may have hope for a better future, a shared future, but he could not afford to be a naïve fool.Lives depended on how he handled every encounter with the shifters.

He followed her, staying upwind.She paused every once in a while, scanning the ground in front of her before looking up.His gut warned him that she was searching for his clan.

Why is she alone?

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