Page 16 of Stolen Mate

Before she could mount another attack, Derek flipped her over on her back, grabbing her throat and shaking her. The message was clear—yield and shift. The she-bear tried to use all four of her legs to toss him off, but she wasn’t fast enough or strong enough. Again, he shook her, this time a bit more vigorously, and growled a warning of his own: submit; shift.

She tried to swipe at his head but was in the wrong position. Grudgingly she went still beneath him. With her throat still in his mouth, he growled low and then chuffed at her. She needed to know he was the victor, but he would treat her gently if she did what he bid her to do. He could feel her shift as it started to materialize and envelop her. Stepping back, he waited until the she-bear had retreated, leaving behind an unconscious, naked woman. He checked her vital signs. They were strong.

Derek quickly galloped back towards his SUV and opened the back hatch, which had been modified so that he and Jax could use it in either form, and grabbed a blanket. He turned back toward the spot he had left her, grateful she was still in a pile. He charged back to the spot, stopping to shift and redress before wrapping her in the blanket, scooping her up and heading back to his vehicle.

He made her as comfortable a bed as he could in the back of the SUV and reminded his inner bear that they were not going to claim and mate with her when she was unconscious, although the instinct to do so was riding him hard. She was gorgeous. She had long, dark hair with a slight wave, the face of an angel, and the body of a siren. He locked her in, knowing in this area of the SUV, she was trapped and could neither get away nor hurt him or anyone else.

This was going to be a fine kettle of fish and both his brother and Jax were going to have a field day at his expense. He’d given both of them a ration of shit over the way they had claimed their own mates with little regard to what either of them thought. Derek didn’t know the first damn thing about her, but maybe Trudy could fill in some of the blanks. But even if she couldn’t, it didn’t matter. The woman in the back of his SUV was his fated mate.

It would seem that things were about to get real interesting and exciting. He hit the return call feature on his vehicle. He knew he should take her back to Trudy’s but that wasn’t happening. She was his mate, and he was taking her home.

“Trudy? It’s Derek.”

“Did you find her?”

“I did. She’s all right. You were right; she’s a bear-shifter.”

“Did she know?”

“I haven’t a clue. We have yet to talk. She’s passed out in the back of my SUV.”

“I’ll get her room ready.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m taking her to my cabin.”

“Do you know her?” Trudy asked.

“In almost every sense of the word. She’s my fated mate.”

He didn’t wait for Trudy to respond, nor did he answer her call when she called him back. He would get his mate home, call Jax and let him know what had happened, and deal with whatever consequences came from that decision. He knew he should be concerned, or angry, or worried, but he wasn’t. Quite the opposite; he had his fated mate and like his ancestors, was taking her home to his cave—only his cave was actually a nice cabin he’d renovated and that his sister and sister-in-law had just finished redecorating.

Derek couldn’t remember ever being happier.

CHAPTER 8

TERESA

Kodiak Island

Twenty-Odd Years Ago

Teresa Travers was pissed. She’d been hired by idiots. They wanted to do a kind of photography hunt of the bears and other large game on Kodiak Island. They had assured her they had experience in the bush. What a crock! They were outsiders, born and bred in the lower forty-eight, and they were human as well. What had she been thinking?

What she’d been thinking was winter was coming and before too long, there wouldn’t be any guide jobs to be had. Teresa was making a good living as a wilderness guide, working through a blacksmith who made climbing equipment. She’d been skeptical, but the money had been too good to refuse. Only a couple more days, and she’d be able to take the baby home.

Teresa shook her head ruefully. She had to think of a name. She couldn’t just keep calling her ‘the baby.’ She’d never thought to be a mother and certainly not after that bastard at Akiak snatched her off the streets of Anchorage, turned her, and got her knocked up. Life hadn’t been great in Anchorage, but at least she hadn’t been forced to become some kind of mutant mate to a polar bear-shifter.

The Shadow Sisters were supposed to have helped her. Fat lot of good they’d been. Instead, Teresa had escaped on her own and made her own way to Mystic River—another weird little town filled with all kinds of people who could shift into animals. She had to admit, being a polar bear was kind of fun sometimes. She’d found an abandoned homestead cabin right on the water and had claimed it for her own, fixing it up little by little as she found guide jobs she could take until she was too far along.

Word had reached her through the grapevine that her baby’s sire was looking for them both, presumably to drag them back to Akiak or at the very least take the baby—which would happen over her dead body. She’d suffered through her pregnancy alone until the town’s doctor had found her in labor and rushed her to his clinic. He’d worked tirelessly to save both her and the child. That man was a saint, and he offset every lousy alpha male shifter she’d had the misfortune to cross.

The baby was sleeping soundly when Teresa heard movement in the bushes outside of their campground. She stilled her breathing and focused on the sound. Something very large was moving towards them. She scented the air—that something large was most definitely a bear.

Checking to ensure that her clients were fast asleep, Teresa moved away from the camp, removed her clothes and called forth her polar bear. She had to admit, it was still a thrill to be able to shift from human to bear and back again, and the sort of controlled, centralized storm that surrounded a shift was like a whirlwind crossed with what she imagined it would feel like to be a part of the aurora borealis.

Teresa saw her bear rushing toward her as her body made the miraculous transition from human to bear. She charged toward the spot where she believed the bear would be. It didn’t take her long to find him. She’d been right. It was the male bear who had kidnapped her, turned her, and taken her to mate—none of which had occurred with her consent. If that sonofabitch thought he was getting her baby, he’d best think again.

She roared a challenge to the imposing polar bear. Teresa knew he had size and muscle on her, but this was her baby and her life, and this bastard didn’t get to take them from her. Both of their bodies rippled with muscle, showcasing their strength. Her she-bear’s powerful primal and maternal instincts took over, and Teresa knew she would die before she would let the male bear win.

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