A Promise on White Wings (Wiccan-Were-Bear) (2 page)

His dad was sitting on the deck of the townhouse that was part of a cluster of four rented by the thirteen-member pride in the small town of Thickett.  Northern Ohio was fairly large, and they were in no rush to settle someplace permanent until they’d gotten the lay of the land.

His dad looked up from the newspaper and said, “You look troubled.”

Chance sat down on one of the wrought iron chairs that the previous tenant had left behind and let out a sigh.  “I’m feeling strange.”

“Strange good or strange bad?”  His dad folded the newspaper and set it next to his coffee cup on the matching table.

“When is strange good?”  Chance frowned.

Chuckling, his dad said, “Depends on the situation, I suppose.  Sometimes strange can be very good.  Or very bad.  At any rate, tell me why you’re feeling strange.”

“That’s just it…I don’t know.  We’ve been in Ohio for a month, and at first, I thought it was just coming into a new area that was making my cat twitchy.  But it seems to be getting worse.”

Raising a brow, his dad said, “So you brought a human home with you last night and that didn’t settle your cat or make you feel less strange?”

Chance willed away the blush that threatened to heat his face.  “Dad,” he sighed, not looking his father in the eyes.  Chance was twenty-two plus four, which meant that although he looked like a college student, he was actually seventy.  Therefore, he was far too old to be embarrassed because his dad overhead the noisy woman in bed with him last night.

Still maintaining no eye contact, Chance confirmed his dad’s words.  They had a very open and honest relationship, and he’d never kept any secrets from his dad.  He respected him too much.  Not only as his father, but also as the leader of their pride.  “I thought I just needed to get laid.  Clearly, that’s not the case.”

His dad looked thoughtful.  “Or maybe she just wasn’t the right female for you.”

Chance looked at his father in confusion, and then his words sank in.  “You think my cat is sensing his mate?”

Shrugging, his dad leaned back in the chair and folded his large hands over his abdomen.  “Before I met your mother, my cat was driving me batty.  I went hunting one night, thinking I just needed a good, long run when I stumbled on this scent.  I knew that I’d found my mate.  Her family was vacationing in the area, and if it wasn’t for that night of hunting, I would have lost my chance to meet her because they were heading back home the next morning.”

Chance hummed thoughtfully and looked out over the small patch of grass enclosed by a six-foot fence.  His cat didn’t like the fence, and he didn’t particularly care for it either.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said finally.  “Maybe my mate is here somewhere and I just need to find her.”

“Well, you can start looking tomorrow.  We have the meet-and-greet with the were-houses at the bear den tonight.”

Chance smiled, feeling suddenly hopeful.  “Who knows?  My mate may be in the den tonight.”

“Anything’s possible, Son.  Even finding a woman who can put up with your shit.”

Chance stood and stretched.  “I’m not the one who causes you so much grief.  That’s Gam.”

His father snorted with a smile and returned his attention back to the paper.  Gamble was Chance’s younger brother, who had earned a reputation in their former home for being a love-them-and-leave-them kind of male.  On more than one occasion, their dad had to bail Gam out of tight situations involving disgruntled females.

Chance left his father’s townhouse and walked next door to the one he shared with Gam and another lion, Chance’s best friend, Pyre.  All the townhouses had three bedrooms, and except for their father who had one unit to himself, the rest of the lions shared the homes.

Pyre was standing at the stove in sweatpants, sliding over-easy eggs onto a plate.  “You hungry, Chance?” he asked without looking over his shoulder.

“Just coffee.”  He opened the cabinet and pulled out a mug and poured himself a cup.  “Where’s Gam?”

“He went home with that hot little bartender from Killian’s last night, and he’s not home yet.”

Chance joined Pyre at the table.  “Hopefully, he had better luck than I did.”

Pyre shrugged as he dug into his eggs.  “You know how Gam is.  I doubt he’ll remember her name.”

It was true.  Gamble had never been in a relationship that lasted beyond one night.  He was all about the one-nighters and made no apologies for it.

“He’ll change his tune when he meets his mate.”

“She’d have to be a very understanding female to put up with his bullshit,” Pyre mused, and Chance agreed.

He decided to finish his coffee at the computer in the family room so he could begin his search for a place for them to call home.  They’d need land.  Lots of freedom to roam and fast, furry things to hunt.  And it wouldn’t hurt if he happened to meet his mate at some point, too, so he could have someone to take home and spend time with.

His lion roared in agreement, and he willed away the distraction of being lonely and focused on a realtor website.  It was going to be a long day.

Chapter 3

The shower pressure was so high in the tiny bathroom that it felt like needles were trying to poke through Danika’s skin, which prompted her to move quickly and finish up.  She’d been in a lot of bear dens in her life — she was raised in one after all — but she’d never been in one like this.  West of Cleveland, Ohio, by an hour, the den itself was situated deep underground in a cavern.  The entrance was hidden inside a large, red barn.  Stepping down from the surface into the den was like stepping back in time in some ways.

The bear den in Northern Ohio, like all brown and black bear dens in the world, was of Native American descent.  Only polar bears and some nearly extinct clans in Europe were of different racial origins.  The interior of the Cleveland den was filled with communal cooking pits, hide tents, and lots of hunky Native American men.  That they were also were-bears made them even hotter in her mind, if that were possible.

She flipped off the water, and her skin screamed in relief.  It had been an invigorating shower.  She squeezed the water from her shoulder-length blonde hair and wrapped the towel around her curvy body.  She felt positively dwarfed by the tall women in the den she lived in, where there wasn’t a woman shorter than 528” while she had stopped growing at 5’3”.  But here in this den was a healing nymph, a witch, and a vampire who were just barely taller than her.  Finally, she could look a woman in the eyes.

“Danika?” the witch, Elizabeth, mate to twin were-bears, called from outside the bathroom.  Danika was staying in a miniscule guest tent, containing only a bed and loveseat in the main area and a tiny bathroom.

“In here, Elizabeth,” she called.

Elizabeth moved the curtain that separated the two areas and said, “I brought your skirt back.  Ash said that it should last through the party tonight but that the seams are shot and you should consider replacing it.”

Ash, Elizabeth’s husband, was a master craftsman.  His clothing creations were highly sought after, not only in their own den, but also in other dens.  Danika took her beloved skirt from Elizabeth and smiled.  “It was my mom’s.  Or, rather, the woman who raised me.  I wear it for celebrations because it makes me feel connected to her.”  It felt like blasphemy to consider replacing it.

“Oh, she’s gone to the great bear spirit?”

“Yeah, she was human and mated to a male bear and became pregnant when she was nearly fifty.  She died in childbirth and so did the child.”

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment, and Danika turned around to face the mirror, reaching for her hairbrush.  She felt cool fingers touch her shoulder blades and she jumped, spinning around with a short growl.

“I’m sorry, but those marks on your back?  What are they?” Elizabeth asked, her head tilted in curiosity.

“I don’t know.  Mama found me wandering naked in the woods near the den when I was a toddler.  They estimated my age at three.  The bears said I smelled like a shifter, but because I’m light skinned, they didn’t think I was a bear.  When I turned eighteen, I never shifted into anything and I still haven’t.”  That was almost six years ago.  Six long years wondering what she was.  She wasn’t aging.  She still looked eighteen.  So everyone believed she was a supernatural creature.  But just what, no one knew.

“They never found out where you came from?”  Elizabeth looked both saddened and amazed.

“No one ever claimed me or contacted the authorities.”  She sighed.  “But the marks?  I was found with them.  They thought my people had branded me.  Some of the primitive shifter groups will mark their people.  But none in the states had marks like these.”

It hadn’t been pleasant growing up as a castaway.  Never knowing just why she’d been wandering around alone in the woods with no identification.  Mama named her Danika, which in the ancient language meant
white winged woman.

Danika could picture the marks easily in her mind — two skewed white wings over her shoulder blades.  They looked almost like birthmarks, not like tattoos or brands.

“White wings...” Elizabeth said softly.  Shaking her head, she said, “That sounds so familiar, but I don’t know from where.”

Looking distracted, she excused herself, and Danika returned her attention to the mirror and began to get ready.  Her den had traveled to Northern Ohio for the full moon celebration.  The den was having a party to welcome a new alliance and had invited her den to stay.  Other shifter groups would be at the party tonight, which was taking place in the center of the underground den where tables were already being laden with rich foods.

She dressed in the traditional clothing of her people — a well-tailored hide vest and her long skirt.  The vest was embroidered with white feathers, and the skirt fell gracefully to her ankles.  When her hair was as dry as she could make it with the towel, she brushed it furiously and then braided a few sections on either side of her temples, securing them together at the back of her head with a leather tie.

Ten minutes later, she exited the small tent and found the members of her den gathered to one side of the large, cleared area.  Of the seventeen members of her den, only three were females and two of them were mated.  Their King, Kajika, was an old and powerful bear, wise and kind.  His son, Mato, on the other hand, was an arrogant jackass and he, unfortunately, had a great interest in Danika.

Even though no one knew what she was, it didn’t stop Mato from wanting her as his bride.  He was handsome, but he was cruel.  He would be a cruel leader when he succeeded his father.  She didn’t love him.  Hell, she didn’t even
like
him.  And there was no way that she was going to submit to him and become his wife.  She didn’t know who she would end up marrying, but she knew that whoever her mate was, he was not part of her bear den and he sure as hell wasn’t Mato.

She stood next to Cree, queen bear and Kajika’s mate, and looked around at those who had gathered.  Besides the Cleveland bear den that was finishing setting up the feast, the other groups were slowly arriving.  Werewolves, serpents, and tigers milled around in groups of a dozen or more.

And then her heart stopped in her chest for a moment as a group descended the flight of stairs, led by an olive-skinned god with curly black hair and wearing tight black leather pants.  Something inside her stirred as she watched him move with his people through the den to greet Adriel, King of the Cleveland bear den, and his people.  The dark-haired man seemed unhappy.  Standing tall and muscular, he had a straight nose and dark brows.  Her body heated immediately, and she had to steel herself from running over and doing something foolish.

Like licking him from head to toe.  Or offering to be his love slave.

“Are you well,
marala
?” Cree asked, calling Danika
little wing
.

She tore her eyes away from the man and looked at Cree.  “I’m fine, Cree.  Maybe a little hungry.”

“I agree,” Kajika interjected, “the food smells delicious, and yet we still wait.”

Danika looked everywhere but where the handsome man stood, although she was fully aware of exactly where he was at all times.  It didn’t really matter if he was gorgeous and made her tummy flip, because she was leaving in the morning to return to the den in Delaware.  The part of her that wanted to pull him back into her guest tent and have her way with him felt too old to have a one-night stand.  Especially because judging from the way the others acted around him, he was their leader.

She cracked her neck and fidgeted.  Her back ached, particularly her shoulder blades.  Distracted for a moment from the compellingly handsome dark-haired man, her attention was drawn to the stairs again where another group descended.  A large man, with a thick head of blond hair streaked with gray, led them.  He carried himself like a King, and she wondered which were-group he led.

Adriel moved to him quickly, shaking his hand with a broad smile.  Next to the leader stood an equally large man with his muscular arms folded across his broad chest.  His hair was also blond, but pure and golden, reminding her of a lion’s mane.  His skin was lightly tanned, and he wore a simple white shirt open at the neck and dark trousers that hugged his long legs.

Her heart began to pound in her chest, and she felt suddenly lightheaded.  The ache in her back increased, and she let out a small gasp and tried to steady herself.  For one moment, both the dark-haired man and the blond-haired man looked at her, and everything in the center of her body went liquid.  They both stepped towards her but froze when Adriel clapped his hands loudly and called the attendees to their seats.  When her feet refused to move, Cree put her arm around Danika and moved her to their table.  She was fortunate not to have to sit by Mato, but that didn’t stop him from leering at her hungrily from across the table.

Danika glanced around, wondering where the two men had gone, but she didn’t see them.

Adriel raised his voice after a few minutes when everyone had found their seats and thanked all the heads of the were-houses in the area for joining them in celebration of the newly formed alliance between the were-lion pride and the rest of the were-groups in the area.  She had never heard of so many different groups forming an alliance, but clearly her own people didn’t think much of it.