The Scarred Heart (Wilde Creek#5) (10 page)

 Chapter 10

Kammie woke up and found herself back in her human form.  She’d shifted while she was asleep.  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out of it, but her wound had healed completely without leaving a scar.  She sat up and rubbed her fingers over the place where Hector had struck with the blade.

Row touched her back and she looked down at him.

“Are you okay,
Adara
?”

“Yeah.  No scar.”  She twisted to show him her skin.

“I’m glad, but it didn’t matter to me.  I would rather you have a scar from him and be alive than the alternative.”

“Me, too.  Are you all right?”

“I’m still healing, but I’m fine.”

She inspected the bandages that covered his claw marks.  She growled, and he cupped her cheek.  “You and I are both alive.  That’s what matters the most.”

“If they weren’t dead I would kill them.”

“My fierce mate.”

She leaned over him and planted her hands on either side of his body.  She gazed into his eyes.  “You’ve changed me completely.”

His brows lifted.  “What?”

“You charged into my life like a wrecking ball.  Now
I’m
like a wrecking ball.”

He laughed.  “How so?”

“When Hector came into the cave, I knew he wanted to hurt me and kill you.  There was a part of me that wanted to curl up and let him do his worst, but I knew I couldn’t live without you.  It’s strange to think of myself as standing up to someone so scary, but I did.  I attacked
him
.”

Row sobered.  “You could’ve been killed.  I would’ve preferred that you run.”

“Never,” she swore, baring her teeth.

He curled his arms around her and pulled her against his chest, sighing deeply as he brushed his lips over her forehead.  “I’m sorry that my past came back to haunt us.  I’m sorry I didn’t keep you safe.  I’m especially sorry that you had to defend yourself.  I never wanted you to have to do that.”

“It’s because of you that I had the courage to stand up for myself.  You’ve taught me a lot in a short amount of time.  I don’t want to be a doormat.  I sure as hell wasn’t going to let an asshole with a grudge rape me and pass me around like a party favor.”

He growled, his whole body vibrating.  Then he hugged her tighter.  “I’m thankful you’re in my arms now, Kammie.”

She lifted her head and smiled.  “I don’t want to keep being angry about what could’ve happened.  I want to let it go, the way I’ve let go of a lot of things since I met you.”

“Like your insistence on wearing clothes?”

She chuckled.  “Old habits die hard, but you’re worth making new habits for.”

His fingers crept down her back slowly, and he cupped her ass and ground her into his erection.  “Let’s make it a habit to make love every morning.”

“And at night too?”

“Of course.  I can’t sleep right without you naked and satisfied in my arms.”

“That sounds like a great habit.”

* * * * *

Kammie passed the grape jelly to a female bear named Desendra who sat on her left.  “I was thinking about learning how to make jelly,” Kammie said.

“I have a great recipe that uses grape juice, it’s super easy.  Unless you don’t like grape jelly, then it’s just a time-waster,” Desendra said, laughing.

“It would be fun to give out jars of jelly as a gifts.”

“I’ll teach you.  I also like to make strawberry jelly the old-fashioned way.  It takes a hell of a lot of work, but it’s delicious.”

Kammie and Row were seated at a long table in a big building in the sleuth territory.  Kammie had thought it was for storage, until she found out it was used for gatherings of the sleuth and had a commercial kitchen in the back.  Because she and Row were interrupted on their mating night and they’d both been injured, the sleuth pushed their celebration breakfast to that night, and Kammie had looked forward to getting to know the bears.

Row’s mom sat across from them, next to Gloria and Fayar, who sat at the head of the table.  “I love Desendra’s cherry preserves.  She sells them at a local market in the summer and makes a killing.”

“The jellies fund my shoe addiction.”  Desendra pointed to the floor, where she tapped the toe of a pair of lavender suede boots.  “If you want to learn how to make jams and jellies, I can teach you.  We can work together, and split the profits.”

“I’d really like that,” Kammie said.

Row squeezed her thigh, and she glanced at him.  “Are you ready to stand up in front of everyone and promise to be the best mate to me in the world?  Give me a blow job every morning and rub my feet?”

All the females at the table snarled, and Row laughed.  “I’m just kidding,” he said, putting his hands up in defense.

His mom stabbed the air with her fork.  “You better be.”

“I am, I promise.  I’m the one vowing to be the best mate, because Kammie deserves the best of everything.”

“And the blow jobs?”  Desendra asked.

Kammie blushed as Row’s mom laughed.

“I don’t think that’s what they’re called when it’s the guy on the girl,” Gloria said.  “Maybe you could vow to lick her really good every morning.  Now
that’s
an excellent way to start the day,” she said, winking at Fayar.

Kammie’s blush deepened.  “Oh my gosh.”

Row leaned over and kissed her cheek and then whispered in her ear, “Every morning.”

“Only if you let me return the favor.”

He wiggled his brows.

“I need to find a mate,” Desendra said.  “One who will lick me a lot.  I like the idea of daily foot rubs, too.”

Fayar said, “Before we end up with a laundry list of things the males will be doing for the females…”

“Doing
to
the females,” Gloria said.

Laughing, Fayar continued, “Right.  Let’s get to our ceremony.  We’ve got a fierce female to bring into our sleuth.”

The bears clapped and cheered as Kammie and Row stood, following Fayar to the center of the building.  Tables ringed the empty area, and Kammie could feel everyone watching them.  There was a time in her life when she would’ve hated for people to be staring at her, but now she was reveling in being with her mate and joining the group.

Kammie unbuttoned her long-sleeved flannel shirt and tied it around her waist.  She was wearing a tight-fitting teal cami that displayed the scars on her arms and chest.  Row took her hands in his and looked down at her in adoration.

“My fierce, beautiful mate,” he whispered.

Fayar spoke loudly.  “Once upon a time, shifters stayed within their breed groups.  Wolves mated wolves, bears mated bears, humans stayed the hell away from us.”

The bears chuckled.

“Now, we welcome any and all mates.  Finding a truemate is an event to be celebrated.  We don’t look at these two and see a bear and a wolf – we see two people who love each other deeply enough to kill.  There is no greater love than that of truemates.”  Fayar placed his hands on Kammie’s and Row’s.

Row said, “I vow myself to my truemate, Kammie.  I swear to be the best mate for her.  To treat her with the love and respect she deserves, and to always think of her first.  I welcome her into my life and my heart.”

Kammie repeated the vows to Row, her eyes filling with tears as she spoke.

“As king of this sleuth, I welcome Kammie into our group as a member and a treasured mate.  If any object, let them raise their voices now or remain silent forever.”

Kammie’s heart pounded as she waited to see if anyone would say she didn’t belong.  Row squeezed her hands gently and smiled.

“I declare Kammie formally a member of the sleuth.  Welcome!”

The bears lifted their heads and roared.  The sound was so loud that the building shook.  Kammie howled as Row joined in, and she felt, for the first time, that she was finally, truly home.  The bears had opened their arms to her as if they’d been waiting all this time for Row’s mate.  She hadn’t known a shifter group like the sleuth, and she was deliriously thankful to be one of them now.

Fayar squeezed their hands and said, “Welcome, Kammie.  May your union be blessed.”

Row pulled her into his arms and kissed her as the bears cheered.

“I can’t wait to hunt with you,” Row said as he lifted from her mouth.  “The next full moon is going to be amazing.”

“Maybe I won’t let you catch me this time,” she said.

“Oh, I’ll catch you,” he said, his voice husky.  “Again and again.”

* * * * *

The following morning, Row walked Kammie to the gathering building, where Desendra waited to begin her first lesson on jam and jelly making.  It was Row’s first day in his new position on the training team.  He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans with hiking boots.  The shirt fit him so snugly that she could see the outline of his abs, and she wanted to lift the fabric and explore him.

He tweaked her chin.  “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to be late for my first day of work.”

“I can’t help it that you’re so lickable.”

“I’m not sure that’s a word,” he said, laughing, “but I like it.  You’re lickable, too.”

“Oh man, I need to get a mate!”  Desendra said from the open door of the building.

Row kissed Kammie on the cheek.  “I’ll be back to get you in six hours.  Have fun,
Adara
.”

“I’ll take good care of her,” Desendra said.

Kammie waved at Row and entered the building.  Desendra pulled the door shut behind her, and Kammie stamped the snow from her boots and took off her scarf and jacket, hanging them over the back of a chair.  “I can’t wait until spring.”

“Me, too, although my bear does love snow.  When I’m outside in the cold, all I want to do is find a cave and take a nap.  I think it’s because regular bears hibernate and there’s a part of me that wants to do that.  Could you imagine sleeping for three months?  I’d definitely need a bikini wax when I woke up.”

Kammie laughed.  “Fall makes me feel like that.  Like I should be finding someplace warm to curl up.”

She followed Desendra into the kitchen and washed her hands.  “We’re going to make an enormous batch of grape jelly.  After we get that done, we’ll use peaches I froze from last summer’s harvest and make preserves.  They look so beautiful in the glass jars.  Are there any kinds of jelly or jam that you’d like to learn to make specifically?”

“Row likes blackberry jam on toast for breakfast.”

“There are wild blackberries in the woods, but they’re such a hassle to pick because of the thorns.  We can buy them from the grocery store.”

“They make thornless bushes; maybe we could plant some?”

“Great idea.  See, I knew we’d work well together!”

As Kammie and Desendra worked, they talked about the sleuth and females’ roles within the group.  As Row had explained, the sleuth had no true ranking like the pack, but the males understood their place and did their jobs.  Only Fayar had a rank, and his youngest son was poised to take over when he stepped down.

“Is Fayar’s son mated?”

“No.  He’ll take a mate before he takes over kingship.  The females need a leader of their own, someone who can speak on their behalf to the king. Gloria is a wonderful mate to Fayar and a good leader for us.”

“Row said that Fayar doesn’t show affection to Gloria in public because he doesn’t want her to be taken from him in an attempt to get him to step down.”

Desendra nodded.  “The king before Fayar was his father.  His mate, Fayar’s mother, was kidnapped and tortured by a small group of male bears who wanted to take over the territory.  By the time his father found her, she was dead.  He slaughtered the males and vowed to never mate again.  I think Fayar doesn’t want anyone to know how much he loves Gloria, but the sleuth knows.  It would be impossible to hide that kind of love from people who know each other well.”

“Bears love fiercely,” Kammie said.

“So true.”

“I know some wolves who love fiercely as well, but our people are very different, especially in how females are treated.”

Desendra said, “I’m disappointed with how females are treated in your pack.  You should never have been treated as if you were of no value.  I’ve only known you a day and I already adore you.  You’re sweet and funny, and you survived a shitty childhood to become a female fierce enough to defend yourself.”

Kammie looked down at the batch of grape jelly.  “I never thought I’d be anything but what I’d been defined as by the pack.  It’s very freeing to be able to make my own choices.”

Desendra nodded.  “It’s never a good idea to let others tell you who you are.”

Kammie knew that was true.  She wasn’t going to let anyone limit her again.  She was her own person.  She’d found strength at the core of herself – because of Row and his confidence in her, but also for herself.  She wished she’d been strong enough to fight off her uncle, but there was no use in wishing for things that were in the past.  She had a bright future ahead of her, and that was all that mattered.