Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rory

Hope and goodness could be a deadly combination and maybe Sam had too much heart, and possibly his belief in the goodness in the world was unfounded, but the people of Greenacre unconditionally adored their alpha, and so they trusted him.

Even if most would remain guarded for the foreseeable future, and even if the two strangers would be seen as untrustworthy enemies with a clan lying somewhere vaguely in another state, everyone threw themselves into planning a mating ceremony on short notice. If their hearts weren't in it, their faith certainly remained unshaken in their alpha.

Summer was a wonderful time for a mating and an oath-taking celebration, and even though theirs wasn't the regular kind, Lily insisted on a picnic. Despite their obvious reservations, the whole clan turned out to watch Callisto and her translator, Sophia, take their oaths to Sam. Oath or not, these two women were still outsiders and it had only been a day since the shocking challenge, defeat, and decision to have a mating at all.

No one really even knew who they were making peace—or avoiding war—with. Anders, the shifter who worked on retainer for Sam, had probably been dispatched the night before, but he hadn't brought back any intel yet. Even wolves could only travel so fast.

Because of the strangeness of the whole thing, most didn't trust two rogue bears to be let loose amongst them so there would be no clan run or bonfire after the mating ceremony. Even though blankets were scattered throughout the ceremonial clearing in the woods and the day had the illusion of a happy one, it was obvious that it really boiled down to two strangers being carefully watched.

Callisto, a total stranger who was now his mate, was easily the most beautiful woman there, though Rory kept that thought buried deep inside himself. He'd reacted with a near violence that shocked him, his heart hammering hard enough to crack a rib, when he'd met his future mate in the clearing an hour ago.

Like the women had done for Callisto and Sophia at Lily's, the men arrived at his shop and house in the late morning to get him ready. Sam brought him a suit, since he didn't own one. The thing was as absurd as the whole notion of a mating and a ceremony that felt like a sham, but Trace and Sam, both told him he cleaned up well.

The women must have been instrumental in Callisto's hair, makeup, and the dress she wore. As soon as he'd seen her in the flowing cream lace cotton dress, he'd wondered who had to bite the bullet to lend it to her. Callisto was a foot taller than Lily and built like a fighter, whereas Lily was willowy and tiny. There was no way that they could have shared clothes. Anyone else in the clan would have been far less willing. Lily must have worked some extreme magic.

Fraiser shuffled across the clearing, making his way from Clay and Elowen's blanket. Stephanie and Sebastian had set up near them and bordering them on the other side was Josephine and Trace. No wonder Fraiser was reluctant to make his way back to them. They were in the middle of the whole thing, ringed by the rest of the blankets. It felt wrong to be the center of attention. His stomach kept churning and his throat stung from all that acid constantly clawing at him.

Most of the congratulations after the oath-taking and mating ceremonies felt forced. The atmosphere was heavy, like a gathering thunderstorm, and he was marooned with two silent women at his back. What was he supposed to do? Sit there and fake smiles and a serenity he didn't feel?

Sam cut Fraiser off, clapping Rory's son on the shoulder. While he'd been forced into a suit, the rest of the clan put on their best jeans and flannel shirts.

Together, Sam and Fraiser walked over to his blanket.

"It's a good turn out," Sam said, always so optimistic. "I know people are cautious now, Rory, but in a few weeks, everything will be fine. I have every hope that this will be a good mating."

And I have every belief that you're wrong about that.

Rory stiffened. He'd like to give Sam just a few of the harsh words brewed by the doubts of his own mind and the ache in his chest, but he forced them down. If he'd wanted to speak, he should have choked them out well before enow. Now, he had a mate. Now, it was damn well too late.

"Everyone left their kids at home."

"As we agreed yesterday, as a clan at the hall."

After the decision at Sam's home, Callisto and Sophia were escorted straight into one of the freshly built cabins that the clan had as a spare for their ever-growing population. They weren't kept as prisoners, even though they did have guards at the door while the rest of the clan went straight into a meeting at the hall where Sam and Lily briefed them all on the afternoon's activities and the new development.

For the first time in his own clan, Rory felt like a pariah. He'd always been a cherished member. He was usually the one who watched other people's kids. He loved kids—didn't matter the age—and he always had. Now, his twins were with Stephanie's and Sebastian's lot. Fraiser was practically grown, but the twins were only two. After the decision was made to keep the kids at home during the ceremony with a few adult guards staying back to keep watch, he'd asked them if they would keep the twins with them for a week or so, to ensure their safety. They'd been happy to do it, but they were also happy to voice their doubts about such a union to him.

They weren't the only ones.

Although, the dissention was left to the hall. After the meeting ended, the clan accepted Sam's decision and he knew that even if they never accepted his mate, they'd support him.

Just not tonight, while he stood as a shield between the two intruders and the rest of the world.

"She's lovely," Sam said, indicating Callisto, who sat ramrod straight beside Sophia on the blanket as though at any minute they'd be ambushed by the entire group of angry bears.

His words hit Rory in the gut. Lovely. That didn't even begin to cover Callisto. She had that light coppery hair that wasn't red or blonde. The sun caught in the strands and turned it into a fiery lake that framed her face and trickled down her back in a mass of braids. She had pale cream skin with a light dusting of freckles and lush pink lips to match. She was tall and muscular, like some unknown goddess from another time and place. They all knew she was a bear, so her pale green eyes were unusual.

She was familiar, like déjà vu or a haunting, but he couldn't place how. He outright rejected the notion of fate, so it was doubly ironic when Sam lowered his head and spoke quietly, so only he could hear.

"Thank you for doing this for your clan. I hope that one day, you'll come to find this decision was just the first step in one of many on your journey together."

Rory glanced over his shoulder. Both women sat like ice statues. Not even the lovely July evening was going to thaw them. Stick his new mate in an oven, and she'd probably still come out an ice queen.

"I have my doubts about that," he confessed. "I have my doubts as to why she's doing this at all." He lifted a shoulder. He wasn't used to feeling helpless and he didn't like it. "If I find out she's played us false, I'll reject her."

Sam studied him carefully, dark eyes boring into Rory and he immediately wished he could take back the childish comment. "We all have our doubts and fears. I don't like to think that mercy can be taken advantage of, but of course trust isn't easily won. Opening up is a hard thing, whether it's the land, the clan, or our own selves. It's not going to be an easy road. We're always here for you. Both of you."

"You and Lily are too good." Rory privately thought that there was nothing more his new mate would enjoy than slitting his throat in his sleep. It was a disturbing thought. He wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.

Had he walked into his own unfortunate fate by stepping foot in his cabin at exactly the wrong time? What if something more than Sam compelled this match?

He ground his teeth. He'd already promised himself he wouldn't bring fate into it.

"This is a sham of a ceremony, and everyone here knows it. I don't think a single person turned out because of anything other than obligation."

Sam blinked, taken aback by the harshness in Rory's voice. "I don't believe that. People have every right to be guarded and cautious, but things will change."

"Unless she played us false." Unless she makes another attempt on your life. That wouldn't happen. The clan would be hypervigilant when it came to Sam and certainly their young. Callisto wouldn't walk a single pace without a guard watching, either near or far, seen or unseen.

"If there was falseness in this, then we'll deal with it when it becomes apparent. Until then, treat your mate with kindness. The circumstances might not be ideal, but she's a person with real feelings who has probably lived a hard life up until this point. She was right about one thing, whatever her story. Desperation can make a person do unthinkable things."

Rory's throat closed up, half with unbidden anger and a sense of injustice at the situation he'd suddenly found himself in. Agreeing to the mating was one thing. Making it real was entirely another. He was now expected to share his home with a woman who could be no better than an assassin and a usurper. Auspicious was hardly the right word.

Fraiser waited until Sam went back to join Lily on their blanket before he silently walked with Rory to theirs.

Seeing him approaching, Callisto lifted her head. She was so beautiful it was like a knife in his gut. He didn't want to be enchanted by her. That was something only an idiot would allow, and he'd already done his fair share of idiotic things in the past twenty-four hours.

Callisto's hands moved, making that language that seemed so mystical, coded, and secretive.

He looked at Sophia. Her golden hair was also done in braids. She had light eyes and features that some would call plain, but she was beautiful in her own right. She was petite, tiny compared to Callisto, who shone as bright as a star next to her friend. Was Sophia more than human? What kind of shifter was she? Her appearance gave nothing away.

"What did she say?" Rory had never been so reluctant. It was mortifying to have to ask another person in order to communicate with his own mate.

Fraiser folded his legs up and tried to pretend like everything was going to be okay and that his dad hadn't just mated someone who might bring them all down. He held his head up, as if he was proud of his dad and not embarrassed or ashamed of the decision that had been made. It wasn't just for show, not just a display of support for the benefit of the rest of the clan and Rory felt pride swell in his chest. Fraiser was a good man, though it was hard for him to think the word when it came to his son. He'd grown up far too damn fast and he didn't care how clichéd that was. He'd turned into a fine young man, one any father could be proud of.

Sophia glanced sidelong at Callisto before she responded. "She's excited to see her new home," she said diplomatically.

One look at Callisto's ‘you disgust me, worm',expression and he very much doubted that's what she'd said, but he took a seat on the edge of the blanket, as far away from the women as he could, and pretended to be satisfied with the response.

"We live above the shop."

"What shop would that be?"

Had no one told them? Perhaps not. "I- uh…" He grasped the back of his neck, feeling the dampness of sweat under his thick hair. "I have the butcher shop on main street. It's mine." Duh. What the hell? Why was he acting like he'd never seen a woman before?

Callisto poked Sophia hard with her elbow. Sophia took a deep breath and Rory found himself bracing. "She'd like me to inform you that she doesn't eat meat."

He was astounded and gaped at the women. "Why didn't you say so before?" On top of everything else, they were sure to think that he was a monster. This was the worst form of torture. The worst match that could ever have possibly been made. It was so bad it was almost a joke. Irony might be cruel, but it also had a sick sense of humor.

"I'm sorry," Sophia murmured, tilting her face down. "We weren't asked."

Callisto's glare drilled daggers through him. She wasn't sorry in the least.

It didn't seem like there was anything else to say or anything that could be said. Was everyone in the clearing watching them, noting how foolishly pathetic he was? How many people now pitied him? Would they laugh at him eventually, when all of this went so wrong? How had it not gone horribly wrong in every way already?

It was a relief when the food was eaten, and everyone started packing up their blankets. Rory felt like he'd been released from some terrible fate, but the real test of his loyalty to his clan and alpha had only just begun.

Fraiser dutifully packed up their blanket and the basket of food that had been provided. Neither Sophia nor Callisto had eaten a bite, though the revelation that Callisto was vegetarian probably explained that, perhaps Sophia was too. Butchering was his profession. How on earth was he ever supposed to get along with his mate when they were so different in every way possible?

"I like your name," Fraiser said, to make conversation, as they walked home. He had his old quilt and the basket he'd packed on one arm. Behind them and all around them, the people he loved, clanmates, shifters and humans alike, gave them a wide berth. "I looked it up," Fraiser continued, though Rory saw his son blush in the late evening sunlight. "Aside from being one of Jupiter's moons, there's a story about how the original Callisto was turned into a bear. It's very fitting."

Callisto stopped dead right there in the middle of everything. She refused to look at either of them, but something passed between her and Sophia. Did she not know what her own name meant?

"The original vowed to remain unwed," Fraiser stumbled on. Foot meet mouth, but the boy was seventeen. He didn't know how to stop. "Other things happened. With Zeus. I just- I thought the bear part was unique."

He shut his eyes. Fraiser gulped. Callisto never once looked at them, but suddenly her hands went wild, signing in a manic storm. Rory could only imagine what was being said, especially when Sophia shook her head, refusing to translate any of it.

What kind of future did they have, a woman who refused meat and he who spent his days carving it up? She couldn't speak and he wasn't about to admit that he had any desire to learn sign language, though even if he did, it would probably be fiercely difficult to learn and once he understood what she was saying then his life would be even more miserable. He sighed, he had Fraiser to worry about—though his son was more than capable of taking care of himself—and now he had two adoptive babies.

The pain that clawed at his chest went deeper than muscle and bone. It went straight to his bear. He'd been mated to another shifter, but he doubted that his bear would be able to share anything meaningful or significant with him.

Furthermore, how could he ever trust this woman, these women, with his children? He missed his little girls already. Bay and Sireen had brought so much unexpected joy to his life. Anders said they were foxes, but they had no way of knowing yet. None of them had ever met a fox. He and Fraiser spent hours trying to research, but it was slow going given that the information wasn't readily available since it wasn't public knowledge that shifters existed at all.

For the rest of the walk, past log cabins and down through the small, quaint, touristy main street, Callisto's face looked like a gathering storm. If her name was Greek, they'd picked the wrong goddess. Athena was more like it. Callisto's proud bearing and her dazzling beauty combined with her stormy disposition and battle roughened soul—you didn't go challenge an alpha if you didn't think you could win, so she had to have some battles or combat under her belt—put him most in mind of a warrior deity.

At the shop, Callisto paused at the backdoor, surveying the building with obvious disdain. Sophia came up short behind her, bracing herself.

"I live on top," Rory explained again. It wasn't right that he felt shame. Why should he? His life had always been one he viewed as rich and blessed, especially since Fraiser was born.

It was now his job to care for his mate, but when he threw open the door, he left it that way, uncaring whether she followed him up or not. He stormed upstairs, angry at the whole thing and at the red-hot brand of helplessness that had been taken from the fire and plunged into his back. It might as well have gone straight into his soul. What had he been thinking, agreeing to such a foolish notion with a woman he knew nothing about? This was only going to end one way. Epic. Disaster.

A second wave of hot shame and annoyance engulfed him when he heard Fraiser's uncertain voice, faltering to explain how it was easier to build above a shop, how it saved space and was more efficient. Many of the shops on main street had living areas above.

This was his responsibility, not his teenage son's. He was the one who had said yes. It wasn't up to anyone else to make Callisto and Sophia feel welcome. It might be impossible, but he had to try. He'd given his alpha his word that he would.

Right in the entrance to the living room, which the stairs opened up to, Callisto crossed her arms. She tilted her face up stubbornly and started signing to Sophia.

"Callisto wants to know if there's a room for us."

"No," Rory mumbled, watching as Fraiser ducked out and made for the hallway. Great. Another massive oversight. "It's a small place. Fraiser has his own tiny room, and the twins have a nursery. I have a small office, but it's the size of a closet.

Callisto stamped her foot like one of the twins having a tantrum.

"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as him," Sophia interpreted. She couldn't look at Rory. "He'll probably slit my throat and bleed me out in the night just like one of those poor animals."

He snorted. "Funny, I was thinking the same about you."

Sophia bit back an amused smile which she made sure Callisto couldn't see.

"Anyway, I was going to take the couch or the floor in the living room. You can have my room. It's got a queen bed in it, and it's roomy enough."

"How did you come to have twins if you have no mate?" Sophia asked, though he couldn't tell if that was a question of her own or not. He hadn't heard her speak a single thought of her own yet.

He rubbed a hand over his hair, eager to get out of the stupid suit. The whole day was a sham and a mockery of what a mating should be. If his friends had cornered him a bear and jammed him into the clothes, it would have been about as ridiculous.

"I adopted them. It's a lot to explain, but many babies are adopted into families. Shifter babies."

He wasn't going to say more. He was going to give Callisto as little information about their life and clan as possible. He was far from convinced that she wouldn't use it for ill means. He didn't trust her, and she knew it. She looked like she knew about the babies already, though she couldn't. Or could she? No one would have said anything about them. They would have left that up to Rory.

But then, Sam had people who ran intel for him. Anders, primarily. Couldn't she have done the same? She'd known enough about them to know that Sam was alpha and to know where he lived. There was a good chance she knew more about Greenacre than Rory himself.

He left the women in the living room while he went to the bedroom and gathered his things. He should have done it earlier, but he'd been busy preparing for a ceremony that hadn't felt real.

As he walked out, Callisto stormed down the hallway, Sophia chasing after her. "I want our things," Sophia demanded, comically because she used an imperious tone even though it was Callisto making the demands.

"They'll be brought from your cabin soon, I imagine. Your car will be brought here to be parked at the side of the building, beside my truck as well."

Callisto tugged at the dress she wore like she wanted to tear it off. An unbidden image of her doing just that and standing before him, boldly naked, made him swallow uncomfortably. He was a man, and he hadn't been with a woman in a long time, but his body still knew what desire was and Callisto was exceptionally, breathtakingly beautiful. His body thought faster than his brain did, and his cock hardened.

Thankfully, he had an armload full of pillows and blankets blocking that region from view.

Callisto was too annoyed to be in tune with anything that had to do with him anyway. She tugged Sophia into his room and slammed the door.

It wasn't until he was laying out a spare quilt on the couch that Fraiser snuck back into the living room. "Dad?" he asked uncertainly, in low tones so the women wouldn't hear.

"I'm sorry, son." He laid a hand on Fraiser's shoulder. "I'm sorry about all of this. I should have said no. This is a travesty. It's not going to be comfortable for anyone and that's on me."

"I was just going to say it doesn't seem like it will work out. That's not your fault." Fraiser glanced towards the hallway. "Maybe it's not hers either."

Rory sighed. He sunk down on the couch, wanting nothing more than a shower, the peace of his bed, and the twins back in their room, Fraiser sleeping soundly down the hall as well. "I guess we'll have to hold our breaths for a miracle." That wasn't quite the word he'd use. "Everything will work out in the end. Greenacre is a good place and sometimes things beyond our understanding still come to be a blessing. Sam knew what he was doing." He was starting to think not, but he wouldn't express that doubt. Sam and Lily might believe too strongly in fate and love for their own good, everything else aside, but he wasn't going to put that out there for Fraiser yet again.

His son looked doubtful enough as it was. "Sometimes necessity is the most dangerous thing of all."

"Other times, it's hope."

"You're right, son, but I think all we can do is get some sleep."

Fraiser might have been his son, but he showed his maturity by fluffing the pillow on the couch and helping spread out the blanket when Rory stood. He had no response, but the gesture was more than enough.

Hours later, when he was folded into some godawful position on a couch far too small for his frame, listening to Fraiser's loud snores finding their way through his closed door down the hall, he wished he could sleep, even though he knew that come morning, everything would still be just as disastrous.

It was beyond intimidating that it was his job to pick up the pieces. Even if he just held them brokenly in his hands because fixing anything was out of the question, at least it would be a start.