33. Dirge

THIRTY-THREE

Dirge

T he Kodiak encampment was sparse to the untrained eye, but the bare cave opening they led us to opened to a world of hidden wonder. Skylights dotted the ground with natural light as we walked deeper into the cave, the narrow mouth of the tunnel quickly opening into a wide, spacious cavern. The ceiling and walls were crusted with sparkling gems, as if we'd walked directly into a geode. Oversized furniture that looked hand hewn was dotted around the space, and more bear shifters milled about, talking and laughing.

They fell quiet as they noticed us, though, joviality turning to curious whispers.

"We'll wait here for Jada," Finn said, turning that sharp smile on us again.

Bears were strange, and my wolf's hackles were half-raised at the light in his eyes as he appraised our group.

Unlike wolves, who found fated mates blessed by the Moon Goddess, bears mated in groups. One female to every three males. The thought of it made me want to tear someone's arm off—which I would if they touched Shay again—but it was the way of things for their species .

If I was reading the situation correctly, Finn, Hudson, and Dax were an unmated sleuth still on the hunt for their female.

When Finn's gaze settled on Shay for a little too long, I lifted my lip and snarled, letting the wolf's eyes glow through mine. He was still close to the surface, and after so long in fur, I'd have no trouble calling him forward if we needed to remind a bear—or three—that wolves did not share.

He felt my wolf and moved on, keeping his hands carefully behind his back, clasped and out of danger. Dax, though, had a wildness to him that I recognized, and while he wasn't looking at Shay, he was edging closer and closer to where she stood.

As if he was going to just accidentally-on-purpose bump into her.

What had Hudson told them, when they were in that circle? My wolf went from half-alert to fully on edge as the bear took yet another step toward my mate.

"Shay," I murmured, getting her attention.

She turned to me at once, tidily moving out of the bear's path. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" she asked, eyes glowing with excitement as she pointed to the crystalline ceiling.

I had to chuckle at that.

"Not by half, muzic? mea."

"Oh, I—" She seemed disappointed, but I stopped her with a finger to her lips.

"A pretty rock pales in comparison to the true beauty standing right in front of me."

Her eyes went wide as understanding hit her, and a blush stained her cheeks. The scent of her heated arousal took her sweet scent and turned it utterly irresistible. My wolf rumbled in my chest, voicing his own approval of our perfect one. I couldn't resist the urge to stroke my thumb over her bottom lip, her lips parting under the tiniest caress .

I was so wrapped up in our little bubble of discovery that it confused me when she lurched forward, squeaking in surprise as she fell against me.

But the confusion evaporated as I looked up and saw Dax at her back, hands on her hips and nose buried in her hair as he reveled in the scent of her arousal.

I saw red.

The snarl that ripped out of me at the insult to my mate was inhuman.

"Oh, shit on a stick." Leigh swore like a sailor as I pushed Shay toward her, barely controlling my wolf, who was clawing to burst from my skin.

The bear didn't register the threat immediately, his odd, ursine eyes still locked on my mate, mouth slightly open as desire poured off him in a cloud, the obvious competition making my wolf even more rabid to tear into him.

His hands had shifted to claws, though, and when I barreled into his shoulder at full speed, he swiped at me with those two-inch long daggers. His body shuddered as he toppled to the ground beneath me, but I didn't relent.

I had the upper hand, and while I lost some advantage to his sheer bulk, when my fist connected with his jaw, he felt it.

I only got in three strikes before my pack mates dragged me off the downed bear, who was now bleeding from his lip as well as a cut on his eyebrow. My knuckles throbbed and had split in several places, but it was a good burn as I shook them out, ready for round two.

"He put his hands on her. Scented her ." My voice was not my own, the deep, angry wolf inside demanding that we tear his head off for the affront.

"We saw, Dirge. It's going to be okay."

"He has to pay," I snapped, finally realizing that it was my brother standing in front of me .

"He does, I agree. But right now, your mate is scared and she needs you." I reeled back as if he'd punched me in the gut, scanning for Shay as if my life depended on the sight of her.

The world narrowed to nothing when our eyes locked, and the scent of her terror registered in my nose. I broke Reed's grip and ran to her, but she flinched back from me when I moved to wrap her in my arms.

It was a blow like none I'd ever experienced. She was afraid of me.

"Easy, killer. She's spooked. Somebody just manhandled her without her consent. It's not you."

Leigh's words sank in, and fury bathed me again. The desire to turn to that bear and finish what I'd started nearly pulled me under. The shaking of an impending shift started in my hands, then my arms, as I willed my wolf to stay put.

"Ah-ah, that's the wrong direction. Calm, please," Leigh said sternly, and it clicked that Shay hadn't said a word. Her expression was drawn, her face pale. She was shaking as her friend hugged her, and her wolf's golden gaze held mine, clearly on the edge of her control.

"Muzic? mea, please, tell me what to do," I begged. I hated seeing her like this. The urge to turn back and keep pummeling the bear was overwhelming, but I knew that wouldn't actually help Shay, and she would always be my top priority.

She shook her head, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"I'm here, I'm here if you'll still have me. I'm so sorry."

A single, shaking hand extended toward me, and I took it gratefully, chafing it between mine to warm her.

Many voices twined behind us, rising to a chaotic din, but I ignored them. In this, I trusted my pack. I could turn my back and focus on my mate and let the diplomats do what they had to.

Besides, Kane should have enough juice to handle the bears if it really came to that .

But it didn't.

"What is the meaning of this?" The feminine voice was low but filled with pure steel. It brought everyone else to instant silence, the weight of power subduing the gathered bears as if they were kittens, not apex predators.

"It was our fault, Jada. We have failed you and submit ourselves to your hand for punishment." Finn's chagrined voice spoke into the silence, and I turned halfway so I could see both them and Shay as the thuds of knees hitting rock echoed through the chamber. Finn and Hudson held Dax between them, his shoulders bowed as if with great effort to stay down before the leader of the Kodiaks.

"Explain yourselves." Her eyes were cold, with no hint of softness in them for the errant males. I placed myself in front of Shay when I realized three more giant bears loomed behind Jada.

They were older, with none of the youthful vigor the three cubs who'd been sent to greet us had, and I relaxed a fraction when I realized that they were her sleuth—her three mates. They stood guard much as I did and had no interest in harming Shay.

"It's strange, Jada. I just shook her hand, and it was like she zapped me," Hudson said, sounding apologetic.

I stiffened, shocked at the assertion. She'd zapped him? How the heck had that happened, and what did it mean?

"I mentioned it to my sleuth mates, and they agreed that we should all shake her hand, to see if she responded to all of us."

Fury built in my chest, scalding me like acid. These fools thought that my mate was theirs. What else could be the purpose of all of them touching her? Now I wanted to rip all their heads off, not just the handsy one's.

"These are our honored guests, come to seek my counsel." Jada's voice rang with indignation, and Hudson ducked his head. "And I sincerely hope that the rest of this explanation involves you being respectful and speaking with the girl about your suspicions rather than doing something asinine."

"It's my fault, Jada." Dax's voice was heavy with his bear when he met her eyes, and I noted with concern that fur had sprouted along both his forearms, thick and golden brown as the bear fought to break free. "I was just going to stand next to her, try to catch her scent without risking the touch. You know I have poor control."

The woman nodded, eyes narrowing.

"But when I got a whiff, I couldn't stop. She smells like heaven, like home. I— I touched her. Grabbed her. If there is any shame brought to my sleuth, and to you, I bear the burden of it." His head dropped, hanging off his shoulders with the weight of it.

Meanwhile, my wolf was clawing at me even harder. She smelled like heaven? I'd give him a piece of hell for daring to take liberties with my female. Shay was not his. Gael sidled up to my side.

"Easy, friend. They are not going to take her from you. Jada is reputed to be a fair, wise leader, and she will deal with him appropriately. You got your licks in. Now it's time to let it go."

My head swiveled toward him as my lip lifted, the snarl right there on the edge, fangs fully descended in my mouth.

He held up both hands in a placating gesture. "You've come so far in a short amount of time. I'd hate to see you slip back because of this."

The words struck me like a battering ram. Was I slipping backward? My vision was still red tinged, my wolf on a hair trigger.

Shit, shit, shit.

I couldn't let myself go feral again, not now, not ever. The mocking voice in the back of my head taunted me, eager to watch me fall.

You're a feral wolf. Finding your mate isn't going to change that .

Once a loose cannon, always a loose cannon.

You skirted the Fetya's prophecy. Going feral again and killing her yourself would be a solid punishment for that.

Oh, Goddess save me from my own critical thoughts. But once I'd thought them, they wouldn't let me go. We had skirted the Fetya's vision. Shay, my beautiful Shay, was alive and whole. Smiling at me and looking up at me like I hung the stars to shine on her.

She was supposed to be dead, and they would exact that price. But would it be me who killed her, with my own lack of control? Or would they strike in some other, unexpected way?

I didn't know, and the fear that took hold of me then was worse than anything I'd ever felt, except the pain of her lying limp and bloody in my arms.

I never wanted to live through that again.

"Is she not mated to the one who guards her? It's extremely unusual for a wolf to mate with a bear sleuth. It's not in their nature to live as we do." She gestured lightly to the three men bracketing her, then to the clustered youths kneeling before her.

"We don't know, Jada." The last one spoke up. Finn, the leader of our star-crossed welcoming party. "We've never felt anything like it. I have not touched her, and even so, I feel the pull."

The woman's brows drew down as she peered past me to where Shay now stood more solidly, still hanging on to Leigh.

Jada paced forward, her complement of mates flowing behind her like water. Before I could move to intercept, Gael grabbed me by the biceps.

"Hold tight. She's not going to hurt Shailene, and she might know what's going on."

I nearly broke a tooth, I ground my jaw so hard. But I held on, letting the touch of a pack mate steady me. It was foreign after so long being on my own, but we were wolves, and some things ran deeper than others. The need for comforting touch was the deepest of them all.

I watched in tortured silence as Jada approached Shay, whose coloring was thankfully starting to return to normal. She nervously tucked a wild, curly strand of hair behind her ear as the bear leader stopped in front of her. Jada sized her up silently for a moment, before extending her hand.

Brielle stepped forward, shaking her head. "Shay, you don't have to do this. You've been through a lot today, and this can wait for another time. Or never." Her words were firm, and that still-water scent I'd come to associate with her was charged, as if a lightning bolt had struck the pond and ozone hung heavy in the cave.

"It's okay," my brave mate whispered. Shay slowly raised her hand to Jada's, even as she leaned back, away from the contact.

When their palms met, nothing happened that I could tell. But Jada's eyes widened, and she held on tightly with both hands for a moment before pulling away.

"Those imbeciles mistook a fae's warning as mating energy. Goddess have mercy on me." She shook her head and rounded on the young males, but my brain was stuck like a truck in a mud pit.

Fae warning? What the fuck was she on about?

Jada dressed down the males for a solid two minutes before sending them out of the cave with an escort and a promise of punishment after our delegation had left their island. Once they were gone, the tension around us eased. The rest of the bears in the cave all went back to their happy chatter since the show was apparently over.

One of Jada's mates spoke next. "If you will please follow us, we've prepared a small reception for you in our private quarters." He nodded politely and held up a hand the size of a dinner plate to indicate the direction.

I wanted to take Shay's hand or wrap my arm around her again, but I hesitated, the surety that my touch was unwelcome stopping me. As long as I lived, I'd never forget the way she looked when she jerked back from me as if I was going to hit her.

So I stayed at Gael's side and followed the bears, leaving Shay in her friends' care.