Chapter 8

Bailey

My scream came out sounding like a roar as Dean flew headfirst into a tree and fell to the ground like time stood still and I was watching it in slow motion. I'd never felt so helpless.

No, no, no!

I was starting to panic and didn't know what to do. Was he even alive?

Mate , my wolf growled.

Yup, I was pretty sure he was still alive, but he wasn't moving. My wolf would be in mourning, not trying to claim him if he had died.

Very carefully I picked him up and carried him in my mouth, being sure not to pierce him with my teeth.

He needed help, and I was the only one around.

I had to walk slowly, not wanting to hurt him. It took time, but somehow, I made it all the way back to the clearing at the cliff.

There was another raven there which made me more defensive and not wanting to lay him back down on the ground. I looked around me ready to bolt back into the woods, but she shifted and ran towards me.

"Put him down! Drop him, now!"

A strange guttural sound came from within me, but it was hard to fully warn this woman off with a mouthful of feathers.

When she picked up a stick to come after me and I knew I couldn't run away without risking further injury to him, I lowered him to the ground.

"Shoo. Get out of here," the crazy woman yelled.

I forced myself to shift, even knowing my wolf was fighting against it, ready to attack and protect our mate.

My chest was heaving with each breath as I shifted.

"I'm not going to hurt him," I yelled back at her. "He flew into a tree and I think he's unconscious. Help me!"

Seeing I was not a threat, she dropped to the ground and reached out to check on him.

I growled at her.

She stared up at me, but I was too shaken to apologize or explain myself.

My mate was hurt and there was a naked woman about to touch him. My wolf was not handling this well.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt him. I'm Gracie. What's your name?"

"Bailey."

"We don't get many wolves in this area, Bailey. What are you doing out here?"

Her voice was calm and soothing. As she spoke to me, she began checking Dean's raven for injuries.

"I'm here with Westin Force. I was just going for a run on my break." It wasn't entirely true, but not really a lie, either.

"Oh. Is that how you know Dean, then?"

"How do you know that's Dean?"

It was a stupid question, no better than someone asking me how I knew another wolf in my Pack. To others, some of us looked the same, but to us, everyone was unique. I assumed it was the same for ravens, even though they all looked alike to me.

"It's hard to explain. I can't say I know every raven in Ravenden. We do mostly all look the same."

I bit back a growl.

So this was one of the women he had "fun" with. Jealousy hit me hard, and I almost doubled over from the pain of it.

"Dean's sort of like my brother-in-law," she continued. "I'm mated to his older brother, Ryan. So I guess you could say I always recognize family."

Relief hit me just as hard as the jealousy and this time I did double over.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"He landed pretty hard. Is anything broken?"

She carefully checked his wings and felt all around.

"I don't think anything's broken. He took a pretty hard hit to the head, from what I can tell, but I think his raven is already working to heal him. These Davenport men are built different and as hardheaded as they come. I'm sure he'll be fine. We just need to keep an eye on him as he comes too."

"Okay," I managed to say as I sat down on the ground next to him, not even caring that Gracie and I were both naked. I was too worried about Dean to even think about it.

"I flew here, but I didn't see a car in the area. Where did you park?"

I cringed. "I didn't. I was on a run. I had a bit of a spill out here earlier, just a little road rash. The doctor in town cleaned it up and told me to wait an hour and go for a run to heal it quickly. So that's what I was doing."

"And Dean?"

"I don't know. He was already in his feathers when he found me."

"Okay. I'm going to have to fly home and drive back to get you two."

"Can you stay with him?"

I nodded. "I'm not leaving him."

She hesitated, but finally nodded like she understood. I didn't really care what she thought she knew. If she suspected we were mates, so what? We were.

Seeing him so vulnerable had nearly destroyed me. He might not feel our bond, but I knew I couldn't keep fighting it and trying to run away from this. When he came to, we were going to have a lot to talk about.

"Please wake up, Dean," I begged.

His raven was beautiful. I ran my hand over his feathers. They were so soft.

I leaned down and sniffed him, committing his scent to memory.

It was stupid and made me feel like an idiot, but it also grounded me and took away some of my anxiety seeing him unconscious like this.

"Please be okay. I know this is weird, but I don't want anything bad to happen to you," I whispered.

Dean started to stir.

"Dean?"

His eyes blinked open as he stared up at me.

"Hey. You're okay. Thank God. Do not ever scare me like that again!"

Tears pricked my eyes. I was so relieved.

He shifted and looked up at me through human eyes this time.

"Dean?"

"Bailey."

"You know who I am, so that has to be good, right?"

"I'm okay. Just a bad headache. What happened?"

"You ran headfirst into a tree and fell to the ground pretty hard. Why would you do that?"

He groaned and then scowled up at me.

"I was distracted."

"Are you seriously blaming me for this?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That you're my true mate."

I wanted to deny it. I didn't want it to be true. It felt far too vulnerable to talk about like this.

"Bailey, why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you know?" I blurted out, feeling the pain of rejection that I'd been dealing with since we first met.

"Ravens don't feel the mating bond until our birds meet. Or I guess our animal spirits meet? How is this even possible? You're a wolf."

"And you're a bird. So what?"

"That doesn't bother you? I didn't even know this was possible."

"Oh. I mean, it's not common, but it's not impossible either."

"So you know others like this? Like us?"

"Well, yeah. I mean Chase Westin is mated to a black panther. He and Jenna are great together."

"A cat and a dog?"

"Yup."

"That's insane."

"Not really. If you met them, you wouldn't think anything of it."

"We're all ravens here. Until some of your kind came to town, I'd never met another shifter breed. This is all a little too crazy for me. Dogs and cats? What's next? In the history of shifters, a raven and wolf simply doesn't exist."

"Maybe," I said. I was going to have to do some research on that.

In my time interning on Westin Force, I'd learned that it wasn't uncommon to see instances of our kind steeped in history. Some things were to distract the humans away from shifters, but others held some significance thought to be images of our kind.

I made a mental note to do some research later. First, I needed to concentrate on Dean and ensure he was going to be okay.

His words were slurring a bit, and he sounded a little delirious and talking ridiculous nonsense like those videos of people coming off anesthesia. I knew it was just his way to justify what his raven was obviously telling him.

We really were true mates.

"You're a beautiful yellow, like sunshine. But I'm just a boring old brown."

There was nothing boring about him, but I didn't say that.

"We can't be together. It doesn't make sense. In what world does yellow and brown match? Tell me just one thing in the natural world that's yellow and brown.

I shrugged. "A bee."

"Yellow and black."

"A flower?"

"Not unless it's dying."

I didn't think he was right. What about a sunflower? Was that sort of yellow and brown? I didn't mention it because I needed to fact check myself on it first. Not wanting to feel stupid with my answer.

A giraffe popped into my mind. I was pretty sure it was yellow with brown spots. Or were they black?

"Pee and poop," I finally blurted out.

He gave me a funny look and then broke out into the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen, and I knew this was the smile that could mend a broken heart or fix anything in life. This was the smile others talked about when they spoke of him. It was like truly seeing him for the first time.

"That's a pretty shitty combination, don't you think?"

I snorted, trying not to laugh, then gave up.

"It's a crappy one for sure."

He started laughing and flashed me another of those heart melting smiles.

When he tried to sit up, he grabbed his head and cried out in pain.

"Try not to move," I scolded.

Carefully, I moved his head into my lap and stroked his hair. It was just as soft as his feathers had been.

He looked up and grinned. "I like this view."

I blushed, suddenly realizing I was still naked and so was he.

Gulping, I dared a look at him. I had to admit, I really liked the view too.

He closed his eyes. "Your touch helps."

So I sat there, lightly stroking his hair some more.

"Gracie will be back soon."

"Gracie? You met Gracie?"

"Yeah, she was flying and saw me carrying you out of the woods. I was trying to get you help but I guess seeing a raven in a wolf's mouth may have freaked her out some."

"You tried to eat me?"

"No. But I was in my wolf form and needed to carry you somehow."

"I bet that was a sight to see."

"I thought she was one of your girlfriends the way she was acting."

He cringed. "Shit. What have you heard? Because I don't do girlfriends."

"Really? Because I heard you love to have "fun" with every female in Ravenden."

I growled, unable to hide my disgust.

Before he could respond, Gracie returned.

"Here, I brought you both something to wear."

She tossed me sweatpants and tee-shirts for the both of us.

I knew Dean was still in a lot of pain, so I helped him up and then helped him dress before putting on the clothes she'd brought for me.

"How's the head, tough guy?" she asked him.

"Just peachy."

"You know you're never going to live this down. You seriously flew headfirst into a tree?"

He grinned at me. "I was distracted."

This nicer, smiley Dean was freaking me out more than the indifferent scowling guy who was clueless about our bond. I didn't know how to handle this one.

Gracie pulled out a med kit and shined a flashlight in his eyes.

"Possible concussion, but I think you'll live."

"Are you a doctor?" I asked.

"EMT."

"And a firefighter," Dean added. "She's pretty badass."

I was okay hearing him brag about her now that I knew she was family. It did make me wonder what she would say if she found out I was Dean's true mate.