Chapter Thirteen

Dakota

I always thought I'd be the sort of guy who jumped straight into bed with his true-mate as soon as we stumbled into each other's lives. Only, that's not how my life worked out. With our sleep schedules not on track, our claiming vows didn't happen those first few days. We kissed a lot and all over. We touched and sucked each other's skin and bits, cumming again and again in our free time, but the magic hung between us, tugging us together because we hadn't exchanged our claiming vows yet.

It started in the middle of the night, because when else would something go wrong? Something thumped around the living room. It was a quiet thump – one that could've been mistaken for a dream if Cardian hadn't set up, back statue straight, with his head cocked to one side. He pointed to me and then to the bed until I nodded that I understood he wanted me to stay in the bedroom while he checked things out. I didn't want to be alone with the thumping, but it was coming from outside the bedroom.

"I'm not sure I want our Alpha to be alone with the thumping either," my wolf chimed off in my thoughts.

Cardian shut the door behind him and a second later was joined by other footsteps – Terrick's. I squeezed my eyes shut and strained my ears. The footsteps and the thumping continued.

"Dakota?" Scott poked at me over the pack link.

"I'm here. Do you know what's going on?"

"Not a clue. It sounds like something's under the house. Its' coming from under the floorboards and moving around."

I slid off the bed, placing my feet down one at a time, trying to be as quiet as I could. Then I sank onto my knees and finally my belly with my ear pressed against the floor. The thumping was coming closer.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump!

Then came the scratching as if someone locked a very big cat under the house. My heart pounded in my ears, and I pressed my nose to the floor. The faintest scent of bear came my way. A bear under the house? A bear shifter?

"Not a human shifter," my wolf shook his head inside his inner sanctum. "No human scent to him. Young. Cub."

"Scott! I think there's a bear cub under the house!" I said over the pack link.

I didn't wait for him to answer. I didn't yell for Cardian or anyone else. There was a baby trapped under the house and I didn't want to wait around until his mama showed up to free him. Shebears were not friendly where their cubs were concerned. Instead, I sprinted into the closet. My stuff from the drones had arrived, not everything was unpacked yet. Still, I found my hammer – the one with the skinny claw side useful for prying tiny nails out of spells, if need be. Is wasn't the ideal tool for prying up a floor board but I had to try.

I tapped the claw at the spot the two boards joined up. I grunted, applying pressure until I managed to get the hammer's claw under one of them. The board popped up easily and the smell of bear filled the room. Only there wasn't a bear – cub or otherwise anywhere insight. I peered into the hole, glancing in all directions. The thumping sounded off right under me but nothing was there.

The bedroom door swung open, I started to tell Cardian what had happened, but it wasn't my mate coming back into the room. It was Terrick, big-eyed and clad only in his underwear.

"Brother?" Cardian called out from down the hall, following in his footsteps.

Terrick bent low, motioning for me to scoot back. I did just in case he saw something I didn't. He squatted down, flashing the hole a sad smile before pulling up the floorboard next to it.

"Brother?" Cardian appeared in the doorway.

"It's a bear cub," Terrick announced.

"I didn't see him," I informed the Alphas.

"You wouldn't. Cardian probably won't either."

"He's a ghost?" Cardian asked.

"Spirit would probably be a better term for him. He's just wandering around looking for food or his mother. He's not here to haunt anyone."

Terrick patted the floorboard, and the thumping grew close to us again. A second later, Terrick reached down and grunted as if pulling up a heavy invisible weight into the room.

"What do we do with him?" Cardian asked from the doorway.

"I'll have to go wake up Liam and see what he feeds animal spirits," Terrick said, standing up.

He looked as if he cradled an incredibly large baby to his chest.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Cardian asked.

"Well, if we want to get any sleep tonight, I think it's the only idea. With animals usually you have to feed them and then they can find where they're supposed to go."

"How many times have you done this?" I asked him.

"I don't know," Terrick shrugged. "I didn't keep count. The animals are the easy ones. They're usually not aggressive and don't curse you out either."

"What did you feed them back home?"

"Stuff from the altar of the ancestors," Terrick shrugged and Cardian tried and failed not to laugh.

"Mom would kill you."

"Well, then they could eat my food, huh?" Terrick laughed and carried his new invisible friend out of the room.