AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two chestnut-brown bears stand guard, their dark eyes glinting in the firelight. Without so much as a rumble of disquiet, the guardians of the threshold stand aside and let us pass. No one challenges the alpha without due cause, that much is clear. He can walk into home territory with a stranger if he wants to, no questions asked. They trust their alpha implicitly.But I am no stranger, and I think they know it.Their gaze follows us down a smooth, time-worn flight of stone stairs that leads to a communal amphitheater.
When I turn my attention back to the clan, I instinctivelysqueeze Erik’s hand. All eyes are trained upon us. Every last pair. At least three dozen. Children stop in their tracks, their games forgotten. The women watching over them—sitting around dug-out fire pits—abruptly drop their conversations mid-sentence, and the men drinking and laughing freeze, still as stone.
Perfect silence washes over the gathering, and in response, I extinguish my fire.
Erik squeezes my hand in return.
His eyes fill me with a knee-weakening sense of safety and reassurance.This is it.This is where I start over.These shifters are my family now, and they’re going to be the ones to stand with me when the time comes to reestablish the Balance. I already owe them my everything. And I owe Erik even more.
Chapter Six
Erik
I clear my throat. “Clan, I would like you to meet my Fated mate, Asha Ravensong. As you might have guessed from her display, Asha is a witch. And not just any witch—she’s a Chaos witch. With help from the Chaos Queen herself, I was able to rescue her from the asylum.” Whispers and murmurs fill the warm cavern, and I raise my hand, commanding silence. “I understand that you might have questions, and together, we will answer them, but not now. My mate has been abused and drugged during her imprisonment, and she needs a good night’s sleep to recover her strength.”
The expressions of my clan are as expected. The children look shell-shocked, the women exude empathy, and the men glower with barely bridled rage.They understand.The mere thought of one’s Fated mate being harmed … it’s enough to make the blood of any true red-blood male boil. “Be at peace, family. I will return for Dawn Vespers.”
Beside me, Asha stands tall despite how weary and drawn she appears. She was truly born to be a queen. My heart swells with pride. She won’t reveal any sign of weakness until we are out of sight. I’m touched that she would honor me and put her best foot forward under such strange, new, and exhausting circumstances. Fate was not wrong to pair me with such a woman of deep strength and fortitude.
“I bid you all a good night,” says my mate unexpectedly, her voice ringing clear and concise in the shadowed space. “Once I am rested, I look forward to getting to know you all.”
I’m not the only one in awe of Asha’s strength. My family rises to their feet, as hand in hand, we descend the stairs. As we pass, my clan approaches, the men reaching out to lay a hand on me as I go and the women and children reaching out with gentletouches to make contact with their new Queen Alpha. I’ve the heart of a bear, and the strength and rage of a storm in my soul, but the moment is more overwhelming than I ever imagined it could be. To have my family so thoroughly and tangibly show their support? It’s something else entirely, and I force the rising lump in my throat back down.
Asha looks up to meet my gaze, and the corners of her lips curl ever so slightly. It’s a small, tired smile, but it speaks to me louder than words ever could.
****
“I hope you’ll be comfortable here. I know it’s not what you’re used to. We bears usually sleep in our shifter forms, so the floor is perfectly comfortable.”
Asha gazes at the makeshift bed I’ve created for her. It’s no more than a few pillows and blankets arranged by the fire pit in my personal chamber. “I’ve spent years bound up in a straitjacket, Erik, in a dark, empty room devoid of any warmth or comfort. This looks very cozy. I’m grateful.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll make arrangements for a bed and anything else you’d like.”
“No need,” my mate says vaguely. “I’ll adapt.” Then she crawls into the pile of blankets like a cat.
I kneel down and pull the covers up over her.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “For saving me.”
I brush her hair from her face and place a gentle kiss on her forehead. “You don’t need to thank me. You’re my world, Asha. My reason for breathing. Every moment before this, I was merely existing in the hopes of finding you. Now I have, I’m never letting go. Sleep well, mate. You are safe here. I promise.”
Asha sighs, and our gazes lock. “If I’d been afforded the luxury of dreams, I think I would have dreamt of you, Erik.”
“That makes me happier to hear than you can ever know,” I say. “We’ve lived very different lives up until this point. Fromnow on, we learn to live together. I can’t erase your past or take those hurts from you, but I will be here. Always and forever.”
My Chaos witch’s eyelids flutter like sleepy butterfly wings, and her breathing takes on a slow and steady rhythm.
I sit back on my haunches and watch her drift off.A more perfect mate there couldn’t be.To see her so easily relaxed and at peace after such trauma sets my heart ablaze.She feels our connection, and it’s calming her.Relief floods me. With one last glance at her snuggled up in the warmth of my scent, I leave her to rest and make my way to the forest to lead Dawn Vespers.
****
Asha’s scream echoes through the mountain, and my blood runs cold. I bolt to my cavern like a man possessed by the spirit of the wind itself. When I cross the threshold, Asha is thrashing, tangled in the blankets, her eyes still tightly closed.Just a nightmare.I cross the space between us in a heartbeat and drop to my knees. After freeing her of the blankets, I instinctively scoop her up into my arms. I clutch her to my heaving chest, immobilizing her with my embrace for her own safety.
“It’s all right,” I soothe. “Asha, I’m here. You’re safe. It’s me. It’s Erik, baby.”
Asha stops thrashing and freezes.
I can feel her heart racing. “You’re home, mate. You’re home.”
