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Chapter Four
Apparently going back to his apartment could be added to the list of fuck-ups in his life recently. Sure, he’d had the chance to meet his fated mate. He could feel her, even after she left. Alani was a part of him now, only she didn’t know it—and she clearly wanted nothing to do with him. It’s not like he had the luck to end up with a shifter fated mate. Being human, she’d feel a pull to him, an attraction, but it was nothing compared to the need he had for her.
And he’d scared her off, sent her away in an irritable huff, all because he couldn’t keep his fucking mouth in check. His offer to have lunch together was a last-minute idea to mend whatever chance he’d already stomped all over when it came to her—but she’d turned him down without even pausing for a breath. Her words were like a slap in the face—worse, frankly, because he could actually feel them tearing at his heart.
Not wanting to frighten her, he’d stormed back into his apartment and just stood there, knowing she would hear each and every heavy step he took. Once he’d caught his breath, Ivo threw on a sweater, grabbed his keys, and headed out again, knowing the only place he could be that wouldn’t bother people was somewhere outdoors—alone.
So he had hopped in his truck—a gorgeous red beast with the latest updates, so polished it actually glistened in the sun—and headed for the Angel Fire mountain range. Most of the time he walked everywhere; Ivo found walking, as a bear or as a human, calmed his mind and helped him refocus his thoughts. But today he had wanted to get out of town fast, and he wasn’t interested in stalking around bear territory where he might run into one of his clansmen. He genuinely wanted to be alone—just him, the bear, and his temper.
With the radio blaring, he had gunned it to the farthest end of bear territory, parked at the base of that mountain, and then tossed his clothes in the truck. No sense in ruining another outfit because he’d been ready to pitch another fit.
From there, he shifted into his black bear form, his inner bear eager to get out and run—and that was precisely what he did. Ivo took to the unused trails, huffing and snorting as he pushed his shifted body to its breaking point. The higher he climbed, the harder it became to maintain speed as the air changed a little.
Not a person in sight. Not a bear in sight. Nothing. Just black bear Ivo and the trees, plus all their little woodland critters. At one point he saw a fox, but it scuttled off when he stomped toward it. Smart guy.
Fuck. The look in her eyes when she first saw him; Ivo saw the flicker of interest, of desire, but in true Ivo Ames fashion, he’d totally ruined it by being, well, himself. Why couldn’t he, for once, have just been a gentleman? She was his fucking fated mate, and here he was, treating her like she was any Joe Blow on the street.
A part of him felt missing with her away from him. It was a hollowness he’d never felt before, which told him Alani, the gorgeous artist with sumptuous lips and the clearest blue-green eyes he’d ever seen, was absolutely his fated mate.
But you went and fucked that right up, didn’t you?
His thick bear paws pushed at some boulders, getting a small thrill out of watching them roll down the muddy mountainside. With the snow melting, everything was a muddy, wet mess these days.
Already his fur stank of the damp outdoors, but Ivo didn’t mind. His inner bear was at his happiest when he was in nature, rolling around in the fields or tumbling through the forest or seated at the tip-top of the tallest tree, surveying his territory where no one else could see him.
He could sense the desire from his bear to enjoy this time, but even he was unimpressed with how Ivo had spoken to his fated mate. If human-Ivo was craving Alani, bear-Ivo couldn’t survive without her. He’d felt this pressing anxiety in the core of his being as soon as she left—his inner bear feared they’d lost her for good. T
his small, curvy woman with clay under her nails. A woman he couldn’t have said more than twenty words to. Somehow she had sunk her hooks into him without even realizing. But that was what happened with fated mates. One look and you were done. A goner. And Ivo was definitely, definitely a goner.
What made him feel even worse was that there was probably nothing he could do to win her back. He’d already offered to take her out to eat—what more was there? Food usually made everything better.
Huffing with irritation, he stormed along the forest path, not walked by any except for him, and came to an abrupt stop at a clearing. While the trees thinned out, the mossy regrowth of spring continued up a gentle slope until it paused at the mouth of a cave. Ivo cocked his head to one side, then lifted and closed his eyes, drawing in a deep enough breath to fill his great bear lungs. There was a scent on the air, one not typical of the usual forest smells.
Suddenly, the woods fell silent. His eyes snapped open, and he scanned his surroundings. While nothing seemed out of place, his hackles rose, and his ears twitched this way and that, determined to find the source of the silence. The forest doesn’t go quiet without cause, after all. Only a predator—or a stranger—can silence Mother Nature.
Ivo took one cautious step out into the clearing, and then another, until suddenly he was in the middle of it. Overhead some clouds had drifted across the sun, blocking its rays and giving the area a kind of ominous feeling he felt deep in his bones. And, unfortunately, Ivo quickly discovered why.
Straight ahead, from the other side of the clearing, came a bighorn sheep—a ram, and a pretty established one at that, given the size of his immense horns. It moved in toward Ivo, slow but steady, its hooves silent. No wonder he couldn’t hear the creature approach. Ivo could barely hear him now.
He did hear the snapping of a twig, and he twisted his black bear face around to find several more bighorn sheep moving in on him. Huge rams coming from all directions were inching toward him. He sat up on his back feet, making himself taller, then thought better of it. If one of them charged him straight in the gut, he’d go down like a sack of lead. So Ivo stood on all fours instead, watching, waiting, huffing.
When the circle came within five feet of him, he issued a low growl—a warning. Bighorn sheep wandered all over the mountain range, usually traveling in herds of males and females, though they seldom made it into bear territory. Even the actual animals knew the divisions amongst the Angel Fire shifters: coyotes and bears—not the sort of folk prey animals wanted to mess with.
Yet here they were, a group of stupid assholes thinking they could fight a bear. Was it mating season? He hadn’t seen any females, but then again, Ivo had been so wrapped up in his temper tantrum that he hadn’t really taken in much of the surroundings—unless he was throwing it or stomping it flat.
His growl didn’t seem to do any good. When the group came far too close for comfort, Ivo’s lips peeled back into a snarl—that was when the first ram charged. The hit came from behind, two solid curly horns slamming into his rear.
Ivo snarled again and lunged for the nearest ram. Even if that one hadn’t been the one to hit him, they all seemed to be acting under some weird pack mentality—so Ivo went for the biggest asshole of the bunch, hoping the others would scatter once he and his bear-self took him down.
But nobody scattered. It was the polar opposite, in fact. The rams all charged him, and Ivo went into full defensive mode, trying to both protect his body and get the rams away from him. The battle carried on and on, with Ivo gaining some ground as he tossed rams this way and that or grabbed them by their horns, and then losing it again when one managed to slam into him just right so that he’d lost his balance.
The fight ended when he tasted blood in his mouth. One of the rams emitted a low series of bleats, and suddenly they were all backing off, trotting toward the forest. Ivo shifted back to his human form and all but collapsed on the muddy ground, exhausted. He spit a mouthful of ram blood out, scowling.
And then the day took an interesting turn of events. As he watched the rams scatter, perhaps sensing they couldn’t win against Angel Fire’s apex predator, one of them changed from ram to human. Ivo sat up sharply, eyes narrowed at the forest. That was a guy. He was sure of it.
“Hey!” he called, struggling to his feet. His inner bear was only somewhat interested in the discovery of a new species of shifter; the other part of him yearned to sleep off the fight under a tree somewhere. But Ivo couldn’t resist. “Hey, wait!”
Suddenly they were all men—naked, bloody, bruised— and hobbled away without looking back, not even as his voice echoed through the forest. The smallest of the crew gave a slight half-glance over his shoulder when Ivo called out to them again, but he didn’t turn back.
