Grizzly (14 page)

“God, so long. It has been far too long, little one,” he murmured against her neck.

Not knowing what to say in return, she just nodded. Heat flamed her cheeks and she tried to get closer. This stranger, this man she’d never met in her life, provoked a total sense of family. Images of the man and woman she called mother and father flashed in front of her. A whimper spilled from her lips and she instantly found herself set back on her feet gently.

Great. More men treating me like a doll that can break. Just great.

“I’m sorry, little one. Did I hurt you?” he whispered down at her.

His fingers brushed over her hair and tucked it behind her ear. Lifting her gaze, she locked on his eyes. God, the man was beautiful. So handsome he put every other man to shame in the world.

How the hell did I come out like this with a parent like that?

You haven’t met your mother yet.

The negative reflection was halted when a sweet, dulcet voice touched her ears.

“Fergus, really, love. Don’t smother her. She is just learning of us. We knew that the transition would be hard for them. We prepared for this. Let her have some room.”

Sorscha peeked around the large form of her father. Coming towards her was a woman so striking she felt pain looking at her for too long. The woman’s hair, the same as hers, was braided in a complicated pattern around her head. It seemed to halo, yet half was left down and spilled over her shoulders and down her back in bouncy chocolate curls. She wasn’t tall, yet taller than Sorscha. Her blue eyes were full of love and laughter.

How can a woman who had to give away all her children not look totally broken?

Sorscha, still unable to speak, parted her lips and a sob erupted.

It’d been building like a tsunami inside her. The anger, rage, sadness, and hurt all bubbled and spilled out, crashing over the beach of her soul. Before her knees gave out, steel wrapped around her and lifted her into arms that she knew so well.

Tethur.

Looking up at him, their gazes locked and she felt the warm tears stream down her face.

“I can’t... Tethur... please,” she pleaded with him.

He didn’t answer, just swept her up into the castle entrance.

“Room!” he roared.

There was a scurry of sound, voices that seemed broken and disoriented in her blur of emotion, and then before she could protest, she was being lowered to something very soft and warm. The crackle of flames calmed her. Tethur didn’t release her, he just replaced the pillow her head was on. The bear of a man could be her very bed for all she cared. Leaving him at this point wasn’t an option. If she ever lost him...

She just didn’t want to even go to that place.

“I’m sorry, Sorscha. I didn’t know it would... I mean... did I hurt you?” Fergus gazed down at her, worry etched in the furrow of his brow.

Opening her mouth to speak, she felt the desert in her mouth. “Yes, I’m sorry, it’s just, I thought about... my parents,” she finished weakly.

Fergus nodded, and that look of worry turned to understanding in an instant. Everyone in this world seemed so much, well, better, than humanity.

Well, not those monsters who attacked them.

Sorscha’s teeth caught her bottom lip and she moved to sit up. A rumble sounded from Tethur’s chest and she unconsciously pressed a hand over his bounding heart. He seemed to ease back.

“It’s okay, I’m fine now,” she smiled.

Tethur nodded and rose to stand. His eyes still reflected worry as he watched her when she got up and looked toward the woman—her mother.

Rubbing her palms over her pants, they suddenly became very clammy.

“I’m sorry I did that. This is all...” she trailed off.

“A bit overwhelming?” The woman smiled and took both her hands in her own.

Sorscha fought the urge to pull them back.

“I get it. I told Fergus when the time came for our girls to come home, it wouldn’t be easy. You were all given lives, very normal human lives. Yet you are very extraordinary women,” she explained.

Sorscha could only nod. Gazing down at their locked hands, her tension eased. The woman was taller than her, yet she didn’t feel intimidated. If anything this woman was born to be a mother. She was instantly warm and accepting of Sorscha’s over-dramatic mood swing.

“Come, we have food waiting. My name is Shauna, by the way. You can call me Shauna until you are comfortable calling me...”

“Mom?” Sorscha interrupted.

The smile Shauna gifted her with lit up the woman entirely. She nearly glowed. Sorscha felt a warm palm against her cheek and she leaned into it.

“Time, you have all the time in the world, my Spring,” she whispered to Sorscha.

Nodding, Sorscha followed the woman out of the library and down a massive hallway to the sprawling dining hall. It wasn’t like Cassandra’s dining hall. This was almost medieval, like something out of Game of Thrones. The walls were stone covered in ancient tapestries that told stories of war and promises of powers she was sure she’d come to know very well.

Guiding her to a seat next to her mother, Tethur grumbled as he took a seat next to her. The food here was more like she was used to at home. Although she was pretty sure the meat wasn’t cow, and the liquor was a very sweet mead. Starved, she dove into the food, filling herself full of the honey-flavored booze, meat, and potatoes.

She fell into comfortable banter with the rest of the men. Tethur didn’t remain silent for long. He told of how they had to escape the human realm and their journey through the mirror. His eyes possessively locked onto Sorscha any time one of the other men made comments about wooing her. In the real world she was in charge. Owner of her fate and ruler of her destiny. Here? Forces beyond all reason controlled her future. Suddenly very nervous, she took another huge gulp of the mead and refilled her glass. Before long she felt that peaceful haze that came along with drinking too much.

The voices turned into garble she stopped paying attention to. If she just went numb she wouldn’t have to worry about all that she was losing.

Her life.

Her best friend.

Her job.

Her freedom.

She didn’t ask for any of this. She didn’t ask to be born to a family of some kind of Tolkien-inspired warriors. Abruptly, she pushed away from the table. The huge oak chair teetered before it righted. The loud clatter brought the hall to silence. Backing up slowly, Tethur snarled and bolted to his feet. He was prowling again.

God, he really needs to stop doing that.

She held up a hand and he halted instantly.

“Please... just this once,” she pleaded.

He stopped short, the hurt in his eyes like jabbing a jagged knife into her heart.

She opened her mouth to apologize. Shaking her head, she let out a pained groan instead and darted from the room.

She had no clue where she was going. All she knew was she needed space. She just wanted to be alone. The realization that everything she’d spent years working so hard for was going to be removed from her life brought bile into her throat.

“Oh, God,” she started and looked around frantically for something, a bathroom, anything.

Seeing a familiar door, the library, she darted inside and slammed the door shut on a violent growl.

A loud slam against the wood drew a whimper. She flicked the lock and stepped back.

“Go away, Tethur! I just need time,” she begged.

“You are MINE to protect, little one. You will open this door, or I swear by all that is holy in this land I will redden your backside when I get through,” he thundered from the other side.

BANG!

The wood cracked and she swallowed hard.

“Just go! Goddamn it, Tethur! You stole me away from my entire life and threw me into a world where I don’t know any of the fucking rules!” she started to explain. “Could you give me one night away from your amazing fucking smell, big dick, and roaming hands! I can’t fucking think with you, just, always, fucking there!” She screamed and slammed her fist back against the door.

Panting, her forehead pressed against the weather-worn wood. She could swear he was right on the other side, in the same pose. His own deep panting was loud and clear. Sorscha had been honest with him. She needed to process. First the amazing ice castle, then the hot elves, then the warriors coming to collect them. Then Tethur and his big badass naked body. How could any girl focus clearly? The mead was working its magic and she slid down the door slowly until her butt hit the stone floor hard.

She had so many questions.

Would she be able to ever go back?

What about her job? It was important to her. It didn’t help she felt that in some way her job was related to the person she was, and the hacker was someone trying to find out about them.

Questions that eluded answers and a big fucking bear who didn’t like to stop sexually arousing her for long enough to give her any.

Tethur’s heavy footfall outside was distracting. She got the feeling she would never be alone again. Then his feet halted. He snarled something, a protest. Then on a loud growl she heard him storm off.

Relief mixed with—panic?—filled her. She was so used to him, so deeply connected to everything he was, it got painful the further he got away from her.

A dainty knock sounded on the door.

“Sorscha?”

Shauna.

Sorscha was raised on the value that you respect your elders. Reluctantly, she got to her feet and flicked the lock. She didn’t invite the woman in but instead collapsed in the giant leather chair Tethur had lain her on earlier.

“Sorry about that. It is just...”

Shauna raised a hand and shook her head.

“Please don’t apologize. I know most of these men very well. Not only are they cursed, they are hot-blooded. Sometimes it is not always a good thing. They have spent years alone in battle and totally engrossed in the fight. So now they feel when it comes to their women it is a battle they must always win.” She paused, smiling toward Sorscha before taking a seat next to her. “What they don’t realize is women never lose.” She winked.

That got a genuine laugh from Sorscha.

Licking her lips, she turned her gaze towards the fire.

“It is just a lot, you know.” It wasn’t a question.

“I knew one thing for all this time. Raised, grew up, educated, and then worked. Yes, I have an unhealthy obsession with a madman in a box, and he probably made this whole life event way too easy for me to handle. I just...” She paused.

Shauna grabbed hold of Sorscha’s hand.

“I know. Trust me, I knew that my girls would become children of both worlds when I sent them away to protect them. It would all get so much more complicated when your father decided their mates would become your guardians when you turned ten, the cusp of puberty.” She settled back into the couch and pulled Sorscha closer.

Sorscha relaxed. She couldn’t help it.

“So my sisters. They are with the men too? Are they all mean? Wait, that is sort of unfair. Tethur was a bit...” She paused to find the right word.

“Volatile?” Shauna finished for her.

“Yes.” Sorscha breathed in relief she wasn’t the only one to notice this.

“No, Tethur was always the more—bitter of the men. Very angry. Driven by the fight and war. I questioned Fergus choosing him for you. You were the youngest, and I knew you would be the one of the earth—Spring. More highly influenced, and driven by fantasy and light.”

Great, even this stranger knows I’m a total nerd.

The warmth of Shauna’s hand sent comfort slithering through her body.

“I know this is hard, coming here after living that life for so long. It has to be shocking, even nerve-wracking.” She shifted to look more fully at Sorscha. “You are allowed to go back whenever you want. Your home is still there, your job, and your Netflix.” She winked.

Sorscha laughed and felt lighter with the information she could go home. Slowly, though, her smile faded.

“Tethur isn’t going to let me go back. Now that he knows the orcs and baddies can get through. He’s going to keep me in his little bear cage.” Sorscha deflated.

Shauna brushed her fingers under Sorscha’s chin.

“He won’t really have a choice. The men we love tend to be powerless when it comes to us. Besides, the world needs you. The Realm and the human world needs all my daughters,” she ended on a whisper, her fingers brushing Sorscha’s cheek. “You are his.”

Sorscha felt panic overwhelm her once more. Rising to her feet, she started to pace. The first tendrils of heat wove through her toes, travelling up, slowly making a trek to her brain when heat bloomed hot and fresh inside her. Honed and one with the earth all around her. The ground started to rumble.

“I don’t want to be owned.” She paused, wringing her fingers. “I mean, I don’t think.” she finished.

Shauna rose, her hands up.

“You need to calm down, Sorscha.”

The castle roared with strength as the floor shifted. The earthquake was building.

Sorscha stabbed fingers through her hair. Sucking in her bottom lip, she tried to get a grip. Stop the earth from shaking. The more frantic she got, the heavier the rumble.

“Oh, God, I don’t know what I’m doing!” she cried.

––––––––

T
he earthquake was building. Loud rumbling filled the room. She didn’t know Tethur had broken through the door. Thick, hot arms wrapped around her, soothing her to the very core. Sorscha leaned her weight against the giant man, her face pressed into his chest. Large fingers sifted through her long hair as his heat eased the tumble of emotions.

“The room is both of yours. I think it’s time for some sleep.” Shauna moved towards the door.

Sorscha tried to get to her. Tethur’s grip tightened, the warning growl setting her teeth on edge as she looked up at Tethur with a glare.

“Brute.”

That smile. Seeing that stunning smile on her bear did things to her. Mostly her nipples and between her legs, but it also seemed to make the world around her spin. The smile was warm, inviting, and crinkled the skin around his eyes as they glittered mischievously. Tethur leaned in and nuzzled against her neck. Her body betrayed her protests, releasing a little moan and crawling into him deeper. Tethur inhaled loudly.