Grayslake: More than Mated: Bears Do It Better (Kindle Worlds Novella) (2 page)

Chapter Three

Misha couldn’t remember the last time she had been this nervous, or excited for that matter, as she drove their rental car over the rutted road that would lead them to the Itan’s den. At least it seemed peaceful out here. There was a wooden fence with posts down the side of the road with some lovely high grass beyond it. She could see plenty of trees across the bit of field, so there must be plenty of space for the bear shifters here to run wild. Would they let her shift and run with them?

In a world filled with humans, shifters were part of the hidden minority, staying in shifter-run communities to keep their true identities a secret. Auntie Arina used to say that she couldn’t care less what was going on with the world outside their pride’s town. Misha had always suspected that wasn’t the truth of it, though.

Her adopted aunt seemed to have her finger on the pulse of everything that was going on in the world. One might not realize the woman knew so much right away, but if you stayed around her long enough and really paid attention, you started to notice things. Such as how Arina would tell her family not to leave their lands because there were human soldiers two towns over. Or, one spring when she told the pride they needed to stock up better than they usually did for the next winter. It was almost as if she had a sixth sense for anything that could affect the safety of their pride.

When Misha had figured that out when she was fourteen years old, she started to wonder if Arina had ever thought Misha herself might be a danger to the pride since she was a bear. A few days later, with no warning at all, her aunt had sat her down at their kitchen table and told her in very direct terms that she had never considered Misha a threat to their family, and she never would. Misha was her cub, her little bear, and she loved her as much as she would any child of her own.

Misha never figured out how Arina had known what she was thinking back then. However, part of her didn’t really want to know, either. Arina was Arina, and Misha didn’t need to dissect how the woman always seemed to know when or where something was happening.

“You seem nervous, my love.”

Nervous was an understatement. Misha was going to meet other bear shifters for the first time in her life, and she had no idea what to expect. If she were walking into a tiger’s den, she wouldn’t be worried at all. That was easy to anticipate: crazy-ass cats who liked to party too much and were prone to bouts of diabolical mischievousness.

Auntie Arina tsked. “Loosen it up, you should. It’ll be fine, you’ll see. We go meet other bears. You’ll find them loud and stinky, and back to Russia we go!”

Misha rolled her eyes. “America is not that bad, you know.”

Her aunt shrugged. “Maybe yes, maybe no. Until I find good reason for us to stay, then I will not so secretly plan to drug you and take you back to the motherland.”

Rolling her eyes, Misha decided not to comment on her aunt’s plan to kidnap her. Instead, she concentrated on the driveway she was turning in to. The clan den came into sight, and she took in the massive house sitting atop a hill. The road gave way to gravel as she parked the car off to the side. Her stomach was in knots, and she was trembling in excitement.

Looking over her shoulder through the back window, Misha noted several people standing on the porch now, watching her. Could one of them be her cousin?

Suddenly, Auntie Arina spoke, making Misha jump in surprise.

“Why did God make only one Yogi Bear?”

Taking her eyes off the people watching them, Misha swung her gaze back to her aunt. What in the world was the crazy woman talking about now?

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Because, when he tried to make a second one, he made a Boo-Boo! Get it? Boo-boo.”

Misha slid her hand over her face in embarrassment. She should have known her aunt was not going to act any other way but herself in front of strangers, especially other deadly predators. Everything was a joke until you pissed her off. Then somebody would be screaming about a claw to the eye.

Looking back at her aunt, she pleaded, “Please don’t scare them off. This means a lot to me.”

Her aunt stopped laughing immediately and reached over to cup Misha’s face. “I know this means something to you, my sweet girl, but I want you to remember one thing.”

“Yes?” Misha asked her warily.

A hard glimmer shined in her adoptive aunt’s eye. “You are my cub, little bear, and kill, I will, anyone who hurts you.”

Misha felt her eyes water up at the fierce sentiment from the other woman. Never had she wondered if she was loved. Her Aunt Arina and the rest of the Vasiliev Pride had always let her know in every way possible that she was their cub.

All of a sudden, Misha had doubts about trying to find her biological relatives. She didn’t want her tiger family thinking she didn’t love them as fiercely as they had loved her all these years.

Grabbing Arina’s wrists where she still held Misha’s face, she tried to convey that exact sentiment. “I don’t have to do this if you don’t want me to, Aunt Arina. We can leave right now, get on a plane, and go home to Russia. The Vasiliev Pride has been and will always be my family.”

The older woman clucked her tongue. “My little bear did not come all this way to turn back now. We shall go meet the Yogis and the Boo-Boos to see if you are kin to one of them. If yes, perhaps we can kidnap them and take them back to our homeland, too!”

Misha snorted. She couldn’t help it. The tigress wouldn’t know the concept of subtle if it hit her like one of those very large, onion-shaped architectural domes their country’s buildings were so known for.

Patting her aunt’s wrist lovingly, Misha gave one last plea. “Please do not piss the bears off.”

A horrified look came over her aunt’s face as she shouted back, “Why would I piss on the bears? What a horrible way to scent mark!
Ty che, blyad?
”

Misha held her finger up in warning. “No cursing in Russian. Now, let’s go.”

Getting out of the car, she ignored her aunt’s rambling and closed the car door behind her. Turning around, she concentrated on the sound of the gravel beneath her feet to distract her from the racing thoughts going through her head. Misha’s eyes were glued to the people on the porch. They were all male bears and she did not see or smell a sow nearby. Were they protecting their women folk from her?

The gravel gave way to grass as she stood before the steps leading to the den and the large men in front of her. Misha stared right back at them just as all of her tiger relatives had taught her to do. She wasn’t going to look away and show weakness. Every tiger knew how to stare down a potential threat or another predator. Misha just happened to be a bear who knew how to do it.

All four of the men watched her unwaveringly, not moving a muscle, nor blinking an eyelid. They just stood there like giant sentries.

After a few silent moments of staring at each other, Misha got the feeling they were not trying to scare her with their tactics. It felt more like they were curious as to what she would do. Perhaps she should break the ice between them?

Misha opened her mouth to say something, but two things happened that stopped her. First, one of the bears blinked. What happened next would probably mortify Misha for the rest of her life.

“Ah-ha!” Auntie Arina yelled from behind her. “Boo-Boo blinked first! My Misha wins. Now take us to your leader.”

Why couldn’t the ground just open up underneath her and swallow her alive when her family did stuff like that? Because really, who wanted to live through this sort of incessant mortification?

“
Boo-Boo
?” a deep voice growled from in front of her.

Yeah, it was time Misha took control of this situation before it got any worse.

Looking up at the four men, Misha waved in greeting. “Hello. I am Misha Vasiliev. I believe your Itan is expecting me?”

The man in front of her pointed to Aunt Arina. “What’s the cat doing here?”

Misha felt as if the hackles were rising on the back of her neck. Her aunt might not be the politest person in the world, but she wasn’t going to let this man insult her family.

“That tigress is my aunt, whom the Itan told me I could bring with me. Call her a cat again, and I will not take too kindly to it.”

The man went to say something back, but one of the other bears stepped forward to put a hand on his shoulder. “Shut it, Jack.” Misha looked over at the man speaking and found his gaze glued to her aunt. Interesting. “Let the ladies come on inside to see the Itan. He’s waiting for them.”

The bear named Jack shrugged off the other man’s touch. “I’m just trying to be careful. It’s bad enough hyenas got to us. I would hate to see what kind of damage a tiger could do.”

Misha’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Hyenas? She had heard about them but never seen one.

The four men didn’t give her much time to think about that as they waved for her to come up the stairs. Two of them walked ahead of her, one of those bears being the suspicious Jack. The other two waited until after both she and her aunt had crossed over the threshold to follow after them.

They entered a common area that looked to be a living room of sorts. The house itself was massive, but the furniture made it feel cozy. Glancing around, Misha was surprised to see several other people there, quietly watching them. Discreetly scenting the air, all she could smell was bear, so she assumed these folks were bears, too. She hadn’t expected to see so many gathered in one place, though. Tigers were notorious for liking their privacy.

“Oy,” her aunt mumbled from behind her. “Multiplying the Boo-Boos, they keep doing.”

Misha cringed, knowing the other shifters had heard her wily relative. Only she didn’t get the outrage she expected from them. Instead, a deep rumble of a laugh sounded off behind her, and the voice of the man who had been staring at Arina like she was his personal jar of honey said, “It’s the clan den. Anyone in the clan can stop by whenever they want, plus a few of the single bears live here, too. I can show you around if you would like, pretty kitty.”

Misha heard Arina snort as they kept walking toward what smelled like a sweet pastry. “You wish, bear.”

Whatever the older bear said back to her aunt was lost in the talking and clamor that they walked into next.

Looking around, Misha took note of the large kitchen with a couple of bears seated at a kitchen island topped with granite. An old sow was bustling around the stove, cooking whatever it was that smelled so good. Misha was tempted to ask if she could have one of whatever the old woman was making, but she reminded herself she was here for something much more important than sweets.

She was there to find her family.

The two bears sitting at the island looked over at her. They were both large men, but one was bigger than the other. There was an air of authority surrounding him that almost made Misha shiver. He had brown eyes, brown hair, wide shoulders, and a strong jaw. She would wager all the cat nip in Russia that this man was the Itan.

He didn’t stand to greet her, but he did give her a slight nod of welcome. “My name is Ty, and I am the Grayslake Itan. You must be the Misha that requested my help?”

Misha gave him a nod of respect back, allowing this man, and this man alone, to see she would bow to his dominance. “I am, Itan. If you have a few moments, I would like to ask a few questions about a couple of your clan members.”

When she raised her gaze back up from the floor to meet his hard brown eyes, he rumbled back, “Because you believe you’re related to one or more of them? I’ll want to see some sort of proof before I give you any answers, Misha. I’m very protective of my bears.”

She wasn’t surprised at this response. The Vasiliev tigers were just as protective of their own. This was why she had come prepared with the newspaper article she had found in her aunt’s attic. But first, she needed to explain how she came to find the article.

Misha felt Arina come to stand next to her, silently giving her strength and support. She knew how hard it was for Misha to talk about the family she could not remember but desperately wanted to know. Taking a deep breath, Misha told him what she knew.

“I don’t remember much from before I came to be with the Vasiliev tigers. What I do remember is truly horrific. It’s only brief flashes of memory, but I can recall clowns, living in a cage in my bear form, and being very, very hungry. There was also a man who would shout at me and hit me with a rod when I didn’t do as he commanded me. I remember being scared and sad.” Misha waved a hand at Arina. “Then they rescued me. Apparently, they found me in a human circus stuck in my bear form. Looking back now, I guess my bear was trying to protect my fragile human, so she stayed in control.”

“Do you remember what happened to your parents?” Ty bluntly asked her.

She shook her head sadly. “I don’t remember them at all, to be honest. In fact, I don’t remember one single thing before the circus flashbacks.”

The Itan looked at Arina. “How old was she when you found her?”

“At the time, guessed we did that she was around three years of age. Hard it was for us to tell because, used to dealing with bear shifters, we are not.”

Ty turned his attention back to Misha. “Continue.”