“Let’s get it over with,” Evie said, moving to the head of the party.
As we left town, a few more shifters slunk out of the shadows and joined the brood galloping down the road. We weren’t getting any time alone for her to tell me what was wrong. Our bodies and resolve finally came together in the most glorious tangle possible, and I messed it up somehow. The road wasn’t the ideal place to reassure a new mate. And maybe I was the one who needed reassurance. The number of lovers who had been intimidated by my size wasn’t none. It was bad enough being a novelty for that. Then they wanted to see what my bear would do. He had been amazingly uninterested in any of them, even when we felt the natural need for any physical touch. I couldn't stand it if that’s what our relationship turned into.
The road stood empty enough that I noticed a few more shifters joined our party along the way. Somehow, we had developed quite a trail of them. An army, almost.
“What is that box?” one of them asked me. We hadn’t had time to discuss that, either. Now two gossiping friends surrounded Evie.
I didn’t know what to make of the metal box hanging off Evie’s saddle, but it didn’t smell of craft or magic. There had been plenty of danger so far, but the five by ten box seemed sinister in a way I couldn’t define. That wasn’t anything I was going to tell a random shifter, so I puffed up and used my size and silence to answer for me.
A tiny tug at my pant leg captured my attention before I started toward Evie again.
“I’m so sorry to bother you.” The female shifter’s voice warbled. “I don’t think I can go back to my village. When the rage hit me, I might have destroyed our town granary. Do you know anywhere I might go?”
I tried to picture the diminutive shifter turning feral with the Goddess’ call and came up empty.
“Travel with us until we get back to my village.” I stopped myself. No wonder Evie gave into the impulse. It was hard to not want to help.
“Thank you. It’s still hard to be a shifter in the Harrowlands sometimes,” she said.
It really was. I treated my fellow shifters well in my territory. That didn’t seem to be the case for every ruler. More shifters than ever before raced alongside us. At least a hundred bodies spread out over the dusty road, leaving Vinguard and the ditches to either side.
Every one of them either eyed Evie or sidled closer to her until Declan snarled them away. She didn’t seem ill at ease, much to my disappointment. I would have an excuse to have her ride with me, to talk with her. I was grateful the static in the bond lessened as we continued to travel toward the mountains, but my bear was grumbling we were too far from her. He was ready to fuck all her problems away again, but if that was the source of the staticky feeling, I had to control him. He clawed at my skin anyway, only amplifying my bad mood. We moved at a pretty good pace through the grasslands. The brood hurried Greg along.
A greasy voice piped up next to me. “Your scent is all over her, but there’s still no mate mark. Are you willing to part with her?”
Swiping at the fool shifter, he popped back into his lynx's form and dove into the tall grass. I roared until the whole travel party backed up. The resulting quiet was deafening. I glanced at Evie. With the sheer number of shifters surrounding her, surely someone was about to tell her how dangerous I was. What a mistake it was to mate with me. I was rethinking my arrogance of letting her slowly adjust to all this. With something wrong, every moment without my mark on her body made me edgy.
The wolf was the only one brave enough to approach the dead ring around me. “Why are you on that horse?” His piping tone was a stark contrast to the wary eyes on me.
“Why are you over here?” I countered. “Aren’t you glued to your new bestie?”
The snap in my voice didn’t deter him. Nothing seemed to. “Evie agreed we would take turns next to her. Noora gets her for the next hour.” Declan’s frown said it all.
I watched her ride, hips swaying, and I wanted to steal her back on my horse. Noora could have Greg. Then I wouldn’t be battling for a turn in her chatting rotation.
“It’s tough to protect them from everything,” Declan said, then raised his voice. “Especially from annoying sex workers who have nothing better to talk about.”
Noora whipped around and then urged Evie faster, even further from us. The words to call her back died in my throat. I couldn’t smother her, but I also couldn’t stop worrying about our newly acquired distance. Our recent companions sprung up fast.
Declan didn’t seem to mind my lack of response. He shifted to his giant wolf form.Or so I hear about mates. You’re incredibly lucky to find one. And such a powerful one at that. I wouldn’t take any of these shifters too seriously. They all know she’s taken. It’s just hard to resist—SQUIRREL!
Declan whipped around. Fur spiked, body tense, he was ready to run.Get off that horse and let’s go. A hunt will do you good.
The black wolf bounded off. He wasn’t wrong—hunting for my mate was better than morosely staring at her. I dismounted and handed Noora the reins to my horse. Evie and I would talk when we stopped again. When we found some privacy.
“I will find us dinner, Evie.”
She nodded. It was for the best that I shifted. My bear was much smarter—overthinking nothing. The sight of him brought a few barks and yips from the brood following us, and my bear couldn’t help but flex a little. I was the largest shifter by far, beating out a griffon and a lion shifter I saw prowling along the fringe of the group. I shook out my coat and my bear basked in the soft, warm air, the scent of leaves and prey. He hadn’t traveled like this in a hundred years.
Declan skidded to a stop in front of me.Come on! He’s getting away.
Latching on to my coat, he pulled and got me moving like a wrecking ball through the crowd. It was too satisfying to see the brood scatter at my approach. Declan streaked after his squirrel, barking as it ran up a tree. I plucked it off the lowest branch and tossed it to the ground for Declan to try again. With his wagging tail and thunderous prance, I didn’t think he had much hope of catching the thing.
I turned my attention to the deer I scented further in the woods. It had been years since we had hunted together. My senses sharpened, and the rush of the hunt pumped my blood harder. I didn’t know why we didn’t do this more often. I crashed into the buck and killed it with one swipe of my paw. The rest of the herd bounded away until the thwack of an arrow brought down a small doe.
“Center mass, Elyon!”
Two laughing harem members rode past on my horse and they dragged their doe over to my buck.
