The cold was still seeping into Zhuang’s bones, and he briefly worried he had taken too long to shift back, but there really wasn’t anything he could do about it. The cubs’ safety was more important.
Cubs. Zhuang had never really considered having any. Not because he preferred men, but just because it hadn’t been something he’d thought about. Now, though, he had three. His parents were going to be thrilled at the change in his life. His mother would lose her mind.
Zhuang didn’t define himself as gay or straight or even bisexual by human standards. Most shifters didn’t. One never really knew if their mate was going to be male or female until they met. He was really glad his mate had turned out to be a man, though.
“How much farther?”Xias asked.
Zhuang glanced up at the mountain range in front of them. The ranger’s shack was at the base of the nearest mountain. “Maybe another hour. Do you think the cubs will make it?”
“I hope so.”
Zhuang did, too. He was pretty sure Xias would be devastated if anything happened to them. The man was totally devoted to to his cubs. Zhuang hoped that one day, Xias would be just as devoted to him. It wasn’t a sappy thought, but more of a deep need he’d had since he realized what mates were.
He had dreamed about having a mate, that one person meant just for him. He never truly believed he’d find his mate, but now that he had, he swore he’d do everything within his power to make Xias as happy as he could possibly be.
Killing the man’s former alpha fell under that category. He needed to be removed from existence for Xias’s peace of mind. Zhuang didn’t plan to go after the man, but he knew the fight would eventually come. How could it not?
Alphas never gave up.
By the time the wooden shack came into view, everyone was cold, exhausted, and barely trudging through the thick snow that had started falling again. Zhuang had shifted and carried the cubs twice. He wished he could have carried them the entire way, but there was just no way. He couldn’t have handled the frigid cold as a naked human.
Zhuang shifted and hurried up to the door. He thought he heard Xias whimper as he passed him. He reached up and grabbed the key off the ledge over the top of the door. As soon as he unlocked the door and pushed it open, he turned to hurry everyone inside.
Once Xias and the cubs were inside, Zhuang shouldered the door closed and then turned toward his mate. “Why don’t you feed the cubs while I get a fire going?”
“Is it safe to have a fire?”
Zhuang nodded even though he wasn’t positive it was. “It’s still dark enough to hide the smoke, and the wind is blowing hard enough to dissipate the scent before it reaches anyone.” He winced as he glanced down at the small pile of shivering cubs cuddling together on the floor. “Besides, they need to get warm.”
He walked over to the cot in the corner and grabbed one of the heavy blankets folded at the bottom. He carried it back across the wooden floor and shook it out before spreading it out in front of the woodstove.
While Xias lay down on the old army blanket and curled around the half-frozen cubs, Zhuang gathered some firewood and went about starting a fire in the old cast-iron potbelly stove. It wasn’t much to look at, but it would heat the room better than an open fireplace would.
Once the wood was all ready to go in the stove, he grabbed a small wooden box off the shelf near the door. It was full of waterproof matches. When he turned around to go back and light the fire, he found Xias staring at him.
“What?” he asked out loud.
“You seem to know where everything is,”Xias said.
“This shack belongs to a friend of mine. He lets me stay here occasionally.”
Xias’s eyes narrowed. “How good of a friend?”
Zhuang chuckled as he continued back to the stove. “Not that good.”
He’d known Tao a very long time, but he’d never known him intimately. They were just too good of friends to take their relationship in that direction. Besides, Zhuang was finding himself attracted to a little wisp of a man with beautiful pale-green eyes.
Zhuang smiled when flames leapt to life inside the potbelly stove. It would take a little bit for the entire room to warm up, but at least they would be warm. He leaned down and grabbed the edge of the blanket, then pulled until Xias and the cubs were close to the stove.
“Get some rest. I need to grab my stuff and then find us something to eat. I shouldn’t be long.”
“You’re leaving?”Pure panic laced the voice that threaded through their mate bond.
“I won’t be gone long, Xias. I promise.”
Xias’s eyes watered. “But…”
“Hey.” Zhuang smiled as he stroked his fingers through Xias’s fur. “I’ll be right back. I promise. But you aren’t going to make it very far if you don’t get some nourishment. You know that as well as I do.”
