Shit. I hadn’t even thought of that.
“You won’t mark him,” Tanner said firmly. “Not without permission.”
“He doesn’t know enough to consent,” I said. “We need to tell him—to explain it all.”
“And if he leaves us?” Oberon asked. “Then what? We just let our bears spiral until wecan no longer control them?”
“Dramatic much?” Tanner rolled his eyes.
“History ignorant, much?” Oberon stared at him, almost begging for a fight.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” It was safe to say that I might have subdued my bear, but that didn’t mean I was calm and collected.
“You two are asshats. Didn’t you ever listen to Great-Great tell us about his childhood?” Oberon asked. Great-Great was our great grandfather who passed away when I was seven. He had us call him Great-Great because he thought great grandpa made him sound old and Great-Great made him the super cool relative.
“Not really,” I admitted. He would ramble on about all the people he lost in his life when he had too much to drink and as a kid I found it depressing and tuned him out. As an adult, I’d have still found it depressing, but at least I would’ve listened. “Why?”
~Oberon
How many days had we sat there waiting for our parents to save us from Great-Great’s rantings abouthow he was all alone and was ready to cross over? My great grandfather had two modes: Fun Grandpa and Depressing Grandpa. There was no in between.
Unlike my brothers, I listened to all of his stories. I didn’t understand them, but I listened. It wasn’t until I was a teen that it clicked into place that he hadn’t been confused about my other great grandfather, Great-Pop, and his brothers—he had been mated to them—all four of them. I asked my parents to be sure I was right and they very sternly informed me, “We do not talk of such things,” which I took to mean that I was right.
“Great-Great had four mates. Great-Pop was only one of them.” And the only one still around when we were small, passing away a year before Great-Great. “His mates were all brothers.”
Hudson’s jaw dropped. “No… Yes?... How had I not realized that? I thought he just got names confused, he was always calling me Tanner or Dad.”
“I did too and then when I was a teen something told me I should ask our folks and they… they didn’t say I was right, but they also didn’t say I was wrong.”
“So we were doomed by some family trait of mate sharing?” Tanner shookhis head. “Not that it matters. Either way he’s ours and if we don’t get back to him soon, he might think we abandoned him and leave.”
My bear heard that and ripped through me, taking his fur and barreling home. My brothers followed right behind me only I didn’t know if it was their beasts or their human side that were in control. I hoped it was the latter because there was a very real possibility I was going to need their help subduing my beast.
When we broke through the tree line, all three of us stopped short as our mate stepped out the back door.
“Don’t leave.” He spoke low, too soft for a human to hear. “I’m so confused.”
That made at least two of us, but at least I understood the mating and shifter part of the situation. Our mate was thrown into this completely unaware there was more on this earth than humans.
Tanner went toward him in his bear form, while Oberon and I shifted before doing so. It was six of one, half dozen of the other which was better; to see our cocks pointing in his direction or our huge ass bears.
Candrin sat on the steps and I took that as a good sign. He wasn't running or even scared from what I could tell, if anything he looked sad.
“Sorry we had to leave you,” I said, wanting to wipe the sadness from his face. “We needed to get our bears under control.”
I wasn’t going to sugar coat things. Our mate deserved nothing but the truth.
“And yet Tanner is still a bear.” Candrin held out his hand and Tanner went over to him. Our mate rubbed his head, no fear on his face. “I need to talk to you all. It’s hard when you’re like this. Bring Tanner back.”
~Tanner
When my mate rubbed his hand through my fur, I was sure I was dreaming and was about to be ripped from my sleep. There was no way it was happening in real life—only it was. I shifted back, not willing to deny my mate anything.
“We should get clothes,” Oberon said and Candrin shook his head. “Don’t leave yet. I need to understand.”
“Should we go inside then?” I asked.
“No. I can’t think in there. It smells like you all and has my head swirling.” Candrin felt it too. He didn't understand it, but he felt it. That was something.
