BeWitched Bear (Fated Mates of SpecOpsSierra #4)

Chapter 1

Erick Bjourne

“Hey Kade. How’s it going?” Placing my phone on speaker, my eyes meet Cricket’s as he locks the door behind the last customer of the day. We’ve been waiting for this call, each of us feeling the mounting tension of our pack member in our own way.

“Not good. He’s still not responding to me or Karter. Crash says he was the most alert the first time we came out but since then has regressed back into—” Kade sighs “—fuck man, I don’t know what this is.”

Grumbling, Cricket interlaces his fingers behind his skull while pacing a small circle in front of the glass ammo case.

“What do the docs say?” A lead weight settles in my gut as I anticipate Kade’s response. Kash is Kade’s younger brother and Karter’s twin, but as SpecOps Sierra—a secret Army Special Forces Unit composed of telepathic shifters—he’s my family too.

These men are the only family I have.

“They don’t have answers. They’ve seen nothing like this before, but they’re equating it to when a shifter loses their mate.”

“Fuck.” I swallow the lump in my throat.

Every shifter, mated or not, has heard stories about what happens when a shifter loses their mate.

Their animal goes wild with grief and the shifter has to make a choice: continue on as a feral version of their former self, banished to the elements far away from their pack and society to live out their remaining days, or abandon their animal altogether and embrace life full time as a human, losing all the special gifts they had which is akin to losing a limb or other part of themselves.

That’s what Kade’s father did when their mother abandoned her humanity and banished herself to parts unknown as her bear.

“Yeah.” His voice muffles and I imagine he’s leaning his forehead on his forearm with his phone to his ear.

“How’s Karter?” I ask, even though I’m sure I know the answer.

“He’s a fucking wreck. Between his twin not talking to him and leaving his mate in Fortune Falls with our family, his bear is very unhappy.”

I frown and exchange another look with Cricket, who raises his head in surprise. Newly mated himself, there’s no way he’d leave Doralee’s side for a night unless it was a matter of life or death. “I thought you brought your mates with you?”

“That’s why I’m calling.”

Wiley and Sly walk through the back door, their attention going to the conversation at hand.

We nod our acknowledgements while Cricket fills them in telepathically on what’s going on.

I turn my attention back to Kade. “The pack is listening, brother. Lay it on us. What can we do to help?”

“We’re bringing Kash home.”

“When?” And how? I want to ask but leave the logistics question unspoken. Transporting an 850-pound bear is no small task and Kade’s old diesel truck with its worn shocks is not up to it.

“Tomorrow. Before you ask, Colonel Packard is helping us with transport—much to my surprise,” he grumbles. Kade has been furious with our old commander for months.

Cricket clears his throat. “That’s one question answered. I thought you were calling for a jailbreak.”

“Originally that’s what we were thinking—although I wasn’t sure how we were going to move a 600-pound bear—but then your twin suggested an alternate plan.”

“600 pounds?” I balk. That’s anorexic for a full-grown male Kodiak bear.

“Yeah, I know. He’s wasting away here which is why we have to bring him home now.”

“Fucking hell.” Wiley turns away from the counter.

“Does that mean the doctors are giving up?” Sly asks.

Both wolf shifters are trained combat medics, but Sly also has O.R.

training and assists Wiley’s sister Nan on the rare shifter medical emergencies that require surgery.

A few months ago he field dressed a gaping gunshot wound to Cricket’s abdomen and then assisted the Mirmax surgeon in repairing the hole.

Of the five of us, they have more knowledge, but Kash’s brain injury has even the most educated medical professionals baffled.

That is, medical professionals who are also shifters.

Kade sighs again, the weight of his pain heavy in his voice.

“They don’t know what else to do. Turns out, they’ve tried shit I’m not happy about, and if Colonel Packard wasn’t providing us with an airlift, I’d be tearing him a new one.

The simple fact is, if Kash is going to die, we want him home with the family. ”

My brow furrows. Over the last few months, Kade and I have cleared the land between our cabins and built a tiny home with Jimmy—Kade’s soon to be brother-in-law—in anticipation of Kash coming home to Broken Falls.

We figured he’d prefer living here with ex-SpecOps operators than back home in a semi-closed shifter community. “You’re taking him to Fortune Falls?”

“Yeah, and I’d like you to be there when we arrive.”

He really is bringing Kash home to die; otherwise he’d be here with us. “I’m there.”

“I’ll come too,” Sly says. “In case you need me.”

“Thanks brothers.” Kade’s voice is weary and I can tell there are things he’s not telling us.

“Can you escort Jimmy there too? He’s got a few things he wants to do before the wedding, and although my brothers would protect him with their lives, a few more eyes on the local wolves would make me feel better about being distracted. ”

“You got it,” Sly says at the same time I say, “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Sly and I ride our motorcycles and follow Jimmy in his truck up one of the lesser traveled mountain passes toward Glacier National Park. In all the years I’ve known Kade and later Kash, I’ve never been to their hometown, nor met his brothers, father, or only sister.

I’ve heard a bit about them over the years and acted as a sounding board when Kade thought about coming home to take over as Pack Alpha when he separated from the military, something he felt compelled to do even though he didn’t want to.

But all I could do at the time was listen.

As an orphan, I have no experience taking care of siblings, much less aging parents.

As the ranking NCO and his potential business partner, I couldn’t let my personal desires to have him in Broken Falls taint the advice I had to give.

I’m completely unfamiliar with having family depend on me, but I’d like to think I’ve created a pretty great pack of my own complete with bear, wolf, and cougar shifters.

The only thing that remains is finding my mate, something I doubt the Fates will ever gift me. Love evades me while hate festers in its place. Anyone who has loved me like a parent does their child has paid dearly for the affliction, so why would the Fates curse a female by tying her to me?

Jimmy’s turn signal comes on as he slows down, veering off the highway onto a graded dirt road.

To the left is a warehouse with the words ‘Fortune Falls Trading Post’ freshly painted on the roof facing the highway.

A few people hang around outside, and I can tell by the way they stare at our caravan and lift their noses in the air that they are shifters.

What kind I don’t know because they are too far away for me to catch their scent and Jimmy is kicking up too much dust for me to try.

We pass a diner with a half-dozen cars parked out front and a few simple houses before slowing down in front of a three-bay garage next to a freshly painted two-story white farmhouse with a shiny black metal roof.

Sly and I park next to Kade’s truck and dismount as the screen door opens and two large, nearly identical men come barreling out of the house.

“Which one is which?” I project to Sly, who shakes his head.

“No idea.”

“We can hear you loud and clear,” one of the two projects back with his hand out, a giant smile on his face.

“Shit. I forgot that Kade's family can speak telepathically.” I shake his hand while Sly shakes hands with the other one. They are almost carbon copies of each other except for some black and gray ink peeking out of the first one’s collar.

“As can many of the shifters in Fortune Falls.” The twins reach over each other to shake our hands. “There are no secrets here.”

“Actually, there are plenty of secrets but shit talking is near impossible.” The one standing in front of me with the ink smiles. “I’m Kit, the handsome terrorist. This is Kason, the diabolical one,” he jerks his thumb toward his brother, “and the boring one pitching a fit inside is Koran.”

“How do we tell you apart?” Sly raises his brow.

“We’ll never tell,” Kason answers with an equally devious grin. “You must be Erick and Sly. Welcome to our home.”

Jimmy, who parked his truck behind the house, walks up with his arm draped over Dinah’s shoulders.

“You made it!” Dinah, Kade’s ever cheerful mate, chirps with a big smile on her pretty face. Considering the hell she and her brother went through before we found them, I’m constantly impressed by her sunny, welcoming disposition.

“Good morning, Dinah. Has anyone heard from Kade?”

“Yeah. They should land in forty minutes.” Kason waves his hand toward a giant field of snow-covered wild grass dormant from the winter.

I eye the frozen open space, noting three identical tiny homes with a large industrial building behind them to the right. “Do we have a plan?”

“For Kash?” Kit glances between me and Sly.

We exchange a look and nod.

“Not a good one.” Kason shoves his hands in his jeans. “You want some breakfast? Something tells me it’s going to be a long day.”

“Sure.” We follow Kit and Kason, Dinah and Jimmy to the front porch when Sly stops and turns to a copse of trees beyond the property, his face tilted up as he sniffs the air. I catch the scent a second later. There is a pack of wolves lurking nearby, just out of sight.

“I guess those are the menaces Kade warned us about.” I keep my voice low and abandon speaking telepathically—for now.

“I guess so. Maybe I’ll introduce myself later.

I’m sure they’re curious.” The look Sly gives me speaks volumes—years of military training alerting us to threats beyond the normal.

We’re bringing an injured bear, one who might not be able to defend himself, home to a community slowly tearing itself apart.

Many are desperate to catch up to the modern age, embracing a future and open community where they no longer hide from humans.

But according to Kade, the wolves aren’t keen on changing things up.

Entering the house, I’m hit with a different scent that causes my bear to sit up and every muscle in my body to harden.

It’s female and calling to me on a primal level.

It’s not Dinah. I know her scent, which is marked by Kade’s serum.

And it’s not the other human female who is marked by her mate Karter.

This is an unmated female, but her scent is different. Not wholly human, not shifter, but earthy and untamed like a field of wildflowers after a thunderstorm. Before I can ask who else is in the house, the third brother stomps down the stairs while bitching into his phone.

“I need her home, Lana. Now.” His eyes meet mine, and I assume this is Koran, the triplet who took on Pack Alpha when Karter gave it up for his human mate. He nods his acknowledgment but stays focused on the voice on the other end of the call.

“She’s not answering my texts. Besides, I thought you three were together last night?” His voice holds an accusatory tone.

…

“Then wake her ass up and tell her to get home. It’s important.”

…

“Fine.”

“What’s up?” Kason stops at the base of the stairs, his arms crossed over his wide chest. I thought Kade was big but these three are barely adults and almost match him in size. They must lift weights nonstop because their arms and chests are huge.

“She’s not up there, and as far as I can tell Kylian didn’t come home last night.”

“What?” Kit’s jaw drops while Kason responds with, “Whoa. Do you think she got laid?”

“By who?” Kit demands.

Kason shrugs. “Not someone here. Maybe she met someone at school?”

Koran’s jaw flexes, his bear grumbling its complaint. “I don’t have time for this.”

Kylian.

The sole Barrington sister with six overprotective brothers.

The bear shifter who has never shifted.

I take another deep breath, her confusing scent filling my lungs while blood rushes to fill my cock.

Fuck me—it can’t be.

Not this. Not now. Not her.

My body cannot react to—and my bear cannot claim—the one person who will tear my found family apart. The only family I’ve ever had.

Please, sweet Fates, don’t let Kade’s off-limits sister be my fated mate.