Chapter 15
Wreck
I woke before dawn with my mate curled against my chest.
For one perfect moment, I just lay there, breathing her in.
Gia slept on her side facing me, dark hair spread across my pillow while early gray light slipped through the cabin windows and painted soft shadows across her skin.
Mine.
The Bear rumbled deeply in satisfaction.
The bond between us pulsed, warm and steady now.
Fated mates.
Alpha and Omega.
That I would ever be so blessed by the Fates humbled me, and in that silent moment I vowed to do everything I could to be worthy of this gift—of her. To always remain by her side.
I could feel her even asleep.
Feel the quiet rhythm of her heartbeat.
The soft brush of her magic against mine.
Like roots intertwining beneath the earth.
I’d never known peace like this existed.
And it scared the absolute shit out of me.
My fingers drifted lightly down her bare shoulder.
She made a sleepy sound and burrowed closer instinctively.
The Bear nearly fucking purred.
Christ.
I was gone.
Completely.
I kissed her forehead carefully, lifting the covers over her chilled skin, trying not to wake her.
Because I’d gotten a call twenty seconds ago.
Routine smoke check.
Nothing major.
I planned to be back before she even opened those gorgeous green eyes.
Then maybe I’d make her breakfast.
Maybe take her into town.
Figure out how the hell to tell her she’d apparently turned my entire world upside down in less than forty-eight hours.
But what was it they always said about best laid plans?
So, instead of waking my woman with coffee and food, three hours later, I stood knee-deep in a raging fucking wildfire while smoke choked the mountainside.
“So much for a routine check,” Havoc barked over the roar of flames.
“No shit!”
Heat blasted across my face while we cut line through dry timber, trying to stop the fire from spreading toward the eastern ridge.
Everything had gone wrong fast.
Wind shift.
Dead brush.
Some asshole human campers leaving hot embers buried beneath dirt.
Now the entire mountainside burned like hell itself had crawled up from underground.
Normally?
This kind of chaos centered me.
Focused me.
The Bear loved fighting fires almost as much as it loved destroying things.
Today it was a fucking nightmare.
Because every second away from Gia made the bond ache worse.
Need her.
Get back to her.
Mate.
The instincts hammered me relentlessly while I hacked through brush with enough force to split small trees.
“Wreck!”
Justin pointed toward the ridge line where flames climbed higher.
I cursed viciously and grabbed another hose line.
Hours passed in smoke and exhaustion.
The fire finally stabilized near midday.
And the entire time?
One thought kept circling through my head louder and louder.
I didn’t have Gia’s fucking phone number.
What kind of complete fucking moron mates a woman then leaves before sunrise without getting her number?
Apparently me.
“Hey Romeo,” Havoc called while we packed equipment back into the trucks. “You look homicidal.”
“I am homicidal.”
The Wolf smirked.
“You do it then? You claim that little female and leave her to wake up alone?”
The guilt hit instantly.
Hard.
Fuck.
“I thought about leaving a note.”
Justin barked out a laugh nearby.
“Oh good. Ancient mating rituals prevalent even in today’s digital world.”
“Shut up.”
“Did you at least leave your number?” Havoc asked.
Silence.
The Wolf stared at me.
“You absolute dumbass.”
“I was in a hurry.”
“You knotted your Omega and forgot to tell her your phone number.”
“I said shut up.”
Havoc doubled over, laughing.
Even Justin looked amused now.
The Bear hated both of them instantly.
Mate.
Leave.
Now.
I climbed into the truck before I actually strangled someone.
The drive back towards the campground should’ve calmed me.
Instead, the closer we got to Gia’s cabin, the more violently restless the Bear became.
Mine.
Protect.
The bond tugged sharply beneath my ribs.
Wrong.
Something felt wrong.
Like it was missing.
Like maybe she was missing.
No.
No.
NO.
“Slow down,” I barked suddenly.
Justin frowned from the driver’s seat but eased off the gas slightly.
We passed the row of rental cabins.
My chest tightened instantly.
Gia wasn’t there.
The Bear exploded.
Gone.
Danger.
Find her.
“Stop the fucking truck.”
Justin barely got it into park before I shoved the door open.
The air hit my face sharp with pine and mountain soil.
And underneath it—her scent.
But it was faint.
The Bear surged so violently the shift overtook me almost instantly.
Bones cracked.
Muscles tore and reformed.
Fur burst across my skin while instinct completely swallowed thought.
“Aw shit,” Havoc muttered somewhere behind me.
Then I was running.
The forest blurred around me in streaks of green and gold while the bond pulled me hard northeast through the trees.
Mate.
Protect.
Find.
Panic clawed through me with every second I couldn’t physically see her.
My massive paws tore across moss and dirt while birds exploded upward from branches overhead.
The scent got stronger.
Rainwater.
Wildflowers.
Honey.
Mine.
Then suddenly, I scented her—Gia.
And with that scent—holy fuck—was a lot of magic.
The force of it nearly stopped me cold.
I burst through a line of pines into a small clearing and froze completely.
Gia stood near a freshly turned mound of earth beneath a ring of ancient cedar trees.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy above her in glowing gold streams while mountain wind lifted her dark hair around her face.
She wore a loose-fitting cream colored blouse over cropped brown leggings—and Goddess—she was singing.
Not loudly.
Softly.
Sweetly.
I didn’t understand the words—they sounded foreign. Greek, maybe?
The sound vibrated through the forest itself.
Her hands cradled a tiny green seedling while glowing vines spiraled faintly beneath her skin and her grass-green eyes blazed with power.
The entire clearing pulsed alive around her.
Flowers opened.
Roots shifted beneath the earth.
The burned, damaged soil from a fire that happened not so long ago, surrounding the small mound slowly darkened with new life.
Healing.
She was healing the forest.
My Omega.
My beautiful fucking mate.
Emotion hit me so hard my legs gave out beneath me.
My giant hybrid Bear collapsed at the edge of the clearing with a heavy huff, overwhelmed by the sheer impossible beauty of her.
Mine.
Not just instinct.
Not just biology.
Fate.
Gia looked up immediately.
The second she saw me, her entire face softened.
Warmth crashed through the bond so powerfully, it physically hurt.
Behind me, Havoc and Justin finally caught up.
Both males stayed in human form, though Havoc hovered halfway shifted with claws flexing uneasily.
“Sorry, uh, ma’am,” the Wolf panted slightly. “We thought he might’ve, uh, wow.”
Gia blinked once.
“What? You thought Wreck might hurt me?”
Then she smiled.
Actually smiled at me in my Bear form.
And my hard fucking heart melted instantly.
“No,” she said softly, stepping toward me through the grass. “He just found me. Didn’t you, Alpha Bear? My, you are a big boy, aren’t you?”
I whined low in my throat as she approached slowly.
Need closer.
Touch mate.
Gia knelt beside me without hesitation despite my massive size, and buried her fingers gently into the thick fur around my neck.
The second she touched me, the panic vanished completely.
Gone.
The forest hummed quietly around us while her magic wrapped warm and soothing through the bond.
“You came looking for me,” she whispered.
The Bear shoved hard against my chest with emotion too big to contain. Then a familiar magic settled over my bones, and I gave myself over to the pull.
Once I was back in my skin, I tugged her fully onto my lap and cupped her neck with rough, greedy hands.
“Of course I did, Honey. I’ll always find you.”