Chapter 6
6
T hey settled into such a cozy existence.
Before her phone died, Bernadette quit her job and she made sure everything was taken care of at her apartment. She and Ben went back to her place one night and gathered up things she needed, like clothes and her sewing machine. She wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to her home in Thunder Bay, but she set everything up so that she could stay in the woods with Ben. She kept the apartment as a safety net.
Though she didn’t know why, Ben agreed it was a good idea on the off chance she was forced to return to this side of the veil.
When they got to her place, the fur on the back of Ben’s neck had stood on end. Like it did that day in the alley.
Whatever was still after her had been there, waiting for her. Even she felt it. It was something rotting in the air. It was thick and cloying.
Sickeningly sweet.
Once she knew this was forever, she’d sell off what she didn’t need and disappear into the woods around Marathon to live happily ever after. She contacted her friend and had her mail forwarded to the Marathon post office, that way she didn’t have to wander too far from Ben and the safety he provided.
The best times were when they were alone together at night, snuggled up under the blankets she brought back with her. And in two weeks of living in domestic bliss, she made him a quilt that covered his feet.
She’d never been so happy.
It was like Ben was giving her back everything she had to give up because she was trying to protect herself from her uncle. And there was a part of her that felt like this was becoming home. Ben would spend time out in the woods working with his brothers while logging, but he would always come home at night and she would make a dinner out of the items he brought back with him. He had a huge cold storage and pantry full of canned and preserved items. Farther back into the cave, there was a small room where there were lights and he had fresh vegetables growing.
It was kind of ingenious. He invented and built so much to make her life comfortable.
It like was he was prepping for his life with someone and she was just glad it was her.
There was a calmness about having a routine, to fall asleep in the big protective arms of Ben and know that she was safe. Knowing that she was loved.
It was two weeks of this honeymoon bliss, until the afternoon she felt unsettled. It felt like there was a dark presence looming through the forest. It sort of felt like that moment in the basement of the hospital, when she met Cillian, but it also didn’t feel like that.
Those dark red eyes flitted in her mind.
“Mine,” her uncle hissed. “I will kill your mate.”
She gasped and had this nagging sensation that Ben was in trouble.
Something wasn’t right and she needed to find him and be with him.
As she stepped outside, there were storm clouds brewing off the lake. The hill was steep and usually Ben carried her. She also had no idea where Ben was today, but she had to get to him. Panic was rising in her. She climbed off the porch and turned herself sideways so she could do the descent. Before she got far, there was a rustle in the bushes and she froze.
Her pulse thundered between her ears as another hulking Sasquatch materialized from the brush. He looked just like Ben, except he didn’t wear his mane of fur long and he had a shorter beard. His brow wasn’t as prominent and instead of golden eyes, his were blue.
“My mate will be back soon,” Bernadette said, hoping her voice didn’t shake.
The Sasquatch’s expression softened. “I’m Ben’s brother. My name is Caleb and no, your mate will not be home soon. He has been injured. I’ve come to bring you to him.”
Bernadette didn’t even have to question him further. She knew that Ben had other brothers and he’d mentioned their names. There was a familial resemblance and when he said that Ben had been hurt, she really lost any kind of logical reasoning and had to get to him as quickly as she could.
Caleb scooped her up in his arms. His hands were larger, as were his feet. He carried her like she weighed nothing, just like Ben did.
“Hold on,” Caleb said. “I run faster than Ben does.”
Bernadette nodded and curled up against his furry chest as Caleb took off through the trees and down the steep slope of the mountain, until they were running east through the thick boreal forest.
There was a heaviness in the air. A foreboding, and as she glanced up at the canopy of the trees, she could almost see a shimmering of something. It looked sort of like the northern lights, but also wasn’t. It was bending and arcing violently.
And she had a sense of déjà vu, like she’d seen it before, when she was young.
“She’s an alpha, born of alphas. You have no say over her,” her father shouted.
“You are no alpha, nor her sire,” her uncle hissed.
Her mother carried her outside. She was swaddled in a blanket and stared up at the sky.
“Blood moon tonight. Bad magic,” her mother crooned, covering her with a blanket. “Don’t look baby. Bad moon. Blood moon.”
Bernadette shook the memory away, not understanding it, or the sudden urge to howl at the shimmering colours above her. It was like an instinctual urge to scream.
“Don’t look up at it,” Caleb remarked breathily while running. “You could be mesmerized by it. It’s blood magic.”
Bernadette didn’t know what that meant, but she closed her eyes. “Are we close?”
“Almost,” Caleb responded. “He’ll be okay.”
“I sensed something was wrong.”
Caleb grunted in surprise. As if he was shocked that she could sense Ben. And why shouldn’t she feel completely connected to Ben? She had been for months, even without her memory intact, so it only made sense.
Her one worry now was that she’d lose Ben. What would she do then?
I’d die.
That was a certainty, she felt it deep within the pit of her soul. There was no living without Ben.
It almost seemed impossible to go back to her real life and she didn’t want that. It was a thought she didn’t want to entertain, because it made her all teary-eyed.
Caleb finally slowed his stride. There was a group of other Sasquatches clustered together, as well as a slightly transparent woman shimmering as she hovered. They weren’t the only ones, there were other beings and all eyes were focused on her as Caleb brought her closer to the gathering.
Immediately she got the feeling they weren’t too pleased to see her.
One particularly beautiful pink-haired woman hissed, her skin flashing from pink to grey, and her eyes went red and she had fangs.
Holy crap.
Bernadette shuddered and she could feel tears trailing down her face as Caleb set her in front of the group of big feet. There were five others, besides Caleb who brought her, and they all looked a bit like Ben.
“She’s crying,” the largest of the Sasquatches shouted.
“I did nothing to her except bring her here,” Caleb protested. “I swear, Adam.”
As soon as Caleb said “Adam” and Bernadette looked at him, she remembered him and his mate. The banshee who had wiped her memories. She recalled with vivid clarity them crashing in on her and Adam in that garden outside that bar by the waterfront in Thunder Bay. As she glanced over at the pink-haired woman, she remembered her too.
Maybe not with the red eyes and fangs, but she remembered her. She owned the bar.
All of it was coming back.
The banshee materialized solid. Her expression was one of worry, but she also looked very similar to that wraith Cillian who had been in the basement of the hospital. The one who had told her to find her mate.
The one who had helped her remember Ben.
“We’re not going to hurt you, Bernadette,” the banshee said. “My name is Aoife. We’ve met before.”
“I remember meeting you and I don’t really believe that I’m not in danger.”
“Why?” Aoife asked.
“Well, no one seems happy,” Bernadette replied.
“We’re not,” Adam said tightly, and then he stepped to the side.
Ben was lying on the ground, his arm bandaged. There was blood on his shirt and his axe.
“Ben!” She rushed to him and threw herself on him. “What happened?”
Ben grunted. “I’m okay. Everyone is making a big deal out of nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” the pink-haired woman hissed. “A wendigo tried to breach the barrier and it’s because of your human!”
Ben let out a protective snarl and pulled Bernadette tight against him. “That’s not a proven fact.”
“It is,” the pink-haired woman hissed. “It said that it was here for her.”
“Coraliane, have some patience. She’s new and just fully aware of our world,” Aoife snapped. “You can cut her some slack.”
The pink-haired woman named Coraliane just rolled her eyes and tossed back her hair.
“I don’t understand,” Bernadette responded. “A wendigo is created by a human spirit that eats human flesh. A cursed soul.”
“Beware of the wendigo,” Cillian’s warning resounded. Her stomach knotted. This wendigo wanted her, according to Coraliane.
“That is true,” Aoife responded, quietly. “The question remaining is why the wendigo wanted you. It asked for you before it attacked.”
“And it’s not having her,” Ben growled. “She’s mine. My mate.”
“I still don’t understand,” Bernadette responded. “Up until a few months ago I never had any comprehension of this world.”
Just hunches that more than what she could see existed.
“Our realm, the northern realm, was just freed from a tyrannical rule. Only a few months ago,” Adam said. “We signed a blood treaty. The lights you may have seen shimmering is a protective shield. Usually, your kind can’t see it, but Caleb mentioned you can.”
“It’s because she’s been exposed,” Ben stated. “She’s part of our world now.”
“Not yet,” Coraliane replied harshly.
A shiver ran down Bernadette’s spine, because it seemed very much like a threat and she didn’t want to be taken away from Ben.
“Humans aren’t supposed to be here. We’re still figuring it all out,” Aoife said.
“Ben told me all about the king and the treaty,” Bernadette stated.
“Mixing our kind with human is powerful magic,” Coraliane explained. “You could be calling on some deep, dark blood magic that we don’t even comprehend yet. The way the barrier is reacting, it’s a dark bad magic.”
Instantly Bernadette thought of her mother and that early memory.
“Where’s Cillian? He usually comes in about now with a cryptic remark,” one of Ben’s brothers quipped.
“Cillian is…occupied,” Aoife said, wringing her hands. “And Coraliane is right. Bernadette has powerful blood magic. It’s clear netherworld beings are attracted to her.”
“We need her to leave then. Send her back to her world,” someone from the crowd shouted, though she couldn’t see who it was.
Ben was low-key growling under his breath.
“Her world is part of our realm. That isn’t going to do anything,” Adam stated. “She’s here and Ben has claimed her. You can all sense the love spell.”
There were murmurs and discourse. Coraliane was scowling, but then her shoulders slumped. “We have no laws about intermixing with humans and we can’t have the rest of the magical beings running amok and starting to snatch human mates.”
“No. We can’t,” Aoife stated. “Whether we like it or not, we need rules about human intermixing and we have to protect our borders not only from King Tiene’s realm, but from undesirables getting in. The barrier protects us from Tiene, from evil beings, just like it protects the humans from seeing us. It’s a veil, but it’s not perfect.”
“So what do you propose we do?” Coraliane asked. “The council is here and we can figure this out. We can’t let an almost breach happen again. The attack on Ben was too close for comfort.”
Bernadette looked at Ben and her heart sank. Was she putting him in danger? Was she putting all these other beings in danger just because she happened to be falling in love with her Sasquatch?
Why couldn’t things just be simple for her?
Aoife was shimmering again, her eyes closed as she was deep in thought. “We need to patrol the confines of the veil. In all our parts. Put the word out to others. I think it’s important we allow intermixing to happen, but again…it has to be consensual. I don’t want mates being carried off into the night. The human has to willingly be able to see or be with one of our kind.”
“That’s going to be hard to monitor,” an elf piped up. “Especially, when Sasquatches are known for centuries to raid the villages for brides.”
Ben snarled and all his brothers did too. Adam took a step forward. “We haven’t raided for a mate in a long time, elf.”
“Well, King Tiene didn’t want the breeding,” the elf responded. “What if he declares war? You know him and his son Ivar are all about powerful magic.”
Ben was increasingly hating this discussion. But everyone was making valid points. When that wendigo broke through, it was specifically coming for his mate. For Bernadette. And this wasn’t the first time she had attracted the wrong kind of being to her.
The demon, the chthulu, even Cillian had been called to her presence.
What was it about her blood that sang to others?
It had certainly called out to him when he saw her at The Lusty Kraken months ago.
“I will go to speak Tiene,” Coraliane responded. “This is our realm and he can’t rule us. Besides, he’s so battered and broken, I don’t think he could attack our realm again.”
There were some relieved murmurs.
“You think so?” Aoife asked Coraliane.
“Positive.” Coraliane pursed her lips together, her brow furrowed. “You’re right, we have to loosen the laws and allow the intermingling. It’s the only way.”
“What about this wendigo?” Bernadette asked.
Coraliane ignored his mate. “Is the human pregnant yet?”
“Why do you ask that?” Ben snarled, knowing it was a sensitive subject for Bernadette. He saw the pained expression briefly cross her face.
“I can smell her heat from here, so it’s clear she’s not,” an orc snarled.
“You need to impregnate her,” Coraliane stated. “It’s the call of her fertility. Since she has mingled with magic, since her blood is so powerful, she’s calling all sorts of beings to her. Ones that wish to use that powerful call to breed.”
“What?” Bernadette murmured. “How can I get pregnant?”
“No one explained it to you?” Aoife asked.
“No, it’s not that. I mean I can’t. I was told I’m sterile.”
Coraliane sighed. “Maybe if a human male tried to impregnate you, but it’s obvious you were made to breed to a magical being.”
Ben looked down at Bernadette. She looked a bit overwhelmed and scared. He wanted to believe it. It was a lot of information that was being thrown at her. He slowly got to his feet.
His brothers gathered around him, trying to steady him, but he shook them off. He was already feeling much better.
“I think I need to take Bernadette back to our home.” Ben scooped her up with one arm, holding her tight to his chest. Coraliane was right though, he could smell her heat. It permeated his nostrils and made his cock throb with need.
Almost like a mating frenzy was about to take him over. They had mated many times in the last couple of weeks, but he had yet to feel that burning frenzy, until now. He could feel it firing through his veins and it took all his extra strength to hold back the animal. The beast was growling and possessive over his mate.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Adam asked. “It was a nasty bite.”
“I’ll be fine. Aoife healed it. I’ll be okay.” Ben turned to Caleb. “Thank you for bringing Bernadette to me.”
Caleb bobbed his head stiffly. “I think everyone needed to see that you’ve claimed her and that she can’t be sent back through the veil. I’m going to follow you both at a distance with Ethan and Daniel. We’re going to make sure that nothing else gets through. We’ll keep a discreet distance.”
Ben nodded and started walking through the brush, with Bernadette perched in the crook of his elbow, her arms wrapped around his neck.
He walked in silence, back to his cabin, and set her down. He was feeling a bit tired from the attack. As much as he wanted to do what the council wanted and impregnate her, it would have to wait.
He wanted her to be comfortable with it.
He wanted to talk to her, especially in light of her thinking she was infertile. It was overwhelming.
And he had to heal.
The wendigo was a dirty, dark-world spirt of a corrupted human and it had clawed him bad. Aoife had done her best to heal it, but it still hurt and it would be a mark that he would carry forever. Ben didn’t give two shits about that, it was the fact that something else, something dark and sinister, was after Bernadette.
His mate.
And there was no way he was going to let that happen.
When he got her safely inside their cabin, Bernadette tucked him into bed and he let her. Only he threw off the blankets and lay on the bed, naked and shivering. Then she warmed up some water and pulled out a sponge from the cupboard.
“What’re you doing?”
“Giving you a sponge bath. You’re feverish,” Bernadette responded.
He grunted, not fighting, because she was right. He did feel that way and he knew it was from the attack.
Bernadette came over to him and slowly began to wipe down his body. The water was warm, but it felt so good because he was so cold at the same time as being profusely hot.
“Thank you for protecting me,” she said gently.
“I will always protect you. We’re mates.”
Bernadette nodded and continued to wipe him down. “I’m just worried about this whole impregnating thing.”
“Why?” he asked cautiously. “Don’t you want to have my young?”
“I would love to have your children. It’s nothing to do with that, it’s just I was told I could never have children. I never had a period. Nothing.” Bernadette swallowed slowly, like she was holding back tears. “It seems kind of impossible. What if it never happens?”
“Then it doesn’t,” Ben stated.
Their gazes locked and his heart swelled. As much as he wanted her to have his young. As much as he longed for a family like Adam was about to have, none of that mattered because all he wanted was Bernadette.
She was his heart, his reason for being.
If it meant that he had to protect her fiercely forever and never impregnate her, to always live in this state of being under the love spell or the mating frenzy, then he would gladly do that. As long as he could have her forever.
That was all that mattered.
“Come to bed,” he murmured.
“You’re injured.” She smiled at him. “You need rest.”
“I know, but I can protect you if you’re curled up next to me. I need to keep you safe.”
“No one has ever wanted to keep me safe before. Not since my parents.”
“I will always keep you safe, my mate.”
Bernadette peeled off her clothes and climbed into the crook of his arm, naked, settling against him. Her body was warm, soft, and even though his body was tired, his cock stirred to life.
“It’ll be hard to rest with that,” Bernadette whispered against his ear.
“It’s hard not to think about you when you’re so close.”
“I think I can take care of that.”
He watched as she straddled him. She was so luscious, her pussy hovering over his cock. He reached out to and ran his thumb through the blonde curls between her thighs, looking for her clit.
“No,” she commanded. “You only watch. No touching.”
He growled weakly. She fisted his cock and slowly sank on it. Her pussy was so wet and hot.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he groaned.
Bernadette rocked her hips, riding him. She was panting, rolling her curvy hips, rising up off his dick and then sinking back down.
“Touch yourself,” he demanded. “Rub your clit.”
“Only if you cup my breasts,” she panted, licking her fingers and then rubbing herself.
He growled appreciatively and cupped her breasts, running his thumbs over her nipples, longing to suckle them.
“Oh shit,” she moaned. “Going to come.”
He ignored her request then and bucked up, grabbing her hips to hold her tight against him as he quickened his thrusts so he could come at the same time as her. Her pussy squeezed him and he emptied his seed into her.
Bernadette collapsed against him and he pulled her over to him, drifting off to sleep with her in his arms.