2. CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER TWO
Prince Zandren Thorne
I bared my teeth and reached for her long dark braid as I continued to pump, the need to come and spill my seed inside her growing hot and frothy in my balls.
“Oh, Zandren,” she bleated like a lamb. “Harder.”
Seriously? Any harder and I’d put her head right through the fucking wall.
“You’re so big.”
I smirked and tightened my hold on her braid, giving it to her harder. But not as hard as I could.
I was big, but this chick was just saying what she thought I wanted to hear.
I could have a cub’s thumb for a cock and I wouldn’t care.
“Oh god, I’m so close.”
“That’s right, baby,” I growled, my other hand on her hipbone as I plowed into her from behind.
I wasn’t quite sure where I was. I had followed my nose ten miles, my belly rumbling as the scent of smoked meat pulled me closer, until I stumbled into the rundown tavern.
The bartender, who I was currently balls deep inside, batted her lashes at me and gave me a drink on the house. Then I cleared out a few ruffians who were trying to make her trashy place even trashier. She thanked me for my service with a steak sandwich and her tight cunt.
My balls cinched up tight against my taint as the heat in my belly intensified.
“Yes,” she cried. “Oh god.”
I bared my teeth again, preparing to unleash my release.
The bed strings creaked and groaned beneath my weight. The mattress was cheap and sagged in the middle, and there were some stains and shoddy putty patches on the wall. But I didn’t give a shit. I didn’t know this chick’s story. And I didn’t care to.
This was rutting.
Plain and simple
She wanted cock. And I had a cock to give. A simple, straightforward transaction between two consenting adults.
I was seconds away from emptying my balls as the climax built like a motherfucking cyclone in my body. Baring my teeth again, I shut my eyes, but the booming crack from above made me open them again just in time to see the bright light crash through from the ceiling, hitting me in the chest like a spear. I knew there was a cat in the room, but it’d been asleep in the corner until then. When the lightning struck, the cat screeched and leaped onto my back.
The bartender—I think her name was Charlie?—screamed.
I roared.
She screamed even louder, probably because my roar was not at all human-like.
I plowed into her harder than ever. So hard she went flying forward, and headfirst through the drywall.
Thank fuck she missed the studs.
And my dick instantly went soft. Like instantly.
Like someone pricked a balloon with a fucking safety pin.
If I didn’t know what the lightning strike meant, I sure as fuck knew now.
My mate had come of age.
“What the fuck?” Charlie screamed, her head in the adjacent room. “What happened? Zandren, get me out of here!”
My cock had already slipped out, but I carefully extricated her from the wall, sitting her up on the disheveled bed. She looked stunned, and pissed, but not injured.
My bear growled inside, and I sniffed the air, catching the faintest scent of my mate. She was far away, but not so far that I couldn’t smell her. And no matter where in the world she was, I’d find her.
“I gotta go,” I said.
“W-what?” Charlie exclaimed. “What the fuck just happened?”
“I . . . Sorry.” Then I was out the door, naked, because clothes sucked and only restricted things.
It was past midnight, but bears have excellent night vision. I continued on over the gravel parking lot in my bare feet, heading toward the trees. The window slid open from her second-story bedroom, but I didn’t turn around and look. “You motherfucker,” she screamed out into the night.
I didn’t respond, but an owl off in the distance hooted.
Already, I’d forgotten her name.
The only name that mattered to me now was that of my mate.
After two hundred and thirty-six years alone, I finally had a mate.
I sniffed the air again. Her smell was sweet, but spicy. Floral too. Like lilacs and honeysuckle, with just a pinch of cayenne. Oh, my mate was already a decadent treat I would treasure.
Once I was out of sight of the tavern, I shifted into bear form, dropping to all fours as my spine arched, my hands and feet elongated, and my skull widened. My canine teeth lengthened, and soft, dense fur sprouted out from my skin. I was an eight-hundred-and-thirty-five-pound grizzly bear now and could run faster in this form than my human form. The only bear bigger than me was my father, the King, and he weighed in at nine forty.
Shaking my shaggy head, I took a moment to scratch my back on the trunk of a tree, really getting in good between my butt cheeks. Then I took off at a steady lope until I made it to the river. The wind blew steady and warm from the south, bringing my mate’s scent with it.
The closer to her I got, the stronger I could smell her.
It might take me hours, maybe even days, to reach her, but I would .
And when I did, I would make her mine. Together, we would have oodles of cubs and live a wonderful life. Just like my mother and father did with our family.
Spring was my favorite time of year. There was so much to eat. Baby bunnies were tender and a fun little snack. When I couldn’t catch one, I dined on fresh shoots of various tubers and plants, some of the many ripening berries, or delicious fish in the stream. I didn’t stop to eat much on my journey, but a bear needs to keep up his energy. So I made sure to grab breakfast, lunch, second lunch, snack, dinner, dessert, and a late-night snack on my way. Not too many meals, but just enough to keep me moving.
I ran throughout the day, arriving on the outer limits of Chase City, Washington, just as the wolves off in the mountains behind me started to howl. I knew a lot of wolves. Some were okay, but most were cocky fuckers. Not as slippery or cunning as fox shifters, but damned close. And the way they insisted on living in such giant communities and packs—no fucking thanks.
I wanted a nice den for my mate, our cubs, and myself. Somewhere secluded. Off the grid, perhaps. Where I could keep them all safe and we could just be together as a family.
It was dark, but the lights of the city still blinded me and even though I had incredible night vision, all the zooming cars and flashing street lights fucked with my eyes. I growled and kept to the shadows, meandering carefully under overpasses and sticking to culverts when I could.
News of a bear in the city would bring out the idiot humans with tranquilizer darts. Then I’d be relocated, and it’d take me even longer to reach my mate.
I could shift into human form too, which would be easier. I would, but I moved faster in bear form and had a better sense of smell.
It’d been a while since I’d been to any city.
I fucking hated cities.
I fucking hated people.
Cars too.
The forest was more peaceful, quieter. There was less pollution and destruction too.
Less selfishness and danger.
Being at the top of the food chain, very little scared me. But humans were fearful creatures and if they saw me, they’d bring out their guns—and guns scared me. Too many of my relatives were killed by guns. By hunters out for a trophy, for a bearskin rug, or a stuffed animal to decorate their home.
My mate’s scent was strong now, bringing forth a primal growl deep in my chest. I ached to meet her. To claim her and mate with her. What did she look like? What color was her fur? A light tawny brown? Or a deep chestnut like mine? What would our cubs look like?
Maybe she was one of those rare spirit bears—I’d only ever met one in my life—a blonde, almost-white grizzly. Our cubs would be beautiful, no matter what.
Sniffing the air, I turned west, heading toward the ocean. Her scent mixed with the briny, pungent smell of the sea at low tide, along with the damp pavement as it started to rain.
A group of loud men blasting music from a speaker passed by, so I froze and hunkered down in the shrubs. A car drove by, the sizzling sound of its tires on the wet road competing with the men’s obnoxious tunes.
The group passed, so I kept moving. My mate was about two miles away now. But the bushes and trees I could hide in grew thinner and thinner. I’d need to shift, soon.
The smell of garbage with three-day-old pizza and half a club sandwich, pulled my attention. My stomach gurgled.
No.
I needed to get to my mate .
Too much time had already passed. She was probably wondering what was taking me so long. I couldn’t keep her waiting any longer. I couldn’t disappoint her before we even met.
I told my stomach to shut the fuck up and padded through the park until the trees ended and it was just a big open grassy field. A baseball diamond sat at one end, flanked by dugouts and bleachers.
Such a stupid game, baseball.
Humans did such stupid things.
Grizzly ball was much better. Much more dangerous too. We didn’t wear helmets, or cups to protect our genitals. We played with bare paws, teeth, and claws out. Humans would shrink in terror if they ever saw a grizzly ball game. I snorted at that thought as I walked beneath the bleachers, stepping on fallen popcorn, queso from nachos and something sticky—probably part of a candy bar. I licked my paw.
Yeah, it was a candy bar. Not a very good one though. I wasn’t a fan of Turkish delight. Give me something with honey any day of the week.
After the bleachers, it was nothing but concrete and buildings. I would have to shift.
With a deep sigh of reluctance, I stood up on my hind legs and let my body do its thing.
My toes and fingers shrunk back to human length, my mandible retracted, along with my canines. My spine straightened, and my fur burrowed back beneath my skin.
Now nobody would try to shoot me.
I walked the last mile to my mate until I found myself in some hipster borough, standing on the sidewalk below a warehouse converted into loft apartments. The name of the building was the Reinvention. Ugh.
“Hey!” someone called out to me from up the street. “Put some damn clothes on!”
I glanced down at my naked torso and wriggled my toes on the wet concrete. Then I looked back to the person, whose voice told me it was a woman, a hundred yards down the street and on the other side. “Don’t have any. ”
She shook her head before disappearing into her own building.
Maybe I needed clothes?
But my mate wouldn’t care, would she? Shifters didn’t give two shits about nudity. The humans were the ones who got their restrictive underwear in a twist over too much skin. They also had no tolerance for the cold though. Such an unevolved species really.
I glanced around until I spotted a still open bodega up the street half a block. Stalking forward while ignoring the pull to return to my mate. I opened the door for the bodega, causing it to jingle. The South Asian man behind the counter gaped at me.
“Clothes?” I growled.
He shook his head.
“Do you have a lost and found or something?”
Nodding in terror, he reached behind the counter, littered with scratch tickets, gum, lighters, and other stupid human shit, and plunked a cardboard box in front of me.
I grunted and rooted through it. Mostly sunglasses, a wallet with nothing in it, a glove, six socks that didn’t match, a pair of children’s swimming goggles, and a shirt. That would have to do. I pulled out the red, short-sleeve T-shirt and tugged it on. It was a bit tight. Actually, it was really tight and my biceps made the seams pop. It also hit me just below the sternum.
Better than nothing. I nodded at the clerk. “Thanks.”
The man hadn’t blinked or closed his mouth.
The door jingled when I opened it again and I made my way back down the sidewalk toward the Reinvention.
I waited in the shadows behind a squat bush, hoping that someone might enter the building and I could follow behind them. There appeared to be a buzzer system and since I had no idea what my mate was called, I didn’t want to buzz all the residents and wake them up. But I would if I had to.
My patience waned as time ticked by, my bear growling at me to go and claim her. To meet her and start our life.
Finally, a man with a fedora and brown wingtips sauntered past me and turned to climb the stairs for the front door. He hit one of the buzzer numbers and it rang twice before someone answered.
“It’s Sam.”
“Come on in.”
The door clicked, and he yanked it open. I waited two full heartbeats before I leaped up from my spot and raced to catch the door before it shut again. Sam was already on the elevator by the time I got there, wedging my big toe to stop the door from shutting just in the nick of time.
My mate’s scent was so strong now, I knew exactly how to find her.
I located the stairwell and went on the hunt.
Not the first floor.
Not the second.
Not the third.
She was on the top floor.
Heaving open the big door for the fourth floor, I paused and sniffed in either direction.
Left.
Her scent was so strong now, I was heady with excitement and desire. How long would we have to wait before we bonded? Before I claimed her as mine and we mated for life? Before we worked on starting a family? I wanted cubs so badly.
I stopped in front of apartment 405 and shut my eyes, pulling her sweet, floral, and spicy scent deep into my lungs. My cock twitched.
Smiling, I knocked on the door.
I’m here, my mate. Sorry it took so long .
There was no answer.
I knocked again.
I could smell her in there. She was with another female too. This one smelled like lavender and cinnamon. Sounds of them shuffling around and whispering had me pressing my ear to the door.
Someone approached. I pulled back, waiting.
It wasn’t my mate who approached the door though. It was the female that smelled of lavender and cinnamon.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
“I am the other female’s mate.”
“Her what?”
“Her mate. I am here. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
“Like Postmates? We didn’t order from you. We ordered Thai directly from the shop. Is this some kind of game, Chakan?”
Who was Chakan?
I did like the idea of Thai food though.
“I am her mate. Her destined companion for life. Could I please come in so we can finally meet and start our life together?”
“Who is it?” asked my mate.
“Some guy claiming he’s your mate. Your companion for life. He wants to come in and meet you so you can start your lives together,” her voice held equal parts amusement and skepticism.
“How’d a loon like that get into the building? Call security.”
“Please do not call security. I wish you no harm. If I could just come in and talk. Allow me to introduce myself.”
“No fucking way, weirdo. Go before we call the cops,” said my mate’s friend.
“Did you not get hit by a bolt of lightning last night?” I asked, confused about why they acted like they didn’t know what was going on. “I was hit too.”
The lavender and cinnamon scented female left the door, and they whispered together.
“We have mace,” my mate announced. “You stay in the hallway.”
“Okay.”
Both women padded forward and several security bolts unlocked.
“Are you standing back?” my mate asked.
“I am.”
Did all mates react this way at first? Why was she so hesitant to meet me?
Not to mention the fact that she chose to live in a city. What was up with that?
I’d have to ask my father if my mother was just as reluctant, or if this was a new thing.
The big metal door creaked open just a crack. “Why are you not wearing any pants!” my mate exclaimed.
I glanced down my body again. “Because I hate clothes.”
The door shut again. More whispering.
“Is this some kind of sick fucking joke?” my mate asked.
“Do you stay in human form all the time?” I asked. “Do you like clothes?”
“Human form? I am a human, you lunatic. Go away. Gemma is already calling the cops.”
This was not at all how I anticipated our first meeting to go. I figured by now we’d be on a bed of soft leaves and grass, consummating our union.
“Did you not get hit by lightning?” I asked, growing more desperate as time ticked by.
“I did. How do you know that?”
“Because so did I. It means we are Fated Mates. It means you have come of age. You are twenty-two, are you not? Also, happy birthday.”
“What the fuck does that all mean? And it’s not my fucking birthday, you pantsless psycho.”
It wasn’t her birthday? That was strange. “I am your Fated Mate. We are meant to be together. The Fates have divined it.”
“You’re talking a lot of fucking garbage mumbo jumbo for a man who knocked on my door looking like fucking Pooh Bear.”
“What is an obviously deranged and needs to be taken for a seventy-two-hour psych hold,” my mate’s friend said. “He has no pants, and he’s talking about you two being destined to be together. And your birthday isn’t until October. Definitely a 51-50 situation.”
“You watch too many police procedurals,” my mate scolded. “He’s also talking about getting struck by lightning too. Maybe . . .”
“Maybe what? We let that nutjob into our home? He’s clearly off his meds. He needs help.”
“We have mace. Go get the taser and the switchblade.”
“You’re just as crazy as he is for suggesting this.” But my mate’s friend stomped away, returning a second later. “He is massive. I doubt the blade will stop him from killing us, you know.”
“Yeah, but the taser might give us enough time to run away.”
“Why do I let you talk me into this shit?”
“I’m going to open the door again,” my mate said. “You stay with your bare ass up against the wall, understand?”
“Okay.”
“Move so much as a fucking muscle and I’ll spray you and we’ll call the cops.”
“Okay.”
The door creaked open again and some kind of fabric was tossed at me. “Put those on too.”
I glanced at the heap of gray on the floor and made a face, then glanced back up into the green eyes of my mate. “You told me not to move.”
She rolled those beautiful eyes and scoffed. “Put them on, smartass.”
I did as I was told. They were way too small for me.
Men’s large gray sweatpants, and they clung to my lower half like stretchy ladies’ yoga pants. They cropped at my calves too. “Better?” I asked.
“Barely.” But she opened the door. “What do you want?”
Holy fuck. She was gorgeous. Even if she wasn’t my mate, I’d have found her to be the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. And I’ve lived for centuries. Along with fire and stubbornness, her moss-green eyes held so much wisdom. I knew that I’d never stop learning from her. She had a hoop nose ring on the right side, tight, dark curls, and a slender, but beautiful face with a light brown complexion.
She was absolutely stunning.
I’d hit the fucking jackpot when it came to mates.
“What the fuck are you staring at, Pooh Bear?” she asked.
I blinked. I still didn’t understand this “Pooh Bear” reference. Was it from television? I never watched television. “You, my mate,” I simply said, bunching my fists at my side to keep myself from reaching for her. She told me not to move.
“You keep calling me that, and I don’t know what the fuck that means. ”
“We are destined to—”
“Yeah, I heard that, but what does it mean ? Who are you? And who do you think I am?”
I straightened. Crap, I was going about this all wrong. “My apologies.” I bowed. “I am Prince Zandren Thorne, of the Pacific Northwest Bear Shifters. What shifter clan are you from?”
Both women’s mouths dropped open.
“Yeah, I’m gonna call the police,” her friend murmured, pulling out her phone.
But my mate stopped her red-haired friend with the hazel-green eyes. Her gaze shifted to me, curiosity gleaming in her gaze. She didn’t look at me with fear the way her friend did. “What happened when the lightning hit you?”
My cheeks grew warm. “I, um . . . well, I hate to admit this—”
Her friend’s phone buzzed. “That’s the Thai food,” she said.
“Crap,” my mate muttered. “Fine. Come in. But you stay far away, okay?”
I nodded and followed them inside the spacious, loft-style apartment. Loads of big leafy plants filled the space, making it feel like a jungle. I liked it. It reminded me of a tropical forest. I met a sun bear shifter once who lived in a forest similar to this.
I moved to the far side of the room near the sliding glass doors for the balcony. My mate, wearing loose-fitting jeans, rolled at the cuff, and a black T-shirt with a skull adorned by purple roses on it, went to the other furthest point of the space. She never took her eyes off me, but the longer she watched me, the more her gaze softened. Did she feel the pull too?
A knock at the now closed door pulled away her friend for a moment, then she returned, bringing with her the scent of Thai food. My bear growled and my belly rumbled.
“Did you hear any,” my mate paused to gather her words. “Chorus chanting when you woke up?” she finally said.
“Woke up?”
“Did you not black out when you were hit by lightning?”
I shook my head. “No. You did? Are you okay?” I took a half-step toward her, but she lifted the mace and I moved backward again.
“CT said no brain bleed or concussion,” her friend said. “But she claims to be hearing people’s thoughts.”
Shifters didn’t hear people’s thoughts. The only species that could do anything remotely like that were the demons. And they infiltrated people’s thoughts and manipulated them. They could sometimes read their emotions, and if they were powerful enough, they could hear their thoughts—but usually only the extreme ones, like fear.
Was my mate half demon?
“So you didn’t hear anything after the lightning struck?” she asked.
I needed to know her name.
“What is your name?” I asked.
Her green eyes formed thin slits as she contemplated telling me. “Omaera,” she finally said.
I rolled her name around on my tongue. The perfect name for my perfect mate.
“Omaera,” I finally said out loud. “What did you hear?”
She glanced at her friend, who was pulling their food order out of the paper bag. The woman shrugged. “Might as well tell him. This can’t get any fucking weirder.”
My mate nodded and focused on me again. She took a deep breath and said, “All hail Omaera Playfair, Queen of the Realm.”