Keeper (Matefinder Next Generation Book 1) (16 page)

“But he could have!” He raged, banging the table with his free hand. I squeezed his other hand tight.

“Life can be complicated. Shit happens. Yes, you stole my wolf. Yes, you’re the Matefinder now. But I’m a bad-ass huge bear and I’m a Light Keeper. I stole things from you too. We just need to accept it and move on.” I fully opened my feelings to him through the matebond so he could feel that I wasn’t just saying this. It was true and I cared so much for him, it didn’t matter to me.

He let out the breath he was holding, his eyes losing the lightning and I could see that my words settled him.  “I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

I nodded and tried to suppress my smile. It was sweet, that he thought he could protect me better than I could protect myself. He grew up in the human world, had been a wolf only a few days. Granted he did have some martial arts skills, but I was hardly a damsel in distress.

Letting go of his hand, I shoved a bite of pasta in my mouth. “Mmm,” I groaned.

Looking up, he gave me a look that could cut glass. I could see that he was pleased with my food whore moaning. I smiled. Guys. So easy.

After scarfing our meal, and damn, could my man cook, I took the plates to the kitchen to wash while he showered. After cleaning up, I realized the exhaustion of the past few days was catching up with me. I shuffled into the hallway on the way to my bedroom just as Gavin was coming out of the bathroom.

His towel hung low on his hips, giving me a glimpse of the V-shaped muscles on his abdomen. Suddenly, I wasn’t tired. Gavin saw me looking and smiled.

“I can’t find where they put my clothes,” he admitted.

I smiled. “Clothes are overrated,” I joked.

He chuckled and I tore myself away from staring at his beautiful form to go into my bedroom. Opening the doors to my dresser, I smiled when I reached the last one.

“They’re in here!” I called out and turned to see he was right behind me.

“Oh, sorry. They’re in here,” I said softer this time.

He didn’t move, didn’t even look in the drawer. Instead, his yellow eyes were roaming my body.

‘Mate,’
my bear said and I shivered as the possessive need uncoiled in my stomach.

I stood facing him as his eyes suddenly lost their yellow and he gave me a look of vulnerability.

“I don’t want to be too forward … or move too fast for you, but I’m having a hard time controlling my wolf. I mean, I can sleep in the guest room if–”

I grinned cutting him off. “Shut up and kiss me.”

His eyes flared yellow as he dropped the towel and slammed into me. His hands roaming over my body greedily as the pulsing warmth in my belly flared to life, until a full-blown fire raged inside of me. This was my other half, my True Mate. So close that we had actually switched life paths, switched animals. There was no one on Earth I could trust more than him. Trust was everything to girls and I trusted him with all of me.

He backed up slowly until we were at the edge of the bed and I placed my hands on each of his tightly wound biceps pushing him lightly back as he pulled me on top of him. Smiling, I pulled my shirt off and threw it on the floor as my mate’s gaze consumed me. I was struck again by the completeness I felt with Gavin. I would never be able to explain this to a human, they would say I was moving too fast, or didn’t know him well enough. That was all insecure human bullshit. My soul, his soul, we were one. I was made for this, I was born to make love to this man and I would. He smiled picking up on that thought and pulled me closer. When his lips were about to brush mine, he stopped. “Thanks for saving me,” he whispered.

I smiled. “No, you saved me.” Because I was starting to see the bigger picture here. The path I was on, was made for me. He may have taken my wolf, my Matefinder gift, but he gave me a whole new life purpose in its place, one I felt destined for. A Keeper. And I didn’t even realize that I had been lonely without him until now.

Mist crept down from the walls and saturated our love making. For the first time in months, the anxiety that had been nagging at me and pushing for space in my brain just completely disappeared. It felt like for once everything was going to be okay.

I was snuggled up to Gavin in a deep sleep when my mother’s Alpha command came blaring into my brain, jarring me awake.

‘Foreign wolf, headed your way.’
My eyes shot open, heart pounding maniacally in my chest as Gavin jumped up quickly.

She must have sent that to both of us. My whole life it was my dad in my head except for the few times mom took over as Alpha when dad was hurt or she was pissed off and felt like it. I still wasn’t use to it. Turning over, I glanced at the clock. 2AM. Ugh.

‘We’re up. We’re alert,’
I told her as I slipped into my clothes and cracked the bedroom window open. Gavin stood shirtless next to me, wearing low slung basketball shorts. I took a whiff of the air and chills ran up my arms.

“No!” The word was half human, half growl. Gavin had patches of fur on his arms as he stood next to me sniffing the air.

“Who is it?” His voice could cut paper.

I didn’t want to say it out loud. Maybe then it wouldn’t be real …

‘The Skin Walker,’
I told him through our matebond.

A howl rose from his throat as he shifted into wolf form.

‘It’s the Skin Walker,’
I told my mom.

‘The one who raped Gavin’s young mother? Oh good. I’ll wake Max and Anna and we will tear him to bits,’
she assured me.

I sighed. If what Lina and Nahuel said was right, then he couldn’t be so easily killed. He knew that and that’s why he came into a mountain crawling with werewolves. To taunt me, because he could.

Suddenly, I felt a spike of grief from my mom. It was so strong the entire pack must have felt it. My mother was very good at controlling her emotions, nothing but the death of a pack member would make her so saddened.

I threw the window open fully and leaped through it as Gavin jumped out in wolf form and we pounded the ground together, running to my mom’s house. If that Skin Walker had touched any of the pack members I would rip him in two! Blasting through the thick trees and into the clearing, I stopped suddenly as the smell hit me.

Death.

My stomach clenched in fear as I ran the last few feet to the scene of the crime.

“No!” I sobbed when I saw the mangled form of Luna, my family cat of twenty years. My mother knelt on her knees, trying to control the grief and rage ripping through her.

“Luna,” she whimpered.

Mother-effer. This cat was a family member! My mother got her when she was pregnant with us and she did hilarious stuff like hide in drawers and scare the crap out of my dad. No. Inhaling, I could smell the Walker all over the scene. Rage blasted through me and my bear pushed to the surface as my clothes tore and fur flared out on my arms and legs. My form bulked up as I went through the change until finally I was standing on all fours. Rising up on my hind legs, I let the fury blast out of my mouth in a deafening roar. The ground shook slightly as Gavin howled in tandem next to me.

Turning around, wide eyed, my mother stared at me in shock.

“Jesus Christ, Anya, you’re terrifying.” It was pride in her voice and something else. Admiration.

Jaxon, Mason, and Avery burst out of the house. Jaxon was in wolf form, Avery and Mason looked half asleep but ready to fight. When they saw Luna, they stumbled to a stop. Jaxon bent low and growled, then he raised his head, sniffed the air, and took off running.

Jaxon was the best tracker in our pack, he had a magical nose and if the Walker was still on our mountain, Jax would find him. I took off after him, Gavin on my right, and in seconds my mother was on my left, she was vampire fast in her ability to run and she blasted past all of us and took a left up the mountain. We followed.

‘Raping thirteen year olds and killing kittens. There is a special place in hell for people like that,’
Jaxon told me.

‘Agreed,’
I fired back.

The ground vibrated with my 300-pound bear weight, but suddenly I skidded to a halt as I saw my mom stop up ahead.

Standing up on my hind legs, I had a better vantage point.
Max.
No!

Taking off, faster this time, I made the distance to Max in seconds. My mother was already in her human form, her hands shook as they hovered over Max’s bleeding shoulder. Oh God. It looked like his arm was sixty percent torn off. So much blood; werewolves’ ability to regenerate was in the blood. If my mom didn’t stop the bleeding soon, Max would die. A noise to my left had my head whipping around, but it was just Jaxon. He was fully shifted back into his human form and hunched next to my mom ready to empower her spell. The magical healing mist saturated Max as my mother chanted her healing spell. The second Jaxon rested his arm on her, it blasted out ten times as strong. I was torn between wanting to shift and help them heal Max and wanting to stay in bear form and protect my family.

‘
I got this,
’ Gavin all but growled next to me, even though his wolf had the same markings as mine used to, it was different and I needed to remember that. He had power, he was larger, more compact, and a solid build. Not the feminine traits of my long gone wolf. I had to trust that my mate wasn’t a fragile human any more. He was a werewolf.

My muscles tingled as I began letting the shift take me back into my human form. Resting my hand on my mother’s back I whispered, “Power of three.” More mist shot out of my mother’s hands as she gasped in shock, and Max’s arm began to heal rapidly. Gretchen had trained my mother in healing spells and on top of that, Jaxon was a spell amplifier and as if that wasn’t enough, we had the power of three. The magical number needed to do almost any spell, strength was in numbers.

Max groaned, gaining consciousness again and his ice blue eyes flew to my mother. “The foreign wolf … he … after he attacked … he shifted to a bird. Flew off.”

My mother frowned and looked at me. Shit. What did Lina say? Walkers could take any animal form? Great.

I nodded at my mother, indicating it was possible and she growled.

“What the hell was he doing on our land?” Her voice shook a little but I barely caught it. I could tell Luna’s death was still raw for her.

“He’s after me,” I stated and Gavin suddenly let loose a howl that made chills run up my arms. A howl that said ‘Over my dead body.’

The corner of my mother’s lips curved into a smile; she was pleased with my mate’s reaction.

“Let’s get Max back to the pack doctor and then wake Mason. I’m bringing your father home to deal with this shit,” she stated and Jaxon caught my eye with a smirk.

‘Grow up. Mom cusses,’
I told him but the smirk stayed. Stupid goofball was obsessed with our mother’s potty mouth.

I agreed with her, we needed Dad back ASAP. My mom was a strong Alpha, but she hated pack politics and with werewolves on the brink of war with the humans, my father was the best man for the job. Max looked like he would live, but I didn’t think he could walk. His face was pale, ashy, and sweat beaded his forehead.

“From now on, we don’t attack the Walker with any less than five of us present. If there are less than five you, run. That’s an ORDER.” My mother’s words were infused with the power of the Alpha.

Max simply nodded. I didn’t think he was going to argue. Max was physically stronger than my mother and almost as strong as my dad. If the Walker nearly killed him then my mom’s plan was a good idea for the entire pack.

I’m not sure what made me do what I did in that next moment, instinct maybe. My bear. I bent down, put one arm under Max’s neck and another under his knees. Then I stood and lifted him with ease. He was heavy as hell, don’t get me wrong, my muscles flexed with the weight of him but I wasn’t straining.

My mom, Gavin, and Jaxon just stared at me.

“I guess I’m strong,” I offered, to ease the awkwardness.

My mother nodded, one eyebrow raised, and led the way back home.

“For the record, this is weird,” Max said in my arms and I chuckled, but inside I was kind of freaking out. If I had the strength of a bear while in human form … Okay, think about that later. I might need to talk to Anna, my dad’s strongest wolf. She had the gift of extreme strength and she would be able to help me figure out what this meant.

After getting back to the house, we saw that Mason and Avery were outside waiting. Emma was there too and they had already cleaned up the Luna mess and buried her in the backyard at the base of my mother’s favorite tree. I was grateful because seeing her like that was awful and I couldn’t imagine my mother having to bury her. The pack doctor took Max from me and then my mother was all business.

“Mason, come down to the basement, please. Your parents will meet us down there,” she said.

Meeting your mate was a huge deal in werewolf culture, I wasn’t surprised my mom called in Aunt Diya and Uncle Trent. They would be thrilled.

Avery pulled me aside as the others went down to the basement.

Her eyes were lined with worry, her fingernails had dirt underneath them and I knew she must have helped bury Luna.

“Hey,” I said, not sure what to say.

She sighed. “Are you okay? I mean, holy shit. A couple days ago we were in a club talking about witches’ wine and now you’re a bear, you found your mate, and your cat got killed by a monster.”

I gave a tearful laugh. “I miss my dad, and I don’t think everyone understands what this monster is capable of.” I leaned in close to her to whisper. “He can’t be killed by normal means, and I’m not even sure that Gavin or I can kill him.” Because if I was being honest, it felt like now that I had taken Gavin’s life path, I may have also taken on the half Walker. Or not. Either way, it left us no idea how to kill this bastard.

Her eyes widened but she nodded as if she expected that. “We’ll figure it out.”

I gave her a tight hug and then went to meet my mom in the basement.

*

Mason and I sat on the couch in the basement as my mother, Gavin, Aunt Diya, and Uncle Trent stood over us. My mom approached me with the jar of stinky paste and we all held our breath and flinched.

“God awful. What’s in that?!” I exclaimed as she spun off the top and indicated I reach inside. I was afraid that smell would never come off me. Was Gavin snickering? Bastard.

Jaxon and Avery came down the stairs just in time and plugged their nose. My mom rolled her eyes.

“Probably some deer piss, it helps give clarity in spells to things that are hidden.” Her reply made my hand freeze in mid-air. Deer piss! Oh, hell no.

“I need your help finding your father.” My mother’s tone was loving and demanding at the same time.

“And my mate,” Mason growled. Oh yeah, that too.

Fine. I dipped my hand in the thick paste and frowned at the sticky gelatinous fluid. Rubbing it up and down my arms like Gretchen said to, I was about to ask my mom what to do when all of a sudden the room became a little hazy. I swallowed hard and blinked my eyes rapidly unsure of what I was seeing. Each person in the room had a stunning, colorful aura around their body, it glowed, each uniquely about three feet off their body.

“I think there’s drugs in this,” I exclaimed as my mom’s eyes widened.

How else was I seeing rainbows around everyone?

“Okay. Touch Mason and just let the vision flow. Like I taught you,” my mother encouraged.

As I looked at her, I scanned her aura. Her colors were beautiful, vibrant reds, greens, and a deep indigo blue, but over her heart was a brown blob. I instinctively knew this was over the loss of Luna and missing my father.

“Anya?” My mom’s voice brought me back.

I shook my head. “Sorry, I think Gretchen put too much clarity in this stuff.”

“It’s not drugs, it’s the spell. Hurry before it wears off.” My mom’s words were insistent so I forced myself to focus.

Shaking my head, I finally turned to Mason and reached for his hand. I took both of his hands in mine and I sat there stupidly staring at his aura waiting for a vision to take me. Nothing happened as we sat there in silence for a few moments. I was about to complain when Gavin stepped forward and placed a hand on my back, tingles radiated down my spine and then I was pulled into a vision. It felt like I was riding a roller coaster and then bam! The roller coaster lurched to a stop and I watched a scene unfold before me. It was frightening and I couldn’t blame Gavin for backing out of it but I stayed with it.

My father was strapped to a medical gurney with silver chains, as puffs of smoke flared up from his sizzling skin. I could smell the burning flesh as if I was right in the room. His attention was focused on a girl in a silver cage. She was Mason’s mate, I just knew it. These visions didn’t come with too many words they came with knowing. Her name was Alice and she was Mason’s mate, I was 150% sure. She had long dirty blonde hair that was tinged red with blood, and a feral look in her eyes. Her foot snaked out as she kicked the door of the cage but recoiled when her foot burned.

“I’m going to get us out of here. Don’t panic.” My father’s words floated over to her and she fought back tears but nodded. I knew from my mom that he couldn’t hear me and that I couldn’t help him but I had to know for myself.