Things That Go Hump In The Night (52 page)

Ezra

I crouched low, my fangs and claws extended, and prepared myself for the fight I knew was to come. Everything in me screamed to attack now, to annihilate every bear in the place, and steal back my mate. My heart had almost broken as I heard Matt recite the lines to his mating ceremony, but I had to remind myself that he was being forced. I could see the reluctance in his posture, smell the fear and disgust in his breath. He didn’t want to be here, doing this.

I’d spent the past few days wandering around the mountains, searching every path and road for access to Black Canyon. I’d had a vague idea of where the bear colony was situated from hearing Matt recount stories of his childhood during our travels, but I didn’t realize finding the place would be
that
difficult. Eventually, I’d abandoned my stolen motorcycle altogether and had set out in my tiger form, tracking Matt’s scent for miles through the forests and hills. And, it seemed, I’d arrived just in time.

A sudden blast of anger emanated from one of the bears lined along the wall and I immediately recognized him as the bear who had assaulted me back in the hotel.

There you are,
I thought, letting out a venomous growl as I did.

As if in time with my thoughts, the massive bear let out a loud roar and shouted in his deep bearish voice, “
Get him! Kill the cat!”

Half a dozen bears roared in answer, and all but Matt’s father and another, smaller, female bear charged at me. One of the bears smelled eerily similar to Matt, and I recognized him as his brother, Mark. I’d never met him, but the resemblance in their scent was more than enough to confirm the fact. Matt had spoken highly and almost regretfully of his brother, so I decided that I’d spare him the fate that awaited the remainder of the beasts who were now bearing down on me.

I let out a massive roar, all but shaking the cavern in its intensity. For a brief second, the onslaught of bears paused. That second was all I needed.

With Matt still standing bewildered in the ring of stones alongside his presumed “mate” and another man, I dove into the pack of bears, slashing and biting as viciously and as furiously as I could, taking care to not harm Mark in the process. I’d already felled the first of the six beasts by the time the rest were able to respond. Soon, I found myself caught up in a flurry of claws and teeth, winding my way toward Matt’s position in the ring as I slashed and clawed my way through the pack of bears.

Nothing was going to separate me from my mate.
Nothing
.

Another pair of bears fell to the floor, licking at the gaping wounds I’d left all over their flesh. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand. Tigers were natural predators. We were the most evolved, the most powerful, and the most
vicious
beasts to walk the earth in centuries. There was no bear on the planet that could go toe-to-toe with a tiger and hope to get out unscathed. Yes, they had the numbers. They had the strength. But they didn’t have the experience, the instincts, the
skill set
.

I was a born killer. They, in all of their size and strength, were nothing more than oversized beavers, hell-bent on fattening up and gathering resources for a later day.

I let my tiger run loose, letting his instincts and intentions guide my own as I cut down one bear after the other. I had no intention of killing any of the bears. Most of them were innocent bystanders who were merely in the way - collateral damage, really. Instead, I only did enough damage to send them to the floor of the cavern, licking their wounds, and out of my hair for the moment.

Finally, all of the bears were down for the count. Even Mark had caught a stray claw on his hind leg and lay injured on the floor. I stood still for a moment, feeling the adrenaline pump through my veins in time with the tiger’s own killer instincts. He wanted to keep going, to tear Matt’s father limb from limb. He wanted pure and unadulterated vengeance. But
I
was in charge. And I knew that despite everything that had happened, Matt wouldn’t want that. He was far kinder than I was.

Matt’s father, however, didn’t seem to share the same gentle nature of his son. Before I knew what was happening, the massive bear crashed into me, heaving me once again off the floor and threw me against the cavern wall. I slammed into the wall, my already-injured ribs flaring up with lightning-hot pain as I slumped to the ground. I’d gotten distracted. I’d let my emotions get in the way of my goal and it had cost me.

I tried standing, but my legs gave out beneath me, sending me crashing back down to the cavern floor. I’d hurt something
bad
and Matt’s father knew it. The bear darted toward me, his massive size flailing wildly as murder filled his eyes. I had to get up, had to get to my feet, had to defend myself. Or else.

Just as the massive beast neared me, something else, something even
larger
collided with it. I raised my head in time to see the second form, an enormous deep-brown grizzly bear stand over the crumpled form of Matt’s father. Where he’d come from, I had no idea. More than that, I had no idea why he was defending me.

The grizzly bellowed a roar at the smaller bear, rising to its full height in a show of strength. In fact, it looked as though the newcomer was signaling its dominance
over
Matt’s father. Something that gave me pause entirely.

Seizing the opportunity, I scanned the ring of boulders for Matt, but couldn’t find him. Only the older man and his daughter stood - no cowered - behind a boulder in the ring. Matt was nowhere to be seen.

And then it dawned on me.

Matt wasn’t in the ring because Matt was standing over his father.
Matt
was the enormous grizzly.
Matt
had come to my rescue.

And now Matt was declaring himself alpha in a humiliating show over his own father.

“You listen to me,” Matt roared in his bearish voice at his father’s still-crumpled form. “
I
will do as I please.
I
will dictate my future.
I
will mate whomever I see fit.” He glanced over his shoulder at me, his golden eyes meeting mine for the first time. In that single eternal moment, everything that I’d ever wished, desired, and dreamed of seemed to come to life. My entire being felt
warm
. My fur, my bones, even the immaterial
me
. It was unreal. Unnatural, and yet, the most natural thing in the world.

“Is that understood?” Matt roared at his father, who only raised his head enough to nod. It was obvious that Matt had truly taken charge. He had asserted his dominance, claimed the pack as his own, and was now calling the shots. In a way, it was both frightening and unbearably sexy all at once. I’d known that Matt had alpha blood in him - he’d even shown hints of his dominant and assertive side at times during our travels, especially at the bed and breakfast - but I in no way realized the immensity of his reach. If he wanted, he could be the alpha of not only his clan, but of all the bear clans. I’d never seen a bear as large or defined as him, and I’d never felt such an emanating sense of power.

My sweet, shy, Matt. He’s been hiding that all along.

Matt turned to the nearby female bear, dipping his head to her, signaling his respect. “Mother,” he growled. “I love you, and I thank you. But now…now I’m done. I’m taking my leave, and I am leaving
my
clan in your care.”

The female - Matt’s mother - dipped her head. “Go, my sweet boy. Go and
be
.”

Then, without so much as a word to the rest of the on looking and staggered audience, Matt strode over to me, knelt down and lifted me from the cavern floor. Safe in his arms and against his furred chest, I shifted back into my human form, feeling minuscule in comparison to the beast who so tenderly held me.

“Matt,” I whispered, forcing the words out. I was confident that I’d shattered at least a few ribs.

“Shhh,” Matt shook his head, then started walking toward the cavern’s exit, leaving the would-be alpha bears to tend to their wounds. “I’m sorry,” Matt finally started once we’d broken into the clearing and he’d shifted back into his own human form. His still-large and powerful human form held my broken body tight against his chest. “I’m sorry that he hurt you. That I let him drag me back here. I’m sorry for all of this.”

“Don’t be,” I managed. “It’s my own fault for not telling you…for not letting you know…”

“Letting me know what?” Matt asked, still carrying me far away from the brutal scene behind us.

“That I felt it too. The connection. The
love
.” I blushed as I said it. It felt odd, but right at the same time. “I’m in love with you, Matthew Bruner. And I don’t think I can help it.”

Matt looked at me and smiled. “That’s good,” Matt whispered. “Because, somehow, I don’t think you have a choice in the matter. This…whatever this is between us, it’s beyond us. We’re together. We’re mates. And…” He looked into my eyes longingly.

“And?”

“And I love you too. Have since the first time I saw you in that elevator. And, I think, I always will.”

Matt smiled at me, his handsome features seeming to glow as he spoke.

Looking at him, feeling his naked warmth against my bruised and battered body, I couldn’t help but smile back.

Epilogue

“I was thinking something regal. Something defined,” I told Ezra as I sat there, rocking gently in the chair as the sounds of chaotic, but beautiful Mumbai filled the air.

Ezra turned to me, his unfading smile still plastered to his face. It had been almost six months since we’d left Black Canyon, and my body certainly showed it. Not long after we’d left the region and Ezra had recovered from his injuries, we’d discovered that - somehow - I was pregnant. The first sign, I had realized, had been the episodes of intense nausea I had experienced just prior to the mating ceremony. I hadn’t caught a bug, and it wasn’t nervousness. It was morning sickness.  The next sign, and the most obvious, was my rapidly growing abdomen. The now-huge roll of my stomach stood in stark contrast to my still-muscular body, but something about having his cubs inside my body managed to turn Ezra on in ways that I couldn’t even begin to understand.

We’d left the States, returning to Ezra’s ancestral home in search of answers. Turns out, tigers can only impregnate their mates. Or, rather, they absolutely 100% impregnate their mates, regardless of gender. There had been a few cases of it before, we’d found out, but none had been interspecies. For that, at least, we were a first.

We’d be first and second. Twins and all that.

“Why regal?” Ezra asked me, drawing me back from my thoughts.

I shrugged at him. “They are descended from royal tigers after all,” I offered, noting Ezra’s Bengal lineage.

“Yeah, but they’re also descended from brutish over-grown beavers,” he teased, pecking me on the cheek as he did.

I laughed at him then gazed into his eyes. My bear offered a gentle roar in return to a purr from his tiger, and I couldn’t help but smile once again. Somehow, some way, I’d managed to find myself mated to the single most handsome and compelling man alive. A man who, despite six months of trying, had never failed to absolutely rock my world in and out of bed.

Fate had dealt me a strange hand, one that had taken a long time to fully understand and accept, but I couldn’t be happier. I’d been exposed to a world far more magical and enchanting than the one every other bear I’d ever known had been privy too, and soon, I’d be able to share that world with two miracle-cubs. We still weren’t sure whether they’d be tigers or bears, or perhaps one of each, but we had no doubt that they’d be shifters.

Not that it mattered, anyway. With Ezra at my side, loving me and supporting me every step of the way, the cubs would never want or hurt for anything. They would be loved, infinitely and unconditionally, be they striped or bear.

***

Thank you for reading
Striped and Bear
.

While Ezra and Matthew’s dynamic tale is a complete story, it is only the first part of the
Furbidden Mates
series. Book two,
Bear My Stripes,
will be released on August 24th, 2015, and the lasting consequences of Ezra and Matthew’s forbidden romance will be further revealed.

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter in order to be notified when book two hits the shelves.

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About the Author - Artemis Wolffe

Artemis Wolffe has always been fascinated by strong men, alpha personalities, and hot encounters. Being born in hills of Appalachia, he knows his way around panthers, bears, and wolves.

While he loves to write about his deepest desires, he is at heart, a romantic. There may be beastly men in his tales, but they know what they want and aren't afraid to go after it with style and grace.

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