Alpha Bear (27 page)

John didn’t question it. A Knight of the
Light was bringing forth the magic of the earth. He was expending
his energy to try to save John’s mate. John had no doubt that if
the Goddess willed it, Urse could come back to him.

It would be a miracle of the highest caliber,
but John had to believe that the Goddess he had served all his life
would not break his heart. She would not have brought them together
only to part them so soon.

Would she?

John stood as the altar kept rising. The
stones of the circle, too, seemed to grow from the short stumps
they’d been into taller, more defined standing stones. And they
were glowing, swirling with energy in a slightly different way than
they had when Urse had used their power in her ward.

The colors were different. Before it had been
pure white, icy moonlight. Now it was green and gold, the colors of
forest and fey, earth and sun. Cam’s golden armor shone with the
same pure gold light.

And as John watched, the altar lit up,
surrounding Urse’s limp body in the same golden glow, tinged with
the grey and brown of the earth and the green of growing things.
The glow bathed her body, filling it and bringing color back to her
cheeks, and finally, as a blue wisp of magic from the sky came into
play…air back to her lungs.

She was alive.

Dear, sweet Mother of All. Urse was
alive!

Urse woke in John’s house. In John’s bed. But
John wasn’t there.

She sensed him though. He was just outside,
in the living room, with Cam and the three shifters he’d brought to
town. How exactly she knew that, she didn’t quite know, but she was
aware that things had changed for her.

In a rush, everything that had happened at
the stone circle came back to her.

Judging from the sunlight behind the
curtains, it was daytime. She knew her ward was set. She’d seen
that with her own eyes before she collapsed.

And then…

Urse sat bolt upright in the bed, then
grabbed her forehead.
Damn.
She had a hangover. Or something
that felt a lot like it.

She gingerly swung her legs over the side of
the bed. She was dressed in loose pajamas. Fleece. They were hers,
from her apartment. Somehow she knew that Mel had brought them
over, but was no longer in John’s house.

Mel had been in the room though. She’d
checked on Urse, which touched her greatly. Her little sister was
the best. Even when she was being pesky, she always meant well.
Urse loved that about her.

Judging herself presentable enough, Urse
padded in sock feet toward the hall that would lead her to the
living room…and her mate. Mmm. She wanted nothing more than to see
John and get one of those hugs that made her feel as if nothing bad
would ever happen to her as long as he held her in his arms.

John heard his mate walking down the hallway
and moved to intercept. He’d worried over her deep sleep, but Cam
had assured him, over and over, that she’d be fine after she slept
off the effects of her power expenditure.

The guys had finally convinced him to leave
her side by sending the visitors to him bearing gifts—a gourmet
meal packed in to-go containers. His men were guarding the
perimeter, but they knew John wouldn’t snub the visitors by telling
them to take a hike. Not when Steve Redstone was in the group. Or
the Jackal. Or Joe Nightwing. Or Cam, for that matter.

All three shifters were strong Alphas, and
Cam… Well, Cam was something akin to an angelic being as far as
John was concerned, now that he’d seen the Knight of the Light in
action.

John went into the hall, running into Urse
and catching her in his arms. She wound herself around him,
snuggling close.

“This is just what I wanted. A bear hug,” she
whispered, her face against his chest.

“How are you feeling?” He couldn’t express
the relief that flooded him just knowing she was alive and
coherent. And standing! He hadn’t expected that so soon.

“Like I’ve got the hangover from hell. Don’t
talk above a whisper, and we should be fine. Do I smell coffee?”
She didn’t move from his arms, for which he was grateful. She was
in a lazy, kittenish sort of mood that suited him just fine.

With every word she spoke, he began to
believe that she would come out of her near-death experience
unscathed. Goddess be praised.

“Yeah, the guys sent food over. I sort of
refused to leave your side.”

“Well, good for them for looking out for you.
And I love that you stuck by me.” She lifted her head long enough
to place a little kiss on his cheek. “But you really have to look
after yourself too. You have to eat, John.”

“So do you. Are you hungry at all?” He liked
that she worried about him, but she was the patient here, not
him.

“Hmm.” She seemed to think about it. “Yeah, I
could eat. That was some night last night, huh?”

“Last night?” John took her by the shoulders
and drew back so he could look into her eyes. “Honey, that was two
days ago. You’ve been asleep for almost sixty hours.”

Stunned disbelief entered her eyes slowly.
Her reaction times were off, but then, she’d been dead for a good
few minutes there, just two and a half days ago. She had a right to
be a little sluggish.

“Seriously?”

He nodded, releasing his grip on her
shoulders to rub her arms lightly. He was so glad to be touching
her. Talking with her. It was a miracle he would never take for
granted.

“Seriously. I brought you here after the moon
ceremony and haven’t left your side. Cam’s been here off and on
too. He kept telling me you just had to sleep it off, but I didn’t
truly believe him until just now. How do you feel?” He knew he was
gushing a little, but the cautious joy inside him demanded
expression.

“Like I said, hungover. And very sensitive.”
Her brow drew together in a little frown. “I could tell who was in
the house from inside your room. And I knew Mellie had been there,
but wasn’t in the house any longer.”

“She left about an hour ago, when the guys
showed up with the food. She said she was leaving me in good
hands.” He was intrigued by what Urse was describing. “Who do you
think is here?”

“Cam, Joe, Steve and Seth,” she answered,
without hesitation.

“On the nose,” he told her, bending to place
a little kiss on the tip of her nose.

He was interested in why she could suddenly
know things about who was where, when she apparently couldn’t
before, but it might just be a temporary side effect. Cam had
warned him that she might be a little different for the first week
or so after she woke up. It was to be expected, he’d said rather
mysteriously.

John was too happy to just have her up and
around and speaking coherently to delve further into the phenomenon
now. If it lasted, he’d ask her more about it later. If not, it
wouldn’t matter anyway.

What mattered most in this moment was that
she was here. She was alive. And she was in his arms. Everything
else could wait.

He held her as time stood still, offering a
silent prayer of thanks that she was alive, here, now, in his arms,
where she belonged. They had both been forever changed by the
ordeal they’d been through, and only time would reveal the full
extent of the change.

But it was all good, as far as John was
concerned. He’d come out of this adventure with a beautiful, smart
and talented mate who would make his life fuller and happier than
it had ever been. His people not only accepted her, but respected
her abilities with a fervor that bordered on awe in some cases. She
had pushed back a monster that none of them had ever even
contemplated. She had done something none of them was capable of
doing, giving of herself—almost too much—in the process. She had
earned their esteem, and their love.

“One thing I’m still wondering about.” Urse
spoke softly as she drew back a short way to look up at him.

“What’s that, honey?” He could deny her
nothing. If she asked for the moon and stars, he’d start working on
a way to get them for her.

“The other day when you and Cam had your
little private meeting. What was the big secret? What did you guys
talk about?”

“Hmm.” He thought about what he could
divulge. “Well, I can’t tell you everything because I promised Cam
I wouldn’t until after certain events had happened, but I think
it’s safe to tell you that Cam is gathering intel from multiple
sources, including someone—and I don’t know exactly who his source
is—that can see the future. One of the things he told me, though to
be honest, although it made me happy, it didn’t matter as much as
he thought it might, is that our children will be able to
shift.”

She placed one of her hands over his heart,
happy surprise clear on her lovely face. “They will? I mean… We’re
going to have children? Plural? More than one?”

“Apparently so,” he agreed, covering her hand
with his, holding her touch close to his heart. “It was foreseen
that we would have cubs who could shift and would have a lot more
magic than most bears.” Cam had specifically told John that he
could share this bit of intel with Urse, so he wasn’t breaking any
confidences.

“I’m glad, though I hadn’t really thought
about it with everything else that was going on,” she said, her
gaze soft. “I like children.”

“I like you, my mate,” he echoed her words,
smiling. “In fact, I love you, Urse, with everything I am. You make
my life whole.” His voice dropped as the declaration left his
mouth. The moment felt incredibly special.

“I love you too. And if I could see the
future right now, I’d predict a happy, love-filled life together
for the rest of our days.” She smiled, reaching both of her hands
around his neck and drawing his head downward for a kiss.

“I like the sound of that,” he whispered
against her lips, smiling as he deepened the contact and kissed his
mate.

The times ahead might be interesting and
unpredictable, but he knew now that they could face just about
anything…as long as they were together.

He wasn’t at liberty yet to tell her
everything Cam and he had discussed the day before her final spell,
but that was okay, for now. Nothing Cam had said would hurt her in
any way, and all would be revealed in time. Cam had taken John into
his confidence, showing a respect John had never expected, but was
honored to receive from the fey knight.

John’s Army days might be behind him, but his
mind was already working out strategies based on the information
Cam had shared. Strategic planning was John’s talent, his avocation
and his sharpest skill. He was pleased to be able to use all his
training and experience in the battle everyone was expecting would
soon be coming to the mortal world.

The past few days had brought John into a
small group of those who were actively planning to fight the evil
that was working against them. Although he’d come to Grizzly Cove
to retire and start a family, he found that he couldn’t quite turn
his back on the danger that was, in all likelihood, headed their
way.

The leviathan might be only the tip of the
iceberg. In which case, John couldn’t ignore the protective
instincts inside him that had pushed him into the military so many
years ago. He was a man of action, and of duty. He had skills he
had to use to help the world stay free of evil. If he simply shut
himself off from the outside world and hid up here in Grizzly Cove,
he wouldn’t be able to look himself in the mirror each morning.

When Cam had asked him to put his talents to
work once again, collating intel from all over the world and
devising strategies, John couldn’t in all good conscience, say no.
On the contrary, his bear prodded him to get back in the game—if
only in this small way. He wouldn’t be fighting on the front lines
unless, and until, they needed him, but he could easily use his
brain power and experience on behalf of the good guys.

A conduit was open now between Grizzly Cove
and the outside world. Things had changed. The town could no longer
hide in obscurity. The leviathan’s presence had outed them, for
lack of a better description, to the Others in the area. Their
secret was no longer a secret, and they’d have to deal with the
repercussions of that in the coming days, John was sure, but he was
still proud of the town he had helped build. He knew his people
could handle what was coming. They were all highly capable and
Ursula’s contribution these past days could not be discounted.
She’d given her all to help protect them, which would come in handy
now that they were on the supernatural map, so to speak.

John might have retired from active duty,
founded the town that had been his pet project for decades, and
even found a powerful, smart and incredibly sexy mate. In fact,
he’d met all his goals—something he never expected to happen this
soon, or this easily. Though, to be honest, the past few days,
watching Urse take such big chances facing the leviathan, and then,
almost dying… Well, that hadn’t been remotely
easy
.

But they’d survived. And they were together.
Nothing would come between them now. They were true mates, deeply
in love. Bonded on a soul-deep level. Life, for them, was going to
be so good from here on out.

The rest of the world though... There were
still big problems out there, including the leviathan and its
minions waiting just off shore. More than that, there was the
threat of Elspeth and her
Venifucus
fanatics.

If they had their way, no place—including the
cove—would be safe.

So John had agreed to work in the shadows,
with Cam. He believed that by doing so, he could help protect his
mate, his people, and the world in general. John couldn’t really
talk about it to anyone right now, but he knew Urse would
understand, as would his men, when the time came.