Bear the Burden: McMahon Clan 3 (Fated Mates Book 6) (2 page)

“Only all the time,” Tahlia grumbled.

“I’m just doing my part to welcome you into the family. This is what brothers do.” My defense was partly true, but what I didn’t mention was how much fun I had winding her up. Tahlia was more feisty than Annora or Finley, and for some sick reason, I enjoyed pushing her as far as I could before she blew her top and kicked my ass.

“Then I guess I’m lucky it was only my mom and me growing up. And your brother is lucky I hadn’t met you before we mated. I might have thought twice before taking him on if I’d known what a hassle brothers could be.”

“It’s cute how you think there was ever any chance I’d let you walk away from me.” My brother’s tone didn’t match his words since a hint of his bear had crept into his voice. Luckily, Tahlia moved quickly to calm him. Wrapping her arms around him, she rose up onto her tiptoes to whisper something in his ear. Whatever she said worked, thank fuck. The last thing we needed was Braden to already be riled before Damien got here. The dragon shifter managed to piss him off without even trying. While they were distracted by each other, I headed back toward my dad’s office, figuring it would be better if I got there before Braden.

Nearing the closed door, I heard my dad’s deep voice followed by the rumbling sound of Damien’s response. Glancing back at Tahlia and Braden, I was relieved to see they hadn’t moved from where I’d left them. I caught Alasdair’s gaze with mine, jerked my chin toward the couple, and then tapped my fingers against my watch. A quick nod of his head indicated he understood my signal. As I joined my dad and Damien, my aim was to wrap up this meeting before Braden and Tahlia got here.

The second the door closed behind me, I leaned against it and crossed my arms. The humor in my dad’s eyes was clear before I shifted my attention to Damien. “You’ve got news for us?”

“If by us, you mean your dad and Tahlia, then yeah, I’ve got news.”

“Tahlia’s busy with my brother. Her mate. Why don’t you go ahead and share the information you have with me now and I’ll make sure to pass it along to her later.”

The dragon shifter tilted his head as he stared at me, his face completely expressionless while he seemed to consider what I’d said before reacting. When he rose from the chair, I was reminded of how foolish it would be to push him too far. At six-foot-six, he had several inches on me and he was built like a fucking mack truck. I shifted my stance, readying myself for his next move, when he surprised me by grinning.

“I guess I can do that,” he conceded. “But you’ll be the one who gets to deal with Tahlia’s wrath when she realizes you’ve cut her out of the loop.”

“I didn’t say I was cutting her out, just that she can get her information from me instead of you.”

“It’s your funeral.” He stopped speaking abruptly, flames swirling in his green eyes. It was a sight I hadn’t seen before and one I’d be quite happy to never see again. By the time they clouded over before returning to normal, the temperature in the room had climbed by several degrees. Dragon magic was scary shit.

“Never mind,” he murmured. “I’ll make sure Tahlia understands that it’s important for you to be the one who meets with them.”

I didn’t have a good feeling about the amused smirk on his face as he looked at me. Odds were good it didn’t bode well for me. “Meets with who?”

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” he mumbled softly before continuing in a louder voice. “One of the witch covens reached out to me yesterday. They have information about the dark practitioners helping Channing.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I muttered. “Now that it’s my turn to step up and help out, of course there are damn witches involved in this mess.”

“If they’re the ones who’ve been hiding Channing from us, then they’ve been involved for awhile,” my dad reminded me.

“The best way to fight magic is with magic,” Damien pointed out. “And here you are with a coven willing to help. You might not be comfortable with the idea now, but I’m willing to bet you will be soon, because you’re going to need them.”

Shifters and witches usually stayed far away from each other. The only exception were the dragon shifters, who, by their very nature, kept a foot in both worlds. I was surprised a coven had decided to help my clan. I’d never really had any contact with a witch and couldn’t help but be skeptical about their offer to help us. “You’re a dragon. Why can’t we fight this battle using your magic?”

“Dragon magic is different from witch magic,” he answered. He didn’t continue, as though his limited response was enough of an explanation for me to understand. Unfortunately, it didn’t even come close to helping me figure it out.

“Different how?”

His eyes did their swirling fire thing again. “In ways you’ll soon come to understand. But now isn’t the time, and I’m not the one who will explain it to you.”

“What the fuck ever,” I grumbled. If working with witches was what it was going to take to finally catch the bastard who’d done so much harm to my family, then I’d damn well do it without complaining too much. Although our family had become more open to outsiders lately, our newfound trust didn’t extend past shifters to witches. It would have made what needed to be done a hell of a lot easier, but I couldn’t imagine the day when any McMahon would put their faith in a witch—including me.

“C
ome meditate with me.” My mom’s request shouldn’t have surprised me since meditation was her answer to just about everything, but I was startled, nonetheless. I’d been so lost in my own thoughts, I hadn’t heard her come up behind me. I was usually more aware of my surroundings than this, but I’d been edgy and distracted ever since our coven meeting the night of the lunar eclipse. Deep down to my soul, I knew I’d made the right decision when I’d offered my support to my mom during the vote, but there was a part of me that braced for what was going to come next as soon as I uttered the words. A part of me that knew something had changed and understood I was the person who would be most affected by it.

I didn’t know what was coming for me, but I had a feeling it was going to be life-changing...and that I wouldn’t have to wait too long to find out. Maybe meditation would help. It certainly couldn’t hurt. “Sounds good to me.”

I followed her outside to a large rock overlooking the lake, laughing lightly when I saw the two pillows sitting side by side. My mother already knew what my answer would be before she asked. As I knelt down next to her, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. “I know it will be good for you.”

Her voice held a startling certainty, as though she knew something I didn’t—which shouldn’t be a surprise considering her power was much stronger than my own. It wasn’t unusual for her to have a premonition, but it was rare for her to have one about me. When I’d asked her about it once when I was younger, she told me not to worry. Even though it was hard to see the future of those with whom you were closest, we had to trust our powers to protect the ones we loved. The firmness with which she now spoke hinted at one of her rare visions about me, adding to my sense of unease.

My mom’s energy shifted as she murmured her preferred mantra over and over again. She was utterly still beside me, most likely having found her nirvana. Normally, I wouldn’t notice the change in her, but today I wasn’t fully focused on myself. I was too antsy to find my center. It felt like it took forever and a day before I was able to find the stillness within myself and grab hold.

But it didn’t take me to the place I expected. Instead, I found myself in a dense forest, surrounded by a menagerie of animals as I ran swiftly through the trees. There were three black bears behind me, but I didn’t feel as though they were chasing me. It felt like they were urging me forward. To my left was a lioness, her fur rubbing along my legs every once in awhile as she tried to speed me along. And to my right was a sleek, gray wolf, whose dark eyes gleamed in the moonlight.

My heart raced, but not from exertion—it was from excitement. With a profound certainty, I knew someone was waiting for me around the next corner. Someone who was everything to me. I dug deep and sped up, running faster than I’d ever moved before, desperate to reach him. When I rounded the bend, another black bear was there, and it felt like I’d been struck by lightning.

Electricity crackled along my skin and arced from my fingertips to the bear’s chest in a spark of white light. Suddenly, he shifted from bear to man; a completely naked man with every tanned inch of his six-foot-two frame exposed to my sight. A swirl of wind ruffled his jet black hair before sweeping toward me and pushing me forward. His whiskey-colored eyes were filled with wonder as he stared at me. I stumbled slightly in my rush to reach him and he leapt forward to catch me.

As soon as his fingertips touched my skin, I felt my magic blast through me with more power than I’d ever experienced before. It flowed from me to him, a warm glow of light surrounding us. I didn’t know his name or who he was, but I felt a certainty to the depths of my soul that he was the person I’d been searching for. A vortex of wind wrapped around us, lifting us both off our feet for a moment, and I felt another surge of power deep within myself.

When he reached the ground again, I wrapped my hands around his biceps to steady myself and almost jerked away at the searing heat of his skin. Tearing my gaze from his, I glanced down and watched as a mark appeared around the bicep of his right arm. It spread slowly across his skin, similar to a tribal tattoo, with the phases of the moon woven into it. They were familiar to me, the same shapes I saw every day—the symbols on the charms hanging from the bracelet on my left ankle.

It was then I realized who this man was. He was the one person in the world the Goddess intended to stand by my side—my consort. My shock at knowing my consort was a bear shifter pulled me from my vision, wrenching me out of the safety of his arms and back to my place on the cushion next to my mom. Only, she wasn’t on her pillow any longer. When my eyes popped open, I found her kneeling in front of me, her hands wrapped around my wrists.

“Selene,” she gasped, her gaze locked on the inside of my left wrist while her nails dug into my skin.

The image of a bear with one paw print in the upper right corner and a handprint in the lower left was faintly visible, darkening in color as we watched. The black outlines quickly filled in until the stamp was unmistakable to any witch—a consort’s mark, which shouldn’t have appeared until I’d met mine in person.

“Tell me what you saw!” My mom sounded frantic and I rushed to explain my vision to her. When I was done, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s as I feared.”

“I don’t understand, Mom. What’s as you feared?”

“It was always there, in the back of my mind,” she whispered. “The possibility that it was you, my darling girl.”

“Mom!” I snapped. “Why do you sound like I’m dying or something equally as horrible?”

“Many decades ago, there was a witch who fell in love with a shifter. He was a dragon and the alpha of his hold. As feared as he was respected by other shifters. She was young, but powerful, well on her way to becoming the high-priestess of her coven,” she explained, a faraway look in her eye.

“I’ve never heard of another witch with a shifter for her consort, not even a dragon.”

My mom smiled sadly at my use of the word ‘another’, clear evidence of the connection I already felt to the bear shifter from my vision. “Because neither the witches of her coven nor the dragons in his hold would allow them to come together as the Goddess intended.

“Before she followed her dragon in death, the young witch had a vision—a prophecy she shared with her fellow coveners. She spoke of a young witch who would come into the world one day, destined for a shifter. A witch who would be gifted with more power than any other who’d come before her. A witch who would be strong enough to face any challenges to her union with her shifter, who’d be able to hold onto her consort unlike she had been able to do. With her last breath, she cast a spell to ensure it would be so and drained all her power, sending it into the night sky with a flash where it would wait for the witch she’d described.”

“And you think she was talking about me?”

“No, Selene. I don’t think she was talking about you.” Before the relief I felt could sink in, she continued. “I know it’s you. Somehow, I’ve always known it was you.”

“But it can’t be,” I whispered.

“Why not, baby girl?”

I wasn’t sure how to explain it to my mom without admitting the insecurities I’d lived with all these years. I’d kept my fears hidden for so long, it was difficult to bare them to her. But if there were ever a time to do so, it was now. “Because I’m not powerful enough to be the witch she described. I don’t even know that I’ll ever be ready to step into your shoes with the coven, let alone unite shifters and witches. I don’t know how you did it, Mom. How you found the strength to walk away from the only life you knew growing up because you couldn’t turn your back on the magic running through your veins. Magic that was strong enough to earn you a place in the first coven you found—a coven who welcomed you with open arms, taught you all they knew about witchcraft, and turned you into the witch you are today. You were strong enough to rise through the ranks of our coven to become the high priestess, but me? I haven’t even been strong enough to admit how scared I am to follow in your shoes.”

“You’re stronger than you know.” She squeezed my hand in reassurance. “You’ve never given yourself the credit you deserve.”

“You’ve always been blind when it came to my faults. The biggest one being I’m a twenty-two-year-old natural witch who still doesn’t know her elemental strength. How is it possible I’m the person in the prophecy when I can’t do something every other witch can?”

“You can’t compare yourself to anyone else, Selene. You’re your own person. Your own witch. You need to follow your own path wherever it takes you.” She stood and pulled me to my feet, giving me a hug before stepping back to look into my eyes. “Have you stopped to consider that you’re the only natural witch not to discover your elemental affinity when you turned twenty-one
because
you’re the witch in the prophecy?”