Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (41 page)

M
ae shook her head
. She couldn’t say. She didn’t want to say. She hadn’t even processed all of this yet herself. She took in the room around her, Astra’s guest room.

“Why—” The words were getting stuck in her throat. She swallowed hard and tried to clear it. “Why am I here?” She rubbed the back of her head where it throbbed a dull beat, and tried to remember how she’d gotten here. She had no clue. That last thing she remembered…

She looked at the faces in the room.

Jake?

Why is Jake here?

Her elemental was silent. She’d gone away, but… why? Mae tried to call her back. Tried to remember the elemental’s name. She’d told Mae once, long ago, but Mae had spent so much time apart from her, quashing the elemental, that she’d purposely forgotten her name. Now she felt bad about that.

Mae grabbed her head. She was so confused.

Slowly, it came back to her. The polar bear. The ice that fell from the sky. Her elemental. Astra talking to her elemental. No, that wasn’t Astra, it was something
in
Astra. And now her elemental was gone, abandoning her to this confusion.

Compound it with another issue at hand.

Jake.

How could she even think, knowing that he was here? Knowing that she’d accepted her feelings for him?

Jake stood back, behind Astra, but his eyes were on Mae. In the back of his dark eyes, she saw the golden glow of his bear. They both studied her through Jake’s eyes.

It felt like her soul was being infiltrated by both of them.

Don’t do this to me, please,
she begged silently, knowing that neither Jake nor his bear could hear her plea.
Please don’t make me love you more than I do. Please don’t do that.

“Mae?” Astra stood in front of Kane. Her face was pale, her eyes wide, and her lower lip was trembling.

Mae sat up and held her arms out. “Come.” Astra drifted into her arms as if she were floating. “I know this is confusing. I remember when I found out, it was very confusing. I remember the headaches, and the mayhem it created inside me.”

“Mae.” Kane put his hand on Astra’s arm. “What are you talking about? What’s going on with her?”

“Remember how you struggled with your bear? Just know that Astra has something she’s struggling with as well.”

“Astra’s no shifter.” Kane’s jaw was set.

“Mae, who was that I heard?” Astra asked.

Mae looked at Kane. “No. She’s not a shifter, like you and J—Doc.” She held Astra, running her hands over Astra’s head. She placed her lips on Astra’s forehead. “But she’s got something in her that she struggles with. Something powerful.”

Astra raised her head. “What now?”

“You’ll have to live with it. To learn to manage it, or avoid it. It’s different for all of us who are imbued with an elemental. Some of us adjust well, and some…”
Like me.
She bit the words back. “Not so well.”

“You have this too?” Jake asked.

His voice coursed through Mae’s veins with the same power as a drug. It heightened her senses. It made her body react, her pulse race, and her core tighten with need for him.

Mae nodded.

“The ice?” he persisted.

Another nod. “But I didn’t… I don’t use those… I mean…”

Mae didn’t know what she wanted to say. How could she tell him that she rejected her elemental more often than not? That she wasn’t at peace with the gifts the elemental brought her, mostly because she didn’t know how to harness them?

And whose fault is that?

Oh, now the elemental was back.

Yes, it was my fault,
Mae conceded
.
She had to mind talk to the elemental now, or face making everyone think she’d lost it completely.

She could already see doubt on Kane’s and Jake’s faces, though Jake had seen the ice incident. He knew something was going on with her, clearly
.

Mae turned her attention back to the elemental.
I left the order and didn’t fully develop my skills. I had my reasons.

And now you’ll suffer the consequences of those decisions you made,
the elemental huffed at her.

Benithe.

That was it! Her name. Benithe!

That’s right. Thank you.

In her mind’s eye, Mae could see her elemental nodding, an ethereal figure that looked more pale blue and smoky than she did human in form.

They were all watching her. Jake and Kane had concern written across their faces, but Astra was looking at her with understanding.

“You could hear us?” Mae asked her.

Astra nodded. “This is so odd. If this thing has been in me all along… why hasn’t she shown up until now? And why does she sound like she has two different voices? I hear her arguing with herself with different voices.”

Mae studied Astra. She’d never had that happen. Benithe only used one voice, and she argued with Mae, not with herself.

She’d heard of…

No. Mae pushed the thought aside.

It’s true,
Benithe said.
What you are thinking is true.

Duality?
Mae asked.
She has two in her?

She does. One is more dominant, and they fight as to who can be out more than the other one. They don’t let each other out at the same time.

“I’m not equipped to handle that,” Mae said.

She realized that she’d said it aloud when Kane and Jake whipped their heads in her direction.

“Not equipped to handle what?” Kane frowned.

Mae shook her head.

You don’t have to handle it. You can take her to the ones you rejected, the ones who tried to teach you, and you can let her learn there. Why don’t you let her make the decision, whether she wants the things you rejected? Those you ran away from can teach her. Then she can decide.

Mae knew Benithe was right. She should give Astra the choice.

“It’s fine.” Astra smiled bravely, stepping back from Mae’s embrace and into Kane’s arms. He put an arm around her and held her close, her back against him. Smiling, she planted a kiss on his jaw.

J
ake didn’t want
to bother Mae and Astra with this, not when they had so much going on with this elemental stuff, but it was time to decide on a plan of action for taking care of the polar bear.

He turned to Kane. “Can you give me a moment?”

Kane glanced at Astra, then nodded.

“No.” Mae’s tone was emphatic. “You’re not going to cut me out of this.”

“Mae.” Jake looked at her, though it was almost painful physically to do so. He swallowed down his aching need to make her his and breathed out a sigh. “You were hurt. You just regained consciousness. You don’t need to be worried about this.”

Her dark eyes glittered with anger. “I wasn’t hurt. I was overexerted. I just needed to rest. Now I’m rested.”

Jake couldn’t pull his gaze away from her eyes. There was something deep within them, an indigo tint in their dark depths. Was that her elemental? He tried to wrap his head around it.

The Mae he’d always known…

Does this mean she’s a witch?

The one thing it didn’t change was the way he felt about her. Whatever she was, she was fated to be his mate. They’d both been through hell and they’d come out on the other side. They deserved some happiness.

“Doc.” Astra broke into his thoughts.

He looked at his stepdaughter.

“I really want to be in on this, too. Secrets hurt us more than they help us.” She looked at him pointedly.

Speaking of secrets, Jake turned an accusing glance toward Mae. She’d been harboring her elemental as a secret for as long as he’d known her.

Mae turned away, a guilty look on her face.

Jake nodded. “Fine. We’ll talk here.”

Kane slipped into the other room and returned with two fold-out chairs. He sat Astra in the wing chair by the bed and pulled out the legs on the folding chairs for Jake and himself.

Jake rubbed his hand over his face, then looked at Mae. “I saw you and that polar bear talking.” A tiny flame of jealousy flared in him again, though he knew nothing was going on between them. “Would you like to start there?”

Mae plucked at the bed sheet, then began tracing its patterns aimlessly. “He’s looking for a polar bear. I told him there was no polar bear community here.”

“Did that answer satisfy him?” Astra asked.

Mae shook her head. “He asked if there was a polar bear here. A young one.”

“Sounds like he’s looking for Dominic,” Kane surmised.

“Sure does.” Jake put his hand over Mae’s because she’d begun to pluck at the fabric.

She raised her eyes to his.

We need to talk.
He wished he could say the words to her. “What do you suggest we do?” he asked her instead of saying the things he wanted to say.

“We should try to talk to him.” There was something pointed, almost strange, in her expression. “A lot of things can be resolved by talking.”

Was she sending him a hidden message? Did she want to talk to him? Would she talk to him about this attraction between the two of them? Or would she deny it out of obligation to Brad?

“Why don’t you two go,” Astra suggested.

“Not a chance in hell.” Kane’s tone brooked no argument. “That would leave the two of you here unprotected.”

“He’s right.” Jake reached for the phone in his front pocket. “I have a thought. Teague and Tanner can go talk to him.”

“What about Marti, Dominic, and Kelsey? You don’t want them left alone, do you?”

“Nope,” Jake agreed with her. “We’ll have the guys take them over to Grant and Chelsea’s while they look for the polar bear. Grant’s place is tighter than a fortress. It’s shifter-proof.”

Kane nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I don’t like sitting here doing nothing.”

“Don’t even think about it. I’m not leaving,” Astra declared. “You’re not taking me to Grant’s place. I want to talk to Mae.”

Jake looked at Astra. “Get in line.” Mae’s head snapped in his direction, but he ignored her for the moment. “I’m going to have a talk with this lady, myself. But first things first: you two are going to Grant’s. He and Joe can take care of you. Kane and I are going to be with Teague and Tanner. I can take them to the last place I saw the bear. Tracking shouldn’t be a problem from there.”

Jake spent a few minutes on the phone with Marti before they headed out to hunt the polar bear.

“We’re all going to meet at Grant’s,” he said after he hung up. “After everyone is brought up to speed, we’ll put the plan into action.”

J
ake arranged
to take Mae in his truck while Astra and Kane took Kane’s. As soon as he’d pulled out of their driveway he delved into the questions he had for Mae.

“What about that shifter? There’s more to this than you’re telling me.” He cast a sideways glance at her, admiring her profile, the way her nose had the slightest upward tilt, her full lips and defined cheekbones.

He purposely kept himself from exploring her body, though he wanted to check out the rest of her, to enjoy her curves in a profile view.

She looked at him, her gaze intense. “We need to talk to Marti. She might be able to shed some light on this situation.”

“Do you know him? Have you ever met him before?” Jake asked her, containing a twinge of jealousy.

“He said his name was Vey Kozlov. I may know someone who knows him.”

“Like who?”

“Mikhail Romanoff.”

“I’ve heard of him. New York, right?”

“Yes. He’s got connections. He can help.”

“Let’s see what Marti has to say first,” Jake advised.

G
rant opened
the door with a smile that was underwritten with a look of concern. “You’re the first ones here. I haven’t told Chelsea much.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “The baby, you know. What’s going on? Why the meeting? Why are we hunkering down?”

With Chelsea expecting, Grant had become very protective.

Jake got that, completely. “There’s nothing to worry about. She can join us in the meeting. It won’t stress her out.”

“So what’s up, then?” Grant persisted.

Jake and Grant had been friends too long. He wasn’t going to make him wait. “Polar bear. In the forest. Attacked Mae.”

Grant’s face turned grave. He looked toward Mae and Chelsea sitting on the sofa. “She okay?”

“Yeah. So, couple things…” He briefed Grant on the polar bear, and Mae’s and Astra’s elementals.

“Can’t say I’m surprised about Mae. Too many coincidences, you know?” Grant studied Mae. They’d been friends a long time. “But Astra, that one’s surprising, though I always knew that there was something about her. I just wouldn’t have figured that.”

Marti and Tanner walked in, followed by a very boisterous Dominic, who couldn’t wait for Ivan to come. Dominic didn’t have long to wait. Joe, Sara, and Ivan strode in the front door.

Everything was interrupted by the excited squeals of Dominic and Ivan, happy to have a play date, with no clue about the concerns that surrounded the adults in the room.

Right behind them were Teague and Kelsey, Kane and Astra.

Astra smiled apologetically. “We should’ve gotten here quicker. Sorry. My fault.”

They all convened in the dining room while the little ones were set up in a corner with an assortment of toys to keep them busy while the adults talked.

“Couple of things. I’ll start with this first, because it’s not the one that requires a plan. At least not a plan that we need to make. It’s something that Astra and Mae will be discussing in further detail.”

Mae and Astra both nodded.

Jake told them about the elementals, to the oohs and aahs of Kelsey, Chelsea, and Marti as they reached hands out to Astra.

Sara sat back a notch. She hadn’t yet become close to the other women, and was always a little distant. Joe had said she’d get past it, but for now it was what it was.

“So that’s that,” Jake said. “Now for the other bit…”

He brought them up to speed on the polar bear’s appearance and interaction with Mae.

“He asked about polar bears, specifically?” Marti had lost all the color in her face.

Tanner put his arm around her, his gaze on Dominic, his jaw set. Tanner had come to view Dominic as his own, which was no secret. The two were inseparable.

Mae nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you…” Jake didn’t know how to say it without upsetting Marti. “Could you tell us about Dominic’s father? I don’t want to stir up any painful memories.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Marti began.

Tanner’s palm slapped the table. “No. I won’t have you saying that.” A muscle in his temple ticked. He bit his lip, flesh turning white as he gained composure. “He raped her. Bottom line. No consent was given.”

Marti nodded, her eyes flooding with tears.

“He said his name was Vey Kozlov,” Mae said.

Tears began to flow down her cheeks, but Marti didn’t say a word.

Mae handed her a tissue. “That’s the man?”

“I don’t know his last name.” Marti dabbed at her face.

“Huge. Tattoos. Long blond hair.”

Marti nodded.

“Seems cut and dried.” Tanner’s voice had an undercurrent of steel.

Mae’s face was full of compassion, and her voice was low when she spoke. “What if that’s Dominic’s father? We don’t want to kill Dominic’s father. We don’t want that on our conscience.”

Jake wasn’t buying that bullshit. “That bastard raped a woman. He’s not the kind of man who needs to be in Dominic’s life. He’s not the kind of shifter we want here. But we’ll go, as you wish. I’ll spare him if he steers clear of the valley and its residents.”

“So be it,” Grant said.

“Let’s go.” Jake pushed his chair out.

“Tanner and I will go together,” Teague announced, his expression as foreboding as Tanner’s.

“Doc and I will follow in my truck,” Joe said.

“I’ll stay.” Grant looked at a worried Chelsea. “Kane, mind staying with me?”

Kane nodded, though Jake could tell he wanted to join them, but was torn about leaving Astra behind. It made sense, though, to have four bears going and three staying.

Grant nodded his thanks. “Between Kane, Sara, and me, we should be able to handle anything here.”

Marti’s mouth opened.

Grant put a hand on her arm. “We’ll keep it outside. Don’t worry. No one can come in. Trust me. This place is impenetrable. It’s been tried.”