I knew Laurel had a complicated relationship with the coven for reasons of her own and couldn’t give as much as she’d been able to when she was younger. I didn’t blame her for not wanting to nearly kill herself every time she used magic.
The town of Ravenwood protected its people and its secrets, but Rowen had long known that something was coming. As our unofficial leader, our mayor being but a showpiece for the humans, Rowen knew when something was on the horizon that could threaten us all.
“And the storm came out of nowhere?” Trace asked. I nodded, pulling myself back to the conversation at hand.
“You saw it. We didn’t know it was coming at all, let alone that it would hit as hard as it did. Lightning struck a tree, and I didn’t move out of the way fast enough.”
Trace’s brows rose. “That must have been some tree, considering you’re the fastest of us all.”
That made me snort. “I don’t think Frank would agree.”
Trace’s eyes filled with humor, his bear making the rim of his eyes glow gold. “Frank is nearing seventy. I don’t think he’s as fast as he used to be.”
I laughed. “That old jaguar is still pretty damn quick. Though not as fast as that cheetah that came through town that one time.”
“It’s too cold up here for either of them, but Frank likes it where he is—even if the cold makes his old bones ache,” Trace said, mimicking Frank’s voice.
I sighed, draining the last of my beer. “We need to get to the pack circle.”
“We will, as soon as you tell me the rest of it. Lightning hit a tree, and it fell on you. I still don’t get how that happened.”
“I don’t either. We both know that storm wasn’t natural.”
My brother sighed. “No, it wasn’t. Since it happened when that new, pretty little witch showed up, it must have something to do with the coven.”
I frowned. “You think she’s pretty?”
“Hell, yeah. You saw those wide eyes and that plump little mouth.” Trace raised a brow, and I realized my chest was rumbling.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry.”
“Well, then. That answers that.”
“That answers nothing,” I growled, annoyed with myself and my bear.
“You’re not going to tell your dear old triplet that you just found your mate?”
I froze and set down the empty bottle, even as my heart raced. My bear prowled deep within me. “It’s not for certain.” My bear pushed at me. I needed to run, stretch, do anything but talk about this. Because my bear wanted its mate, and I didn’t know anything about her. Mating wasn’t supposed to be this way. I wasn’t supposed to fall for a stranger, one who had already saved my life—even accidentally.
“I saw how you reacted, and I can feel your bear pressing at your skin even now. You do realize that mating a witch right now is probably the worst thing your bear could be doing, right?” Trace asked drily. “What with this darkness, the witches’ coven, and our pack?”
“And you would know all about witches, wouldn’t you?” I lashed out, my bear pushing me. I cursed under my breath. “Sorry,” I said quickly.
Trace held up his hand, his eyes filled with pity. “Oh, don’t worry. Laurel and I are friends. You don’t need to feel like you stepped in it about that at all,” he whispered. “Not everyone in the pack will be okay with what could happen if you complete the mating bond with Sage.”
“We don’t even know if it’s going to happen,” I snapped. “Sage and I both have to agree to the bonding and the marking. It’s not only what my bear wants. I can ignore it for now.”
“That’s only going to make you more agitated, and you have enough issues with control over your bear. Plus, with the factions rumbling about Alden’s position and your handling of it, it’s not going to be easy.”
“It’s fine. Come on. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I can’t stand here wondering about the what-ifs. I don’t even know her.”
“No. And she’s going to have a lot on her plate as it is, but she is pretty.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Are you trying to get me to claim her, or do you want me to punch you in the face?” I asked, my voice clipped.
“You don’t have to worry about me.” He paused, his gaze filled with sympathy. “You know I’m not someone you ever have to worry about.”
“I know,” I said, letting out a breath. “Come on. We need to meet the others.”
“Let’s do it, then,” Trace said, and I followed him out of my home, into the forest behind my house, on the outskirts of Ravenwood.
The den contained the pack circle and was carved into the mountainside, an intricate series of caves that protected us during the height of war back when the town was first formed. As time moved on, it was used less for its original purpose and more for training and as a place for our bears to stay when they needed to hibernate, even if our hibernation was slightly different than that of our natural counterparts. Many types of shifters called Ravenwood home, but bears were the most prevalent. Jaxton and the hawks were growing in number but weren’t anywhere near the bears yet. There was a single jaguar and that cheetah who passed through. We had a couple of jackals, wolves, and a few mountain lions—even a badger or two who kept to themselves. Everyone was better off that way.
The bears were the most prominent, and our main den in the States was here. While my father was in charge of both continents in this hemisphere, my territory was nearly the size of Pennsylvania. However, there were alphas, wing leaders, and heads of every other type of shifter out there. My clan happened to be the bears in this territory. Therefore, I usually had the most say when it came to the shifters as a collective.
We made our way to the pack circle, seeing some of the others milling about. Today was an informal chat. If not, I would have been antsier than I already was. However, with the storm, my injury, and Alden running off as he had, I probably should have been more focused on this than I was. With the coven in flux and seeing Sage? I couldn’t focus.
And that wasn’t good for an alpha.
“I should have known,” Trace grumbled from my side. I looked over to what he was glaring at.
Alden stood in the center of the circle, speaking as if he had a right to conduct the meeting. Thankfully, most of the pack ignored him, having side conversations of their own, but his small faction, ones who believed that Alden should be their alpha, listened raptly. Alden was the most political bear of our pack. He was the one who often traveled to the other alphas around the country and met with our father the most.
He wasn’t the strongest, though, and that’s what made an alpha. Still, the younger generation didn’t always believe that. They had never been through a shifter war like the one my father had ended. They hadn’t seen the gore, the bloodshed. Hadn’t felt the terror. They wanted to follow the more elegant and sophisticated bear, not the one who could protect them against magic and the unknown.
“Thank you for waiting for my arrival,” I growled, my bear in my voice. The others who hadn’t been listening to Alden either growled at my brother or ignored him entirely before standing at attention. Alden’s little crew glared at me, though they quickly averted their gazes. None of them was strong enough to face me in the circle nor meet my eyes directly. Good. They needed to remember who their alpha was. I didn’t rule by brute force. I led by claw, fang, and the bear within. And that meant I wouldn’t kill anybody who went against me, but they still needed to remember who their alpha was, even if they didn’t always agree because they didn’t understand what could be coming. None of us did. Not really.