Brave Bear Mated(8)

Free.

“We’ll get through this together, brother bear,” Thames said, his voice shaking with unshed tears. “Together. It’s our way.”





Chapter Two



Present day…

Theron whistled a happy tune as he made his way over the footbridge that crossed a narrow finger of Lake Haven. His security shift at the lodge nestled in the Ouachita Mountains started in thirty minutes, but it was the kind of work he loved so he didn’t mind getting there a little early.

At the top of the bridge, he paused to stare out over the water. It was midway through summer, hot as hell in central Arkansas, and so humid it felt like breathing in cotton. But the water glittered in the afternoon sun, laughter could be heard over the wind, and best of all… it was his to call home.

After spending over a decade working as bouncers at Cleaver’s, a bar named after its falcon shifter owner, Theron and Thames were shoved out of the nest and given the chance to use their skills in a different way. They’d accepted a job protecting the lodge, its guests, and the werecat clan that ran it. Including the recent addition of a small coven of witches. Sorcera, as they liked to be called.

If he was straight honest, Theron had expected the job to be dull. There was always action at the bar. A scuffle to break up, a dance off, cat fights between ladies. Literal cat fights… and bear fights… and wolf fights… and hell, birds of prey fights.

But what kind of excitement could ensue in a tucked away vacation lodge? There was a spa for fuck’s sake. Where they did yoga and calm shit.

He’d been in for the wildest surprise.

Cleaver had said Ouachita was a place they could settle their bears. A place they could find happiness. A place they could call home. And he was right.

But he failed to mention they would find magic—both the kind that makes you oooh and aww, and the kind that makes you cringe and cower—and mayhem and an entire ready-made family of people who would go to bat for them.

With the help of the coven, the Ouachita clan had fought the Alley Cats, shifter bad guys from up Memphis way, to earn a werecat’s freedom. Gash, the jag-lion shifter was now Theron’s bossman. The harsh and big-hearted head of security was expecting a cub in a few months with his mate, Bailey. It was a success story that made you feel warm and mushy inside.

Made a couple of lonely werebears want in on that kind of dedication.

And Thames had gotten his chance at happiness already.

When dark magic threatened to consume one of the Sorcera, Ouachita came together to battle that foe too. Nastia, the wisest of the three witches, and mate to his brother bear, hadn’t found her Anchor in time and lost her light when she used dark magic to kill an Alley Cat to save Thames. At her worst, she’d attacked Theron, thinking he was a dark power. But one of her coven sisters had shoved him away and taken the blast of magic herself.

To save him. Theron. A shifter she hardly knew.

With her actions, Mirena the Bravest found him worthy. With her actions, she claimed him.

But he’d learned a few things over the years. Like, not to throw all his chips in the game on the first hand. He’d learned how to be patient and wait for things to settle before going all in. Working for Cleaver had taught him so much about life that he’d never learned as a boy in the Deadclaw clan.

The last two Sorcera still had an epic battle ahead of them. If they didn’t find their Anchor, the person or object that allowed them to remain connected to their light, before the autumnal equinox, they would go dark. Evil, becoming the worst kind of magic wielder… a Magei.

We won’t let that happen to mate, his bear rumbled.

Damn straight. The entire clan was working together to help the two remaining witches resist the darkness and keep their light.

Together. It was always their way. His and Thames’s.

The Ouachita way, his bear reminded.

Ouachita was Theron’s home now, and even though there were parts of this gig that scared the fuck out of him, being here felt right. It felt good.

He continued across the bridge, whistling his tune. Then through the parking lot, his long stride eating up the gravel quickly. He was anxious to get to the main building to see his…

Goddamn, it was insane to even think it.

Before coming to Lake Haven, he never thought of having a mate. Not anymore. And Thames respected that he didn’t want to imagine or dream or even speak of mating at all. His brother could feel the bear’s toiling and wanting, sure. But he’d never brought it up.

All that was changed now.

Theron had a mate. A true mate. One who didn’t think bad of him. Who smiled at him with the prettiest mouth he’d ever seen. And had eyes that looked at him like he was… necessary.