Mate Bond(33)

Bowman shot him a look. "You know a lot about it."

"I research humans as much as this Dr. Turner researches Shifters. The  Internet is very useful, the Guardian Network even more so-when I can  convince the Guardians to look something up for me. I very much wish to  read his book."

"Do. And tell me what's in it." They'd made it to the rendezvous point  to find Cade waiting. Jamie jogged up as they stopped, and behind him  came Kenzie's grandmother.

Cade pinned Cristian with a glare. "What are you doing here?"

Cristian gave him an alpha stare in return. "Have a care, tracker. Be courteous to your elders."

"I found Cristian grilling Turner," Bowman said. "He's good at it, so I let him. He's useful."

Cristian should have bristled at being called useful, but he was too  experienced to react to Bowman's insults. "What did you learn?"  Christian asked the other three.

Jamie had his hands on his hips, looking annoyed. "There's all kinds of  Shifters out here today," he said, glancing at Afina. "Look who I ran  into."

"He nearly did run into me," Afina said. "I thought cats were graceful."  She smiled when Jamie hid a snarl. "I will be gracious and let you, the  important male, tell your leader what we found."

Jamie gave her another irritated look. He'd never openly be hostile to a  venerable female like Afina, but he was not happy. Bowman had to wonder  what had happened between them out there.

"We found buildings," Jamie said. "Small ones. Shacks, to the naked eye,  but shored up and well kept. Two of them, about a mile from Turner's  house. We sniffed around, but they were empty. No smell of Shifters, or  Fae, or . . . griffins. Might be used by pot farmers."

"I found one like that too," Cade said. "About half a mile from here,  maybe a little more. Empty, unused, but well kept. Didn't smell like  much of anything."

"If they'd been used to store drugs, the smell would still be there," Bowman said. "To Shifters, anyway."

Jamie broke in. "Don't drug dealers use coffee grounds or whatever to  hide the scent from sniffer dogs?" He wrinkled his nose. "Not that I  smelled coffee grounds either."

"Turner uses a distinctive blend of coffee," Cristian said. "You'd have  smelled it if it had been him out there. It's very good. I will have to  ask him where he acquires it."

"There was much mist under the trees," Afina said, her voice going quiet. "I do not trust the mists."

Cristian frowned at her, but uneasily. "It's winter. Of course there is mist as the air warms and cools."

"That is not what I mean, and you know this."

Cade watched both of them. "What are you two talking about?"

Cristian gave his mother another scowl and shook his head at Cade. "Romanian folktales. It is of no matter."

"So you say," Afina returned. "But you'd do well to avoid the mists. You don't know everything, son of mine."

Cristian bristled. They would launch into one of their famous arguments any second.

Bowman was grateful for the soft buzz of his cell phone. He again hadn't  found a signal in Turner's trailer, but now that they were higher up  the hill, the phone worked fine.

It was Kenzie. "You need to come home," she said, her voice sounding too  bright. "A couple of our Shifters are asking to be mated."





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE




Kenzie took her place near Bowman that afternoon as the Shifters  gathered for a mating under full sun. The ceremony had been thrown  together in record time, but Shifters were always ready to party.

Streamers had been tied to the trees by females and cubs. Bianca's  sisters had rushed to a flower shop in the nearest town and then wove  Bianca a garland that was a bit lopsided. Amid the laughter and  excitement, though, no one cared how makeshift anything was.

Bad things were happening outside Shiftertown, but the Shifters were  eager to put aside fear and embrace this celebration of love, life, and  continuity. Because the moon was in one of the three days of the full,  Bowman would conduct the sun ceremony now and the full moon ceremony  tonight. The moon ceremony was the more important of the two and would  seal Bianca and Marcus's mating in the eyes of Shifters and the Goddess.                       
       
           



       

The mate bond the two had already found would seal them more permanently  than any ritual. The mate bond was older, a spiritual joining that had  no material form. The link would keep them together through thick and  thin, good times and bad, and couldn't be broken. Only death severed the  bond, and sometimes the second of the pair didn't survive the grief.

Kenzie didn't necessarily have to participate in the mating ceremony.  She could simply stand by while Bowman gave the blessing and be a silent  symbol of a successful mating. She chose to give a blessing herself  today-Bianca was special to her.

Bowman faced the couple in the woods between the houses, under a tree  full of streamers. Friends and family formed a circle around Bowman,  Kenzie, Marcus, and Bianca, while the rest of Shiftertown ringed them in  ever-widening circles.

Though it was cold, the snow had ceased, and the sun poked through the  clouds. When a beam touched Bianca, Bowman lifted his hands.

"Under the light of the sun, the Father God, I declare you mated."

A cheer went up, nearly drowning Kenzie's words. She had to shout them. "The blessings of the Father God be upon you!"

The cheer renewed. Ryan leapt into the air on youthful legs and did a  handspring when he came down. Bianca laughed, and Kenzie pulled her into  a hug. Kenzie hugged Marcus next, the long-limbed Feline nearly  crushing her in his happiness.

After a marathon of hugging, fire flared high, in both bonfires and  barbecue grills, and music boomed out of speakers Jamie had wired up in  the trees. It was late afternoon, and as soon as the sky darkened and  the moon rose, the second ceremony would commence.

For now, there was plenty of food and drink, music and dancing. Kenzie  found herself drawn into a circle dance with Bianca and her sisters-all  the cousins who had grown up together. They joined hands and swayed in  the eternal dance of love and fertility.

The males circled in the opposite direction outside them, always  interested in fertility. The men might stay calm until the moon  ceremony, but after that, no female Shifter would go without a male  tonight, unless she was very fast and good with her claws. Looking at  the eager faces of her female cousins and Bianca's girlfriends, Kenzie  knew they wouldn't try to run very fast.

Bowman didn't join the dance, though Jamie did, celebrating his cousin's  joy with him. Bowman stood with Cade outside the circles, Cade  grinning, loving the ceremony. Bowman didn't smile, but Kenzie could  tell he was glad of this mating.

Matings meant more cubs, stronger Shifters. The cubs born of the mating  frenzies tonight would never wear Collars, if Kenzie and Bowman could  help it. That thought made the occasion even brighter.

Bowman caught Kenzie's gaze and held it as she danced. His eyes were smoke gray, the sunlight bringing out the sparkle in them.

He was virile, strong, his sweatshirt and jeans showing off his honed  body. More than one woman looked his way in longing. He might be mated,  but Bowman hadn't formed the mate bond, and there was always a chance  he'd find it with one of them. A cub born of a Shifter leader was  powerful indeed.

No, Kenzie decided after watching the women watch Bowman awhile. It  wasn't just the prospect of a strong cub that made all the unmated  females look at him. Bowman was in-your-face, body-clenching hot. Simply  touching him made Kenzie ripple with fire, and the fact that she could  touch him whenever she wanted made her tighten in satisfaction.

Kenzie shot him a smile, one that said she didn't care how many women followed him with their eyes. Bowman was hers.

Bowman frowned back at her, his look becoming fierce. He had no idea  what wild fantasies were flitting through her head, and that made her  smile widen.

More scowling from Bowman. The expression made his face hard, his mouth tight. Kenzie would soften it with kisses later.

Bowman held her gaze until the dance took her around the circle and too  many Shifters got between her and him, and he was lost to sight.

The sun sank, the winter night closing fast. The clouds parted and the  moon rose. Another cheer went up, this one holding a wilder note. Voices  turned to howls as clothes were shed and Shifters assumed animal forms.

Those who stayed human began a chant to the Goddess. Circles formed. The  moon shone down, brushing the woods with silver, rendering it an  enchanted place.

The cries, howls, and ululations were shrill with bacchanalian  excitement. Bianca and Marcus stood in the middle of the circle again,  Bianca's garland slightly squashed, Marcus's wildcat eyes glowing soft  gold.

Bowman raised his hands for silence, and mostly got it. The chanters  continued, the circles moving slowly as the dancers shuffled their feet  in the halting rhythm.