Page 7 of Bear Your Fate

A deep growl rumbled up Carrick’s throat, and he elbowed his way forward until he was blocking my view of the dragon shifter. His display of possessiveness was to be expected from a bear shifter when it came to their mate, but not over a woman they’d only slept with twice. It didn’t make sense—nothing about our situation did. But I didn’t have time to worry about it. Not with Damien’s surprising announcement hanging over me.

“Why do they want me?”

“And why wouldn’t they?” Carrick grumbled.

His sudden about-face made Damien chuckle deeply, while I bit my lip to try to stop myself from giggling like a much younger woman would have. But the way he’d said it, as though anyone would want my help, made me feel downright giddy. It wasn’t as though I wasn’t used to having people believe in me. My coven absolutely did. So did my daughter. But knowing Carrick did was...different. Somehow more, even though it shouldn’t have been.

It wasn’t the right time to contemplate what my mixed up feelings meant, though. Not with the way Carrick was glaring at Damien, with his fists clenched so hard at his sides that his knuckles were white. If I didn’t intercede, and soon, a fight was bound to break out between the two of them. I moved to Carrick’s side and wrapped my hand around one of his fists, tugging gently until his fingers opened and I was able to slide my palm against his. When I felt some of the tension ebb from his body, I turned my attention to Damien.

“If you’re going to keep pressing his buttons, then I’m not going to be able to help the council.”

His head dipped low in acknowledgement, but not before I caught the flash of approval in his eyes. The dragon shifter knew too much, often more than the rest of us. I couldn’t help but wonder—and hope—if whatever he knew about Carrick and me was connected to the tingling I often felt in my wrist when we were together.

“It’ll be hard to resist since I’m not used to being able to get a reaction out of him, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.” I glanced at Carrick out of the corner of my eye and mumbled, “You’d better behave, too.”

He adopted an innocent expression, but the things he made me feel were downright sinful. “That was me behaving.”

“Sure you were,” I sighed, sending a quick prayer up to the Goddess for patience when dealing with alpha males. It was harder than handling children at times.

“Now that we’ve got that settled, how about you explain why the shifter council needs my help?” I asked Damien.

“Although things have gone well for shifters during the year in which Selene has been serving on the council, there’s still resistance. Her absence to care for the babies might open the door for a power play to remove witches from the council completely.”

“Shit,” Carrick muttered.

“Shit sums it up pretty damn well.”

“But we’ve made such great strides in building the relationship between the shifter and witch communities in the last year,” I pointed out. “Do you think it would work? They’d really fill Selene’s seat with a shifter? Permanently?”

“There’s no way to know for sure, but once the opportunity is there, those who are opposed to the ties between our communities will do their best to take full advantage of the circumstances.”

“He’s right,” Carrick agreed with Damien. “Selene’s given birth to twins. It will be a while before she’ll be able to travel for council business; long enough that we’re going to need a temporary replacement. If it’s not a witch—”

“Then it’ll be a shifter,” I finished for him. “One who might not be willing to give the seat back to Selene when she’s ready to return to the position.”

“Which is exactly why having you step into the role is the perfect solution,” Damien agreed.

When the Council of Four had asked for my help as an emissary to other witch covens, I hadn’t thought twice about saying yes. Not only was it the right thing to do, but it had given me distance from Carrick when I’d needed it. What Damien was asking of me was no less right, but it meant I’d be working closely with Carrick since he also served on the council.

“But my coven,” I protested weakly.

Damien gave me a look that said he knew exactly what I was trying to do, and he wasn’t going to let me get away with it. “Has been doing fine under Tempest’s leadership while you’ve been gone.”

I couldn’t disagree because he was absolutely correct. She’d done so well as the high priestess in my absence that the last time I’d been back home; I’d found myself torn about what to do when the Council of Four no longer needed me. Returning after so long and relegating Tempest to a lesser role as my second didn’t seem fair, but we couldn’t both serve as high priestess. There could only be one in a coven.

“As Selene’s mother, you’re the only person who can do it,” Carrick announced. I wasn’t sure how my being her mom made any difference, but I didn’t get the chance to ask before he took advantage of the situation and made a suggestion of his own. “And I think you should stay in Bear Creek while you’re serving on the council. It would allow you to be here for Selene and the babies, and we could travel together when there’s council business. Like Selene and I have been doing.”

If only it were that simple. If only I didn’t know how every inch of his body looked and tasted. If only I wasn’t filled with the urge to do it all over again. And again and again, since it was an experience that bore repeating. Often.

Staying in Bear Creek meant more time spent around Carrick, testing my willpower. Stepping into Selene’s spot on the shifter council meant the same. My wrist tingled again, and I wanted to scream in frustration when a mark didn’t appear there. Being with Carrick day in and day out, knowing he wasn’t destined to be my consort, would be torture.

But as I’d taught my daughter and all the witches who had trained beneath me—the things which mattered most never came easily. And protecting my daughter’s position on the council was more than important. It was vital. Since the still developing bonds between the witch and shifter communities hung in the balance, there was only one answer I could give. “Yes, I’ll take Selene’s place on the council until she’s ready to return.”

“Excellent.” Damien gave me an approving nod before he turned on his heel and walked away.

I barely resisted the urge to take a couple of steps backwards when Carrick moved closer. “Does your decision mean that you’ll stay in Bear Creek?”

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