Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Bear’s Arranged Mate Chapter 15

Jermaine

No!

Elva threw herself over me to block the wolf from attacking again. I watched helplessly as she got bitten. I watched for several minutes as my vision shifted, reduced to the usual human capabilities as I changed from a bear to a human. And I watched as Elva shifted, too, just so she could apply pressure to my neck.

Darkness had taken me then. Time sped up, sending me into an unknown future where I teetered on the edge of oblivion. The only thing that seemed to make sense was the light piercing my eyes. Bright light. Hospital light. The kind of light that helps surgeons.

"He's good."

My head snapped up with a gasp, colliding with something hard. Pain radiated through my skull as I fell back and clutched my head. I was a real klutz when I wanted to be. As I rubbed the sore area, I listened to the sounds around me--the hum of machinery, the steady beep of a heart monitor, and the murmurs coming from somewhere in the distance.

"Jermaine?"

That wasn't a murmur. That was a voice I knew all too well.

I blinked the blurriness from my eyes and focused on the figure above me. Elva-her brow was creased and her lips were pressed in a tight line. She held up an ice pack and pressed it to my forehead. Though part of her was obscured, I could smell her still. Citrus. Cream. Delicious things that reminded me of snow cones in the summer.

I smiled. "Are you my nurse?"

"You have some nerve joking about that with the scare you just gave us."

My fingers rose instinctively to my throat. I cringed. "Yikes, that doesn't feel very good."

I cleared my throat, groaning when the simple action made pain burst through my chest. It felt like I was swallowing knives.

A deep breath helped, but I wasn't sure I wanted to try to speak again.

"You had part of your throat ripped out," Elva explained. "Honestly, I don't see how you're alive right now. Anyone else would have died."

The last word trembled on her lips. It was like she had been forbidden from saying it. Not because of some great authority, but because if she said it out loud, it might actually come true. My heart quivered. "Not happening."

"Don't talk too much. Dr. Windsor gave you a tonic to help with the healing, but you have to be careful."

I nodded slowly, then pointed to the doorway.

She stared at me for a moment. "If you're asking about the pack, they're fine."

I gave her a small smile.

"Those weren't Gilberts who attacked us," she continued. "It was a small family called Myrtle. When Blake and the others showed up, they backed off."

A low growl resonated inside me. Myrtle-that was a name I had heard before. Tanner had mentioned it, I thought. Somewhere in my mind lurked the memory. I just had to dig it out.

"Tanner said you guys heard that name from one of your captives," Elva explained.

Good thing my girl knew what I needed without me asking.

"We didn't have many wounded. You were the worst injury."

Relief curled up with the confusion in my gut. While it wasn't clear why the Myrtles had come for us, I was glad I was the only one seriously hurt.

"But they did take someone."

I practically fought to sit up. Elva had to wrestle me back to the bed, her eyes glowing iridescent as she growled at me. "Would you quit it? You have to rest, Jermaine. You won't get much done without a proper throat." "What...the...f**k..."

It was worth the pain it brought just to say that.

Elva spared me a merciful frown, tracing the scruff along my jaw as she focused on something next to us. A sink, maybe. Or even a tray. Whatever it was, it helped her get the right words to say. "I know, Jermaine. I know. I'm as confused as you are. But if we jump now, then we risk her life."

"Her?"

"It was Gwendolyn Jennings. She's an owl shifter. I'm not even sure why they want her, seeing as we don't have any other enemies." Her eyebrows shot up. "Well, none that we really know about."

I struggled to get the right sentences strung together. I had to talk. I had to figure this out. I was head of security and my pack needed me.

Elva patted my chest gently. "Easy, gummy bear. Silver fox says he has everything under control."

I murmured something that made me ache all over.

But it wasn't as important as the way Elva looked right now. Hospital light wasn't flattering on anyone, especially the kind of lights we used at our makeshift hospital in our community. Still, Elva managed to look like she had walked right off a fashion shoot. Messy orange strands stood up in odd directions that almost looked purposefully messy. Eyeliner smudged her lids, charcoal black enhancing the green of her eyes. Lips moved soundlessly as I observed them, plump and moistened from her licking her lips every so often. Her skin shimmered with rose undertones. Everything about her right now seemed far more appealing than when she had dressed up for our mating ritual.

I was totally captivated by her. The way she spoke in a low voice so as not to irritate me warmed me all over. Although the pain was the main attraction in my body, I wasn't as bothered by it as I knew I should be.

With Elva here, it was like I wasn't injured at all.

"... Blake says we have to stage a rescue." She huffed, blowing a strand of hair away from her forehead. "I don't know about all that. We have no idea who the Myrtles are or what they want. I say we wait for a ransom or something. I bet they're working with those Gilberts, too. I bet they're jerks."

I stroked her cheek. She jumped, startled by the motion. When she noticed how I was looking at her-like she was the most precious person I had ever seen-she took my hand and nuzzled my palm.

"You scared me," she whispered to my skin. "You kicked me out and then you almost died. What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" She grimaced. "Or worse, are you trying to give me wrinkles and gray hair?"

I laughed. As much as it hurt, I couldn't help my reaction. I laughed until I was hoarse. I laughed until tears burned my eyes. I laughed until Elva laughed with me, the room clogging up quickly with the sound of our maniacal cackling.

If Dr. Windsor heard us, she didn't seem bothered. She'd probably heard stranger things in her makeshift hospital.

"Wrinkles," I wheezed. "Gray hair."

"It's true, Jermaine. You shouldn't be so rude about it. I only have my looks, okay? I'm not really good at anything else."

That shut me up fast. I grabbed her hands and pressed them to my chest, breathing so deeply that I thought I would never stop expanding. I just kept breathing, my body ballooning well into the atmosphere, my entire being inflated by her attention and affection. And when I finally exhaled, I saw the relief written all over her face. That I wasn't about to stop breathing. Not while we were together, anyway.

"Elva, this is the loudest you've ever been with me," I whispered, trying to be careful with my throat. "Without words. With actions."

Stony green eyes gazed at me for a long time. Looking up at her like this made light leak into my vision. I stared back for so long that the edges of her body became colorful trails, vivid impressions of reality that only I could witness.

She touched my mouth with her fingertips, breathing with the movement of her hand. Always with the breath. Always grounded in the body.

Nobody could have done it like Elva. It was probably from years of doing self-defense. She had taken some dance classes at some point, too. Everything was better when it was done with the breath.

And now, I could see how much more impressionable it was to sit here with her like this, nearly breathless.

A smile quirked my lips. It made my cheeks hurt. It made everything hurt.

But it was fine as long as I kept breathing. "I love you, Elva."

She blinked rapidly as she sat back. "Pardon?"

"You told me you loved me back at the security booth. I didn't get a chance to say it back."

"But you kicked me out."

Oh, right. That. How could I have forgotten? "I was an idiot."

"No kidding."

"Don't rub it in."

I coughed a few times, grimacing against the pain rising again in my throat. Elva picked up a cup and pointed the straw to my lips. I sipped generously, feeling the healing touch of the tonic soothing the scratchiest parts of my throat. It gave me the strength to continue. "I thought the best way to protect you was to push you away."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Jermaine."

"Well, I did just say I'm an idiot."

She snorted and then shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes as she leaned forward. "I thought you used me up. I thought you were ashamed of my past or something."

"Never in a million years." I licked my lips, feeling how the weight of my inner struggle made it difficult to speak. "I was afraid I would lose you on my watch. And I didn't want that to happen." "So, bite me."

My turn to blink a million times. "What?"

"Give me the mark. Make me yours. You can't lose me if I'm always yours, right?"

"Elva..."

She whimpered while shoving her face into my stomach. It was the least injured part of my body, surprisingly enough. While I healed quickly as a bear, it took some time with deeper wounds-and the one in my neck would probably take a couple of weeks. Information flooded my mind. "Elva, there's a mole."

"What? Where?" She lifted her head. "Like on your neck or something?"

"No, I mean, there's someone in the pack trying to tear us apart."

She frowned fearfully. "Jermaine, that's serious." She glanced over her shoulder and then scooted closer. "That settles it, then. You have to bite me. I have to bite you-" She blanched and then chuckled nervously. "I can give you a mark whenever your neck heals." "Elva, are you sure?"

"I'm more than sure." She ran her fingers through my hair, her nails trailing over my scalp and putting me into a meditative state. "I'm going to take care of you. And when you're all better, we can make everything official." What a striking word-official.

It made us seem like we were serious. And in many ways, we were serious. We had a whole life ahead of us, assuming that this new enemy pack didn't cut it short. Elva sounded more committed than ever. She hardly sounded like herself at all. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Or maybe it was the fear.

Or maybe it was the tingling sensation growing between our bodies.

I focused on the feeling, allowing it to expand to every corner of my form. It put me at ease to recognize it. Much like an old friend coming back into town for a visit. Familiarity, comfort, warmth-all those things were present and more. And the longer she stayed by my side, the more the feeling grew.

Elva settled the ice pack back to my forehead. She did just about everything that Dr. Windsor could have probably done herself. Whenever the doctor came in to check on me, Elva held my hand, asked important questions, and then shooed her away, insisting that I needed to rest.

It was adorable to watch.

That obsessive control freak attitude was finally coming in handy.

When we were alone again, she dimmed the lights and draped a sheet over me. She checked my neck. She replaced the old ice pack with a new one.

I pushed the pack from my head. "I'm fine, El."

"You need to rest."

"I'm resting plenty thanks to you."

She smiled weakly, settling into the bed next to me. "Can I hold you?"

"Of course you can. Come here."

I opened my arms, grunting when she fell into me. Most of my body was fine, but I was hellishly sore in every possible place. Still, it felt good that Elva wanted me so much. After that fight we had, I swore silently that I would never doubt her presence in my life again.

Not unless I wanted that doubt to risk our lives.

It was funny how things looked in retrospect. I'd thought I had been protecting Elva by making her leave. I had even suspected she was a mole. But I could see now that she was intent on protecting me. No mole would have done that. Even the ones trying to be convincing. She'd had an opportunity to let me die.

Yet she didn't let it happen.

That was what made her my mate.