It made me happy.
It made me feel like I was at home.
Cason
I stood at the ledge, looking down over the sleepy, quiet town below. This was my home, the place I called mine my entire life. The construction business with my brothers, my side business of woodworking... my life was pretty damn near perfect.
But then again, it wasn’t.
I felt like I was missing a part of myself, an integral piece that would make me whole, make me complete.
And that was my mate.
Six brothers, four of them having found their fated females, yet here I was—myself and Damon—mateless, missing a part of ourselves. And the truth was, we may never find our females. It wasn’t unheard of. In fact, there were plenty of instances where shifters had given up hope of finding their other halves. And so they fell in love with humans or other shifters. They had families. They started lives with them. And although that was an option, the truth was I didn’t want that. I’d rather be alone than be with a female who wasn’t fully mine, wasn’t born to be solely my mate.
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Closing my eyes and just inhaling and exhaling slowly, I felt my bear stir, felt him rise up from deep within me and push forward for supremacy. I’d been letting him out more and more, my human starting to feel more submissive as my animal became dominant. Although he’d always been at the forefront, it was my human side who took precedence. But not lately.
I was starting to feel more animal than human, and that was a dangerous situation. Because when a shifter let his animal side reign supreme, it was hard going back. It was hard not to just be in animal form full-time, letting yourself be one with nature, not letting any of the bullshit of the human world consume you.
I started taking off my clothes, enjoying being out here in the middle of nowhere, only nature surrounding me. The property myself and my brothers owned was vast and extensive.
When I had my shirt and pants off, the material pooled by my feet. I was about to remove my briefs when the scent of burning wood from a fire filled my nostrils.
I growled low. This was our property, and anyone on it was trespassing. I could picture young college assholes pitching tents and starting campfires, drinking beer and smoking pot. My animal was dying to come forward, my bones and muscles pushing out of my skin, my body all but shifting, changing for the impending transformation. And I let it overtake me.
I let it rip through my human form until I was on all fours now, my claws digging into the dirt.
I started making my way toward where the fire was coming from, the scent of burning wood growing more potent. The closer I got, the more I heard the crackling of the flames moving over the logs, eating at it until there would be nothing left.
The scent of smoke was strong, masking any other I could pick up. And when I was finally at the campsite a few yards away, hidden behind the woods, watching, taking everything in, I was surprised to see only one vehicle. I didn’t even see anyone, but the tent door was open, and the sound of rustling within it was loud.
“Shit.”
The sound of the feminine voice cursing had my ears picking up. I felt my body tighten even further. All anger left me. Curiosity grew. The feeling of something monumental piqued my interest.
I stood a little bit taller, a little bit straighter outside that tent. There was something about her voice, something that pulled at me. It was just a feeling that had my bear becoming restless. I was having a hard time controlling him, the bastard starting to pace back and forth, his nails digging into the ground, this low growl leaving him. I was confused, didn’t know what was going on. The only thing I knew was I didn’t want to relent, didn’t want to turn around and leave, to stop the sound of that voice from penetrating me and seeping into every single cell in my body.
I found myself taking a step closer, moving toward that campsite almost as if my life depended on it. It was this tether inside me, pulling me forward. And it was only when I was several feet from the campsite that I finally stopped, my human side becoming a little bit stronger.
I took in the scene, trying to figure out what was going on and why I was acting like this. And then I saw her emerge from the tent, the fall of her long dark hair coming out of the haphazard ponytail she had at the top of her head.
My heart stopped, seized in my chest. The air left me, my body tightening, and everything in me came alive, awake. It was this feeling of my muscles contracting and relaxing. It was the sensation of being… home.
My mate.
My mate stood right in front of me, and she didn’t even know what she was about to get herself into, what type of possessive beast she’d been mated to.
Chapter Three
Mena
I heard a snap of a twig close by and tipped my head back to look out in the woods. The sun was just starting to set, colors of orange and pink painting the horizon as it washed over the forest and the campsite. It gave it this hazy, almost romantic feel, a cotton candy sense of wonder that made it seem like I was somewhere else, living in another world.
I turned around and scanned my surroundings, the knife my father had given me already in my hand. The sound of the fire crackling and the scent of wood burning filled my senses. I was getting supper ready, and although I wasn’t afraid, didn’t feel any kind of worry because of nature and the sound it created, that it made me feel, I was observant and on guard, ready if need be.
I inhaled deeply, since my sense of smell was normally acute and precise, but the fire masked many things. There was no wind, no presence of a breeze that would give me the scent of what was nearby.