Navi's Forbidden Mate

Chapter 1 Sore, that’s what I felt, sore and tired. My whole body ached. I opened my eyes to find that I'm in the middle of the woods. I sat up folding my legs under myself, as I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder. I put my hand on it and pull back I saw blood on my finger tips. Trying my best to look at it, it seemed to be a bite mark. I looked around but besides trees, grass, and a couple bushes there was nothing. I stood up slowly, on wobbly legs, realizing suddenly that I am completely naked. I stared down at myself for a second, dumbfounded. I couldn’t remember, for the life of me, how I got here. The last thing I remember was going out camping for some R&R and time away from civilization. I loved being in nature because I felt more connected to it than anything in my life. I remember driving out to the middle of my favorite wilderness area and then hoofing it a couple miles from my truck and setting up camp. After I set up camp I went fishing and caught a couple of brown trout, then fried them up for dinner. I remember having a couple drinks while I fished and cooked but couldn’t remember anything after that. I tried my best to cover myself up and started walking. I had no idea where I was in the wilderness park but I was determined to figure it out and what happened to me. I walked for about 10 minutes when I heard a twig snap behind me. I wiped around as a snarl escaped my throat. Shocked by the sound, I grabbed my throat confused. What was that? Had I just snarled? I didn’t have the time to figure it out. I scanned the trees behind me but saw nothing. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. Something didn’t feel right. I stepped forward cautiously, scanning the area around me. A white bengal tiger stepped out from its hiding spot behind a down tree. The tiger started to approach me slowly. I took a few steps back, not knowing what to do. As the tiger gets closer, it shifts into a woman. She has black hair and a slim body but, what caught my attention was her eyes. They were red, bright red. She had a straight nose and high cheekbones. She stopped about 5 feet away from me. Then said “Hello, my name is Kara.” suspiciously I responded “Navi.” “You must come with me, Navi.” she said “What? Why?” “Because I must teach you how to control the animal in your middle.” She stated “The animal? What are you talking about?” I asked confused and a bit pissed “Can’t you feel that? How all of your senses are heightened?” She asked looking at me with a shocked expression. Now that she mentioned it, I could smell the sap that clung to the trees. Hear the mice as they scurried about looking for their next meal and see impossibly far. Ok weird, but that did mean I trusted her. “You have a bear in you and a very dominant one at that” She said “What? How?” I said eyes going wide “You were bit.” Now I was starting to get pissed. Who in there right mind would bite someone. It sounded insane, but after what I had already seen, it didn’t seem impossible. That didn’t help calm me down tho, no I was getting more riled up by the second. Pacing back and forth, always keeping an eye on Kara I said “Ok, but why would you help me?” “Because it’s my fault you are like this.” she said as she looked down at her feet. “What do you mean it’s your fault I’m like this?” I practically yelled at her starting to head in her direction. She took a few steps back and coward a little. “My mate is the one that bit you.” she said “Why would he do that?” I asked looking at her with pure rage unable to calm down. “Because he has gone mad. We lost a cub and he never recovered” she said sadly as a tear rolled down her cheek. The color drained out of my face and all the anger left in a split second. She had lost a cub. I couldn’t even imagine the hurt she must feel. And she didn’t just lose a cub but her mate also it seemed. Feeling like my heart just craked hearing Kara’s story I said “Ok, all of this is a bit hard to rap my head around.” After taking a shaky breath Kara muttered “I understand. Come with me and I will explain everything.” She then turned and took a few steps, looking back to see if I was coming. I decided to follow her hoping she could tell me what was going on with me. We arrived at a little cabin sitting on the bank of a river after a short walk. It was beautiful. A one room rustic cabin with a lean to on the side that housed an atv. A neatly stacked pile of wood was located beside the door and there were flower boxes with what looked like tulips under the windows bit the flowers were long dead. I followed Kara inside. The inside had a modern twist with the original rustic feel. Granite countertops, stainless steel light fixtures and appliances, but with the log walls and dark brown trim. It was a beautiful home but you could see if you looked closely that it was being properly taken care of anymore. All the pictures on the walls and Nick nacks on the shelves were covered in layers of dust. Like the love was ripped right out of it “You have a very stunning home.” I said to Kara “Thanks.” she said meekly before she disappeared down the hallway. After a couple minutes she returned fully dressed with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt in her hand. She throw them at me, which I caught easily, and said “Shower is through there, first door on the left.” “Thanks.” I said “Come back out here when your done and I’ll explain what is going to happen.” I turned and headed for the bathroom. I walked in, closed the door and locked it, out of habit. As I stepped into the spray of the shower, and let the hot water run down my skin, I could feel some of my muscles relaxing. I stood in the spray of the water a few minutes before I contended with washing myself. After turning off the shower, I stepped out and toweled myself off. Dressing in the clothes Kara had given me I walked back toward the kitchen area. I sat down at the table as Kara turned around at the fridge. “Do you want a cup of coffee? I have french vanilla creamer.” she asked “That would actually be great. I would love a cup of coffee.” She poured me a cup and handed it to me, then poured herself a cup and sat down. She then began explaining everything. Turns out the bite on my shoulder turned me into a shifter, a bear shifter to be exact, like Kara’s mate. Which meant heightened senses, being able to shift into a bear, having to co-exist in the same body as another being and a whole lot more. Kara says that my bear is very dominant. She explained that I would have to learn to control my animal and when I was ready, meet other shifters. Bear shifter usually lived in crews. The choice usually has to do with our animals though. She also explained the when a shifter couldn’t control their animals they got put down, and how she would have to find someone soon to put her mate down. I didn’t understand all of what she was telling me and I couldn’t rap my head around having to put someone down but she said she would teach me all about shifters and how to control the beast in my middle. At midnight Kara got up from her spot at the table and walked over to a trunk in the living room and pulled out a blanket and a pillow. Setting them on the couch she looked at me and said. “You can take the couch for tonight. We should get some sleep, tomorrow will be a long day. I’ll see you in the morning.” She proceeded to walk down the hallway, a second later I heard a door close and I was alone with my thoughts. I walked to the couch and sat down, putting the pillow at one end, I laid down and covered up. Just as I was about to doze off I heard a voice. “Hello Navi” “Who’s there?” I said out loud “No need to speak aloud, only you can hear me. My name is Ash.” Warily I thought “OK, who are you?” “I am your bear.” “My bear?” “Yes.” “Huh ok.” I thought “I like Kara.” My bear said “Me too. But uhh can I go to sleep, I’m exausted?” I asked around a yawn “Yes, we cam talk more tomorrow.” I turned over, cuddling into the blanket more and fell asleep.