Fighting Fate

CHAPTER 3

Nathaniel awoke from dozing in the afternoon sun to the voices of his children sloshing around near the Yellowstone River. He didn’t have to remove the hat from his face to know they were getting wet and muddy.

A smile played at his lips when he heard the familiar thwack of a mudball splattering one of them.

“Well that’s gonna be a fun mess to load into the car” he linked ruefully to Fio

“Mmmhmmm” was the only response he received.

He could tell she hadn’t really registered the comment, merely heard his voice and acknowledged vaguely.

He lifted the visor of his cap to glance in her direction. She was leaned slightly back in a Crazy Creek chair, legs bent, hands clasped over her knees to counterbalance her weight.

She had her face turned up to the sun, eyes closed. The shadow of a furrowed brow made him wonder what was on her mind.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked gently.

“Mmmhmmm.” she responded again.

With an inaudible sigh, he rolled to his side and studied her again.

A smile played on his lips as he took in the contours of her face. Her curly hair was tamed into a braid which wound casually over her shoulder. The wisps around her face had come loose with the light breeze and activity of chasing three kids.

It was always nice to see her out of uniform. Her Ranger attire was utilitarian and suited the steady, capable experience she brought to her work.

But her off-the-clock wardrobe was feminine, leaning toward vintage, and he knew she loved swishy beautiful things. Today she was in a sage day dress, purchased from some sustainable small business she’d found on i********: and had fallen in love with.

He’d paid enough attention over the years to know it was made of linen.

There was the furrow in her brow returning. He began to guess what had her so lost in thought.

The desire to kiss her worries away was too strong to ignore. Gathering himself up, he crawled the few paces to her side and pressed his lips between her brows, running one hand lightly up her calf, enjoying the smooth warm skin beneath her hem.

Her eyes opened lazily and she smiled as her hands came up around the back of his neck.

“Well hello there” She murmured, the smile still in her voice.

“Hi beautiful” he responded, moving his lips lightly to the soft spot just below her ear before traveling seductively to her lips.

Her mouth eagerly opened for him, and as the kiss deepened, his hand slid further up her leg toward her inner thigh.

“Dad!”

The exclamation shattered the moment as both parents turned toward the sound of their approaching children.

Straightening up to his knees he glanced down at his wife, a promise in his eyes.

“Later” he purred

“Ha, if we have the energy!” she laughed in reply. Parent problems…

“Dad!” “Daddy!” “Hey Dad!” the kids shouted all at once, clearly excited about something.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed in return.

“Who do these feral children belong to? Someone better claim them before I ship them off to the zoo!”

He heard the older two giggle in amusement, but the little one took him more at his word and called out.

“It’s me Jack Dad! I don’t WANNA go to the zoo! The lions will eat me!”

As they reached the edge of the picnic blanket, he opened his arms and growled playfully as they tackled him, rolling to the ground with legs and arms flailing everywhere.

“Nah, no lion would ever want to eat something so wet and muddy. It’s the hippo that would want you!”

“Dad NOOOO, a hippo would swallow me WHOLE! But I would taste way too stinky and he’d just spit me out. Bleh!”

Both parents laughed out loud at this.

“Ok, ok, I guess you’ll just have to come home with us. Though I can’t imagine what we’re gonna do with three wild kids?” he teased, glancing over at his wife.

She considered, placing her finger to her chin.

“Well let’s see, I could use a few servants to clean the house.”

All three children groaned in dissent, then brightened as Rowan returned to the matter at hand.

“Dad, we found your rock!” Rowan proudly held the flat rock out in the palm of her hand. It was an unremarkable thing but some minute detail, known only to them, must have qualified it as the “perfect” stone. It was their mission each year to pick out a rock for their father.

“Ah, good one guys! Thanks!”

He slipped the rock into his pocket, where its weight settled against his thigh. It always felt heavier than it really was.

Fio gathered her legs beneath her and rolled forward to her knees.

“OK crew, ready to pack it up? You’ve gotten yourselves thoroughly dirty.” He saw her brief look of distaste at what her car was about to look like.

“Are we allowed to tie them to the roof rack?” he winked with a grin.

“I’d hate to give them that idea, they’d enjoy it too much!” Fio rolled her eyes.

“Ok Jack, you're in charge of collecting all the snack bags and bringing them to Gabe to put in the big bag. Then pick up your Crazy Creek and head to the car. Rowan, can you get the blanket? Oh and where did the frisbee end up?”

The bustle of his family gave him a chance to slip away.

“Headed over, I’ll meet you back at home.”

She nodded, not meeting his eyes as she continued directing the kids. As he made his way toward the rise, he continued to hear her voice carrying on the breeze.

“Jack I just wiped your hands, why would you… and where did you all leave your shoes? … No one gets in the car until….”

His feet led him without thought. He’d come this way so often in the early days, a narrow game trail had become established.

Now, he walked this way just once a year and so nature had reclaimed the pathway. His pace was unhurried, his thoughts drifting, as they always did, to his lost mate.

***

Nat wrapped his right arm around Samantha's shoulders and smiled into the camera. They were lost in a sea of others doing the exact same thing on this beautiful spring day.

As she leaned into him, the corner of her board cap jabbed into his temple, making him jerk his head left. Barely suppressing her laughter, she squealed an apology as he rubbed the side of his face with a playful wince.

Then they were both laughing.

Damn she was beautiful.

His heart fluttered every time he looked at her, and he didn’t think he would ever believe his good fortune. Some werewolves waited a decade or more and had to search far and wide for their mates. He and Samantha were lucky though, they had met in college.

Young wolves were encouraged to study out of their own territory to increase the chances of finding a mate. Packs, after all, were healthier when new bloodlines were introduced.

She’d been 2 years below him, and a good thing too. Had they met freshman year, Nat wasn’t sure he’d have been able to focus on school at all. College drop-out rates were fairly high amongst his kind.

But he had hoped to take a leadership role in his pack after graduating, so he couldn’t have afforded to fail. By junior year, he was disciplined enough to handle the rigors of school and the heart pounding, consuming rush of a newly established mate bond.

Still, his last two years contained equal amounts of academics and flying clothing.

But now they were both free of school and life yawned before them.

Samantha had been a dance major, and had already received job offers from several notable companies.

Just thinking of her lithe body under the loose robe had him suppressing a burgeoning erection. Ducking his head under the pointy cap, he kissed her neck and looked up again at the camera.

“OK enough photos. I’d like to get you back home to properly congratulate you.” he whispered in her ear.

She smiled and he felt her body thrill, but her attention was focused on finding her friends in the crowd.

“Well it’ll have to be a quickie…remember we’ve got plans to go out for lunch with the crew.”

Sighing in exasperation, he conceded

“Quickie it is…I’ll take anything I can get once you’re out of that robe.”

Sam flashed him a grin, eyes shining, and grabbed his hand.

“Let's go then, the reservation is at 2.”

They wound through the crowd and hurried to her little apartment.

As soon as the door closed, Sam turned to face him, walked backward and began slowly unzipping the billowy robe.

She flashed a flirty 'come hither' look, knowing he couldn’t resist.

And she’d been right. The robe puddled at her feet and he couldn’t imagine resisting her.

Taking long strides, he gathered her up, both hands cupping her firm ass. Her long dancer’s legs wrapped around his hips and she lowered her mouth to his earlobe, revving him up further.

With a growl he moved faster and pushed the bedroom door open with a foot.

Crashing down onto the bed he pressed his pelvis into hers, relishing the growing tension in his jeans. Her hips rose in invitation.

Caressing down the length of her toned body, he lowered to his knees at the foot of the bed. Reaching up to her hips, he peeled away her skirt and panties in one motion.

Returning to her silky softness, he further maddened himself with the taste of her. She began to moan softly, her hands cradling his head.

Too engrossed to speak out loud, she linked with him

“Mmmm we don’t have much time. I want you now!”

It was all the convincing he needed. Swiftly he rose, pulling down his jeans to free the firm erection. Leaning between her legs, he brought himself to her slick entrance and pushed in. She lifted to meet him and they both groaned in satisfaction.

Remaining connected, they worked up from the edge of the bed, settling in the middle.

Every thrust increased the almost electric current flowing between them. Her moans became deeper and she curled up to bite his shoulder, then trailed her tongue inward to the base of his neck where she’d marked him 2 years before, after his own graduation ceremony.

“Ah God!” he gasped, knowing what was coming. She knew it drove him wild.

His left hand curled under her neck and he grasped her insistently, pressing her into his mark.

But she wasn’t ready. Instead of satiating him, she moved back up to his ear and began nibbling and sucking.

He knew she needed more time to get close, a fact he was sure men across the world found as frustrating as he did.

Knowing her sweet spots, he slid his right hand up under her shirt, cupped her breast, and began circling her n****e with his thumb.

Her excited gasp encouraged him and he began applying more pressure, pinching the perfect n****e between thumb and forefinger.

“Yeah baby, that’s good.” He always knew she was getting to the edge when she told him what she liked.

He continued working her, loving every sound she made, holding back his own o****m with an impossible amount of restraint. Suddenly she grasped both his shoulder blades and urgently moved back to his mark.

She bit down almost savagely, breaking the skin and beginning to suck.

“Fuuuuuck babe! Ahhhhh!” he cried as she pushed him over the edge.

“Don’t stop!” She pleaded and he continued thrusting until he felt her clench around him.

Her cry erupted from deep in her throat and she threw her head back into the pillows.

When he felt her body start to soften around him, he exhaled and relaxed into her, covering her torso with his weight. Her legs wrapped languidly around his hips as she breathed hard into his ear.

When he could speak again, he lifted himself and pulled out.

“Quick enough?”

She glanced over at the clock on the bedside table.

“Pretty quick!” She lay there another few moments then sat up and followed him into the bathroom to clean up.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked up an appetite.” Nat said as he returned to the bedroom and started re-dressing.

Grinning, he checked the mirror to make sure his mark wasn’t too obviously inflamed.

“Ok let me get myself presentable again and we’ll head over. I’m ready to celebrate!”

Ten minutes later, hand in hand, they left the apartment blissfully anticipating the party, the summer, and the years ahead.

***

The land began to rise under his feet and he knew he was nearly there. Reaching into the pocket to give the stone a squeeze, he took a deep breath and ascended, grass swishing around his ankles.

At the top of the rise, he paused to look down into the little hollow. This place contained his worst memory, and returning always seemed to knock the wind out of him.

And yet the sun had continued to rise, the land lay quiet and peaceful, without any sign of the world-shattering event which had taken place there.

Eyes drawn to the spot where his nightmare had come to life, he gathered himself and began down.

In the place where she had fallen and drawn her last breaths, there was now only a cairn.

He’d built it with Fio the first time he’d returned to this place. It had been her idea and she’d helped him stack the rocks in a sturdy, pleasing configuration. Then without a word, she'd squeezed his shoulder and left him to his sorrow.

The process had soothed his frayed mind and he’d felt the physical marker somehow kept Samantha here.

She’d been buried in a graveyard in Oregon with her parents’ pack members and he couldn’t have changed that.

They were mated, but not married. He hadn’t been her next of kin.

And, only realizing it after becoming a father himself, her parents likely mourned her more deeply than he had.

But this little stack of rocks had become her gravesite in his mind and in his heart. He’d visited often, and anually added another stone to mark the passing years.

“Hey Sam.” he murmured.

“It’s me, back again. Another lap around the sun.”

Just as it had in this valley, his world kept turning, his lungs kept drawing breath, and his heart kept beating.

The first year he’d come after marrying Fiona had felt like a betrayal to his fated mate. It seemed fundamentally wrong to have found a measure of happiness.

But time had eased that tension, and he’d told himself Samantha wouldn’t have wanted him to pine the rest of his life.

And Fio, Goddess love her, had never asked him to divulge his feelings on this day.

Now the guilt leaned the other direction.

He felt uneasy pouring his heart out into the empty space as he had once done.

He loved his wife, he loved his children.

Every year he was sure the grip on his heart had begun to loosen. But every year when he returned to this spot, the mate bond remained as potent as it had been when she was alive.

It wasn’t something he liked to dwell on.

Distracting himself, he spent a few moments re-stacking the cairn. Wildlife had inevitably knocked it about a bit during the year.

Bringing the stone his children had deemed “perfect” from his pocket, he placed it on the stack.

He loved Fio for making them part of this ritual, for being so open with them. They knew about Samantha.

When they were about 4, the twins had dubbed the day “Samantha Day” and it had stuck.

As a family, they never shifted on June 6th.

The worst imaginable horror had happened in wolf form. Samantha had been so badly injured she couldn’t shift back.

He hadn’t been able to cradle her in his arms, hadn’t been able to speak to her out loud, hadn’t been able to kiss her before she left the world. He’d never seen her beautiful human face again.

It tortured him, and he could never take his wolf form on this day.

Fio had stood by his side and she’d made it a family rule to always stay human today in solidarity.

She had saved him, and his heart squeezed with the gratitude he felt for her.

He spoke very little these days. But the words were distilled, a powerful reduction of all the years of living without Samantha.

“I still miss you. Every damn day. I’ll see you again love.”