I love a good shifter story and bears make for a change of pace for me! (I usually lean towards wolves and cats). Looking forward to reading this...How about we let Libby take over and give us a teaser?
Shifter
politics can be a real bitch.
Mara Kane is a twenty-six year old woman who happens to have bear blood. She can’t shift…yet. But that doesn’t stop Lee Underhill, an exiled bruin, from taking his revenge out on her. After all, it was her father who played the largest role in him being exiled from the Clan and Northeast pack. Lee’s demands are clear—if she isn’t married and mated to a bruin in her clan in three days, she has to marry the bastard’s son.
The hell with that.
Ramsey McGregor is the son of her Clan’s alpha, and one day he’ll take his father’s place. When he finds out what Lee is forcing on Mara, he, as well as her father and his, decide to do the only thing they can to keep her with them—marry her to him. No territorial council would ever dispute the union. But can he soothe Mara’s nerves enough to bring on a true mating? Or will the Clan have to fight Lee and his people to keep her with them?
Mara Kane is a twenty-six year old woman who happens to have bear blood. She can’t shift…yet. But that doesn’t stop Lee Underhill, an exiled bruin, from taking his revenge out on her. After all, it was her father who played the largest role in him being exiled from the Clan and Northeast pack. Lee’s demands are clear—if she isn’t married and mated to a bruin in her clan in three days, she has to marry the bastard’s son.
The hell with that.
Ramsey McGregor is the son of her Clan’s alpha, and one day he’ll take his father’s place. When he finds out what Lee is forcing on Mara, he, as well as her father and his, decide to do the only thing they can to keep her with them—marry her to him. No territorial council would ever dispute the union. But can he soothe Mara’s nerves enough to bring on a true mating? Or will the Clan have to fight Lee and his people to keep her with them?
Once
the two men were out of the room and the door was closed, Angus
stepped in front of her, clasping her upper arms gently in his large
hands. She had to crane her neck to look up at him, as he was
six-foot-seven and she was only five-foot-six. Short for a bear
shifter, but her human blood didn’t allow for the usual tallness.
“Not
marrying him could mean a war, but we do have options.”
“What
would those be, Angus?” she inquired, trying to swallow her anger.
He knew it wasn’t directed at him, so she wasn’t worried about
the bite in her tone. “I’m a twenty-six-year-old woman—this
loophole in the treaty should’ve been taken care of decades ago.”
Regret
pinched around his eyes. “I know, and we are working on it—all
territories, but it’s a slow process. The alpha women of the Pack
Councils have been pushing its importance for years. We just haven’t
gotten to it yet.”
Much
of the old treaty, which included the wolf and cat shifters, had been
changed and updated for the times. But these things took time,
especially when the treaties involved six territories, each with
their own Pack Council.
Though,
cat shifters were in prides,
wolves in packs,
and bears in clans,
Pack Council was just easier to use. The US government preferred it
as well—simpler when dealing with the ruling parties.
“We
could fight them, but that would endanger us from the Northwest
clans. Or, and this is only
if you agree, we marry you to one of our bruins. But, if for any
reason you can’t go through with the mating, we’ll have to hold a
territorial council meeting and try to force the change in law.”
But
that could still lead to the war Lee Underhill knew they didn’t
want. There was no choice here—it was marriage to someone she knew,
or risk war, because she was not
marrying Cole Underhill. Under any
circumstances.
She
sighed, most of the anger leaving her on the exhale. Acceptance took
its place. “Do I get to choose the bruin?”
Angus’s
hands left her, and the kindness in his gaze told her the answer was
no.
“It’s
best that I choose. As the alpha of the clan, the Northwest Pack
Council won’t argue with my choice, nor the choice of your
father—my second-in-command and top enforcer.”
Her
gaze flicked to her father, who gave a nod. His body language told
her to listen to Angus.
“Who
did you two choose for me to marry?”
“My
son, your future alpha.”
That
froze her in place. Ramsey McGregor was a good man, and a great
bruin, but he was twenty years her senior and was known to not be
interested in marrying. Not that she could blame him. Shifters lived
a long time, around two hundred and fifty to three hundred years. He
was only forty-six—young, but not unheard of to have a mate.
“But
I’m… I’m not a full bear. I may never shift.” She hoped she
would one day.
“True,
but with what I smelled when you were looking at Cole, I would say
it’s more than likely you will. Your bear is strong, Mara, and you
are your father’s daughter.” He smiled briefly. “And you are
fast becoming one of the top liaisons within the Northeast Pack.”
A
liaison to the government, keeping them up to date on the changes in
the pack as well as fielding the concerns the government had with the
pack. She had a good relationship with the state government—Vermont
accepted the shifters with more ease, since they’d been there
before it was a state, and had helped form what it presently was. She
was also on good terms with her Federal government contacts. She’d
never thought that would be her place, but she found she liked
navigating those waters.
“Have
you talked to him about this?”
“Yes.
He’s downstairs with Rayna.”
Angus’s
wife, and one hell of a force in terms of being a bear. She’d seen
the woman take down shifters twice her size in a matter of minutes.
Rayna
had taught her how to stand her ground and fight when needed. She and
the two men in the room with her.
“What
does he say about this?”
Her
father moved to stand beside Angus. “He’s not happy with the
Underhills. He was around when we exiled Lee thirty years ago, and
saw the upheaval that caused.”
She’d
heard about it. Eleven bruins and three women chose to go with Lee,
siding with him. They could have stayed, but the trust in them was in
tatters and they felt it easier to start over.
She
met her father’s blue gaze. “So, he’s okay with marrying me?”
He
placed a hand on her cheek. “He feels it’s his place, as an
alpha-to-be. But mostly because he agrees that it’s best you marry
a bruin who has pull within the Council. A lesser bruin won’t
survive a challenge from Lee or Emery, and no one will challenge the
marriage of you and the son of an alpha.”
Made
sense. She still didn’t like—still hated
it—but the choices were limited. It was give Ramsey a chance or
risk war. Not much of a choice, really. And she did trust him,
wholly. That trust had been won when she was six years old and she’d
first seen him shift—he was massive to her then, still was. She
remembered fondly how he’d lowered his head to her and she
nervously placed her palm against his soft-but-slightly-rough fur.
That moment, between bruin and human, had shown her that she was
protected by more than just her father in the big, wide world.
That
she would always be protected by Ramsey—both the man and the bear.
Looking
back to Angus, she asked, “It’s almost midnight now—when do we
get married?”
WEB
LINKS:
BUY LINKS
No comments:
Post a Comment