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  Elijah’s Mate

  Werebears Of Big Bend

  Meg Ripley

  Copyright © 2019 by Meg Ripley

  www.redlilypublishing.com

  All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, with the exception of brief quoted passages left in an online review. This book is a fictional story. All characters, names, and situations are of the author’s creation. Any resemblances to actual situations or to persons who are alive or dead are purely coincidental.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; this copy is not available for resale or to give to another reader aside from any transaction through Amazon’s e-book lending program.

  Disclaimer

  This book is intended for readers age 18 and over. It contains mature situations and language that may be objectionable to some readers.

  Contents

  Elijah’s Mate

  1. Valentina

  2. Elijah

  3. Valentina

  4. Elijah

  5. Elijah

  6. Valentina

  7. Elijah

  8. Valentina

  9. Elijah

  10. Valentina

  11. Elijah

  12. Valentina

  13. Valentina

  14. Elijah

  15. Valentina

  16. Elijah

  17. Valentina

  18. Valentina

  Preview Of Sawyer’s Mate

  1. Madelyn

  Preview Of Damien’s Nanny

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Elijah’s Mate

  Werebears Of Big Bend

  1

  Valentina

  I stood at the edge of the small crowd, wringing my shaking hands as I looked out over the familiar faces of my father’s closest friends and relatives, and drew in a deep breath before I began.

  “Today is a very sad day indeed, but the many happy ones I spent with my father will forever live on in my memory. We shared so many laughs over the years, and his heart was full of love, always. I’ll never forget the tears I caught in his eye when he had to put down his favorite horse. Or the way he would still carry me to bed when I was tired. Yes, even at 24.” I chuckled through my tears and many in the crowd did the same.

  “He loved what he did, and he loved his crew; his brothers.” I let my gaze fall on the weathered faces of Los Osos Demonios, my father’s fire crew. “He worked so hard for my mother, my siblings and for this ranch. He was devoted to making sure people in our village and along the border were safe. His final mission wasn’t one he would have ever wanted to do, but he did it, protecting us with all he had to give: his life.”

  My throat grew too thick to continue, and I looked at the ground for a moment to gather my thoughts. “Thank you all for being here to celebrate my father and his life. Your presence shows just how loved and special he was.”

  I stepped back into my place at the edge of the crowd and looked to the priest to continue the service. I felt several hands on my back and shoulders, trying to comfort me. I appreciated their gestures, but little would comfort me that day. Unfathomable sorrow and despair collided with the fiery rage within my soul, making for an unstable and volatile combination of emotions.

  When the service had ended, I shook the hands of the Los Osos Demonios crew. Time and time again, the guys had told me, “Valentina, your father saved my life.”

  If only he could have saved his own.

  When Oscar, the leader of the Demonios crew, offered his condolences, something he’d mentioned sparked a glimmer of hope among the darkness. “Such a terrible loss. He did so much for us; I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything to save him. I don’t know how we’ll ever fill the hole he’s left behind in the crew.”

  “Thank you, Oscar. He thought so highly of you.” As he continued to talk about my father, an idea began to swirl in my grief-stricken mind, and in an instant, I knew it was the right choice for me to make. Cutting him off mid-sentence, I blurted my decision: “I want to take his place on the crew.”

  Oscar stopped talking and his mouth hung open. “Valentina… That’s very admirable of you to say, but—”

  “I know the dangers.” I sent him a look that told him I needed no further warning aside from my father’s death.

  “I can’t guarantee that Los Aulladores will leave you be. They may not take kindly to a female being around.”

  “Then I’ll have to be an extra good fighter, won’t I?” My inner bear roared from within. I would avenge my father’s death. Even if I died trying.

  Oscar rubbed his forehead. “I’ll need to talk to your mother first.”

  I glared at him. “I’m a grown woman. I’m more than capable of making my own decisions.”

  “Yes, but your mother might slice my throat in my sleep if I let anything happen to one of her children.”

  “Miguel manages just fine.”

  “Miguel is her son, not her youngest daughter. He can defend himself.”

  “And so can I.” The rage bubbled up and made my words hard. “Oscar, I want to honor my father’s memory, and taking his place in the Demonios crew is the best way I can right now.”

  He gave me a long look-over. “Alright, Val. I’m willing to give you a chance. But you’ll have to deal with your mother. And I expect you to work every bit as hard as my men do. No special treatment for the little lady.”

  “I would never want that.”

  “Well, we can start training as soon as you feel ready.”

  “My father has already—”

  “Hearing stories is not the same as living them, Val. As I said, you can start training as soon as you’re ready.”

  “Gracias.” As he hugged me in parting, I told him with gritted teeth, “No one else will die running Javier’s errands, Oscar; I refuse to just stand by and let another family lose a father for nothing. Mark my words: I don’t know how yet, but Javier and the rest of Los Aulladores will pay for what they’ve done to my family.”

  It wasn’t unusual for Javier to force someone to run drugs across the border for him as a mule—or for them to never return. Some made their way back to do the next mission out of fear, and some without families saw it as an opportunity to stay in the US once they successfully crossed over. Others were caught or killed, like my father.

  He was taken out by another gang who wanted the drugs Javier was sending before he’d even reached the border. A pointless death. He’d only gone through with the mission because Javier had threatened us. I hoped I could one day live up to that sort of sacrifice; to make him proud and one day protect my family as he had.

  Having a passport and a legal way into the US was a major benefit to anyone working near the border. Few of the people in our village had the necessary documentation, and I doubted most had even tried to apply for it.

  The day after my father’s burial, I took the first step toward joining Los Osos Demonios. After signing my passport application, I tucked it into my bag, throwing it over my shoulder before walking outside. The day was dry hot, as it always was in Boquillas. Even with the mighty Rio Grande so close, the air was too hot to hold much moisture.

  Pulling down the brim of my hat, I covered my eyes in shadow. My horse, Cariño, waited for me in the stables and stood proudly, her dapple-gray coat shining in the dusty light.

  “Hola, chica.” I reached up to
pat her neck and ran my hand along her sleek body as I walked beside her. Tossing my leather saddle over her back, I tightened the straps before mounting her.

  We took off at a casual trot, but I sped to a canter until we neared the edge of the village. Anxious to get my application turned in, I rode to the customs office and tied up Cariño before entering and dropping it off.

  I walked out of the stuffy building feeling a semblance of peace. I’d done something my father would have been proud of.

  Looking up to the sky, squinting in the bright light, I hoped he saw me somehow.

  2

  Elijah

  I stood at the front of the room of park Rangers, explaining the fire plan for the day. “Right here is where we’ll begin.” I pointed to a section on the map. “We’ll burn this area and continue down the riverbank until about here, making sure we get every last stalk of Giant Cane out of there. If we leave any behind, it’ll take over and choke out the vegetation that needs to be in place for our wildlife. And this section here is where it’s constricting the flow of the river. Any questions?”

  “What’s the expected wind speed today?” Sawyer asked.

  I’d checked just before the meeting started. “Predicted at 20s, 30s tops.”

  He nodded. “Shouldn’t cause us trouble; those are about average.”

  “Anything else?” I asked. When there was no response, I rolled up the map. “Let’s head out and git ‘r done.”

  I hopped into my utility vehicle and Sawyer slid in beside me. I looked up to see Wyatt heading out of the building with Alex right behind him. With all four of us secured inside, I drove off toward the area of my prescribed burn.

  I found it convenient that we all fit into one vehicle, though some thought the size of our clan was laughable. We had three young men aside from me, my brother and sister, and two adults—Sawyer and Wyatt’s parents, who were like my own. Now Sawyer’s wife, Madelyn, had joined us. Being a mountain lion shifter, she would never be able to tap into our mental clan link, but she was still part of us.

  Eight sounded like a good number to me. Easier to keep things simple, I reckoned. We were all so close; we worked together, lived near each other, and spent time together often. They might not all have been my biological family, but they were the next best thing.

  “How’s Maddy holding up?” I asked Sawyer.

  He blew out a hard breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Big as Dallas. Ready and rarin’ to go.”

  I laughed. “I guess so. Nine months is a long time.”

  “You’re telling me!” Sawyer shook his head.

  Wyatt put his hand on Sawyer’s shoulder from the seat behind him. “The best things in life are worth waiting for.”

  “Are you ready?” Alex asked.

  “Is anyone ever really ready to become a father?” I asked.

  “I’m scared out of my mind,” Sawyer admitted.

  We all got a good chuckle out of that.

  “And Madelyn?” Alex wondered. “Just as scared?”

  “I don’t think so,” Sawyer replied. “Just excited. Finally stopped cleaning everything in sight.”

  Wyatt blinked at him. “How’d she have energy to clean?”

  “She said it’s called nesting,” Sawyer said. “Something pregnant women do to prepare. But I don’t reckon I’ve seen anyone clean behind the refrigerator before. I mean, is the baby going to get back there?” Then, as if realizing something, his eyes widened. “Do I need a gate for behind the fridge, too?”

  Wyatt put both his hands on Sawyer’s shoulders and shook him. “Mom would have told you if you needed that, and probably would have bought it and set it up already. You don’t need that fancy stuff. It’s just a baby.”

  Sawyer shook his head slowly. “Gol-ly, there’s a lot of baby stuff in our house. Seems like every day there’s a new box on our porch. I don’t know what half the stuff is even for.”

  We pulled up to the site of the burn, a section of the park that was heavily wooded. Other parts of Big Bend were nothing but boulders and dusty soil. But being so close to the river, the water made for lush vegetation. Unfortunately, not all the vegetation growing was good for the area.

  I turned to Sawyer after we all climbed out. “All I can say is, I’m glad it’s happening to you first.”

  “Thanks,” Sawyer grumbled.

  “You are the Alpha.” Alex shrugged and walked off with Wyatt to join the rest of the crew.

  I stood back to observe from a slight distance as the fire got started and checked the wind meter on top of the utility vehicle. The speed was still good, so I signaled for them to keep moving down the river bank, burning on.

  The fire burned perfectly for the first hour. Then we moved to the section where the burn was needed to keep the invasive Giant Cane from igniting the whole forest in the event of a wild fire. I watched that part even more carefully. If the fire got out of control there, the damage would be devasting. I walked closer to get a better read on the situation.

  I saw Alex with his logbook, marking an entry.

  “How’s it looking?”

  He nodded. “On target.”

  I nodded back and walked as close to the fire as possible to check on the crew. Wyatt stood by as well, but for a different reason. As a law enforcement Ranger for Big Bend, he oversaw anything that could do harm to the park or its people. Any chance at all for something bad to go down, and he was on the scene.

  “All good?” I asked him.

  He fanned himself with his bandana. “I don’t know. Feels hotter than Hades out here to me.”

  “I’ll see if they can turn the heat down for ya some.”

  “Good man,” he said with a single nod.

  I walked down toward the lead end of the burn to watch the progress there. As I neared it, I noticed that the flames looked a little too north, so I hurried my pace.

  When I got to the crew, I had to shout over the raging flames. “What’s the problem?”

  Eric, the supervisor of the crew—and a fellow shifter, though he was a fox—lifted his helmet to respond. “Wind picked up unexpectedly. Coming from the southwest.”

  Probably coming up the Rio Grande. That would mean the fire would blow directly into Big Bend National Park—exactly what I was trying to avoid.

  The only solution was to act fast. “I’m calling in Los Osos Demonios.”

  Eric nodded and ran back toward the fire, aiming a hose at the wayward flames.

  I ran back a little ways until I found a few of our Rangers on horseback, and when they spotted me, they picked up their speed to meet me, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake.

  “Hurry to Boquillas and get the Demonios. We’ve got a burning coming from the southwest, heading north.” Boquillas, like so many other small Mexican villages, could only be reached by boat or on horseback. I wasn’t sure if a single car existed in the village.

  They nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation, and without hesitation, they rode off in the direction of the border. I returned to the problem area and kept my eyes peeled for signs of their return.

  Luckily, my men were fast—and so were the Demonios. The next time I looked up, I saw a pack of men on horseback rushing toward me in full fire gear. The boats would be right behind them.

  I stood with Oscar, the Demonios’ leader, and together, we directed our men on how to wrangle the rogue flames. The Demonios crew worked hard and fast. With my men, they were quickly able to get things back under control, making it easy to extinguish the rest of the fire.

  We’d burned most of the area we’d set out to, and for the time being, it was enough. We’d either remove the remaining Giant Cane by hand or schedule a burn for another day. I shook hands with Oscar and thanked him, and as the men removed their gear and chatted with each other, I wandered among them, thanking them for a job well done.

  Two men who were still wearing their helmets faced each other, and for a moment, I reckoned I’d seen a ghost. Both of their j
ackets had the name “Benitez” scrawled across the back in marker. One was Miguel, but the only other Benitez I knew on the crew was his father, Diego. And Diego had died several months earlier.

  Miguel lifted his helmet and waved to me. I held up a hand, but didn’t take my eyes off the other helmet. As it lifted, a shiny black ponytail spilled down, and when her face came into view, I felt my knees go weak for the first time in my life.

  I swallowed hard, and she stared back at me as if she were caught in a trance. The moment drew on for a few seconds, until Miguel seemed to notice. He nudged the woman and she glared at him.

  “Idioto,” she spat at him.

  He rolled his eyes at her, and I assumed the woman was Miguel’s sister. I approached them, purposefully standing closer to Miguel; my heart raced too fast to stand near her.

  “Howdy, Miguel.” I gave him a casual handshake. “Great work out there today. The whole crew was phenomenal.”

  I realized I’d been staring at her when Miguel answered with, “Uh, yeah…”

  I looked at him, confused.

  He raised his eyebrows at me and looked over at her. “This is my sister.” He said it more like a warning.

  “Pleased to meet you,” I told her, offering my hand. “I’m Elijah Reeves, Fire Management Ranger here in Big Bend.”

  She reached out to return the gesture. I could’ve held onto that hand forever.

  I waited for it and when it came, it was worth every second. “Valentina Benitez.”