Wyatt's Mate (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Big Bend) Read online

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  Wyatt’s Mate

  Werebears Of Big Bend

  Meg Ripley

  Shifter Nation

  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

  Wyatt’s Mate

  1. Glory

  2. Glory

  3. Wyatt

  4. Glory

  5. Wyatt

  6. Glory

  7. Wyatt

  8. Glory

  9. Wyatt

  10. Glory

  11. Wyatt

  12. Wyatt

  13. Glory

  14. Wyatt

  15. Glory

  16. Wyatt

  17. Glory

  18. Wyatt

  19. Glory

  20. Wyatt

  21. Glory

  22. Glory

  Preview Of Sawyer’s Mate

  1. Madelyn

  Preview Of Dragon’s Royal Guard

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Wyatt’s Mate

  Werebears Of Big Bend

  1

  Glory

  Prologue

  I sat on the dirty floor of the stable, unable to stop the tears.

  “It’ll be okay, Glory,” Wyatt promised, pulling me close and smoothing my hair.

  “How will it possibly be okay?” I sniffed.

  “We’ll keep in touch.”

  “Keep in touch?” I shook my head. “That’s something you say to kids you meet at summer camp, not to the girlfriend you’ve known your whole life.”

  “What else do you want me to say?” When he looked at me, tears welled in his eyes. “It’s killing me to lose you like this. Seattle is a world away from Big Bend, and I don’t know how we’ll manage if our parents won’t let us talk or see each other. It would be much easier if I could just call your house.”

  “I know. And I don’t see it getting better, do you? Not after all that’s happened. Our dads will hate each other forever, and we’re the ones who have to pay for it. God, this has been the worst summer of my life. Only being able to see you a few times a week, and for a few hours? Wyatt, we spent the entire summer together last year! Living so close to you and not being able to see you was torture.”

  He looked down at his hands, then back to me. “At least that part is over,” he whispered.

  My throat burned when I let myself think of it. In mere hours, I would be forced into my dad’s car and driven to the airport, where my family would leave Texas—and Wyatt—behind forever.

  “I’ll always love you,” I said.

  “And I’ll always love you, Glory. I know our parents keep saying we’re only 16, so it’s not real love. But I know it is. I knew the first time I saw you.”

  I half-chuckled through my tears. “Wyatt, we were two the first time you saw me.”

  “Exactly. You handed me your favorite red ball and I knew that some day, you’d be giving me your heart.”

  I sighed. “Why is it so hard for you to be serious? This is the last time we’ll see each other until who knows when.”

  “Can’t we just enjoy it then? Do you have to keep reminding me? God, Glory. It’s bad enough we couldn’t…you know…one last time, but I’d like to at least be able to kiss you without getting drenched from those tears of yours.”

  I laughed despite myself. But the humor faded fast. “I just kept thinking they were going to make up; that this stupid feud would be over and things would go back to normal.”

  “It all got too bad. This isn’t some little spat over your horses getting loose and stomping through our garden.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That was a stupid fight, too.”

  “And how long did it take them to get over that?”

  I thought back. It had been a while. “A year, maybe?”

  “At least. And that was nothing. It was the end of the growing season anyway. But my point is, if that little spat took a year to blow over, something this big never will. We’ll just have to figure something else out. Or make them stop getting us involved in their mess.”

  “But Wyatt—”

  “Glory, look. In two years, we’ll both be 18 and we can do whatever we want. We just have to hang in there until then.”

  “That’s too long.”

  “It could be worse.”

  “I don’t see how.”

  He rubbed his finger along the ground and then pointed it at me. “You could also have dirt jammed in your ear.”

  “No!” I jumped and squealed as he grabbed my waist and lifted me off the ground. “Don’t you dare!”

  He kissed my neck, tickling me and making me squirm, then tugged on my earlobe with his teeth and I stopped resisting. Turning in his arms, I pressed my mouth to his, my fingers trailing through his hair. We took our time, knowing this kiss would be our last.

  “You sure we don’t have time?”

  I smacked his arm lightly. “Be a gentleman, for once.”

  “I couldn’t possibly. Not when you look like that.” He stepped back and took a long look up and down my body. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”

  In the distance, I heard my mother call my name.

  “Oh no!” My hands flew to my mouth. “I have to go. My dad will be home any minute.” Luckily, our mothers had been kind enough to let us sneak our goodbyes and cover for us. But it was time for my family to get packed up to go. This was it.

  He pulled me close and hugged me tightly. “Don’t ever forget how much I love you.”

  “I love you. I don’t know how I’ll live without you.”

  “You won’t have to for long. Two years. Then we’ll have each other forever.”

  I blinked tears down my cheeks. “Promise that we’ll be together forever.”

  “I promise. You’re the only one on this earth I could ever love.”

  2

  Glory

  Eight Years Later

  My phone rang for the third time in a row and I pressed Ignore. I didn’t usually answer calls while at work, but when Belle’s name popped up for the fourth time, I figured I’d better see what was going on.

  “Hey, Belle.”

  “Oh my god, finally! Glory, don’t you ever answer your phone?”

  “Some of us do work, you know,” I said. “I’ve been in the middle of a tour. And I only have a few minutes before the next one starts. What’s going on?”

  “I’m engaged!”

  I leaned my elbows on the railing of the Ranger station’s front porch. “Congratulations! Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming. How long did you guys date, three years?”

  “Three and a half, and now here we are, planning our dream wedding. And…you have to be in it! Please say y
ou’ll be one of my bridesmaids.”

  I hesitated. Should I even ask? “Is…the wedding in Big Bend?”

  She sighed heavily. “Well, of course, silly. Where else would it be? Don’t do this. You haven’t been home in eight years!”

  “And there’s a reason for that, but—”

  “I reckon it’s time y’all let that go, don’t you?”

  I sucked in a breath. “I was going to say that even though there’s a good reason I haven’t been back to Big Bend, I’ve been feeling like it’s time.”

  “Oh.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned to lean my back against the railing. “And you would have known that sooner if you hadn’t interrupted me.”

  “I guess you’ll just have to fly to Texas and give me an ass-whooping in person, then.”

  “How can I possibly say no to that?” I laughed.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Thank you, thank you!” I heard rustling, then her faint voice telling someone that I’d accepted. “Do you know I had a backup bridesmaid? That’s how much I thought you wouldn’t come. It was going to be my cousin Martha.”

  “Whew. You dodged a bullet there.”

  “I know.” She sighed happily. “This makes everything perfect. My far-too-distant best friend is finally coming home, and I’m marrying the love of my life. Now, we just need to find you yours.”

  “Oh, no. We really don’t. I’m good.”

  “Glory, you can’t let your history of crappy relationships hold you back from finding true love. What have I told you? One bad man doesn’t speak for all of them.”

  “Or two bad men…or three…” I stuck my hand out and caught several rain drops. “At least the weather will be nicer.”

  “I’ll make sure you’re paired up with someone awesome.”

  “Don’t do that; I’m serious. After the last one, I’m done. I can’t even make it through a first date now without disaster. I’m destined for eternal spinsterhood.”

  “Well, Glory Thomas, now I just won’t hear that! There is someone for you out there in this world. And he’ll find his way to you sooner or later.”

  Thunder sounded in the distance and I pulled my jacket tighter. “What color are our dresses, anyway?”

  “Don’t know yet. I’m thinking either pale yellow or light gray.”

  “I vote gray,” I said without hesitation.

  “That’s only because you’re being a buzzkill. You know what, yellow it is. Something cheerful and bright.”

  “Great.”

  “You’ll love it,” she promised.

  “Can’t you hear the excitement just dripping from my voice?”

  We hung up and I walked back inside to check the storm monitor. No way will the rain stop in time. Picking up my walkie, I sent the call to the other Rangers. “The two o-clock tour is cancelled. The one for four will probably be, too.”

  I received confirmations from Rangers at stations throughout Mount Rainier National Park. It had been one of those trickster days that started out with rare sunshine, but quickly turned dreary. Many tours had been scheduled and now had to be rescheduled.

  I sat at my desk to work on rearranging the tours, and as I did, my mind wandered to Big Bend. Has it really been eight years? It sounded so long, but Belle was right. I’d been 16 when my family moved away, and now, 24. Strange that I’d started to feel a draw back to the place I once called home not too long before I had reason to go there.

  Even though I’d considered making a trip back to Big Bend, I’d still been hesitant. At first, when I was a teen, I wasn’t allowed to return. Then, when I could go on my own, I knew my parents would flip out unless there was some solid reason for me to go. Belle’s wedding was the perfect excuse; the sort of thing people traveled for. Nothing about it would seem out of the ordinary.

  Of course, I couldn’t think of Big Bend or even Texas without thinking of Wyatt. Though it had been eight years since I’d last seen him and almost as long since I’d had contact with him, the pain of missing him still burned in me. Not as strongly as it once had, but if I thought about it too much, it grew. Those days, it had been as strong as ever.

  I didn’t want to be thinking of him. Our relationship had been so long ago; we’d only been teenagers. We’d thought our love was real, and maybe it was, but we’d been too young to do anything about it. Our parents claimed our relationship became too intense, and that was the real reason for the no-contact rule, but we knew better.

  After the move, my parents locked down my communication more than I’d expected. Access to a phone was limited, and my computer was moved to the living room, where they could see what I was up to at all times. The mail even went to a P.O. box for years so they could check for letters from Wyatt.

  With all the difficulty, we’d managed to contact each other only a few times, and that had been done through friends. Once, Belle let him talk to me from her house after she’d called and gotten past the parent gate. But it’d been difficult to set up and I wasn’t free to talk to him how I wanted to because my parents weren’t far from me. It hadn’t taken long for it to happen, just like our parents—all four of them—wanted. We lost contact with each other completely.

  It still made me furious to think any issue could have been so monumental that two grown men would restrict their children from seeing each other because of it. The fact that a fight had become a longstanding feud was ridiculous. I’d hated the whole thing from the start, and even though my dad didn’t talk about it, if it was brought up, the anger was still there. The Thomases and Montgomerys—my family and Wyatt’s—had once been the closest of friends who then became the bitterest of enemies.

  The saddest part was, our fathers really had been the best of friends. Our mothers, too, but our fathers were especially close, having grown up beside each other like brothers. They’d lost each other, sadly, and Wyatt and I had lost each other in the fall out. After all this time, it still made me angry enough to speed my heart. That bitterness hadn’t faded. My parents had ruined my life by taking my true love away from me. How different would my life have been if we’d stayed?

  I wondered if Wyatt had moved on. Maybe he found another girl. He might be married with kids; if not, he could be soon. A guy like him wouldn’t stay single long. Handsome, gentlemanly, funny, goofy, strong, confident. What more could a woman want in a husband?

  I sighed. How could I still have such feelings for him when it’d been so long? I hoped to run into him and catch up. His family had been like my own. We’d all kind of blended together into one big Montgomery-Thomas group. When we moved, it was like we’d lost part of our family, and I missed them all. But Wyatt more than anyone.

  “Hey, Glory?” A male’s voice called over the walkie talkie.

  “Here.”

  “I have a situation and could use your help.”

  “Sure thing.” I checked my gear to make sure I was ready to head out. “What do you need?”

  “We have a family who was out hiking and got caught in the rain. Their little boy was separated from them when they hurried off the trail, and now he’s lost. We’ve got Search and Rescue on it, but the boss is calling for every shifter Ranger in the area to be out looking for him.”

  “I’ll head out immediately. What’s the area?”

  He gave me a location and I walked around to the back of the station. Since most of the Rangers in the area were shifters, we kept a small shed out in the woods behind the station for occasions such as this.

  I entered the shed and undressed, stuffing my gear in a backpack so I could have it as I ran. I shifted into my gray fox form, used my paws to get my sack over my head, then nudged my way out of the shed. Once out in the damp afternoon air, I took off at a run. Though I was used to having wet fur living near Seattle, I still didn’t prefer to be drenched. The faster I moved, the fewer rain drops would find me.

  I ran in the direction I’d been given, sniffing hard for any signs of human
s.

  Hey there, Glory! Dean, the Alpha of my clan, said through our mental link.

  Heya. Where is everyone?

  Avoiding the rain, I think. What are you up to?

  At work. Searching for the missing boy. Are you working?

  Aren’t I always? He chuckled. We have the parents at the wolf shifters’ station. I’m just outside.

  No one has any updates?

  Not yet, and the parents are getting worried.

  It’s getting dark with this storm moving in. I have a feeling about going south.

  Keep me posted.

  The further south I ran, the more certain I felt the boy was near. Then, I smelled him. I ran closer, but didn’t let him see me; a boy might be afraid of a wild animal running at him. When I saw him, standing in the middle of a dirt path, tears running down his face, I sighed with relief.

  I found him!

  I gave the exact coordinates to Dean, then shifted so I could use the walkie in my sack to call back to my station. After dressing, I approached the boy.

  “Hi there,” I said softly.

  He gasped, his crying stopping abruptly as his eyes grew wide and he looked around.

  “It’s okay.” I took several steps closer, but he didn’t see me through the brush yet. “I’m a Ranger at the park and I’m going to get you back to your parents. Okay?”

  He nodded and then his worry softened when he saw me.