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 Copyright
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement,
including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal
imprisonment.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of
copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Teddy Bear for Prince
Copyright 2023 Lorelei M. Hart
Digital ISBN: 978-1-68361-913-0
Print ISBN: 978-1-68361-914-7

Cover design by Fantasia Frog Designs

Published by Decadent Publishing LLC
Table of Contents

Omegas of Animals Series

Omegas of Animals SD (with Wendy Rathbone)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
An Excerpt from A Bear Wolf for Joel
Chapter One
Chapter Two
About the Author
Growing up in foster care, bear-shifter Teddy never knew he had any family, much less a cousin only one state away. When he
gets the news, he jumps in his car without a second thought. Maybe this is the family connection he’s been longing for all his
life. He meets his cousin and his mate at Animals for the first time and things go better than expected, so he decides to stay in
the desert for a while.

Lion shifter Prince was going to be a a rock star. His parents decided that before he was born, going so far as to name him after
their favorite musician. The only problem…he has less talent than he has desire to devote his life to music, and his desire is
none. Now Prince has years of education in something he not only doesn’t love but isn’t good at, a pile of student debt, and no
real direction in his life. At least his grandfather loves and accepts him for who he is and gives him a job at his B&B.

When he is asked to attend an animal rescue meeting at the famous Animals on his grandfather’s behalf, he expects to go, be
bored, then stick around for a little club action. The last thing he expects is to scent his mate…a mate who is no longer on the
premises. Now what?

A Teddy Bear for Prince is a sweet with knotty heat MM shifter mpreg romance featuring an omega lion shifter determined
to be his own man, a bear shifter looking for family and finding so much more, an adorable grandfather, and oh-so many
cats, the night at Animals that changes everything, Karma doing what Karma does best, a true love, fated mates, a sweet
baby, some familiar faces from the Omegas of Animals universe, and a guaranteed HEA. Each book in this series can be
read as a standalone. If you like your alphas hawt, your omegas strong, and your mpreg with heart, download your copy
today.
 Omegas of Animals Series
Papa Bear for Darius
A Mate for Hudson
A Family for Cooper
Wood You Be Mine’
A Hoard for Flame
A Den for Finley
A Guy for Rye
A Deer for Dion
A Bunny for Bruce
A Bear Wolf for Joel
A Teddy Bear for Prince

Omegas of Animals SD (with Wendy Rathbone)

The Wolf and Bear’s Dragon Omega
The Red Panda and His Mates
The Dragon, the Lion, and Their Unicorn Omega
The Otter, the Tiger, and Their Wolf Omega
The Chef, the Wolf, and their Platypus Omega
The Skunk, the Tibetan Fox, and Their Wolf Omega
The Dragon and Dolphin’s Bear Omega
The Bunny, The Wolf, and Their Kangaroo Omega
The Owl, the Zebra, and Their Bear Omega
A Teddy Bear for Prince
Omegas of Animals

By
Lorelei M. Hart
 Chapter One
Teddy
Shifter DNA was a thing. Who knew? Certainly not me—until very recently.
Growing up in foster care, I had no memories of life before I was separated from my birth family and didn’t even know
about my “specialness” until I shifted into a bear at thirteen. Unlike many kids in the system, I had been lucky to land, after a
few painful missteps, with a mom and dad who wanted me forever, even when they came down for breakfast one day to find a
bear sitting on the floor in front of the open refrigerator, helping himself to everything. I don’t know what anyone else would
have done, but they waited while I shifted back and then helped me research to figure out what happened.
Parents who accepted me and would have adopted me could they have afforded it—but who loved me every bit as much
as they would have a child of their own had they been able to have one. I’d hit the jackpot after rolling snake eyes.
Two blissful years with them ended in a car accident that took both of their lives and left me clinging to mine. If I hadn’t
been a shifter, I probably would have died, too, and sometimes in the remaining years of foster care, I wished I’d gone with
them. One horror show of a home after another. The last place was more of a group home for delinquents, run by abusive
adults, and at sixteen I ran away, preferring to live on the street to being beaten on the regular with a belt.
Not that I was a bad kid; usually I got in trouble for sneaking out to shift. If they’d seen it happen, they’d probably have
shot me. There was, after all, a bear head mounted on the wall.
The first few years were tough, especially being underage and having to find work without a legitimate address.
Kindhearted people who wanted to help would most likely report me so I could be tossed back into the system. I’d learned that
the hard way. But a fake ID helped. As did the corner of a garage I managed to rent from someone not so kind but who didn’t
give a damn and wanted the money. Finally after saving every penny I could, I got a promotion from my retail job at the big-box
store to assistant department manager and rented my own studio apartment.
Should have been good. Would have been okay, actually, if I’d never had that taste of what family felt like. Or if there had
been any connections left when they were gone. My late, kind foster parents had been only children whose parents were
already passed away, so once I’d lost them, I’d lost just about everything good. I stopped right in the middle of men’s
underwear and socks to pull out my wallet and look at the picture that was my sole memento. I’d gone straight from the hospital
to the next foster, my belongings packed in the traditional black garbage bag, so I hadn’t even had a chance to go home and look
around one more time. Get the photo album they’d begun of our little family. A jar of Mom’s blackberry jam for the road…
Blinking hard, I focused on the picture of the three of us taken at one of those cheesy mall studios. There were bigger pictures.
One over the mantel, another on my bedside table, but since I hadn’t been able to go back to the house, all I had was the
creased wallet size to remind me of better times. Maybe that they even were possible.
I tucked the picture away and went to help one of my sales people with a customer who was insisting that the large pair of
men’s speedo-style underwear was mismarked because he “always” wore that size. Barnaby was standing tall under the
onslaught, but what could he say? That the customer needed to be over in big and tall? Nothing wrong with that, but it would
make it possible for him to find underwear in a style and size that he could not only get on but breathe in.
But that’s why they paid me the big bucks. Two dollars per hour over state minimum wage to keep things running smoothly
in my little kingdom of three-packs of boxers and six-packs of tube socks. “Excuse me, sir, may I help you?”
“Are you the manager?” No, what my name tag stating Asst. Mgr. means is king of boxer-briefs.
“Yes, I am the manager on duty. Barnaby, if you’d like to go unbox the items warehouse brought up, I’ll help Mr….

“Smith. Jack Smith.” While Barnaby beat feet for the other side of the department, I stuck out my hand and shook Mr.
Smith’s. If that was his name. Note to self: They don’t pay me enough to touch the customer’s sweaty, sticky hands. Even if my
foster dad did say you should always shake when meeting someone new. I did it more as a tribute to Dad, but even he would
have excused me this time.
“Now, Mr. Smith. I see you’re looking at the sale underwear. While I won’t say they aren’t good—because all of our items
are—you strike me as a man who likes his underwear comfortable as well as a good quality.”
“Th-that’s what I was trying to tell that fellow. I’m so glad they sent over someone who knows about these things.”
I wanted to tell him Barnaby knew a hundred times more than he did about “these things,” but that was not what I was paid
to do. My job was to make sure we sold things and that the customer left happy. If I managed to rescue my employees at the
same time, at least nobody would fire me for it. “Mr. Smith…can I call you Jack?”
“Yes,” he replied. “And you’re Theodore.”
“Correct.” Only my friends could call me Teddy. “So, Jack, come with me and we’ll find you the very best we have to
offer.”
An hour later, the discount three-pack that would have cut him in half if he’d managed to even get them on had been
replaced with a cart half filled with individually tagged boxer briefs and socks, all in the correct size, and none of which were
on sale. I walked him to the front and handed him over to one of the self-checkout assistants so he wouldn’t end up just walking
away after all my hard work.
It was anything but a dream job, but if I was careful, I could pay my bills and still have eating money. And since it was
lunchtime and I needed a break badly, I headed for the employee breakroom and got my lunch out of my locker. One of the ways
I could manage to eat was by brown-bagging it. Which was healthier anyway. Two of the stockers from the grocery side of the
store were gobbling burgers and fries from the fast-food place at the front of the store and gossiping about something. I didn’t
try to listen, but their burgers smelled much better than my PB&J, so my attention was a bit on them anyway. My bear thought
we didn’t get nearly enough animal protein in our diet, but I did the best I could. On my next day off, we’d take a trip out of
town and he could do a little hunting for himself.
I was trying not to pay attention to my bear’s memories of a particularly gruesome hunting success when the words of one
of the burger eaters, the one with the triple patty/triple cheese in front of him, broke into my thoughts. “DNA. That’s how they
got the killer.”
“You mean he allowed his own DNA to be out there for anyone to find? I know it was a cold case but that sounds pretty
dumb.”
Triple-burger guy scoffed. “Of course it would be. Do you live under a rock? That’s almost never how it works. Some
relative did it, and there were enough similarities that they were able to track back to him. Cool, huh?”
They went on talking but their words faded as the wheels in my mind spun. DNA. Would it be possible for me to find my
birth family that way? Maybe learn something about where I came from? If humans were into banking DNA, were shifters? I
yanked out my phone and brought up the shifter-exclusive search engine I’d managed to find nearly by accident. Sure enough, I
found SDNA, which stood for exactly what you’d imagine, and ordered a test. If there was anyone out there who shared my
genetics closely enough to be family, I was going to try to reach them. Maybe my parents hadn’t wanted me, but maybe a sibling
or someone would.
Maybe I could get some answers.
Or closure as the humans called it.
I waited for the results to come in.
 Chapter Two
Prince
“Are you sure you want to get rid of all of these?” The man behind the counter looked at the five guitars, one cello, one
bass, and two keyboards I’d brought in. “These aren’t junk.”
That much I knew. My parents had decided from the moment the little stick showed two lines that their child was going to
be a musician just like they were. It didn’t matter what I wanted or where my skills lay; I was going to make my living
performing music. Full stop.
“Yeah, all of them. I needed them for college.” And now that it was done, I needed to get rid of them to be able to move
across the country and away from all this noise.
“And they are all yours. You didn’t steal them.”
I should’ve been offended, but I wasn’t. People who had this kind of collection usually used them rather than selling them
to a shady guy in a shop with bars on the windows.
“If you look, you’ll see my name either directly on the instruments or on the cases. For some of them, both.”
He picked up my cello and looked both it and the case over. “Sorry. All I see on here is Prince. I don’t even know what
school that is.”
I reached in my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, fished out my ID, and handed it to him. Even after all these years, it
was still embarrassing to admit that my real name was Prince, and it was 1000 percent after the musician my parents wanted
me to walk in the footsteps of.
“Yikes.” At least he didn’t pretend it was cool like most people attempted to do. “Sorry, man. Listen, I’ll be real with you.
You have some top-quality instruments here, and I can’t afford top-quality prices. Not with my clientele. Have you thought
about listing them separately?”
“I’m moving tomorrow, and I could use the cash.”
“And you can’t bring them with you?”
I had to admit the guy was far less scummy than the storefront would suggest.
“I don’t want to. This was my parents’ dream, not mine.” A dream they forced on me as a kid and one I allowed them to
force on me later. I’d been foolish enough to think that going to college for something I hated was better than not being able to
go at all.
When they refused to fill out my FAFSA without my major being music, I caved. In hindsight, I should have taken time off
before going to school so I could do the paperwork without them. Lesson learned.
“If you’re sure. Remember, you have thirty days to pay it back if you change your mind.”
“Thanks.” I wouldn’t be back, but his kindness at least had me feeling better about the amount of money he gave me.
He was right. They were worth a lot more. My parents made sure I had the best instruments, the best teachers, and the best
opportunities. They were sure I wouldn’t even need to go to college, that I’d be signed before I graduated high school and be
living the future they laid out for me. Never mind that I didn’t enjoy it, that I had to work twice as hard as anyone else to be
mediocre, and, most importantly, they never once asked me what I wanted.
I thanked him, took my cash, and left the pawnshop.
“Good riddance.”
I went to my apartment, the one I had for two more days. There was still a lot to do before I left. My landlord was kind of
a dick and, if there was so much as a speck of dust, I was going to be losing my security deposit. I needed every dollar.
Between my student loans and my roommate breaking their part of the lease, I was down to my last fifty bucks in the bank and
the money I got for pawning the instruments. That would have to get me by until I started my new job.
I didn’t even know how much it would pay, if anything. But with my nearly useless music degree, I hadn’t found anything
better. And, trust me, I tried. I applied to anything and everything that had the remotest possibility of being a decent fit.
Crickets. My efforts were met with crickets.
And the job I had at the grocery store wasn’t cutting it. Once they began limiting hours and requiring complete availability.
I was in a lose-lose situation.
When I finally broke down and called my grandfather, needing someone who wasn’t my parents to vent to, he listened and
listened, not once interrupting me as I babbled on about how horrible everything was and how my world was crashing down on
me. Unlike my parents, my grandfather had always seen me—truly seen me for who I was, not the person I might someday be if
only I had the right training and right connections.
He was very unlike most of the lions in our pride, which was probably why he moved to the desert and opened his B&B.
My parents were still mad at him for the move, said it was showing a lack of support for both the family and pride to sell his
place and go.
What they meant was that they missed being able to use his property to host guests and hunt openly.
 “Come here, Prince. I have a room for you, and there is plenty of work to be done around the place. I’m not getting any
younger, you know.”
No one looking at my grandfather would consider him an old man. He was spry and energetic and looked like he could be
my father’s brother. But I didn’t argue with him. He was only saying that to make me feel comfortable enough to accept the job.
And I did accept it, which was why I needed to spend the next two days cleaning like my life depended on it. While my
life didn’t, my wallet sure did.
 Chapter Three
Teddy
The DNA came back to show I was 100 percent shifter. I’d never considered otherwise, didn’t know it was possible to be
mixed, but it was still good to know. My bear never reacted to any of it until I got the list of relatives with partial DNA.
Although my parents were not on the family tree I was directed to, and I had no known siblings, what I did have were cousins.
First cousins, second, third. Once, twice removed, and more.
I was sitting on the bed in my tiny studio apartment, a microwaved frozen dinner beside me when the message came in, and
I never took another bite. The list was long, the names varied, and unlike the rules I understood for human ancestor records,
when I clicked on them, I got useful information like last known address and even phone number in some cases. How…where
were they all when I was trapped in the system? For a moment, elation was replaced with rage. I’d been a little kid, not sure
quite how young, and when I ran away I couldn’t exactly go back and ask for my records. I’d been young, scared, and I’d
always heard that it would be next to impossible to get hold of them anyway. Now, I wondered if that was true or just one of
the things kids trapped in a difficult situation said.
I could try now, but it didn’t matter because I had a whole different agenda. I’d found my people and could ask them all my
questions in person. Messing around with the site, I found a map function connected to the family tree. When activated, it could
place all the names in the location, if known, on any particular date. Living people were green, deceased in a subtle gray. They
were scattered everywhere but thicker in the Pacific Northwest. And then I spotted one the next state over. Driving distance.
Warren Ursa. Most of them were Ursas. Was I an Ursa, really? Questions multiplied. What was my name?
I called in to work and said I’d tested positive for a certain virus and needed a week off. Company policy meant that was
the only thing they couldn’t argue with me about. Next, I packed a duffel and locked my door behind me. There was a phone
number on the map, and an internet search showed it was for a club called Animals. I’d heard of it. Every shifter had. It was
the premier nightclub for shifters, although it had an open-door policy for other paranormals and even garden-variety humans.
Warren must work there.
He was a first cousin, according to DNA. Older than me but as close as anyone could be in terms of genetics. Our fathers
or mothers must be siblings. I would ask him. Three hundred miles away, give or take…but it felt like forever driving there. I’d
been in the Las Vegas area my whole remembered life. And I had so many cousins, aunts, and uncles, too, it seemed. Did none
of them care about me?
The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge arched into the sky, a modern replacement for driving directly
across Hoover Dam, a pleasure I’d never had since the the new bridge opened before I had a car to drive. But the newer route
had a magic about it, and I welcomed any opportunity to cross.
I probably should have called ahead, let my cousin know I was coming, but with so little information about how I’d ended
up in the system—defined as no information—I wasn’t sure what kind of welcome I could look forward to. The best course of
action, as I saw it for the moment, was just to show up and see how things went.
And hope they went well. I’d definitely been a little kid last time any of them saw me, not more than three, maybe less. On
the other side of the bridge, I was making good time on my drive to Animals. In fact, I was going about thirty miles an hour
over the speed limit, desperate for answers that I could finally get. I eased up on the gas pedal and turned on some music. Soft
jazz to drive by. If I got pulled over for speeding, it would just take me longer to get where I was going.
I drove straight through, arriving in the Superstition Mountains just in time for a spectacular sunset, and GPS directed me
onto a smaller road that wound its way between the towering cliffs made even redder against the darkening sky. A sign directed
guests to the main parking area, which was empty this early in the evening. Most nightclubs didn’t open until nine or later, or so
I understood, but a second sign pointed to the employee parking, so I continued on along the road that climbed up and ended in
an open space behind a building that looked almost like part of the cliff.
As I got out of the car, the back door opened and a woman stepped out. She waited there until I reached her then looked me
up and down. “Well, you’re not one of our employees.”
“No.”
She didn’t say anything else, and I felt a little like a kid being studied by a teacher.
“I’m looking for Warren.”
“Oh?” A small smile lifted the corners of her lips, reaching her eyes. “I should have known. You must be one of the
cousins.”
“Why do you think that?” She was right, but…
“Because you look a whole lot like them. And you just keep turning up here. Come on in and we’ll find him. I’m Karma by
the way.”
“Teddy.”
I looked like them? I could meet other people who would say, Hey, you’re an Ursa for sure. I’d know you anywhere. I
followed the woman into a big kitchen where people bustled around getting everything ready for the evening. It smelled so
good in there, my stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
The woman turned around. “Hungry?”
I clapped a hand to my belly. “Oh, did you hear that?”
“Not exactly. But I know you bears.” She waved a man in chef’s whites over and gave him instructions to bring food to the
office then started off again. We left the kitchen and entered what must be the main club floor. With the overhead lights on, I
could see into every corner, and it was extremely well maintained, with conversation pits, cocktail tables, and a dance floor. A
stage held the front of the room, instruments already set up for the evening, and a DJ booth overlooked the floor. I didn’t have
time to see more because Karma was entering a hallway, and I had to follow or lose sight of her. “Just down this way.” She
opened one of the doors and stepped inside. “Warren, your cousin Teddy is here.”
“No he’s not.”
I stopped right in the doorway, frozen at his words. He didn’t want me here. But then I caught sight of him, rising from
behind the desk, coming toward me, and stopping right in front of me.
“I’m Teddy, and I believe we are related.”
“Oh gods.” His arms came around me and he gathered me into a literal bear hug. A memory lit in my mind. I knew what
this felt like. I knew… “Karma, he’s alive.” He pulled back and looked at me. “You look just like Uncle Evan. We looked
everywhere for you. I was a teenager, but I helped. We thought you were gone, too. Where were you all this time?”
There was so much here to unpack.
We sat around the small conference table in the office, eating all the apps that a server brought, along with sparkling water,
and sharing what happened the past couple of decades. My parents had disappeared when I was two. And so had I…and that
was all they knew. All those cousins, at least those Warren’s age and older, aunts and uncles, grandparents…they’d hunted for
us.
“Last we knew, you were all camping in Washington not far from some of the family lands. There was a sudden downpour
and a flood, and your camp was washed away.” Warren took a long drink of water and leaned back in his chair. “You were all
gone.”
“Do you think there’s any chance my folks are still… I mean, could they have survived? You didn’t find their bodies.”
Warren shook his head, sadness rolling off him in waves. “Sorry, Teddy, we believe they were washed into the river and
then probably out to sea. Because if they had lived, they would never have stopped looking for you. Not ever. You were the
light of their lives.”
I studied the tabletop in front of me, unable to meet his gaze and see the pity there. “I don’t have any memories of them, you
know. Not one. And I was always afraid that they just didn’t want me. Foster care was mostly not the greatest.” And then I did
lift my eyes, but I saw not a bit of pity.
Just grief. “Teddy, I am so sorry we didn’t find you. We thought…we assumed…and we did look. But now that we’ve
found you, everyone will want to know. They’ll come visit. How long can you stay?”
“I planned on a week. I’m going to stay in a motel.”
“You are very welcome to stay with us,” Karma protested. “We have plenty of room.”
“I would rather not impose, but I’ll come every day if you don’t mind. I want to hear all about our family. Teddy is my real
name, right?”
“Yes,” Warren said.
“What is my last?”
“Ursa. Our dads were brothers.”
“I guess I knew my first name, but not the last if I was two. So the social services people had to make one up.” But from
now on, I’d be Ursa. How I’d make that work in the work world and stuff, I’d figure out. “Now, I’m going to head for a motel.
It’s been a long and emotional day.”
But so, so good.
 Chapter Four
Prince
I packed my beater with everything that I was bringing, ready to be out of the city and beginning my new life. I wasn’t silly
enough to believe that all would be right with my world just because I was someplace new. It wouldn’t be, but it was the start
of truly breaking free and becoming the person I was meant to be and not the one I was expected to become.
Thankfully, I’d managed to sell or otherwise get rid of almost all of my bigger items. It hadn’t been easy. They weren’t top
of the line when new, but giving them away was better financially than paying someone to get rid of it.
I climbed in my car, right near midnight, having stayed in my apartment until the very last second. I wasn’t even sure why.
Maybe because I paid so much for it after my roomie left that it felt like I had to, or maybe it was fear over the big changes
coming in my life. Probably a mixture of both.
After waiting far too long, I’d finally told my parents about my plans the night before. They did not take it well, my father
going so far as to say, “We sacrificed everything for you, and you are throwing it away.” I had no patience with that, and they
knew it. It wasn’t as if I’d kept quiet all my life. They knew where I stood and that I was unhappy. They simply did not care,
and that was on them, not me.
I glanced at my phone one more time, making sure I had the right directions in my head for the first day, and then powered
it down. My car battery wasn’t strong enough to be drawing from it all day, not even something as small as a phone, and I
wasn’t planning to stop at a hotel for the night. If I got really tired, I’d pull off into a truck stop and sleep in the car. No way
was I wasting what little money I had on a hotel.
My lion had been itching to break free for days, and being trapped in the car wasn’t doing him any good. We’d be able to
run freely once we got to our destination, but until then, it was going to be a power struggle between the two of us. It was
probably for the best. At least holding him at bay kept me from falling asleep.
I held off stopping for food and a restroom break as long as I could, but when the gas tank drained to nothing and my
stomach was growling, I pulled into a gas station that catered to truckers. I turned on my phone and left it on the seat to power
up as I filled the tank. When I came back in to move the car to the side for the next person, the thing was exploding.
Sure enough, most of them were from my parents.
You really did it.
Why are you so selfish?
Call us.
We told you to call us.
You ungrateful brat.
Then there was one message from my landlord. Got your keys. Cursory inspection looks good.
That was it. Nothing more, like when I might get my money back. At least he wasn’t making up random broken things that
needed doing. That was something.
I parked the car and got out to stretch my legs and then go in and grab a coffee when it hit me. My grandfather hadn’t called
at all. That meant either my parents were putting the full brunt of the onus on me, or he was trying to protect me from their
anger.
After grabbing a coffee, I hit the call button. My grandfather picked up on the first ring.
“Are you here yet?” He chuckled.
“Yep. And you aren’t even hugging me.” That earned me some more laughter. “I just wanted you to know that everything
went well with moving out, and I’m about 400 miles from you. I should be there before dinner.”
“Excellent. You can tell me what part of your parents are blaming me for all that is wrong with the world fits in with
everything went well over roasted chicken and potatoes.”
The guilt hit hard. The only thing that had me considering not accepting the offer was exactly this: my parents being
asshats.
“I was hoping they left you alone. Sorry, Pop-Pop.”
“No sorry to it. They can die mad about it. I’m thrilled you are coming. Be safe.”
I pulled in probably sooner than I should have, my foot getting a bit heavy once I hit the desert road. The B&B was just as
I remembered it. Welcoming, quaint, and full of cats. Oh-so many cats.
“I see there are new members of your family.” I hugged Pop-Pop. “I’m glad there’s still room for me.”
“Always. Even if your cat is the size of all of my babies put together. Do you want to see your room first or go for a run?”
He patted my shoulder. “Never mind. Your lion is so close—let’s go for a run.”
We went out back to his shifting shed and stripped off our clothing, leaving it on the shelf. I asked him once why he had a
separate place like that, and he told me it was to keep his fur babies from sleeping on his clothes. And fair enough, except over
the years, he added a cat door for them to be able to come into the shed. For a big fierce lion, Pop-Pop was a softy for those
cats. They were his owner far more than he was theirs.
He shifted first, and I followed. His beast showed me the property lines, like he did every time, and then we went hunting.
My lion wasn’t a huge fan of most of the local critters, but he loved to hunt and enjoyed the time with our family, the side who
liked us for us.
 Chapter Five
Teddy
It was way too easy to get comfortable at Animals. Warren and Karma and their staff were so welcoming, and I kept
getting calls from cousins I knew only as dots on that family tree map thingy. Apparently they had a family reunion planned in a
couple of months and all wanted to make sure I was coming. Heady stuff for a guy who grew up the way I had. The motel was
comfortable and not too far away, but I was getting up every morning and hurrying over to see what I could do to help.
My cousin’s mate, Karma, was the woman who had brought me in to meet him, and while she was not a shifter and nobody
would admit she was anything else, nobody could meet her and not know she was something more. Everyone here loved her,
and she kept things running smoothly. Always a project in mind, and her personality was such that everyone wanted to help.
And when I arrived on this particular day, it was to find Karma and a few members of her staff getting ready for a fundraiser
for a local animal rescue. Before I knew it, I was way up on a ladder hanging one side of a banner announcing the event while
she stood below directing me to fasten it, “Just a little higher.”
We only had a certain window to do things on the actual club floor, but a lot of preparation for the event took place behind
closed doors in the VIP room where we were building the brochure that would be handed out at the event to each of the
attendees. And this was super fun. I had a couple of cousins working in security, as it turned out. They were away, but I looked
forward to getting to know them on their return.
I was working entirely on a voluntary basis, but I could definitely see why people enjoyed working for real here at
Animals. There was a cheerful spirit of cooperation here led by Karma and backed by my cousin, Warren the customers
seemed to pick up on. I’d never been big into clubs because I wasn’t crazy about the chaotic atmosphere and meat-market
mentality the Vegas shifter clubs I’d visited offered, but I saw none of that here.
What was different was the anyone-can-come, feel-free-to-be-yourself feeling in the room when it was open. Shifters
could be whatever they were as long as they didn’t bother anyone else or try to eat them. There was a blood bar for vamps I’d
been told was new and a cauldron for the witches’ brew. One rule that was posted in big letters was: No Brooms Allowed.
Apparently some of the witches had a bit too much brew and flew while intoxicated, causing some expensive damage.
They could fly outside, though, somewhere. “Want to take a break?” asked a young bear shifter who I was fairly sure I was
not related to. I thought his name was Howard. “We can go for a run and stretch our paws.”
“I don’t want to skip out if I’m needed.” I looked around for Karma, but the bear waved away my concerns.
“We’re good. She had to go take care of something in the office and won’t be back for an hour or so. Don’t you want a
run?”
My bear was ready to force his way out at the very idea. “I do. So, where do we go?”
“Follow me.” He headed through the kitchen and out to where I’d parked again. “Just on the other side of the lot.”
“That’s not a cliff, Howard?” It sure looked like one. A bench sat right near the edge, and I’d seen people sitting there
earlier. Also, I wanted to confirm I had his name right without asking because I’d met so many people, I was having a hard time
keeping all the names straight.
“Oh, yeah, it’s a cliff, but there’s a trail. It’s where the employees and family and friends can let off steam and sometimes
customers.” I must have the name right, since he didn’t correct me.
“Is this where the witches fly?”
He snorted. “On occasion, when they agree to behave. Mostly just shifters.” He began to remove his clothes and set them
on another bench a distance away from the drop, so I followed suit and let my bear out. I didn’t see the trail until I was right on
the edge of the cliff, and it was lucky I didn’t have a fear of heights because it was steep, a bit narrowish, and had no railing.
We loped down to the bottom and Howard took off across the valley floor. It was amazing to stretch out and run like this, just to
be free. In the past, I’d always been furtive and stuck close to trees to avoid being seen, but judging from how my new friend
was behaving, it was a nonissue here. And it was magic. We ran past cacti and low shrubs and a lot of plants I had no names
for, hawks flew overhead, their cries echoing, and it was the best run I’d ever had.
Pure magic.
I would have gone all day, but Howard finally veered around and headed back. We needed to get to our task again, but it
cheered me and made my bear happier than I’d ever known him to be—we could do this again anytime.
At least until we went home, but I didn’t want to think about that.
When we rejoined the work team, Karma gave me a wink. “How was your run?”
I started to ask how she knew but then realized there were others out there, too, and Karma always seemed to know
everything. “It was great. Best vacation of my life, this week.”
“You should come to the event,” she said. “I think you’ll enjoy it.”
I looked around at the beautiful decorations the staff was putting together, the programs they were stacking in boxes, and
everything else. “Thank you, but fancy highbrow things aren’t for me.”
She shrugged. “Think about it. I believe you should come.”
 Chapter Six
Prince
“Get dressed.” Pop-Pop handed me a cup of coffee. “We have places to go and people to see.”
The B&B was closed for a week. My grandfather regularly blocked off chunks of time for no reason other than he “wanted
to still love the place.” I was glad he wasn’t working round the clock like he once did. It made my transition here easier as
well.
“People? Can’t we just stay here with Kit and Kat?” I whined and took a sip of my coffee. Kit and Kat being his two fur
babies.
“Trust me.” He pointed toward my room. “Now hurry. Time is a ticking.”
I had no idea where Pop-Pop wanted to take me and threw on jeans and a T-shirt. If he wanted business casual, he’d have
said. At least, that was the assumption I rolled with. I downed the coffee and met him in the kitchen where he was putting down
fresh water for the cats and promising them he’d be home soon with a surprise for them.
“Gonna tell me where we are going?”
“What’s the fun in that?” He shook his keys. “Let’s get out of here.”
A half hour later, we pulled into the local animal rescue.
“Pop-Pop.”
My grandfather wasn’t going to leave this place empty-handed. It was how he, at one point, had five cats. He had a habit of
adopting the older cats that no one wanted. It was great for them. He truly gave them their best life. But it was hard on him
because they rarely lived but a handful of years after he adopted them.
“Please tell me we aren’t here to get another cat.”
“I won’t.” He popped open his door. “Let’s go.”
I met him at my side of the car, and we walked together. “You say you won’t, and yet we are going inside.”
“I said I wouldn’t tell you. That’s not the same thing.”
Once inside, we were greeted by someone behind a long counter. She showed us the different sign-in sheets depending on
why we were there. It saddened me how many names were on the list for surrendering cats. I was sure they weren’t all pets
being brought in, but lost pets weren’t a happier story, in my opinion.
Pop-Pop signed up as an interested adopter. “I saw on your social media that a new family came in.”
“We do, and we’d really like them to leave together,” she said, only half paying attention. She changed her tune when he
said he’d like to meet the three cats.
“Three, Pop-Pop?” I whispered as she went to grab their paperwork. “We are here to see three cats?”
“They were found in a garage fire. They need a good life,” was all he said about that.
She took us to the visitor room and brought all three in. They were the scraggliest bunch I’d ever seen. One was missing
part of an ear, the other a part of their tail, and the third a patch of fur. Nothing about them shouted they would win any cute cat
contest except…they were the cutest things I’d ever seen.
“They are a tad skittish, so don’t feel bad if they ignore you—”
All three of them were climbing on my grandfather before she finished the sentence.
“Or not.” She beamed. “I’ll give you some time with them to decide. I need to go make a phone call confirming some
details for our annual fundraiser, but Sarai will be at the counter if you need any help.”
“Fundraiser?” Pop-Pop asked, his eyes on her even as he was giving the cats the attention they were begging for.
“Yes. Animals is graciously hosting this year’s event. I’ll leave a flier out front for you. It’s the must-attend event of the
season for cat lovers.” She looked at me. “Do you like cats as well?”
“I really love mine.” I didn’t mind cats as a rule.
I liked them in general, but I wasn’t the cat lover my grandfather was, that was for sure. At least not yet. The one with the
missing fur had just come over and decided to make me her servant, and it was already working.
“Then you should definitely attend. It is supposed to be the hottest spot in the region—if you can get in. And if you buy
tickets to the fundraiser, you get in. I think that’s why we sold half the tickets we have, honestly.”
Animals was a shifter club, so it didn’t surprise me that locals, humans specifically, thought it was difficult to get in. For
them, it probably was. A $200 a ticket event, or whatever they cost, sounded like a lot to pay just to be one of the cool kids.
But to each their own, and it did help a good cause.
“Thanks,” I said, and she left.
“They don’t have names. You better think of one for your fella over there.” Pop-Pop indicated the cat, who was now sitting
on my shoulders, her belly flush against my neck.
“She said they need to go together.”
He nodded, confirming what I already knew would happen when we walked in the small room.
 “So their names should go together, right?” I asked.
“Like Snap, Crackle, and Pop?” He immediately shook his head. “That won’t work. Pop is too close to my name.”
“What about Apollo, Zeus, and Athena?” They were badass little critters and deserved equally badass names.
“I love it.”
Pop-Pop filled out the paperwork for the new editions to our family and took the flier for the fundraiser. Part of it included
an auction of donations, and he planned to donate a week at the B&B. He also pushed me to go. I told him I’d think about it.
“Athena, you’re going to love your new home,” I told the nearly asleep cat on my lap as Pop-Pop pulled into the driveway.
“I know I do.”
 Chapter Seven
Teddy
My week was going way too fast to suit me, and I was starting to wonder why I felt so determined to return home. What
did I have waiting for me there? Pulling into the parking lot on the day of the animal rescue event, it felt way too natural to be
here. I hoped that Warren and Karma would welcome me back the next time I had some vacation accumulated because I
couldn’t imagine a better place to vacation. In fact, I’d heard that the next Ursa family reunion would be here. Win-win.
The rescue event was not for a few hours yet, but I was here to help with all the final details. Arriving in the kitchen, the
chefs all waved and called my name. “Teddy, cinnamon roll?” When I’d attempted to protest all the food they were offering
me, Karma told me to eat up and not hurt their feelings.
“You’re family, Teddy. I wish you’d stay here, but at least let us feed you.”
So I did. I couldn’t lie and say it didn’t help me not to have to buy food, but more than that, everything was delicious. Well
prepared, great ingredients, overall the tastiest meals I’d had since Mom and Dad…since they…
“You’re taking a roll, yes?” Karma had appeared at my elbow. “I am. Come sit down and have coffee and we can talk a
few minutes before we get caught up in all the rush of an event day.” She sat at the round staff table off to the side, and the chef
came over with coffees and rolls. “These look great, thank you.”
No matter what job someone had, management, janitor, cook, anything, Karma always spoke to them with respect. To her,
all members of the team were equally valuable, which was probably a small part of why they adored her. Sure was different
from the job I had waiting for me at home.
I took a long draught of the coffee I’d had set in front of me, prepared just the way I liked it. “You noticed?” I smiled at the
chef before they walked away. “Your people are…”
“The best.” Karma picked up a fork and dug into the roll. “We’re so lucky. I know Warren has a lot of things he wants you
to do today, but I’m starting to feel guilty for letting you help out so much on your vacation. And for free.”
“It’s for a good cause.” I took a bite as well. “And you’re feeding me in food. Really great food.”
“Hmmm. Still seems kind of one-sided to me. The company you work for is very lucky to have you. If it wasn’t
dishonorable, I’d try to lure you to stay here and work for us.”
“You’ve already done so much for me, Karma. Made me feel a part of things, given me a connection to family. I couldn’t
ask any more.”
We sat quietly then while the kitchen workers bustled around and staff popped in for food. All staff ate for free and nobody
argued if they had a friend or relative with them. The cinnamon roll was as good as any I’d ever had, but I couldn’t help but
wonder if she was serious. “Karma, I—”
“Karma.” One of the workers who was helping with the event poked their head into the kitchen. “Warren is looking for
Teddy.”
“I’m coming.” I hopped up and carried my plate and cup to the sink. I’d been this close to begging her for a job. She was
just being kind, clearly, and I’d saved myself some embarrassment. I’d found family, and there was nothing more than that. I’d
visit when I could. And attend the reunion, which was sure to blow my mind.
In the main room, I found Warren sitting at the bar. All the decorations and other things we’d been working on were being
put in place, and he had a clipboard in front of him. Most people used tablets now, but my cousin was old school. “There you
are, Teddy. Ready to head out?”
“Yes, what all do I need to pick up?” I hopped up on the stool next to his and pulled out my phone. “Go ahead, boss.”
Warren went over the list with me while I made notes in the app on my phone for the purpose. “Now, some of these places
are hard to find. I know you’re new to the area. Do you need to take someone with you to help you get to all of them?”
“No. I’m pretty good with GPS. Are these baskets handmade?” Everything they did here was top of the line, and I knew
that Animals was absorbing all costs so the rescue could benefit from 100 percent of donations.
“Yes. Karma is friends with the artist, and they are being donated.”
“Gotcha. So do I need to pay for anything I’m picking up?”
“Nope. Everything is covered. You just need to say you’re there from Animals and should be no trouble.”
We sat side by side for ten or fifteen minutes while he went over the list item by item and I made notes, but he still gave me
a printed-out sheet when we were done. Karma had mentioned her mate was old school in a lot of ways, and this was one of
them. I only hoped that I could fit everything in my smallish car. In addition to the baskets, I was stopping at a charcuterie
place, an artist’s studio, a pottery spot, and others.
“Okay.” I stood up, tucked my phone in my pocket, and grabbed the printout. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Here.” He tossed me a set of keys. “Black Escalade in the employee lot. I think you’ll need the room.”
Woo-hoo. What an upgrade!
 Chapter Eight
Prince
“I’m fine staying here and helping get things ready for the morning.”
The B&B was opening again after a week off and, while everything was ready, it still felt like a big deal to me. It would
be my first time working while we had guests. I still wasn’t altogether sure what I was going to be doing. Pop-Pop would
dismiss my question and tell me we’d deal with it when the time came.
“Or”—he looked up from his book—“you can go to Animals, represent the B&B if they need that sort of thing, and have
fun. You remember what fun is, right?”
“I had fun this week,” I countered.
“Building your new boss a castle filled with places to scratch and catnip to rub against is not the same as going to a club.”
He set the book on the table beside him, giving me all his attention.
“I did have fun though. I like building things and Athena was really appreciative.” She was beyond sweet, and it was true.
I was her servant.
Pop-Pop gave me his world-famous side eye. Fine, it was family famous, but it was intense.
“Fine, I’ll go.” I had wanted to but was also nervous. Animals was a big deal. At least it felt that way. “But if I do and
come home early, can you let it be?”
“I’ll even let it be if you don’t come home until morning.” He winked.
“Ewww. You’re my grandfather. Can you not conjecture on hookups involving me, please?”
He laughed and laughed as I went to get ready.
The parking lot was packed when I pulled in. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Animals was known countrywide for their
events. The who’s who of the shifter world were known to frequent them. This was probably not at that same level, being a
fundraiser humans might be interested in. It was still going to be amazing.
After circling the lot twice, I found a spot. I suspected it might be for staff, but there were no signs saying as much, and it
was that or going home. There was no way Pop-Pop would believe I came home early because of parking. Not after I tried to
worm my way out of it a few times.
A line a mile long snaked up the cliff. I started to head toward the end of it, and a woman dressed to impress waved me
over. “Do you have a ticket?”
“Yeah, I do.” I reached into my pocket to fish it out. “Here.”
“Just as I thought. You come with me.” She held onto my ticket and led me past the line, ignoring the grumbles of those
who’d been waiting what I guessed was a long time. We walked right past two bouncers.
I ran to catch up to her.
“I thought I lost you.”
“Nope. I’m just confused. Isn’t that the line?” I was happy to be going inside, but the last thing I wanted was to piss off a
shifter who felt I cut in front of them.
“You donated. That’s a different kind of ticket.” She made me promise to ask for her if I needed anything. “Welcome to
Animals.”
“Don’t feel bad, but who are you?”
“Karma, my friend. Karma.” And away she went.
The music was pumping, and drinks were flowing. I wasn’t sure where to start and decided to walk around and get a feel
for the event. I worked my way to the room where the auction was going to be when my lion popped up and started to pay
attention.
What?
Mate. Here. Mate.
You scent our mate? I inhaled deeply. There it was, swimming in a sea of a hundreds of others.
Find.
I’m on it.
It was far easier said than done. The food, the alcohol, the perfumes and hair products of the humans and all of the
different shifters flooded my senses. But he was there—my mate—and once I grasped onto his scent, I was able to follow him.
Through the crowds, into a staff-only area, and eventually straight outside. I didn’t give up there. I followed until it
disappeared.
“No. No. No. No. No.” I shook my head, refusing to accept this was true, that he could be gone.
“You.”
I turned to see a bear of a man—upon further scenting, he was actually a wolf.
“Karma asked me to come and get you. She wants you on stage. They would like you to talk about your donation and get
the bids rolling.”
Crappity, crap, crap, crap.
If I thought there was even an inkling of a shot at finding my mate and that he hadn’t gotten into a car and driven off, I’d
have refused. But the reality was slapping me in the face: My mate was gone.
If only I had come earlier.
“Okay.” I followed the man inside, my brain flooding with ideas. If he came, chances were that he’d come again, right? It
wasn’t as if the state was flooded with shifter bars and, even if it was, they wouldn’t come close to being of the caliber of
Animals. And if he was coming back, then I needed to be there.
My grandfather would understand. I wasn’t worried about that. And, really, most all of the work done at the B&B was
during the day. The nighttime wasn’t going to be a problem.
Was it a good plan? Not even close. But it was the best one I could formulate as I followed the wolf back into the club and
over to the auction.
Time to push this to the side the best I could. The rescue meant something to my grandfather and to myself. My mate
mattered, but so did this.
Once Karma introduced me, I went to the mike, the lights making it not so easy for me to see the audience.
“Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming out to support our local rescue. I should probably be telling you about
how amazing my grandfather’s B&B is in order to encourage you to bid. But instead, I want to tell you about Athena and how
her life was changed by the amazing rescue that brought us all here tonight.”
 Chapter Nine
Teddy
I managed to accomplish all the errands, including picking up a very special pair of earrings from a jeweler who designed
them just for this event. He insisted that I look inside the little box before I carried it off and beamed with pride when my jaw
dropped. Delicate cat faces with tiny, deep-green emerald eyes looked back at me. “They’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever
seen,” I breathed. You made these?”
“I did.” The jeweler lifted his chin higher. “Just for the animal rescue. I want to show you something else.” He pushed a
curtain covering a doorway aside and called, “Come here, Bast.” A cat that could only be a Siamese stalked into the front of
the shop. Eyes the same color as the ones on the earrings left no doubt as to his inspiration. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”
“He’s elegant, too.” I reached for the feline, but he moved on past, ignoring me completely.
“He came from the rescue, and he’s the best companion I can imagine. My mate passed away a couple of years ago, and I
was so lonely.”
I could feel the pain still simmering under the surface, but the beautiful cat came and rose on his hind legs to press his
paws on the jeweler’s slacks, and he bent to pick him up. “He’s not a full Siamese, but he thinks he is.”
I tucked the box in my backpack for safekeeping and drove the Escalade back to the club, laden with donations and food
and baskets. Then I helped with the last of the setup before heading home. “Are you sure you won’t stay?” Karma asked. “I
think you’ll enjoy it.”
“No. But thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I kind of did want to stay, but I’d never fit in. The champagne was chilling,
and the appetizers were laden with things I couldn’t even pronounce. The only thing that made sense to me was the charcuterie
board, which essentially held things like salami and cheese and fruits and nuts.
“Okay, then. I won’t try to convince you anymore.” She turned her attention to the bar setup with its rows of glasses and
bottles. “Have a good night, Cousin.”
I started to protest then recognized something I hadn’t. Not only was Warren my relative, but due to her marriage to him,
Karma was also my cousin. I’d really hit the relative jackpot here. And I’d only met a few so far!
Back at the motel, I reached into my backpack for something and my hand closed around a small square box. Oh no. The
earrings. I’d forgotten to take them out at Animals, and Warren had told me they were going to be a big draw. There was
nothing for it but to turn around and drive back in my clunky car. But the event was already getting started, and I wanted to look
more like I belonged, so I changed to a button-down shirt and slacks. I might not fit in with the fancy folks, but I didn’t want to
embarrass my cousins.
I drove past the public parking area, noting how filled it was. If each of those who parked there bid on items or made a
donation, it was going to be big success for the animal rescue. I sure hoped it would. Seeing the jeweler with his semi-Siamese
had shown me how what benefited the animals could also be a great thing for those who adopted them. The man lit up when the
cat put that paw on his leg.
The kitchen was busy as always, and I passed through with a wave to the staff and headed down the hallway toward the
main room from which a buzz of conversation emerged. Entering, I was glad I’d changed because while it was not formal,
everyone looked like they’d put some real effort into their appearance. They moved from table to table, looking at items up for
bid, speaking in excited voices, and dropping their bids into some of the items that Karma had explained were part of a silent
auction.
But the main things, those expected to garner larger amounts, would be part of an active auction with Karma acting as
auctioneer. I applauded the choice of her because I suspected she’d be good at getting people to dig deep and contribute.
She was standing on stage now and calling someone up to tell about their donation. I moved deeper into the room, looking
for someone to give the earrings to, but then a scent tickled my nose. Dusty grasses and sweet water. Where was it coming
from? Clutching my box, I looked around, my bear suddenly wide awake and on full alert. His growl rumbled inside me.
The scent was coming from near the stage, and I followed it, desperate to see who it came from. I handed off the earrings
to a worker as I went but then continued forward. Karma turned to clap as a man took the stage. But not just a man. Not an
ordinary man…no. A lion. I got to the base of the stairs and climbed them. I didn’t even stop to think how inappropriate it was
to do this because I could only get to him as fast as possible. I crossed the stage, and the man’s words trailed off. He faced me.
I closed the last of the distance, and we looked at one another, neither breathing.
Then we said it at the same time. “Mate.”
Everyone cheered and thunderous applause shook the floor. The man handed the microphone to Karma who said, “I’m
opening the bidding for the B&B package at two thousand dollars.” I was vaguely aware of the bidding behind me, of one after
another raising the price. It was a bidding frenzy for my mate’s donation. And I was proud.
We descended the steps together, my mate and I, and made our way hand in hand out of the main room, through the hallway,
and into the kitchen. It didn’t matter where we were going. We would go there together.
 Chapter Ten
Prince
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I grabbed my mate’s hand and let him lead me through the building and into places I
was sure I wasn’t allowed. Did I care enough to ask him if we should be doing this? Absolutely not. My desire to see his bear,
for the two of us to run together outweighed all of that.
“It’s around here.” He tugged, and I followed. I thought we were going to be shifting outside, but then he opened a door
that led to a room I had difficulty understanding.
“Are we inside or out?”
The door closed behind us.
“It’s a faux courtyard. My cousin and his mate said I could use it whenever I want, and I don’t think I want to share you just
yet.” He pulled me into his arms for a long hug, scenting me deeply over and over again.
“I wouldn’t have guessed this was a pool if I hadn’t walked through the door myself.” I wasn’t ready to let go, but my lion
was begging to get out. “Does your bear like the water?”
“He loves it, but we can just use the rest of the space. I know cats and water aren’t the best of friends.” He nuzzled into my
neck. “If we don’t shift soon, I’m going to be too distracted to remember why we are here.”
I was already there.
“Let’s do this.” I stepped back, immediately feeling his loss. “And, for the record, my lion loves all things water.”
“And you came to the desert.” He chuckled.
“Long story short. I went to school for the wrong thing and came here to work for my grandfather.” It was the mega-
abbreviated version, but there would be plenty of time for the full one later.
“I can’t wait to swim with you.” He pulled his shirt over his head, and all thoughts of swimming vanished. I wanted to lean
in and trace every plane on his body with my tongue.
Instead, I took my own clothes off, my lion threatening to break through whether or not I was dressed.
Both of us naked, I took my beast first. He wanted to let out a roar, to show our mate that he was a fierce beast. I wasn’t
sure that would be allowed in here and threatened him with being in our skin if he did so.
My mate watched me, his eyes filled with appreciation for my form. “You are the most stunning creature I have ever seen.”
He took a step forward and rubbed his cheek against the side of my head. “Wow.”
If I could’ve purred, I’d have been doing so. Not even for a second did he show signs of fear, something I commonly saw
when in my fur around others. Even the larger animals were fearful of my beast. If only they knew what a complete house cat he
was under the tough exterior. Athena was far more dangerous than I.
“My bear needs to come out now.” He walked a few steps away and out came his animal.
He was taller than I thought he would be and didn’t resemble his name at all. This was no teddy bear standing in front of
me. He was strong and powerful. He was magnificent.
Our two animals came together, scenting each other and then putting our scent all over each other. There was something
both primal and sexy about that. And when our beasts decided our rolling around together had made enough of a marking, my
lion took off.
The two of us chased each other around the room. It was large, and we had a good time. It wasn’t the same as outside, but
it gave us all the feel of back where I used to live with none of the bugs. It was a win-win for me.
I dove into the water first. It was cool enough to be invigorating but warm enough that my human form would probably not
mind it. Teddy jumped in after me. He was less agile in the water than I was but held his own. We played in there like kittens
and cubs, splashing, diving, and chasing each other. I couldn’t remember a time when I had so much fun in my fur.
As with all good things, it was time for us to get out, far too soon for my liking. No one said we had to leave, but someone
came in, apologized for interrupting, and left. I took that as a sign we’d used the space long enough.
The nice thing about shifting in one’s fur is that as soon as I shifted back, I was dry. Hard and dry, but the hardness had
nothing to do with being a shifter and everything to do with the sexy bear shifter in front of me.
“They could’ve come in.” I grabbed my boxer briefs and slid them on. “I feel bad.”
“Don’t feel bad. He’s a polar bear, and there is a cooler pool for him on the other side of the property.” He pulled up his
jeans. “And he would’ve asked to join us if he was looking for company.”
“Do you know everyone here?”
“Not yet, but I’m learning. My cousin is mated to Karma.”
“Karma.” Of course it was her. “She was the one who led me inside when I got here and the one who sent someone to
come get me when I followed your scent and thought you were gone.”
“That checks.”
I looked at him, a bit confused by what he meant.
 “My cousin and his mate will deny it until the cows come home, but she has a way of helping people find each other.” He
finished putting on his clothes. “Ready to go someplace and talk?”
“I’m ready to go someplace with you, but talking isn’t what I had in mind.” I grabbed his shirt, pulled him toward me, and
sealed our lips together.
I was home.
 Chapter Eleven
Teddy
Humans would never understand how this went. I knew that because I grew up in their world. Sure, some people had what
they called one-night stands, usually meaningless sex that I personally thought happened out of loneliness more than horniness.
Could just be me. And the fact that I’d had so little experience in what made me tick. My bear was anything but chatty, until I’d
arrived here. And especially tonight.
I’d had more contact with people like me this week, learned more about what I was since I got to Animals earlier in the
week. And it wasn’t as if anyone attempted to school me or sign me up for a class on how to be a bear shifter. More that they
were just being themselves and in doing so, showing me how much I had always been myself.
I’d always just felt like a square peg. Characteristics I observed here had not been so well-received from a stubborn kid
growing up in foster care. Mom and Dad excepted, those who were in charge of my care had done their very best to suppress
my more “objectionable” characteristics. They all knew better what I needed, how I should behave, and while I got excellent
grades at school, my report cards reflected a child who didn’t have an easy time socially. I had few friends and none very
close. Partly, I moved a lot and kept ending up in different schools before I could form strong bonds, but also, I wasn’t good at
it. I didn’t have the rhythm of easy conversation. Did other shifters go through this? No idea, but in just a few days, I’d grown
to recognize that it wasn’t that there was something wrong with me. Or with the other kids in school or my coworkers.
Because in this short time, I’d learned what it was like not to be tense every minute of the day and night. And boy did it
feel great. And then, when I was thanking the gods for what I’d already discovered, I found myself on stage in front of a
roomful of well-dressed shifters and others who were there to help an animal rescue. I’d never been on a stage of any kind,
preferring to stay in the background—counter to what I’d begun to see other alphas do. But one scent of my mate brought that
part of me roaring out, and another moment apart was a moment too long.
After our kiss, we’d done all the courting a shifter needs. I knew that without anyone telling me. We started for the parking
lot, our hair still damp from our swim. “My car okay?”
“Sure.” He leaned in to me. “Where shall we go?”
“I’m staying at a motel, but would you rather go to your place?”
“The motel is good. I work and live with my grandpa.”
I kissed his cheek. “Agreed. I want you to feel free to cry out my name.”
He laughed, but his breath hitched, and I helped him into my car, wishing I’d accepted guest quarters from my cousins.
They were all set in the caves behind the club, with thick walls for privacy. But, more importantly, they were practically
soundproof. Or so I’d been told. But for now, any other motel guests would have to deal with whatever sounds we created.
The motel was about fifteen minutes away, but with the scent of our mingled arousal filling the car, it felt a lot longer. And
when we arrived at the motel, we were both so ready, our clothes just seemed to melt away—and barely inside the door.
My mating urge flared higher when I placed my hands on his hips and drew him toward me. His cock stood out so proud,
the clear droplet of pre-cum sparkling in the light from outside. I couldn’t help dropping to my knees to guide him toward my
open mouth. The salt of the droplet hit my tongue before the full taste of my mate bloomed on my palate. Sweet and salty and
warm, and his moans echoed around us. I sucked him in and used my tongue to stroke the vein that ran down the side before
letting him slide out enough to nibble at the head. I worked him in and out until his knees buckled, and I caught him just in time
to ease him onto the mattress but never released him from my mouth. I took him deeper into my throat, growling around him and
that made him cry out my name and spurt his delicious cum into my mouth.
Rising from my knees, I pushed his apart and felt his hole, finding him so slick and ready for me. I fitted the head of my
cock there and drove into his willing body, pausing halfway in to savor the tightness and massage of his interior muscles. Then
I pulled back and pushed in again. And again. And again. My eyes fluttered closed, all my attention on the flex and release, the
tight grip of him until I couldn’t hold back another second and shouted, “Gods,” as his tight ass milked me of every drop.
I hung over him for a long minute as my knot swelled, binding us together. I’d never knotted before, but I’d never been with
another shifter…and never been with my mate. But this time, I bent and sank my teeth into his shoulder, piercing the flesh and
tasting his blood. Marking him as mine.
 Chapter Twelve
Prince
I woke with a start, my phone ringing. I had muted everyone but Pop-Pop, so my gut reaction was that there was an
emergency. I flew from the bed to find my pants and fish out the phone, answering on the second ring.
“Are you okay?” I didn’t bother with normal greetings.
“Are you?” My grandfather sounded more amused than anything else.
“Yeah. I just… Sorry, the phone rang and I…what’s up?”
I glanced at the bed to see Teddy looking expectantly. The sheet fallen from his body, his nakedness not the distraction I
needed when on the phone with Pop-Pop.
“I don’t know what you did last night, but—”
“I should have called. I’m sorry.” My face was burning. I wasn’t a kid, obviously. But that didn’t mean I didn’t owe the
guy the respect of a phone call.
“Would you let me finish?”
I didn’t reply so he could, in fact, finish.
“I don’t know what you did last night, but my phone has been ringing off the hook today for reservations and possible
events. I hate to ask you this, but can you come and help me out for a while?”
“I’ll be there asap. I was supposed to be working. I didn’t mean to sleep in.” Not that I knew what time it was. Three
minutes earlier, I was sound asleep in my mate’s arms after the most mind-blowing night of my life.
“I’d feel bad, but you are to blame for this,” he teased. “The most common question I was asked was about Athena.”
And now the pieces were falling into place. My speech had earned him more than a high bid on his donation. It got people
talking. Huh. How about that.
“I’ll be there soon. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I got up off my spot on the floor and joined Teddy on the bed. “I hate to up and leave like this, but my grandfather needs
some help at the B&B.”
“Is it closer to this place or to Animals?”
Crap. I’d forgotten he drove me.
“Here.”
“Then, let’s take a shower, and I can drive you there. We’ll figure out your car later.” He took my hand in his. “I’m not
quite ready to be away from you yet.”
We showered separately, knowing full well that if we were in there together, we’d have taken twice as long, and drove to
the B&B.
The new guests wouldn’t be arriving for a few hours, and the parking lot was empty.
“This place is adorable.” Teddy pulled into a slot near the front door and turned off the engine.
“Thanks. It’s very New England meets the desert.” Which was what gave it a certain appeal that the other places to stay
around here didn’t have. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Can’t get rid of me that quickly.” He unbuckled his seat belt and cracked the door open.
The polite thing would’ve been to argue, to let him know I didn’t need his free labor just because we spent the night
boning. But I wasn’t ready to let him go, either, and the two of us walked in hand in hand.
Athena came barreling down the stairs as soon as I arrived.
“Did you miss me?” I squatted down, and she jumped up on my shoulder to perform her favorite activity, the living cowl.
“She is everything you said she was.” Teddy reached out, and she looked at him, almost daring him to try and pet her.
“Maybe next time, sweet girl.”
My grandfather came out of the kitchen. “You brought a friend…a mate. Well, don’t I feel like the worst grandfather ever
now.” He reached out a hand to Teddy. Pop-Pop had picked up so many human quirks since opening this place. I kind of loved
it.
“This is my mate, Teddy. I met him last night, and he offered to come and help.”
The two of them shook hands.
“This is a really cool place. I love how it feels like it belongs on the ocean while being as far away as you could be.”
Pop-Pop patted his shoulder. “You get this place. Now, let me show you two what needs doing because there is a list.”
He wasn’t kidding about the list. While my grandfather dealt with all the scheduling and phone calls, Teddy and I checked
in all of the guests as they arrived, made and served the afternoon tea, and took care of the fur babies.
There were also some random odds and ends thrown in. It wasn’t until the last guest checked in that I saw that this wasn’t
a list created for us. This was his daily to-do list. Pop-Pop hadn’t offered me the job out of pity. He needed the help. How he
did all of this on his own every day without collapsing was scary. No wonder he blocked random weeks off. It was survival.
My mate and I hadn’t talked about future plans yet, but if there was a way for us to stay here, I wanted to do that.
“You two are lifesavers.” Pop-Pop set a casserole on the table for dinner. “I wasn’t expecting the donation to bring in
customers.”
“Your grandson and Athena won them over.” Teddy squeezed my knee under the table, his face filled with pride.
“Maybe I need to add marketeer to your list of tasks. He sat down. “Although I suppose it worked because you weren’t
trying to sell the week’s stay, were you?”
“No. I was trying to get people to give until it hurt.” I spooned some casserole onto a plate and handed it to Pop-Pop and
then did the same for Teddy before getting myself some. “This is nice. Having dinner like this.”
I’m sure none of this was the way Teddy had planned to spend his first full day with his mate, but I sort of thought it was
perfect.
“I agree.” Teddy took a bite, complete with the perfect yummy sounds. “It’s nice to have a family dinner.”
And that’s what this was: our first family dinner. The first of many.
 Chapter Thirteen
Teddy
I couldn’t leave now. I had already been wishing I could stay, but now I would do anything in my power to make it happen.
Taking my mate back to Las Vegas was out of the question. He had his grandfather here, whom he’d begun working with, and
dragging him away from that just to spend his days and nights in my studio apartment was a very bad idea So that meant I
needed an alternative plan.
The company I worked for did have a store in Phoenix, and I might have been able to transfer, but the thought held no
appeal. Images from my tenure there flooded my mind, the customers with their demands, supervisors always on me to produce
more sales and make the people under me fall in line. Truth was, they made minimum wage, never got enough hours to qualify
for benefits, and were pressured to work through their breaks. It was my job to apply that pressure, and not doing so got me in
trouble and kept me from another promotion to full department manager.
I’d been doing okay there, struggling but recognizing that I had to pay my dues until I could manage to get a better job
where I wasn’t expected to violate state and federal labor laws to increase company profits. If I were honest, my refusal to
crack the whip on my fellow employees was going to do more than keep me from climbing the ladder of success. Eventually, it
would cost me my job. Great loss?
No. Not at all. I loved being able to help resolve difficult situations, make other people’s lives better—employees or
coworkers. And, I was good at upselling, although it didn’t make me feel great about myself. What I needed was a way to use
those skills for good instead of corporate greed.
Meeting Prince’s grandfather and helping out for a bit had been fun, but I didn’t think I wanted to look for a job in the
hospitality arena. At least not full-time. I could see the appeal though. At one point, I’d found myself at the check-in desk while
Prince and his grandfather stepped away. It wasn’t a big area like you might find at a hotel or motel, just a desk with a chair in
a corner of the living area nearest the front door. It was a cozy place, with such an eclectic feel, and I loved it. Everything I’d
seen in my errand running in this area was all about Southwest in color and style, and this combination of New England with
the local color had every guest who checked in commenting about how much they liked it.
A family arrived with their two adorable toddlers in tow. Both wolf shifters, their kids burst into the room, growling and
tumbling on the floor. My heart squeezed at the cuteness and also at the affection in their parents’ gaze.
I helped them get checked in and then handed them their keys just as a crash sounded from across the room, followed by
the irate cry of one of the children.
“I’m so sorry.” The omega dad hurried over to the corner where the little boy sat on the floor sobbing while his brother
looked on. “Yaki, what have you done to Sami?”
The alpha shook his head. “Boys, right?” And he herded his little family off to their room, teasing them gently until the two
little ones hugged and made up. They had a nice thing going there, something I had never dared dream of.
Then Prince and his grandfather returned and took care of the extras.
I settled back again to think. Having already decided I’d be staying here with my mate, I needed to focus on how I would
take care of him. And that meant two things: a job and a home. No longer a single shifter living in a human world, I’d found my
mate and it was time to take my place as his alpha. A good job and a nice place to live.
How I wished I’d been more prepared, but my background had not given me reason to dream that I could have a real life
as a shifter, much less find a fated mate. If I was going to be anywhere near what he deserved, I’d need to make some changes
and fast.
My phone rang, and I reached for it. “Hello?”
“Teddy? It’s Warren. Are you busy?”
“No, not busy at all. Just hanging around the room and considering my life.”
“Perfect. Karma wonders if you can come by for a bit to talk?”
Of course I hopped right in the car and drove over because sitting and thinking was getting me nowhere. And while I didn’t
think Karma was actually offering me a job when we spoke that time, I wondered if there was a chance that they might take me
on in some capacity. As a janitor…anything. Except, that it most likely would not pay enough. No matter how generous the
employer. Also, I wasn’t really qualified.
But when I knocked on the door of Warren’s office, and Karma called, “Come in,” they were two steps ahead of me.
“Hi.” I hesitantly stepped inside to see my cousin in his chair, his mate on his lap. They were smiling at each other in a
way that made my heart ache with happiness. “I’m interrupting.”
“Not at all.” She smiled but did not stand. “We called you in.”
“Sit down,” Warren growled, his arm around his mate. “We have things to discuss.”
An hour later, I left them still sitting like that, Karma beaming down at Warren, reminding me how mates truly were made
for each other. I also had accepted a job in the events department of Animals. They were doing so many, they needed another
full-time staff member, and after the scene between Prince and I raised so much money, they felt I had a real stage presence.
I didn’t. But I would.
Good-paying job. Check.
Next, somewhere to live.
Things were looking up.
 Chapter Fourteen
Prince
Being mated felt like nothing I ever experienced before. Not only was there this amazing bear put on the planet just for me,
but he truly liked me for who I was and not who I could be. That meant more to me than he could possibly know. And the way
he won over my grandfather? Everything was exactly how it should be, except one thing: housing.
Teddy was staying in a pretty crappy motel. It was fine for a short-term stint but hardly a home. Not only did a home need
to feel warm and welcoming, but it also needed items like a refrigerator and stove. And my place at Pop-Pop’s was taking from
his income. It was designed to be a guest room and, while he didn’t seem to have a problem with it, I did. Especially when the
B&B was in such demand.
Like the motel, it didn’t have a private place to cook and share our meals. Even my grandfather’s suite was missing that.
There had to be another solution. I just had to figure out what.
I took out my phone and started looking at rental units. The ones that were affordable would give me a pretty long
commute. When making breakfast for six in the morning and checking in a guest at ten because they hit a traffic jam was par for
the course, a lengthy drive was far from ideal. But the closer I got, the more expensive they became.
“I will preface this with I didn’t mean to look over your shoulder.” Pop-Pop had me jumping from my seat.
“You are a freaking cat, I tell you.”
“That’s accurate. Are you going to ignore my question?”
“Oh sorry. I was trying to figure out the housing situation for my mate and me.” I set the phone down. “You know, long-
term.”
“You can stay here.” Of course, he offered. That’s who he was. But it didn’t solve the problem.
“And it’s a room you should be booking.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He waved for me to follow him. “Hurry along now.”
I got up and followed him, but instead of going to where the guest rooms were, he took me outside and to one of the many
storage sheds.
“What about this?” He took out his keys and unlocked the padlock.
“What about it?”
“You’ll see.” He opened the door and flicked on a light, which surprised me only a fraction as much as what I saw inside
did.
The building wasn’t a storage shed at all. It was a small cabin with an open floor plan. Dust was everywhere, as was a
stale scent, but I didn’t smell any decay or mold. How had I dismissed this place for so long?
“I thought this was one of the storage sheds.” I walked around, taking it all in. “Why don’t you live out here?”
“Part of the reason I own a B&B is so I can be surrounded by people without having to deal with them long-term. It sates
my beast’s need for a pride without having to actually be near one.”
That made sense. I always had a bit of that in college and, in a way, it had made it much easier for me to break from my
parents. Had my beast been longing for our pride and missing it the entire time, I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to even
formulate the plan, much less follow through.
“It’s not move-in ready. It needs a ton of work, but the bones are good. Once upon a time, it was the caretaker’s cabin. Let
me show you what will need doing, and then you and your mate can discuss it.”
We spent the next hour going through it with a fine-tooth comb. It had one decent bedroom and two small ones for either
our future cubs or possibly an office. The kitchen needed some plumbing work and appliances, but the layout was great. The
bathroom had been redone shortly before the place was shuttered. It would probably need a bit of tinkering with the plumbing,
but not much. The largest expense would be the windows. They had been both painted black and sided over, giving the place
the look of the shed. Our best guess was that they were trying to prevent the inside from getting too hot. Nothing else made
sense.
“Before you say no because the expenses are starting to add up, this place would be part of your compensation.”
“That’s too much, Pop-Pop. If we should stay here, we should pay.”
“I think you and I need to have a conversation about what compensation means.” He locked the door back up. “But first, I
need you to help me with a wedding consult.”
“I have no idea what to do.” Weddings weren’t something shifters generally did and, when they did, it was because they
had a human mate.
“Me, neither. I guess we’ll wing it.” He shrugged. “And since the entire thing is your fault, you get to help.”
“Another one from the fundraiser?”
“They just keep coming.”
The wedding consult had been interesting. They kept asking about add-ons for things neither of us understood. I was pretty
sure Pop-Pop was pulling numbers out of the air and hoping they worked for both of us when all was said and done. When they
finally left, he had his largest booking ever.
“We are going to need to figure out what all of this means.” I pointed to the add-ons. “Maybe you can ask my mate’s
cousin’s mate.” Did that have a name? “She runs the events at Animals and I have a feeling she will want to meet both of us
soon.”
“Possibly. But for sure, I’d love meeting your mate’s family.”
I opened the back door for him and he stepped inside.
“Speaking of mates, it’s probably time for you to go call yours. The two of you have a lot to discuss.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
 Chapter Fifteen
Teddy
I went directly from Animals to the B&B, excited to tell my mate about the job. When I went inside, there were several
people sitting around the living area chatting and a small buffet of fresh-baked cookies and soft drinks laid out on a sideboard.
Laughter rang out, and the entire atmosphere was so cheerful, I wanted to tell them all my good news.
But of course I didn’t because the one I truly wanted to know was not in the room at the moment. I found my mate in the
kitchen, sitting on a stool with a mountain of vegetables in front of him and a knife in his hand. He looked up and smiled, his
eyes lighting up. “Pop-Pop is making stew.”
“Looks like you’re making stew, Prince.” I approached him and wrapped my arms around him. He tipped his face up, and I
kissed him, a sense of homecoming descending over us. When we paused for breath, I let him go and stepped back. “Got
another knife?”
Sitting down, I accepted the tool and picked up a carrot. “How many people is he making stew for, exactly? Because he’s
got a whole garden here.”
“It’s for the soup kitchen he supports. He makes a meal for twenty-five people once a week and drops it off downtown.”
“Isn’t it kind of late to start stew?” Far as I knew, it took several hours to cook.
“He slow cooks it overnight.”
“I see.” I chopped the carrot to match the size of those already done and in a big stainless steel bowl. “How was your
day?”
“Good.” He was working his way through a head of celery. “Yours?”
“Great.” I was vibrating with the need to share. “I have some news.”
“Yeah?” He scooped up the celery and dropped it in the bowl. “Me, too.” He sounded a little hesitant. “Give me yours
first.”
I was too happy about this to argue. “I called my job and quit.”
“You did? So for sure you’re not going back?”
“No way I was going to go back now that I found you. But even better, I have a job here. And not with that big-box horror I
worked for.”
“Where are you working?”
“Animals. I’m going to work on special events like the animal rescue one. It pays well, and all we need to do is find a
place to live. I could take an apartment there, but it would be pretty inconvenient for you to be here in the mornings.”
“Congratulations!” He dropped the knife and gave me a huge hug. “I think you’ll be a perfect fit for that. Also…Grandpa
has been getting requests for events here, like weddings, and as shifters, it’s not exactly something we know a lot about. Do you
think you’d help out with that stuff?”
“Are you kidding?” I rubbed my cheek against his. “Finally, all my years in the human world proving useful? I’m delighted
to do it. Although, I must admit I find mating to be the way to go.”
“Yeah, but what do they know?” He laughed and released me, hopping off the stool. “I might have a solution for the living
thing. Come with me.”
Prince stepped out the back door and approached a shed. Hesitant, I followed, unsure how this might be related to our
quandary. He unlocked the door, opened it, and stepped inside. A light flared. “You coming?”
“Uh, sure.” Truly, he wasn’t thinking we should live in a shed? I could do better, get us an apartment or something. I
entered and stopped just inside the doorway. “What is this?”
“It’s an ADU, basically.”
“Not a shed?” Already I could tell that, but the outside had been deceptive. It was dusty and needed work, but way
roomier than I’d thought. “Never mind. It isn’t.”
“No, it’s just neglected. Pop-Pop has offered it to us if we want to fix it up. We’d have privacy, I’d be near work, but do
you mind the commute to Animals?”
“No, and I won’t be there every day anyway. The job will have me meeting with various people, in different areas, so this
is pretty centrally located. It was your having to be driving in the very early morning, maybe in the dark that worried me. I also
thought you might like to be closer than Animals in case your grandpa needed you at night or something.”
“Such an alpha. You’re the best.” He smiled. “Come and look around. It’s got three bedrooms, can you believe it?”
Together, we went through the place, looking over what needed to be done and making plans. “Pop-Pop insists it’s part of my
compensation for working for him, and those things I don’t have the skills to do, he will pay for.”
“I have some experience, too.” Unfortunately some of my foster parents considered me unpaid help and I’d been
instrumental in remodeling more than one of their homes. “We should be able to do most of it between us. What do you say,
mate? Do you want to live here?”
 “Where should we stay while we get it done enough to live in?” Because the motel was not a go. “We could rent something
short-term?”
“Let’s go tell him we want this place, then we’ll figure out where to go from here?” He reached out for my hand. “I kind of
love that we’d be living somewhere we put our own stamp on.”
Now that he mentioned it, so did I.
We headed into the house and found his grandfather pulling another tray of cookies from the oven. He gave us one look and
then waved to the counter. “Sit down and help yourselves to cookies. I’ll pour you some milk.”
There was something so heartwarming about having him set those glasses of cold, foamy milk in front of us and then
leaning back against the counter next to the stove. “So? You taking me up on my offer?”
Way to get right to the point.
“We talked about it, Grandpa, and I think”—Prince gave me a look, and I nodded—“yes.”
“Very good. You can just stay here in the room Prince is using until it’s ready for you to move in.”
“But that’s a room you should be renting out,” I protested. “We can do something else temporary.”
But he wouldn’t hear of it, and that same night, we went to my motel and packed me up. Everything was changing so fast—
but only in the very best ways.
 Chapter Sixteen
Prince
Working on the cabin turned out to be a lot of fun. It wasn’t something I’d done before, and while parts of it were too far
outside my skillset, such as the electrical work, most of it I was able to figure out. And besides, I had the world’s three best
assistants. Fine, I had two of the world’s best assistants and one of the world’s cutest assistants—Athena.
The hardest part was taking down and replacing all the siding. The original plan was to leave it off, but, once it was
stripped, it clashed too much with the rest of the property. It was fine, I supposed. I doubted anyone would look at it and decide
to stay elsewhere, but the B&B had been doing so well. It was best to try and blend it in.
“I’m home.” Teddy came into the kitchen, where I was changing out drawer pulls, a bag of food in his hand. “Karma sent
dinner.”
I inhaled deeply and instantly regretted it. My stomach hadn’t been the best lately, and whatever was in there wasn’t doing
it any favors.
“That was nice of her. How was work?”
“It was great except the missing-you part.” He set the food on the counter and pulled me into a hug.
Most days, I would do just about anything to be in his arms, but the food was sitting too close, and I bolted straight into the
bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time. I felt better almost instantly, which was good. I just wished I’d gotten there without
the trip to worship the porcelain throne.
“That’s not the first time.” Teddy handed me a towel after I finished cleaning up. “I wonder if maybe…”
“I’m not sick. It’s probably just from working so much on the house. Lots of dust and such.” Maybe.
“Or…” He reached out with his other hand, giving me a small box.
I looked down, and my eyes went wide. “You think I’m pregnant?”
“Don’t know. But maybe. But that’s what all of this seems to be adding up to.” He half shrugged.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?” I teased, already tearing into the box.
I was already ridiculously excited about the possibility of him being right. We’d mentioned wanting to have a family but
hadn’t put a timetable to it. I’d always assumed it would be in the future, but now worked for me, too.
“I did.” He kissed my cheek. “Just now.”
He excused me, and I went about taking the test. There was an entire booklet of directions inside, but I ignored them all.
How hard could peeing on a stick be? As soon as I did, though, I wasn’t sure how long to wait or if I should lie it flat or what.
“Teddy.”
He came rushing in, probably expecting an answer. Instead, he got a paper insert.
“Tell me what to do next. I peed. That’s as far as my innate skills went.”
“You don’t need me to read this.” He set the paper down and took the stick from me. “Look. It says pregnant.”
And there on the little screen was the flashing word, pregnant.
“We’re having a baby?”
“We’re having a baby.”
Teddy tossed the stick in the bin and wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. “I love you, omega mine. Thank you
for making me the happiest alpha in the world.”
“I love you.” We stayed like that until my alarm went off from the other room.
“Places to go and people to see?” my mate asked.
“I told Pop-Pop I wouldn’t stay in here too long.” He’d been worrying quite a bit lately, and now that I had my positive
test, I wondered if it had something to do with him suspecting the good news. Knowing him, it very much was.
“Wanna go tell him?” I wouldn’t push if my mate wanted it keep it between us for the short-term. It was precious news,
and savoring wasn’t the worst of ideas.
“Absolutely.” He scooped me up in his arms and began walking.
“Why?” This wasn’t the first and it probably wouldn’t be the last time he did this, but our destination was very different
than it usually was. We were going to see my grandfather, not to get naked.
“You’re carrying our baby. It’s only fair that I carry you.” It wasn’t logical, but if he wanted to tote me over there, I wasn’t
going to get in his way.
The door, however, was, and he ended up putting me down to lock it up. We weren’t worried about theft, but with the B&B
often having families staying there, a child wandering into a construction mess wasn’t the best of outcomes.
When we walked into the kitchen, Pop-Pop was there having tea with Karma and Warren. Odd.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were coming.” Teddy squeezed my hand. “Perfect timing.”
“We stopped by because you forgot the cookies I meant to send with you,” Karma explained, and I remembered the food
getting cold on the counter at the cabin. Oops.
 The cookie excuse sounded pretty flimsy to me, but I didn’t care. I was glad that she was here, that my mate’s family was
going to hear the good news the same time mine was. Sure, I’d have to call and tell my parents. They would immediately tell
me all the ways I was a disappointment and that would be that. But as far as real family, the family that mattered, all of them
were there with us to share in our good news.
“I was just saying I needed cookies,” I teased.
“They are the best.” She set her teacup down. “Now explain how this is perfect timing.”
“We just found out that we’re going to be dads.” My eyes were tearing up as I spoke, my happiness overflowing. “We’re
going to be dads.”
 Chapter Seventeen
Teddy
My parents were long gone, but Prince’s of course were very much alive and up until recently had been a strong presence
in his life. Why wouldn’t we want to tell them our good news right away? His grandfather had been so happy for us. I liked to
think mine would have been, too, and hoped they somehow knew that I’d survived the flood. Also, everything that came after
and ended up in this really good place in my life.
We were working hard on the cabin, although the pregnancy limited what Prince could do. His enthusiasm for the project,
however, had not diminished in the slightest, and I counted on his grandfather to keep an eye on him while I was at work.
I’d been suggesting we call his folks for a couple of weeks, but Prince always had a reason not to. They were busy. He had
things to get ready for breakfast at the B&B. Something to finish at the cabin… I didn’t want to tell anyone else until they knew.
Besides his grandpa of course. And Warren and Karma. But they were the exceptions. And finally, I came home from work
determined to make this happen. We were calling them tonight, and that was that.
If they’d been local, I’d have pushed to go over and visit, and if Prince wasn’t still so nauseous, I’d have suggested we fly
and tell them in person. But, I wasn’t going to wait another day. My mate deserved the support of his parents, and while I knew
there was tension there, how could they resist their pregnant son and the baby on the way?
“We’re calling tonight.” I walked in to find him sitting in the B&B kitchen, rolling out dough for breakfast pastries. “Right
now.”
He looked up at me and shrugged, a defeated look in his eyes almost making me back off. “Why not?” Picking up his
phone, he tapped a couple of keys, then propped it up against the flour canister. “Come sit by me so we can share the news
together.”
His reaction to my insistence had me far more concerned than his putting it off. But it was something we had to do
eventually, and I had the highest hopes they would be happy for him. For us, but mostly for him.
The screen lit up with a man’s face, and a smile began but then faded fast. “Son.”
“Hi, Dad. Is Father there, too?”
The man’s mouth twisted. “He is, but are you sure you want to talk to him?” His voice dropped. “He still isn’t over what
you did.”
What he did? Struck out on his own and pursued a dream besides the one they’d pushed on him since he could stand up? I
wanted to tell them my opinion, but family was not going away. At least I hoped they weren’t. I’d been through a lot of years
without one and recognized the value. Surely when they heard about the baby…
“Dad, I want to introduce you both to my mate and tell you some news. Please get Father?”
“All right, but it’s your funeral.”
I was biting my lip so hard, I tasted blood by the time another face appeared on the screen.
“Your dad says you have news for us?” Funny, he didn’t say anything about the fact that he’d also said he had a mate to
introduce.
“Father, Dad, this is Teddy, my alpha. Teddy, my parents.”
“Hello.” I didn’t really have much more to say to them. At least nothing that wouldn’t make the tension worse. “I’m glad to
meet you.” Okay, that really was the bare acceptable minimum.
“I wish we could say the same,” his father replied. “But unless the news you have to share is that this new mate has
convinced you to turn your life around and pick up the career you studied for and that we paid for, I don’t think we have
anything to talk about.”
“Father…” Prince’s voice was strangled, which was what my bear wanted to do to his parents. “Father, I’m pregnant.”
“I suppose now you’ll want to be a stay-at-home dad and throw away any hope for a career.”
Enough. I reached over and ended the call. My mate had big tears rolling down his cheeks; my bear was close to taking
over and committing mayhem. Lucky for his parents, they were too far away for him to get to them because I really didn’t think
I’d be able to stop him. But I also didn’t know how to fix what just happened. I shouldn’t have pushed the issue, shouldn’t have
insisted he call them.
I knew there was tension, but I never imagined they’d behave this way. They were no better than most of my fosters, and he
was their actual child. How…
“Grandson, don’t let them get to you. If they don’t appreciate what a wonderful man you have become, if they don’t have
the heart to welcome your mate and child, screw them.”
I jerked, startled. This was not the way the gentle old man spoke. But I couldn’t agree more.
“They are fools,” Pop-Pop finished.
“My coworkers know something is up and I have been putting them off.”
Pop-Pop said, “Let’s tell them in person. I’ve been dying to go to Animals for a long time now.
 So we did, arriving just after the club opened for the night, but we went in the employee entrance and found Karma and
Warren having dinner in the kitchen. They stood up as we entered and came to hug Pop-Pop and Prince. I got a pat on the back,
but I did see them just about every day.
“Welcome!” Warren led them to the table. “Bring food for our guests.” He sounded like a king in a movie ordering
servants, but the chefs laughed and soon our table was piled with food. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit? Just
coming for some dancing?”
My family, these two and all the other cousins and aunts and uncles, most of which I hadn’t met yet, along with Pop-Pop,
were family enough for anyone.
“We are celebrating tonight,” I said, lifting my glass. “ Ready to share out news with everyone here. Can I toast my
amazing mate who is carrying our child?”
All heck broke loose, and it wasn’t just my blood relatives who came in cheering and hugging. The chefs, the servers,
dishwashers, and a number of staff who had been on the club floor and heard us were hugging us both and shouting
congratulations. They were asking questions about the due date and how Prince felt and did everything but throw a parade.
I was so disappointed in my mate’s parents who were not smart enough or empathetic enough to appreciate him. But so
proud of the family and friends who did love us and reminded me that love was enough. And we had so much of it surrounding
us. I lifted my mate onto my lap and held him close while we celebrated our happiness with the people of animals.
 Chapter Eighteen
Prince
“Ready, Freddy?” Teddy had his keys in his hands. He was more excited about this trip than I was, and that was saying
something.
“I need to get my shoes on, and we can go.” That was easier said than done. I wasn’t even far into my pregnancy, but things
like bending down to tie my shoes were already a pain in the back—literally.
“We should get you something other than high-tops.” Teddy bent down to help me with my sneakers. “Let’s put that on the
list for today.”
The list was not small, and, as I started to add up the cost of it all, I had to cringe.
“You don’t like other shoes?” He looked up at me, his fingers still tying away.
“No. It’s not that, but…my student loans are still here, and we both have good jobs but also…I worry about money.” A
great deal. It had been my only concern with starting a family now.
“Good thing I have these.” He stood up, took out his wallet, and handed me some gift cards.
“Where did you get these?” As far as I knew, I hadn’t missed a birthday or anything. But pregnancy brain was real, and I
might have.
“I had a couple, and my cousin gave me a couple. He said they were sitting around, and I thought it was bullshit, except
one of the ones he gave me was from a chain that closed last year.”
“I’m sorry I came to our mating with all this debt. I made some really bad choices along the way.” And we’d be paying for
them until we were a million years old.
“Don’t be sorry. The things you did on your journey to me are what make you, you. And I’m quite fond of the Prince I
know.” He held his hand out for me and helped me up off the bed. He gave me a quick kiss before shooing me to the car.
The shopping plaza we were going to was about an hour away, but partway there was a diner I’d been dying to try. Rumor
had it they made the best pancakes and milkshakes. What did I have for lunch? Both of them. The rumors had been spot-on. The
place was fabulous and quickly added to my list of favorites.
When we got to the plaza, I was shocked by how huge it was. Everything you thought you might find at a mall was here.
The goal was to grab some things for our future nursery. The cabin was almost done, and I wanted to have things ready to go
when it was.
“Where should we start? Maybe seeing which of those cards works here?” I hadn’t gotten a great look at them. One was
for the value market that was the next parking lot over, but that was all I could think of.
“Hmm.” He took them out and shuffled through them. “We have these.” He showed me two for the department store at the
far end, one for a toy store, and one for a home goods store.
“That works.”
We started at the toy store because it was the most fun and closest. There, we found a fun lamp, a baby noise machine that
was supposed to be “magical,” and a stuffie. It was hardly a huge jackpot, but we liked everything we found and didn’t have to
pay anything out of pocket.
From there, we went to the home goods store where we lucked out, finding an adorable rug for the nursery that had both a
bear, a lion, and cats on it. The thing shouted our name and was on clearance. We also picked up a film for the window that
would keep the hottest sun of the day out while still allowing in light. Overall, a great stop.
“This store has shoes,” Teddy reminded me as we looked through the nursery section of the department store. They had
nice enough baby furniture, but it cost a ton for what you got. Even if money were no object, I’d have had a difficult time buying
any of it.
“We should maybe get the sheets here?” I handed him a set I was looking at.
“Or…hear me out. We buy you shoes here and use the value mart for our baby furniture and sheets.” He was being
insistent. And really, he was right. I just didn’t love the idea of spending money on myself when we had a little one to feed.
“Fine.” If I wasn’t going to win, might as well give in.
“They look like old-man shoes,” I whined.
“Can you slide them on and off with ease?”
I nodded.
“Are they comfortable?”
Another nod.
“Are you actively seeking a future as a fashionista?” He was having too much fun with this.
“Really?”
“Really.”
I walked out wearing one pair and my mate carrying another.
 We opted to order online with the value mart so we didn’t have to cram everything in the car and headed home.
“I love your new shoes.” Pop-Pop noticed them instantly.
“Told you so.” I glanced pointedly at my mate.
“He says they are old-man shoes.” And just like that, Teddy threw me under the bus.
I shoulder bumped him.
“I should probably feign being offended or something, but I don’t have time for that.” He grabbed an envelope off the front
desk and gave it to me. “This came for you today. I think it’s important.”
My stomach dropped when I saw the return address. It was from the bank that held my student loans. I tore it open, not
wanting the terror of all the what-ifs to build.
“It says my current balance is negative four cents. How is that possible?”
“You overpaid by four cents?” Pop-Pop said.
“I didn’t pay at all. Nothing beyond my normal payment anyway.”
“But you did pay with years of hard work in a field you hated.” Pop-Pop grabbed another envelope from the desk, this one
a card shape and from my parents. “It came last week, but I wanted them to be opened together.”
I tore it open.
“We were wrong. Hope this makes up for it. We do love you and will try harder to show it. Congrats on the new baby.”
“My parents paid off my loans?”
“They did.” I discovered later that Pop-Pop had had a conversation with them, one that pretty much said I was happy now
and, if they wanted to be a part of my life and that of my new family, they needed to make things right. I was happier that they
wanted to than about the actual money. It was the first time in my memory that I felt truly wanted by them, just as I was.
 Chapter Nineteen
Teddy
We’d worked on the cabin for what felt like forever but really was a matter of months. Every time we thought we were
close to done, something else reared its head, like splintered floorboards or outdated plumbing. But it was a pleasure to work
on it, to find the solutions to so many problems, and so far, the only help we needed was for the wiring and some of the
plumbing.
I knew way more about pipes than I’d realized, and faucets, and for a full week, I came home every day to work on just
that. The bathroom was a thing of beauty now. We’d developed a system where Prince did things that didn’t involve too much
bending, sitting on the floor, or chemicals that could hurt the baby.
We’d saved the nursery for last, wanting to enjoy it at our leisure, the baby-safe paint a soft yellow on the walls with white
trim.
I sat on the floor on the thick, soft rug we’d bought. “I think the baby will like this, don’t you?” I asked, ruffling the nap.
“Perfect for tummy time.” Prince was seated on the glider, rocking back and forth. “I will be able to get down there then.
I’ve been rounded for so long, that’s hard to believe.”
“You look good to me, mate.” I leaned back against his legs, and he stroked my hair. “That feels nice.”
“You’ve done so much to make our home ready for us.” He sighed. “I can see the baby in here, can’t you? When the
furniture comes, of course.”
“Yes, they’re going to know their dads love them.” The thought made me feel overly sentimental, and I didn’t want to go
back and think about the past. “We still need to get the curtains up and I am building that bookshelf.”
He cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to do that? We can buy one pretty cheaply.” And so far, I’d been pretty good
at the basics, but my finish carpentry work lacked some polish. He was right that we should just buy one, but for some reason, I
loved the idea that our child would have this shelf that I’d made. I was going to fasten it to the wall for safety but not build it in
so they could take it with them when they left home for their child.
Sentimental?
Yeah.
“You don’t want me to build it?”
“No, you can.” He was still stroking my hair, and my bear was getting very happy. “If you really want to. But it’s a lot of
trouble.”
Suddenly I was getting some vibes about things like splinters and loose nails. “Maybe we should buy one?”
“Only if you want to.”
We went back and forth for a bit, but I soon caved to the wisdom of my mate who said the fact we’d pick out the bookcase
together would be of great sentimental value. And the fact we were so close to done and my work was really busy contributed
to my agreement. Every morning before I went to work, I went through the house and admired everything we’d done together.
What had once appeared to be a shed now looked like a very attractive ADU. A backyard dwelling unit that anyone would
admire. It still looked smaller than it was, which we didn’t care about of course. But once you stepped inside, each room was
painted in a soft earth tone, the flooring had been refinished, the bathrooms gleamed, and all we needed was the furniture to be
delivered.
We walked outside and stood looking at it.
“I’m glad we decided to match the siding,” he mused. “With Pop-Pop insisting on paying for all the materials, I think it
adds to the property value.”
“Yes. What do you think of growing a vegetable garden next year?” It was something I’d never even imagined myself doing
until now. “I have a yearning to grow tomatoes.”
“Alpha, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re the one nesting in this pregnancy.” He grinned at me and then wrapped his
arms around my waist. We couldn’t hug as close with our baby filling his belly, but it didn’t matter. We wanted them in this hug
with us. “But I love that you are.”
“I just hope we can get everything finished and delivered so we’re settled before the baby arrives.” Not that our room at
the B&B wasn’t nice, but this would be our home, and the idea of bringing the baby directly here appealed.
“We’re awfully close and we have time.”
“True.” But babies, or so I was told, did things on their own schedules.
“Boys,” came Pop-Pop’s voice from the main house. “Dinner is ready. You coming in?”
“On our way,” I called. “Hope there’s pie.”
“You saw me making it,” he laughed. “Now, get in here before I have to come out and get you.”
“You think he’ll be okay when we move out?” asked Prince. “He really seems to like us there.”
“We’ll only be in the backyard,” I reminded him. “And we can eat dinner together often.” Because family…was
everything.
 Chapter Twenty
Prince
The cabin was finally ready. It had taken longer than we had wanted, thanks to some unexpected electrical work that
needed to be done. In a way that was good. It allowed us to find all the things we needed for the new place on our own
timeline.
We’d discovered a fabulous secondhand store that saved us a ton of money on our furniture. We found our living room set,
dining set, and bedroom set all there for a fraction of the cost and double the quality we could’ve gotten new. That left us
enough to not have to bargain hunt for either the mattress or the nursery.
And everything was coming today.
Pop-Pop had blocked off this weekend as a rest time, and we were going to be using it as anything but. I didn’t love that
instead of blocking off weeks, he now blocked off a couple of days here or there. He deserved the time off. This weekend,
however, timed out beautifully.
“Why is Athena crying?” Teddy asked. He’d just walked in with two cups of tea. One for me and one for my grandfather.
“I locked her in the bathroom so she wouldn’t accidentally get stepped on by any of the delivery people.” I’d meant to
keep her in the B&B, but she was fast, and if I was around, she was there like Velcro. It had gotten progressively worse as my
pregnancy progressed, too. She was one protective kitty.
“I can see why she’s mad.” He grabbed the notepad off the fridge and wrote on it, but I couldn’t see what. “I’m putting this
on the door so they don’t accidentally let her out.”
“You should keep that one.” Pop-Pop took a long sip of his tea.
“Yeah, I think I will.”
The first truck came from the secondhand store. It had the most furniture, and the place already looked pretty close to
move-in ready by the time they left. I loved how the entire place felt like a home and not a hotel room. That had been my fear
when we considered looking at new furniture. I’d been to enough homes over the years to see how that could play out. This
was the place we were going to raise our family, and I wanted it to feel that way.
The spare bedroom was already filled with boxes of random baby things. We’d eventually turn it into a guest room or
possibly another bedroom if we ended up having more children, which I hoped we would. But, for now, it was where all things
we weren’t ready to unpack yet went to collect dust.
The nursery furniture came next. We’d almost said we would put it together once it arrived, but the small service fee to
have them do it would’ve been worth it at quadruple the price. Who knew a crib could have that many pieces? We certainly
didn’t.
The mattress showed up shortly thereafter, and we were officially moved in. Unpacked? That was a different story
altogether. We were probably going to stay in the B&B for a few days while we slowly did all of that. But it felt great to have
the big stuff all in our new home.
“It didn’t really feel real until now.” I leaned in to my mate’s side. “Like I knew this place was ours and we’d live here,
but it was always sort of abstract, you know?”
“I do.” Teddy kissed the top of my head. “Your grandfather said to come find him when everything was here. I think he
wants to feed us.”
It was a safe bet. If making people’s food was a love language, it sure was my grandfather’s.
I let out Athena, who came up to me, hissed, and then jumped on Teddy, wrapping herself around his neck like she usually
did mine.
“Safe to say she may be mad at you.” He chuckled. “Good news is she likes me now.”
“Or she’s willing to use you to get back at me.”
“Same difference.”
We walked back toward the main building when another truck pulled in.
“This your doing?” I asked.
“Nope. Must be your grandfather’s.”
Only it wasn’t his, either, and when they came up to us with the shipping label, I was in shock. It was from my parents.
We’d been on better terms since they apologized. Things were still not fabulous, but they had come a long way. I hadn’t thought
they’d come far enough for a truck delivery though.
“You want it in there?” He pointed to the main building.
“No. We’re over there.” I pointed to the cabin. “What is it?”
“I just deliver them.” He shrugged.
A half an hour later, our living room was filled with boxes, the only indication as to what was on them a simple barcode.
Like I could read a barcode.
 I took out my phone and called my dad.
“Hey, I have a living room filled with boxes. Wondering what you know about them.” Might as well go to the source.
“You have a baby wish list. We filled it. Not that complicated.” No, it wasn’t complicated, but it sure had my chin on the
floor. We’d made that list because some of Teddy’s coworkers asked him to make it. It wasn’t meant to be a shopping list for
one person to complete—or even lots of people to fill. It was a wish list for, you know, wishing.
“All of this is baby stuff?”
“And the towels you had on there.” Dad switched me over to speakerphone, the sound suddenly echoing. “We didn’t give
you what you wanted and needed growing up, our vision for you our entire focus. We thought it was time you got what you
wanted.”
“Thanks a ton. Both of you. You didn’t need to do this, but...” I choked up while speaking. “This means a ton. I do love you
both,” and had even when I was breaking free. I just never thought they loved me in return.
“And we love you, too, Son. We love you, too.”
 Chapter Twenty-One
Teddy
No pregnancy is complete without visits to the midwife or healer and in our case, we had both available. A new practice
had opened not far away from the B&B, and a couple of people at Animals recommended them, so we signed up. We first went
shortly after we got the positive test, but since everything looked perfect, we didn’t have too many appointments. The midwife
believed that shifters were a whole lot healthier than humans and therefore didn’t need as many follow-ups.
But the one thing we really looked forward to was the ultrasound. Outside of nausea, my mate wasn’t having any trouble,
and he didn’t think it was necessary, but having grown up among humans, I just found it to be a natural thing to be expected.
And my mate was very tolerant. We did, however, agree that we did not want to know the sex, would prefer to be surprised.
Despite the fact that I was the one who wanted the test, I didn’t know a lot about how it worked beyond what I’d seen on a
few TV shows, and so the day we were scheduled to go in, I was really nervous.
“Do you think we’ll get a good look at the baby?” Prince asked. “Maybe we should have brought Pop-Pop.”
“I do think we will, but he really is trying to let us have our privacy, so I think he’ll be happy just to see the image when
we get back. I’m particularly excited that they do the 4D because an omegas at Animals who’d used them showed me theirs.
You can see all the baby’s features, and we’ll know if they’re handsome like you.”
“Me? You’re the handsome one.” But his cheeks pinked. “My family doesn’t usually do a lot of testing like this, but I think
we can be modern, don’t you?”
“Absolutely.” I wanted to be modern in terms of his having everything medical science had to offer to keep him well and
our child, too. “We’re a little early, but I think we should go right in.”
The center had various types of specialties, but all pertained to shifters, and it had such a subtle signage, I was sure no
human gave it a second thought. Especially out here on a stretch of highway mostly occupied by auto-body shops and
dispensaries. And nothing of the neighborhood would prepare the patient for what they found on their first visit.
Talk about being modern! While many shifters chose not to use a lot of machinery in their medical care, apparently enough
did that it was worth it. We went up to the desk to check in and were directed off to the left instead of to the right where our
regular midwife was. The hall stretched on long enough that I began to think we were lost.
Prince clung to my arm. “I’m getting tired, alpha. If we have to go much farther, you’re going to have to carry me.
I knew he was kidding, but I’d do whatever I needed to. Before he got pregnant, I’d swept him up fairly often, and even
after. It wasn’t his weight at this point that kept me from it so much as the awkwardness. Last time, he hadn’t been able to curl
into my embrace, just stuck there like a burr on a saddle until I gave up and set him on his feet.
The waiting room in the imaging department was clean and modern with paintings on the wall that I had no idea how to
interpret. I marched right up to the desk and gave our information. We had just perched on one of the Scandinavian-inspired
sofas when a tech came out for us and whisked us back into a room where Prince was instructed to undress, put on a gown back
to front, and lie on the table; she’d be back in a moment. “You can leave your undershorts on,” she said and disappeared back
out the door.
I helped him out of his clothes and onto the table, and we waited. “Who do you think they’ll look like?” I asked.
“Probably a lot like Pop-Pop, when he’s born,” my mate opined. “Newborns often look a lot like old people.”
“Do you think so?” the tech was back, blonde curls pulled back by a hair band and blue eyes twinkling. “I guess we’ll
have to see. Ready for a look at your baby?”
“So ready.” I scooted my chair closer to the table. “But we don’t want to know the sex.”
“I’ll tell you when to look. Just relax a minute. I need to put some gel on your tummy first.”
Prince winced. “Will it be cold?”
“Not anymore. We have a warmer.”
I watched as she prepared him and set the doohickey that would be able to see our child on his belly. A platen I thought it
was called. My heartbeat ramped up as she directed our attention to the face of a baby who looked like…well, not a lot like
Pop-Pop. But not really like either of us that I could tell. “I think they are their own person,” I breathed.
“So beautiful. Have you ever seen such a perfect baby?” my mate asked. “I can’t wait to meet them in person.”
“Me, either, mate.” I reached out as if I could touch the baby then pulled my hand back. Our child, with a real face, and in
just a few months, they’d be here.
How would we be able to wait?
 Chapter Twenty-Two
Prince
“I can get it.” I pushed myself to get out of my chair, and my grandfather side eyed me something fierce.
“Stay.” He barked. Or was it roared? “I’ll get the front desk.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue, even if I wanted to. At this point, I was an employee in name only. The energy my second
trimester gifted me with was all gone. Getting up to shuffle over to the bathroom took a lot out of me. Working? Aside from
putting things into the computer, I’d become useless. Not once did my grandfather complain, but it bugged me.
My plan had been to be the omega who worked right until the very last day. Heck, going into labor on the job would’ve
worked quite nicely for me in my idyllic vision of my pregnancy. That vision never came to pass. I went straight from
struggling with my shoes to waddling, with my belly reaching the room hours before the rest of me.
That part might’ve been a slight exaggeration. It was bad though.
Athena rubbed against my foot. She no longer jumped on me without permission.
“Did you want to come up?”
She answered by jumping onto the arm of the chair and snuggling against me.
“You really are the best kitty.” All of the cats here were amazing in their own way, but Athena was my bestie, and that put
her right at the tippy top. She even liked taking naps with my lion, back when it was still comfortable to shift.
That had been the midwife’s rule of thumb—only shift while it is comfortable. And when it stops being so, you stop, too.
For me, that had been the beginning of the third trimester. I thought it would piss off my lion, but he took it in stride.
“I’m back.” He retook his seat across from me. “It was someone asking about Christmas week.” That week had been sold
out even before I got here.
“Thanks for grabbing that. You really shouldn’t be doing everything around here. You hired me for a reason.”
“I don’t do everything and, even if I did, you have more important things to be doing right now, like keeping my great-
grandbaby safe until they’re ready to join us.” He leaned back in his chair. “Which makes this as good a time as any to tell you
that you are officially on paternity leave.”
“What? You can’t just do that. I work here.” And was being irrationally upset by it. Even I could see that and, still, there I
was getting riled up. “I can do this.”
“And you will, after you have given birth to my sweet great-grandbaby and adjusted to life as a father.” He stood up. “I’m
going to make taco pie. You can come talk with me while I do, or you can stay here and pout. It’s up to you.” Meaning, he
wasn’t really giving me a choice.
Teddy came home in time for dinner and, unlike me, he was thrilled about me being on leave.
“Let’s celebrate with milkshakes,” he said on the way back to our cabin.
“That’s not fair.”
“How so?”
“You know I can’t turn down a milkshake.” I started toward the car. My body was very much waddling, and I was at the
point I didn’t even care. It got me from point A to point B, and that was all that mattered.
We drove to the diner and, while I was overly full when we left the B&B, my love for taco pie including seconds, I found
myself ordering both pancakes and a shake. The worst thing that could happen was taking the leftovers home.
“You are venturing into the wild unknown.” Teddy slipped the menu back into its holder. “Chocolate-banana shake?”
“It sounded good, and, if I hate it, I can trade with you.” He was having safe-as-it-comes vanilla.
“Or you can order one you like and leave mine alone.”
“Or that.” Even six months earlier, I’d have never considered ordering a second milkshake because I didn’t like the one I
picked. Heck, I wouldn’t have ordered the banana in mine because that was a buck more. But things had really settled down
financially, in great part thanks to my grandfather.
Not only had he given me a job and a place to live when I needed it, but he broke through to my parents in a way I’d never
been able to. Now, I was building a future without an anchor of debt pulling me down, the relationship with my parents getting
healthier by the day, and a place to live that was perfect for our growing family.
The question of liking or not liking the milkshake was a moot one. “It’s officially the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.”
“Really? The best?” He pulled it across the table and took a long sip. “It’s good. But I’ve had better things in my mouth.”
“Don’t even.” I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t see my dick anymore. Not with my belly so huge, and he had to go make
comments of the smexy kind. Mates.
“Don’t what? Think about the dessert I plan to have when we go home? Because believe you me, I’ve been thinking about
it all day long.” He licked his lips. “All. Day. Long.”
“You really need to stop.” I closed my eyes for a few seconds, trying to will my growing erection away. I wasn’t even sure
why, since no one would be able to see it.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 How little those who live at home at ease can know of the delight it
gives an exile to have tidings, by letter or otherwise, from those who are
dear to them in the old country when far, far away from it! No matter how
short the sentences, how few the facts, or how clumsy the expressions, they
all seem to show that we are not forgotten by the old fireside; for even amid
the keen and fierce excitement of war the soldier has often time for much
thought of friends and home, especially in the lonely watches of the night,
and a pang goes to his heart with the fear that, as he is absent, he may be
forgotten.

Florian had often envied the delight with which his comrades, Tom
Tyrrell or poor Bob Edgehill, who perished at Isandhlwana, and others
received letters from distant friends and relatives; but month after month
had passed, and none ever came to him, nor did he expect any.

In all the world there was no one to think of him save Dulcie Carlyon.
How he longed to write to her, but knew not where she was.

At last there came an evening—he never forgot it—when the sergeant

who acted as regimental postman brought him a letter—a letter addressed to
himself, and in the handwriting of Dulcie!

His fingers trembled as he carefully but hastily cut open the envelope. It
was dated from Craigengowan, a place of which he scarcely knew the
name, but thought he had heard it mentioned by Mr. Kenneth Kippilaw on
the eventful day when he and Shafto visited that gentleman at his office.

After many prettily expressed protestations of regard for himself—every

word of which stirred his heart deeply—of joy that he was winning
distinction, and of fear for the awful risks he ran in war, she informed him
that the situation obtained for her had been that of companion to Lady
Fettercairn, 'and who do you think I found installed here as master of the
whole situation, as heir to the title and a truly magnificent property—
Shafto! Perhaps I am wrong to tell you, lest it may worry you, but he has
resumed his persecution of me. He often taunts me about you, and fills me
with terror lest he may do me a mischief with Lady Fettercairn, as he has
already contrived to do with his cousin, Miss Finella (a dear darling girl)
and Captain Hammersley, the officer whose life you so bravely saved at
Ginghilovo, and who, I now learn, is in your regiment. It was an infamous
trick, but it succeeded in separating them and nearly breaking Finella's
heart.'

The letter then proceeded to detail how Finella, to her extreme dismay
and discomfiture, had dropped Hammersley's pencilled note; how Shafto
had found it, and intercepted her in the shrubbery on her way to the place of
rendezvous, and would only restore it on receiving, as a bribe, a cousinly
kiss, which she was compelled to accord, when he rudely seized her and
snatched several before she could repulse him; how Hammersley had
passed at that fatal moment, and misconceived the whole situation, since
when, language could not express the loathing Finella had of Shafto. That
was the whole affair.

'You know Shafto and all of which he is capable,' continued Dulcie; 'so
poor Finella is heartbroken in contemplating the horrid view her lover must
take of her, but is without the means of explaining it away, nor will her
great pride permit her to do so.'

Dulcie under the same roof with Shafto, and apparently the bosom friend
of Hammersley's love! Florian had now a clue to some of the bitter remarks
that, in moments of unintentional confidence, his superior had uttered from
time to time.

That Shafto and Dulcie were in such close proximity to each other—
meeting daily and hourly—filled Florian's mind with no small anxiety. He
had no doubt of Dulcie's faith, trust, and purity; but neither had he any
doubt of Shafto's subtle character and the mischief of which he was capable,
and which he might work the helpless and unfortunate girl if he pursued, as
she admitted he did, the odious and unwelcome love-making he had begun
at Revelstoke.

As he read and re-read her letter in that hot, burning, and far-away land,
how vividly every expression of her perfect face, every inflection of her soft
and sympathetic voice, came back to memory, till his heart swelled and his
eyes grew dim. How self-possessed she was, with all her gentleness; how
self-reliant, with all her timidity.
 'Should I show this letter to Hammersley?' thought Florian. 'The
communication in it must concern him very closely—very dearly, and my
darling, impulsive little Dulcie has evidently written it with a purpose.'

Then Florian remembered that though suave and condescendingly kind

to him, especially since the episode at Ginghilovo, Hammersley was
naturally a man of a proud and haughty spirit, and might resent one in
Florian's junior position interfering in the most tender secrets of his life.

Florian was keenly desirous of fulfilling what was evidently the wish of
Dulcie—of befriending her friend, and perhaps, by achieving a
reconciliation, conferring an unexampled favour upon his officer; yet he
shrank from the delicate task, while giving it long and anxious thought.

He tossed up a florin.

'If it is a head, I'll do it. Head it is!' he exclaimed, and went straight to the
tent of Hammersley, whom he found lounging on his camp-bed, with a
cigar in his mouth and his patrol-jacket open.

'What is up?' he demanded abruptly, as if disturbed in a reverie.

'Only, sir, that I have just had a letter,' began Florian, colouring deeply,
and pausing.

'From home?'

'Yes, sir.'

'I hope it contains pleasant news.'

'It is from one who is very dear to me.'

'Oh, the old story—a girl, no doubt?'

'Yes, sir.'

'The more fool you: the faith of the sex is writ in water, as the poet has
it.'
 'I hope not, in my case and in some others, Captain Hammersley; but if
you will pardon me I cannot help stating that in my letter there is something
that concerns yourself and your happiness very nearly indeed.'

Hammersley stared at this information.

'Concerns me?' he asked.

'Yes, and Miss Finella Melfort: permit me to mention her name.'

The red blood suffused Hammersley's bronzed face from temples to

chin, and he sprang to his feet.

'What the devil do you mean, MacIan?' he exclaimed sharply; his

supreme astonishment, however, exceeding any indignation to hear that
name on a stranger's lips. 'I know well that you are not what you seem by
your present position in life; but how came you to know the name of that
young lady?'

'She is mentioned in this letter, sir—the letter of the only being in all the
world who cares for me,' replied Florian, with a palpable break in his voice.

'Mentioned in what fashion?' asked Hammersley curtly and with knitted

brows.

'Please to read this paragraph for yourself, sir.'

'Thanks.'

Hammersley took the letter, and saw that it was written in a most lady-
like hand.

'Dulcie?' said he, just glancing at the signature; 'is she your sister?'

'I have no sister. I think I have told you that I am alone in the world.'

'I have a delicacy in reading a young lady's letter,' said Hammersley,

whose hand shook on perceiving by the next glance that it was dated from
'Craigengowan.'
 Florian indicated the long paragraph with a finger; and as Hammersley
read it his face became again deeply suffused.

'Permit me again, my good fellow,' said he as he read it twice, as if to

impress its contents on his mind; and then, returning the letter with
unsteady hand to Florian, he seated himself on the edge of the camp-bed
and passed a hand across his forehead.

'Thank you for showing me this! You can understand what I felt and
thought on seeing the episode this young lady explains so kindly in her
letter—God bless the girl! It seems all too good to be true.'

'You do not know the vile trickery of which this fellow Shafto is
capable,' said Florian.

'I do,' replied Hammersley, remembering the affair of the cards. 'Finella!'
said he, as if to himself, 'how her memory haunts me! By Jove, she is a
witch, a sorceress!—like that other Finella after whom she told me she is
named, and who lived—I don't know when—in the year of the Flood, I
think. I thank you from my soul, MacIan, for the sight of this letter, and it
will be a further incitement to me to further your interests in every way
within my power. Heaven knows how gladly I would betake me to my pen;
but this is no time for letter-writing. By daybreak we shall be in our saddles,
and on the spur to the front.'

Florian saluted his officer and withdrew, leaving him to the full tide of
his new thoughts.

So she was true to him after all! The whole affair, so black apparently,
seemed to be so simply and truthfully explained away by Dulcie's letter that
he could not doubt the terrible misconception under which he had laboured,
nor did he wish to do so. The tables were completely turned.

It was he—himself—who had cruelly wronged, doubted, upbraided, and

quitted Finella, and now from him must the reparation come. His mind was
full of the repentant, glowing, and gushing letter he would write her,
renewing his protestations of love and faith, and imploring her to forgive
him; but when could that letter be written and sent to the rear?—for the
division advanced by dawn on the morrow, and there would scarcely be a
halt, he supposed, till it reached Ulundi.

And how could a letter reach her from the Cape at Craigengowan
unknown to Lady Fettercairn?—who, he knew but too well, was bitterly
opposed to his love for Finella, and for many cogent reasons the adherent of
Shafto.

How would it all end with them both now?

In a runaway marriage too probably, unless he got knocked on the head

in Zululand, a process he rather shrank from now, as life seemed to be
invested with new attributes, greater hopes, and greater value.

Finella's mignonne face came before him; the small, straight nose, with
thin, arched nostrils; the proud yet soft hazel eyes, with thin, long lashes;
the firm coral lips; the abundant hair of richest brown; and with all these
came, too, the memory of her favourite perfume, the faint odour of jasmine
that clung to her draperies and laces.

In a similar mood to some extent, but without the sense of having aught
to explain or a reparation to make, Florian lay in another tent at some little
distance, contemplating the contents of a pretty white leather toy, lined with
pale blue satin—a case containing a photo—altogether an unsuitable thing
for the pocket of a soldier's tunic, or to place in his haversack, it may be
among cooked rations, shoe-brushes, and a sponge for pipeclay; but it
contained a poor reflection, though delicately tinted, of Dulcie's own sweet
face.

He continued by turns to re-read her letter and contemplate her photo till
the daylight faded and the moon, golden not silver coloured, shone amid a
sky wherein dark blue seemed to blend with apple green at the horizon,
lighting up all the lonely landscape, and making the blue gum trees and
euphorbiæ stand out in opaque silhouette, while the—to him—new
constellations of that southern hemisphere seemed to play hide-and-seek, as
they sparkled in and out in the cloudless dome of heaven.
 As there he lay, full of his own thoughts and tender memories, he was all
unaware of two evil spirits that hovered near, and were actually watching
him. Both were evil-visaged personages, and though clad in the ordinary
costume of Cape Colonists belonged to the Natal Volunteer Force.

One had two hideous bullet wounds but lately healed—one on each
cheek—and his jaws were almost destitute of teeth, as Florian's pistol had
left them; for this personage was no other than Josh Jarrett, the ex-landlord
of the so-called hotel at Elandsbergen; and the other was Dick of the
Droogveldt—one of the two ruffians that had pursued Florian on horseback
till his fall into the bushy donga concealed him from them.

On the destruction of the town of Elandsbergen by the Zulus these two

worthies, for the sake of the ample pay given to the Colonial troops, and
being incapable of obtaining any other means of livelihood, had joined the
Volunteer Horse, and while serving in that capacity had discovered and
recognised Florian.

'He's a boss now in the Mounted Infantry; but I'll be cursed if I don't put
a lead plug into him on the first opportunity—kill him as I would a puff-
adder!' said Josh Jarrett fiercely, as he mumbled the last words into the
mouth of a metal flask filled with that villainous compound known as Cape
Smoke, while they grinned, but without fun, and winked to each other
portentously.

'Hopportunities we'll 'ave in plenty, with the work as goes on here,'

responded Dick of the Droogveldt (which means a dry district), 'and that
cursed fellow shall never quit Zululand alive, all the more so that they say
he is to be made an officer soon.'

For Dick, like Josh, was one of 'Cardwell's recruits,' as they are named,
and had been a deserter from a line regiment. So their appearance in camp
probably accounted for the two mysterious shots that Florian had so
recently escaped.[*]
 [*] For many interesting details of the Zulu War, I am indebted to the
narrative of Major Ashe; but more particularly to the Private Journal of
the Chief of the Staff.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ON THE BANKS OF THE ITYOTYOSI.

It was bitterly cold in camp that night—one of the noctes ambrosianæ in

Zululand, as Hammersley said laughingly; and on the morning of the 1st
June, when the thin ice stood in the buckets inside the tents, the latter were
struck, and the Second Division began its march from the Blood River
towards the Itelezi Hill.

'My darling little Finella—may God love you and bless you!' was the
morning prayer of Hammersley as he sprung on his horse, and the squadron
of Mounted Infantry went cantering forward; prior to which, Florian, after
fraternally sharing a ration biscuit with Tattoo—while the animal whinnied
and rubbed his velvet nose against his cheek, as if thanking him therefor—
kissed him quite as tenderly as Finella ever did Fern; for a genuine trooper
has a true affection for his horse.

As the squadron rode on in advance of the column, Hammersley

beckoned Florian to his side, and, as they trotted on together, he asked him
many a kindly question about Dulcie Carlyon, of his past life and future
hopes and wishes, betraying a genuine interest which touched Florian
keenly.

In due time the Itelezi Hill, a long mass, the brown sides of which were
scored by rocky ravines and woody kloofs, the lurking-places of many
Zulus, who acted as spies along the border, was reached; and now, on the
bank of the Ityotyosi River, at a short distance from the Natal frontier, a halt
was made, and another temporary camp formed on ground selected by the
Prince Imperial of France, who had previously examined it.

In advance of the whole force on the same morning, the Prince had
ridden on with instructions to examine the nature of the ground through
which the march would lie; and with an emotion of deep interest, for which
he could not account, Florian saw him ride off at full speed, accompanied
by Lieutenant Carey, of the 98th Regiment, the Deputy Assistant
Quartermaster-General, with six of Captain Bettington's European Horse;
and pushing on over the open and pastoral country, the Prince and his party
soon disappeared in the vicinity of the Itelezi Hill, which he reached about
ten a.m.

On the same day Sir Evelyn Wood—with orders to keep one day's march
in front of the Second Division—was reconnoitring in advance of his flying
column, when the halt was made by the Ityotyosi River, where despatches
from the rear overtook the staff, and a few minutes after, the General sent
his orderly for Florian, whom he found carefully grooming and rubbing
down Tattoo.

Though ignorant of having committed any faux pas, Florian's first idea
was that he had fallen into a scrape, and with some trepidation of spirit and
manner found himself before the General, who, wearing a braided patrol-
jacket and a white helmet girt by a puggaree, was examining the country
through a field-glass.

'Sergeant,' said he, holding forth his hand, 'I have to congratulate you.'

'On what, sir?' asked Florian.

'Your appointment to a second-lieutenancy in your regiment, as the

reward of your disinterested bravery at Ginghilovo, and general conduct on
all occasions. It is duly notified in the Gazette, and here is the letter of the
Adjutant-General.'

Florian's breath was quite taken away by this intelligence. For a few
moments he could scarcely realise the truth of what the general, with great
kindness and interest of manner, had said to him. He felt like one in a
dream, from which he might awaken to disappointment; and the white tents
of the camp, the Ityotyosi that flowed beside them, the woods and distant
hills, seemed to be careering round him, and it was only when after a little
time he felt the firm grasp of Hammersley's hand, and heard the warm and
hearty congratulations from him and other officers, that he felt himself now
indeed to be one of them.

The first to accord him a 'a salute as Second Lieutenant' (a rank since
then abolished) was Tom Tyrrell.

'Let me shake your hand for the last time, sir, as your comrade,' said he.

'Not for the last time, I hope, Tom,' replied Florian, whose thoughts were
flashing home to Dulcie, and all she would feel and think and say.

An officer—he was already an officer! As his father—or he whom he

had so long deemed his father—was before him. His foot was firmly
planted on the ladder now, and with the thought of Dulcie's joy his own
redoubled.

'Come to the mess tent,' said Hammersley. 'We must wet the commission
and drink the health of the Queen after tiffin.'

For the first time on that auspicious afternoon Florian found himself
among his equals, and the kindness with which they welcomed him to their
circle made his affectionate and appreciative heart swell. Hammersley was
President of the Mess Committee, and was a wonderful strategist in the
matter of 'providing grub,' as he said.

A few rough boards that went with the baggage formed the table, and at
'tiffin' that day the menu comprised vegetable soup, a sirloin of beef, an
entrée or two, for a wonder, with plenty of brandy-pawnee and 'square-
face;' and what the repast lacked in delicacy and splendour was amply made
up by the general jollity and good humour that pervaded the board, though,
for all they knew, another hour might find them face to face with the enemy.

Would either Hammersley or Florian be spared to write to the girl he

loved?
 In the case of Florian it seemed somewhat impossible, especially now,
when he had—all unknown to himself—two secret and unscrupulous
enemies on his trail, and intent on his destruction.

Meanwhile a terrible tragedy, that was to form a part of the world's

history, was being acted not very far off from where that jocund circle sat
round the board presided over by Hammersley.

Sir Evelyn Wood, we have said, was reconnoitring in advance of his

column, which was then on the march from Munhla Hill towards the
Ityotyosi River. Scattered in extended order among the growing undulations
and watercourses, the Horse of Redvers Buller were scouting.

Rain had fallen during the night, but the sky of the afternoon was clear,
bright, and without a cloud, from the far horizon to the zenith.

Following, but at a distance, the line taken by the Prince Imperial and his
six reconnoitring troopers, General Wood, after issuing from a dense
coppice of thorn trees, interspersed with graceful date palms and enormous
feathery bamboo canes, came suddenly on a deep and smooth tributary of
the Ityotyosi, and after contriving to ford it at a place where its banks were
fringed by beautiful acacias and drooping palms with fan-shaped leaves, to
his astonishment some mounted men appeared in his front, and all
apparently fugitives.

With twelve of his troopers the fearless Buller, who had seen them also,
now came galloping up and rode on with Sir Evelyn, and in rounding the
base of a tall cliff they came suddenly upon Lieutenant Carey, of the 98th
Foot, and four troopers of Bettington's Corps, all riding at a furious pace,
their horses flecked with white foam, and with sides bloody by the goring
spurs.

They reined up pale and breathlessly, and in another minute or two their
terrible secret was told.

'Where is the Prince Imperial?' cried Sir Evelyn, as he rushed his horse
over some fallen trees in his haste to meet the fugitives.
 But Carey, who seemed as dead beat as his horse, was at first apparently
incapable of replying.

'Speak, sir!' cried the General impetuously. 'What has happened?'

Still Carey seemed incapable of speech.

'Sir,' said one of the troopers, 'the Prince, I fear, is killed.'

The speaker was Private Le Toque, a Frenchman.

'Is that the case? Tell me instantly, sir!' resumed the General, with
growing excitement.

'I fear it is so,' faltered Carey, in a low voice.

'Then what are you doing here, sir?'

A veil must be drawn over the rest of the interview, which was of a most
painful character, wrote Major Ashe in his narrative of the occurrence.

A soldier—Tom Tyrrell, encouraged by the knowledge that his late

comrade Florian was there—came rushing into the mess-tent, where
Florian, with those who were now his brother-officers, was seated in
happiness and jollity, bearing the terrible tidings, which spread through the
camp like wildfire, and all who had horses mounted and rode forth to
discover if they were true, and all spoke sternly and reprehensively of the
luckless Lieutenant Carey, who eventually was tried by a court-martial, and
died two years after in India, some said of a broken heart.

As Florian was one of the searchers for the slain Prince, the story of this
latter's tragic death does not lie apart from ours.

It would seem, briefly, then, that the charger ridden by the Prince, when
he left Lord Chelmsford's camp, and which in the end chiefly led to his
death, was a clumsy and awkward animal, given to rearing and shying.
After crossing the Ityotyosi, then swollen by the recent rains, the Prince and
his party rode on through a district covered with grass-like rush,
kreupelboom, and dwarf acacias.
 The Prince, who from the time of his landing had always sought out any
Frenchmen who might be among the local levies, and frequently gave them
sovereigns, was riding with Le Toque by his side; and the latter, in the
gaiety of his heart, and exhilarated by the beauty of the morning, sang more
than one French song as they rode onward, such as—

'Eh gai, gai, gai, mon officier!'

And as they began to ascend a still nameless hill with a flat top, the Prince
sang loudly 'Les deux Grenadiers,' an old Bonapartist ditty—Le Toque
joining in the chorus of Beranger's chanson:—

'Vieux grenadiers suivons un vieux soldat,

Suivon un vieux soldat!
Suivon un vieux soldat!
Suivon un vieux soldat!'

On the summit of the koppie the party slackened their girths, while the
Prince made a sketch of the landscape. 'We may here digress to say,' adds
the Cape Argus, 'that the Prince's talent with pen and pencil, combined with
his remarkable proficiency in military surveying (which so distinguished
the first Napoleon), made his contributions to our knowledge of the country
to be traversed of great value.'

Amid the heat and splendour of an African noon they now rode on to a
deserted kraal, consisting of five beehive-shaped huts, near a dry donga, or
old watercourse, where they unsaddled and knee-haltered their horses to
graze, while the Prince and his companions chatted and smoked, all
unaware that some forty armed Zulus were actually stalking them like deer,
crawling stealthily and softly on their hands and knees through the long
Tambookie grass and mealies, drawing their rifles and assegais after them.

About four o'clock Corporal Grub, of Bettington's Horse, got a glimpse

of a Zulu, and warned the Prince of the circumstance.

'Saddle up at once!' said the latter; 'prepare to mount!'

 The brief orders had scarcely left his lips when a volley from forty rifles
crashed through the long Tambookie grass and waving reeds, which bent as
if before a breeze, and then the ferocious lurkers rushed with flashing and
glistening teeth, bloodshot, rolling eyes, and loud yells, upon the solitary
party of eight men.

Terrified by the sudden tumult, all the horses swerved wildly round; a
trooper named Rogers was shot dead with his left foot in the stirrup, and
those who actually got into their saddles found it impossible to control their
horses, so terrific were the yells, mingled with ragged shots, and they bore
their riders across the open karoo and towards the deep and dangerous
donga.

Prince Napoleon's horse, a difficult one to mount at all times, and sixteen
hands high, resisted every attempt at remounting in its then state of terror;
thus one by one the party rode or were borne away, while the unhappy
Prince endeavoured to vault into his saddle.

'Mon Prince, dépêchez-vous, si'l vous plait!' cried his countryman

trooper, Le Toque, as he rushed past, lying across but not in his saddle, and
then the heir of France found himself alone—alone and face to face with
more than forty merciless and pitiless savages!

Who can tell what may have flashed through the brave lad's mind in that
moment of fierce excitement and supreme mental agony—what thoughts of
France and Imperial glory—the glorious past, the dim future, and, more
than all, no doubt, of the lonely mother, who was so soon to weep for him at
Chiselhurst—to weep the tears that no condolence could quench!

When last seen by Le Toque, as the latter gave a backward and

despairing glance, he was grasping a stirrup-leather in vain attempts to
mount the maddened animal, which trod upon him, and broke away when
the strap parted; and then, for a moment, the young Napoleon covered his
face with his hands—deserted, abandoned to an awful death, which no
Christian eye was then to see.

All the obloquy of this tragedy was now heaped upon Lieutenant Carey,
a native of the south of England. It was dark night when he got to head-
quarters, and at that time nothing could be done to ascertain the fate of the
deserted one.

Scarcely a man slept in our camp by the Ityotyosi River, and after 'lights
out' had been sounded by the bugles, the soldiers could talk of nothing else
but the poor Prince Imperial.

'The news of his death,' wrote an officer who was in the camp, 'fell like a
thunderbolt on all! At first it was regarded as one of those reports that so
often went round. Bit by bit, however, it assumed a form. Even then people
were incredulous, only half believing the dreadful tale. The two questions
first asked were—What will they say at home? and, secondly, the poor
Empress? All was wildest excitement, and brave men absolutely broke
down under the blow. To them it looked a black and bitter disgrace. The
chivalrous young Prince, repaying the hospitality shown him by England
with his sword—entrusted to us by his widowed mother—to have been
killed in a mere paltry reconnaissance! to have fallen without all his escort
having been killed first! to lie there dead and alone! Many there were who
would have given up life to have been lying with him, so that our British
honour might have been kept sacred.'

CHAPTER XIX.

FINDING THE BODY.

'Fall in, the Mounted Infantry!' cried the voice of Hammersley, when
with earliest dawn strong parties were detailed from the camps of the
Second Division and Sir Evelyn Wood to scout the scene of the tragedy; and
as his squadron rode forth in the grey light with rifle-butt resting on the
thigh, just as the dawn began to redden the summit of the Itelezi Hill,
Florian remembered that this mournful search was his first duty as an
officer; but the calamity clouded the joy of his promotion, and would be
always associated with it.

He felt himself again the equal of Dulcie Carlyon; but, still, to what end?
He could not go home to her, nor could she come there to him, a combatant
in Zululand; besides, he knew well enough that an officer's pay, unless
when on service, is not sufficient for himself without the encumbrance of a
wife; and with this enforced practical view of the situation he could only
sigh as he rode on and thought of poor Dulcie.

As some of the Volunteer Horse went to the front, Florian became

conscious that two, wearing huge, battered hats, who rode together, were
regarding him furtively, and with a curiously hostile and scowling
expression; and his heart gave a kind of leap when he recognised in these,
two of the ruffians whose odious features were indelibly impressed upon his
memory by the adventures of that horrible night in the so-called hotel at
Elandsbergen—Josh Jarrett and Dick of the Droogveldt, with his short,
thickset figure, small, dull eyes, and heavy, bull-dog visage.

That they would work him some mischief, if possible, in their new
capacity he never doubted; and possibly enough it was their design to do so,
secretly and securely, amid the often confused scouting and scampering to
and fro of the Mounted Infantry among bush and cover of every kind. But,
as they were then going to the front, he thought it unwise to move in the
matter at the time; besides, they might be knocked on the head, and all on
the ground were thinking only of the Prince Imperial.

A deep silence hovered over the ranks of the various searching parties
that rode round by the base of the flat-topped Itelezi Hill. The swallow-
tailed banneroles of the 17th Lancers, who looked handsome and gay in
their white helmets and blue tunics faced and lapelled with white, fluttered
out on the morning wind; but the iron hoofs of their horses fell without a
sound on the soft and elastic turf of the green veldt. Occasionally a low
murmur would be heard as the searchers drew nearer the fatal kraal, and the
lance was slung and the carbine grasped instinctively when at times the
black Kaffir vultures, hinting of a dreadful repast, rose from among the tall,
feathery Tambookie grass, and, croaking angrily, winged their way aloft as
if enraged and interrupted.
 Driving out roughly by lance point and rifle bullet about a hundred Zulus
from some holes and scrub, several of the Lancers under Lieutenant Frith,
their adjutant, and the Mounted Infantry under Hammersley, next drew near
the fatal donga, which some officers crossed on foot. Among those who
were in advance of all the rest was Lieutenant Dundonald Cochrane, of the
Cornish Light Infantry.

'Look!' cried Hammersley to Florian, as Cochrane was seen to pause and

with reverence take off his helmet. Then a hum went along the ranks of the
searchers, who all knew what he had found.

And there, on the sloping bank of the donga in the evening sunshine,
with his head pillowed on some sweet wild-flowers, nude as he came into
the world, save that a reliquary and locket with his father's miniature were
round his neck—supposed to be potent fetishes—lay the poor young Prince,
the guest of Britain, the hope of Imperial France, and the only son of his
mother, dead, and gashed by sixteen assegai wounds, among them the usual
cruel Zulu coup de grace—the gash in the stomach.

It was found that, though an accomplished swordsman, he had failed to

use his sword—the sword of his father the Emperor—which had dropped
from the scabbard in his attempts to mount; but that, seizing an assegai
which had been hurled at him, he had defended himself till he sank under
repeated wounds; and a tuft of human hair clenched in his left hand attested
the valour and the desperation of his resistance.

His faithful little Scottish terrier was found dead by his side.

All around him the ground was trampled, torn, and stained by gouts of
blood.

A bier was now formed by crossed lances of the 17th Lancers, covered
by cut rushes and a cavalry cloak. Reverently and almost with womanly
tenderness did our soldiers raise the body, and on this bier, so befitting to
one of his name, Prince Napoleon was borne by loving hands by the rough
and rugged track that led towards the hill of Itelezi; while all around the
place where they had found him were flowers of gold and crimson tint,
where in the gouts and pools of blood bright-winged moths and butterflies
were battening.

That the Prince was duly prepared to meet any fate that might befall him
the remarkable prayer composed by him fully attests. It was found in his
repositories, and was published in the papers of the time.

The entire Second Division was under arms to receive his remains when
brought into the camp beside the river. The body was borne through the
lines on a gun-carriage, wrapped in linen and shrouded by a Union Jack; the
funeral service was performed by the Catholic chaplain to the forces, and
Lord Chelmsford acted as chief mourner. Though tolerably accustomed to
bloodshed now, a profound impression of gloom pervaded the faces of the
troops.

By mule-cart the body was sent to Pietermaritzburg, and in passing

through Ladysmith there occurred a scene that was touching from its
simplicity. This is a small village in the Division of Riversdale or
Kannaland, where the body remained for the night at the entrance thereof,
in the bleak open veldt, under a guard of honour; but from the school-house
there came forth, and lined the roadway, a procession of little black
children, who, to the accompaniment of an old cracked harmonium, sang a
hymn, as the soldiers of the 58th Regiment took the body away, and sweetly
and softly the voices of the little ones rose and fell on the chilly air of the
morning.

'This,' says Captain Thomasson, of the Irregular Horse, in his narrative,

'was but one mark of the feeling that all in the colony, whatever their age,
colour, position, or sex, had at the sudden and terrible close of that bright
young life. And it may safely be affirmed that not one disassociated in his
mind from the thought of the dead son, the recollection of the blow
awaiting the widowed mother.'

The next striking scene was at Durban, the only port in Natal Colony,
where the troops handed over the remains to the blue-jackets of H.M.S.
Shah for conveyance to England.
 Here the poor old majordomo of the Prince was left behind. He was so
inconsolable for the loss of his master, that it was feared he would lose his
reason, and more than once he said, with simple truth and bitterness:

'My master would not have abandoned one of them!'

CHAPTER XX.

THE SKIRMISH AT EUZANGONYAN.

The transmission rearwards of the Prince's remains causing a day's delay

in the advance of the division, Florian gladly availed himself of it to write
to Dulcie a letter full of love and all the enthusiastic outpouring of his heart
to one who was so far away; to express his astonishment on learning that
she was an inmate of the same house with Shafto, their bête noir, of whom
she was to beware, he added impressively.

He told of his military success—of all that might be in store for them
yet; for Florian had, if small means at present, the vast riches of youth and
hope to draw upon, especially in his brighter moments, and—if spared—his
future promotion from the rank of second-lieutenant was now but a thing of
time.

There had not been much brightness in his life latterly; but it was
impossible for him not to admit that the dawn of a happier day had come,
and that he had made substantial progress in his profession.

He told her—among many other things—of Vivian Hammersley's

friendship and favour for himself, even when in the rank and file, and of his
pride and gratitude therefor; of the change her letter to himself had made in
Hammersley's views of Miss Melfort, for whom he sent an enclosure from
the Captain, lest watchful eyes—perchance those of Shafto—might
examine too closely the contents of the Craigengowan post-bag; and from
old experience they knew what the man was capable of—not respecting
even 'the property of H.M. Postmaster-General.'

For, now that Florian was an officer, his friend Hammersley, though
proud as Lucifer and at times haughty to a degree, was, under the
circumstances, not loth to avail himself of Dulcie's assistance in this matter,
so necessary to his own happiness; so the two missives in one were
despatched, and with an emotion of thankfulness that was deep and
genuine, Florian dropped it into the regimental post-bag at the orderly-room
tent, for conveyance with the mail to Durban.

The Second Division began its forward march on the 3rd of January, and
encamped half a mile distant from the kraal near which the Prince Imperial
had perished, while Sir Evelyn Wood's column, advancing by the left,
proceeded along the further side of the Ityotyosi. Already the bad rations to
which they were reduced—eight pounds of inferior oats and no hay—were
telling severely on the horses of the 17th Lancers and Mounted Infantry.

On the 4th, when encamped on the bank of the Nondweni River, a

cavalry patrol, under Redvers Duller, Hammersley, and others, had a narrow
escape from being cut off by two thousand five hundred Zulus, of whom, on
the following day, the entire cavalry column went forth in search.

When the whole mounted force was getting under arms, Hammersley
threw away the end of a cigar before falling in, and said to Florian—

'Look here, old fellow, I have been thinking about you. I am not a
millionnaire, you know, but I have enough and to spare. You have not, I
presume—pardon me for saying so; but now that you are an officer, and
must want many things, my cheque-book is at your disposal, if you wish to
draw on old Chink the Paymaster.'

'A thousand thanks to you, Captain Hammersley,' replied Florian, his

heart swelling and his colour deepening with gratitude; 'but I have no need
to trespass on your kindness—I want nothing here; we are all pretty much
alike in Zululand—officer and private, general and drum-boy.'