Abandoned Treasure

Nicholas Parker (Nathan Storm’s) POV

Northwest of North Moccasin Mountains, Montana

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

“This is out of the way,” Nora said.

“Gotta go towards town to hunt,” I agreed as I drove along Plum Creek Road. Ice and packed snow covered the dirt road, making our progress slow. “Bears are solitary, but they have to make a living. A big ranch makes sense.”

“It’s ten below. What do bears do in the winter? Hibernate?”

I chuckled. “The same thing all ranchers do. Make repairs, take care of the livestock, and prepare for spring. A lot of them do long-haul trucking. It’s common up here to have other businesses in the offseason. Here’s the turnoff.”

I turned right into the driveway. The sign by the turn said, “PLUM CREEK RANCH NO TRESPASSING.”Nora rolled down the window and took a sniff. “This is it.”

“And even in their houses, they’ll smell us before we exit the car.” I looked over at my nervous mate. “When we stop, I want you to slide into the driver’s seat. If it goes bad, you drive away as fast as you can. Don’t stop for anyone or anything.”

“No,” she replied. “A male warrior getting out spells trouble. You might not make the door before they shoot your ass. I need to be the one making the first contact.”

I shook my head. “Too risky.”

“Packs don’t send women on raiding parties. Seeing me first will tell them we aren’t there to harm them. You keep your furry ass in the driver’s seat, and YOU take off without me if it goes bad. They will be more comfortable with my scent.”

“Why?”

She smiled. “I’ve been a rogue all my life. You’re still losing that Pack Wolf scent.”

I thought about it as we drove past a small home on the right. I saw a curtain move as we drove by. They knew we were here now.I kept going towards the main compound. “I don’t like it.”

“You know I’m right,” she told me.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Be careful, baby. I can’t lose you.”

She smiled. “Getting killed would ruin my plans for tonight.”

“Mine too.”

The main compound had a big home on one side with multiple barns and sheds across from it. Semi-trucks and trailers lined the wide circular driveway. I drove around to the main house.“ A man with a rifle just came out of that barn,” Nora warned.

I stopped in front of the home. “You sure about this?”

She nodded. “Yeah. If I don’t get a chance to say it later? You’re a good wolf, and I am happy you are my mate.” She leaned over, head tilted, and kissed me. It was our first, maybe our last, so we both made it memorable.

She ended the kiss, opened the door, and got out. I rolled down her window and watched her walk up the stairs onto the front deck. Her jeans and Uggs emphasized her toned legs, and I caught glimpses of her tight butt under her parka.

The door opened before she could knock.

“Oh! Hello. My name is Carol Sampson, and I’m looking for the Den Leader.” We’d agreed to use our previous names, not our new ones, just in case they reported us to the Council. I’d also covered our license plate when we left the highway so no one could trace it to our new identities.

“You found him,” the big man said. He took a good sniff of her, then looked directly at me. “Tell Nathan to get his ass in here. It’s too fucking cold to talk with the door open.”

Decision time. I shut the car off and got out. The big man let me inside, where three other werebears in the living room, all sitting with my mate on the couch and loveseat. “Thank you for seeing us,” I said as I held my hand out to the Den Leader. His hand felt like it was twice the size of mine as we shook. He was almost six-foot-eight and probably weighed 350 pounds, and that wasn’t all fat. “Nathan Storm.My mate, Carol Sampson.”

“You’re wanted, Storm.”

“I reckon I’m right popular,” I replied. “I’m not a threat to you, sir.”

“If I thought you were, you’d be dead already. I’m Stanley Biggs. My younger brother Jerry is there on the left, then my son Bobby, and wife Julie.” The other two males were nearly as big and intimidating as him. His wife was what we used to refer to as a ‘beefy, starch-fed woman.’ She was tall and looked like she weighed twice as much as my girl. If we got in a fight? I didn’t like my chances with any of them. “Have a seat.”

He went for the big easy chair while I joined Carol on the loveseat. She reached for my hand, letting the mate bond calm us both.

Stanley spoke first. “Carol, what brings the two of you to my den?”

I stepped in. “We want to…”

“Shut up, Nathan. You may have left them, but you still stink of Bitterroot. That means I don’t believe you. Let your female speak.”

I squeezed her hand and listened as she told her story. I focused on watching their faces as she told them about the attack on her family, her slavery, and our escape. Julie was crying halfway through. When Carol finished, Julie jumped up, came over, and pulled her up into a tight hug. “You poor girl,” she said as she held her close.

The males? They wanted blood.

“Julie? Take her into the kitchen and get her something to drink,” Stanley said. He waited until they were gone before he stood up. “Stand up, boy.”

I felt like I was getting called into the principal’s office, except this looked like an ass-beating was coming. I stood up tall and looked the silverback in the eyes. “I did what I could.”

The next thing I knew? I was face-down on the carpet, trying to catch my breath. It felt like a truck hit me, not a fist to the stomach.

“Pick him up,” the old man growled. His brother and son snatched me up as I tried not to vomit. “It wasn’t damn near enough,” he said.

“It wasn’t.”

“How long has Alpha Todd kept sex slaves?”

“A long time,” I said after catching a breath. “The way he sees it, Carol should have been killed for shooting one of his men. A life of abuse and slavery is worse than death, and it serves his purposes.”

“Goddam Alphas! I suppose you couldn’t go against him?”

I shook my head. “The Alpha knew Carol was my mate from the beginning. He threatened to enslave me with her if we completed the mating.” I caught a few more breaths. “I knew I’d only have one shot to get us out. It took years to get things arranged.”

“I bet. Tell me, boy. Did you fuck those slaves like the others?”

I nodded, which got me another shot to the solar plexus. It took me longer to recover, even after the boys pulled me upright. “I didn’t know any better at first. By the time I did, they were watching me closely. I tried to be gentle when I didn’t have a choice.”

“That doesn’t excuse rape.” He looked at his brother. “Toss him in one of the pens until I figure this shit out.”

The two men barely let my feet touch the ground on the way to the barn. They stuffed me into a livestock pen and left, leaving me in the dark in a space I couldn’t stand up in.

It was hours before the door opened, already night. Jerry and Bobby pulled me out and led me back to the house. When we got inside, Carol ran into my arms. “Are you all right, baby?”

She nodded. “We’ve had a long talk.”

“Sit down, you two,” Stanley said. We did, next to Julie, who held her other hand protectively. “First off, Nathan? Your mate is the only reason you are still alive. We feed rapists to the pigs around here. Feet first.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Carol has claimed you as her mate, and we can’t hurt you without hurting her, too. She’s had more than enough hurt to last a lifetime. She told us how much you’ve done and how you’ve behaved since finding her. I’m willing to overlook those things in the past as long as you promise to keep her happy in the future.”

“It’s the purpose of my life now, sir.”

“Carol explained her oncoming heat and the need to run as wolves without detection. You have our permission to run on the lands beyond our ranch. Follow the creek into the hills, but don’t go more than five miles in. Hunt if you want; there are plenty of deer out there if you two can bring one down. We will allow the two of you to run here every full moon.”

It was a waxing crescent now, meaning the next full moon would be in about ten days.“That’s very generous.Thank you.”

“You’ll owe us, Nathan. If I ask you for something? I expect you to do it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have better things to do. Park your car in the barn; Jerry will open it for you. We’ll talk more when you are ready to leave.”

We stood up, and I held my hand out to him. “I won’t let you down.” I took Carol’s hand, and we followed Jerry out the door.

I started our car as soon as we got in. Jerry pointed to the barn, and we drove around the circle toward it. “That was close,” I said. “Thank you.”

“It’s hard remembering not to use Nora and Nick after all the work we’ve put into not saying our old names.”

“Yeah.I get the feeling the bears are on our side.”

“They hate the Pack wolves even more now, but they will keep our secret.”

We pulled inside, and Jerry closed the door behind us. “Leave your clothes in the car and shift once you exit the side door,” he said. “Someone is always home, so bark at the door or something after you’ve finished your mating.”

The barn was about forty degrees, so it wasn’t uncomfortable undressing. The naked walk outside was not as fun, but we both shifted into our fur and shook it out. Jerry pointed to the creek, and Nora took off running.

I followed her as she trotted along the creek. It was fun to watch her smaller wolf run; her howl of joy echoed from the slopes beyond. After a mile, the creekbed turned and headed up into the mountains. Nora stopped and faced me, front shoulders down, legs extended, and rear end high. She barked at me, wanting to play in the soft snow. We play-fought for five minutes before she stopped, turned, and bolted upriver.

She wanted me to chase her, and I was ready. I held my wolf back for several minutes to let her get a good head start. It was more fun this way, and I’d be ready to claim my prize when I finally caught up to her.

My wolf was more than ready to claim his mate and took off, following the scent of her arousal. She did her best, but it took less than ten minutes. She’d run along the cliffs above the creek, not realizing it was a dead end. She was whining and pacing back and forth when I arrived and blocked her escape. I growled and got her attention.

My wolf stood tall, fur and tail up, looking every bit like the predator and protector. She tried to run past, but I whirled on her and grabbed the back of her scruff with my teeth, forcing her chest to the ground. She struggled, but my wolf wasn’t letting her go. Finally, she looked back and moved her tail to the side, her swollen sex ready and dripping.

My cock was ready. I mounted my mate from the back, my front legs hooked around her back legs, and I plunged forward. She howled with the sudden penetration.

It was bliss.

There is nothing gentle about mating in our wolf forms. My knot started forming after a few strokes, and soon we were tied. She was tight and hot and felt so good! I could feel her tremors beginning as I pounded her hard.

I picked the spot on her neck to place my claiming bite. The short strokes were coming fast, and I couldn’t hold out much long. I felt her seize below me, her sex gripping me like a velvet fist, and I started to cum deep inside her.I lunged forward, biting her neck until I drew blood. When I let go, I opened my neck to her, and she bit me back. Jet after jet of puppy potion filled her womb, finally ending as she let me go.

I guided us onto our sides in the powdery snow. The knot kept it all inside but also restricted our movements. I felt the bond forming between us as I licked the wound on her neck. “My mate.”

“Wow,” she said in my mind. “That was intense.”

The mate bond was more than I’d dreamed of. I could feel her emotions as well as talk. As we caught our breath, I could feel the love blossom. I started to move, and that got me hard again. “More?”

“Baby, I warned you that you wouldn’t get much rest tonight.” We took our time, enjoying the act with the mate bond helping us communicate.

The wind was picking up. We finally uncoupled, leaving a sticky blob behind on the rock. We ran side by side into the mountains.

We had sex a few more times before finding a sheltered spot under a deadfall to sleep until daylight. We hunted some rabbits the next day, then returned to our hide.

When morning came, we ran hard over the mountains, played in the snow, and had a lot of sex. If she didn’t take on this heat, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

We trotted back to the barn just before sundown. Jerry met us there. “There’s an office with a shower back there,” he said. “You might want to clean up. You guys smell like a New Orleans cathouse during Mardi Gras, and Mom has invited you to dinner.”

It took a while to clean up and change. We walked hand-in-hand to the house, and the welcome this time was much friendlier. “Congratulations, you two,” Stanley said as he opened the door.

Bears mate like wolves, except without fated mates. Matings are like a human wedding, and weddings are a cause for celebration. Their extended family was there, including Stanley’s elderly mother, Georgina. “Come here, dears. Let me see those bites.”

“Mom is a Werebear Healer and midwife,” Stanley added.

“Jerry, fetch my kit.” She cleaned and checked the bites, adding a stitch to the deeper one on Carol’s back. “They should heal up fine. You’ll need a checkup every time you visit, Carol. I’m the first house on the right as you head here.”

“I feel better than I have felt in years, Georgina.”

“It’s more for your baby than for you,” she smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. Bear noses are far more sensitive than yours, and this isn’t the first time I’ve scented one out.”

I moved my hand over my mate’s belly, trying to process that our child was inside.