Hey all, here's book three. Hope you like the ending. I'll probably be another long spell before I post here again, love the community but I got to make a living. I also have some personal challenges coming up. Anyway, until next time -Happy Reading.
Copyright 2020. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
REVEALED
Chapter One
The eastern sun warmed me, as the sounds of cicadas welcomed the new day. It'd been a full week since we'd been rescued, welcomed, and unfortunately captured by the Becenti clan. It was better than being dead though. The five of us were still alive, and so far our hosts had been if not welcoming, open and curious about us. Katrina had ordered us all to return that openness, past what would be normal between strangers, and not hedge or obfuscate anything even on the personal level.
It was clear they were going to judge us at the end of this process, and we may as well be damned for who we were than because we'd kept our counsel too close to the vest. That impression of Dakota holding our fates in our hands while here on her land had not changed at all.
I'd just renewed the spells on my three mistresses. One of the requirements of our stay was to adjust our hours to our hosts. So we were all sleeping at night during the interim. It made sense, we couldn't get to know each other very well on opposite schedules, and we could hardly ask three hundred shifters to try out the night life.
As for why I'd left my mistresses behind when I should be attending them after slaking their lust and thirst that morning, and seeing them showered and dressed, I had a standing early appointment with Dakota for a chat.
Dakota's home looked a little like a beach bungalow, only bigger. The walls were non-existent save flowing white insect screens, similar to mosquito nets but about twenty percent sheer. I'd learned hardier walls were used in the wintertime, but this was late summer. It'd been explained to me the clan was very close to nature, due to both their Native American heritage, a deep respect for the earth and nature, and their magic as shifters just deepened that.
I also suspected this wasn't their permanent home, and only used at certain times a year.
Dakota sat in a chair as I moved through the layers of white material. She was thirty-five I knew, but she looked closer to twenty-five. Her body was athletically curvaceous, right between the two body types, giving her both alluringly soft curves in all the right places yet obvious muscle tone in all the tight places. Her legs, stomach, arms, and waist were femininely toned, while her generous B cups, wide hips, and slightly juicy heart-shaped ass were beyond alluring. Her skin tone was similar to Katrina's, maybe a shade or two darker. She also had similar dark brown hair, and eyes so dark brown they appeared black in a low light.
Her face had an exotic beauty, at least to me. That morning she was wearing a simple wrap that covered her modesty but not much else. I suspected the thing would unwind and survive a shift to lioness if she pulled a single tuck out.
She was a lovely woman, and I had to remind myself she was the resolute and sometimes merciless leader of thousands of shifters, not just the three hundred or so in this place. It wasn't too hard to remember, since she had a powerfully noble presence much like Katrina did.
"Good morning, Dakota," I said as I sat down across from her. It was a little familiar I thought, speaking to the head clan mistress in casual greeting, but she had insisted on it during our first morning talk. No titles.
She nodded with a reserved smile, "Greg. Would it be too forward to ask you about the obvious desire for me in your scent? I've been curious about it for days, since it has not subsided as I expected after becoming accustomed to my company."
I laughed, that was a bit personal, but I was under orders, "Well, what do you want to know about it?"
She tilted her head, "Why do you find me attractive?"
"Well, have you seen yourself?"
Her lips twitched, but her raised eyebrow told me to be serious.
I shrugged, "That's truly a part of it. You're easily a match to my mistresses in that way, and for men attraction starts visually. It's a shallow reason, but that doesn't make it untrue. I also enjoy our talks, and you're quite a woman. Fiercely protective of your own, but you balance that with thoughtful consideration before acting unflinchingly.
"It also matters little. I wouldn't be unfaithful to my lovers, and the last thing we should do is pursue something like that anyway."
She tilted her head, "Unfaithful, when you have four lovers?" She'd almost sounded amused by the concept.
I nodded, "They all love each other too, if not all of them physically, and we are a family. Something you could never join due to your responsibilities. I wouldn't cheapen our connection with a shallow fling with another woman," I paused for a second, then flirted a bit, "No matter how explosively hot that affair would be."
She laughed, "I see. And the last thing?"
I made a face, "I can't control the bonding part of my magic, or at least haven't figured it out. The last thing your clan would need is a mistress that had to follow my orders. Even if I wouldn't take advantage of such a thing, it's a bad idea. Often, perception is reality. Plus, I'd no doubt knock you up, can't seem to control that either."
She shook her head, "So you're not attracted by that idea? Controlling clan Becenti?"
I replied, "If anything, repelled. I have no desire for that much responsibility. No, it's all about your company and how lovely you are. Surely you haven't missed that I follow Katrina's every request and order, and never order her to do anything. I want their love, respect, and admiration far more than I want their obedience. Plus, it's my policy not to become a power-hungry dick like my late father."
She snorted, "I see. Maybe that explains why you haven't figured out the full potential of your magic yet. Hmm, we'll talk about that another time, however. I have a request for you, and a gift."
I'd told her all about my power over the last week, rather forthrightly on what it could do. So if there was more she knew I didn't know it yet. It was really hard to lie to a shifter, when they could scent your emotions and body chemistry changes, so she was positive I hadn't been holding back. It was also another reason for Katrina's orders to be bluntly honest no matter how impertinent the question, or the answer for that matter.
"And a test," I accused playfully.
Her eyes smiled, and she winked. She got up, and I followed her back outside toward a section of the community I hadn't been in yet.
Dakota's home and the guest building where we stayed were very close together, as well as the community center where there were shops of various kinds as well as a town square.
All the other homes were similar to Dakota's both in size and style, which told me a lot about the woman. That she didn't use things to place herself above and apart from her people. At the same time, I knew this place was important to them on the tradition level, but I'd eat my boots if they didn't have a modern house community for the wintertime.
It wasn't like the Becenti clan was destitute after all.
She led me into a large building, and this one had actual walls and doors. The reason for that became almost instantly obvious, the building was some kind of animal rescue. Hanging fabrics wouldn't do very well in confining animals, even wounded ones. There were cages full of convalescing four footed and two clawed patients that obviously weren't shifters.
She waved to an older man with long graying hair and light brown eyes. He had a medium build on the lanky side, and he was an inch taller than me at six foot two.
"This is Elan, and he cares for the wounded animals we find. We believe in the circle of life, and don't interfere except where human carelessness and in some cases outright cruelty has led to unnatural ends. Those animals we rescue if we can."
Right, which meant animals hurt and vulnerable from a fight with another wild animal on the food chain was left to fend for themselves. It was a natural thing, and I didn't object to the exceptions.
Elan nodded slowly in greeting, but he didn't speak.
Dakota said, "I will allow you to bond with one of them. The gift is you will be able to take on their form once you have done so. The request of course, is for you return one of them to full health in the bonding."
I nodded, "Are any of these beyond your care?" I asked Elan.
It made sense to me to heal the one that would otherwise die.
Elan said, "No, we would've ended their misery with mercy if that was so, but the eagle and bobcat will take a long time to recover. Longer than the others. That lessens their chances at successfully being reintroduced to the wild."
I tilted my head, and said to Dakota, "The Eagle."
