Galen's Lovely Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Four) (2 page)

Wolves stood with their pack, bears with
their sleuth, and lions with their pride. The saber stood
alone.

Shaking the odd thoughts from his mind, he
watched as Jonathon Black, the owner of the NWFA, escorted a group
of VIPs through the staging area. Scenting the air, he knew they
were all human. He could never figure out why humans enjoyed the
fights so much. Maybe because it was carefully controlled chaos. Or
maybe they liked watching shifters beat each other all to hell, but
only from a safe distance.

Ignoring the group, Galen concentrated on the
fights ahead. Several minutes after Jonathon took the humans from
the area, the fights began. He watched on the monitors as a young
wolf was tossed around like a ragdoll by a lion. It was against
NWFA regulations for one male to kill another during a fight, but
there were times when some of the fights got a little too close to
the line.

As he stepped out onto the sand with the bear
he was supposed to fight, the crowd roared its approval. The bear,
a big male named Grenich, grunted at Galen as they squared off. The
fighters never socialized outside of their own groups. Galen was
going to be leaving Belle Terra in a few months if he hadn’t found
his truemate by then. He hoped that as the NWFA progressed on its
journey across the country, that he’d find her, and he hoped like
hell it was soon.

Grenich’s fist flew past Galen’s face,
narrowly missing his jaw. Galen spun to the side and kicked out,
nailing Grenich in the knee. The bear roared in anger, and Galen
saw his fangs elongate as his fury grew. He didn’t like getting
hit. Well, who the hell did? Dropping to the ground to avoid the
bear’s wildly swinging fists, he drew on his cat to enhance his
strength and speed. The bear might be big, but Galen was an
unparalleled fighter. He would win tonight. Then he’d go to the
hotel and dream about pink and gold again.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 3

Serena smiled as she watched two squirrels
fighting over an acorn on the ground below where she sat on a thick
limb. She’d landed on the tree an hour ago to watch the sunset,
which was her favorite time of day. She loved the colors the sky
turned as it prepared for night. Each sunset was different,
beautiful in its own way.

She’d been gone from home for a week. She
usually didn’t stay away from the hotel that long, but she hadn’t
wanted to stop flying. Flying calmed her nerves and helped her
think. Not that she’d come up with anything good to help her
sister. Her only thought had been for Alanah to disappear so she
didn’t have to marry Cenrik, but her sister was too honorable to
take off and leave her parents to be punished by exile. Alanah was
loyal to a fault.

She felt like she let her family down.
Realistically she knew she couldn’t do much of anything except
cause trouble for herself and her family, but she didn’t believe
that Alanah marrying a fairy she didn’t love was going to be good
for anyone. Especially Alanah. Her sweet, sassy sister would be
crushed under the weight of a loveless mating.

Alanah didn’t really have to marry Cenrik.
She could choose to leave the commune the way that Serena had, but
she knew in her heart that she wouldn’t. Serena had left because
she hadn’t wanted anyone to tell her who she should marry. Alanah
didn’t want that either – she had supported Serena from the
beginning – but the king hadn’t threatened their parents with exile
when Serena had said no. If he had, she wasn’t sure what she would
have done.

She sighed loudly. The squirrels stopped
fighting and stared up at her, their beady, black eyes questioning
as their tails flicked rapidly. “I wish Alanah was here. She’d tell
you to stop fighting over that nut, since the tree is full of
them.” Shaking an overhead branch, she sent more acorns falling to
the ground, much to the squirrels’ delight.

Resting her head against the rough bark, she
closed her eyes and yawned. Just as Serena had done, Alanah had to
make her own choices. She wished she could be there for her, but
that was out of the question. Even flying near the commune would
get her tossed into the royal jail.

As she drifted to sleep, she found herself
standing on sand with puddles of blood surrounding her. The air was
filled with cheering and the roars of what sounded like big cats.
She turned in a slow circle and found herself looking up at a
stadium filled with people. Her vision began to dim, and she
slipped to the ground, the hot sand under her hands and the scents
of the jungle and sunshine filling her nose.

She woke, startled, and nearly fell from the
tree. Grabbing the trunk quickly, she managed to keep herself
upright as her heart pounded and her mind spun. Panic, twined with
bone-deep desire, filled her. The dream was important, and although
she didn’t know why, she knew she needed to be wherever the stadium
was.

Climbing to her feet, she balanced on the
tree branch and leapt into the air, her wings carrying her through
the canopy and into the air. It was dark, but she knew the way home
and flew in that direction. The only stadium she knew of was the
one that had been renovated outside of Belle Terra for shifter
fights. Her heart pounded as she flew as fast as she could, her
wings carrying her through the cool night.

She’d never woken up from a dream with a
desire to go to a specific place. She didn’t know what it meant,
but she believed that something important lay inside the stadium.
She knew if she didn’t go there right away, she’d regret it. At the
moment, she had enough regrets to last a lifetime. She wasn’t
interested in adding any more.

As she flew swiftly, she could see the lights
of Belle Terra in the distance. The small city was brightly lit at
night. Beyond the city lay the stadium. Why did she feel such a
deep need to go there right now? As her mind spun with
possibilities, she knew she would find the answer on the sand.

Her wings were aching by the time she flew
over Belle Terra and toward the stadium. As in the dream, the
stadium was bright with floodlights and she could hear the crowd
cheering. Her heart pounded as she drew close. Below in the center
of the arena, she saw two men grappling. Even from high above the
stadium, she smelled blood and sweat. Everything inside her
clenched hard, and she gasped, her wings faltering as the image of
a tiger with long, curving canines filled her mind.

Her vision dimmed, and she opened her mouth
to scream, but no sound came out as darkness swarmed over her and
she plummeted, her last thought a single, whispered word:
mate
.

Chapter 4

Galen shook his head as the bear’s fist
glanced across his cheek. Stars exploded in his vision, and he
leapt back to avoid a second punch. Galen snarled. He kept getting
distracted. He couldn’t find the source of the distraction, but
something inside him continuously urged him to cast his gaze
skyward, which was giving his opponent a hell of an advantage.

His cat was prowling, clawing at him to do
something
. If only the beast could actually talk to him and
tell him what the fuck was up. Galen had been dealing with the
pissy creature all week while the strange mating dreams had been
invading his sleep. And now, when he needed to be concentrating on
kicking ass, the beast was all about distractions.

Galen leapt at the bear, ramming his head
into his stomach and sending the male to the sand. With a practiced
move, he spun and pinned the male, bending his arm at an unnatural
angle. The male growled in anger but couldn’t get free without
breaking his own arm. Triumph speared through Galen. This was the
last fight of the night. Ten thousand dollars was riding on it.
He’d fought his way through to the final round. His body ached and
exhaustion rode him hard. The bear howled in anger under him.

“Give up, asshole,” Galen said, snarling.

The bear bucked under him, but Galen only
tightened his hold, twisting the arm a little harder until the bear
went still.

Galen’s beast roared in panic, and he looked
up to see something falling swiftly to the ground. It was a woman.
As she came into view under the lights of the stadium, he could see
pink and gold translucent wings fluttering uselessly as she fell.
He released the bear and raced toward her, touching his beast to
give him strength and speed to catch her before she hit the
ground.

He leapt, grabbing her out of the air, and
covered her with his body as he hit the ground and rolled. The
moment their bodies touched and she rested on top of him,
unconscious but seemingly unharmed, Galen knew exactly who she was
– his truemate.

The bear rose to his feet. “I’m the champion!
You released me!”

Galen glared at the male as he rolled to his
knees with his mate cradled in his arms. “As if I fucking
care.”

The crowd booed as Galen strode swiftly from
the sand to the staging area where he could tend to his mate in
privacy. As he moved toward the steel double doors of a private
room, he heard the rush of footsteps down the stairs from the
private box, and his family raced to him.

Alaric said, “Holy hell, she’s pink and
gold.”

“That’s Serena,” Gretchen said.

Galen shouldered open the door and laid her
on her side on a massage table so her wings weren’t crushed beneath
her. He brushed her light-brown hair from her face and pressed his
fingertips to her throat, finding her pulse beating steadily.

“What happened to you, love?” he whispered,
his voice thick with emotion. It had only been a week since the
dreams started, but he already knew she was buried deep in his
heart.

He gently stroked her cheek. She smelled like
wildflowers. He’d never been particularly affected by them before,
but right now he wanted to go running through a field of them. “Her
name is Serena?” he said, glancing over his shoulder to where his
family stood.

Gretchen nodded. “Serena Fontaine. She’s a
fairy and can control plants.”

“I thought fairies lived with their own
kind,” Slade said.

“She was kicked out of her family because she
wouldn’t marry a guy her king told her to,” Gretchen said.

“Can someone go get the fight doctor?” Galen
said, turning his attention back to his mate.

“I’ll go,” Alaric said. “I’ll talk to
Jonathon, too, and then one of us will drive you both back to the
hotel.”

Serena’s eyes opened. She blinked a few times
and then sat up with a gasp. She wrapped her arms and legs around
him, and he felt something hum under her skin as a rumbling sound
filled the room and the floor shook.

He heard his family’s surprised gasps, and he
glanced over his shoulder to see a thick wall of vines rising from
a hole in the concrete floor. It quickly obscured his family.

Turning his attention back to his mate, he
said, “That’s interesting.”

She panted for breath, her chest heaving and
pressing her breasts against his bare chest. Her eyes were bright
blue. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life.
The fact that she was his made him want to fall to his knees and
thank whoever was in charge of saber-tooth tiger matings.

“You’re hurt!” Her eyes flashed to bright
green, and the walls trembled.

He cupped her face, and doing the only thing
he could think to calm her before she brought the arena down on top
of them, he kissed her. Slipping his tongue past her parted lips,
he slid his arms around her body and pulled her a little closer.
The walls stopped shuddering, and her wings fluttered against his
arms. Her legs tightened around his waist, and she tilted her hips,
making him want to lay her down on the table and find out what she
looked like under her clothes.

A throat cleared and Slade spoke. “I’m sure
you don’t want to get naked right now, but even if you do, I’ll
remind you that the arena is full of unmated males, and I’m certain
you don’t want anyone to see your truemate naked except you.”

Her hands dug into his back, and she groaned
in frustration. Easing away, from their kiss, he said, “Serena, I’m
Galen.”

She leaned around him, and he glanced over
his shoulder at the impressive vine wall. Dark green leaves grew on
thick twisted vines, spanning from floor to ceiling and across the
entire room.

“I think I broke the room, Galen,” she
said.

“Damn, you’re lovely,” he said, stroking her
cheek.

Her eyes, back to bright blue, met his. “What
happened? Why are you injured?”

“We’re at the National Were-Fighting
Association fights outside of Belle Terra. I’ve been fighting
tonight. I’d like to know,” he said, twisting a lock of silky hair
around his finger, “why you fell from the sky.”

“I fell asleep and had a dream about an arena
filled with sand and blood. When I woke up, I was panicked and knew
I had to get here. As I flew over the arena, I had a vision of
a…tiger with big teeth, and I guess I passed out.”

“I’m the tiger with big teeth. My family and
I are the last saber-tooth tigers in existence.”

Her head tilted slightly. “Why did I dream
about you?”

He gripped her firmly and pulled her against
his groin, his erection pressing into the vee of her thighs. Her
eyes widened, and the scent of her arousal filled the air between
them. “You know why, my lovely little fairy.”

“Mate?”

“Truemate.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked
them away rapidly. “Really? I’m not alone anymore?”

He gave her a sly smile. “As if I’d ever let
you go.”

She kissed him with a laugh and then buried
her face in his throat. Her skin hummed and as he looked over his
shoulder, the vine wall disappeared into the ground. The dirt
visible through the break in the floor was smooth as though it had
never been disturbed.