Keeper (Matefinder Next Generation Book 1) (12 page)

“Got me into this mess? As if either of us had a choice. Gavin, you’re my mate. My True Mate. I’ve seen it, I feel it, I want it.” I growled the last part because my wolf was angry that he wasn’t happy.

The slightest smile twitched Gavin’s lips. “You look pretty cute soaking wet.” He reached out and touched my left ear. “You have little mouse ears.”

My jaw dropped. “Oh. No. You. Didn’t. just make fun of my ears.” I smiled as he pulled me into a soaking wet, bone-crushing hug. Seriously though, I did have big ears and when my hair was wet they poked out.

‘We’ll figure this out,’
I told him using the bond mostly to remind myself that it was there. That we were this close. That the guy I had been dreaming of for months was holding me against his rock hard chest right now. He broke away and placed a sweet kiss on my lips.

“I yelled at Nahuel. Now I feel bad,” he stated.

I nodded. “You had every right to be confused and angry. He will understand.”

The drums started up again and Gavin looked out onto the forest before turning to face me with wild emotion. “If it comes to ending your life or mine. I chose mine.” Then he walked back to the fire leaving me to contemplate the shitty turn of events my life had taken. I don’t think we had a choice; that was the problem.

‘What’s going on? Your emotions are all over the place,’
my father bellowed in my head.

I sighed.
‘Nothing I can’t handle, Pops.’

Bring on the serious shit because if I ever came face to face with this teen-raping Skin Walker, it was game on, I would rip his face off and tear him limb from limb.

We were all back around the fireplace, Gavin had stepped up and taken the lead. “What’s a Skin Walker?”

Nahuel nodded. “Each culture has their own stories about Mukesh: the devil, dark witch, monster. He can take the form of any animal and also the form of a human. He can kill a human with one touch, make your relive your worst memories inside your head for eternity, and he can compel you to do things against your will.”

Oh, shit balls. The hairs on my arms stood up as Jaxon looked at me wide eyed.

‘I want my mommy,’
Jaxon joked and I ignored him, standing.

“How do we kill him?” I growled. Because in my humble opinion that was the important question here. Let’s go out on a hunting party and gut this monster.

Lina laughed. “Mukesh cannot be killed easily, just as Nahuel cannot.”

Okay, interesting. “But, if one wanted to castrate this bastard …” I mused aloud.

Lina grinned and nodded. “Legend says that only a Skin Walker can kill another Skin Walker.”

Argh! But he was the only one left! Wait … except he wasn’t. Our gaze fell upon Gavin.

Gavin straightened, gritting his teeth. “I’m not like him.”

Nahuel placed a warm hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “No, grandson, you’re not. You have the love of many people inside your heart. But you do carry the lineage and it may be enough to kill him, one day.”

I huffed. “One day! We have three!” Or was it two? Shit. The moon looked pretty full.

Jaxon stood. “
You
have three days, sister.”

Oh, yeah. Shit. I was dying, not Gavin. Nahuel bent down and grabbed a burnt chunk of wood from the fire, making his hands ashy. Stepping in front of me, he smudged my forehead and my cheeks.

“Little wolf. I pledge to do everything in my power to save you,” he declared and suddenly my throat clenched with emotion. I nodded.

Lina and Nahuel shared a look and she nodded.

“That’s why tomorrow, you must go on a vision quest, not Gavin.” My brain scrambled in confusion at his words.

“Me?”  Umm, hello? I’m a white girl.

He nodded. “Gavin’s soul is using the matebond to take from you what he needs to survive and you will be left with nothing.”

Gavin looked enraged. “Well, stop it! I don’t want to hurt her! Let me go.”

Nahuel opened his arms. “I would if I could, but you’re True Mates. It’s something you agreed upon before you came here, it’s been happening slowly for months.”

I growled. Not this reincarnation crap my mom always talked about. I hated the idea that I wasn’t in charge of my destiny. But what he said felt right, and if it would help both of us, I would do anything. “I’ll go. Tell me what to do.”

Jaxon and Gavin both tried to interrupt, but Lina stopped them. “She must go alone or Spirit will not approach her.”

Jaxon, eyes yellow, had a rumbling in his throat. “The Skin Walker better not approach her either. Or I’m going to kill all of you.”

Lina raised one eyebrow as if she didn’t think that was possible but nodded. “The warriors will stand guard on the peripherals.”

My stomach growled. “Please tell me I get dinner.”

Nahuel shook his head. “You must give up all earthly things in order to walk on the spirit plane.”

Tomorrow I was going to be one hangry bitch.

*

After a sweat lodge ceremony where I basically sweat my ass off and apparently all of my impurities, I went to shower in a cute little bath house. No running water but it had a bucket of hot water and a cup next to an old clawfoot tub. Good enough for me. How long had it been since I checked my cell phone? This whole living off the grid thing was kind of cool. If my mate hadn’t just learned that his thirteen-year-old mother was raped by evil incarnate and now I was dying, then I might actually be enjoying my little camp out right now. I let the water pour down my body as my thoughts bounced around in my brain. Gavin was part Skin Walker. Jesus. How did I even feel about that? It wasn’t his fault … but it was a little scary if I was being honest. I finished my shower, threw on baggy sweats and a hoodie and exited the little hand-built bathhouse cottage.

“Little wolf,” Nahuel whispered behind me. I froze before turning to face the shaman. It was pitch black out and after the nightmarish stories of the Skin Walker, I was more than a little spooked.

He was leaning against a tree, carving something from a large hunk of wood. I took a few steps closer to him and his gaze fell to my mother’s protection pouch around my neck and he smiled.

“There’s more I should tell you. Gavin isn’t ready to hear it all,” he stated.

Oh, shit. Seriously. What more could there be? Was I ready to hear it all? Channeling my bad-ass mother, I simply nodded. Bring it on.

Nahuel pointed to the protection pouch around my neck. “I’ve watched you grow up in a loving home with a wonderful childhood. There isn’t much the Skin Walker could do that would bring you mental agony, but Gavin–”

Icing on the cake right there. What did he say earlier? The Skin Walker could replay your nightmares over and over. Nahuel was right. I suddenly felt very spoiled that I didn’t have any awful traumatic experiences. But Gavin … Oh God. If the Walker got near him, he could trap him in a cage of his own demons for eternity.

“Why tell me?” Because I was beginning to see the shaman had a plan. Always thinking two steps ahead.

Nahuel winked. “You’re True Mates. You’re linked. If the time comes than you may be able to free him from a mental Skin Walker prison.”

Fabulous. “What else?” Because I knew there was more. This was just one of those epic shit days that kept dumping on you.

Nahuel looked uncomfortable then. “It’s a theory,” he finally said after a pause.

I groaned. “Out with it.”

He nodded. “If you survive tomorrow, you may not come back a werewolf, a Matefinder, or a witch. You may be … something else entirely.”

WTF? And that’s when my breathing stopped, and dots of black blurred my vision. Panic attack in 3, 2, 1. …

Hunched over on the forest floor, I panted as the anxiety of what he said rocked my world. Nahuel crouched down beside me, humming a slow tune, a lullaby, and suddenly the anxiety left me. I looked up at him.

“Why? Why is this happening?” Because I realized that’s what I really wanted to know. Couldn’t I meet my mate and live happily ever after like in the movies?

Nahuel sighed, suddenly looking older than his supposed forty years. “Because we’ve created it. But that’s a lesson for another day.”

My brow furrowed in frustration, but I finally took a deep breath and stood feeling stronger.

“Tell me about tomorrow. I want to be prepared.” My voice was strong because I wouldn’t let this crap get to me and make me weak. If tomorrow was going to be some spiritual fight for my life, I needed to be the daughter of the Alpha and not some fearsome little girl. Nahuel began to walk and I slid into a pace beside him.

“If Gavin was born without a True Mate, he would have perished shortly after his fourteenth birthday. A shaman cannot live long after missing the calling.”

I nodded. Kind of like when a human was bitten and made the change into a werewolf. There was a point in the change where you could tell if they would survive or not. Gavin should have perished, but somehow–

“But because of your unique pairing, Gavin has been siphoning power from you to survive until you two could find each other.”

My eyes widened. Whoa. Heavy. “So I’m the one getting sick and he’s …”

Nahuel stopped and faced me. “He’s stealing your wolf form. After tomorrow, Gavin will have taken your wolf in order to survive and you must find your own power animal in order to fill the hole he leaves behind.”

What the frick? “How?”

Nahuel chuckled. “Perfect Mates are the rarest pairing and hard to understand. You and Gavin have a great purpose together. Without each other, you would both have succumbed to death.”

Okay, it was at this point that I realized I wasn’t going off to college. Shit just got real, and life had a bigger plan.

“Tomorrow. Do I fight something? Do I approach animals and … I dunno … tell me!” I threw out my hands in exasperation.

Nahuel exhaled loudly. “A spirit quest has no plan. Your path will be revealed when it’s ready.”

It was hard to suppress the growl in my throat. Man, this guy was good at speaking vague. Before I could retort, he touched my cheek tenderly. “Remember you are your mother’s daughter. She had so much anger in her heart from her childhood. Yours is much purer, which will serve you well. Get some sleep.”

Then he just walked away leaving me swirling in a tornado of emotions.

*

After I walked back to the cluster of tents that had been set up for us, I found Jaxon passed out in one. Gavin sat in front of him, staring off into the fire. To learn that your mother had you when she was thirteen and was raped … what did that do to someone? I couldn’t imagine. Gavin’s energy was everywhere and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I was grateful when he looked up at me with his striking green eyes and patted the hard dirt next to him. Lina and everyone was off in their own tents. Sitting next to Gavin, I was happy to see that he casually put an arm around me. I needed him close, his body heat warmed me and settled my wolf.

“My childhood was filled with a lot of love. Tom and Betty, they showered love on me.” His voice was rough and his words brought tears to my eyes. I loved that after the storm of emotions and anger that battered his soul, he could find the good in this situation.

I nodded. “Your grandfather gave me an Alpha stare down when I came to get you. Demanded he go with you in the car. I could see how much he cared for you.”

Gavin smiled. “That’s him. A bit of a human Alpha, you could say.”

I returned the smile, and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I couldn’t go through tomorrow worrying about Gavin’s mental status. I needed to know he was okay and focus on finding my path, or my power animal or whatever, so this wicked killing curse could go away and we could have a chance at life.

I snuggled in closer to him and he kissed the top my head like he had been doing it for a hundred years. This, right here, was so hard to describe to humans. Matebond. Perfect Mates. All that shit you have with human boyfriends about being insecure, should I touch him, does he like me? Am I pretty enough? Once you settled into your matebond all that just vanished.

I looked up at Gavin and he gave me a sexy grin. “Wanna share my tent?”

I laughed. “You little player,” I joked.

He winked and simply stood, unzipping his tent and I followed him inside. He lay down on his spread out sleeping bag and I snuggled in beside him, resting my head on his rock hard chest. A sigh escaped my body as I finally slept dreamless for the first time in months.

*

I awoke to the amazing smell of bacon. My eyes popped open and I legit was ready to kill someone if they said I couldn’t have any. But my thoughts were halted by a weird feeling in my body. I couldn’t explain it or put my finger on it. Something was–

‘You feel weird? Pissed about the bacon?’
Jax asked me. I frowned, sitting up in the tent and looking down at my body. Gavin was gone and maybe that was it. I slept so well lying next to him and now he was gone. Maybe that’s what it felt like to be without your mate.

‘Just … feel off,’
I told him and stood, crouching down to exit the tent.

As soon as I stepped outside, I looked at Gavin and I knew he was feeling it, too. His eyes were glowing yellow and he looked terrified.

“What’s wrong?” I ran over to him but he stumbled backward, with one hand out to stop me. Oh God. “What is it?” I screamed and Lina and Nahuel came closer to Gavin.

Nahuel sniffed the air and then frowned. “Did you sleep next to each other last night?” Nahuel mused.

I rolled my eyes. “Too much information, but yes, he’s my mate.” We didn’t do anything, but yeah, we slept next to each other. Big deal. I felt like I needed to justify it but before Nahuel could say more, Gavin fell to his knees and fur broke out onto his skin. What the? This was a lot of fur. Like…

“It’s happening,” Lina told Nahuel.

I gazed at her. I had a love-hate relationship with this girl right now. She wasn’t telling me something. Suddenly, the fever slammed into me and flared to life, I had to struggle to just stay standing.

“Tell me!” I screamed and that’s when I felt it, what was off, what was missing. A wail escaped my throat as Gavin fully shifted into a wolf in front of me.

My wolf was gone. Gavin stole her. I clutched at my chest as if that would could bring her back, put her back inside my heart where she had always been.

“Noooo!” I screamed as sobs racked my body and I stood there staring at MY wolf. My beautiful white wolf with black socks and a black dot on the tail. Mine. But his wolf was slightly bigger, a bit thicker fur and fiercer looking. He had the same markings, he was … he was a wolf and I was … nothing.

Jaxon pulled me into his chest as I cried. I mourned my wolf part of soul. My beautiful, bad-ass, instinctive, sweet wolf.