Mate Everafter...

One night walking along under a blanket of stars I found something. Something beautiful, something only for me. I found the love of my life. This is how our story began...

Lauren

It was just after dusk when the sky first starts to blanket the world in stars, like tiny sparkling diamonds in a sea of black when I was walking home from work after a mostly uneventful shift at my day job as a retail associate in a small trendy boutique. My manager that day had given me some flack about my breaks, but come on when you've been out the night before with your girls living it up you expect some kind of day after laziness. I was almost to my turn off when I heard a noise off to my right in the tall grass along the darkened street. By the way this is where in the horror movies most girls tentatively go to check out what the noise is and they become the first victim of the lead bad guy. Not me, I went into the grass like a bull chasing a red cape at a bull fight. What I found would change my life, laying in a shallow ditch that was mostly hidden by tall grasses and some shrubbery was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, he was wearing jeans and a ripped up tee that at one time looked like it molded to his ripped abs like a second skin. Under the ripped up tee I could see several newly forming bruises and scratches from some kind of animal. I walked to the man to see if I could help him. I bent down to check his head for injuries. When I reached for the back of his head, his eyes shot open and he grabbed my wrist in a crushing grip.

"I won't hurt you." I said shakily "I just want to see how bad the damage is"

In a gravelly voice that sounded like a cross between a pack a day smoker and sex on a stick he replied, "I'm fine, don't touch me"

"What's your name?' I asked Mr sex on a stick

"My name doesn't matter" was the startled reply

"Everyone's name matters, I'm Lauren." I told him with annoyance

"Ian, my name is Ian" he finally said.

I pulled my wrist from the manacle that was his grip and said to him, "Ian, you don't look fine. Let me help you up"

"Ok, that would be good. Then I have to go." He stated with an air of arrogance that was laced with pain.

As I was helping him up, I noticed more bruising on his back and some pretty deep cuts on his arms as well. I asked him "Are you hurt anywhere else that I can't see?"

"I'm good, I have to go" he repeated "But thank you for your help"

I helped Ian up out of the ditch and watched as he limped into the trees that were a few feet from where we were standing. "Wait!" I yelled after him "You need to see a doctor, or at least come with me so I can take care of the cuts and bruises you have."

"No. I have to go" Ian yelled back

Ian

Lauren.

I can't believe I met my other half, my soul mate when I am on the run from a gang of criminals. Criminals that would use Lauren against me in the most heinous of ways. Criminals that were also shifters. Lauren. Would she understand that I am not fully human. Already my cuts and bruises are almost completely healed. I should keep going, I should get as far from here as possible. I needed to check in with my superiors. I can't go though, Lauren is everything I've been looking for in a mate. You see I am a shifter, a bear shifter. A grizzly bear to be exact. I have shared my body and soul with my animal since birth. I started shifting as a baby only weeks after I was born according to my mom and I shifted randomly until I was about 2. Then I didn't shift again until I hit puberty. And wasn't that a fun time, Not. Grizzly attitude and hormonal teenage male...sounds like a party or a bloodbath depending on the time of day.

Not many full humans know about us, and those that are our human mates who are sworn to secrecy. The consequences of not keeping our secret are deadly...the choice is a difficult one, not all mates are able to keep our secret and those that can't are put down by our secret keepers, a force of grizzlies that are only here for one reason, stop the secrets from getting out to the general population of the human race. That was my life path, I am a secret keeper. A protector of our history and our future. I have put down human and bears alike, when it comes to our secrets there is no mercy, death comes for those who can't keep silent.

I hit the other side of the trees at a dead run to find my car still sitting, wreaked into a large oak tree by the group of shifters I had been tailing for a month. Hatchet and his band of badass bikers a group of black bears that had not been as discreet as we like in our community. I was sent to bring an end to their blatant disregard for our rules as shifters. They got the jump on me when they ran my pristine 2017 Ford Mustang into that oak. When I emerged, enraged from my car they were ready for me. A group of 8 against one is usually a no contest, but I was seeing double and could barely stand after hitting that oak at 50 miles an hour. They beat me up and used knives to make some pretty deep cuts, thank god they left me when they did. I was able to heal without any scarring, although I have heard the ladies love scars so it might not have been a hardship...I checked my car and other than the front end being concave the rest of the body still looks new. Now to call a tow and see about getting out of this town. Far away so that no one can use Lauren against me.

Todd from the local mechanics showed up 30 minutes later. He let me hitch a ride with my car to the local shop and from there I was able to get a rental. It wasn't as nice as my new 'stang as a matter of fact it wasn't even in the same league. It was a 2015 Buick Lacrosse while a nice enough car it wasn't anywhere near as sporty as my own car.

I left the mechanics shop and made a right onto Main street. From there I headed back the way I had come to get out of town. As I passed the spot where Lauren had found me I picked up her scent. It was like wildflowers and honey rolled into one. It was a scent that I would keep with me always. My mind was made up, I had to leave. Instead the rental seemed to have a mind of its own as I followed that beguiling scent down to the next block and a half a mile to the left. There under the glow of a street light in the front yard of a little cottage stood Lauren, arguing with one of the douchecanoes who had run me off the road and then beat the ever living hell out of me. My bear was not happy, he was so unhappy that what happened next is what cemented Lauren and I as a couple. I was about to meet my mate for the second time that day. But first I had to get that black bear shifter away from her. I had to keep her safe.

Lauren

I got home and found myself thinking of Ian. I was drawn to him. It wasn't just his looks, his soul seemed to call to me. His eyes held secrets that I wanted to discover.

Walking up the lawn towards my door I heard a rumbling growl, thinking it was the neighbors dogs I turned to see where they were. It wasn't the pitbulls from next door. It was a very large muscle bound man I had never seen before.

"Where is he" the stranger demanded

"He who?" I asked

"The male you smell like. Where is he?" was growled at me again.

"I don't know what you are talking about. You need to go before I call the police." I retorted

"The police" he scoffed "they won't get here in time to save you little girl"

I hadn't been called little in a very long time. While I wasn't very tall I did carry quite a bit of extra weight, which mostly didn't bother me, unless I looked in a mirror.

"First of all you jerk I am a grown ass woman, not a little girl. Secondly, you need to leave and I mean leave now." I yelled at him as I inched backwards to my front door. Just then I saw movement near the street, a car was slowing and stopping at the curb. It was Ian. I was surprised to see him, but glad at the same time.

The next thing I saw was something so unbelievable that I had to shake my head to clear my vision. I watched as Ian seemed to grow in size, then I saw fur sprouting from his body. His face elongated and I was no longer looking at Ian, I was staring at a very large very angry grizzly bear. Although I was afraid I have to say he was a sight to see. So big he dwarfed the man still standing on my front lawn. He roared in fury. I then watched in horror as the man who had confronted me on my lawn started to change as well. Into a bear. A smaller bear than Ian, but still a freaking bear.

(added @ 930 pm on 06/14)

They clashed into one another and it sounded like thunder. I heard their roars as I ran for the front door to get to my landline. I slammed the door just as the large grizzly bite into the smaller bears neck. I heard the crunch as the smaller black bear went limp. I watched as the grizzly approached the door, slowly changing back into the very naked Ian...I covered my eyes, but I peaked a little. I mean come on hot NAKED guy so of course I was going to look. Ian stopped at the door and looked at me through the glass. He stepped back from the door and turned to leave. I didn't know if I wanted him to go or stay. I watched as Ian walked to his car. He opened the door and bent inside. I then saw him grab something from the seat, close the car door and head back to my front porch. When he got back to the door he raised his hand to knock, but I opened the door before his fist could connect with the wood of the frame.

"ummm, Hi. What the hell was that?" I asked in a awestruck but scared voice

"Hey Lauren, I'm really sorry about that. That was the leader of a clan of black bears I've been tracking for about a month. He and the rest of his guys are the ones who put me in that ditch you found me in." He told me " I need to tell you some things, can I come in?"

I opened the door fully and stood back. Ian came through to the foyer and made his way to the back of the house to my kitchen table.

"Ian? What is going on? I thought you were leaving?" I asked him

"I was. But when I got into the rental that I got at the mechanics I ended up here with you. I am glad to. Hatchet could have hurt you badly" He said to me while fiddling with the dishes that I'd left on the table before going to work earlier in the day. "I also need to tell you that what you saw outside needs to stay a secret. You can't tell anyone what you saw." he said as he started to pull on the clothes on he'd grabbed from his car at the curb. It didn't sound like it was a friendly suggestion. He sounded deadly serious.

"Who am I going to tell? Who would believe me?" I whispered "What is going on? I need answers Ian." I told him hotly

"I know you do." he said on a sigh

"I have so many things to tell you Lauren" Ian stated "I just don't know where to start"

"Start at the beginning. That is always a good place to start" I said to him. Ian stood up and started to pace in my small kitchen. There was barely enough room for the round table that was off to one side near my back door so to watch him pace was a little comical. Ian stopped pacing to stare at me. I lifted my eyebrow in a attempt to look like I wasn't scared out of my mind. I don't think it was working.

"I need you to know that I was leaving town. I didn't want them to use you against me" he started "I'm just sorry that Hatchet was able to follow you home. I wondered where he had gotten to, the danger isn't over. There are still seven more black bear shifters looking for me and they will use you to get to me." He continued. I interrupted him "Use me? Use me how?" I asked him "You don't want to know but you have a right to know" "Shifters mate only once and for life with their one true soul mate. Lauren that is you, you are my one true soul mate. My heart, my life" He said to me with just a touch of awe. Like he wasn't sure if I was real.

"Soulmate? Are you smoking something there is no such thing." I need you to go, I can't do this with you right now. I just saw you and another man turn into bears. And now you are saying I'm your soulmate I just can't right now. Go, please just go" I begged him as I tried to stem the tears that threatened to fall

"I can't leave you unprotected, they will come for you Lauren. I need to keep you safe. My bear is clawing my insides just thinking about me leaving you here alone and with no way to keep yourself safe. I need to be here for you. Please don't make me go" Ian implored

"You can't stay I can't do this right now. Go!" I screeched at him in anger and fear. Fear that I was going to not be able to stay away from him if he stayed and anger because I didn't believe anything he was saying apart from the fact that he and Hatchet were bears as I saw that on the lawn not even 10 minutes before.

Ian grabbed me and pulled me to him lowering his head to mine, his lips claimed mine like a starving man getting his first meal. He kissed me and all thought left me. I was no longer fighting for him to leave. I tangled my arms around his waist to gain purchase feeling his desire for me. I didn't ever want this feeling to end. This feeling of being consumed. This feeling of rightness that this was meant to be. Ian ran his hands down my neck to my lower back pulling me closer still. I rubbed myself against his erection trying to get even more friction. He lifted me up and my legs wrapped around him of their own volition. One of his hands moved slowly to the front of my tee shirt, raising it ever so slowly until my breasts were bared to his sight. He reclaimed my lips in a searing kiss, tongue and lips colliding like a meteor into earth. His hand traveled up my torso to my left breast, pulling the cup of my bra away he ran his fingers over my nipple making it tighten in response. I moaned into his mouth as my body readied for his. I moved my hands to his shirt lifting it up to feel his skin against my own. We parted as we both drew in a breath. Removing our shirts and then attacking each others mouths again. I then moved my hands to the button of his jeans, before I could open them a loud crash sounded from the front of the house. We pulled apart in shock. Ian ran to the living room and yelled at me to get back and hide. The rest of Hatchets clan had arrived. I ran for my room thinking to grab my .45 that I kept in my nightstand. I didn't get far before I was grabbed by a big beefy hand that pulled me up short by my long brown hair. I screamed in pain as the hand tightened at my nape. I could hear Ian in the other room fighting with at least one other person. The guy with the handful of my hair yelled into the other room "Grizzly! I have your slut, give up or I will slit her throat" his fetid breath crossed my face as he threatened my life.