Page 16 of Summertime Secret

Bessi

Summer Camp is the best time I have ever had. Seeing the kids swimming, going on hikes, even telling spooky stories around the fire is so refreshing. I have spent the past several nights with Edon and his campers at Camp Midnight Storm. Knowing it has been here all this time, with all its amazing creatures still blows my mind.

Sitting on the small porch of the cabin Edon calls home while he’s here at camp, I laugh as I watch him shoot a basketball. One of his campers, one of the cat shifters, jumps up and denies the shot, making the other camps hoot and holler as Edon glares playfully at him.

“Don’t be a bad sport, Edon,” I call to him, pushing up from where I sit to go join them.

Edon turns, beaming his stunning, bright, right up to his eyes smile at me. For a moment, my heart stutters. He feels it because his eyes darken. The connection we’ve built since he first brought me here, since our night in that cave, still stuns me when it hits me.

It’s been just a few days since that night. Since that night he marked me, claiming me as his mate. We’ve talked about the varied ceremonies some of the shifter packs have whenever one takes a mate. None of them fit what we want, so we’re still piecing together one that will fit us, that will fit the pack we want to build.

Ceremony or not, we’ve mated dozens of times since that night. He told me as the full moon gets closer, I will turn needier and needier for him. He calls it the heat. I will want to tear his clothes off and mount him like an animal. Not that I don’t already kind of do that.

“My mate ought to be rooting for me, not for the other guys.”

Grinning at him as he slips his arm around me, I bounce a shoulder. “You have an unfair advantage, don’t you think?”

Tipping my head at the others playing, I cock my head. Edon is a huge man, tall enough to just lift his arm to touch the hoop that hangs on the mess tent wall. They come to play here each morning after breakfast and the winner—which is usually Edon and our bear shifter—gets to choose their activity for the day.

Smiling back at us, Skunk—a fond name the others have been calling the bear shifter—grins at Edon. It is just the two of them against four other shifters, but they always have the upper hand. They’re bigger, faster, and despite being wildly different animals, they share a special bond that makes them a great team.

“Nah, far as I am concerned, the teams seem fair,” Skunk teases, pushing one of the cat shifters playfully.

Edon takes my hand, drawing me to his side to embrace me. He is attentive, affectionate, and always focused on us first. Even though he loves this camp and has introduced me to every counselor, the owners, and most of the campers, he has kept most of his focus on me.

He is waiting for my first shift, which is coming soon. Tonight is a full moon although he explained we will not need the moon to shift. I am anxious for the shift because I understand it will be painful, it will change me and my body forever.

“How you doing sunshine?” Edon whispers, kissing my temple.

“Doing good. I am watching the best game in town,” I tease, holding up a hand for Skunk to hit me with a hi-five.

“You damn right. I mean,” Skunk clears his throat, ducking his head when Edon shoots him a warning glance. “You’ve got that right, Luna.”

Flushing at how he bows his head and calls me Luna—the female partner of the Alpha of a pack—I wave him off. He is a young man inclined to do and say young man things. I have also learned he has had it rough ever since he first began shifting last summer.

Edon and I exchange a look, one that says more than words can. We’ve decided to start a pack together, once I shift. Once I am one of them, his Luna, his mate, we will build our own family. Unlike most packs he has told me of, we plan to welcome all types of shifters, not just wolves.

We’ve discussed Skunk, the lone bear of his handful of campers, the young man who has had it so rough, being our first pack member. He would make a great enforcer, Edon explained, one who will protect the lands we will set up boundaries in, a member who will ensure the pack is always well protected.

Suddenly, I am overwhelmed with emotion. I have so much to tell my sisters. So much to explain about what I am doing and who I am with. I have not seen them in days because I cannot bear to be without Edon. But I miss them, and I want to be honest with them about all that is going on with me.

“Calm down, sweetheart,” Edon sooths gently, reaching out to brush my hair back from my face.

I turn my head, nipping at his wrist, my despair replaced with sudden desire. I emit a low, rumbling sound, pressing against him as my body grows hot. His silver eyes flash and he sends a look at the others. Then we’re moving before I can ask what is going on.

“Come with me now, sunshine. Let’s get to that clearing you love so much. We will be safe there. Skunk won’t let anyone near you, Bessi. We’re going to be just fine there.”

Shaking my head at him in confusion, I don’t argue. I have so much going on in my head. I can smell the pine trees, the dark lake waters, and even the other shifters. I smell him above it all. Edon. My mate. Inside of me, something howls, low, whining, pained.

My wolf. She is here, she wants out. She wants to come out, she wants to have her time out here. I start to shake, tears streaming down my face. I can see her. Even without closing my eyes, I can see her, her beautiful silver fur, wild green eyes, huge paws and a thick tail.

“Oh, she is sad. I can feel it. She is here, Edon. Baby, please, we need to get there, she is hurting. It’s time. It’s....”

With the wind whipping past us, Edon just nods. His wild roars inside of him, speaking to mine. They snuffle at one another, his wolf trying to calm my own. The magic shimmers in the air between us, mystifying me with the wonder of it all.

This is a whole new world for me, yet it doesn’t feel foreign or unfamiliar. It feels in fact as if I have found just where I belong. I belong here, with Edon. I also belong in Moon Haven, baking sweets and hanging out with my sisters. We can have both. I can be both.

We’ve reached the clearing when the pain starts. It hits like shockwaves. Pulses of pain wrack my body as Edon kneels, lying me on the warm earth. I close my eyes, clawing at the dirt as my body begins to change, to become something it never has been before.