THIRTY-EIGHT. Elijah and Bear

POV - Lillia

Bear. I couldn’t get over the strange name when I first met him. I know, all Siofra’s siblings had weird names, but Bear? Bears are fictional animals that hibernate for half the year and eat honey. They’re described as being large when standing on all fours and bigger still when standing on two. With large middles, small snouts and long claws on the edge of their paws, they’re unreal creatures.

If there were such things as bears, then Bear, Siofra’s brother, has the same build. Bear is tall with a broad, thick build, muscles for days, and strong solid wide legs. He sported a well-trimmed beard and short-cropped black hair. From the way Bear walks, he could pass as a weight-lifter.

When I first met Bear, I learned that he was a commanding sergeant in the Royal Guard and had his own team of soldiers he worked with. Fighting against Bear would be challenging, and although Elijah is an Alpha, I’ve never seen him fight… and I began to feel anxious about their upcoming fight.

“Why Bear?” I ask, observing the man talking to my mate.

“It’s my dad’s favourite animal,” Siofra explains.

“But bears are fictional. They’re not real,” I scoff. It’s like calling your child a unicorn.

“On Terra Etu, maybe, but on Terra Ena, no.”

“What?”

“There’s more than one earth, Lillia. This planet is called Terra Eti, or Sprigganager as we locals call it,” Siofra tells me, smiling. Okay, that’s news to me.

“How do you know all this?” I ask. Siofra shrugs.

“We learn it at school.”

I observe the two men. Elijah is a little shorter and leaner than Bear, but without a shirt on, he still has muscles that match Bears’. The thought of tracing my fingers along his taut muscles makes my core throb.

“I can’t believe they let a wolf come here,” I hear someone from the seats in front of me say.

“Yeah,” another agrees. I shake my head when another conversation catches my ear.

“Hmm, that guy is hot,” I hear a female fay comment from another side of the arena.

“Pity he’s mated,” her friend replies. I smile at the intricate filigree pattern down Elijah’s spine. Over the last few days, our fairy-mate marks have appeared, much to my grandmother’s delight. Our marks are the same, running down our spines in curving shapes, finishing at our lower backs in a point.

“To a Fairy, too,” the first female comments.

I try to listen to their conversation when a horn sound blasts through the air. Bear and Elijah bow at each other before getting into a starting pose. I gasp as Bear takes the first swing at Elijah, his long arm barely missing Elijah’s face.

“They’re just starting,” Siofra says, leaning on the barrier between us and the rows of seats in front of the ring. I just nod in response.

Bear swings at Elijah, who ducks and lands a double-fisted punch into Bear’s abdomen.

“Your man’s quick,” Siofra comments as Elijah ducks under Bear’s arm once more, elbowing Bear in the ribs.

“And Bears big, slow,” I comment as I watch Elijah kick Bear in the back of the knees, making him stumble.

“Yup. He’s a powerful empath, though,” Siofra agrees, as Bear swings lower this time, hitting Elijah in the back and making him stumble forward.

“Oooh!” the crowd roars as Elijah stumbles.

Elijah rights himself up and turns to face Bear. Bear swings again, and Elijah grabs his fist, stopping Bear mid-swing. The crowd roars.

At the same time, Elijah goes to twist Bear’s arm behind his back; I notice an intricate pattern of black lines springs out from Bear’s spine, spreading across his back.

“What is that?” I ask.

“His wings,” Siofra states. I am mesmerised as the lines become three-dimensional, phasing from his back, twinkling rainbow colours in the sun. Bears four top wings fold out and are long and lean. His bottom wings are smaller and thinner, flapping at a quick rate. Looking at the size of the Bear, I realise why fairies have so many wings; to carry their weight.

Elijah growls, grabbing at Bear, who flies upwards. I shake my head. Elijah told me once that wolves from his home pack and Redwood Pack learn to fight in both their wolf and human forms, but that he finds it difficult to train in his wolf with flying fay here. Especially when his opponent has physical powers, they can use on him.

Bear goes in for a kick when Elijah grabs Bear’s foot, pulling him down. Bear manages to right himself up at the last moment, flying above Elijah’s head. Elijah growls as he watches Bear fly around annoyingly.

I can feel Elijah’s anger and frustration and know instinctively that it will be his downfall.

- Partially shift. Use your wolf – I whisper through my link to Elijah. I don’t know if that will help, or even if Elijah can partially shift, or even if that is something we can do. But it would make sense, wouldn’t it? If we can shift fully, surely we can tap into our wolf power and use that to our benefit? I have heightened senses in my human skin now that I’ve shifted, so I would think we can partially shift as well.

Elijah changes tactics when I communicate with him through our link. Instead of focusing on Bear, who continues to fly above and taunt him, Elijah runs around the ring. I nod, watching Elijah build up speed, using his wolf strength to help him. I see Elijah kick off the arena wall with his right foot and then leap toward Bear.

I smile; the way Elijah leaps is very wolf-like. Elijah grabs onto Bear’s pants, and a tearing sound indicates that Elijah has phased his hands into claws. Bear is caught off guard, and it’s enough for Bear’s wings to stop fluttering, making him fall to the ground like a dead weight.

“Ooh,” the crowd roars as Bear lands on a wing, crushing it under his huge body. As Bear hits the ground, Elijah jumps off, standing next to him.

“I fold! I fold!” Bear calls out, looking at Elijah. Elijah helps Bear to his feet, and it’s evident that Bear’s crushed wing is broken. Two medics run out to help Bear, who swipes them away. Bear and Elijah walk out of the ring, and the crowd begin to talk again. I hear positive comments about the fight we’ve just witnessed and smile.

“Do you want to go see them?” Siofra asks. I nod and follow her out of the arena and through the hallways as Siofra leads me to the changing rooms.

“Infirmary,” a soldier says when he sees me and Siofra together.

“Thank you,” we both reply.

“It’s this way,” Siofra speaks, leading me back the way we came and towards a different direction.

We walk into a room, and I see Bear sitting on a bed in the middle of the room with his left wing out, looking bedraggled and limp. Elijah leans against the wall, watching a couple of nurses move around the room.

“Hi,” I smile when I see Elijah. He looks over at me and returns my smile, lifting his arm up, indicating for me to come over and hug him. Elijah is still shirtless, and I swoon as his scent is more pungent from his workout. I wrap my arms around his chest, sighing as I breathe him in.

“You did good, Eli,” I murmur.

“You’ve never seen me fight before, have you?”

“No. I was a little scared,” I admit, making Bear chuckle.

“I should be scared. I’ve never seen your mate fight like that before,” Bear admits.

“You arseholes always try to fly off when we spar,” Elijah comments.

“Well, you got him good this time,” Siofra adds. I nod in agreement.

“Hungry? Mum will have food for us ready at home,” Bear says, hopping off the bed.

“Mr Goldfern, you aren’t ready to leave yet,” the female nurse chides.

“But I’m hungry, and it doesn’t hurt,” Bear grumbles, looking at the fairy and fluttering his long black eyelashes at her. She blushes, and I smile as I watch.

“Fine, but take this cream and apply it twice a day and come back if you have any trouble with it, especially if you can’t phase it back,” the nurse replies, handing him a tube. Bear grins and hugs the nurse, which surprises the woman, before walking out of the room with us.

“Bear!” Siofra scolds, slapping her brother on the arm as we walk away from the training grounds and towards the town.

“What?”

“You know what, yah big flirt,” Siofra states.

“She’s cute,” Bear laughs, making Elijah and me chuckle.

We walked back to Siofra’s house as Bear attempted to phase his broken wing back into his back. He’d wince, trying not to make a sound, but with our werewolf hearing, we noticed.

“I’m sorry, man,” Elijah apologised for like the fifth time.

“No problem. I was surprised, that’s all. I thought you were going to shred my legs with your claws.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“I’m thinking we should train with you wolves more often, though; it would be good,” Bear comments.

“Yeah, we train with other supernaturals at Alpha Training. It’s good work. My family’s pack have alliances with several Fay clans, but we rarely train with them, if ever,” Elijah replies.

“My baby boy! What happened?” Bryla yells out as we walk up the footpath to the front door. She runs over to Bear and pulls him towards her, trying to look at his wing. He shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to shake her off, but she was persistent.

I laugh as I watch, following the fairies into their house.

“How did you hurt your wing?” Bryla asks, grabbing it. Bear makes a painful noise, which catches our attention.

“That’s funny; you said it didn’t hurt that much in front of the nurse,” Siofra states.

“Yeah, well, she was pretty,” Bear states. Bryla just shakes her head.

“It will heal, though, won’t it?” Elijah asks, still concerned.

“Unfortunately,” Bryla complains.

“Hey!” Bear calls out, making me and Siofra chuckle.

“And I thought I was your baby boy,” he mutters under his breath.

//\\///\\\//\\

The first time I had lunch with the Goldferns, I met everyone except Elliot. I found it interesting that the young went home for lunch here rather than staying at school. I learned that schools finished at twelve-thirty instead of three here, and they only went to school four days a week. I would have envied them if not for the fact that I grew up in Urban Wolves Pack.

Bryla worked in the mornings and was home at lunchtime with her family, whereas Elliot occasionally had lunch with his family. However, Nyx refused to attend family lunches, choosing instead to have lunch with his friends.

It wasn’t until he found out that Elijah was coming for lunch that he joined his family. Nyx idolised Elijah, which Siofra and her family found hilarious. Nyx would sit there and ask Elijah endless questions about our realm. He was fascinated by pack life, even asking if you had to be a werewolf to become a Delta in his pack.

We were sitting at the table helping ourselves to the fillings for our sandwiches when Nyx walked.

“You could have told me he was coming,” Nyx grumbles, telling Petal, who was sitting next to Elijah, to move so he could take her seat.

“Nyx, stop being an arse,” Siofra complained.

“Or what? You going to learn it out of me?” Nyx replies, a grouchy look on his face.

“Nyx, be respectful to your sister,” Bryla states, making Nyx glower.

“I’m sorry, Siofra,” Nyx says, looking at his sister, “but you could have told me,” he mutters.

“I’m sorry, Nyx. Next time I have a vision with your hero in it, I’ll be sure to tell you,” Bryla replies, rolling her eyes. I look over at Elijah, who blushes and tries not to chuckle.

“Communication Alert. Communication Alert,” a pear-shaped sculpture begins to broadcast. I look at it questioningly.

“I’ll get it!” Petal says excitedly, standing up.

“No. I will. You eat,” Bryla tells her, standing up herself.

“What is that?” I ask the table.

“It’s our home device. Someone is contacting us,” Petal explains. I nod, not really understanding.

“Like a telephone?” Elijah asks.

“What’s a telephone?” I ask at the same time as Nyx, Petal, and Finch.

Bryla walks back into the room.

“Lillia, Elijah, it’s for you,” she says.

~

Edited with Grammarly