Return_Mate of the Cave Bear Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One - Jenna

  Chapter Two - Haran

  Chapter Three - Jenna

  Chapter Four - Haran

  Chapter Five - Jenna

  Chapter Six - Haran

  Chapter Seven - Jenna

  Chapter Eight - Haran

  Chapter Nine - Jenna

  Chapter Ten - Haran

  Chapter Eleven - Jenna

  Other Books By Harmony Raines

  Return

  Mate of the Cave Bear

  (The Dualis)

  (Book Three)

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  Note from the author: My books are written, produced and edited in the UK where spellings and word usage can vary from U.S. English. The use of quotes in dialogue and other punctuation can also differ.

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  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2015 Harmony Raines

  Silver Moon Erotica

  Kindle Edition

  Chapter One - Jenna

  This was something she couldn’t fight, no matter how hard she tried. The colours made her head spin, and bright flashes blinded her until she was struck by a migraine so bad, she thought her brains were being pulled out through her temples. If the wormhole terrified her the first time, this was worse, because she feared for the baby inside her. Could such a small thing survive this?

  But if she thought the lights were bad, it was nothing compared to when the wailing started. A loud shrieking: the kind that you hear on old war movies to tell you to get to an air raid shelter, but there was no shelter, no escape. All she could do was endure.

  And then it ended. With a sickening thud, she landed on the hard floor of a darkened room. A new panic took hold of her—where was she? Shouldn’t she be surrounded by scientists and a smugly smiling Mr. Trimble with his scalpel out ready to cut her baby from her? Instead, there was nothing but the faint sound of a fire alarm.

  Trying to get up, she found her legs wouldn’t work and the urge to be violently sick was overwhelming. Taking a large breath, she heaved herself up onto her feet. Reaching out blindly, her fingers encountered a cool wall glass surrounding her. Once her eyes adjusted properly, she realised she was in fact in the same room she had left months ago. She had been returned to Tworn Corporation. But where was everyone?

  Feeling her way along the glass, she tried to shake of the complete sense of disorientation the wormhole had given her. Only gravity told her which way was up and which way was down, because her head was still spinning. Although, luckily, her headache was beginning to clear.

  Sure she had found the door, she pushed it and pulled it trying to make it budge. It was no good, she was certain it was secured from the outside.

  Did she really want to bang on the door and get someone’s attention? For now, no one knew she was here. If she could get the wormhole to open up she might be able to return to Haran with no one at Tworn ever knowing she had returned. It was risky, though: without knowing how to operate the controls correctly, she could simply end up hurtling through the universe and end up God knows where.

  Then she caught movement, a figure in the lab moving towards her. Someone did know she was here. Moving along the glass to get a better view, she was relieved when Martha came out of the shadows, shaking and deathly pale, and with a slight smile of disbelief on her face. Jenna hoped the spirits were watching over her and Martha didn’t have some kind of orders to kill her.

  “Martha,” Jenna said, watching the woman as she slowly approached.

  “Twenty fifty-two, August 15th, 2165,” Martha said, her voice filled with the same disbelief visible on her face.

  “I don’t know what that means,” Jenna said, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

  “I know you don’t. But we have been waiting for this day, this moment, for thousands of years.”

  “Martha, are you a member of some kind of cult?”

  Martha laughed, a sound verging on hysteria. “You could say that. Although if I am, I’m a member of the Dualis cult.”

  Jenna’s blood ran cold—how did Martha know about the Dualis? “I don’t understand, Martha, what is going on?”

  “You came back.”

  “I know, the tether kicked in and pulled me back through. But Martha, I need to go back.”

  Martha stared at her for a moment, and Jenna thought she had made a mistake telling her what she wanted, what she needed, but then the young woman became more herself. “Right. Yes, you need to get out of there.”

  “No, Martha. I need to go back; the Tworn Corporation can’t take my baby.”

  “I know. But you can’t go back, not yet.”

  Jenna was stunned. Once again, she asked Martha, “What is going on?”

  “I set off the fire alarm; the building is being evacuated, but we don’t have much time. Soon they will begin a sweep of the building to find out the cause.”

  “Then send me back right now. Set the timer and open the wormhole.”

  “It’s not that simple. It has to recharge and I have to talk to you first.” Martha opened the sliding door and held out her hand to Jenna. “Come on. Quickly. The cameras are off on this level, so I can get you to my quarters so no one even knows you are here.”

  Jenna hesitated once more. “Please, Martha. Is this a trap?”

  “No. I promise. Just follow me and I’ll explain everything. I have something to show you that will make it all so much clearer.” Martha held out her hand to Jenna and nodded in encouragement. Jenna looked down at it, before taking hold of it and following Martha. There was no way she could activate the controls of the time machine. Her induction into the workings of it had never been that involved. So she had no choice, it was either trust Martha or run, and lose all hope of ever getting back to Haran.

  They ran quickly and silently, neither of them talking. Every so often, there would be a clang of a door on a lower level and Martha would stop and listen. At one point, the fire alarm was cut and the silence became overpowering. Only when they ran and Jenna saw the sweat on Martha’s face and the way her hand trembled did she begin to trust her. Martha was taking a big risk. Jenna dared not think about what the consequences would be if they were caught, not just for her and her baby, but for Martha too. She only hoped Martha would explain it all to her when they reached her room.

  “We have to cross a main corridor. If there is any trouble, and I am stopped, go to the third room on the left. I didn’t lock it so you can just run on in, close it behind you, and wait for me.”

  “And what if you don’t come back?”

  “I do,” she said cryptically.

  Jenna did as Martha told her, holding back while Martha poked her head around the corner and then walked backwards to the door leading to her room. No one was there; it was all quiet, so she motioned for Jenna to run to her. Jenna did and was relieved to spill through the door and stand panting in the small room.

  “This air is hard to breathe,” she said.

  “Oh, yes. I forgot.” She went to a small closet and opened it, pulling out a facemask and an oxygen bottle. “Here, the air here will take some time to get used to.”

  “I’m hoping not to be here long enough to get used to it,” Jenna said
putting the mask on and taking a breath of pure oxygen.

  Martha looked at the clock. “You’ll be here for six hours and thirty-two minutes. Then if all goes to plan, you will be back with Haran. When you get back, you have to leave the place you have been living. It is the only way to stop this happening again. The tether will keep pulling you back if you get in range.”

  Jenna wanted to ask how Martha knew all this for sure, but she had another more pressing question. “Can’t you just remove the tether?”

  “Not easily and not without accessing other equipment. It’s such a risk you being here anyway. So just leave the area.”

  “Martha, how the hell do you know all this?”

  Martha didn’t answer; she went to the closet again and took out a tattered leather-bound book. “It’s probably easier to show you this.” She handed it to Jenna and then stepped back.

  “A book? I don’t understand?”

  “Open it.”

  Jenna undid the leather strap holding it together. The book opened, some of the pages threatening to spill out. Shuffling them back in, she froze. “These have my handwriting on them.”

  “Yes.”

  Jenna opened the book up very carefully and studied the first few pages. “They tell the story of when I first met Haran.”

  “Yes, you wrote them so we would know.”

  “We?”

  “I am your great- great- great- times about a thousand granddaughter.”

  Jenna stared at Martha. “How?”

  “You go back to the past, have a daughter, and a couple of other children, you tell them your story and tell them they have to pass it on through the generations. Just as a backup you write in that journal, which miraculously has survived all that time too.”

  “That all sounds so simple, so plausible, but still totally insane.”

  “And you going back in time and meeting Haran, who can change into a bear, isn’t?”

  It was true. If Jenna could accept Haran's gift, she should be able to accept what Martha was saying. It would just take a while to sink in. But as she flicked through the book again, it also began to make more sense. “That’s how you knew the time. Why you repeated it to me?”

  “Yes. The timings are very important. Although I must admit when I set off the fire alarm and waited for you, I didn’t believe it would happen. I can’t tell you how honoured I am that this has been my responsibility.”

  Jenna sat down on the bed. “So it’s no coincidence that you came to work here?”

  “No. My whole life has been gearing up to this. It was mapped out before I was born. Which schools I needed to attend, the grades I needed.”

  “Is that in the book?”

  “No. Only the more important things. Times surrounding this moment. And how you get safely back.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I understand the shock you’ve had, not least because of the wormhole. Listen, I have to go. They will miss me if I don’t evacuate, they will need to account for everyone. Stay here,” she said and went to her closet once more. “There is some food and some water in here. I also fitted a reading lamp. You have to stay out of sight. Security will be around to check all the rooms and they have a master key, they will come in here but don’t panic.”

  Jenna nodded. It seemed strange being told not to panic after all she had been through. But it was already too late, the panic was building inside her, she just didn’t want Martha to see it.

  “You go, Martha. And thank you.”

  Martha nodded and then left. In the silence of the room, Jenna went to the closet and pulled the door to. She sat in the dark imagining she was in the cave waiting for Haran. Anything was better than the truth that she was trapped for now in the twenty-second century.

  Chapter Two - Haran

  She was gone.

  He hadn’t been able to reach her in time to warn her. The build-up in air pressure had warned him immediately that whatever happened when she came here, was happening again. And as suddenly as she had arrived, she was gone. Wherever she was now, she was out of his reach. Returned to the stars from where she came.

  He sank down to his knees, feeling the life drain out of him. Without her, he was a hollow shell. She was his mate, the other part of him as much as the bear was. Could their bond reach through the dark sky and to the star where she must surely have been taken? If only his other self was a bird and then he could take flight and follow her.

  A noise behind him, he turned to see Putol coming up the hill behind him. Haran couldn’t move; if the panther had come to attack him then let him do his worst, he no longer cared if he lived or died. His life without Jenna was no life at all.

  “Haran, what happened? Where is Jenna?”

  “Gone,” he replied simply. Yet he could still feel her. The bond between them was stretched, but not broken. He knew that if she could come back to him, she would. All he had to do was wait.

  “Then you must come with us.”

  “No, I must wait.”

  “There is no time, the Masu are coming here. Kalli saw them turn and retrace their steps. They did not believe you went to the mountain.”

  “I can’t leave. When she comes back they will take her again if I don’t stay here and protect her.”

  “And how long will she be gone? How long do you have to wait? Because after Kalli told me, we came straight here to warn you. We passed them; they are camped on the big plain. Tomorrow they will be in the valley below and they will hunt you.”

  “Then let them come,” Haran said, his eyes flashing, the bear trying to break free.

  “Think what you are saying. You cannot face them alone, they will kill you.”

  Haran rose to his feet and came towards Putol. “Have you ever had a mate, Putol? Because if you had, you would not be so willing to go running off and leave her.”

  “No, I haven’t, Haran. I can only imagine your loss. But what about Jenna’s loss when she returns to find you murdered by the Masu? How will she cope with her loss and the guilt?”

  Haran fought back his tears of frustration. “What do you want me to do, Putol? Walk away and leave her? They will kill her if she comes back.”

  “If she comes back, Haran. Are you going to stay here forever?”

  “If I have to,” he said, looking up at the sky. Closing his eyes, he prayed to the spirits that they would return her to him. And soon: or they would never be together in this world again.

  Chapter Three - Jenna

  Waiting had never been so hard. She knew she had to keep still and out of sight, but her time with Haran had made it difficult to simply sit around and not try to help herself. He had made her into a woman who got up and did whatever was necessary for their survival. However, this time that would not help, there were too many other people's lives caught up in this. She couldn’t risk being found.

  Sitting in the small dark closet, she held the book against her chest, trying to make sense of what Martha had told her. This book contained all the details of her life, from her arrival here to the journey through the wormhole. She had even glimpsed a picture she had drawn of her lying on the ground with a broken rib and Haran rescuing her.

  Martha had known. When she had very first set eyes on Jenna, she had known exactly what was going to happen. But why didn’t she tell her, warn her about the danger of the wormhole opening up over the trees? When they were alone before the launch, she could have warned her. And why didn’t she tell her not to climb the hill?

  A mixture of feelings bubbled inside her. She was confused, in some ways angry, but most of all she felt a deep sense of loss. What would Haran do when he saw her disappear? Would he wait for her? Or go to the north where she would never find him again? If she went back through the wormhole, would she meet him again? The book held the answers.

  Needing to know, she reached up to turn on the light. Until now, it was something she had stopped herself doing, because it might give her whereabouts away when the guards cam
e. But it had been such a long time since Martha had left; she assumed they wouldn’t be coming there.

  Opening the book, she turned to the first page, and saw her own handwriting describing the fall through the wormhole. Smudged drawings, she wasn’t sure what they were made with, showed the lights, and she wrote about the noise and then the fall through the trees. The next page was a drawing of her and Haran. She wasn’t the best artist, but she could certainly tell whom it was meant to be. With a shaking hand, she touched the image, a tear dropping onto the page as she let her loss wash over her.

  “I miss you, Haran, wait for me,” she said quietly to herself.

  The next page showed the bear, but she hadn’t actually written what he was, only the word Dualis. Then she had written an account of their run-in with their enemy; she had not spared the details on the Masu’s cruelty. An account of how Haran’s parents were murdered by them was written in vivid detail.

  Next came the meeting with Putol. She described him in more detail than she knew right now. “So we will meet again,” she said. “But why did you come to us that night?”

  She turned the page to find out, but it switched back to her story. Being pulled back through the wormhole, meeting Martha and hiding in the closet. The next page had only a few words written on it.

  “Switch off the light. They are coming.”

  Her hand went to the light and she made herself as small as she could, hoping that if they looked in here they wouldn’t see her. As the book predicted the door knob rattled, then there was the sound of a key being inserted in the lock and the door opened.

  There was nothing to see, all she could do was listen as they walked around the room. Trying to keep calm, she kept telling herself she must get back to the past or else she wouldn’t have been able to write the book. The person, her, who had written her account of the past, knew what was going to happen. That meant she must have lived through it and then gone back. Hadn’t Martha said she would return to Haran in six hours? That wasn’t long.