Savage Beasts - 19. May You Live in Interesting Times

Gunnar and Mike caravanned with Thomas and Sam from Duluth to Eau Claire where they stopped for a late lunch and to say goodbye until the next time they were called to Calgary for Lycan Council business. Following their meal, Gunnar and Mike headed east to Green Bay, while Thomas and Sam headed south to Madison and Chicago before turning east toward West Virginia and their little cabin in the mountains.

Sam had not had a chance to start the restoration project on his Papa’s ’55 Thunderbird due to all the chaos of the last few weeks and he was eager to fall back into their comfortable life again.

Gunnar gave Vera a call at the diner before closing time and let her know that the bosses would be back to work tomorrow. Vera replied that she was going to miss the peace and quiet in the diner without the two bears’ mouths either yakking with the customers or eating all the profits. Gunnar told her to ‘get stuffed’, and they both had a good laugh before he ended the call.

It was about five o’clock when they pulled into the driveway of their pretty blue house on the lakeshore in Sturgeon Bay. Gunnar peeked in the refrigerator and noted that Joshua had done the grocery shopping for them a day or two earlier, but when they talked about dinner, neither of them felt like cooking after the long drive, so they headed into town to eat at the Italian restaurant sharing the same building complex as their diner.

The locals at the restaurant greeted them happily, and many people stopped by their table to inquire about their vacation. Gunnar and Mike replied that the Smokies were wonderful and exciting, and that they had to extend their trip by an extra week to attend to some business up in Calgary, but that they were happy to be home, and looked forward to seeing everyone in the Diner for breakfast tomorrow.

As they ate their meal, Gunnar looked over at Mike fondly, watching him twirl strands of pasta around his fork.

“Cub,” Gunnar said, “I’m sorry if I’ve been a little on edge with you the last couple of weeks. I know that I picked on you about your seemingly insatiable sexual appetite with the other bears quite a bit. I don’t want you to think that I don’t appreciate our sex life anymore.”

“I know, Papa,” Mike said, “It sort of felt to me like you were downplaying things for the sake of the other bears, like you were afraid if we spent too much time… enjoying each other, they would think that we were just showing off.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Gunnar replied. “The truth is, I’m so proud that I have the hottest, most handsome Cub on earth, but I don’t want to go around bragging about it when we’re with the other bears. So, I pretend as if your constant needs are just a bit too much for this ol’ bear, and then we can all have a good laugh and nobody feels jealous of me having you for my Cub… and my Mate.”

“Papa…” Mike said, dropping his fork, “That’s the first time you’ve called me your Mate instead of just your Cub!”

“That’s right,” Gunnar said. “I can’t bear the thought of you someday leaving me to go off on your own like cubs eventually do. I want to have you by my side for all time.”

“Oh, Papa,” Mike said, with tears welling up in his eyes.

“That’s why while we were in Calgary, I asked the Elder to make me this…”

Gunnar got down on one knee next to Mike and pulled a small handmade leather-covered box from his pocket. He opened the top, and inside was a bear’s claw wrapped in spiraling bands of silver and engraved with Old Norse runes. Gunnar plucked it from the cloth lining inside the box, and Mike saw that it was attached to a long and thick silver chain.

“Mike, I’m asking if you will officially and legally marry me.”

“Oh, Gunnar! Yes!” Mike cried. By now they had captured the attention of the whole dining room, and the other customers erupted in cheers for the pair.

Word spread throughout the restaurant, and soon Sonny, the owner, whisked over to their table with congratulations and a tiramisu big enough for two.

When they arrived back at home, Gunnar built a fire in the bedroom fireplace, and slowly undressed his Mate. The bear claw that Gunnar had given him hung from the long, thick chain around his neck and rested against his broad, hairy chest. He would wear it always, and Gunnar told him that the length of the chain was carefully measured so that it would not break when he shifted into bear form.

“Tell me about this pendant,” Mike said.

“The claw is mine,” Gunnar said. “I wasn’t sure what token to give to you when I proposed because werebears can’t wear rings when we shift, so a traditional human wedding ring didn’t seem right. It was the Elder who told me that the Spirit Bears of old would give a tooth or claw to the one they declared their Mate to show their love. He showed me ancient drawings of bears wearing necklaces with claw pendants just like this one. So, I shifted into my bear form and the Elder cut this claw from my paw. Of course, I grew a new one the next time I shifted, but it still hurt like hell when he did it.

“While we were in Calgary, the Elder’s village craftsmen then polished it and sculpted the spiraling silver band that wraps around it and hung it on the chain. Instead of inscribing it in Cree, the craftsmen used the Old Norse runes to honor our ancestors. The words express my feelings for you, Cub.”

“Translate it for me, Papa,” Mike asked.

Gunnar held the claw pendant in his palm and pointed to the runes written along the spiraling silver band as he spoke.

“You, My Love, are the moon and I the starry skies. We will always find each other across the divide. I have loved you for a thousand decades, and I will love you for infinite years to come.”

They laid down together on the bed and began a long night of lovemaking, switching the top and bottom roles back and forth between them equally, and shifting back and forth between bear and human forms as it pleased them. Gunnar didn’t complain when Mike wanted one more round at five in the morning before they had to get ready for work, even though they’d only gotten about three hours of sleep after wearing themselves out.

“That’s my Papa,” Mike said with a smile, touching the claw and chain laying on his chest as Gunnar knelt and placed Mike’s raised legs against his shoulders.

“And that’s my Mate,” Gunnar replied, spearing Mike with his thick manhood and enjoying their last moments of time alone before going back to their old and wonderfully dull work routine.

****

Two months later, as the hot, hazy days of summer began to melt into the cooler days of autumn, Mike and Gunnar stood together on the wooden dock behind their lovely blue house. Their friends were gathered in a half-circle on the lawn, and Supreme Alpha Taylor stood in between them as they exchanged their wedding vows.

Ezekiel, Joel and Jacob were in attendance, along with Axel and his new cub Adam, who had just been bitten and bred a few days earlier.

Thomas and Sam were there, as well as Daniel and Gary, who had become good friends after sharing the good and bad memories of the werebear who had caused both so much pain and heartache.

The wolves were represented as well, as Alpha Apollo, his Enforcer, and Pip stood alongside Beta Susie Banshee, and the rest of her She-Wolves, Dixie, Linda, and Little Lupita, all dressed in fabulous ball-gowns for the occasion.

The bears’ non-lycan friends were not left out, as Joshua, Vera, and Johnny the cook stood with the rest of the ceremony guests. However, Johnny was the only one in attendance who assumed that everyone else assembled at the shore was human.

Prompted by the Supreme Alpha, Gunnar recited his vows to Mike.

“My love. You are the one person with whom I can share all that I am.

“I promise to trust you and to be honest with you. I promise to listen to you, respect you and support you. I promise to laugh and play with you and grow and bend with you. I promise to cherish every day we have together.

“I promise to do all of this through whatever life brings us: riches or poverty, health or illness, through good times and bad, until the end of my days.”

The Supreme Alpha turned to Mike and asked him to speak his vows to Gunnar.

“Day by day, I know and love you more, but I know your complexities are beyond my understanding.

“I learn from your wisdom every day. Your mind stirs my soul to new heights; your faith in me gives me strength; your touch delights me; and without your love I am incomplete.

“Between us, we find the echo of the Love that has filled the universe since the dawn of creation; through us, it spreads peace and harmony to our friends gathered here and beyond.

“So, this day, I bind myself to you with these wedding vows, willingly and wholeheartedly, free from any doubt or mental reservation:

“In riches and in poverty, in jubilation and in despair, in sickness and in health, through the dull and the interesting times, I will share my life with you.”

Supreme Alpha Taylor nodded at Mike and then he, himself, spoke.

“A soulmate usually only comes once in your life to shake things up, show you true love, and stand up to you in ways no one else ever has.

“They adore you yet challenge you to your fullest potential.

“A soulmate relationship isn’t only peaches and cream, it’s roses and thorns.”

“Gunnar and Mike Bergan, you have found the one in whom your soul delights; the one in whom your heart shall dwell.

“So now, by the power vested in me as the Supreme Alpha of the North American Lycan Council, I hereby declare you Mates for Life. You may kiss your husband.”