The mate finding spell business - book 1

DIMA’S POV

Right after Elspeth banged the glass door closed behind them, a beach ball hit Dima on the face. The bear was so surprised that he didn’t even react, only blinking his eyes slowly in confusion. Oksana was standing behind Dima when it happened. She was so excited about her upcoming marriage that only when Dima didn’t move forward to the beach chairs spread around the pool did she notice the ball bouncing at her mate’s feet. Dima was looking at the ball with a silly look on his face, and she quickly realized what had occurred.

“I think we broke him,” Jamila mumbled to Kaavi.

“Naa. That was grandma’s broom’s doings.” Axton answered her, whispering.

“Yeah, I think she hit him too hard with the broom.” Axton agreed, and all five of them stared at Oksana and Dima, waiting for one of them to get mad.

“Hey, at least it cured his hiccups,” Akir said and returned to splashing Dania.

“SERIUS, GUYS!” Oksana exploded and trowed the ball back at Jamila and the two older boys. The ball hit the water in front of them and splashed the three in the face.

Oksana’s good mood was quickly ruined, and angry black veins started to appear all over her body. She was so excited to tell her siblings the good news, but they had to go and ruin it.

“Oh ouh... We angered Oksana. Run for your lives!” Kaavy yelled, and the three of them ran away from the pool. Akir and Dania didn’t mind their older siblings and kept playing in the pool. After all, they had nothing to do with the ball hitting Dima, thus, they were safe from Oksana’s wrath, but they could always use this against the older three trouble makers when Oksana’s veins turned back to normal, and she got exhausted. If they told their dad what they did, he would get angry and ground the three older, forgetting whatever mischief the two youngest had done.

Dima had been in a daze, trying to plan everything in his mind for the wedding. He still had to call his boss to get his house ready with the plans Oksana had unknowingly designed for their home when he noticed a shift in Oksana’s body heat and aura. He turned to look at her and found her different.

Her hair had turned lighter from her normal dark brown reddish color and into a vibrant red orangy tone, and her veins, the most prominent change in her, were her now completely black veins. Her eye color had changed as well. iI was as if someone completely different was standing in front of him!

Without hesitation, he hugged her from behind and placed his face on the crook of her neck, holding back a wince from the burning feeling her skin left on his.

‘Is this her demon heritage acting up? What happened to make her... shift? ...change? Burn? I don’t know what’s happening, but I have to help her somehow. Mates can always calm you down, but will this work on a partial demon or whatever my Ana is considered? There’s only one way to find out.’ Dima took a deep breath after his inner monologue and hugged her tighter, starting to pepper kisses all over her neck and jawline. Oksana’s body started trembling, softly at first, making Dima think that she was enjoying his kisses, but when the trembling turned into full-on quacking with her body heat going lower, Dima ordered the kids, who were still playing in the pool, to go get their grandma.

“Akir, Dania, get your grandma, quickly!” The kids’ eyes widened when they saw their sister’s abnormal dark brown eyes turn white, and they hurried out of the pool screaming for their grandma.

The few seconds Dima’s lips were away from Oksana’s skin, her temperature skyrocketed again, making the bear yelp in pain when he felt himself start burning. Remembering how her temperature lowered a bit while he was kissing her, Dima went back to laying kisses everywhere he could reach, which led to him accidentally finding her sweet spot. The moment his little mate moaned, Dima couldn’t hold himself back and traced the spot with his tongue, linking her hot skin and tasting her salty sweat.

Oksana’s knees buckled when he linked her, but he didn’t let go. The euphoric feeling that passed through him when she moaned had him crazed, adding the taste of her soft skin to the mix, and he was a fool drunk in lust.

Dima felt his gums start to ache, and his bear pressed forward, making his canines sprout faster than he could blink; Dima tried to resist the urge to mark her, but when Oksana offered him her neck and locked gaze with him, her amber eyes filled with blackish brown sectors and her scleras an extremely dark grey with black veins, it was as if he had been hypnotized, and he started pressing his canines to her neck. Oksana’s expression shifted when he pressed his canines against her, and her full dark red wine-colored lips turned into a mischievous, satisfied smirk. Nothing, like the normal Oksana.

Caught in her expression, Dima didn’t move his teeth any further and stayed staring at her, and that was how Elspeth found them.

Panicked, the woman clapped her hands loudly once, separating the two instantaneously and took her wand out of what seemed like thin air, and sent a bolt of white light to knock out Oksana and force her back to normal.

Dima’s trance was broken the moment he was separated from Oksana, both he and his bear were dizzy and foggy-minded as if someone had been controlling them... He knew something was not right with Oksana, but by Elspeth’s crazed face and panicked moves, he knew something bad had happened.

“What was that?” He asked while rubbing his still dizzy head and trying to crawl toward Oksana.

“I don’t know.” Elspeth lied, but Dima saw through her lie and quirked an angry brown at her. “Look, I’m not sure, but we need to take her to an open space in the back of my garden so that I can access her.” Dima accepted this answer and reached under Oksana to lift her up. At his third attempt, his knees finally stopped shaking, and his head finally cleared itself free of the weird fog that had invaded it, and he managed to lift her up.

Something had definitely messed with his head and body.

Elspeth led the way, always looking back and around them nervously. Dima could feel the nerves and fear rolling out of the witch in strong waves, it was repulsive and worrisome to feel such feelings coming from the woman he was following.

Elspeth led them to a secluded part of her garden with shrubs pruned into perfect cobblestones that made a wall that covered them from view, and soft light green grass covered the ground along with a huge tree that gave them shade.

“Lay her here.” Elspeth urged him and started whispering things. Everything after that seemed like a blur. One second he was on his knees, lowering Oksana to the ground, and the next, he was frozen in place with no recollection of what happened.

“Dima?” Oksana’s groggy voice called him, breaking him out of his trance. “How did we get here?” She asked slowly, seeming dizzy, and propped herself up onto her elbows.

Dima lazily blinked his eyes and looked around him before looking down at Oksana.

‘How weird. I could swear Elspeth was supposed to be here with us, but I don’t remember why.’ He thought and helped Oksana sit up. ‘I better not bring this up with Oksana. I don’t want her to be worried it was probably nothing. I hope...’

“I guess we came here so that you could spend a bit of time with my bear.” He quickly answered her with a charming smile and gently pulled a section of her hair behind her ear, softly kissing her cheek afterward.

Oksana blushed and looked down at her lap, pondering things while fiddling with her fingers. “I guess you’re right.” She relented. “It’s just... I don’t remember coming out here.”

Dima lifted her chin up and caressed her face nervously before answering. “Don’t worry about that. I think I took too long trying to gather my courage to shift into my bear that you ended up taking a nap. But don’t worry, it did you well, and I think I’m ready to shift now. Are you ready to meet my bear again?”

All shyness left Oksana, and she excitedly nodded her head, giving him a bright smile. “Yes, please!”

Dima chuckled, and his bear jumped in his mind, excited to be out and about to mingle with his mate, but with one sudden push in their mind barrier, while Dima was still smiling brightly to Oksana, his bear surged forward and forced the shift, taking over.

Oksana gasped in surprise and took a step back as Dima’s form suddenly turned into a huge grizzly blocking the sun from her. The bear stood on two feet, looking enormous and terrific, but his warm brown eyes shined with excitement and love making all her fear go away.

“Wow! You’re huge...” The bear groaned and scrunched his face.

Dima was like a bystander inside his animal’s mind watching the things happening, and he could feel his animal’s apprehension at their mate’s remark.

‘She’s not scared of you. Remember you have met before, and she saw you with her siblings, she’s just surprised.’ The animal grunted, unsure, and took a step back for precaution in case their mate was truly scared of him.

“And so magnificent!” Oksana gushed softly and took a few steps towards the beast.

‘See? I told you she likes you. Now stop acting like a scared cub and go spend some time with our mate. For someone who was so enthusiastic to play with her, you’ve suddenly become very shy.’ The bear rolled his eyes at his remark and slowly lowered himself to the ground, shily coming face to face with Oksana.

“I can’t believe you’re so cute. You make me remember the huge plushy bears I used to beg my father for. He never gave me one because I’m allergic to them.” The bear headbutted Oksana’s shoulder extremely softly to not knock her down and looked at her eyes. He didn’t like to hear that his mate had been denied anything she wished for but at the same time, he understood her father’s reasons, for, he too wouldn’t gift her anything that could possibly hurt her.

Oksana understood the bear’s gesture as an attempt of cheering her up, and she quickly placed a chaste kiss on the tip of his nose as a thank you. The bear was surprised, but if he could smile, there would be one on his face at that moment.

“You look so soft. Can I hug you?” The animal stepped forward and burrowed his head on her neck, feeling Oksana wrap her arms around his neck.

Mate no need teddy now I here. Dima’s bear’s primal rough voice articulated the sentence with a bit of difficulty, but the meaning was clear. Now that he was there, Oksana didn’t need to wish for any more stupid plushies that harmed her health.

“The fur on your back is bristly, but your ears are soft,” Oksana whispered with a soft sign and pushed her face deeper against his fur. The bear couldn’t help himself and started sniffing, breathing in deeply her sweet scent, carnations, and gardenias in full bloom were what she smelled like, and both he and Dima loved that fragrance.

‘When we get back to our house, we’ll need to plant some carnations and gardenias in our garden.’ Dima noted, and his more furred side agreed.

“Hey, my sweet bear, what’s your name?” Oksana suddenly questioned, looking the bear in the eyes. The bear shook his head in a ‘no’ notion, and Oksana frowned.

“You don’t have a name?” She asked, shocked that Dima had not named his bear form.

The bear shook his head no again, and Oksana signed sadly.

“I don’t want to keep calling you bear or Dima’s bear, so can I give you a name? If you don’t mind, that is.” The bear started jumping up and down excited, even making some noise, and gave a big link to Oksana’s face, making her giggle.

“Ok, I’ll take that as a yes.” She giggled.

Dima watched the interaction between Oksana and his bear with a big smile on his face. Even though he was not the one in control, he was still happy to watch his mate because her actions, whether she knew it or not, declared her full acceptance of their bond. Any doubt he might have had of her acceptance of him was cleared at that moment.

To a shifter, allowing anyone to name their inner animal was a big thing. So they either named them themselves or waited for their mates to let them do it once they were mated. Of course, there were also some out there that did not care for names, and their inner animal was just that, an animal.

“How about Mato?” Both man and bear focused back on their female and left their thoughts alone, giving her their full attention. “It’s a native American name, and as stupidly as it may sound, it means bear. I also remember reading that Mato was the name of one of the chieftains of the four bear clans. So, what do you think?” Naming him after one of the big chieftains referred to in the shifters’ history? Hell yes! Mato was all for it.

Mato heavily sat down on the floor and used his front legs to hug Oksana against his chest. They stayed in that position, hugging, for a long while until Oksana’s legs got tired, and Mato laid them down with him on his back and her laying on his chest, hugging him.

Time flew by, and without Oksana noticing, she fell asleep on top of Mato, who was more than happy to take a nap in the shade of the tree with his mate.

It was one p.m. when they were woken up by Elspeth’s voice calling them for lunch.

“Kids, come inside, lunch is ready! Anyone who was on the pool must dry themselves before stepping foot inside my house, and Dima, I know you’re hearing me, so get your lazy ass up and bring my granddaughter inside, now!”

The bear grumbled a bit and woke up Oksana softly before offering her his back and giving her a ride back to the house. Once they got close to the kitchen’s glass door, Oksana got down from Mato’s back and went inside to grab him some clothes from her bag.

Dima’s bear took the clothes in his mouth and went behind a bush to shift back, quickly, Dima came back dressed and kissed Oksana’s forehead with a bright smile before the two went inside.

Elspeth was still taking dishes to the dining room when they arrived. Jamila and the two youngest were sitting at the table, and Axton and Kaavy were helping their grandmother carry the dishes. Dima could see that Oksana wanted to help, so he ushered her to the table and went to the kitchen to grab the rest of the dishes Elspeth and the teens hadn’t brought to the table yet.

“I’ll bring the rest,” He warned the three, and they went to seat down.

Once everyone was at the table there was a chair free besides Oksana. Elspeth seeing everyone eying the empty chair, got up and yelled at the top of her lungs: “DOUGLAS LACHLAN, get your ass on the dining table!”

An explosion was heard from underneath them, and the ground shook slightly, making Dima wince. He hadn’t even seen the man yet, and he had already caused an everlasting impression on the shifter.

It didn’t take long before a thin man around 5′7 ft (1.70m) entered the kitchen, his spiked back dark hair had greys all over and two defined white lines of hair on the sides. He had a sharp jaw with some light stumble, a few black smudges of smoke on his face, and thick glasses resembling the glasses of one of the fairies from Tinkerbell. He took his apron at the door, hung it on the wall, and went to seat at the table with them.

Douglas smelt like chemicals, and his double iris and bright blue and green eyes didn’t instill trust in Dima’s and Mato’s guts making the latter try to growl at the man. Dima held him back and watched the newcomer kiss Elspeth’s cheek and start filling his dish.

A tense silence followed afterward, and everyone started to eat.

“Um.” Douglas stopped eating and quickly wiped his mouth with a napkin before turning to face Dima. “We haven’t been introduced yet.” He said. “I’m Douglas Lachlan, Angus’s father, and obviously Oksana’s grandfather. It’s nice to meet you.” Douglas extended his hand toward Dima and waited for him to shake it.

Zainab’s warnings came back to the forefront of his mind, and Dima looked towards Douglas’s hand unsure. Should he shake? He looked at Oksana in semi-panic, not wishing to cause a bad impression on the man but at the same time not wanting to be transformed into anything weird or turned invisible because of whatever Douglas handled.

“Grandpa!” Oksana sharply reprehended the older man, black veins starting to appear all over her face and down to her arms. Everyone at the table flinched back, except for Dima whose eyes flashed a warmer brown, showing his bear at the forefront of his mind, right beneath his skin ready to shift at any time.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” Douglas animatedly said with his hands raised in the air and slowly backing away from his seat. “I’ll wash my hands and be right back.”

Dima started feeling Oksana’s skin radiating scorching heat and immediately hugged her to help her calm down. His skin sizzled at the touch, and he growled in pain, but Oksana was only focused on watching her grandfather wash his hands carefully with a yellow liquid detergent that her grandma used on the dishes.

Her eyes seemed weird, Dima noticed, but her skin’s temperature was lowering, which was good.

“Good grief, Oksana, stop burning the man! We already know he thinks you’re hot, but to literally make his skin sizzle is just exaggerated.” Jamila scolded her sister after hearing the shifter growl.

Dima settled a soft kiss upon Oksana’s neck, lingering on her sweet spot, and if a switch had gone off, the black veins receded, and a soft, almost inaudible purr left her chest.

Douglas finished washing and drying his hands and returned to the table. Oksana was slumped against Dima’s side, a bit paler than usual but with a sweet smile on her face while regarding Dima.

Axton mumbled a few words from across the table and sent, with a flicker of his finger, a healing spell towards Dima, healing all his burn marks.

‘Thanks,’ Dima mouthed at him from across the table, and the boy nodded silently.

“Ok, my hands are washed now, so where were we? Oh, yeah, we were about to shake hands.” Douglas mumbled and extended his hand to Dima again. This time Dima shook it, feeling less apprehensive about the contact, and introduced himself.

“My name is Dima, sir, I’m Oksana’s mate.” At the word mate, Douglas’s lips curled up in distaste.

“A shifter at my table? And my Elspeth allowed it? After what they did to my daughters, you must be something more than just my granddaughter’s mate.”

“He keeps her alive, Douglas. She’s getting healthier as time passes because of their growing bond. She might get back to normal after they complete the mating bond, or at the very least, she will be as normal as a healthy human.”

“Umm. If you say so.” Dima could tell that Oksana’s grandfather was not convinced by Elspeth’s words, but Douglas’s words had made him curious to know what happened to his mate’s aunts. He had never heard her speak about aunts before, only about one uncle who was Zainab’s brother, so where were they now?

“His mother is also a witch,” Jamila commented with her mouth full.

“Ah ha! That must be it.” Douglas cried in triumph, making Dima and his bear feel on the edge with all those sudden noises Douglas emitted.

The man squeaked more than a mouse! Mato hates mice, and he is starting to associate Oksana’s grandfather with one.

‘This will not end well...’ Dima thought to himself and keep on eating his lunch in silence while blocking his bear.

“ENOUGH!” Oksana roared from beside him, jumped from her chair, and punched the table with so much strength that every object on the table jumped.

Eight pairs of eyes stared at Oksana in surprise. It was very rare for Oksana to turn violent, so it was always a surprise when it happened, but for her to snap at her grandfather twice in a day with such aggression was a first, and it was then that Douglas understood he had crossed a line.

His wife has always been the more vengeful one out of the two against shifters, but she had been the one to invite one into their table and he had not trusted her on her judgment. Now he regretted his choices.

“Sana, I’m sorry-” Douglas got up and tried to apologize, but Oksana sharply interrupted him.

“Save it!” She had yelled with such fury that the elder man (who resembled a man in his early fifty’s) had strumbled, slightly taken back by her attitude.

“What happened to my aunts was horrible, but my mate had nothing to do with it! You have no right to speak about him like that and treat him like a criminal. If you had read the council’s report like I took the time to do when Dima arrived in my life you would have found out that aunt Benji’s mate also had no control over what happened. The council found traces of black magic surrounding the crime scene and the bodies, and they discovered that uncle Cheng’s panda had been attacked and infused with the dark magic, turning him into a suffering puppet at the hands of whoever attacked them. So put your hate into your own species because they were the ones who killed aunt Benji and aunt Primrose!” Dima was up by her side since the beginning of her rant, and by the time she finished her skin was ghostly white, but her cheeks were scarlet red from fury. It didn’t even take ten seconds after that for Oksana to pass out in Dima’s arms.

“Well, fuck.”