Her Primal Mate (Badlands Territory, 1) Read online

  Her Primal Mate

  Badlands Territory

  Jenika Snow

  HER PRIMAL MATE (BADLANDS TERRITORY)

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  [email protected]

  Copyright © November 2020 by Jenika Snow

  First E-book Publication: November 2020

  Image provided by: Shutterstock

  Cover Designer: Designs by Dana

  Editor: Kayla Robichaux

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental. Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  About the Author

  He was mine.

  I was his.

  There is no denying it, my primal polar bear shifter who was linked to be my fate, destiny, the very laws of our kind.

  Fated mates.

  That's what it was called, that one person who was meant to solely be yours.

  I just hadn’t known who my fated mate was until he came into my life like a storm ready to destroy everyone and everything in his path.

  When Kasias Stone walked into the bar I worked at and our gazes clashed, I swore the ground opened up. Every part of my body came alive for the first time.

  My mating heat kicked into overdrive, and all I could think about was needing that male to take me to his bed and ease the desperation.

  He was the biggest, strongest male I’d ever seen, his height towering, his muscles severe. He made even the strongest shifters look weak.

  I didn’t even hesitate when he all but threw me over his shoulder and said he’d ease me, that he’d make sure I was sated, that I wouldn’t walk straight the next day.

  I also knew once I gave myself over to him, there would be no going back. He’d never let me go.

  1

  Penny

  I knew it was coming, even though I’d never experienced it before.

  It was this heat encompassing me, this tightness in my muscles. It was this sensitivity in my breasts, this achiness… down there.

  For days, I’d felt it, that incessant need, bringing, fire burning through my veins increasing by the second. And here I was now, three days later and my mating heat full-blown and consuming every part of me.

  I was fertile yet didn’t have a mate. There would only ever be one true male for me, one single person who was born to be mine and me to be his. I’d only be able to carry his child. I’d only ever be aroused by him. It was only him and me… yet I didn’t even know who he was, where he was, or if our paths would ever cross.

  My mating heat. The once-a-year occurrence that happened to a select breed of female shifters sometime after our eighteenth birthday. And I was one of the lucky shifter breeds that had to deal with this.

  And here I was, a twenty-one-year-old Iberian lynx shifter who just moved to the rural, mountain town of Badlands Territory and happened to start her mating heat on the first night of her new job.

  And because I wasn’t mated, had no mark on my body from my mate nor his scent covering me and letting every male know I was taken, I’d be sniffed at like a fresh piece of meat at the local market. They’d think I was fair game, because, well, they were male and they’d see me as primed and fertile. It would call to all their basic urges.

  I contemplated calling off work, but seeing as this was my first night at my waitressing job at Ginny’s Bar, I didn’t think it would make me look very good.

  I stared at my reflection and took note of the physical changes this damn mating heat had caused in me.

  Dilated pupils.

  Flushed cheeks.

  Full breasts, nipples constantly hard and sensitive.

  Lips looking fuller, redder.

  And we wouldn’t even talk about down there. My pussy was so wet… constantly since the heat started, that I’d given up on even changing my panties. What was the point when they’d just be soaked in a couple hours’ time.

  Although I wouldn’t say I was aroused-roused, as in I needed just any male to tame this heat, it was very clear my body was ready for my mate… even if it didn’t get the memo I didn’t have one.

  I rested my hands on the edge of the sink and closed my eyes, breathing out slowly. I’d recently moved to Badlands Territory, a small mountain community that mainly had shifter residents. I decided I was done with where my life was going. Nowhere. So I packed up my shit, told my parents I was taking a road trip to “find myself,” and headed out on the open road. I only had a few bags of clothes, my savings that wouldn’t last me very long, but I’d never felt freer than I did when I headed onto the open road.

  And when I’d come into Badlands, thinking I’d just pass through and keep moving, I felt this pull, this strong need to stay. I spent the night at the local motel, sightseeing through the town, which didn’t offer anything exciting, but still, it felt wrong to leave.

  And so I said what the hell. I’d stay, if not for a short time. I got the waitressing job, found this one-bedroom house that was in desperate need of an upgrade to this century, but overall, I’d never felt like I should be somewhere more than I did here.

  And my fucking mating heat decided now was the best time to rear its head and make its presence known.

  The damn bitch.

  I kept breathing out slowly. It helped to center me, to push the heat down a little bit. I didn't know how long it would last, but I heard a mating heat, especially the first one, could last up to two weeks. God, I hoped I was lucky and this shit was done by the end of the week at the latest, but knowing my luck, I’d have it the entire fourteen days.

  It wouldn't be an issue if I had a man, a male to help ease me, to fill me up in literally every way.

  That thought, those images of my faceless mate, moved through my head and I groaned. I’d never been with a male, never wanted to. I had no desire, no sexual cravings for anyone but him. And I didn't know who he was. My fated mate. If I never met him, if we never found each other, I’d forever be this virginal Iberian lynx shifter, always craving him but unable to sate myself, not even if I found pleasure and relief with my own hands.

  Only he’d be able to fully ease my need.

  And the very thought of any other male disgusted me.

  I opened my eyes and breathed out again, feeling a semblance of calm.

  I could do this, get through my first night of work while battling my first mating heat.

  I hoped, at least.

  2

  Penny

  For a few hours, I’d been keeping my shit together—as well as I could anyway. I focused on drink orders, reciting them in my head over and over again so it gave me something else to think about, to focus on.

  When a human male would try to make drunken advances on me, I could shut them down cold with a look, or eve
n a little growl with the help of my Iberian lynx rising up. And when they’d hear that very animalistic sound, they’d snap their mouths closed and leave me the fuck alone.

  My tips would probably hurt because of it, but at this point, I didn't care. I was just trying to stay sane.

  I looked at my watch and noticed I still had another hour to go before the night ended. Not soon enough, but certainly tolerable. I was thankful they’d only scheduled me for half a shift, wanting me to get used to the floor, the way things worked. I’d been waitressing off and on my whole adult life, so it was pretty much the same, standard game at any bar. But now that my mating heat was in full-force, I was glad to go home, take an ice bath, maybe shift and go for a run, and just deal with this away from people.

  I had heard enough stories about when female shifters experienced heat. If they were unmated it was insufferable, could even be painful. If they were mated… it was one of the greatest, most pleasurable experiences of their lives.

  Was I ready for children? I would have said hell no before going into my mating heat, but experiencing this for the first time, how I was acutely aware that my body was now ready to carry my mate’s young, a part of me kind of warmed to the idea of being a mother. But it was all a moot point. I didn't have anyone and so would suffer this alone.

  I excused myself to go to the staff bathroom for a little breather, and once inside, I splashed some water on my face to cool down. I was overheated, and it had nothing to do with the stuffy as hell bar interior. My body heat was raised high because of being fertile, well over a hundred degrees. Beads of sweat covered me from head to toe, little specks of perspiration that were basically concentrated droplets of pheromones.

  I groaned as I looked at myself.

  I looked like I was ready to be fucked.

  Bedroom eyes that seemed too large, too dark right now. Lips that were swollen, overly red, as if I wore lipstick even though I didn’t. My breasts seemed an entire cup bigger, pressing against my white “Ginny’s” T-shirt, my nipples obscenely poking through.

  After taking one last exhale and inhale, I left the bathroom and made a round through my tables, checking on everyone and getting refills.

  I headed to the bar to get another order, and when I filled my tray, I gave the drinks to the customers then went to the next table. It was a group of human males who I knew were from out of town because they talked about just passing through and needed a nightcap.

  But I felt the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something in the air changed, grew thick and hot. I felt it coat my skin. I started breathing harder, trying to focus on the guy who was currently placing his order. I was thankful the table of guys had no idea I was in my mating heat.

  Humans didn’t have the sense shifters did to know these things. They’d probably look at me and wonder if I’d just gotten done exercising, or hell, done a line of coke for how jacked up I felt in this moment.

  But I hadn't missed the look from other males in here, the ones who housed an animal. I heard them inhale and growl when I’d walk by. It had my belly tightening in disgust, knowing they weren’t what I wanted.

  I made my way back to the bar to give the drink order, and Tally, the female panther shifter currently tending, stopped and looked at me, giving me a sympathetic look.

  “Help to distract me,” I found myself saying before I could stop the words from tumbling out.

  “Your first heat?” she asked low enough only I could hear.

  I gave her a pained look and nodded. “I shouldn’t be here. I can practically feel all these assholes eyeing me.”

  “They won’t touch you,” she said with conviction. “They know that if they did, your mate would tear them apart.”

  I was about to let her know I didn’t have a mate, but she started speaking again, as if she’d read my mind.

  “Doesn't matter if you don’t have one. You know how a mated male gets. If one of them was to touch you, and your future mate found out, they’d be destroyed.”

  I gave her a small, grateful smile, because at least that made me feel better, even if I didn't know how true that was. A horny male would do just about anything, right? And add liquor to that and it could be a disaster.

  “But if you feel that miserable, go home. Seriously.”

  I shook my head. “I’m good,” I lied, but she knew that. She could smell the lie in my words. Tally didn’t say anything else on it, thankfully. “Just talk to me while I wait for the drinks. Help to keep my mind off… this. Please?” I didn’t care that I looked pathetic begging like this. I was alone in this new town and about to tear through my skin. She gave me another sympathetic smile and nodded.

  “You’re so new to Badlands that you probably don’t know about some of our more reputable residents, huh?”

  I shook my head, focusing on her words. She seemed resolved then in helping me, and I was forever grateful.

  “Okay, so on the edge of tow is Axel, he cougar shifter who doesn’t make it a secret he’s waiting for his mate.”

  I lifted my brows. “He doesn’t make it a secret?”

  Tally shook her head. “I mean he doesn’t go around telling people, but he won’t let any females near him, and will mutter the only one he wants is his fated mate. He’s also more on the feral side, if I’m being honest. But then again most males who have gone their whole life without finding their other half are like that.” Tally looked off as if she were daydreaming. “I need to find a male like that, one who has searched the country for his fated mate.”

  “Wait, he’s searched the country?” She nodded and smiled.

  “Yeah. For years he was out there going from state to state, corner to corner of the country looking for her. He hasn’t been back to Badlands for too long, but since he came back alone it’s clear he didn’t find her.”

  Oh, that’s deeply sad.

  “Anyway, then we have Jay, the recluse who lives alone, because he’s so scarred and broken.” I grew interested in this, but she didn’t make me wait to ask details as she kept going. “He fought an enemy pack, trying to save his mate.” This deep, sad look crossed her face, and I felt my heart hiccup in my chest. “But it didn’t work out like it should have. He lost her, and although most shifters die when they lose their mate, miraculously he stayed alive.”

  I didn’t even know this shifter, but my heart broke for him.

  “Then there is Brea, who I’ll just outright say is a bitch.”

  I chuckled at that.

  “She owns a coffee shop in town, and it’s no secret she wants an alpha for her own. Although she was born human, her dad is a shifter, but she didn’t get the animal gene.” Tally sneered as if even talking about Brea annoyed her. “She wants an alpha like Havoc, who is part of the Havoc pack here in town.”

  I knew there were many shifters, humans, and even different packs in town. It was funny how people had loose lips to anyone who was around, as if they didn’t get a lot of “newcomers,” so they felt the need to gossip. “But like the majority of the packs here in the Badlands, they all want the same goal. Peace.” She finished putting the drinks on my tray and gave me a warm smile. “Did me rambling help?

  I nodded and mouthed, “Thank you,” as I went to deposit this new order to the table of human males.

  My pussy was embarrassingly wet—dripping, if I were being honest. My underwear was totally soaked, sticking to the most intimate part of me. It was uncomfortable as hell.

  The humans were pretty drunk, so loud their voices carried over the music that played overhead. I could scent their arousal, and when I bent over to set the beer glass across the table, I felt their arousal grow.

  And just as I straightened, I felt something change. I swore the ground shifted underneath me. It was so pronounced I actually reached out and gripped the edge of the table. My body hummed, positively came alive. I inhaled deeply, not sure what was wrong with me, but breathing in had me taking in the most intoxicating scent.

  The
scent of a wild, primed male filled my nose, and I had to hold everything inside me and not moan. I knew that scent despite never having smelled it before.

  My mate. He was here.

  A gasp left me, and I searched the bar, feeling him, scenting him, letting that smell move into my lungs.

  I couldn’t breathe, couldn't think.

  I felt it—him—in my blood. My heat spiked violently in me, stronger than it ever had been. My body knew the only thing that could ease it, sate this hunger, was close by. My breasts felt even fuller, my nipples aching as they stabbed painfully against my bra. My pussy tingled, my clit throbbing in time with my pulse.

  Slowly turning around, I scanned the bar but didn’t see anyone who would cause this reaction in me. I didn’t see my mate. And then the front door opened, and the biggest male I’d ever seen walked in.

  I inhaled again. Polar bear.

  He stepped inside, and I took note that everyone seemed to take note of him. He was massive, well over six-and-a-half-feet tall, muscles upon muscles stacked under his golden flesh. He wore a dark-gray T-shirt that was stretched over his broad shoulders and wide chest. The fabric looked stretched to capacity, like it could easily tear with just a flex of his bicep.

  His jeans were worn and dark, his thighs so thick they were easily double the size of mine. His boots were black, scuffed. I let my gaze slowly rake back up his body. He had this scowl on his face as he looked around. There were a few human females dancing close by, their beer sloshing over the rims of their cups as they tried to get his attention, their moves sexually suggestive. But he paid them no mind.