by J. K Harper
She sat up and cuddled the hot mug between her hands like it was the elixir of life. After a long sip, she sighed with pleasure. Then her face got serious. “So. How are they doing?”
Cortez knew who she meant. The enemy shifters who'd attacked. The outcasts. He took a deep breath before going into it. She didn't know the half of the realities of the shifter world yet. This was quite an introduction. “Some of them took off before we could get them. They're outcasts, they have no legitimate clan or pack, so they just join up in these really messed up groups and basically make trouble. They're the criminals and thieves of our society, usually. They run drugs, operate the worst of the illegal underground fight rings, traffic women—”
She gasped at that, sloshing some of her coffee. He stroked her arm, soothing, and nodded grimly. “I know. It's despicable. Some of them are actually decent, end up finding a clan that will take them in, and they straighten out their lives. Some of them never belonged in that life, but they were born to parents who lived that way so they never had a chance to know how things could be different. Better. But the ones who are decent, who just got caught up in it, sometimes find their way out. They join clans like ours, if they can prove they'll pull their weight and be loyal. Or at least just live in a town like Deep Hollow, even if they don't affiliate with a bear clan or wolf pack, and just be good residents and not cause trouble. But I'm betting,” he added grimly, “the ones who got away will never be good citizens anywhere.”
Her eyes troubled, Haley slowly said, “And the ones that were caught? What happens to them?”
He shrugged. “Unless they can prove they just got mixed up with a bad crowd and they don't want to run that way anymore, they're banned from Silvertip territory. The wolves with them, they call them rogue wolves, are also banned from the wolf pack territories near us. Mountain lions don't have tight bonds the way bears and wolves do, they tend to be more solitary, but we welcome them in town if they want to be here and won't cause trouble.”
“Unlike the ones who turned and took in him.” She didn't have to say the name of her ex for Cortez to know who she meant.
Cortez sighed. “That lion shifter, Marisa or whatever, it sounds like she was just following the leader’s orders. He's an asshat, according to her. He got away. But she might end up staying here. Abby got all mother hen with her when she realized the girl's pretty messed up and basically was a pawn for the leader and his cronies. As for your ex,” Cortez's lip curled again in anger, “he was already nuts. But he went totally ballistic because of how he was turned.”
Haley stared at him. He hadn't told her this part yet, since she'd had enough to deal with just being a new bear shifter along with everything else. He'd spent the last week with her since the battle just showing her how to control her bear.
He sighed. “They weren't mates. She was forced to turn him, even though she thought she loved him. But he was just using her too.”
His beautiful, kind mate made such a sound of compassion that his heart thumped. She was merciful, and sweet. He probably had a lot to learn from her in that department. “Humans that aren't turned by a shifter who's their mate,” he went on, “can have really bad reactions. He had no constraints on him, no inhibitions, and no ties to a mate to keep him grounded while he got used to having an animal side. It's very easy for someone turned like that to go totally mad, eventually becoming completely feral. They can be extremely dangerous. Sounds like the outcast leader wanted that. He's got some sort of group of crazy shifters who do a ton of really bad shit.”
Haley shuddered. “That's so awful,” she whispered. “I had no idea the shifter world could be this brutal. Pix never mentioned this kind of stuff.”
He shrugged. “Dragons are really different. They've got their own shit, but not like most other shifters. Anyway.” He kissed the top of her head. “That slave driver, Quentin, called me into the lodge. I gotta head up there and see what bee is in his bonnet now. You sleep in more. You deserve it.”
As if to punctuate his point, another huge yawn gripped her. He laughed, then so did she. “Love you, babe,” he whispered, leaning in for a proper kiss. “I'll be back soon.”
“Mm-kay,” she murmured, already settling back into the pillows. “Love you too.”
He held the image of her sleeping securely in his bed as he left and drove up to the lodge. Once he got there, Cortez strode into Quentin's office like he was storming the castle. Despite his casual face about it to Haley, he wasn't sure why the hell his brother had called him up here early in the morning. He hadn't been back at work since the attack, spending his time with Haley. He was scheduled to go back to work tomorrow. But whatever this was about, he'd face it.
His brother sat at his desk, frowning at a computer screen. He stood up when Cortez came in, walking around to the front of his desk and leaning on it. A long moment passed in silence as each sized the other up.
Finally, Quentin tossed something at Cortez. He reached out by reflex and caught it. Huh. One of the lodge's cell phones. He gave his brother a questioning look.
“I know yours got destroyed in the snow during the fight,” Quentin said. “This one's temporary until you can get a new one.”
That was weird. Cortez often had lost or trashed phones by being careless with them. Quentin sure as hell had never offered him a loaner before. But he nodded anyway. It had been a pain in the ass the last few days since the fight without a phone.
“People have been texting your old phone, you know,” Quentin added. “When they couldn’t reach you, some of them finally got ahold of me instead and asked me to pass information on to you.”
“What kind of information?”
“The kind,” his brother said in an even tone, “that you want to hear. The kind you need to hear.”
Cortez narrowed his eyes. That didn't sound good. But Quentin’s next words rocked him.
“Tim woke up.” Quentin looked at him with a steady gaze as he spoke. “He came out of his coma, and he's going to be okay. Still has a really long road to recovery, but he will actually recover. And Scott is going triple-time on his exercises with his prosthetic leg. Says he's moving back here as soon as he has a better handle on it, and he might even try to join up with the SAR team again. They're going to be fine, Cortez.” Quentin's voice was firm. “They're going to be fine.”
Another silence. Cortez wrestled with the enormous feelings surging inside him. Shock. Joy. Relief. Then, resolve. His vulnerable human friends might have survived his carelessness, but he still had to face his own shortcomings.
He looked his brother right in the eye. "Okay. That's good. It's fucking fantastic. But right now, you need to let me have it. I fucked up here at work. I know I did, and I own it. This is a business, not a charity program for family. Discipline me like you would any employee. That's why I'm here, right?"
Quentin looked at him for a long moment, hands shoved in his back pockets, his mouth twisted one way and his eyebrows twisted the other. Skeptical. Finally, he shook his head. "Cortez. Tell me why you think you fucked up. Why you think you need disciplinary action."
Cortez stood straight, unmoving. "Because some of those reviews and complaints were legitimate. I did have an attitude sometimes, even though I tried to cover it up. Sometimes I was a little short with some of the guests. I didn't give the tours my all. I was," he paused for a moment. Shit, he hated having to go deep like this with his own brother. Then again, this was his own brother. If he didn't go deep with his family, who else? "I was stuck in my head ever since the avalanche. I was letting what happened hold me back. I didn't really take the guests out to have more than easy-peasy casual fun, because I was afraid I'd lead them into danger and they'd get hurt. I was distant with them because I didn't want to really get to know anyone else ever since the accident."
Then he admitted the hardest thing. "I was scared. I was scared of hurting someone else, then getting hurt myself. Okay. There you have it. That's it."
He punched out the last
words fast, folding his arms over his chest. He knew he was assuming a defensive pose, but dammit, he'd just given as much as he could. He could share things like this with Haley, but she was also the most precious, incredible, and overall best thing that had ever happened to him. Getting all emotional with another guy, even family, went against the man code or something.
To his surprise, a slow smile rolled over Quentin's face. His brother nodded. He seemed satisfied. "Yeah, I know all that. And I knew you knew it too. But some of the complaints were total bullshit, Cortez. They admitted to it, those shitbag outcasts. Haley's ex and the leader of the outcasts were behind it. Haley's ex figured out she was here and that she was with you. So he got some of the cats to go on tours with you, then make fake complaints.” Quentin's eyes were dark with anger. “You know how outcasts are. They like to fuck with the rest of us if they can, because they're just like that. Rejects, angry, hopeless. Probably jealous that we have real clan, real family, when they don't.”
Cortez felt hot anger seep through him again. If he hadn't already killed that psycho prick ex of Haley's, he'd happily kill him all over again right now.
Quentin shook his head. “We forced them to remove their complaints from all the online sites. That's done. So. Moving on.” He cleared his throat, his eyes suddenly gleaming. “I didn't call you up here for disciplinary action, you big lug."
Now it was Cortez's turn to give his brother the raised eyebrow look. "No? Then what the hell was so important that you made me come all the way up here early in the morning, dragging me out of bed with my girl?"
Quentin smiled again. "She is that, isn't she. Your girl?"
Cortez nodded instantly. "Hell yeah. My girl, and my mate. Also the most fucking badass newly turned bear shifter I've ever seen."
“She is that too. Glad to have her. I watched her help you figure out your stuff and change, Cortez. She brought you back from that dark. And," Quentin eyed him with a shrewd look, "she helped you calm your bear just when you were starting to really struggle."
Cortez stared. "I didn't think anyone knew."
His brother snorted. "We knew. We were keeping an eye on you. And because I knew you were struggling, I was pushing you so much to do a better job.” He paused. “I was wrong about that."
Cortez unfolded his arms. "Wait a minute. Run that by me again? Let me turn on the record button on my new phone so I can have proof that you just said you were wrong about something."
"Ah, shut it." But Quentin was still smiling. “The reason I dragged you out of bed with your new mate is because the Silvertip Lodge has a formal offer for you."
"A say what now?” The way his brother said the Silvertip Lodge, Cortez immediately knew it was something cleared with the owners of the lodge: Their vacationing parents.
“A formal offer.” Quentin’s voice became businesslike. “We want you to be the director of activities. You'll keep your Tooth 'n Claw tours. Money that comes in from it is yours. But we want you to set things up specifically for lodge clients. Multi-day trips, specialty outings, whatever they want. The plan is to expand on what the lodge is offering, while still keeping the down-home feel that everyone likes so much. You're the best man for the job, Cortez." Quentin blew a breath out of the side of his mouth. "You would've been offered a position a long time ago, but you're always so damn independent. You didn't really want to be involved full-time. But this is your business too, brother. It's family. So.” Quentin gave him a querying look. “Full-time, benefits, salary. Everyone really wants you to be a bigger part of it. If that's what you want."
Cortez stayed still for a long time, working his jaw as he digested what Quentin had said. Full-time. He'd be busy. Really busy. He'd be working a lot. Long, hard hours. But he'd be working while having fun, taking other people out to have fun. He'd have enough money to finish the cabin in style. To treat Haley like she deserved. Not that she needed his help, of course. He knew her book was gonna kick ass and she was gonna make good money. But he wanted to bring something real to the table. And now he could.
This offer wasn't an afterthought or a condolence gift. No, it was the real deal. The only people ever hired at the lodge were those who could really pull their weight. Family was involved only if they really wanted to and if they really proved they would work hard.
Was he really ready for this? Was this what he wanted?
Softly, as if he could sense the battle going on in his brother's mind, Quentin said, "Cortez. You're a fighter, not a fuckup. You've never been a fuckup. You just weren't sure what you wanted. But you always come out on the right side. You're a decent person. You're the real deal, Cortez Walker, and I'm fucking proud to call you my brother."
Quentin reached over and pulled him into a hug, holding him tight for a long minute. Cortez furiously blinked his eyes against the prickling there. Dammit. He mumbled against his brother's shoulder, "Thank you." Then he stepped back and cleared his throat. "Yes, I’ll take that job. I'll be the best activities director the lodge has ever had."
Quentin tried to shove down a grin but didn't quite manage. “We’ve never had an activities director at the lodge."
"See? Then I'll definitely be the best one ever.”
First Quentin, then Cortez busted up laughing. They laughed for a long time, and it felt pretty damned good.
Okay. This was his home, and now this was his new role in it. It felt awesome. It'd be a new chapter in his life, but with his sexy, sweet mate at his side and his clan at his back, it was going to be a good one.
He was damn well going to make sure of it, every kickass day of the rest of his life.
Epilogue
Haley thought her face might break from smiling so much, but she couldn't help it. Aside from sex with Cortez (super awesome), knowing that he was the most phenomenal man in the world (totally, definitely phenomenal), the fact that he was hers (freaking amazing), and after being turned into a bear shifter so she now was completely strong and badass and fearless (holy wow amazeballs amazing), this moment right now was by far the most magical thing that had ever happened to her in her life.
A nighttime sleigh ride under the big starry sky with her mate.
The bells softly jingled in the night air, the sleigh runners making a soft swishing noise as they slipped through the snow. Cortez gently clucked to the horses, lifting one of the long leather reins and gently slapping it. Overhead, the dark sky dazzled with a bazillion bright stars on this moonless, totally clear night. She snuggled down deeper under the blanket and into Cortez's side.
"It's so dark. Can they see well enough? Do they know where they're going?"
He chuckled. "We run this track often enough. They know exactly where they are. Plus we've got just enough light so they can see what they need to, and me too." Pretty lights were attached on either side of the sleigh, beaming ahead in front of the horses and down to the sides.
"This is the most magical thing in the world." Haley whispered the words, knowing Cortez could hear them no matter how low her voice, not wanting to break the enchanting quiet more than she had to.
He leaned over to brush a kiss on top of her bare head. Another awesome thing about being a bear shifter was that she didn't get as cold anymore. She didn’t have to wear a hat in this weather if she didn’t want to. While it wasn't exactly like she could wear a bikini out here, she wasn't as completely bundled up as she would've been back when she was human.
"Gee up there, King Lear. Let's go now, Paxton." Cortez clucked to the horses. They smoothly picked up the pace, their hooves trotting quietly on the snow, occasional snorts decorating the air. Haley felt so happy she thought she might burst. This night was perfect, this place was perfect, this man was perfect, and everything in her life had turned around a hundred and eighty degrees like a beautiful miracle. "Would you pinch me?"
Cortez gave her a startled look, his face half visible in the sleigh's lights and the starlight. "Come again? Is this some kind of foreplay that you haven't told me about yet? Cuz I'm
in if it is, but tell me more." He grinned.
She laughed and shook her head. "No. I just want to make sure I'm not dreaming. That this is really real."
"Haley, beautiful woman. This is as real as it gets." His voice wrapped around her, as warm and cozy as the blanket. She sighed in contentment, snuggling in closer to him.
“Are you going to tell me where you're taking me this time?" Cortez had been showing her all his favorite spots on the mountain since they first met. But this was the first time they'd managed to go on a sleigh ride. She'd had no idea it could be done at night. He said it was a very special trip, reserved only for the most special people. Which meant he was probably cheeseballing her, but she liked the thought of it anyway.
"Almost there. I promise you'll like it."
"I believe you," she said softly.
He was right. In just a few more minutes, they passed around the edge of the trees. The horses trotted up a gentle hill. Cortez pulled them up at the top, which was flattened. Spread out in front of them was the most stunning view of Deep Hollow at night. Haley gasped. It was so beautiful, the little town tucked down there in the darkness, lights twinkling cheerfully, surrounded by these big mountains. "Home," she murmured, overwhelmed by that certain truth.
"Yeah. Our home." Pride rang through his voice.
Haley was officially still housesitting, and still would be until the elder Walkers returned later this year, but Cortez spent most nights with her. Sometimes she stayed at his little place in town, but she knew his cabin would be done sooner than later. He'd started working feverishly on it, with a renewed vigor that she knew came from everything. From his friends in the accident being able to move on with their lives, from her being turned into a bear shifter, from the entire community pulling together even more closely after the trauma of her insane ex and the dangerous, misguided shifters he'd gotten himself involved with and brought to their peaceful town.