“Caroline! Caroline, please! Answer me! Are you in there?”
The door flew open suddenly, just as Scott had been about to break it down in his impatience. Caroline stood there in shorts and a t-shirt, looking half confused and half frightened.
“Scott? What in the world is the matter? Are you okay?”
Scott quickly took an inventory of Caroline’s body to make sure that she wasn’t bleeding or otherwise injured. She looked fine, and she didn’t seem to be in any distress. He let out a sigh of relief, and then felt his own confusion growing.
“Of course I’m not okay. I’m worried sick about you. You haven’t answered any of my calls or texts, and when I went down to the shopping mall to find you, you were gone. Nobody wanted to tell me anything, but I did manage to threaten the woman at the booth next to yours until she told me that the owner and security guard had forced you to leave. I was worried they might have hurt you somehow, but you look alright. Are you alright?”
Caroline looked at him with a mixture of sheepishness and shame. “I’m okay, at least physically. They didn’t hurt me. But as you’ve probably already heard, they’re forcing me to leave my booth.”
“I did hear that. I would have preferred to hear it from you instead of from the lady at the honey booth, though. Why haven’t you been answering my texts? I’ve been worried sick about you.”
It was then that Scott noticed the boxes. All around Caroline’s apartment, cardboard boxes had suddenly appeared. From the looks of it, she was filling them with her few belongings. Scott did a double take as he realized that her apartment looked strangely empty. She must have been speed-packing because she’d already managed to box up almost everything she had. Granted, she hadn’t had that much in this apartment to begin with. But she had had a few things, and it hadn’t been that long since he’d seen her at the shopping center.
He felt his heart tightening up in his chest. Something wasn’t right here, and he suddenly felt a little less sure about how his plans to spend the rest of his life with Caroline were going.
“Are you leaving?” The words made his voice catch in his throat.
Caroline refused to meet his eyes, looking down at her feet as she spoke. “Yes. It’s for the best. The owner of the shopping center threatened to cause trouble for you if he saw me with you again. The last thing I want to do is make things difficult for you, and I’m going to have to leave in a few weeks, anyway. I was already short on funds, and since I won’t have any sales for the next two weeks, I definitely won’t have enough to make it through the winter.”
She finally looked up at him, jutting her chin out stubbornly as though she was daring him to disagree with her. “I was trying to get everything together to get out of here before you came. I thought it was better for both of us if we avoided a long, drawn-out goodbye.”
Scott felt as though he’d been sucker punched in the gut. “Are you serious? You think that the best way to handle this is to leave and let them win?”
“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about the fact that I’ve caused enough trouble for you, and I’m not going to cause more trouble just to prove a point. The owner asked me to promise not to hang out with you, and I refused. I’m not going to let them tell me that people from Bear Mountain aren’t worth my time. But I still think it’s better if I go. You have a life here, and I don’t want to ruin it. We’ve had our fun, but now we can chalk it up to a summer fling and both move on with our lives.”
Caroline once again looked at the floor, and for several long moments, Scott could only stare at her. Then, he burst out laughing.
Caroline looked up at him with a hurt expression. “This isn’t a joke. I do care about you, and that’s why I don’t want to stir up trouble for you. I’m trying to do right by you, and the best way I thought I could do that was to get out of here and give you back your town. Besides, I had fun with you while it lasted, but I’m not going to let some man take care of me again. I’m determined to stand on my own two feet. Since I’ve just lost my jewelry booth, that means I have to leave.”
Scott choked back his laughter, and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing to make fun of you. It’s just that there’s no possible way that I could ever move on with my life without you.”
Caroline stared at him. “Why not? Don’t get me wrong: I think what we shared was good. But we haven’t known each other very long, and I’m sure we could both eventually get over the heartache of parting ways.”
“No, we couldn’t,” Scott said. “At least, I couldn’t. You see, I believe in something known as lifemates.”
Caroline furrowed her brow. “Lifemates? You mean like a soul mate?”
“Sort of like that, but it’s a deeper concept. You’ve probably never heard of it before because, well…” Scott paused.
He didn’t want to explain to Caroline at that exact moment about the fact that he was a shifter. First, he had to explain to her why he couldn’t let her go. Then, he would tackle the fact that there were some significant differences between them. Differences like the fact that he was part bear.
“Well, anyway, it’s just a unique concept. But it’s a real concept—one that I believe in strongly. Basically, what it means is this: I believe that each one of us is born with a fated lifemate. It’s the person that we’re destined to be with, and from the moment we take our first breath, destiny is working behind the scenes to bring that person across our path. When we find them, there’s an instant attraction. I felt that attraction with you. From the first moment I saw you, something within me knew that you and I were meant to be.”
Caroline’s eyes were widening as she listened. Scott wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing, but he decided to press forward regardless.
“I believe that when you first sleep with your lifemate, the lifemate bond is formed. You feel it deep within your core, like a fiery heat.”
Caroline’s eyes widened again, and she looked like she was about to say something. But then, she clamped her mouth shut again and waited for him to continue.
“I felt that lifemate bond with you, Caroline. I suspected from the first moment I saw you that you were my lifemate, but after we slept together, I knew for sure. You are my lifemate, and I’m bonded to you. What that means is that for the rest of my life, there is only you. I can never love anyone else. I would never want to love anyone else. My biggest, most important job is to make sure that you are taken care of and protected. My life’s purpose is to love on you, and to build a life with you. I know it might sound crazy to think that you could know so soon after meeting someone that you’re meant to be with them forever. But I promise you, that’s what I feel for you. And that feeling isn’t going away. That’s the power of lifemates and of the lifemate bond. We’re fated to be together.”
Scott forced himself to stop talking to allow Caroline time to take in everything he’d just said. He didn’t know how seriously she would take this, but he had to tell her how he felt. It was true—there was no one else for him. He would do everything he could to keep her from moving away, but if she insisted on leaving then he would follow her. He would find a way to convince her to come back.
He would never stop following her, even if she tried to run away to the furthest reaches of the earth. He knew that his bear within him would never be happy unless he was with her.
Caroline stared at him in wonder. Finally, she started to speak, shaking her head almost in disbelief as she did. “That’s so strange, because when we slept together, I felt a strange warmth in my stomach. It was as though I was burning up from within, but in a good way.”
Scott’s heart leapt with hope. “That was the lifemate bond forming. It was telling you that we’re meant to be together.”
Scott hadn’t been sure whether it was possible for a human to feel the lifemate bond. He’d never asked Anna and Joel if Anna had felt it. But now, he knew. What Caroline was describing to him confirmed for him that she’d felt that bond, too. She
just hadn’t known what it was. But despite all of that, she still looked doubtful.
“It’s a nice thought,” she said slowly. “But it doesn’t change anything. Things still won’t work out between you and I. I’m still poor, and if I stay here then people in Pine Springs will still cause trouble for you. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye, which is why I was originally trying to sneak out without answering your texts or calls. But even though it’s hard, we do have to say goodbye.”
At that, Scott had had enough. His alpha instincts took over, and he stepped up to her with a loud growl.
“You listen to me,” he said as he grabbed her arm firmly in his grasp and pulled her toward him. He put his face right in her face, leaving no doubt that he was serious about what he was saying, and that he was in control. “There will be no goodbye. You are mine. When I said that there’s no one else for me for life, I meant it. This lifemate bond is serious. It’s not just some feel-good thing I’m saying. It’s real. If you leave here, I’ll follow you until I can convince you to come back. I will follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to. I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to protect me, but I don’t need protecting. What I need is you. And I know you want to stand on your own two feet. I believe you’re capable of that. What happened back there to force you to lose your last two weeks of sales wasn’t your fault. That has nothing to do with you not standing on your own two feet, and it has everything to do with the fact that the people of Pine Springs hate the people of Bear Mountain.”
“Whether or not it’s my fault, it’s the way things are. I’m not getting the sales, and so I can’t stay. I know you want to help me, but I have to do this for myself. I need you to understand that. I need to know that I’m strong on my own. Until I know that deep within myself, I’m not ready for a man.”
Scott considered this. “So, if you sell enough jewelry to have enough money to stay without my help, will you stay?”
Caroline faltered for a moment. “I still don’t want to cause you any trouble.”
“Forget about me,” Scott growled. “This is about you. You only want to stay if you have the money to stay on your own, right?”
“It’s more complicated than that. I don’t want you to—”
“Just answer the question. You only want to stay if you have the money to stay on your own. Yes, or no?”
“Yes.”
Scott nodded, then looked around at the boxes. “Do me a favor, and don’t leave yet. I think I know somewhere else you can sell your jewelry. I need to check with a guy who knows the guy in charge, but I’m pretty sure he won’t have a problem with it. It’ll be a better deal for you than that stupid shopping mall, anyway. There are a lot of places in town with higher tourist traffic than that particular shopping mall.”
“But what about you and the trouble the owner of that shopping mall was threatening to cause for you?”
Scott laughed. “How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t worry about me. I’m glad you care enough about me to not want to cause me trouble, but I promise you: this isn’t the first or the last time that someone is going to give me grief about being from Bear Mountain. I can handle it. What I can’t handle is being away from you. If selling your jewelry is what you need to stay, then I’m going to find a place for you to sell that jewelry.”
Scott could see that Caroline was about to protest again, so he put a finger up to her lips. “There’s one thing you should know about me. I get what I want. And I want you. Don’t leave yet. You’ll be wasting your time if you do, because I’ll just come find you, anyway. And I think if you stay, you’ll find that you like what I have to offer, and what Bear Mountain has to offer.”
And with that, Scott turned to leave. Caroline called after him, asking where he was going, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t have a second to waste, and she would see soon enough.
He would find her a place to sell her jewelry if he had to twist the arm of every person in Pine Springs to do so. He was going to show the owner of that shopping mall that Scott Mitchell wasn’t so easy to get rid of.
Nothing could stop a bear who was hell-bent on protecting his mate.
Chapter Ten
Scott’s boss from the Pine Springs Club raised an eyebrow when Scott showed up at his office before five o’clock in the afternoon.
“It’s much too early for you to be here for work,” the man said. “What favor are you here to ask of me?”
Scott almost smiled. He should have known that his boss would immediately know that he needed something. Scott liked the guy, despite his faults. He was a no-nonsense sort of man who didn’t like it when his time was wasted, but also didn’t waste the time of others. He preferred to get straight to the point, and Scott could appreciate that.
“I’d like to get a booth space for a friend at the Pine Springs End of Summer Fair.”
Scott’s boss raised his eyebrow even higher. “Why are you talking to me about that? I’m not the one in charge of assigning booths.”
“No, you’re not. But you know as well as I do that if I ask they’re going to say no, because I’m from Bear Mountain. You know the guy in charge of the fair. If you ask him for a favor, he won’t refuse you.”
Scott’s boss sat back to consider this. As much as Scott wanted to jump in and continue with his request, he knew enough to know that his boss was thinking, and that interrupting those thoughts would not be beneficial.
The End of Summer Fair was a Pine Springs tradition. It served as a last hurrah for those who made their money by selling things to summer tourists. Getting a booth at the fair—although not easy due to the competitive nature of booth sign-ups—all but guaranteed that a vendor would sell out of his or her wares. The fair was wildly popular, and the tourists who attended usually became drunk rather quickly. This then led to them easily opening their wallets and buying up whatever the vendors were selling. Scott knew that if he got Caroline a booth at the fair, she would sell out of the rest of her jewelry inventory. If she did that, and had money to stay in the area without relying on him for financial help, then the biggest hurdle to their relationship had been cleared.
Of course, he had no problem paying for everything for her. He had enough money, and he couldn’t think of anything better to spend it on than his lifemate. But he’d seen in Caroline’s eyes that this point was not negotiable. She wanted to do things on her own, and so he would give her what help he could by getting the booth for her. At least, he hoped he would get the booth for her. The skeptical look his boss was giving him right now was not encouraging.
“Look, Scott, I like you well enough. But I’m not in the habit of doing favors for my employees. It tends to mess up the employer-employee relationship. Besides, no matter how much I like you, there’s no way that the fair’s organizers are going to allow someone from Bear Mountain to have a booth at the fair. You know that.”
“My friend’s not from Bear Mountain. She’s from out of town and has been living in Pine Springs over the summer, selling jewelry down at one of the shopping malls. When the owner of the mall found out that she was friends with me, he kicked her out. Now she has nowhere to sell her jewelry and she hasn’t made enough money to last her through the winter.”
Scott’s boss looked at him like Scott was crazy. “If someone kicked a woman out of his shopping mall for being friends with you and then I help her get a booth at the fair, it’s going to make it look like I’m supporting people from Bear Mountain. I can’t do that. It would ruin my standing in Pine Springs.”
Scott felt his anger burning once again. He felt like he’d spent the majority of the day angry, but he had to keep that anger under control so that he could reason with his boss and get what he wanted.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit disingenuous of you to employ so many people from Bear Mountain and yet act like you’re not supporting someone from Bear Mountain?”
His boss frowned at him. “Everyone understands that I can’t run my business without good
security guards. There’s not much I can do about the fact that the only good security guards available come from Bear Mountain. But it’s a different matter entirely to go as far as insisting on a booth for someone that lost her other booth for befriending someone from Bear Mountain. Honestly, no hard feelings, but your friend should have known better. You don’t have to be in Pine Springs very long before you realize that it’s best to stay away from the Bear Mountain folks.”
“I’m so sick of this bullshit and double standard!” Scott had been trying to stay as calm as he could, but he couldn’t completely cover over his anger.
And maybe he didn’t want to. He was tired of covering over his anger. He was tired of everyone in Pine Springs treating him like he was less than a real person. None of the people in Pine Springs even knew why they hated the people of Bear Mountain. They only knew that the people of Bear Mountain were different from them. In their minds, that was enough of a reason to hate them.
Scott had had enough. When it was just his own well-being at stake, he’d been able to handle their hatred. But now, he had more to think about than just himself. He had Caroline, and he wasn’t going to sit by and look the other way while his lifemate was treated like a second-class citizen just for being open-minded enough to accept someone who was a little bit different from her.
Scott looked up at his boss, set his face in a hard line, and laid out his ultimatum. “Here’s the deal: either you help my friend get a booth at the fair, or I’m going to quit. I’m not working for someone who’s going to take all of the hard work I offer, pay me low wages, and then treat me like I’m somehow less of a person just because I live on the mountain.”
Scott’s boss looked slightly surprised and slightly amused at the same time. “You wouldn’t dare quit. You need the money. And you know that if you quit and I tell everyone else in town not to hire you, they’ll listen to me. Then you’ll be without a job, and your friend won’t be the only one hurting for money.”
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