“Well, even though it is a lot to accept,” Elizabeth says, wiping her hands on the apron. “Learning about shifters and how they live in Bear Valley, I admit to liking the idea of Gunnar falling for a girl who spent her childhood up here. Means you might be strong enough for an Alaskan winter.”
“I always loved it here. After my grandfather died, my mother forbade me to come, said it was too dangerous, but I always imagined myself back here one day. So, when I learned about my inheritance, it all clicked into place.”
Finley is listening as she finishes peeling the ears of corn. “What did you do up here when you were a kid?” she asks, reaching for a handful of the fresh blueberries sitting in a bowl on the kitchen counter.
“Hmmm,” I say, tapping a finger to my lips. “I loved the lake out past—”
Finley cuts me off, her eyes bright. “Past Honeysuckle Lane?”
I nod, smiling at the memory.
“I love that place,” she says dreamily. “My daddy takes me fishing there sometimes.”
I beam over at her. “That’s the lake my grandfather taught me to fish on.”
Finley frowns. “I don’t have a grandpa.”
I share a look with Elizabeth whose features have softened. “Oh Fin,” Elizabeth starts. “It’s not so bad. You have a daddy who loves you to the moon and back, isn’t that right?”
Finley nods, scrunching up her nose. “He says he loves me more than peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.”
I laugh. “I’ve never heard of those, but they sound pretty good.”
“It’s the only thing my daddy can cook.”
Elizabeth clucks. “Cook? That is not called cooking. That poor man, he needs a wife just as badly as Gunnar.” Turning to me she asks. “What about you, Adelaide, you know your way around a kitchen?”
Heat rises to my cheeks as I think about cooking for Gunnar. About being his wife. It’s all so much more than I had ever considered for myself. A month ago, I had never even had a relationship.
“Not so much,” I admit. “My friend Kate, who is opening up the new cafe in the bookstore, has all the cooking skills. I can handle the basics, but not much more.”
Elizabeth laughs, then pulls out a recipe card box from a kitchen shelf and waves me over to the table. “Here,” she says, setting a hand on my arm. “Look through these. They are my mother’s recipes. All tried and true. My boys loved them all and I’ll help you learn to make any of them.”
Unexpected tears prick my eyes. The warmth that this family offers is more than I expected. They may have bear blood coursing through their veins, but there is something even stronger that keeps them together.
Love for their family.
Chapter 17
Gunnar
“She’s really your mate?” Weston asks as we drive down the mountain toward town.
“Yeah,” I say, a smile tugging at my lips. “She really is.”
He gives a hard nod, gaze focused ahead of us. I know my twin brother has had his own share of heartache. Finley’s mother may not have been his mate, but he still loved her, and what happened nearly broke him.
Some wounds a man can never really heal completely from, and I wonder if my brother ever will.
“Shit. Pull over,” Weston says, pointing left. When I don’t immediately stop, he yells. “I said pull over!”
The truck is still rolling when his door flies open, his clothes shredding as his bear is let loose. I barely see the other bear before my brother is on him, teeth and claws bared.
I’m out of the truck, ready to shift when gunfire echoes around us.
“Enough,” a deep baritone orders.
Three men I recognize come down the hill toward me, each carrying a rifle.
Grizzlies.
The Grant clan to be specific.
“You threatening us on our land?” I’m ready to shift, and I can see they are too.
Weston and the other grizzly continue to circle each other.
“We’re not here to cause trouble,” Cole Grant says, lowering his weapon.
“Bullshit. We had a grizzly attack here a couple weeks ago—”
“That’s why we’re here,” Rynne, one of the other Grant brothers, says. “We tracked him here.”
“You know who killed Lloyd?”
The three men share a look before nodding.
“We do. And we’ll take care of it.”
My bear growls inside of me. “This is our land—”
“And he’s our clan. He’ll be charged under grizzly law. Axel is—”
“Axel Grimsby?” I frown, and I feel my brother’s own shock even from the distance between us. The bear hasn’t been seen or heard from in six years, not since he was outcast from the council and even the grizzly community.
Weston approaches in bear form and I’m aware of him shifting back.
“You’re sure it’s him?” I ask.
“Yes,” Cole says. “And until we find him, none of you are safe. Especially...” He glances over at Weston. “Finley.”
Axel was mated to Finley’s mother, but the woman had never loved him, and she rejected the connection. It wasn't the first time in our history that it had happened. But the man had gone insane, especially when he found out that Weston had hooked up with her, and gotten her pregnant.
The last we’d heard, the man had settled down in Connecticut. Why would he return now?
“He wants the girl,” Cole says, answering my unspoken question. “She’s not safe here.”
“She should be with her clan, anyway,” Rynne mutters. Finley’s mother had been their sister, and there was no love lost between Weston and the Grant brothers. They blamed him for her death, even though she died of natural causes, hemorrhaging after giving birth.
“She is with her clan.” Weston rounds the truck, dressed again in a spare pair of jeans from the back.
“She’s a grizzly—”
“She’s my fucking daughter, which makes her a Kodiak. You even think about laying a finger on her—”
“We want to protect her,” Cole says, gaze steady, and I swear I see a flicker of something that looks too much like he believes he already won. “And we will.”
I glance at Weston, and I know immediately that this whole situation is a distraction.
I know that the grizzlies won’t hurt my niece, but my mate is an open target.
Adelaide, my bear roars through the distance, searching for an answer. And when I do, my heart stops in my chest, because all I sense is fear.
Chapter 18
Adelaide
Tall, dark, and menacing, the man who stands in the doorway of the kitchen has his gaze set on one thing - Finley.
The child fearlessly stares back at the man, seemingly oblivious to the danger we’re all in. But I can feel it in the tension that comes from Elizabeth, the way her breathing becomes rapid, and her fingers whiten around the knife she’d been using to cut the casserole.
“Canyon Grant, what are you doing in my kitchen, boy?” Elizabeth stares the man down, but he just sneers at her and turns his hard gaze back to Finley.
“The girl is coming with me.”
“You lay one finger on that child, and—”
“Put the knife down, Elizabeth.” He grabs her wrist when she moves toward him. “You know she doesn’t belong here. There are rules.”
I move toward Finley and place myself between her and the beast of a man.
Gunnar, I press into the void, fear echoing in my thoughts. The response I get back is feral, primal, and I know he’s already on his way.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll do what I have to in order to protect the kid,” Canyon says, his voice a low growl as he takes the knife from her hand and places it in the sink. “She’s in danger.”
“The only danger I see is standing in front of me. I won’t let you take my grandbaby.”
“You don’t have a choice. She’s a grizzly, she belongs with her own kind.”
“
She belongs here.”
A deep, sadistic laugh from outside filters through the door. “The child belongs nowhere. Her entire existence is a stain on our kind.”
“Axel,” Canyon says, his voice bristling with anger and...fear.
Deep scars zigzag across the man’s face, and like Canyon, his attention is focused on Finley. The child whimpers when he starts toward us, and wraps her arms around my waist, clinging to me.
I barely know the girl, but I know in this moment that I won’t let either of these men take her.
“Gunnar will be here soon,” I say, hoping I’m right, and he won’t be too late.
The man laughs, and I feel the air change. Canyon is starting to shift. But before he can, a gunshot blasts and the man stumbles backward, clutching the left side of his chest. Eyes wide, he falls to the floor.
Finley cries out, and Elizabeth drops beside the bleeding man, quick to press a dishtowel against the gaping wound.
“What have you done?”
My heart is pounding in my ears, and I hold Finley tighter, stepping away until my back is against the wall.
Gunnar, I cry out, but I know that there’s still too much distance between us.
Axel lifts the gun and points at Elizabeth.
“Stop!” I yell. “You don’t have to do this.”
Axel tilts his head, studying me, and there’s a glint of something unmistakable in his eyes, something eerily familiar. Then he chuckles. “I know you. The girl on the mountain. You hit me with your car.”
He’s a bear. I’m not surprised. But I am shocked by his next words.
“You’re James Spencer’s granddaughter.” Something that looks like vicious delight makes his eyes glitter. “I wondered if you’d ever come home.”
I frown at him, but at least he’s talking, and not shooting. “How do you know who I am?”
He laughs, a sound that’s filled with hatred and dark humor. “You don’t remember me, do you?” He moves toward me and traces the curve of my jaw with his gun. “You were younger then, but just as pretty.”
Images flash in my mind. His face. Younger. Unscarred. He’d worked for my grandfather the last summer I’d been here. He’d been with him that day on the mountain. How had I forgotten? He’d been just a pimply faced teenager with dark eyes that always made me shiver whenever he looked at me.
“You hunted with my grandfather,” I say, giving him the acknowledgment he craves.
Keep him talking, Gunnar presses into my head, and I know he’s getting closer, that he can sense what’s happening around me. I know he’s in bear form because only then is our connection this strong.
“Hunted...you could call it that.” Axel’s lips curl up in a sneer. “Your grandfather and I had a similar agenda.” He glances over at Elizabeth. “To finally rid this town of the Kodiaks.”
“Sadistic fucker,” Canyon groans from the floor, and Elizabeth gasps at Axel’s confession.
Disgust rushes through me, knowing the truth that my grandfather had knowingly killed Gunnar’s father, that he’d almost killed Gunnar.
“You were there that day,” I say.
“Yes. Your grandfather didn’t want anyone knowing what he’d done, so he’d turned on me.” Axel takes another menacing step toward me, and I can feel his breath on my cheek. Finley whimpers against me. “He would have killed me too. But I was faster than him. Ripped a hole in his chest before he’d been able to pull the trigger on me.”
“You...” Blurred images form in my mind. Blood. Screams. Terror. “You killed him.”
“And I would have killed you too if it wasn’t for that damn Kodiak. Two bullets in his chest, and he...” Axel drags his hand over his scarred face. “The Kolemans will pay for what they took from me. Starting with the little brat. Then I’ll finish what I should have done all those years ago.”
He grabs Finley’s arm and starts to yank her away, but I claw at his face, and he howls in pain. He pulls his hand back, but before it makes contact with me, a bear crashes through the door.
Gunnar.
Almost instantly Axel shifts, and there are two very large, ferocious bears in a very small space. Teeth bared, eyes exacting. My heart races, knowing there isn’t time to make a plan. As if hearing me, Gunnar steps in.
Get Finley and go, he demands.
I don’t hesitate. Picking the child up, I rush from the room. Elizabeth and a hobbling Canyon, follow behind me.
Crashing echoes from the kitchen and a deep growl of pain follows.
Gunnar, my heart cries out. I can feel his pain, sharp and slicing, and I know he’s hurt, that he’s losing the fight. I also know that the other bear won’t stop until my mate is dead.
Don’t you dare die on me, I force into his mind, praying I can give him strength. Then I say the three words I’ve been holding back, I love you.
The second I allow myself to think it, I know nothing has ever been more true.
Chapter 19
Gunnar
I love you.
The words infiltrate every fiber of my being, giving me the strength to fight through the pain. Pushing me to fight harder than I have in my entire life.
Through Adelaide, I heard Axel’s confession. Not only had he been working against his own kind, but he’s the one who killed James Spencer. My hands are clean of the man’s blood. All these years, the guilt has consumed me, but my animal never betrayed me, I never lost control.
The bear I’m fighting twists his head, snarling, before clamping his teeth down on my shoulder.
I growl in pain but find the strength to throw him off.
My brothers and I fought often when we were younger, both in bear and human form, and I know I’m a formidable opponent, but Axel outweighs me by a good forty pounds.
Still, I fight hard, knowing I’m fighting for more than just myself. I’m fighting for Finley, my mother, and for my mate.
A large paw slams into my face, and I stumble back, my vision monetarily going fuzzy. It’s long enough for Axel to shift back into human form and grab the gun that lies discarded on the floor.
With the gun pointed directly at my skull, Axel laughs. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to finish this.”
My bear urges me to charge, but I know his reflexes will be faster. My only fear is what he’ll do to the women in the other room after he kills me.
Addie, get out of here, now.
She doesn’t respond.
“You Kolemans are a stain on this land and when I’m through with you, I’ll hunt down each one of your brothers. Maybe I’ll have a little taste of your woman before I kill her. She’s one sweet piece of ass—”
I’m unable to contain my bear, I’m about to lunge for the man’s throat when the crack of gunfire rings in my ear. I wait for the pain, for the blackness I know is coming, but it’s Axel whose eyes go wide in shock. A red dot starts in the center of his chest and begins to spread. The gun falls from his hand just before his knees hit the tiled floor.
Momentarily stunned, I watch the man’s life leave his eyes before he does a face plant in front of me.
A small whimper behind me is what pulls my attention away.
Adelaide is still holding the gun and she seems frozen, her eyes unblinking as she stares at the lifeless body in front of her.
I shift back.
“I...I killed him.” She’s trembling, her knuckles white around the revolver.
“Give me the gun, Addie.” I pry her fingers away from the weapon and place it on the table.
When I wrap my arms around her, her knees buckle and she falls against my chest.
Weston comes rushing through the door and his face pales when he sees the body. “Jesus.”
“Go make sure Mom and Finley are okay,” I order, lifting Adelaide in my arms.
My other two brothers come through the door after Weston, all naked and fully human. Thankfully, Adelaide is still in too much shock to notice.
“Holy shit,” Bennett says. “You shot hi
m?”
There’s a code between bears that we never use human weapons against each other. Axel wasn’t playing by those rules, but then, it’s pretty obvious he never had.
“We’ll talk about it once I make sure Adelaide is okay.”
“I’m fine,” she says, reaching up to touch my face. “You’re the one who’s hurt. And I’m the one who killed him.”
Blaine raises his eyebrows at me and I know he’s impressed. But all I can think about is how traumatized my mate must be.
Put me down, she speaks into my mind, even though her body doesn’t protest.
No chance in hell, I project back.
“The grizzlies are gone, for now at least. They were scared away once the gun was shot,” Blaine says. “That’s the good news.”
“And the bad?” I ask.
“The council will be sending someone to survey the situation.” He frowns at the body on the floor. “So, we need to figure out what we’re going to do with him.”
I swallow hard and pull Adelaide tighter.
“We’ll figure it out,” Weston says, coming back into the room. “Just go take care of your mate.”
I give a nod of thanks, aware that Adelaide is slowly fading in my arms. I can feel her pulling into herself and I know I have to get to her before the adrenaline wears off and the shock pulls her into a darkness that’s hard to escape.
I go upstairs to my old bedroom and lay her on the bed.
“I killed a man,” she whispers in the dark. I lie down beside her in my small childhood bed and cup her cheek with my hand.
“You saved my life, Adelaide, and who knows how many other’s.”
“I don’t want to cause you problems with the council...I don’t want...” Tears stream down her cheeks and I use my thumb to brush them away.
I chuckle slightly. “Girl, don’t worry about the council. You did the right thing. And besides, no bear in this valley is going to mess with you once the story of tonight gets out. You’re going to be the safest woman in Bear Valley.” I lean down and kiss her nose. “Thank God, too, I couldn’t live if anything happened to you.”
Untamed Virgins (Mountain Men of Bear Valley Book 1) Page 9