by Zoe Chant
"You shouldn't be here," she said.
"I'm the alpha of the neighboring clan," Alec said. "We're here investigating a possible threat to a member of my clan. We mean you no harm."
"I don't mean you," the young woman said. "I mean him." She pointed to Gannon. "The one who bears Zeus's mark on his face. You have to get out of here before the alphas find you."
Axl gave Gannon a puzzled look. "Zeus?"
Gannon just shook his head, in no mood to explain right now. But the young shifter's wording struck him as odd. Alphas? As in, more than one?
"We don't want trouble," Alec said, raising his hands. "As I said, we're here on clan business."
"It doesn't matter," the young woman said sharply. "If you don't want trouble, then you need to go." When she turned her head to look back into the woods, a claiming mark was visible on her neck. She couldn't be older than twenty or so, but she was already mated.
Backwoods ways, Gannon thought, with another sharp sting of memory.
"What's your name?" he asked. She didn't seem familiar, so she must have joined his clan as someone else's mate. Although she would have been a child when he left, he had known all of his clan members well, and he was sure he'd have remembered her if she'd been living with the Black Mountain clan at that time.
"Sofia," she said, and then, tensing, "Go! Now!"
Alec shifted, dropping to all fours, and grunted imperatively at the other two. Axl shifted immediately. Gannon took longer, not only reluctant to tear himself away from the cabin where Daisy had been held prisoner, but also from his first contact with a member of his own clan in a decade.
"Do you know what happened here?" he asked her.
In the moonlight, he saw a quick flash of emotion cross her face. She did know. Gannon started to take a step forward.
A bruising blow to his leg made him stagger. Alec had swatted him with a front paw—gently, for a bear, but his entire leg ached.
Axl was already at the edge of the woods, looking back at them urgently.
Alec gave another coughing grunt. The message was clear: Get moving!
And, in the instant he'd taken his eyes off Sofia, she had vanished back into the woods. When he looked up again, the edge of the clearing was empty.
Gannon shifted. Alec broke into a rolling trot toward the woods. Gannon snatched up Daisy's backpack in his jaws before following his alpha. He looked back only once, at the cabin with its door standing open to the night.
He was going to find out who had done this, no matter what.
But now he had a terrible feeling his clan might be involved.
When they crossed the new road, Gannon stopped. Instinct was hammering at him to get out of his old clan's territory before they found him. They might already be on his trail. But he couldn't leave without knowing where this road led. Whether he'd find answers or only more questions, he didn't know, but he had a strong feeling it was all tied together: Daisy's kidnapping, this road, and his former clan.
Alec looked back from the edge of the woods and huffed at him impatiently.
Gannon shook his head. With the backpack still dangling from his jaws, he turned and trotted along the road, heading uphill.
When he looked back, he saw Alec and Axl both following him. Neither of them looked happy about it.
They didn't have far to go. The dense forest around them opened up into a vast cleared area, a swath of cut timber stretching across the flank of the mountain. Compared to the deep, cool shadows of the forest, it looked shocking and raw. The stumps of freshly cut trees gleamed in the moonlight. Heavy equipment stood still and silent, shut down for the night. A logging truck was partly loaded, with more logs stacked beside it.
Gannon's first reaction was an overwhelming sense of violation and betrayal. These were his woods, and even if he was no longer their guardian, he still felt these cut trees as acutely as if someone had carved the damage into his own flesh.
But he fought past his initial rage and disgust, because he had to think it through. He dropped the backpack so he could shift back to his human shape. He needed to look at this situation as a man, not as a bear. Unless his clan had simply moved out, there was more going on here than he could understand.
Behind him, the Tanner brothers had also shifted. "They're logging the mountain," Axl said, stunned. "When did this start?"
"Recently, it looks like." Alec turned toward Gannon. "Your clan guards this mountain, doesn't it?"
"Used to," Gannon said darkly. "Looks like someone's not doing their job."
"You know, this might be big enough that we should call a meeting," Axl said, looking anxiously at his brother. "This is a matter that all the clans should be involved with."
Alec started to answer, but he didn't get a chance.
A tremendous, eardrum-shattering roar from the edge of the woods was the only warning they got. A huge dark-colored grizzly, the biggest Gannon had ever seen, charged out of the forest and galloped toward them. It wasn't slowing down. Its hackles were up, and it looked furious.
Gannon shifted. The other bear was running full tilt toward him, and he reared back and met it standing. When its open jaws tried to rake across his belly, he swung forward and swatted it as hard as he could across the face.
Alec came in from the side, roaring a challenge. The other bear swung to meet the new attack. It didn't show any signs of breaking off the attack, which surprised Gannon. It was badly outnumbered, one against three, and even though it was enormous, the three of them were almost as large. There was no way any single bear, even a big boar like this one, could defend itself against this many attackers.
Which must mean—
Just as he realized the big bear couldn't possibly be alone, there was a roar from Axl that turned into a high-pitched squeal of pain. Not just one bear, but three more bears were ganging up on Axl. Alec broke off the attack on the first bear to turn to his brother's defense, leaving Gannon to face the singularly huge attacker on his own.
And Gannon knew who he was fighting now. He should have recognized him sooner; he just hadn't realized Trent had gotten so damned big. This was his cousin, the bear who had taken over as alpha of the Black Mountain bears when he'd been driven out.
So who were the others? He recognized another of them now—one of his other cousins, who had been a teenager when Gannon had left—but the other two were completely unfamiliar, and both were big, full-grown boar grizzlies, easily old enough to have been around when Gannon was still living among the Black Mountain bears.
The alphas, Sofia had said. Some of them must be from different clans, then. But since when did alphas from different clans travel and fight together?
Axl and Alec were being driven back toward the road. Axl was limping badly, dragging his leg. If they all stayed, it was clear that the other bears meant to kill them, and while they might be able to take a couple of their attackers with them, Gannon had no illusions that they could win. Especially since there might be reinforcements coming.
He paused only long enough to snatch up the backpack in his teeth, and then he ran. Every instinct in him railed at running from a fight, but this wasn't a fair fight. This was going to be a massacre.
Once they got moving, the other bears didn't try to pursue them. Gannon glanced back and saw all four bears standing together at the top of the road, forming a threatening line to watch them leave.
They retraced their steps until they crossed the stream, and then Alec led them straight into the woods, making a direct line for their own clan's territory, and safety. Gannon wasn't precisely sure when they crossed back into Alec's territory, but it was very obvious that Alec recognized it, because some of the tension went out of him, and he stopped looking back as often.
Alec stopped in the woods on his land, causing the others to bump into him, and shifted. "Shift back," he told Axl, the harshness in his tone belying the underlying worry. "I want to see how bad it is."
Axl shifted. "Not too bad," he grumbled. "Hurts
less as a bear. I think the bleeding's already stopping."
He was downplaying the severity of his injury and they could both see it. His leg had been badly mauled. If he'd been human, he would have needed to be rushed to a hospital, and might have lost the use of his leg. With accelerated shifter healing on his side, the blood flow was sluggish and some of the wounds were starting to knit. But he was still in bad shape.
"Bastards," Alec growled. "If they'd been on our land, I wouldn't have run. But they were in the right. We were trespassing."
Gannon shifted, and transferred Daisy's suddenly heavier-feeling backpack from his mouth to his hand. "This is my fault," he said. "If you want to exile me—"
"Shut up," Alec retorted. "We'll deal with all of this back at the ranch. We need to get my brother somewhere he can lie down." He nudged Axl. "Can you walk the rest of the way?"
"Better with four legs than two," Axl said wearily, and shifted back to his bear.
They made slow but sure progress through the woods, until they finally emerged in the pasture behind the main ranch house. Gannon was surprised to see a light shining from the window of the house. He'd thought everyone was up at the cabin.
But, no ... they'd been gone at least half the night. It was after midnight now, and there wasn't room up at the cabin for everyone to sleep. The families must have dispersed to their separate homes.
Does that mean Daisy is undefended? He felt an overwhelming surge of need to go to her and make sure she was all right.
But first he had to help Alec get Axl back to the house. Axl was starting to stagger, his bear reeling first one way, then the other. One of them walked on each side of him, nudging him back to a straight course and tipping him upright when he started to fall over.
They crossed the open, moonlit expanse of the pasture. As they came upon the back door of the ranch house, it opened, spilling lamplight into the night. Tara was framed in the light, her red hair haloed.
"What happened?" she cried, seeing Axl staggering and covered with blood. Shocked, she hurried toward him.
"Tara!" a worried voice shouted, and Daisy appeared behind her, looking frantic. "Tara, what are you doing? What's the matter with you? Those are bears!"
Up to that point, all Gannon had been thinking about was getting Axl back to the house, and getting back to his mate.
He'd completely forgotten that Daisy didn't know he was a bear.
Chapter Seven
Daisy had truly enjoyed her evening with Gannon's friends, even if Gannon and some of the others had decided to leave halfway through. She decided not to worry about it if she could help it. None of the others seemed concerned, so she assumed that it must be something to do with the ranch.
When the party began to break up for the night, the three of them still weren't back. Daisy glanced at the cabin, finding herself uncomfortable at the idea of spending the night there by herself, without Gannon around.
"Do you want to come down to the ranch house tonight?" Charmian asked, as if reading her mind. "I bet you could really use a proper shower. And you can look through the attic for more things to wear. We've got tons of old clothes from back when Alec's mother and aunt lived on the ranch."
"I'd love to." She finally asked the question she'd been wanting to ask all night. "Where did Gannon go? And Alec and Axl too."
"Ranch business," Charmian said with a sigh. "Get used to it, honey. It's the problem with falling in love with a rancher, especially these particular ranchers. Vanishing at all hours is just something that goes with the territory."
"You don't think he'll worry if he comes back and I'm gone?"
"If he does, he'd better come down and check the main house before he goes out of his mind about it," Saffron said, overhearing. "If those men think we're going to leave you up here all alone, they've got another think coming."
As Daisy climbed up into the passenger seat of Cody's truck, she couldn't help thinking about Charmian's earlier words. Falling in love. Is that what's happening to me? she wondered, touching her lips and feeling the press of Gannon's kisses against them. Is this love?
She didn't have anything to compare it to. She couldn't remember if she'd been in love before. But love hardly seemed like a big enough word to capture the magnitude of what she felt. It was as if she'd been missing half her soul, and with Gannon in her life, she was finally complete.
She looked up at the moon as Cody drove slowly down the rough road, easing the truck over the ruts. I hope you're okay out there, Gannon. Whatever you're doing.
She hadn't seen the main part of the ranch yet. It was bigger than she'd expected, but then, she supposed it would have to be, if this many people lived here. A circle of houses formed a ring around a large, central yard. As Cody drove into the yard, he pointed to the different buildings. "That's the main ranch house, where Alec and Charmian live. There's Tara and Axl's house across the yard, and the pretty little suburban-looking place next to it is Remy and Saffron's new place. We just got done building it this year, and we're still doing finish work on the inside."
"Where do you live?" Daisy asked.
Cody smiled as he parked in front of the big house. "That trailer." She'd almost overlooked it; the trailer was parked next to a couple of long, metal-roofed buildings that were probably barns. "Up until this spring, I was living in the main house with Alec, but when Charmian moved in, I moved into the trailer that Remy and Saffron were living in before they built their house. I figured a new couple doesn't need a bachelor getting underfoot."
"That doesn't seem very fair to you," Daisy said, her soft heart touched.
Cody flashed one of his quick, easy grins. "I don't mind. Tell you the truth, it's nice to finally have my own place, even if it's small. I roomed with my brother Remy for a long time, then with Alec, so it's a nice change to be able to come clomping in at two in the morning after a rough calving and not have to worry about waking anyone up."
Still, she got the feeling that he maybe did feel a little left out. It must be weird to have everyone else paired up on the ranch when he hadn't found anyone yet.
Impulsively, she put out her hand and touched his wrist. "You're going to find the perfect girl one of these days," she said, smiling. "You'll bring her back to the ranch and she'll absolutely love your trailer. I just know it."
Cody gave her a gentle smile. "I hope you're right. And for what it's worth, none of us expected Gannon to find his mate, but now that it looks like he has, we're all happy that it's you."
"But you don't even know me," Daisy protested, even while she was thinking, Mate? What a strange, old-fashioned word. "I mean, I don't know me either. For all you know, I could be a ... a serial killer, or a lawyer, or something."
Cody laughed. "Well, let us know when you figure it out. But honestly, Daisy, here's the big secret." He shut off the truck's engine, and in the sudden silence, he said, "It doesn't matter. Who you were, what you were before you came here—it really doesn't matter to us. That's the thing about the Circle B ranch. Half the people living here now are runaways who came to the ranch because they had nowhere else to go. Gannon was the first person we took in, and it looks like you're the latest, but the important thing is that you're here now, and you'll always have a place here, no matter what we find out about you."
Daisy didn't know what to say. Bursting into tears in Cody's truck would probably be a lousy way to pay him back for welcoming her, but she wasn't prepared for her rush of overwhelming emotion at the unconditional acceptance.
Lots of people went through their lives never knowing where they belonged. She'd only been living here for less than a day, but she already knew that she'd found her place, and her people.
"Hey!" Charmian called from the doorway of the big house. "Come on up here! I've got the bath things all laid out, so just let me show you to the guest bedroom and you can get settled—Bucket, no, get back here!"
A small scruffball shot past her legs and down the stairs. Daisy, who was just climbing down from
the passenger's side of the truck, yelped involuntarily as a friendly little tongue swiped at her ankle under the edge of her borrowed skirt.
"That's Bucket, my dog," Charmian sighed. "He's friendly, don't worry."
Daisy bent down to hold her fingers for the inspection of the vigorously wagging furball. After another few swipes of his tongue, and an enthusiastic greeting for Cody, the dog dashed off.
"Do you want me to try to catch him?" Daisy asked.
"No, he'll be fine. He'll probably spend the night in the barn. He's been doing that lately, hanging out with the farm dogs."
"And did you say his name is ... Bucket?" Daisy asked, thinking she must have misheard.
"Yes. As a puppy, he was left at my dad's veterinary office, in a bucket. Anyway, come on in and get cleaned up."
The shower felt heavenly. As Charmian had suggested back at the cabin, getting clean made Daisy feel a lot better about herself, more comfortable in her own skin. As she showered, she couldn't help thinking of Gannon's big, sure hands on her body earlier. The way he'd touched her, like she was something precious ... but he definitely didn't treat her like she was breakable. She smiled, tipping her head back and letting the water run down her body, shivering with the memory of pleasure.
Clean clothes were spread out on the guest bed. She put on an old-fashioned dress with a lilac print. The dress with its tight bodice and long skirt made her feel a little like she was playing dress-up, but it also suited the ranch house, with its heavy low-beamed ceiling and the massive pieces of antique furniture. Built to accommodate big men, she thought.
She came out to find Tara and Charmian playing cards in the living room. "Didn't feel like going home to an empty house, so I figured I'd sit up with you girls," Tara explained. "That's the nice thing about living right across the yard. There's company anytime you want it, and privacy if you don't. Do you play cards, Daisy?"
"I have no idea," Daisy admitted.