Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume II)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Raven nodded. Glad. Very glad. Nothing could be better.

  Azer frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it and started to turn away. He compressed his lips. One shoulder hitched up and came down. Then, just before he walked away, he whirled around, grabbed her by the neck, and kissed her hard. He murmured under his breath, “I love you.”

  Raven jerked out of her trance. Her eyes popped open. He kissed her! He was right here. He was real, and he was kissing her. He moved her head back to look into his eyes. She stared up at him. She devoured him with her eyes. He was Azer. He was that man she loved so much.

  Life flowed into her from his lips and his skin and his breath. Her heart cracked open. It hurt worse than anything, but at least she could feel something again. She could feel him big and firm and warm right in front of her.

  His fingers uncurled from her neck. He started to let go. Raven’s arms leapt at him. She grabbed him with all her strength. She kissed him and fought to get him back. He gasped in surprise. The next minute, they attacked each other in desperate hunger. They couldn’t get their hands on each other fast enough. He pushed her hair back and cupped her head. His tongue dabbed around hers to find ever corner of her mouth.

  She squeezed his shoulders through his jacket. She slipped her arms inside his clothes to wrap herself around his chest. She breathed between kisses, “Azer…”

  He held her close. They would never let each other go.

  Somehow the glaring truth found its way into her mind. He was really here. She really was holding him. She was safe as long as he was with her. “You’re here. You’re really here.”

  He clutched her head against his shoulder. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I couldn’t leave you behind.”

  She raised her head to look at him. How beautiful his precious face was! She could never get enough of drinking him in with her eyes. “What about your family? What about telling them about the NightShade?”

  He attacked her mouth one more time. “Forget about them. I’m here.”

  Now that she worked herself out of her depression, crystal clarity flooded her mind. “We can’t forget them. You’re here, but you won’t stay here. You can’t.”

  He hissed his breath through his teeth to get at her lips. “Come with me. We can’t live without each other. Come home with me. We’ll make it work somehow.”

  She shook her head, but she couldn’t leave his sheltering arms. “We’ve been through this a hundred times. Neither of us can live in the other’s world. You know that.”

  He froze, but he didn’t release her. “Don’t say that.”

  She straightened up and faced him. Whatever happened, she had to face this head on. No more hiding. No more running away or planning her own death. “I have to say it. We might love each other. We might need each other, but we can’t be together. It’s just as hopeless now as when you first left.”

  A curious glint came into his eyes. The desperate agony gave way to determination. “Run away with me. We can run away somewhere no one knows anything about Bruins and Midnight.”

  Raven’s jaw dropped. “You can’t mean that. We could be outcast. We would never see our families again.”

  He didn’t waver. “I can live with that. Can you?”

  Raven studied him. What was this new sensation coursing through her? What was this new excitement bubbling out of her soul? She’d been dead to the world so long she didn’t recognize herself.

  All at once, that forgotten energy burst out of her in crazy laughter. She threw her head back and cackled to the skies. “Yes! Yes, Azer! I can live with it.”

  He frowned at her reaction. “Are you sure? You won’t be Midnight anymore and I won’t be a Bruin anymore. We’ll just be two people, living our lives. No one will know us. We won’t be special or interesting. We’ll never be able to shift. If the humans ever found out about us, they would kill us for sure.”

  She threw her arms around him. She couldn’t stop the laughter roiling out of her. “I don’t want to be Midnight anymore. I just want you. I don’t care what I am. I only want to belong to you. Come on. Let’s go. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  He kissed her. “I don’t want to be Bruin anymore, either. I can’t go back.”

  Raven paused. “Don’t you want to stop by Bruins’ Peak? Your family won’t know where you are, and you won’t be able to tell them about the NightShade.”

  “I’ll send them a letter from town. What about you? You better tell Riley and Melody where you went. You can’t just disappear into the woods and not come back.”

  Raven shook her head. “They already think I’m a suicide waiting to happen. If I don’t come back, they’ll think I’m dead. They won’t come looking for me the way you came looking for Melody.”

  Azer frowned. “I don’t like making them think that.”

  She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “I’m already dead.” She raised her arms to the sky and howled in hysterical laughter. “I’m free!”

  He nodded. The weight of concern lifted off his shoulders. “All right. Let’s go.”

  He took her hand, and they set off through the woods. They strolled through the heavy trees for a while. Raven couldn’t stop smiling at Azer. He was her mate. He was tall and strong and impossibly sexy. They belonged together. They were together—forever. The farther they walked, the more his face softened until he finally smiled back at her. He squeezed her hand and pecked her on the cheek.

  The trees parted, and a shaft of sunshine split the shade. It hit Raven in the face, and she closed her eyes to the blessed warmth. A sudden shout split the silence. Raven yanked her hand out of Azer’s grip and darted forward. She cast a quick grin over her shoulder and set off running through the forest.

  Azer bared his teeth and raced after her. Raven turned her feet away from Midnight Moraine. Drunken happiness swam in her head. She would never set foot on the Moraine again. She never would have believed she could be so happy to leave behind this place she always called home.

  The horrible past, the blood and tears and pain, remained behind her forever. She traversed out of familiar territory into forest she never ran before. She left her own world far behind, and Azer followed, into a distant world where no one would ever see them again.

  The End.

  Book 9: Ebony

  Sarah J. Stone

  Chapter 1

  Ebony and Onyx Archer paused outside Wyatt Faulkner’s cabin on Midnight Moraine. Ebony smoothed her shiny black hair. “Are you ready for this?”

  Onyx rubbed her finger over her teeth and swept her long hair over her shoulders. “Do I look all right?”

  “You look fine,” Ebony replied. “Let’s go.”

  They strode up the walk and through the front door, but they only got two steps inside when they found Hunter and Jordan Faulkner standing in their living room with their father Wyatt. Riley Faulkner and Melody Mackenzie stood behind the kitchen counter. Their voices echoed through the living room.

  “Where is she?” Wyatt asked. “That’s what I want to know. She didn’t vanish off the face of the earth.”

  “No one knows where she is,” Riley replied. “That’s the problem.”

  “She must be dead,” Wyatt remarked. “She wouldn’t leave us like this, without a word to anybody. We’re her family, after all.”

  “Well, we can’t just stand around with our hands in our pockets,” Hunter countered. “Someone has got to keep this ship afloat.”

  “Yeah?” Riley asked. “Like who?”

  “I don’t know,” Hunter replied. “How hard can it be?”

  “I’ve told you a dozen times,” Riley shot back. “It’s not hard at all. I’ve done all the hard work for you. You just have to get out there and do it.”

  “If we don’t get another bear soon,” Wyatt told them, “our bear-baiting operation is dead in the water.”

  “It’s already dead in the water,” Jordan chimed in. “We haven’t had a bear sinc
e that cub escaped, and we won’t get another one until someone goes out and gets it.”

  “So, what’s stopping you?” Riley asked. “You’re young and strong. If it’s that important to you, go get one.”

  “I ain’t going after any smelly old bear,” Jordan replied. “That’s your job.”

  Riley held up both hands. “I told you I’m out of it. I won’t get your bears for you. I won’t even sell popcorn in the stands. I’ll have nothing to do with this bear-baiting operation again. It’s hard enough for me to look Melody in the eye after what I’ve done, much less sleep with her.”

  Wyatt rounded on his grown sons. “If you guys don’t get out there soon, we’re finished. Do you understand that? No more money. No more fancy cars. It’s all gone.”

  “Can’t someone else go?” Hunter asked.

  Wyatt snorted. “Who do you propose to volunteer for a job you aren’t willing to do yourself?”

  Hunter fidgeted from foot to foot. “What about Kingston Dunn?”

  “No way,” Jordan replied. “He doesn’t even know how to fire a gun, much less hike halfway to kingdom come to capture a raging bear.”

  Ebony and Onyx hung back and listened to the debate flying back and forth.

  Wyatt shook his head. “You boys are too comfortable. I blame myself for this. You’ve been sitting around in here in the lap of luxury for too long. Now, you’re soft and weak. That’s gotta change.”

  Jordan shrugged. “Aw, Pop. Give us a break.”

  Wyatt waved his hand toward Ebony and Onyx. “You don’t want to leave your comfortable life with your new girlfriends. I should have known nothing good could come from this.”

  Riley moved forward. “Look, guys. It’s easy. All you have to do is go up to Renegade Ridge and check the traps I set. You’re bound to get a bear up there.”

  Melody made a face. “How can you even suggest that? When are you people going to learn?”

  “Don’t worry about it, baby,” Riley replied. “These guys will never set foot on Renegade Ridge or anywhere else. Look at them. They’re not hunters like me. They’re pansies.”

  Jordan puffed out his shoulders. “Who are you calling pansies?”

  “I’m calling you pansies, and I’ll say it to anybody else, too. All you do is point the finger and say somebody else should go the hard yards of catching bears so the rest of you can collect the cash. That’s what you did with me, and you’ll keep doing it now that I’ve quit. None of you will budge. That’s why Raven and I had to do everything for you. You’re not the only ones. You can wave a fat paycheck in front of any man on this mountain, and they still won’t stick their necks out.”

  “It’s not just the question of getting another bear,” Hunter replied. “We’ve got a much bigger problem to solve before we can even think about holding another ring.”

  “What’s that?”

  “No one can access Raven’s bank accounts. They’re all encrypted with multiple layers of security. She developed these systems herself, and she didn’t tell anybody the access codes before she left. We’ve got Ryker Powers trying to decipher her spreadsheets. You know what a whiz he is, and not even he can figure them out. No one can take over for her, and we have no operational bank accounts until we crack her codes.”

  “If Raven is dead,” Wyatt suggested, “we could get the bank to assign the accounts to someone else.”

  Hunter shook his head. “We tried that. Raven’s father Diego tried to get access to her personal bank account. It’s the biggest and most heavily encrypted of them all. She squirreled away millions without anybody finding out about it, and impenetrable codes protect the account.”

  “Can’t the bank crack her codes?”

  “They won’t do it without some evidence that Raven really is dead, and we don’t have that. And do you know the worst part? You won’t believe this. The bank says they have proof Raven accessed the accounts since she disappeared three weeks ago. She used her own personal security codes and withdrew a bunch of money, but the bank won’t tell us where she was when she did it.”

  A gasp interrupted them, and the men faced Melody. A bright grin spread across her face to replace the tense frown she usually wore. “Don’t you see what this means? It means Raven is still alive. She’s out there spending her hard-earned profits where you can’t reach her.”

  Wyatt glared at her. “What’s so great about that?”

  Riley rubbed his chin. “Well, I’ll be whipped. I thought she knocked herself off.”

  Melody let out a whoop. “I knew it! I always knew she was alive. She must be with Azer somewhere. He must have come back, and they ran off together.”

  Riley held up his hand. “Hold on, darling. Don’t jump to conclusions.”

  “None of that means anything if we can’t get the ring going again,” Hunter told them. “Without Riley catching the bears and Raven running the numbers, we’ve got nothing.”

  The others hemmed and hawed. Ebony and Onyx saw their opening. Ebony skirted the living room where Jordan could see her. She raised her eyebrows and pointed her chin down the hall.

  Jordan’s face brightened and he nodded. He touched his brother’s arm and jerked his head toward the girls standing in the doorway. Their eyes lit up, and Hunter cracked a grin.

  Ebony and Onyx slunk around behind Wyatt toward the hall behind the living room. Wyatt was too busy talking to Riley to notice them. The girls ducked out of sight. A moment later, Jordan and Hunter sauntered down the hall after them. All four young people dove into the first bedroom, and Hunter shut the door behind them.

  Jordan collapsed into an easy chair by the window, and Hunter spread his lean body on the bed. He took hold of Ebony’s wrist and dragged her down next to him. “I’ve been waiting for this all day.”

  Onyx moved in on Jordan. She leaned over him and tilted the chair back to kiss him. Her hair swept forward, and she purred under her breath. The chair creaked, and Jordan shot forward. He pushed Onyx aside and hooked his arm around Ebony’s waist. “This is what I want. Come here, Ebony. You’re mine.”

  He tugged Ebony down into his lap. He craned his head back to kiss her, and she softened into his arms. He stroked his big hands up and down her bare arm to her shoulder. “Oh, yeah. That’s just what I want. You know you love it, baby.”

  Onyx smacked her lips and set her hand on her hip. “What the crap is this monkeyshine? Get away from him, whore. He’s mine.”

  Ebony glanced up at her sister, but she could hardly get the words out through her panting lips. Jordan nuzzled into her neck and gave her a love bite just below the ear. She hugged his head into her neck, and her chest surged up to touch him. “Man, he is so hot! You know I can’t get enough of this man.”

  Hunter held out his arms. “You come to Papa, honey bunch. I’ll give you what you need.”

  Onyx smacked Ebony’s shoulder. “Get off, slut. This is my man. I had him first.”

  Ebony gasped when Jordan grabbed her breast and gave it a squeeze. She gyrated her hips on his lap and moaned. “Give me a break, sister. We’ve been swapping these two back and forth for weeks. What difference does it make who goes first? You can have him when I’m done.”

  Hunter opened and closed his hands. “Daddy’s waiting. Come and get your dessert, baby. I’ll fill you up like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Onyx gave one more exasperated tongue click and turned away. She sat down on the bed next to Hunter, and his hands closed around her. She sank against his chest, and their lips met.

  Jordan mangled Ebony’s breasts while their lips slipped in and out. Their tongues flashed between their lips. Ebony relaxed against his chest. His hips flexed against her ass, and her eyes slouched closed when he slipped his fingers between her legs.

  He followed her thigh up to the cozy center where her tight shorts hugged her hips. He jammed his strong fingers into her nest, and she moaned against his hand. God, she couldn’t believe how much this man turned her on.

  Three weeks of n
onstop sex with these two studs didn’t dampen her enthusiasm. They could keep on driving for days and never get tired. They could switch off, and one brother excited her more than the other. If she ever got tired, all they had to do was turn her over and pound her from the other direction, or both at once while her sister watched. That would get her foamy and screaming all over again.

  Jordan breathed into her mouth. He had her right where he wanted her. He would tug his pants open in a second, and she would grind herself raw on his rock hard lap. His tongue swished over her lips. His saliva tickled her insides and excited her to fresh juicy desire.

  He murmured low in her face, “I’ll never be done with you, baby. You’re mine. Do you hear me? You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go.”

  She panted and whined against his fingers. “Nail me, Daddy. I need it so bad.”

  Jordan raised his voice, but he didn’t take his eyes off her face. “You can’t have her, man. She’s mine. You stick with Onyx from now on.”

  Hunter raised his head from the bed where Onyx straddled his hips to kiss him. “What are you talking about?”

  “We’re not swapping anymore,” Jordan replied. “I’m keeping Ebony.”

  Onyx’s head shot up to stare at him. “What? You can’t do that.”

  Jordan jammed his tongue into Ebony’s mouth. His fingers slithered up the elastic leg of her shorts, right into that soggy pond of her delirious wetness. Her mouth sagged open in startled surprise. She couldn’t say anything. She could only stare into his eyes. “This is all mine. I’ll never let you go. I’m keeping you for life.”

  Onyx sat up on Hunter’s lap. Hunter laced his fingers behind his head and bucked his hips between Onyx’s legs. “You can’t do that, man. We’re fluid. We always swap.”

  “Not anymore. I’m mating for life, and I’m choosing Ebony. What do you say, baby? Do you want to be my sweet little honey cake for the rest of your life? I’ll make you bend over and worship your Daddy until you scream.”

  She gasped for every breath. His fingers tortured her insides until she couldn’t think. “Oh, Daddy, please.”