Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume II)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Haven’s eyes popped open, and she gasped. “I know! You could go to work on the ranch. Mattox is working alone since both Riskin and Azer left. He needs help. You could go live with them and learn the ropes just the way Riskin did.”

  The cloud passed away from Easton’s countenance. “Do you really think I could?”

  “Why not? Mattox is your cousin, and he’s a Farrell. We can get Daddy to ask Brody, and Brody can ask Mattox. It’s the perfect solution for everybody, especially you. Would you like that?”

  He actually smiled at her. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  She grabbed his hand. “Come on. We’re going home.”

  They chatted and schemed all the way home. Haven’s happiness lasted all the way up the steps and into the living room. She could build. She could make this Peak better than it ever was, and it all started right here and now, in her own house.

  Her mother and father got out of their chairs when Haven and Easton walked in. “Where have you been?”

  Haven let go of her brother’s hand and faced her parents. “I have something to tell you both. I’m mated to Foicks Dunlap.”

  Her parents both turned white as chalk. They exchanged glances. Then her mother sank into her chair. She pressed her hand to her forehead. “Foicks Dunlap!”

  Her father recovered faster. He took a step toward her. “Don’t do this. Don’t tear this family apart by going with that…” Josiah turned away. “I don’t know what to call him. No words are bad enough for what he is.”

  Haven rushed to his side. “You don’t understand, Daddy. He’s given up the war. He’s quit the war faction, and he’s made up with his brother. They’re working together to repair the damage this conflict caused.”

  Josiah peered into her face. “Tell me you’re not already mated with him. Tell me you haven’t actually crossed that line.”

  Haven straightened up. “I have mated with him, and I’m not sorry about it. He’s defeated Rhys Dodd in front of the whole faction to bring everyone together.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Josiah countered. “Foicks Dunlap will never change. He’ll keep pounding that drum until he kills us all.”

  Easton spoke up from the door. “It’s true, Daddy. Foicks and Ash worked together to stop the factions fighting. I wouldn’t have believed it, either, except I saw it with my own eyes.”

  Josiah looked back and forth between his son and his daughter. “Then it really is true?”

  Haven nodded.

  Josiah sank into his chair, too. He murmured under his breath. “My little girl—mated. I always knew this day would come, but I never thought I would feel so lonely to lose you. I don’t want to let you go to anybody. No one would be good enough for you.”

  Haven fell on her knees in front of her father. “Give me your blessing, Daddy. I’m growing up, and I’m going to have my own home and my own family. Tell me you’re happy for me.”

  He cradled her cheeks in both hands, and tears swam in his eyes. “You’ll always have my blessing. You’ll always be my treasure and my light.”

  Chapter 19

  Foicks swung his pick-ax and buried the point in the soft earth in front of the bungalow. He tossed the loose soil aside and swung again when Ash came out of the main house across the yard. He strode toward the bungalow and leaned on the porch.

  Foicks set his pick on the ground and stretched his shoulders. “So? What did Boyd say?”

  “Boyd’s not home. I talked to Granddad instead. He said it’s fine.”

  “You better ask Boyd, anyway.”

  “Grandad is still Alpha, you know. Just because Boyd and Aiken do all the work and make all the decisions doesn’t change that. He said it’s fine, so I’m sticking with that.”

  Foicks shrugged and hefted his pick again. “All right. I’m willing to go along with it. What about Jana?”

  “He told me last night he’s on board, too.”

  “Great.” Foicks swung and the pick sank into the ground.

  Ash frowned. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m planting a flower bed. This place needs a spruce-up if I’m bringing a wife home to live here.”

  Ash watched him work. “I guess I better think about that, too.”

  “What for? You’re not getting married.”

  Ash hesitated before he said, “You can’t bring your wife home to live here unless we both move out. That’s what I just told Granddad.”

  Foicks looked up. “What are you talking about?”

  “Jana’s moving to the big house when I leave, and I’m moving out, too.”

  “Yeah, you’re going to Renegade Ridge.”

  Ash took a deep breath. “I’ll need a place to live when I come back. I won’t be able to stay here anymore. For all I know, you’ll have a litter of cubs running around by then.”

  Foicks didn’t smile. In fact, he frowned. “So, where will you live?”

  “I’m moving over to Farrell Homestead. I’m moving in with Sky.”

  Foicks’s face lit up. “Sky! You weasel! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Ash blushed. “You’re not the only one with big plans.”

  Foicks dropped his pick to throw his arms around his brother. “Congratulations, man. I’m so happy for you. It couldn’t happen to a better couple. This is great! We’ll be able to double date.”

  Ash pursed his lips. “I don’t think so.”

  Foicks heaved his pick onto his shoulder. “So tell me your big plans. Where are you going to live? Does Brody know? When’s the big wedding?”

  Ash shoved himself off the porch and turned away. “I can’t talk now. I gotta go. We can talk later. Don’t work too hard. Keep something in the tank for your lady.”

  Ash went into the bungalow. Foicks frowned after him, but a moment later, he buried himself in his work. He broke up a large section of ground in front of the bungalow and started on a second one when Haven emerged from the trees.

  He hooked his arm around her neck to kiss her. “There’s the person I want to see. How do you like your flower bed?”

  Haven narrowed her eyes. “It’s not very colorful, is it?”

  He poked her in the ribs. “It’s not planted yet, goofball.”

  Haven laughed. “In that case, I like it a lot. When can I get started planting it?”

  “Just as soon as Ash leaves for Renegade Ridge. Jana will move into the big house, and you and I will move in here.”

  “That’s wonderful. I can’t wait.”

  Foicks peered sidelong at her. “Is your sister Sky okay?”

  Haven’s head shot up. “Sky? Why do you ask about her?”

  “I just wondered. Is she acting okay? Is she happy and everything?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Haven grumbled. “She won’t even talk to me. She thinks you’re the devil incarnate, and since I’m marrying you, I must be your chief minion or something.”

  Foicks humphed and stabbed his pick into the ground for another clump of dirt.

  Haven watched him. “I answered your question, so now it’s your turn. Why do you ask about Sky?”

  “Don’t you see?” Foicks asked. “She won’t talk to you because she still hates me. She thinks me and Ash are still battling it out. If she still hates me, she must not have heard from Ash that we’ve made up.”

  Haven frowned. “What are you saying?”

  “Something’s going on between Ash and Sky. I don’t know what it is. He says he plans to move in with her when he gets home from Renegade Ridge, that they’ll be married and live happily ever after, but he won’t talk to me about her and he doesn’t look happy. When I ask about him and Sky, he changes the subject and walks away.”

  “If you’re right about this,” Haven replied, “that means Sky and Ash haven’t even talked since the fight.”

  “Exactly.”

  Haven turned away.

  “Hey! Where are you going?”

  She called over her shoulder. “I’m going to have a little chat with my sister.”r />
  Haven walked all the way home, unable to get Sky off her mind. Why would Ash keep this news from his own mate? Foicks was right. Something must be wrong between them.

  Haven hadn’t seen Sky for days—not that she was looking. Haven learned a long time ago to leave Sky alone when she acted like this. Come to think about it, Haven didn’t know where to begin to look for Sky.

  Well, a Bruin didn’t need anybody drawing her a map. She returned to her family home on Farrell Homestead and went up to the room she shared with Sky. Haven stood in the middle of the room and took a deep sniff. Sky’s scent filled her sinuses and her mind. She let that scent obscure everything else.

  One step at a time, Haven followed that scent downstairs, across the living room, and out the front door. Beyond the garden gate, things got trickier. Sky’s scent went off in a dozen directions. Haven paced back and forth. She smelled every trail until she found the strongest, freshest one.

  She followed it down the driveway to where the road split. One fork led to Star and Brody’s house. The other fork led to the road, away from Bruins’ Peak and toward town.

  Sky wouldn’t go to town. She just wouldn’t. Sure enough, the scent trail leading to Star and Brody’s smelled stronger. Scent marks hopped along the ground where Sky’s feet touched the earth. The farther she went, the more confident Haven grew. She would track her sister and get to the bottom of this mystery.

  She passed Star and Brody’s house. Sky hadn’t gone there the way Haven expected. She expected the trail to lead to Brody. She expected Sky to be talking to Brody about mating with Ash, but the trail wound around the house and down the hill beyond.

  Haven quickened her steps, but that trail never deviated until it came to the barn behind the house. Haven paused outside the door. What would she find there? Had Sky done something to herself when she started having problems with Ash? Did she throw her life away over a lost mate?

  Haven took hold of the barn door and inched it open a crack. No sound came from inside. She slipped through the gap and halted again. The place smelled of dust and hay and horses. The sun slanted through the cracks and gave the dingy gloom a foreboding atmosphere.

  Haven struggled to make sense of all the competing smells. Diesel and motor oil and manure and iron filings pushed each other out of the way to make room in her awareness. Haven stood in one place a long time before she deciphered her sister’s scent trail through that tangled web of smells.

  She followed the olfactory blossoms over the dirt floor to where the ladder rose to the hayloft overhead. The scent rushed into Have’s nostrils from the ladder rungs in front of her face. She couldn’t doubt anymore. She took hold of the rungs and heaved herself up.

  She swung her legs into the hayloft, and the scent all but disappeared under mountains of hay. Haven couldn’t follow it anymore, but Sky must be here somewhere. Haven studied the place. Where would she hide if she was Sky and wanted to make sure no one found her?

  Haven took a few steps and listened. She ventured all the way back to the deepest corner of the loft. There was Sky, just as Haven suspected. Sky huddled in the corner with her eye pressed to a knot hole. She hugged her knees and peered at the outside world through that tiny aperture.

  Haven squatted in front of her. “What are you doing up here, Sky?”

  Sky turned her eye away from the knot hole to face the corner. She couldn’t see anything there. “Go away. Leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  Haven sighed. “I came to talk to you about Foicks and Ash. You know Foicks and I are mated. I’ll be moving into the bungalow in a few days, and Ash will be leaving for Renegade Ridge. Did you know that?”

  Sky didn’t answer.

  “I don’t know how long you’ve been up here,” Haven went on, “but you probably didn’t know they’ve made up. Foicks is out of the war faction, and they stopped their factions fighting. They’re working together now. They don’t fight anymore. Did you know that?”

  Sky whipped around. “You’re lying. You’re trying to trick me.”

  Haven leaned forward. “Just tell me one thing. Have you spoken to Ash at all in the last week? Have you two even talked once?”

  Sky turned away again. She stuck her nose in the corner and wouldn’t turn around again.

  Haven settled back on her haunches. “You didn’t know, did you? You haven’t talked to him. Something’s going on between you two. Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help you.”

  No answer.

  Haven put out her hand to touch her sister, but she hesitated at the last second. In the end, she pushed through her reserve and rested her hand on Sky’s shoulder. “Foicks and Ash made up. They’re working together to repair the damage their conflict caused to Bruins’ Peak. We should be doing the same thing. We should be working together instead of fighting each other. What do you say?”

  Sky’s shoulders relaxed under Haven’s touch. She looked back through the knot hole, and she rested her head on the hard boards. “You’re right. It’s all over between me and Ash.”

  Haven started back. “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, I’m sure. I couldn’t be more sure. You just said it yourself. We haven’t talked for days. He isn’t interested in me.”

  “That can’t be right,” Haven countered. “He’s telling everybody he plans to marry you and move in with you over here when he gets back from Renegade Ridge.”

  Sky’s eyes shot to her sister’s face. “What?”

  Haven nodded. “I just talked to Foicks about it. Ash is telling everybody you two are mated.”

  Sky smacked her lips. “I only wish that was true.”

  Haven stood up. “I’m gonna find out what’s going on. I’ll get to the bottom of this, one way or the other.”

  Sky looked up at her. “Really? You would do that?”

  “Sure. Ash is Foicks's brother. If anybody can find out, I can. I’ll get Foicks to help me. He’s worried about you and Ash, too.”

  Sky threw off her stupor. “Wow. Thanks.”

  Haven held out her hand. “Come on. We’re going home.”

  Sky regarded that hand, but she didn’t move.

  Haven tossed out her hand one more time. “Come on. Foicks and Ash made up, so there’s no reason for you to hate me anymore. Whether you’re Ash’s mate or not, we can be friends again.”

  Sky hesitated. Then she grabbed that hand and Haven pulled her to her feet. “Come on home. We’ve got a mystery to solve.”

  Chapter 20

  Dozens of people gathered outside the bungalow to wish Ash Dunlap good-bye and good luck on his journey to Renegade Ridge. Almost everyone who shook Riskin’s hand at the funeral shook Ash’s hand that morning.

  Haven stood at Foicks’s side. He kept his arm around her shoulder, so everybody who didn’t already know about them found out when they came to see Ash. Jana packed his boxes and suitcases and moved them over to the big Dunlap house before well-wishers arrived to see Ash. Ash put all his stuff in the basement where he could retrieve it when he returned.

  Haven took a surreptitious tour through the bungalow while Foicks’s back was turned. She shuddered at what she saw. The place screamed guys. Not even the places where Foicks tried to clean up met her standards. She didn’t dare look in his bedroom. She would have to break out some serious elbow grease on this place. At least Foicks was willing to roll up his sleeves and help.

  Haven wandered back out to the front yard to meet and greet. People moved down the line to shake Ash’s hand, congratulate Foicks, and finally to congratulate her. Her parents and Easton hung around all morning to help her settle in. They wouldn’t leave until the very last. They had to be the last ones to wish her well in her new home.

  When they left, they would leave her alone with Foicks in their new house for the very first time. This was the closest thing to a honeymoon any Bruin could reasonably look forward to.

  Haven didn’t want a big fancy wedding like Marla Dunlap had. She didn’t want people dri
nking and dancing and getting wild for weeks on end. She just wanted to move in with Foicks—nothing more.

  Haven opened her mouth more than once to ask Ash about Sky, but so many people hung around all day she couldn’t get a moment of his time. She followed him around so much Foicks had to ask her if anything was wrong.

  After that, she just stuck close to Foicks’s side and waited. With any luck, she would find a discrete moment to ask Ash about Sky before he left. She almost gave up when she saw him break away from the line-up of handshaking and duck inside to the bathroom.

  She waited a moment before she followed him inside. He came out of the bathroom and headed to the kitchen. This was her moment. She scooted into the kitchen to find him drinking a glass of water from the tap. She smiled at him. “Everybody wants you to do a good job out there. I know you will.”

  He smiled back and set the glass on the shelf. “I’m glad I don’t have a fight with my brother to come back to. I have you to thank for that, Haven. I’m glad Foicks is getting together with you. He needs a strong woman to keep him in line.”

  “I don’t want to keep him in line. I just want to love him.”

  “You know what I mean.” Ash headed for the door.

  “What about you?” Haven called after him. “Do you need a strong woman to keep you in line, too? Maybe Sky could be that woman.”

  Ash whipped around. “Why do you mention her?”

  “Are you two on the rocks or something? She doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going with you.”

  Ash looked down at the floor. “She’s going. She went and told everyone on the Peak we were mated when we weren’t. She wouldn’t believe I wasn’t interested in her.”

  Haven stared at him with her mouth open. “Really?”

  Ash held his hands open to Haven. “I swear to you, Haven, I never meant to hurt her feelings. I kissed her once, but that’s as far as it goes. We could never be mates.”

  “If that’s true,” Haven asked, “why did you say you planned to move in with her when you got home.”

  He shrugged. “That was before. Things changed, but she wouldn’t see the writing on the wall.”