But somehow, he’d made a mistake. He’d made a wrong move and scared her. He was sure that she wanted it. She’d said she did. It must have been the feral beast inside who had reacted poorly. The lioness had ripped out from within Maria and stole a precious moment they could never get back.
Buck’s grizzly couldn’t contain his despair. He wailed into the treetops as he ran, calling out to her in his animal voice.
She kept running and he continued to follow. A mountain lion was fast and lithe compared to a full grown male grizzly bear. He could only lumber along, following several steps behind. He followed her scent to the base of a tree and looked up helplessly. His massive paws and long claws were not made for climbing. He couldn’t follow her into the treetops.
The grizzly sniffed the air, trying to keep the scent in his nostrils. He held it for a while, following along under the tree. After a while, it faded into nothing. He sat on his haunches and growled. He refused to believe he’d lost her.
Growling with determination, he continued to sniff and search the forest. He had to find her. When she finally shifted out of her lion form, she’d come back to him. He walked for hours until the daylight faded behind the mountains. The cool air rose around him as the night forest creatures hooted and crawled in the darkness. He kept going as the crescent moon ascended in the sky.
He growled wearily to the forest, pleading for her to show herself. He’d lost her trail some time ago and had no clue where to go from there.
He sat in a heap on the forest floor and grunted. His human mind worked at the back of the mind of his grizzly. He decided to go back to her cave and check if she’d returned. It was as good a bet as any other place.
Walking in grizzly form through the night, he arrived as the pale light of predawn glowed on the horizon. He walked into her cave, sniffing carefully for a fresh scent.
She wasn’t there. He moaned and sat down by the fire, shifting into his human form. He pulled a change of clothes out of his backpack and put on his shoes. Buck lit a fire and cooked a can of beans, thinking of her out there in the wilderness, lost, wild and alone. He couldn’t bare it.
Maria was trapped inside her own lioness. It killed him that he couldn’t help her. He rubbed his face with his hands, groaning again in his human voice.
The morning light filtered over the mountain and lit the forest outside the cave. He made coffee and drank it down, hoping that somehow she might still show up today.
After another hour and some breakfast, Buck stood up and put out the fire. He had to go back to the ranch. There was no way of knowing when she’d come back.
Leland would already be preparing the spring calves for branding this morning. Jessie had been waiting for weeks to start building his cabin, and Buck had a delivery of timber to make to his made buyer by the end of the week. He had too many responsibilities on his shoulders to sit in the woods any longer.
Buck grabbed his backpack, and started out of the cave, turning back to give it one last look. He shook his head, his heart sinking. Maria. It was all he could think. He turned away, starting down the trail back to his truck.
He hadn’t cut any timber in over a week. His life was unravelling and he couldn’t regain control of any of it. Buck was a quiet man, but he spent most of his energy on making sure that his world was in order.
Since Maria had come into his life, everything had been completely out of control. As much as he wanted to keep looking for her, he had other things he had to do. He growled at himself, wishing that he could put all his time and energy into taking care of Maria. But he simply couldn't.
He walked away from her cave and down the mountain, back to where his truck was parked at the edge of the forest. He threw his backpack in the truck bed and got behind the wheel. He gritted his teeth as he turned the key in the ignition, pounding his palm into the steering wheel in frustration.
The weight of his responsibilities hung on his shoulders. As he pulled the car out into the road and drove away. He wanted to help her. He wanted to be there for Maria, but all she did was run away. How was he supposed to take care of her when she couldn’t even be found?
Buck had believed that Maria was finally coming to her senses. That she would finally accept his help and come down off the mountain. But when they were right on the cusp of making things work, her inner beast freaked out. Buck was a patient man. But there was only so much he could take.
His grizzly growled at him from inside his mind, telling him he should not leave the mountain until he found Maria. But Buck's human mind could only think about his human responsibilities, the timber, Jessie's house, Leland's herd, what was he supposed to do? Just ignore everything until Maria's lioness decided to cooperate? His inner grizzly thought he should. But Buck ignored the beast and continued to drive back to the ranch.
When he finally arrived at home, though the morning sun had risen toward its peak, and he could see Leland and Jessie already herding the cattle into the paddocks outside the barn. Jessie was even wearing a cowboy hat for the occasion. It made Buck chuckle since Jessie was more of an athlete than a cowboy.
He knew his brothers had already been at work for hours and he had missed a good portion of an important job that he shared with his family.
Buck approached the barn paddock and rested his foot on the wood fence. Leland rode over on the big quarter horse Shayla and nodded at Buck.
“Where you been?” Leland asked.
“I've been up on the mountain, trying to take care of business.”
“It's not like you to show up late,” Leland said, looking down at Buck from Shayla’s back. “Something the matter?”
“Buck's mate ran off from the Bright Institute a few weeks ago,” Jessie said.
“Why didn't you tell me that?” Leland asked, dismounting Shayla.
“I needed to take care of things myself,” Buck said.
“Your mate is in trouble. You should have asked for help from your Alpha,” Leland said, tying Shayla’s rein on the fence.
“If you must know, I found Maria a while ago up on the mountain. Her lion is out of control, and she refuses to come home. No matter how many times I’ve offered to take care of her, she just attacks me and insists on staying out there alone. She got pneumonia when the temperature dropped. I stayed with her all night. In the morning, I didn't ask her to come home with me. Instead I asked for her to show me her world because insisting she leave the mountain hadn’t worked. I’d decided to just be there for her. We were finally getting somewhere. Really connecting. But then she just shifted, turned on me, scratched the heck out of my face and ran off in lion form.”
“You left?” Leland asked.
“I tailed her all day and into the night. The lioness lost me in the trees. Then I went back to the cave where she'd been living and she wasn’t there. What else was I supposed to do? I have responsibilities.”
“Okay, Buck.” Leland started. “We’ll get the spring calves branded and then we’ll go look for your mate.”
“I've got a load of timber that I need to deliver to my main supplier by the end of the week. I haven't been out on the mountain in way too long. I'm behind on everything. I don't know how I'm supposed to keep up. Jessie's been on me to help build his cabin, and I don't have enough logs for that either.”
“Nothing matters more than your mate,” Leland said.
“I've done everything I can. Everything’s falling apart.”
“If your mate is acting like that, then there's something obviously wrong.”
“Course there's something wrong. She was attacked by a feral shifter and changed against her will. Before that, she’d gone through so many difficult things that she just lost it. I don't know what to do for her. I feel like a failure.”
“Have you talked to the law about the feral shifter?” Leland asked.
“Course I did. But Rollo told me he couldn't do anything about it. So I'm left on my own to find this guy and kick his ass. All while trying to take care of a w
oman who doesn't want me to take care of her. Not to mention my work and my obligation to the family.”
“Go saddle up. We’ll be done by the end of the day and then we'll come up with a solution together.”
“Did you ever find out where that feral shifter was staying?” Jessie asked, leaning over the horn of the saddle.
“I suspect he is being sheltered by the Updike pack.”
“I should've known,” Leland said.
Buck sighed and went to the barn to get a horse. He saddled up Chancey, the gelding Appaloosa, and joined his brothers in the paddock outside the barn.
Chapter 11
“I don't understand why you kept her secret for so long,” Leland said, tipping back a bottle of Fate Mountain Lager as the brothers sat on the back porch of Leland’s house watching the sun go down after a long day’s work.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Buck said. “I had to respect her choices. There was a reason she ran away from the Bright Institute. I didn't think it was my right to make her face whatever she had run away from.”
“I can understand that,” Leland said.
“Why don't you tell the Bear Patrol and the Rescue Bears where you last saw her,” Jessie suggested.
“That's probably the best thing to do,” Buck said. “But I'm not going to tell anybody about her cave. I'm going to go back there myself to see if she came back.”
“Why not tell anyone?” Jessie asked.
“I don't want there to be any way that Alex Terry can find out where she is.”
“Do you think he still might hurt her?” Leland asked.
“He's got a screw loose from what I understand. Why else would he bite her and change her against her will? That isn’t the shifter way.”
“That guy needs to be put down,” Leland said.
“I couldn't agree more,” Buck said. “But there are no human laws against changing someone into a shifter.”
“That should be the death penalty,” Jessie said.
Buck looked over at his brother, surprised at the harshness of his words. But Buck had to agree. A shifter who would change a human against their will was the lowest form of being on the planet as far as Buck was concerned. You didn't just put an out of control animal inside of a person. It was unforgivable.
“He's going to have to come out of hiding eventually,” Jessie said.
“And then what?” Buck asked.
“Then we take him out,” Leland said.
“We can't get caught,” Buck said. “There are eyes on us.”
“That's what comes with being the good guys,” Leland said.
“And we are the good guys,” Jessie said.
All three Kincaid brothers looked at each other and lifted their bottles of Fate Mountain Lager in agreement. After they'd finished their beer, Buck got on the phone and informed Rollo of the current situation. Maria was still in deep trouble. Buck asked Rollo to form a search party to bring her in. He told him where he'd last seen her near the hot spring.
The brothers then climbed into Leland's red pickup truck and headed into town to speak to Commander Rollo and the boys from the Rescue Bears.
When they arrived at the police headquarters, all the guys from the Bear Patrol and the Rescue Bears were crowded together in Rollo's office. As they discussed their plans to find Maria, Buck had to force himself to keep the location of her cave a secret.
“And what about the Timber Bear Ranch property?” Rollo asked as Corey sat behind his computer, uploading information into his random probability drive.
“We'll take care of the Timber Bear Ranch,” Buck said.
Corey continued uploading information into his computer as Damien Fellows the Tech Bear from the Bear Patrol looked over his shoulder. Corey glanced up at Buck.
“Are you sure there isn't another factor we’re missing here?” Corey asked.
“I've told you all I know,” Buck said.
“I can't help but think there is something missing. Where did you first find Maria?” Corey asked.
“That campground,” Buck said.
“What were you doing at the campground?” Damien asked.
Buck gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“I told you all I know. Please, just find her and help her. And while you're at it, why don't you find Alex Terry and bring him to justice, once and for all,” Buck said, changing the subject.
It was the perpetrator of the crime who should pay, not Maria. She was just a confused young girl that was alone in the woods. There should be an equal force of men ready and willing to go take out the real threat. But human law prevented them from bringing the feral shifter to justice for his crimes. Buck couldn't have been more disgusted. He didn't want to tell anyone about Maria's cave for that reason alone.
“We have no jurisdiction to get a search warrant for the Updikes’ property because there are rumors that a man who might be guilty of assault could be there,” Rollo explained.
“There is currently a warrant out for his arrest,” said Deputy Bear, Knox Carter.
“When we locate him, we’ll bring him in on charges. Maria can testify against him, and he’ll get the penalty the law dictates for his crimes,” Rollo said.
“Well, thank you for your help,” Buck said, trying his hardest to keep his tone even and cooperative.
Inside he was seething. His inner grizzly burned with rage. He had never been so angry at his fellow bears in all his life. They should be bound and determined to go find that lion shifter and take him out. Shifters like that shouldn't exist in the world.
“Well, we're going to get back home,” Leland said, stepping out of Rollo's office after Buck.
Jessie followed Leland and Buck gave his friend Rollo one last nod before walking out of the door. He had known Rollo a long time and had always been on the chief of police's side through the problems they'd had over the years with on Fate Mountain.
Now, he couldn't support Rollo's determination to keep to the letter of the law. Buck felt he had a right to take matters into his own hands. And there was nothing that anyone could say or do to convince him otherwise. Buck hated being in such deep disagreement with his friend, fellow bear, and Alpha of the Bear Patrol. It sent his grizzly into a confused rage inside his mind. Buck could barely hear himself think as Leland drove back to the Timber Bear Ranch.
“Jessie, Leland, thank you for your help.”
“We can go with you to her cave and help you get her back down,” Leland offered.
“I think that would make it worse,” Buck said.
“You’ve got to let us help you with something,” Leland said.
“What I need right now is a couple of men to go up on my logging site and cut down my quota for the delivery I have due at the end of the week.”
“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Jessie asked.
Buck slapped his baseball cap against his thigh and growled. He stomped away to his truck and slammed the door closed behind him. Leland walked over and knocked on the glass. Buck sighed and rolled it down.
“What?” Buck growled.
“Look, Buck,” Leland said. “I respect your sense of responsibility. And I'm here to help you in whatever way you need to be helped. Jessie and I will go up on the mountain and cut down your quota. You go take care of your girl. And if you can't find her by the end of the day, we’re going to come and help you,” Leland said.
“All right, Leland.”
Buck pulled out of the yard and onto the gravel road that led up to the mountain. He saw Jessie and Leland standing in the gravel yard in front of the garage, looking confused and befuddled.
Buck didn't care what they thought. His work was what kept the ranch running all this time while their dad was determined to run it into the ground. He wouldn't apologize for being responsible and wanting to keep his commitments. He would be the one to find Maria if anyone found her.
He would be the one to take care of her. He would be the one to bring her off
the mountain. He would be the one to help her heal. And this time, he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Buck drove as far as he could on the road and then parked his truck. He climbed out and started the trek up the deer trail toward her cave. When he arrived, it was obvious that she had been there. Recently.
The smell of her human and her lion was all over the place. But there was also another sent. A scent he didn't recognize. It was pungent and acrid. It smelled of lion shifter. He roared in the forest as he shifted, ripping out of his clothes.
He stood at the mouth of her cave in his grizzly form, tasting the scent of what had to be Alex Terry on the air. His normally sedate bear became ballistic as he turned in the direction of the scent and violently barreled up the mountain to find them.
Chapter 12
Maria shifted suddenly and found herself outside the mouth of her cave. She didn't know how long she'd been gone or how long she'd been out. The amnesia from her shift was severe and impenetrable. But at least her animal had let her out near her home. Maria scrambled to her feet and hurried into the dark cave. She rustled through her collection of clothing and found the warmest outfit she had.
Relief washed through her at the realization her animal had eaten recently and had not left her starving in the cold again. She hurried to the fire and began to build it up, quickly filling the cave with its warm glow. She sat beside the fire and tried to collect herself. That's when she finally realized that Buck's scent was all around her. It wasn't very old, maybe half a day. She had just missed him. She growled at herself to find that she had run away from him yet again.
The day at the hot spring she had been ready to go all the way with him. He had given her more pleasure that she could even comprehend. In the moment of release, her lioness reared her ugly head in fear and lashed out at Maria's love. She'd scratched Buck across the face and run away in her feral form. The last thing she remembered was the look of betrayal and hurt in his eyes.
Saw Bear (Bear Shifter Lumberjack Romance) (Timber Bear Ranch Book 2) Page 6