“Hmm,” Riona said slowly. “Just how easily could those heights be scaled?”
“You might not even need rope.” Hunter shrugged, sitting down. He didn’t choose a seat close to Ginger. “Good climbers wouldn’t, anyway.”
“There might be something to that, Beaumont,” Torin growled, to murmurs of approval. “Some men could scale the heights and take his camp by surprise.”
“How would we arrange it to be by surprise?” asked another elder, a shrunken, bright-eyed old woman. “We’d need a diversion—that’s what I say.” There were sounds of agreement.
“What about me? Couldn’t I be the diversion?” Ginger heard herself ask. Everyone stared at her; things went quiet. “What? Why not? Gunnar’s got a problem with me, right? Or a fixation? Little bit of both, maybe?”
“You?” Torin asked, brow furrowed.
“Sure. Couldn’t I—”
“No,” Dane cut in shortly.
“No,” Hunter echoed, frowning at her like Why are you like this, Ginger? “No way. You stay back here.”
“The girl speaks with cunning,” Riona said approvingly; everyone looked at her. “Like a true daughter of the clans, with a quick and ready mind. It is brave of her to offer herself in this dangerous, selfless way. I see why she attracts the interest of daring men.”
Ginger flushed.
“It’s true the snake has a hunger for the girl,” Torin admitted consideringly. “Maybe she could be of use in drawing his attention…”
“The girl is an innocent,” Dane said sharply. “She has no part in this.”
“Of course she has,” Riona said, unmoved. “She has been at the center of all our recent strife, although mostly helplessly, it must be said. But she is very much bound up in these events. They have touched her deeply, haven’t they, Dane? Hunter?”
“It’s too dangerous,” Hunter said, irritated. “She hasn’t done anything to deserve dying for—”
“Every daughter of the clans has the right to die for the clans!” Torin burst out thunderously, half-rising. “If she wants to draw Gunnar’s attention, that’s her choice! Neither of you popinjays can stop her!”
Popinjays. Despite everything, Ginger had to bite back a smile.
“The girl obsesses him,” said Riona calmly. “And I think could truly lure him out. If she volunteers willingly, I say we use her to distract him and attack from the sea.”
“No!” Dane cut in. “Not her. You can’t, Riona. She’s a changeling—just a changeling. She doesn’t—”
“Quiet, boy,” Torin grunted. “Your love makes you stupid. It’s the girl who’s thinking clearly. I say we use her!”
“Who is in favor of using this girl—who freely offers herself—as the bait by which we ensnare the betrayer, Gunnar?” Riona asked.
Everyone at the circle supported it. Except the men who loved her.
***
“This is insane, Ginger,” Hunter said, following her down the beach. “It’s a great way to get you killed.”
Dane had hung back to argue with the elders; Hunter had trailed Ginger out into the night, to argue with her.
“It’s a great way to help end this,” Ginger countered, unmoved. “I’m not scared to do what I can to stop this insanity.”
“And I admire that,” Hunter said seriously. “You know I do. But I can’t bear the thought of you exposed to that madman, Ginger. You could die—”
“Yeah, well. I guess I’m getting used to that,” she tossed off, striding along the tideline. She was heading to the cave where Cat and her family were, to let them know she was fine.
“Ginger.” Hunter caught her arm and tugged her around to face him. “You can’t do this.”
“I can do anything I choose to do,” she said sharply. “Let go.”
His grip tightened; she saw the gold in his eyes spark. “I thought you loved me, Ginj.”
“Is that what this is about?”
“No! I’m just—I thought you might listen to me, like you have been—I—”
She gazed at him evenly.
“I guess… yeah, I guess I also wanted to talk about tonight,” he faltered. “You, and MacAlister… But—shit, it’s not the time—”
“Hunter, I never said we were a—”
“No. I know that.” He looked unhappy. “I… just… so you want to be with him?”
“I didn’t say that!”
“I mean, do you have to? You sat with him. We came together, and you ended up next to him at a council meeting. Typically only mated pairs sit together like that, so…”
“How the hell am I supposed to know that?” she bristled. “Look, Hunter—I just—I don’t know. I needed to know what happened to him, so I left and I looked for him.”
“Shaving years off my life, let me note,” Hunter grumbled.
“I found him and then we came back together.”
“After sex. I’m just saying. I could smell it.”
She flushed. “I’m—sorry.”
He sighed. “Don’t be sorry. I always knew you liked him more.”
“I don’t!”
“It’s… alright. I was fighting the stream, and I knew it. Be with him, Ginger. Just be with him. I’m not going to be an asshole about it. I put in my bid, and—”
“Hunter, no. You have this all wrong.”
“I don’t think I do.” He shifted his weight. “Look, it’s okay. You can’t help it. Especially with bears, who you love is almost—it’s like it’s elemental. I was trying to change the season that it snows, or something else impossible like that. I get it, I—”
She pressed herself up against him and kissed him. A hard, genuine kiss. His hands settled crushingly on her arms; he kissed back.
“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth, when they broke off. “You have to know that.”
“But MacAlister—”
“I can’t explain it to you, Hunter, but I love him too. It’s not something that ever would have happened—before—but it’s happening now and I don’t… I don’t…” she faltered, confused. “I’m sorry. I love you. There’s nothing about you any woman wouldn’t love. You’re completely amazing.”
“Yeah?” he asked, a little bit chuffed.
“I love you. I seriously do.”
He gazed at her. Then, finally, he kissed her again; his hand on the side of her neck, his thumb on her jawline, made her skin tingle.
“I believe you,” he murmured, his lips on hers. “I completely believe you. I just didn’t realize this was happening.”
“What’s this?” she whispered, half-kissing him while she spoke. “Dane acted like this made sense to him, too. But I don’t…”
“It’s a bear thing.” He sucked her bottom lip for a minute. “Not common, but not rare as rubies either. Shit. So that’s what’s going on.”
“What is it, though? I—”
“I’m crazy about you, Ginger. And I’m pretty sure it’s a permanent condition.”
“Hunter… what’s hap—”
“Don’t go through with this, baby. Baiting Gunnar.”
She chewed her lip, blindsided afresh. “I have to.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll sail you all the way to Vancouver right now. Hell, further than that. Puerto Vallarta. Athens. Singapore.”
“I want to help.”
He sighed. “I know you do, honey. You’re a goddamn decent person.”
She gripped the halves of his open jacket. “Stay close to me tonight.”
“I will. Come spend the night on my boat.”
“No. You’ll sail me away somewhere.”
He laughed; her stomach filled with something warm and sweet, like cherry liquor. “I won’t. I promise.”
“Swear.”
“I swear. I don’t like your fucking decision, Ginger. It cuts me up inside like broken glass. But I won’t get in the way. It’s your right to choose your course, just like Torin
said.”
She gave him a melting look. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. If I were a worse man who was also weirdly better, I’d kidnap you and put you off at Nice. Take you awhile to get back from that.”
She kissed him, loving the taste and the heat of it. “I want—I want to sleep in your bed.”
“Sure. I want that too.”
Dane’s face broke into her thoughts. “Wait, though. I have to—I’m not sure, I—I have to tell… what is happening?”
“MacAlister understands,” he said gently. “Even I understand now.”
“But I don’t.”
He sighed. “We’ll talk about it. After everything is over.”
“No.” The ocean sighed in the night, the waves hissing in and out. “We’ll talk about it now. Tonight.”
He tucked some of her hair behind her ear with deliciously calloused fingers. “Alright, baby. Tonight. Come on—let’s get back to Miss Grizzly.”
***
“I’m not sure if this will make sense to you,” he said, handing her a mug of something alcoholic-smelling where she sat cross-legged and half-naked on his berth, wearing only her panties and one of his flannel shirts. “It’s a bear thing and—”
“Wait. What is this? What’s in here?” she asked, holding up a silencing hand.
“In there?” He half-smiled, dizzyingly handsome. “Guess.”
“I don’t know.” She sniffed the mug. He’d poured whatever it was out of an unlabeled bottle. “Some kind of… sherry?”
“Yep. Andres Golden Cream. Canadian. British Columbian. Super, super fucking cheap.” He toasted her mug with his. “Not exactly whatever MacAlister has on tap, but hey, at least it won’t give you the dry heaves.”
She tried it, curious. He watched her down a lot in one swig.
“Huh. I kinda like it.”
“That’s my girl. Oughta take you out on the water for November fishing.” He downed some of his. “Ahh. Not bad, really, is it?”
“So. This thing.”
“Sure. This thing.” He hesitated, watching her. “Well, Ginger… eh, shit. I’ll just be blunt with you.”
“It’s worked for you so far.”
He half-smiled again; she put a hand on his thigh, and he put his hand over it.
“Okay. Well… we’re animals. I know you know that, but part of being an animal is—well, it’s forming interesting bonds that vanilla humans may not really have access to. Like the clan bonds. It’s not like humans can’t feel strongly about their group, it’s just that our feelings are closer to a wolf pack’s bond than anything human. Same with this. It’s animal; it’s unique.
“Sometimes… sometimes a bear takes two mates. We have strong appetites and strong needs. I’m talking about shifter triads, Ginger. Are you following me? A man with two women; a woman with two men; other combinations, maybe, but whatever, you get the idea. We’re lusty creatures, Ginger. Wild. Feral. Actual grizzlies fuck like you wouldn’t believe, and they take more mates than you could shake a stick at.
“Now, we’re also human, so like most humans, most of us live monogamously. But the animal half can be strong enough in a shifter that they fall in love with more than one partner. Those needs that the grizzly has burn hot in that shifter. They’re needs that can’t be controlled and they can’t be removed. They just are. It’s something we accept.”
“You’re telling me when Dane made me a bear, he made me—what, unable to be faithful? Unable to love one man? Promiscuous?” she asked, her stomach dropping. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“We don’t really see it that way. Remember: animals. We’re animals. It means we have different needs from humans. We accept that we have to fish and hunt and wrestle, so why wouldn’t we accept that some of us need more than one mate, just like a wild bear? It’s natural. There’s nothing wrong with you. A shifter like you is ‘faithful’ when they’re faithful to their triad.”
“I was always a one-man woman, Hunter…”
“And you never ate clams raw out of the sand, either,” he cut in smoothly. “You can’t hate yourself over this.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
He ran a big hand through her hair. “Thanks, baby. I won’t lie: sharing with MacAlister… I don’t know. But I love you like I’ve never loved any other woman, and if you told me to jump off the Skytree I probably would, so…”
She set down the mug, and then lay down so her head was in his lap.
“I owe you a lot, Hunter,” she whispered, curled up close to him. He petted her. “You showed me I could live like this. The time we’ve spent together is priceless. So why can’t I just love you?”
“Is that what you want? To just love me? You really wish you could stop loving MacAlister?”
“I… no. That’s not what I wish. I don’t know what I wish. I just don’t understand myself like this.”
“You’re a bear, Ginger,” he said, his thumb stroking her cheek. Her eyes fluttered closed. “An animal. What’s wild in you isn’t evil. Accept it.”
She was dozing off, spent. “I’ll try.”
“Sleepy, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm…”
“Okay. That’s fine. You’re safe here.”
She knew that. She trusted him like she’d never trusted another man—except Dane.
Chapter 36
“You’re sure you know your script, Ginger?”
“Yeah. Of course.” She shot Dane an arch look. “You think I lost some IQ points overnight?”
“Never. Nerves talking, that’s all.”
She put a hand flat on his lower chest, the hardness of his abs clear through his sweater.
“I know. And no, I haven’t forgotten the script, and I haven’t forgotten the plan.”
He put his hand over hers and squeezed. “I adore you, Ginger. Please be careful.”
“I will be. I adore you too.”
“Kiss me.”
That was an order she was happy to follow. Raising up on tiptoe, she kissed him full on his delicious, cedar-y mouth. His almost-blond stubble prickled the soft skin of her face.
“I won’t be far,” he murmured when they’d finished. “Scream and I’ll come.”
He couldn’t get too close, or the wind would give his scent away.
“Okay. I will.” She traced the proud, masculine shapes of his features with her fingers. He let her. “I’ll be fine, Dane.”
“Yes,” he said, more to convince the two of them than as a statement of fact.
There were other bears there—men mostly—who would wait back in the woods until they heard the signal to attack from the bears scaling the cliffs. Ginger was supposed to be the great distraction that would keep Gunnar and his people occupied while they did it.
“Go on, girl,” growled Torin. “Go and draw his eye.”
“See you soon,” Ginger whispered to Dane, and then she slunk off through the fern-and-sapling undergrowth, heading for Gunnar’s camp.
***
It was an overcast day, partly from drizzle and partly from smoke, and she felt heavy as she went. The forest smelled hazy and bitter, and the huckleberry she pressed through was dry.
She could smell bears ahead—and smell Gunnar.
I can’t believe this evil fucker burned this island. I can’t believe he’s convinced people to kill each other. And for what? Some fanatical view of bear purity? Some obsession with old laws? Laws no one even really wants to follow anymore? There’s been blood spilt over this shit!
She broke through a patch of lady fern, expression set.
I’m going to make sure this ends. I’ll play my part to the hilt.
A couple of bears appeared: shaggy, tousle-furred brown bears. They chuffed and snorted threateningly, and then one shifted into a man.
“You, girl. Changeling girl. Why are you here alone?”
She stopped where she was. “To offer myself to your Alpha
. Take me to him.”
***
Gunnar sat in the center of his camp, a fire of dry moss and wood shavings burning by his feet. When he saw her being led in from the forest, he stood up.
“It’s you,” he said, breathing deep as if to drink her scent on the air. “I dreamed you would come.”
“I guess you dreamed right,” she said, one of his men pushing her closer to Gunnar. The feel of the alien hand on her back, right between her shoulder blades, made her tense up with anger.
“I did, as I always do. But the dream did not tell me why you would come, or what luck you would bring.” He leaned in and sniffed close to her neck. “So why are you here, girl?”
She swallowed. “To offer myself to you.”
“To… offer yourself? Is that so?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. “Why? You hate me, girl—let’s not pretend otherwise. Why would you come to me like this?”
“I came to barter myself. I’d trade myself to buy the lives of the men who love me—you know which men I mean. Would you accept that?”
He considered her slowly, then lifted one of his small, paper-skinned hands to her throat. “You come to be my mate, girl? On those terms?”
His dry fingers stroking her neck made the bile rise in her stomach, but she held it down. “If you’ll accept them.”
“You’d bind yourself to me for the sake of MacAlister and Beaumont?”
“Yes.” Everywhere he touched her, he left a cold trail; her skin tingled unpleasantly.
“Why do you think I would have you?” he hissed, his voice dropping to a serpent’s whisper. “You? After you spurned me? You spurned me, you proud, foolish creature. Why would I want you now? You’re willful and silly.”
“Silly?” Rude-ass fuck. “Don’t I tempt you?” she asked, forcing her voice to sweeten, dropping it to a murmur. “Don’t you want me? Don’t you want my… submission?”
He growled, a weaker sound than Hunter or Dane would make. His flat-palmed hand slid down her neck and her front to rest on the plump swell of a breast. Nasty. Her nipple hardened, but from cold disgust, not desire; the back of her neck burned.
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