On the other side of the Meadow, bears walked between the men. Star knew them by sight. Brody’s younger brother Austin waved his shotgun over his head and yelled out his challenge to the Cunninghams. “You want a piece of me? Come and get it then. Here, Mattox. Hold my gun while we settle this thing like Bruins.”
In the blink of an eye, he dropped onto all fours. Fur sprouted all over his body. His shoulders hunched and swelled around his swaying head. Before anyone could say a word, he broke into a run across the Meadow.
Across the battle ground, Dax roared at him and ran forward at the same time. The two bears galloped toward each other at full speed. They didn’t see Star hurtling down the hill until she rushed straight into their path. In her haste to cut them off, she also didn’t see Brody until he skidded to a stop right next to her.
Star whirled around to face Dax, while Brody spun around to confront Austin. They held up their hands to their brothers. “Stop! Stop! Stay where you are!”
The whole place erupted in the noise of bellowing bears, yelling men, and guns going off. Dax and Austin didn’t understand. They roared at Star and Brody, and at each other. They bared their fangs and shook their burly heads. They understood nothing but the pitch of battle.”
Brody called to his relatives behind Austin. “Don’t shoot! Back off! Stop the attack!”
The ranks only moved in closer. More than one Farrell shouldered his gun and popped off a shot over Brody’s shoulder. They didn’t care anymore about the reason that brought them to this confrontation. They knew only the excitement and fever of finally destroying their age-old enemies.
Brody found his father in the Farrell ranks. “I’m okay, Dad. I’m not hurt or dead. The Cunninghams didn’t do anything to me. I was just out in the forest. I’m okay. You can stand down,” he yelled.
Star took a calculated risk and left Dax to walk over to her father. “Please, Pop. Call off the attack. The Farrells didn’t do anything to me. You can see I’m all right. Tell them to back off, Pop. Do it for me,” she pleaded.
She saw her words sink into her father’s face, but he didn’t give the order. His eyes shifted over to Brody. Then he looked back at her with unspoken questions crowding his face.
A bear’s roar shivered the ground behind her. Star turned around to see Dax and Austin charging toward each other like Star and Brody were never there. Dax tripped over the ground on feather-light paws. He was enjoying this.
Dax sprang at Austin with his mouth open. Star’s heart sank. From her place in front of her father, she was too far away to block them now. Her calculated risk failed. They would rip each other to pieces, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
Something shimmered in her peripheral vision. Another deep male voice bellowed a challenge over Lachlan’s Meadow. Star wheeled to see Brody rear back. He threw his arms out to his sides, and the next thing she knew, the huge bear rose on his hind legs and bellowed at the adversaries.
Star bolted forward. Her four feet hit the ground at the same moment. The excitement of battle surged in her veins. The bear’s primal instincts drove her forward. She cut off Dax and took her place next to Brody. They stood back to back and roared at their brothers.
Dax made a swipe at Star with his teeth, but he pulled back at the last second. His fangs brushed her fur. She whipped around fast with an enraged snarl, and when her teeth clicked shut, she didn’t give him the same kindness. She laid open his shoulder to the bone. Black blood oozed down his side. He rounded on her with his teeth bared, but he never got a chance to strike again. Star barreled in on him and slammed her shoulder into his side. She sent him bowling away with a squeal.
Dax rolled up onto his feet, but he thought twice about attacking her again. He stood a few paces away and made a big noise, but he dared not provoke her further. Star swept the Cunningham line with her flinty eyes.
Behind her back, Brody pinned Austin to the ground with his jaws clamped around his brother’s throat. No one stepped forward to challenge them, but the sun flashing on metal caught her attention farther down the Meadow.
She took her eyes off Dax for a fraction of a second to look that way, just in time to see her father shoulder his rifle and take aim at Brody. Star reacted with lightning speed. Roaring wouldn’t stop a bullet. She jumped backward and blocked her father’s sight with her body.
Her father hesitated, but he didn’t lower the gun. The Farrells kept their guns trained on the combatants. Brody twisted his head on his massive neck and shook the tree tops with his deafening roar.
Someone choked behind her, and Austin crawled away from Brody coughing. He crawled all the way back to his gun, but he didn’t bother his brother again.
Star blinked and took her human form. She scanned her family for any sign of movement, but no one twitched a whisker. She faced her father. “Do you want to kill me, Pop? You’ll have to kill me if you want to shoot Brody or any other Farrells.”
Her father’s eyes quivered and Star saw her words strike home.
She turned to Walker. “How about you, stud? Do you want to shoot me?”
He lowered his gun. “I don’t want to shoot you, little sister. You know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
She swept the Cunningham tribe with her eyes and raised her voice to the treetops. “Anybody else want to take a shot at me?”
No one moved.
Brody backed into her, and his fingers laced around her hand. His voice rumbled in his deep chest. “Any of you Farrells want to kill a Cunningham this morning? You’ll have to kill me first. What about it, Austin? You want to kill a Cunningham right now? Come on, man. Get on your feet and come on and do it.”
Austin struggled to his feet. Black bruises darkened his neck, and bloody bite marks dripped from his arm and one leg. He limped toward his truck, but he kept a firm grip on his gun.
“What about you, Mattox? Dad? You came here to kill some Cunninghams. Let’s see you do it. Let’s see you kill me so you can get to the Cunninghams.”
Duke Farrell shrugged. “No one wants to kill you, son.”
“Then pack up and get out of here. Go on, you lily-livered hayseeds! Get in your trucks and go home where you belong. No one’s gonna kill anybody today, not as long as we’re here.”
Dax shifted back and covered his bloody shoulder with his hand. A few steps behind him, Shaw copied him and sauntered back to Walker and the others. All down the line, the enemies lowered their guns and shifted back into men.
Star’s shoulders slumped. She squeezed Brody’s hand. “It’s over.”
“Are you all right?” murmured Brody
“Yeah; we better get out of here,” Star replied in a low voice.
“When will I see you again?” Brody whispered.
“Soon; just please, stay well, no matter what,” Star said lowly and lovingly.
He dropped her hand and moved away. Her heart cried out for his presence, but they both had more important business to attend to.
Walker set his rifle on his shoulder and nudged Kaiser with his elbow. “Come on. Let’s go.”
At his word, the Cunninghams lowered their weapons and stepped away from the battle line. Dax stabbed the air with his finger. “This isn’t over. We’ll be back.”
Austin spoke up from the passenger door of his truck. “You got that right.”
Mattox cradled his shotgun in his arm, but he kept his finger on the trigger. He walked up to Brody and jerked his head sideways. “Get in the truck.”
Tension drained from Brody’s shoulders. He followed his brother to one of the trucks and slid into the passenger seat. Mattox got behind the wheel and racked his gun behind his head.
Star caught his eye from across Lachlan’s Meadow. Walker held the car door open for her and slammed it closed when she sat down in the seat. Star and Brody shared a point of connection beyond words. When would she ever see him again? Had she lost him forever by standing up to her family? Maybe she should have run away with him when she had the chance. T
hey should have run to the MacAllisters and let the Farrells and the Cunninghams cut each other to pieces.
She didn’t have time to change her mind before Walker fired up the engine and sprayed leaf meal and dirt up to block her view. At that same moment, Mattox hit the gas and reversed onto the road. She lost sight of Brody in clouds of exhaust and dust.
Chapter 9
Brody didn’t find anything in the fridge that appealed to him, so he went into the living room where he found Austin lounging on the couch, watching daytime soaps. Brody snatched the remote off the coffee table and flicked the TV off.
Austin started out of his stupor. “Hey! I was watching that.”
Brody tossed the remote into the corner. The back panel popped off, and the batteries tumbled out onto the carpet. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your sorry life than watch that stupid crap? It’s one o’clock in the afternoon and you haven’t moved all day. Where’s your motivation to actually do something?”
Austin tugged down his shirt collar to expose the gashes and bruises around his throat. “This is my motivation, you traitor. If I didn’t have to lie here recovering from my own brother almost ripping my throat out, I could be out there working while you sit around wasting your life. Where’s your knitting, Grandma? Did you finish your doily yet?”
Brody slid to the edge of his chair. “If you don’t watch your mouth, I’ll finish the job right now. Wha’d’ya think about that, Jack? Do you want to try your luck again?”
Mattox suddenly burst into the room. “Knock it off, both of you,” he yelled.
Then he looked at Austin, saying firmly, “You got exactly what you deserved, Austin, for taking him on in a fair fight. Maybe next time you’ll think twice about it”.
Brody thought this would be a good time to leave, but Maddox raised his voice again, saying, “Sit down, Brody.” Brody still continued to rise from the chair. “I said sit down. You’re not going anywhere any time soon, after the way you betrayed your whole tribe for some Cunningham piece of tail,” Maddox commanded with contempt.
Brody narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Don’t you dare talk about Star like that or I’ll put you on your back or worse. If anyone says one word against Star, I swear to God they’ll pay for it.”
“Settle down, boy. You’ll blow a gasket,” Maddox said in a more neutral voice.
Brody threw himself back in the chair. “Star is my mate. The rest of you Farrell morons will just have to get that through your thick heads. You can keep me locked up here for the rest of my life, but I’ll never stop working to get back to her. I’ll never mate with anyone else as long as I live.”
“She’s not your mate when you’re here and she’s on the other side of the mountain. You better put her out of your mind once and for all.”
“Never!” Brody promised.
At that moment, Duke came into the room. “Come in here, Brody. I want to talk to you.”
Brody stood up and followed his father out of the room. Austin propped himself up on his elbow and called after him, “Hey, give me back the remote!” but the door slammed in his face.
Brody sat down on his parents’ bed next to his father. He couldn’t look at his father’s face without seeing dark circles under the old man’s eyes. He noticed for the first time how weary and old his father looked. “Are you okay, Dad?”
Duke lowered his voice to a soft, sing-song murmur. “No, I’m not okay, Brody. I’m sick and tired of all this fighting with the Cunninghams. I’m too old to keep it up. I don’t have the strength to lead this family anymore.”
Brody’s head shot up, but his father wouldn’t look him in the eye. “I guess you’ve got a few more years left in you,” Brody said, though his throat ached and his stomach twisted.
“I brought you in here to tell you something no one else knows,” his father continued as if Brody had said nothing.
“What’s that?”
“I won’t be Alpha of this tribe for much longer. You’re the strongest of my sons. By rights, you should take over for me when I can’t lead anymore.”
“What about Mattox? He’s older and bigger,” Brody asked, somewhat confused.
“He’s bigger as a man, but he’s not as big as a Bruin. You showed your strength at the Meadow last week. Not a single man in either our tribe or the Cunningham tribe would stand up to you, and you schooled Austin without a hair put sideways. You’re the new Alpha. You’ll take my place when I’m gone,” Duke intoned with assurance.
“Mattox won’t like it,” Brody thought out loud.
“Mattox already knows. We talked about it on the way over to the Kerrs the other day.”
“You said no one knows.”
“Mattox doesn’t know you’ll take over for me, but he knows you’re bigger and stronger than he is. When I step down and you step up, Mattox will know better than to challenge you.” Duke explained to his son.
“I don’t want to take over as Alpha. I’ve got better things to do,” Brody stated.
“Like what?”
“Look, if I take over as Alpha, I will make peace with the Cunninghams and end this feud. That will be the first thing I do as Alpha.” Brody stated firmly.
“Then end it. Do the world a big favor and end it. Mattox doesn’t have the strength in his body or his mind to lead this tribe. He would need someone like Austin to help him make decisions.”
Brody spat. “God forbid.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Mattox can’t be Alpha and neither can Austin. It has to be you.”
“Listen, Dad, I’ve made up my mind. I’m mating with Star Cunningham and that’s final,” Brody again stood his ground, his voice a no-nonsense firm tone.
“I’m sorry, son. That’s what I brought you in here to tell you. If you mate with Star, the whole tribe will turn against you. Ending the feud after you become Alpha is one thing, but you’ll have to marry someone else before that happens. The tribe would tear you to pieces if you tried to take over with a Cunningham by your side.”
“Then I won’t be Alpha. Star and I will leave.”
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know. The MacAllisters or the Mackenzies will take us in. They don’t give a flying leap about your foolish little feud, and neither do I. All I care about is Star.”
Duke shook his head. “When you’re Alpha, you’ll understand that an Alpha has to put his own feelings aside for the good of the tribe. You can’t mate with Star.”
“I already have,” Brody stated evenly.
Duke’s tired eyes snapped to his son’s face. “What?”
“I already mated with her. Where do you think I’ve been the last three days? We were together in the forest, and we weren’t holding hands the whole time. She’s my mate, Dad. You can’t change that now. If you want me around, you’ll have to accept it.” Brody looked into his father’s eyes with strength and no shame.
“I can’t accept it. You always were stubborn, and now you’ll destroy our tribe. If you won’t come to your senses, I’ll just have to keep you under lock-down until you break.” Duke shook his head, but knew what action he needed to take.
“I will never break. You’ll have to kill me first.”
“Don’t you think the Cunninghams are telling Star the same thing? You said they plan to marry her off to Hyatt Kerr. If they don’t succeed at that, they’ll marry her off to someone else. You’ll never see Star again.”
“You can keep my body locked up, but you can’t lock up my heart and my soul. Star belongs to me and I belong to her. You understand that better than anybody. Bruins mate for life. I’ll never give up until I get Star back.”
Duke hoisted himself to his feet with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry you feel that way, son. I’ll tell Mattox to keep you under constant supervision. We’ll talk again another time; see if we can’t come to some understanding.”
“We already did, Dad. We talked; you know where I stand. You said you want me to be Alpha after you ste
p down. Do you really think an Alpha of our tribe would change his mind about something like this?”
“You nearly got all of us killed the other day at Lachlan’s Meadow, and now you want to stick your toe in the sand over a girl? You’ll destroy the last shred of peace on this mountain.”
“I won’t destroy it. I’ll make sure nothing can ever break it again.”
Duke stared down at his son. Brody returned his gaze without flinching until Duke looked away with a shake of his head. “Go back out to the living room, son.”
Brody went back to the living room, and Duke closed himself into the bedroom behind him. Austin and Mattox bickered on the couch because Mattox wouldn’t get the remote back for Austin, who claimed he was too sick and injured to get it for himself.
Mattox looked up when Brody entered the room, and Brody recognized that questioning uncertainty in his eyes. Mattox didn’t know where he stood with Brody. Their father was right. Mattox knew the truth. He wasn’t big enough or strong enough or smart enough to beat Brody in an all-out fight. If they came down to battling for the Alpha position, Brody would win.
Brody went over to the living room window and gazed out at Farrell Homestead. Barns, sheds, cabins, and fields surrounded the main house for acres in all directions. If he became Alpha, he would inherit all of this. He never considered that possibility before.
How could he ever look his older brother in the face if he deposed him from the position to which he was rightfully entitled? Then again, if Brody beat him in an Alpha challenge, Mattox wasn’t entitled to any of it. Already Brody sensed a change inside him. His chest swelled. Strength and power infused his muscles. He beat Austin in front of everybody, and no one else dared confront him. He was, in essence, Alpha already.
The notion changed his whole outlook. He could walk out of the door anytime he wanted. He could go get Star right now and offer Kaiser and Walker his hand in friendship. He could negotiate the boundary between their territories, and not even his own father could stop him.
Bruins' Peak Bears Box Set (Volume I) Page 13