Whatever happened, Brody would come back to his cave. He would find her there, and she would be comfortable until he came. She skidded in the mud on the steep trail, but when she came to Craven Creek, she turned off along the twisting stream bed with a light heart. She was on her way to get dry – and to Brody.
She followed the stream by instinct. Her feet picked out the boulders and exposed tree roots in the dark without her really looking for them. Fate drew her on to meet her heart’s true mate. All her dreams for a love match came true. She was right to spurn her parents’ efforts to match her up with Hyatt.
She heard the waterfall in the distance – or was that the rain getting stronger? How could it get stronger when it already pelted down in torrents? She couldn’t get any wetter if she went swimming.
Something about the sound didn’t sit right with her. She slowed to a walk. The closer she got to the cave, the more certain she became that the noise wasn’t the waterfall. If it wasn’t the waterfall, what was it?
It pounded against her ears in a steady thudding pulse. It chuckled like water rushing, but it sang a lower tone than the high-pitched shower of spray catapulting over the waterfall. It rumbled low with a thick, heavy growl.
She inched toward the sound, but she couldn’t identify it in the dark. She drew closer until she stopped where she seemed to stand right on top of the noise. It came up from almost directly under her feet.
She put out one leg to take another step, but at that moment, she realized where the sound came from. The path dropped away right in front of her, and a thick, muddy river of flowing water cut through the hillside. It tumbled down the steep ravine at her side to disappear into the dark. She almost stepped in that flooded rivulet severing the path in half.
She peered into the dark to get a better idea where she was. If she was close enough to the waterfall, she might risk jumping over the water and continue the rest of her way to the shelter of the cave.
She decided to chance it. What was the worst that could happen? She might miss her footing and wind up about as wet as she already was. She would strip naked at the cave and shift into her furry bear self. She would sleep snug and safe until Brody came and rousted her out of bed to a clear fine morning tomorrow.
She just made up her mind to take a few steps back and try a running jump when the sound changed again. The chuckling sound subsided. The stream held its breath, and Star held her breath along with it.
All of a sudden, the stream exploded with a dreadful noise. It startled her back, but it was too late. The gathering waters cutting through the hillside gathered their power behind a log jammed in their course. They burst their narrow banks, and a massive gush of water broke the path to pieces.
The water split the already sodden soil under Star’s feet and washed it, with her along with it, down the mountain. A huge section of the hillside broke free and collapsed under Star’s feet. Mud, rock, and debris hurtled down the ravine. The whole mass knocked Star off her feet and cascaded away in an avalanche of earth and water.
Star didn’t have time to register what happened. She got caught up in the torrent. It sucked her under a wave of mud and threatened to drag her down to her destruction. She kicked out with her legs and flailed with her arms to keep her head above the surface. The landslide ran over sharp crags that bashed Star along their treacherous bottoms. Then they cut into deeper channels where she couldn’t feel the bottom anymore.
Down and down she went. How far down she went, she had no idea. She must have fallen much farther than Cunningham Homestead, down to the very depths of the valleys and ravines between the mountains.
Out of nowhere, the landslide let her go. The water and sludge disappeared, and the night air chilled her wet skin. She floated through the ether with nothing to support her: She was suspended, as if Gravity had no meaning for her. Nothing touched her in any direction. She could have been dead and never known the difference – except for the cold.
Then, just as suddenly, she crashed to Earth with tremendous force. She slammed down on hard stone that shattered the stillness of her ethereal flight. She landed on her side with her arms locked over her chest and stomach. Her shoulder and hip lit on fire with pain.
The next minute, tons of mud and water studded with branches and pebbles showered her from above. The debris stung her arms and pounded on her head. She huddled on her rock landing place and waited, but the deluge never stopped. It would go on and on, as long as the storm lasted.
Star pulled herself together. She forced her aching limbs to move. She rolled up on hands and knees and crawled out of the path of that pouring water. It spattered the rock for twenty feet in every direction, and Star couldn’t see well enough to judge the best direction to get away from it.
She crawled, blinded by mud and darkness. She put one hand in front of the other. She could only hope against hope she was going the right way. She put out her hand and found—nothing. She groped in empty space, but she had already moved too far out on the rock ledge. She lost her balance and slipped forward, into that empty vacuum with nothing to support her.
She catapulted into space again, but this time, she fell only a few dozen feet before she landed on soft leaf litter among the trees. She patted the ground around her. Pine needles cushioned her hands and knees. She could rest here if the endless rain didn’t patter on her head. She was a long way from Brody’s cave, and she would never find it in the dark.
She sat still and rested for a long time. She massaged her aching body and assured herself nothing was broken. Then she set out to explore this place in which she found herself and try to find a place to spend the rest of the night. She patted all around herself. The pine needles covered the ground all around three big tree trunks, but outside them, she came up against sheer stone walls.
She found a cleft in the rock and measured it with her fingers. When she extended her thumb and fingers of one hand to their widest limit, they just spanned the cleft. She moved sideways along the wall and patted up as high as she could reach. She patted all the way around in a complete circle until she came back to the same cleft.
She was surrounded by a complete circle of sheer rock. She could never scale out of it. She was trapped.
Chapter 12
Brody stared out into the storm. Lightning danced along Bruins’ Peak. The bear inside him hated thunder and lightning, but bear and man longed for Star. If only they were together again in his cave, he would snuggle up to her safe and warm tonight. Instead, he had a long, lonely night alone in his room at Farrell Homestead, a night exactly like all the other lifeless nights of his miserable existence.
The nights he spent with Star in the forest glimmered along a golden strand of hope in the pitch black night of wasted years. A man couldn’t live alone, and no Bruin ever did. Bruins sought mates, and when they found one, they stuck, no matter what.
Austin stayed up later than his usual two o’clock in the morning to watch the whole Left for Dead series, but Brody didn’t mind. He laughed when Austin cheered the killer zombies and he wished Mattox good night when he excused himself after the third movie. Brody had all the time in the world.
After two o’clock came and went, Austin switched off the TV with a reluctant sigh. “I guess I better go to bed. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to bed, too. It’s getting late.”
Austin shot him a wicked grin. “We could make it an all-nighter. I know some girls down in town who always like a visit from a dangerous character out of the sticks.”
“I thought you were too injured to get off the couch.”
“I’m never too injured for that kind of action. What do you say? We’ll put the pick-up on stealth mode so Dad won’t hear. Wait. What am I saying? Dad would never mind if you took out the pick-up.”
“He would mind me taking it to visit some girls in town. I’m already on probation.”
“You’re never on probation. Don’t you know he dotes on you more than the rest of us? You’re his
favorite.”
“I'm his Favorite? You’re dreaming. If he favors anyone, it’s Mattox. I’m the black sheep of this family. You know that. If I break my probation, he’ll come down hard and he’ll never take me back.”
“Come on, man. Break out now and then. This is exactly what you need to get that Cunningham out of your head.”
Brody froze. “I told you not to talk about her.”
“That's my point exactly. Come on. I’ve got some Old Spice you can borrow.”
Brody shoved his brother back down hard on the couch. “You’re not going anywhere except to your own bed to go to sleep, and I’m doing the same thing. Now get moving.”
Austin cursed under his breath, but he would never contradict Brody again. He made some noise about being his own man, but in the end, he scooted off to his room and shut the door.
Brody followed him and went into his own room, but when the house fell silent, he went back out to the living room. He didn’t turn the lamp back on. He preferred the dark. He watched the storm through the window. Now that no one interrupted his thoughts with cheers of, “Kill him! Suck his brains out!” he gave himself over to the power of nature’s fury. It matched the turmoil warring in his heart.
He couldn’t stay here any longer. That much he knew. He wanted nothing but to find Star and never let her go. He would gladly turn his back on his family and everything he knew to hold her and make her his own.
Another life awaited him beyond Farrell Homestead. There must be more to life than listening to Austin’s loony plans to maim and destroy. Did they really expect him to take over for his father and preside over this gang of eccentrics? He couldn’t do that without Star. No way! Living the life of his choice with the woman of his dreams was a small price to pay for dedicating your life to the benefit of your tribe.
No one expected any other Bruin to give up their own mate for the sake of some cockamamie feud with the tribe next door. No other tribe in the territory would blame him for turning his back on this prison without walls.
Three o’clock passed, and he still didn’t make his move. What was he waiting for? Daylight would come and find him still fixed to the same spot. He had to move now or miss his chance.
Moving away from that window took all his strength of will, but once he started, his own momentum kept him going. How many times had he rehearsed this moment in his mind? How many times had he eased the door open and padded across the porch without a sound? How many times had he shut the door behind him, never to open it again?
The rain eased off and the thunder and lightning faded in the distance. He could cross Bruins’ Peak with no trouble now. A warm wind tossed the treetops in the storm’s wake, but it gave him no trouble.
He hardly looked where he was going on the path up to the look-out. He knew the way well enough. Only one thought dominated his mind: Star. She waited for him out there somewhere.
He would walk right through the Cunninghams’ front gate and up to the porch. He would shake hands with Kaiser and sit down for a friendly chat. He was the next Alpha. They would welcome him—as long as Walker didn’t blow his head off first. He might walk through the front gate, but he would have to be careful getting there first.
They might not enjoy the idea of a Farrell joining the Cunninghams. He would have to make them understand. He would do anything to win Star.
He found the look-out with no trouble, but he lingered at the bench for a while. The lightning crackled in the distance, and the thunder touched his ear from a long way off. He was safe, and he could admire the glory of the night without worry or discomfort.
He sat down on the bench, but it wasn’t the same without Star by his side. The clouds blew away and revealed the first light of dawn peeking over the horizon. He better get on his way.
He strolled down the other side of the mountain. Happiness filled his heart for the first time in a long time. He was doing what he ought to be doing and going where he ought to be going. Nothing short of death would stop him.
By the time he passed the turn-off to Craven Creek, the sky glowed grey with the sun behind the clouds. He paused near the tree line and surveyed Cunningham Homestead. Quiet blanketed the place, and he didn’t see any sentries on guard. Walker could be stalking him right now, so why didn’t he smell any Bruins?
Brody crouched behind the bushes and watched and waited. He didn’t need a bullet in the chest at a time like this. Smoke billowed from the chimney, so someone was in there.
As he watched, Walker strode out of the woods east of the house. He hopped over the split-rail fence and came to the steps just as Kaiser came out of the house. Brody strained his ears to catch their conversation.
“I searched the whole woods to the east, all the way down to Kerr territory,” Walker said. “The rain wiped out her tracks and her scent, so I’m hunting blind. I’ll try the northern slope next, but I don’t suppose I’ll have any better luck. I have to inspect every bush along the way. It will take forever, and it would be dumb luck if I found her before nightfall.”
Kaiser passed his hand across his eyes. “Keep looking. She must be around here somewhere. She can’t have gone far in that storm, and I know she didn’t cross the Peak with that lightning going off.”
Walker cast a sidelong glance at his father. “Hey, Pop, you don’t think she’d.....” He trailed off.
Kaiser’s eyes flashed in his weary face. “Don’t even think that. Star might be reckless, but she wouldn’t fly in the face of her whole tribe. I raised that girl with my own hand, and she would never do anything to flout me.”
Walker stared down at the ground. “Sure, Pop. I only thought....”
“Don’t think. Just find her. She could be hurt or something somewhere. Where’s Shaw?”
“He went down to town to have a look around. If Star ran off, she could have wound up there.”
Kaiser turned away. “Keep looking. We have to find her.”
Brody didn’t wait to hear anymore. All thought of taking the cautious approach flew out of his head. He broke the tree line and marched straight up to the porch. “What’s going on?”
Walker spun around. “What blazes are you doing here?”
Brody swept the homestead with his fierce eyes. “Where is she? Where’s Star? I want to see her.”
Walker and Kaiser exchanged glances. “She’s not here. We don’t know where she is.”
“We thought she was with you,” Walker added.
Kaiser cut him off. “Don’t say it, Walker.”
Walker paid no attention. “She disappeared sometime in the night. We searched everywhere, but the storm erased her sign. We....at least, I thought she might have run away to you.”
The door flew open, and Rena burst out of the house. She rushed up to Brody. “You have to help us find her. Please, do you know where she went?”
Kaiser tried to push his wife back. “Get away from him. He’s a Farrell. He probably kidnapped her.”
“If he kidnapped her,” Walker countered over his shoulder, “he wouldn’t be coming here looking for her.” He turned to Brody. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”
“She may have gone....I don’t know. I can’t be sure. I give you my word I didn’t know she was going to run away.”
Rena wrung her hands. “Please help us get her back. We’ll do anything.”
“We will not!” Kaiser barked.
Walker lowered his voice into Brody’s ear. “Please. If you have any idea where she might be, help us find her. She could be hurt.”
Brody clenched his jaw. “I think I might have an idea. Why don’t you come with me?”
Walker shrugged. “I couldn’t do that. The place could be in Farrell territory.”
“The place I’m thinking is on contested land, and no one knows about it but me—and Star, of course. You’d be all right, and you could see for yourself if she’s there.”
“You go.”
Brody nodded up at Kaiser and Rena. “I’ll find h
er, and when I do, I’ll bring her home. You have my word on that, ma’am.”
Rena sobbed under her breath. “Oh, thank you!”
Kaiser said nothing. Walker gave Brody one final nod, and Brody strode back across the yard the way he came. He hit the trail heading up the mountain. If Star ran away last night, he could think of only one place she would go. She wanted to get to him with the same desperate urgency pulling him toward her. She would head toward him, and that meant Farrell territory.
Like her father said, she wouldn’t cross the Peak in the lightning storm. She would turn aside for the nearest shelter. She would go to their cave. She could shelter there until he came looking for her.
He turned down Craven Creek, but after ten minutes of fast walking, he stopped where a washout interrupted the path. From its edge, he could plainly make out the place where a log jam in the creek caused the water to overflow and break into the bank. It overflowed and diverted down the ravine until it ate a hole in the path.
Only a tiny trickle wet the bottom of it now, but it washed away half the hillside before it lost its power. From the inch of space where it severed the path, it dropped straight down into the ravine for fifty feet. He couldn’t see the bottom of it.
His heart skipped a beat. One of two things happened. Either Star found shelter in his cave and the path washed out afterwards, or it washed out on top of her and swept her down the mountain. If it washed out before she came down that path, she would have turned aside and probably gone straight home. Her father and brothers wouldn’t be out looking for her right now.
He jumped over the gap and looked back. From the other side, he could see more clearly than ever how that escaped torrent eroded the hillside under the path. It left a precarious ledge with nothing but a few bare roots holding it up.
He spun on his heel and ran to the waterfall. He didn’t admire it or take refreshment from its spray now. He dashed straight to the cave and shouted down the shaft. “Star! Star!”
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