The whole terrible scene unfolded out of Harmony’s worst nightmares. Just when she finally found a way to take Aiken into her heart, she had to stand there and watch him be gunned down by some unscrupulous hound from the projects.
Her whole soul screamed in fury and pain. Bain levered his rifle to fire again. He’d shot Aiken once. One more shot would finish him forever.
In that moment, she could understand how Scotia felt. She couldn’t live without her mate, her life’s companion, and she would never find another one like him. No one could take his place at her side, wandering free and careless through these woods. No one could awaken her deepest desires the way he could.
Bain’s bullet ripped a hole in Harmony’s being and blasted out the other side. She would die along with Aiken, here in the leafy dell where they first met. She would never have to face the world without him in it.
Bain strode toward Aiken’s prostrate form. He straddled the body and aimed his rifle into Aiken’s upturned face.
That wild thing Harmony fought to keep down, that dangerous part of herself she never let see the light of day, exploded out of her so fast she couldn’t hold it back – not that she tried. She let it loose in all its fury to destroy the man who ruined her life.
Her feet left the ground, and her mind blurred into animal madness beyond words. Her shoulders swelled to encompass the whole world. Her mouth gaped open in a deep-throated roar that shivered the very stones of Bruins’ Peak. Rough brown fur grew out of her skin. She was a bear – but so much more than a bear. She was a Bruin, and this was her place. He had trespassed on her territory one too many times, and she wouldn’t let him live to do it again. Her teeth grabbed the air to rend Bain Campbell limb from limb, but she never reached him.
He wheeled to aim his rifle at her with a shriek, but she wouldn’t cringe from it. Let him shoot her. He could only end her grief sooner. In mid-air, she saw him whip sideways. His eyes snapped open. The next thing she knew, she landed, on all four paws, on the ground, but Bain wasn’t there. She looked around for him.
He jutted sideways with his legs in the air and his arms all tangled up in his rifle. Aiken kicked his foot free where he’d hooked Bain’s ankle to knock him over. In less than a second, he was on his feet and changed before Harmony’s eyes. The bear reared up and rocketed over the ground to attack Bain.
Harmony stared at Aiken through her beady black eyes. Her nose caught his scent. He wasn’t dead after all. There he was, her love, her bear, alive and well and diving for Bain’s throat.
Her mind cleared. She could form thoughts and words. She understood everything. The next thing Harmony knew, she stood in the same place in her human form. She put out her hand out to touch the bear. She spoke to it with all the love in her heart. “Leave him alone. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
The bear bellowed in rage, but her words sank into his animal brain. He brought up his great paw and swiped it down Bain’s cheek. That swipe was nothing more than a pat, but he left three parallel scratches that oozed blood down to Bain’s weasel jaw.
The bear stepped back and away. He stepped on Bain’s rifle with one massive foot. With the other, he scooped up the butt stock with his claws and twisted the hardened metal into a pretzel. He folded the gun in half and left it lying in the dust.
The bear stood up straight to become, once again, Aiken Dunlap. His shoulders heaved with panting breath, and his fingers clenched into fists. He growled down at Bain through bared teeth. “Get out of here. Go on. Run home to your Mama and tell her all about how you wet your pants on my front porch. Tell her where you got those scratches and see if she believes you.”
Bain scrambled through the leaf litter to grab his mangled gun. He cast one backward glance at Aiken and Harmony before he turned tail and ran.
Chapter 17
Aiken frowned at Bain’s disappearing form. “You should have let me kill him. He’ll cause us nothing but trouble as long as he lives.”
He brooded under his darkened brows, but when Harmony didn’t answer, he looked over at her. He found her grinning at him like a silly schoolgirl. He couldn’t answer that grin with anything but a grin of his own. “Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey,” Harmony joyfully replied.
“So… uh …” He paused as he scanned her up and down. “That was a pretty good trick you pulled just now, turning into a bear like that. How did you do it?” he asked in playful awe.
She did her best to suppress her laughter, but her lips twitched up into a sheepish smirk. “Just a little thing they call Bruin around these parts. Maybe you’ve heard of it,” she choked out, trying not to belly laugh.
He shrugged, and the color mounted to his cheeks. “Maybe I have. Maybe I just have. So you’re a Bruin now, huh?”
She pretended to look away. “Oh, by the way, I found out why Laird Kerr thinks so much of me. Seems his sister Scotia didn’t kill herself. She just got hurt and wound up in the local medical clinic. No one knew she was pregnant from Vaughn Dodd, and her baby wound up in foster care. No one knew the woman called Penelope McGillis was a Bruin all along. So that’s why I felt such a strong pull toward Bruins’ Peak. I thought you might like to know.”
“Scotia Kerr, huh? That’s a pretty good story.”
Harmony couldn’t hold back her joy any longer: “Hey, Aiken!”
“What is it, Munchkin?”
“I’m a Bruin.”
“Yeah, I saw that. You’re a pretty darn hot one, too. You scared the ever-loving bejeezus out of Bain just now.”
Harmony burst out laughing again and continued; “Hey, Aiken.”
“Button?”
“There’s one more thing.”
“Whatcha got?”
“There’s nothing stopping us from being together now. I’m not forbidden anymore. I’m Laird Kerr’s niece” Harmony practically shouted for joy as her words tumbled out.
“You know what, Strawberry?”
“What?”
“You’re Celia Kerr’s niece, too.”
“Huh; yeah,” Harmony pointed at him with her chin. “I thought you were dead. Bain shot you.”
He bent forward and studied his belt buckle. A round indentation caved in the metal surface, and a smashed brass circle lay embedded against Aiken’s belly. “Well; it looks like he missed.”
“Don’t worry about him. No one believes his stories anyway,” Harmony steadily replied.
“We still have one more ace in the hole, just in case he does try to stir anything up.”
“Marla,” Harmony stated quietly.
“I didn’t want to bring her into this. Boyd and I always agreed to keep her secret to protect her, but we might have to tell people what she did. That might be the only way we can get Bain to back off,” Aiken responded through clenched teeth.
“His dad’s friend got what he deserved. Even Sheriff McPherson said so,” Harmony staunchly replied.
“Forget about Bain. We have more important things to think about right now,” Aiken said softly for a completely different reason.
The shadow lifted from Aiken’s face, and he took a step toward Harmony. His fingers found hers and twined themselves together. He bent down and kissed her. Flames of fire licked across his lips and tingled against hers. Those flames danced all the way down her neck and belly to the secret cavern between her legs. They woke to bright fireworks of molten desire.
Never, ever before had she wanted anything as much as this, and the best part about it; she could have it. She could have it all, and nothing held her back. She could lift her face into his kiss and taste the delicious piney pungency of his lips. She could let that warm softness wash all over her.
He pulled away and moved back. He tossed his head. “Let me see you shift again.”
“What?”
“You did it once. Let me see you do it again.”
She blinked up at him. “Wha… what?”
He laughed. “I bet you can’t do it.”
She searched h
erself, but could find no answer. She didn’t know how she did it the first time, and she couldn’t do it again.
“Come on. You’re a Bruin. Let’s see you change into a bear.”
Nothing; she stood before him, wide-eyed, just as human as the day she was born.
“Come on. Get mad. Let me see you knock me over.”
She blushed and grinned, “I couldn’t do that.”
“You couldn’t do it ‘cuz you can’t shift. Come on and give it a try.”
“I am trying! I can’t.”
He burst out laughing. “Some Bruin you turned out to be.”
“Stop teasing. This is serious.”
Serious? Yeah. He couldn’t stop chuckling. “Here, I’ll show you how. Copy me.”
He took a deep breath, and his chest swelled outward. He threw back his shoulders, and his human skin fell away to reveal the gold-tinted bear hidden underneath. He loomed large before Harmony’s eyes, the magnificent creature she fell in love with.
She tried her hardest, but she still couldn’t find the pathway to her bear self. She kicked herself, but she couldn’t shake off her human flesh. She couldn’t will her fur to grow and her thoughts to sink beneath the tide of her animal soul.
He weaved his head from side to side and ambled up to her. He leaned his big shoulder against her legs and ran his back along her thighs down to his burly flank. He pressed his head into her hand, and his cold wet nose left its wetness on her fingers.
She threaded her fingers through his fur and stroked his shaggy head. She ran her hand down his neck to his shoulder, and his bulk comforted her beyond measure. She was home. As long as they were together, everything was all right.
He growled deep in his throat, and the vibration translated through her flesh and bones to the deepest recesses of her being. They spoke to the bear lying dormant in her and woke it from its slumber. Her human self that always kept everything under control gave way. She didn’t have to keep herself locked down anymore, not here.
Her mind curled up and went to sleep, and the animal took over. Her shoulders hunched forward, and her paws landed on the ground. Her toes turned inward, and she grumbled under her breath to Aiken and bumped against him with her shoulder.
The two bears moved around each other in a slow dance. Harmony rested her heavy head on his back. He pushed against her side with his forehead and growled so low no human ear could hear it. Harmony heard it, though. She felt him in her cells: in her blood; in all the days of her life; back to the first breath she ever drew. He was part of her. He was her.
Aiken gave her a shove and waddled away into the trees before he stopped to look back. Harmony followed, first at a distance, then catching up to walk at his side. They wandered away through the glowing green woods.
Aiken stopped at a fallen log and ripped it away from the ground. He snuffled among the rotten wood and scored the damp mold with his claws. Harmony came over to see what he was doing, but when he found nothing, he walked on.
He led her far down the valley into trackless forest where no human ever set foot. He took her to a stream running clear and clean over mossy rocks. He stood on the bank of a deep pool and gazed into the depths.
Harmony splashed along the stream. The cool water played pleasant chilly sparkles on her furry toes, and she drank deep mouthfuls from the pools. Her head shot up when Aiken took a flying jump into the deepest water. The surging waves closed over his head, but he came up moments later with a wriggling, twisting fish clamped in his jaws. It thrashed and fought, but he carried it in triumph to his mate and shook the dewy droplets from his coat.
He set the fish on the ground at Harmony’s feet and held it down with one foot. He tore into its flesh with his teeth. He took one big bite and waited while Harmony copied him.
The fish tasted strange on her tongue. She couldn’t place that taste, but it satisfied a craving she never knew she had. She helped herself, and Aiken stood guard while she ate. He swept the woods with his ears and nose for any danger. She didn’t have to look up from her meal. He would protect her.
She ran her tongue around her jaws to lick the last fishy taste from her lips. How satisfying and comfortable this bear’s life was. She could stay like this forever, but Aiken already moved away. He left the remains of the fish lying where it was and headed up the stream into the mountain’s dark heart.
Harmony felt herself enjoying the hike. Her legs and shoulders covered the distance with no effort. Her nose read the landscape better than her eyes, and her tired mind took refuge in the bear’s simple pleasures and desires. Nothing complicated disturbed her out here.
. When she walked around the rock, she was surprised to discover a deep hollow set into the hillside.
Chapter 18
His scent trailed into the dark. She sniffed the ground. His paw prints marked a clear path into the shadows, but when she took a few steps forward, she found a man waiting for her. He smiled at her in the gloom, and his deep brown eyes burned with hidden fire.
Those eyes told her what to do. They showed her the pathway through herself back to the woman who could meet this man in the wilderness. She would become the being he wanted her to become.
Without thinking or even trying, she shifted. Her bear-self became submerged beneath the sharp clarity of her human brain. The comfortable ease of bear gave way to the intricacies of humanity, and she stood before him as Harmony McGillis once again.
His eyes glowed with pride. She’d done it; but they glowed with something else, as well. He took her hand and kissed her. That kiss ignited her passion into a raging inferno. So this was what she’d been missing all these years. This was how it was supposed to be.
The furnace between her legs erupted into a molten volcano and stained her thighs with crystal sparks. She rocked on her heels, and her mind spun with the intoxicating magic of his kiss.
Aiken’s knees flexed. He sank down, and his mouth left hers to burrow into her neck. He nibbled down her neck from her ear to the open place where her shirt covered her chest. Harmony’s eyelids weighed down so heavy she couldn’t keep them open. His kiss tore the breath from her lungs. Harmony hugged his neck for shelter from the storm growing stronger in her soul.
What would she become when this was all over? What would her life be? She didn’t have to ask. She would be a Bruin, like all the other Bruins. No matter what else happened, she could make her home on the mountain. She could fish in the streams and feed on wild berries. She could hunt and sleep in the rocks. She was safe in the mountain’s arms.
Aiken surrounded her in the loving welcome of the mountain’s arms. His body covered her with warm light and lifted her out of her paltry human existence. They were complete in each other.
His hands roamed all over her. They set fire to her every sinew even as they quenched that fire before it spread. His touch destroyed her and brought her back together, all in one fell swoop. He was all and everything: Alpha and Omega.
Her Harmony’s flesh exploded in streaks across the sky. Her nipples ached for his touch until she couldn’t stand it. Aiken circled her waist with his broad hands, and his fingers inched up around her ribs. They cradled her breasts and massaged the soft murmurs from her lips.
She Harmony couldn’t keep still. She brought one leg up to rub against Aiken’s hip, and he caught it and held it up for her. He pulled her in against his hips and found his way to that aching cavern between her legs.
Harmony swooned into his arms. He caught her and supported her, even as he grasped her for his own. She belonged to him, body and soul. She devoured him with her passion. She demanded of him now and the future.
He surrounded her with his arms and scooped her up with both hands around her voluptuous ass. He cradled her above the ground and leaned back to reach her mouth with his lips.
Harmony secured her legs around his waist. Every vein and corpuscle throbbed for him. Her wetness made a burning path to guide him into her. She couldn’t live without him, without him inside
her, filling her being with his bear self.
What would it be like to mate with him as a bear, as two bears together? They would find out. They would explore every detail of this new existence together, as mates.
He Aiken hugged her and kissed her. He owned her and consumed her. He blasted away the human and brought the Bruin to the surface. He showed her how to live. He was her life.
He set Harmony’s weight down on his hips and bounced up into her. Underneath that shattered belt buckle, his iron manhood rose to greet her. It shoved against her delicate tissues and made her nub jump at every bounce. Excited squeaks escaped her to rise to the ceiling.
Kissing Harmony and manhandling her breasts wasn’t enough for his rising hunger. Aiken tore at her shirt to ride it up over her chest, and his craven lips closed over her lacy bra. He mouthed her nipple to a raw, hard bud. She tossed her heaving chest into his mouth, and her squeaks built higher to ecstatic cries.
Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Her soul answered his every move with rapturous delight. Everything he did fulfilled her aching need. His dominating presence overpowered her so she couldn’t resist him. He would take all of her, but she didn’t care. Yes!
His insistent jabs into her tender opening demanded an answer. He pushed her shirt the rest of the way over her head, and it disappeared into the dark. Her bra followed, and her pendulous breasts swung free, for his hands and mouth to devour.
Harmony couldn’t leave his moves unanswered. She clawed at those shoulders of his, those powerful, muscled mounds of surging power. She fought against the thin cotton of his T-shirt to rip it off his body.
His Aiken’s chest rose hot and angular under her hands. His pecs rounded down to the rippling washboard of his abs, and his internal lats cut across his ribs in parallel furrows. She followed every line with her hands, but she didn’t find the tribal tattoos etched across his shoulders and pointing down his back. They stayed hidden from her until later, when they lay quiescent and satisfied in each other’s arms.
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