He turned away to go back to the bar, but Aurora put out her hand to stop him. “I really appreciate the offer, Austin, and I wouldn’t turn down help from a Farrell. You know I agree with Walker and Brody about ending hostilities between our tribes. I’ve even been to your Homestead to visit Star and Brody since they moved home and Brody took over as Alpha. It’s just that…”
“It’s just what?”
Aurora took a deep breath. “It’s Dax. He can’t stand the Farrells. He says he’ll never make peace with the Farrells, and he says he’ll shoot any Farrell he lays eyes on. Walker’s not home right now, so Dax is the only one there. If he saw me getting out of your truck, there could be trouble. That’s all I meant.”
“What about your Pop? Would he cause trouble? Why doesn’t he rein Dax in?”
“Pop’s too old and frail to do anything. He barely moves out of his chair these days. Walker runs the tribe, and Dax is his right-hand man. Dax is responsible for my safety while Walker’s gone, and he would take it as his God-given duty to blow your brains out if you set foot in our territory.”
Austin hooted with laughter. “I would love to see him try.”
“Don’t go looking for trouble, Austin. Don’t restart this war when Star and Brody and Walker and all the rest of us have worked so hard to end it.”
He lowered his voice. “Don’t worry. I won’t take you home. I just don’t feel right about turning my back on you to let you walk all the way back home in the dark. One of those hunters could see you and come after you. At least let me take you halfway up the mountain. That will get you there faster.”
Aurora stiffened. She looked Austin Farrell up and down. “Do you promise you’ll drop me off at the boundary to Cunningham territory?”
He held up two fingers: “Scout’s honor.”
“All right; where’s your truck?”
He bowed and waved toward the bar parking lot. “Right this way, Madam.”
“Can’t you ever stop joking around?”
“It’s hard, you know. Brody has to slap me upside the head to make me get serious.”
“You must be a real drag to have around.”
“Not really. He hasn’t slapped me once since Dad died. We work together now to make the tribe strong and prosperous. We all work together.” Austin and Aurora started walking together down the block toward the parking lot.
“I can see you’ve changed. I barely recognized you when I first bumped into you outside the bar. You’ve grown up. You’re not the weedy wipper-snapper you used to be. I can see you’ve grown into the kind of man Brody needs.”
Austin turned away to hide his bright red cheeks. “I’m just as wild as I ever was. I’m just too blamed busy to get into any trouble anymore. The minute I finish one project, Brody has another one lined up for me to do. He just keeps giving me more and more responsibility. You’d think he wanted me to take over as Alpha someday.”
“If anything happens to him, you have to be ready. I can see all that responsibility agrees with you. You carry yourself like an Alpha now.”
“Shucks, Ma’am. I’m just doing my duty by the family.”
“That’s what I mean. You’re not the loose cannon you used to be. The old Austin Farrell would have walked away from me and left me to my own devices.”
They got to the truck, and Austin took his keys out of his jeans pocket. “I couldn’t do that. Another Bruin was the last thing I ever expected to find at the Beater tonight, especially a young lady. You put a crimp in my whole style.”
“You don’t have to do this. I’m happy to walk alone.”
“You’re not going anywhere alone. Now that I know you’re here, I can’t leave you alone until I see you safely home. I come here to be around people I don’t care about, but I can’t NOT care about you. You’re one of my own. We’re blood, even if we’re different tribes. I’ll see you through, one way or the other.”
“Thanks, Austin. I was all prepared to walk home, but now that you’re here, I’m glad I don’t have to. Being around a bunch of humans is interesting in a boring sort of way, but it is nice having another Bruin at my back.”
He studied her closer. She wasn’t half so stuffy and out of touch as he remembered her. The Aurora he remembered wouldn’t give him the time of day. She came and went to see Star and the little Hector, but she held the rest of the Farrells at arm’s length
Now her brown eyes shone in her round moon face. Her curly blonde hair bobbed in the neon light, and her skin glowed white and perfect under the stars. Her tight clothes showed her shape to the admiring eye. The lace elastic of her bra showed up under a button-down blouse angled over her ample bust. Her hip-hugger slacks flowed down her hips to the lower curve of her ass. An ass like that just begged for a hand to follow it down to the thighs holding it up.
He could really get into liking a woman like this. What was she even doing in a place like the Beater? That didn’t matter. She was with him now, so he better make the most of it while he had the chance. He held the door open for her, but she stood back and regarded him with flashing eyes. That direct evaluation made him shift back and forth on his feet. What was she thinking right now? “What’s wrong? Did you change your mind?”
“Do you know Horner’s Gully between Farrell territory and Dunlap territory?”
“Do you mean the old forgotten mill race gully? Sure. Every Farrell knows that gully. It’s the best place to hunt on the whole mountain. Why do you ask?”
She turned away. “Never mind; I was just asking.”
She started to get into the truck when he called out, “Aurora!”
She turned around. “What?”
“Just…wait a minute. I…I don’t want to go just yet.”
“What do you want to do instead?”
“I just don’t want to stop talking to you. I don’t get to talk to many Bruins much anymore.”
She snorted. “You don’t get to talk to many Bruins? Your whole family is Bruins.”
“I mean outside of my family. I’m so busy at the Homestead I don’t get out as much as I used to.”
“You can’t exactly expect to meet other Bruins in a place like this.”
“If I knew I could meet people like you here, I might come here more often.”
“You can meet people like me all the time. You can meet people like me at gatherings and parties.”
“You know what I mean.”
She headed for the truck, but he stopped her again. “Aurora.”
“What is it?”
“Do you have a regular sweetheart?”
“You would have heard about it if I did.”
“Come on. Give a guy a break. You know what I’m asking.”
“Are you asking if you can be my sweetheart? If that’s what you’re asking, I would say you need to go take a cold shower.”
A power, greater than just himself, made him grab her hand. Her creamy white skin caused goose bumps to sprout along his thighs. “I need a cold shower after getting this close to you. I don’t want to take you home just yet.”
Her eyes burned into his soul. Did she always look like that? He must have had his head under a rock not to notice it before. “What are you doing, Austin?” Aurora asked warily.
He took a step closer. He couldn’t let go of her hand to save his life. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I only know I want to be close to you.”
Electric charges went off between them. A deafening thunder pounded in Austin’s ears. What was going on? He had never felt this way with any other woman, not even the few Bruin women he had gotten close to. His whole body tensed, and his blood throbbed through his guts.
“Don’t do this, Austin. Our families are still at each other’s throats. This is bad news.” She didn’t take her hand back, though. So, did she feel it too? Could anyone feel this way about weedy Austin Farrell?
“If you really don’t want me to do it, I won’t.” He closed the rest of the gap between them. Her body radiated its dizzying
power into him. His nostrils flared to catch her scent. Through her perfume and hair conditioner, he smelled Bruin, that exotic blend of Bruin and female. Under her immaculate exterior, she was all bear.
What would she look like as a bear? What would she do in the forest with him, with their paws sensing the fragrant earth underfoot, hunting and foraging through the forest without a care in the world? What would she act like in a cave in Horner’s Gully with her fur warm and inviting against his?
Holy smokes! Why was he thinking about that? He had never been that close to another Bruin in his life. He liked smooth white skin on a woman, not thick brown fur. Sheesh! He must be losing it, and he hadn’t even had a drink yet.
That creamy hand rolling between his fingers couldn’t be wrong, though. All mixed up with those images and imaginary smells and ideas about bears in caves came flowery hints of breasts and thighs and orbs of ass crushing in his hands. He smelled sugary honey that sent jets of saliva bubbling under his tongue.
He drifted closer. Out of nowhere, his lips came near hers and touched those rosy petals when Aurora started back. “I can’t,” she said lowly.
Austin’s blood ran cold. He gritted his teeth and dropped her hand. “You can’t. I’m not exactly the kind of guy you’d go for, anyways. I get it. Well, get in and I’ll drive you halfway home either way.”
She didn’t get in the truck, though. “It’s not that, Austin. It’s just I have something important on my mind right now. I want to get home right away. I have to find Walker and tell him… something. It’s important. If it wasn’t for that, I’d… well, I don’t know what I’d do, but I can’t do it now. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Forget it. Everything in the world is more important than whatever you might happen to do with me. I understand.” He yanked the door open. He would have jerked it off its hinges, but he caught himself just in time. Nothing was worth losing his cool.
He would drop off Aurora at home and come back here before the bar closed. He would get himself good and oiled, and he would forget he ever made the mistake of trying to kiss Aurora Cunningham. Brody would smack him a good one if he ever found out.
Aurora put out her hand and shoved him back with unimaginable power. She could knock him over with her little finger if she tried. So that’s what being with a Bruin woman would be like. She wouldn’t take any stuffing from the likes of him. “Knock it off, Austin. This is serious. Can’t you stop thinking with your pecker for two seconds to consider the bigger picture?”
Her words cooled his jets the rest of the way. He didn’t know he was thinking with his pecker until she told him so. Now that she mentioned it, his crotch ached from jabbing against his jeans. He would have to stop off in the dark trees before he came back to the bar to get some relief.
He couldn’t let it go altogether, though. “If you want me to believe it’s really that serious and you’re not just giving me the flick, you better tell me what’s so all-fired important. Otherwise, I’ll just assume you are giving me the flick.”
She eyed him with an appraising glance. “Can I trust you?”
He gave the door another wrench. “Get in the truck.”
“All right; I’ll tell you, but you have to promise you won’t laugh.”
“Yeah, this is the funniest thing to happen to me since I dressed up as a dust broom last Halloween.”
“Will you please pack your suitcase and get out of town, because I have better things to do than stand around here wiping your snotty nose. Bain Campbell and the other hunters are going to lay jaw traps in Horner’s Gully to trap Bruins where no one will see them. There. Are you satisfied? Now can we stop dithering around here talking about it? And don’t try to kiss me again, because a lot of our people will die before they realize the danger if I don’t get home and tell Walker right away.”
His hand hovered on the truck door. “Are you serious? How did you find that out?”
She took a deep breath. “I was sitting in a booth in the back of the bar with Molly Shannon, and I overheard them talking in the next booth.”
He dropped his hand. “Get in the truck.”
Chapter 4
Austin strode around the truck and slid into the driver’s seat. He jammed his keys into the ignition and fired up the engine. Aurora stood in the same place staring at him. He bellowed over the engine. “Get in!”
She Aurora snapped out of her stupor and jumped into the truck. He skidded out of the parking lot before she got the door shut. “What the….?”
“Buckle up. This could get bumpy.”
He roared out of town and up the highway. Bruins’ Peak cut a black shape out of a starry sky. He slammed his foot down on the clutch and dropped the truck into third gear. “Where are you going? You said you would take me halfway home.”
He bounced off the highway onto a dirt back road. “There’s no time to waste in you hiking halfway up the mountain. You said yourself Walker’s not home. What are you going to do; wait for him to come back? That could take days.”
“Dax is home. I told you that.”
“Dax is not an Alpha. He might be the nicest guy in the world to anyone by the name of Cunningham, but he’s not cut out to handle a situation like this. I’m taking you to a real Alpha.”
“What? Who are you talking about?”
“I’m taking you to my Homestead. I’m taking you to Brody. Brody will know how to handle this, and he’s at home right now with Star and Hector. We won’t have to wait hours or days to get something done.”
Aurora spun around in her seat. “You are NOT taking me to Farrell Homestead.”
“Why not? You said yourself you’ve been there dozens of times to visit Star.”
“This is different.”
He Austin cast a sidelong glance. “It’s different because you’re going there with me. Forget about that. I’d be taking you there even if you hadn’t just dumped a bucket of ice water on my head for trying to kiss you. Whatever might have been between you and me – even if it was nothing – that doesn’t mean anything compared to this. We have to act, and we have to act fast. Did Bain say when he planned to lay these traps?”
“No, he didn’t mention it. At least, I didn’t stick around to hear the second half of the conversation. I ran out before I heard anymore.”
“Then they could be planning to lay them tonight. We have to warn everyone what’s going on.”
The truck veered sideways. Austin wrestled the steering wheel to keep the vehicle on the road. “Take it easy, hot shot. This isn’t worth totaling your truck.” Aurora calmly stated to Austin, trying to counteract his anxiety.
“It’s worth the truck and a lot more. I only wish I’d gotten it out of your sooner instead of trying to kiss you.”
Aurora froze. “Do you really regret it? I shouldn’t have led you on.”
“I don’t regret a thing. I would kiss you right now if I thought I could get away with it; and you didn’t lead me on. I did it all by myself. I just wouldn’t have tried it if I’d know you were sitting on this landmine.”
“I wish now I’d let you kiss me. I might not get another chance. You’ll drop me off and that will be the end of that.” Aurora said somewhat morosely.
His head whipped around and his eyes fixed on her face. He let the steering wheel drift for a fraction of a second and almost drove into a ditch. “You do?”
“I told you I didn’t dump a bucket of ice water on your head because I didn’t want to kiss. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get you to believe me.”
“So… would you have let me kiss you if we hadn’t had somewhere more important to go?”
“I don’t know. You’ll just have to try it again sometime and see what happens.”
A brilliant grin spread across his face. He slapped the steering wheel and let out a whoop. “Hot damn! You bet I will!”
Aurora gazed out into the night. Now why in the world did she just say that? Why did she encourage him? He wasn’t exactly her type. Co
me to think of it, he wasn’t anywhere close to being her type.
She favored polished guys, like Jonas MacAllister, guys who ran their own businesses and secured their own success. Jonas never left his bedroom dressed in anything but an ironed shirt and dress slacks. He wore an expensive watch and carried an expensive tablet he bought with earnings from his many side projects. That’s the kind of guy Aurora wanted to marry, not a wild ranger like Austin.
She couldn’t understand herself. She should have shut him down the first time he looked at her that way. She knew that look. She should have told him thanks but no thanks and not in the nicest words she could come up with. He already thought she was too snooty for him.
So why didn’t she? Something happened to her when he touched her hand. Something made her stand still and let him draw close. Someone wanted him close. Something inside wanted him to kiss her. Something inside wanted to be wild, to shed this proper exterior and let the bear take over.
The bear! The bear wanted all those things. She could think and want and scheme about whatever she wanted, but she couldn’t deny the bear. The bear in her wanted hot. The bear in her wanted the wild, dirty and wet. The bear wanted another bear in the deep woods, not some manicured office boy.
Even now, sitting in this truck cab, barreling through the night gave her the shivers. Austin sat right there in the seat next to her. His pure animal manhood vibrated toward her through the dark. The dashboard lights shone on his cheekbones and left his eye sockets in shadow. He loomed huge and forbidding and dangerous over there behind the wheel.
His fists crushed the steering wheel in his grip. His muscles rippled when they wrestled the wheel right and left, and he clenched his jaw in intense concentration to steer over obstacles and around curves.
What was he like underneath? Was his heart as wild as he looked on the outside? What was his bear like? What would his bear do to her bear if they met in the woods? Would the attraction last there, too, or was he just playing around because he met her outside a seedy bar in town?
An imaginary scene out in Horner’s Gully materialized before her eyes. His skin drifted into her mouth and nose. Her arms surrounded his chiseled rib cage, and her finger traced along his washboard abs to the indentation above his pelvis.
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