How did she infect him with her magic in such a short time? Did her fingers really squeeze the back of his neck while her lips explored his mouth? Did her tongue really slide between his teeth like that? Did the fragrant rose water of her saliva really sift into his brain while he held her in his arms? Did her breasts really collapse like that when he leaned his weight over her?
Dear God! How far could he really go with a princess like Aurora Cunningham? She was too high and mighty for him. Wasn’t she? How could she look sideways at him, in his jeans and boots and tank top, when he obviously came to the Beater looking for trouble?
Well, he had found it, all right, but not the kind of trouble he bargained for. Aurora Cunningham! He would tear the whole mountain apart if he thought he stood a snowball’s chance in Hell of taking her for his own.
He caught sight of a light in the distance. Of every Bruin tribe on this mountain, only the Dunlaps would leave a light burning on their front porch for the whole world to see. They didn’t care who came a-knocking. You better have an all-powerful good reason to bother them in the middle of the night.
Austin stopped running and walked the rest of the way until he came to the trim cut lawns surrounding Dunlap Homestead. He could smell the money boiling up out of the ground all over the place. The fountain tinkled in the front garden. The scent of roses drifted on the breeze. Aurora! How did he ever find the nerve to do anything before he could call up her memory to bolster him?
He propped his rifle on his shoulder and pushed open the front gate. In addition to the porch light, a single lamp shone in the upstairs window. These people got up early. No wonder they turned everything they touched into gold. His ear detected faint sounds of voices rising and falling, but he couldn’t make them out. Was that a woman’s voice he heard?
He made his boots clomp as loud as he could on the steps, and the voices died. He pounded on the door with his fist. A door banged open upstairs, and feet ran down the stairs. The front door flew open, and a burly male shape darkened the threshold. “What in God’s name are you doing here?” A deep voice asked with a faint edge of violence.
The voice set Austin’s hair on end even before the interior light showed him who he was talking to. He wasn’t expecting this. He knew the Alpha Dunlap, Jasper, and his oldest son Boyd on sight. He didn’t recognize this man at all.
If he didn’t know Jasper and Boyd, he would have pegged this bruiser for Alpha. His massive shoulders and bulging forearms stuck out under a floppy, loose T-shirt. His sweat pants didn’t do enough to hide his thick legs, either, and his eyes flashed once over Austin. He appraised Austin in a heartbeat, and his hands balled into fists.
Austin fought the urge to take a step back. He came here on legitimate business. He had to stand his ground. This man reacted the way any warm-blooded Bruin would react at finding a man with a rifle over his shoulder on his front porch in the middle of the night. “I’m Austin Farrell,” he stated firmly.
“I know who you are. I asked you what you’re doing here. Do you know what time it is?” The voice gave no quarter.
Austin braced himself. “This is important. The hunters are coming up the mountain. Where’s your Alpha?” He held himself steady to complete his mission.
“The Alpha’s not here. I’m in charge until he comes back,” the voice responded without the violent edge.
The man took another step onto the porch. The light caught his cheekbones and the bristle of whiskers cutting down his jaws. Then Austin recognized him, but he would never have picked Aiken Dunlap out of a crowd. Aiken ran wild when the other kids hung out at family gatherings. He went off on his own and got lost in the woods so no one knew where he was. He never looked anyone in the eye and barely answered anybody who spoke to him. He mumbled under his breath and turned away into his own world.
This man wouldn’t run from anyone or anything. Here he was, demanding Austin’s business. This man could handle anything the hunters threw at him until his Alpha came back – maybe forever.
Austin took courage. “We have to warn all the tribes. Bain Campbell and a bunch of other hunters are coming up the mountain to lay jaw traps in Horner’s Gully where no one will see them until it’s too late.” He conveyed his message with urgency and almost in one breath.
Aiken frowned. “How do you know that?” He asked with some reserve.
“Aurora Cunningham overheard them talking at the Beater. I was giving her a ride home and we spotted Bain’s pick-up on his way up the mountain. We crashed into him to stop him, but he could still be on the loose somewhere up here.” Again, Austin was quick but direct.
Aiken clenched his jaw. “If Bain Campbell is on the mountain anywhere, I claim the kill,” he growled out ominously.
Austin’s heart leapt. This was the reaction he dreamed of finding. No one knew Bain Campbell as well as Aiken Dunlap. “I have to run down to the Mackenzies. You go down to the MacAllisters and the Dodds,” Austin stated, laying out the plan already in motion.
Aiken laid a hand on Austin’s arm. “Not so fast. If Bain’s on the mountain, we have to find him. He could have laid his traps already. First, show me where you crashed his truck,” was the thoughtful reply Austin received.
“There’s no time. We have to warn everyone,” Austin spoke rapidly and urgently.
“What are you going to warn them of when you don’t even know if Bain is on the mountain? He could have high-tailed it back to town for all you know. Show me where his truck is, and I’ll track him one way or the other.”
“Alright; and then I gotta go,” Austin capitulated, knowing when a man’s mind was set.
“Just wait a minute. There’s something I gotta do first before we head out,” Aiken quickly responded as he turned towards the door.
“Aw, come on. This is urgent,” Austin came close to shouting.
“So is this,” Aiken stated seriously.
Aiken shut the door in Austin’s face. His footsteps ran back upstairs, where the voices danced together in the darkness. What was Aiken doing up there; saying good-bye to his mate? Visions of himself nagged Austin’s consciousness. He kissed Aurora, all soft and warm in half-sleep, before he went out to work in the pre-dawn light. If he only knew what he was missing all these years, he would never have survived.
Aiken reappeared with a shotgun in one hand. He closed the door with his other hand and jerked his head down the steps.
Austin strode at his side. “What was that all about?” He questioned stonily.
“Harmony gets really bad morning sickness.” Aiken explained.
Austin raised his eyebrows but said nothing. So Laird Kerr’s mystery niece, Aiken’s new mate, was pregnant after all. Austin must be the first person outside the Dunlap tribe to hear the news. He wouldn’t get a chance to pass it on, though, not for a while, anyway.
The two men fell in together, shoulder to shoulder. Aiken set off at a fast run down the mountain, and Austin matched him, stride for stride. They slotted into the easy rhythm of Bruins traveling at high speed through the darkest night.
Aiken ran at Austin’s side until they found the road. Then he dropped back and followed single file. Austin swelled with power he never knew he possessed. He was leading the charge to stop these hunters from murdering his people. He showed Aiken the way. Aiken might claim the kill, but he couldn’t do anything without Austin.
Austin approached the shattered trucks in a circular fashion. He slowed his pace with every turn of the spiral until he stopped by the open door through which he removed Aurora from his own passenger seat.
Aiken circled the trucks one more time and inspected Bain’s battered driver’s compartment. He sniffed all around the cab and followed the scent a few paces away. “He went this way.” Aiken said with assurance.
“And he was alone,” Austin added. “I thought he would have brought his cronies with him,” he wondered out loud.
“Who but Bain would be stupid enough to lay traps on Bruin land in the middle of the night?
” Aiken snorted sarcastically.
“He’s out of his mind since you….” Austin began.
A low chuckle interrupted Austin. “I won’t do him the favor next time. At least we know he didn’t go up the mountain. We can warn the others now.” Aiken said calmly.
“What do you mean – ‘he didn’t go up the mountain’? He’s headed straight for Horner’s Gully.” Austin responded querulously.
“He went this way.” Aiken paced along the track. “He turned down the old coach road. He must have retreated back to town, thanks to you destroying his truck.”
“The coach road could go either way, up or down. You don’t know he went down. He could have veered off toward the Gully. Maybe he thought he killed us in the crash.” Austin argued his point.
“No, he went back to town. Come on. You go to the MacAllisters and I’ll go to the Dodds and the Mackenzies – unless you want to go to the Mackenzies and see your brother.”
“I’m going to Horner’s Gully if I’m going anywhere. If you want to run off to the MacAllisters, go right ahead,” Austin replied stubbornly.
“You’ll waste good hours bashing around the woods for nothing. You said yourself we had to warn everyone as soon as possible.” Aiken used Austin’s words as his argument.
“Now that we know Bain is on the mountain, we have to track him. That’s what you said.” Austin replied, doing the same to Aiken.
“Bain’s not on the mountain. We have time,” Aiken explained patiently.
“You’re a troglodyte.” Austin responded.
Aiken burst out laughing. “I love you, too, but you’re a terrible kisser,” was Aiken’s comeback.
“That’s not what your mother told me last night. Now bend over and pick up the soap,” Austin quickly responded.
Aiken’s smile evaporated. “Listen, Austin. Much as I’d love to stand out here for the next twenty-four hours throwing insults back and forth, we’re facing a serious threat from these hunters. We should be working together instead of arguing,” he said calmly.
“What do you suggest?” asked Austin, just as calmly.
“If you think Bain went down into the Gully, then you follow the trail and find him. I’ll go to the Mackenzies and get the cavalry out. We’ll scour this mountain until we find out for certain where he is and what he’s up to.” Aiken laid out his plan.
Austin had a different plan. “You said you claim the kill. You should follow the trail and I should get out the cavalry. Besides, I’m supposed to meet Brody at the mining road junction in half an hour.”
Aiken clapped him on the shoulder. “This is all yours. You’re the one who got the word from Aurora. If you find Bain out there, you can kill him for me. I’ll let Brody know what you’re doing.”
“Are you sure? I thought you had a vendetta to settle with Bain,” Austin responded with some surprise.
“As long as he winds up dead, I’ll be satisfied. I don’t have to taste his blood myself. I’m glad just to help out in some small way,” Aiken stated, with a relaxed look on his face.
“You should kill him,” was Austin’s staunch reply.
“This isn’t getting us any closer to finding him. Get out there and find out where he is. When the time comes, whoever kills him; kills him,” Aiken spoke firmly with finality.
“Alright. Have it your own way. I just thought you wanted the right,” Austin said, looking down.
“Thanks for thinking of me. Now get. I don’t want to see you again until you know where he is and what he’s up to,” Aiken spoke in command voice.
Austin nodded and set his rifle on his shoulder. “I live to serve.”
Aiken snorted; “As if.”
Both men walked away chuckling in opposite directions. The woods swallowed Austin, and his nose guided him on the indelible trail of Bain Campbell. Aiken Dunlap! He turned out to be alright after all.
Chapter 8
Aurora slept an unconscious sleep. Her splitting head woke her up half a dozen times, but she passed out again. The last time she woke up plagued by unquenchable thirst, but she couldn’t get out of the room to get a drink.
Thirst finally drove her out of bed. She staggered into the wall, but her head soon cleared. She had to find a way out of this room, at least to get something to drink. She leaned her hand against the wall until she could lift her head.
She didn’t swoon again. She paced to the window, growing light with the rising dawn and back to the door. She tried the knob every time she came near it, but it remained just as locked as before. For all she knew, Dax wasn’t even in the house anymore. Maybe he’d gone out to work. He didn’t care if she starved or died of thirst in this room. He didn’t care if her bladder split from the pressure. She had to get out of this room.
Then she remembered. Her evening in town with Molly, the conversation she had overheard between Bain and the other hunters, her meeting with Austin – everything culminated in kissing him on the couch at Farrell Homestead.
Where was he now? Had he returned home and found her gone? Was he still out there, roaming the mountain to raise the alarm? Stronger than the thirst, stronger than any biological need, came the unstoppable urge to find him, to touch him, to share whatever hardship he was going through. Nothing mattered but being with him.
So this was what being mated really meant. She could never rest until they were together. She would spend her life with him. They would mate and live together until one of them died. Then the other one would die very soon afterwards. That’s the only way she would be able to ease this terrible longing.
If only Dax longed for someone this way, he would understand why she had to break free. Did Walker understand? He never gave any indication of paying the slightest attention to the opposite sex, but he always played his cards close to his vest. No one would know he had a sweetheart until the day he got married. That’s just the kind of guy he was.
She tested the window latch and found it open. So: she had found a way out of the room and out of the house, but her troubles weren’t over yet. Dax could be anywhere, and with Walker gone, Dax rode a hair trigger. He could go off at any moment, in any direction and for no reason at all.
Her neck and shoulders relaxed, but she dared not celebrate. She paced back to the door and laid her ear against it. She closed her eyes. Never before, in her life, had she let her bear senses take over like this. She had always kept the bear on a tight leash.
She had never told a living soul the truth, but she never really wanted to be a Bruin at all. She wanted to be human, without all these wild urges fighting for her all the time. She stayed near the Homestead and never went out rambling in the woods.
The bear wanted things and did things that made no sense to her rational human brain. She never let herself come anywhere close to Star’s insane rages. Aurora watched in horror when Star tore the house apart and broke windows and furniture in unholy fury.
All that changed when Aurora let herself fall for Austin. She let his skin join with hers in a cosmic union never to be parted. The bear wanted Austin. The bear made her touch him and kiss him against all her inclinations. The bear wanted to get to him, to find him and have him and never let him go.
She gave herself over to those urges now and wouldn’t hold back. They could take her. She didn’t care if she went into a rage because Dax tried to keep her away from Austin. If the bear tore his throat out so she could get her way, so much the better. That would only take her to Austin faster.
She called up the bear to listen now, to train her uncanny hearing on anything moving outside that room. She detected Dax’s voice through the door. He moved back and forth in the living room, and the timber of his voice told her he was talking on his cell phone.
“How should I know where he is? He didn’t tell me where he was going or when he was coming back. For all I know, he’s never coming back. You better believe I’m ready to step in as Alpha, but you gotta admit this is a thorny issue. What am I supposed to do – launch a full-scale att
ack against ‘em?”
Dax paused while his feet kept pacing. Who was he talking to? She could only guess, but she couldn’t misunderstand the gist of his comments. With Walker gone and Dax in charge, he planned to overthrow all Walker’s efforts to make peace with the Farrells. He would launch a full-scale attack – and for what?
Aurora could think of only one slight bad enough to spark an all-out attack against the Farrells. Dax would take revenge for Austin bringing her to his Homestead. Dax didn’t care if Aurora got hurt. She got hurt riding in Austin’s truck, didn’t she? She got hurt because that no-account Austin Farrell crashed his truck into Bain Campbell and cracked Aurora’s head open. In Dax’s mind, he had every justification for restarting the war. He would kill his own sister’s mate before he backed down.
Maybe he was talking to Barton Kerr or Boyd Dunlap about getting them on his side in this fight. Repeating Aurora’s warning about the hunters never entered his head. Well, if he wouldn’t carry the message, she would have to do it herself. She would warn the others and stop Bain Campbell herself.
Her eyes snapped open. No more listening at keyholes for her. She crossed the room and laid her fingertips against the window casement. Ever so slowly, she raised it out of its groove. The fresh dewy dawn blew into her face. The sun crept closer to the horizon. Dax was on the phone. She would never find a better chance to get away. The dark woods hovered there beyond the split-rail fence. A few steps and she would disappear.
The woods didn’t beckon her the way they should. She hesitated to enter them. After more than twenty-four years of avoiding them, she didn’t know her way through them the way any decent Bruin should. She didn’t know the right way to hunt. She didn’t even have a den of her own. What sort of Bruin did that make her?
She couldn’t even really call herself a Bruin. She would have to make up for lost time now. She threw her leg over the windowsill and her foot touched the ground. The moist earth spoke to her, to the bear. She could let her instincts guide her.
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