The bear snuffled through the trees, but she didn’t search for food. She searched for that one scent that would satisfy her longing. Nothing would make her happy until she found what she looked for. Where was he? Where would she smell that scent again?
She rambled all over the woods. Aurora had never spent that much time in the woods before, and she had never let the bear have her head this way, either. She no longer cared about doing everything right and keeping her animal nature under control. Only the bear could understand about Austin. In the bear, Aurora could experience the true depth of her loss.
Somewhere, down in the bottom lands, she caught the scent. She had crisscrossed this country a dozen times in the last few weeks and never caught it here before. She followed it with unerring accuracy. It wound up and down and around, crossing boundaries between one territory and another.
Aurora came across the decaying remains of Bain Campbell, but not even her old nemesis could distract her from her single-minded obsession. She left the trap line behind and headed over the ridge along her crooked way.
She almost stopped when the scent drew her back toward Austin’s den. Too many disappointments darkened the place for her. She couldn’t go back there and find it cold and empty again, but the scent didn’t lie. It was fresh and strong.
She shoved her twitching nose into a clawed footprint in the stream bed and took a deep sniff. Yes, he was here not long ago, maybe even minutes ago. Maybe, just maybe, she would find him again. She headed down the bank and stepped around the cliff face.
Chapter 14
Austin put down his fork and steak knife. “Thank you, Star. That was delicious.”
“It was my pleasure, Austin. You deserve it, after the work you’ve put in.” Star smiled widely.
“There’s a lot more to do.”
“You cleared those stumps in record time,” Brody told him. “You have some time before spring planting.”
“I still have to arrange delivery. There’s no rest for the wicked.”
Star laughed, but Mona humphed and left the table. She went into her room and shut the door. Austin and Brody exchanged a nod, and Austin stood up. “If you folks will excuse me, I’ll bid you good evening.”
“Have a good evening, Austin.” Star sweetly replied.
He put his chair in its place and crossed the living room to his mother’s door. He tapped on it with his finger and eased the door open.
She sat with her back to him by the window behind the bed. The powerful smell of liniment filled the room and almost knocked him off his feet, but he persisted. He stepped around the bed. “Hey, Ma.”
She raised her old eyes to his face. “Austin?”
“It’s me, Ma.” He sat down on the bed next to her chair. “I wanted to talk to you.”
She went back to looking out the window. “I just don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
“What’s wrong, Ma?” Austin asked with concern.
“It’s that Hector. He’s such a loud, rowdy boy. Star doesn’t do anywhere near enough to keep him under control.” Mona criticized.
“I’ve seen the way she treats Hector. He’s a healthy boy with lots of energy. I think Star’s a good mother and a fine wife for Brody.” Austin spoke in Star’s defense. “He was lucky to get her.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I love Star. I wouldn’t pick a different wife for Brody. It’s just that Hector is so loud and rambunctious.” Mona complained. “I don’t remember you boys being so loud.”
Austin indulged in a wry smile. “I’m sure we were just as loud and rambunctious, if not more so. You just don’t remember because it was so long ago. You used to crack our heads together for fighting in the living room and breaking your lamps. You used to send Dad after us, and we would run away to the woods.” He chuckled. “Those were the days.”
“When are you going to get a mate, Austin? You and Mattox will be bachelors all your lives if you don’t get yourselves married soon.”
“That’s what I came to talk to you about, Ma. I found someone I want to marry,” he said slowly.
“I don’t care who it is as long as it’s not another Cunningham,” she said plainly.
“You just said you love Star and wouldn’t choose a different mate for Brody” Austin argued.
“Star is one thing. I can live with one Cunningham, and Brody is Alpha now. He can make his own decisions.” Mona looked at her youngest and countered.
“And me? Can I not make my own decisions?” Austin replied, still remaining calm.
“I couldn’t stand another Cunningham around the place. That would be too much,” his mother said holding back tears.
“Would you rather see me as a bachelor all my life?” he asked.
Mona sniffed. She looked down at her gnarled old hands twisted in her lap. “You know I only want what’s best for you boys. That’s all any mother ever wants.” She whispered.
“You know I love Aurora Cunningham and I got my heart set on her. I’m mated to her for life. If I don’t marry her and bring her home, I’m as good as dead.” Austin said everything calmly, but firmly. “Would you rather that than accept another Cunningham?”
“You wouldn’t do that to your old mother, would you?” She whined.
“I didn’t choose Aurora for my mate, Ma.” Austin laid it out for her. “It just happened, and now that I’m mated to her, I can’t go back. It’s done. You’ll just have to accept it. It won’t be any different than when she came over here as a guest to visit Star and Brody and Hector. She’ll just be around a lot more. Can’t you see your way to accepting that? You say you want what’s best for me. What’s best for me is to marry my heart’s mate so I can live my life and be happy. Please, Ma. Do it for me.”
She blinked back tears, but she couldn’t stop them. One trickled from the corner of her eye and coursed down her cheek. “I can’t! I just can’t open my heart to another Cunningham.” She said willfully.
“Would you rather I went to live somewhere else?” He asked calmly.
She snatched his hand with sudden ferocity. “No!”
“If you don’t give your consent, I’ll have to,” Austin logically answered back. “I won’t bring her around here to be insulted and stepped on. If you can’t accept her, I’ll have to go somewhere else. Is that what you want?”
Mona broke down into raking sobs. “Don’t ask me. I can’t choose between you.”
“I asked Brody. He said if you don’t give your consent, he’ll give me permission to marry Aurora anyway.” He said resolutely. “If that happens, I’ll go live with her somewhere else. You can have me here, or I’ll go. The choice is yours.”
She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. “I can’t! I can’t!”
Austin stared at her from a great distance away. Heaven preserve him from growing old like this. Better to be killed in open battle than to suffer this slow torturous decrepitude. He pitied her more than ever. She was utterly powerless. She couldn’t even summon the mental fortitude to make a decision for the good of her own family.
He got to his feet. All his anger and resentment that he’d held against her, that he’d nursed over the past few weeks, evaporated. He couldn’t be angry at her, but he also couldn’t let her control his life anymore. He no longer needed her permission or anyone else’s to claim what was rightfully his.
Brody couldn’t run this Homestead without him. Austin had convinced himself of that and proved his worth to the whole tribe by finishing this timber lot job faster and better than anyone hoped. He would have the firs planted and the crews paid with time to spare. Brody would put him in charge of the tribe’s lands and herds and business operations. Nothing could stop him.
He tiptoed out of the room without another word to his mother. She couldn’t touch him, and she couldn’t touch Aurora as long as he had anything to say about it. He would protect Aurora with his life, and he wouldn’t give his mother or anyone else a chance to hurt or slight her.
He walked past the ki
tchen, but Star and Brody weren’t there anymore. He let himself out of the house and ran for the woods. In an instant, he changed. The bear hit the ground running with all four legs pumping in full power.
He made a bee line for his den and caught Aurora’s scent long before he got there. She was here! She was waiting for him. He thundered down the hill and up the stream bed to the cliff. He pulled up panting and huffing, and when he shifted back into a man, he pushed his sweaty hair off his forehead.
His heart thumped the closer he got to the entrance. Her scent burned his nostrils, and his skin itched for any touch of her hand. What was she doing in there? Was she setting the table with something to eat? Did she have the fire going? Was she stretched out naked on the bed, just waiting for him to come and take her?
The thought sent a surge of hot blood to his crotch, and his shaft tightened against his fly. He took a deep breath on the threshold. All of his longing, fantasizing and planning came together in this moment. He stepped inside.
Sunshine shone down through the ceiling shaft to brighten the chamber. The bed stood neatly made in the corner with his handmade quilt smooth and fresh and the pillows stacked in their places. The cup and saucer and plate sat clean in their correct place on the mantel shelf, and kindling and firewood filled the box by the fireplace.
A chill filled the room and seeped into his bones. She wasn’t here. Everything looked exactly the same as he left it before he ever brought Aurora here. Looking around that room, he could almost convince himself he never brought her here at all. All those nights he covered her with his body and occupied her forgotten recesses with his throbbing manhood were nothing but a fantasy he cooked up to keep himself company on lonesome nights.
What was he thinking, getting his heart and soul set on Aurora Cunningham? She wasn’t interested in him. He came here in secret in the dark of the moon in search of her. He must have come a dozen times in the last two weeks, and every time, his heart skipped a beat at finding her scent nearby. He wouldn’t come back again. The agony of finding the place empty cut him worse than a bullet in the guts.
He threw himself into the chair in front of the cold, dark fireplace. He stared into the place where the fire ought to be. He cursed his dream for convincing him he could ever find a mate. He would go back to his lawless ways. He would turn his back on his tribe, his mountain – everything.
He got up and kicked the chair. He hated this place. He would never come back here. He would let the quilt rot and the food in the box go moldy. He would let this place crumble back into the mountain the way it was when he first found it.
He turned to the entrance and stepped out into the welcoming forest. The bear would erase Aurora from his thoughts, and he would never think about her again. She could mind her own business, wherever she was. She could go back to thinking he was a rogue and a lecher. He would go back to the Beater and his midnight floozies.
He lifted his nose to the forest to catch the dying rays of afternoon when her scent struck him between the eyes. Why did she have to haunt him like this? Why couldn’t she leave him alone in his misery?
A rustle in the trees nearby caught his ear. He turned and saw a bear staring at him from beyond the trees. She narrowed her eyes at him in malicious hostility. When he caught her eye, her lip curled back from her teeth to growl at him.
Austin stared at the bear. She was here after all. All those times he picked up her scent around the den and leading up to it, she really had been here. She must have come here looking for him the same way he came looking for her. All these weeks, they must have been passing each other by inches. She grew to hate and resent him the same way he resented her.
He took a step toward her and put out his hand. “Aurora.”
She turned her head away and her back to him. She growled at him over her shoulder. He smiled at that. What a bear she was, under her pristine exterior! Overpowering love for her welled up in his heart. He had to win her back, no matter what.
He took another step and called, “Aurora.”
She walked in a complete circle and showed him her teeth. He smiled down on her. He knew exactly how she felt, and that was okay. Everything was okay now.
She wasn’t used to life as a bear, but he understood the crude tumble of emotions that took the place of thoughts in a Bruin’s bear psyche. If he changed into a bear right now and tried to approach her, she would attack. She would vent her rage and agony on him with teeth and claws. He might not get away with his life.
He kept still and didn’t change. He kept his hand extended toward her with the palm up. “Aurora.”
She pretended to walk away, but she didn’t leave. His spirits soared. She wanted to make up with him. She wanted it more than anything. She just didn’t know how to let go of her anger and pain.
He was powerless against her as long as he remained a man. She could maul him in a heartbeat and leave his reeking corpse for the buzzards. She wouldn’t do that, though. Aurora was no killer. She only wanted her love.
Eventually, she came to a standstill in front of him. She grumbled under her breath and bobbed her head from side to side. She looked everywhere but at him. She snapped her teeth at his hand, but she didn’t bite. He dared cross the last inch and touched her face.
She started back, but he pressed forward and ran his hand down her furry muzzle to her neck. He stroked her and murmured under his breath. “It’s alright now. I’m here.”
The romantic charge flared between them. She let out a low rumble deep in her chest, and her small eyes found his face when she jerked back with a sudden grunt. In a flash, she changed and stood before him in all her beauty.
Her eyes searched his soul. “Where have you been?” She asked painfully.
“I’ve been here looking for you. We must just have come at different times.” He replied with an ironic smile.
She looked around. “I found your scent, but when you weren’t here, I started to give up. I thought you were avoiding me.” She sadly responded.
“I would never do that,” he told her from his soul. “I’ve been working to make a place for you.”
“You already did that. You said we would come back here.”
“I want to make a place with you among Bruins, too. I want us to have both places, and I want us to be able to go home when we need to. We can’t stay out here forever.” He stated persuasively.
“I wish we could.” Aurora sighed wistfully.
He held out his hands to her. “Come inside.”
Aurora hung back. “That place hurts.’
Her words stung him. “Don’t say that. I want you inside.”
She inspected her fingernails. “You don’t know how many times I waited for you in there. I sat in front of the fire, all alone. It hurt.”
“I wish I had known. I thought you were gone.” He looked down, remembering his despair.
“Gone?” She cried out. “How could I be gone?”
He took her hand and tugged her toward him. “Come inside with me, Aurora. I want you. I want you more than anything.”
“You promised.”
“I’m keeping my promise now.”
“Star said you were too busy to come.”
“I came. I came more than ten times, and you were never here. I stayed up all night between work shifts to sneak out here and wait for you.”
She raised her big vulnerable eyes to his face. “Really?”
“I was angry at you because I thought you weren’t coming.” He uttered truthfully. “I used to catch your scent, and I started to hate that scent because you weren’t near it.”
“I was always here.” Aurora riposted.
He moved closer to put his arms around her. “I know that now. We’re together, so let’s go inside.”
She resisted one last time, but he folded her in his arms and nuzzled into her neck. She closed her eyes and let his presence take her.
Chapter 15
Austin and Aurora sat opposite each other at the table
in their den. “I wonder how Dax is getting along by himself.”
Austin put down his glass of beer and took another slice of pizza from the wooden board in front of him. “You could go find out.” He said matter-of-factly.
“I’m not that curious.” Aurora said somewhat sarcastically.
“I have to go back tomorrow morning.” Austin looked up, speaking seriously.
“You’ve been back every day since we left.” Aurora wondered how this would be different.
“I mean, I really have to go back. I have to go back and stay back. I have to report to Brody on the tree delivery and the work gangs I’ve hired. I have to be close to the territory so he can get in touch with me when he needs me. I can’t live out here anymore.”
“So what are you saying? You want to move back to your Homestead?”
“I don’t want to move back to my Homestead, but I have to be somewhere near there. Besides, Star and the rest of our families will want to talk to us about our plans to get married.”
Aurora sighed. “You’re right. We’ve had a nice time over the last month, but it’s time to go back.”
“Where would you like to go? Would you like to move back to your house?” Austin asked carefully.
“I don’t want to live at my house, and I don’t want to live at your house. Too many people at both places oppose us being together at all. I wish we could find a place to live away from all those competing hostilities.” Aurora spoke wistfully.
“I want that, too.” Austin replied pleasantly.
“There is no such place. We’ll have to pick one or the other, and Dax will never accept you.” Aurora stated sadly. “I suppose I’ll just have to suck it up and live with Mona.”
“You don’t have to do that. I think I know a place.” Austin smiled with confidence.
“Where?”
“How would you like to go live at Star and Brody’s old house on the Peak? Austin proposed in a serious tone. “No one has lived in it since Dad died. It’s not the fanciest place in the world, but it’s comfortable for two people living together and maybe a baby or two. It’s close to Farrell territory, so I could get to work each morning without too much hiking through the mountains. Both our families would know where to come when they wanted to visit us, the way you used to visit Star and Brody there. It’s on neutral territory, so no matter what Dax does about restarting the feud, we’d be safe. No one would bother us, and anyone who had a problem with us being together would ever come around.”
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