“Of course she'll mind if you put your elbows on the table,” Kaiser interjected. “You want to marry a woman like your Mama, don't you, boy? Well, she minds. Now don't let me hear you give her any more sass. You'll get your suit pressed and go along to the wedding.”
Walker picked up his fork and bent over his plate. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled.
Rena brightened up. “Ruby MacAllister will be there. She's awful nice-looking, don't you think?”
“She's very nice-looking,” Walker muttered.
Dax leered across the table. “And she just dotes on you.”
“She certainly does,” Rena gushed. “Anyone could see that at Aiken and Harmony's wedding. She followed you around and wouldn't leave you alone, and her father set a huge inheritance on the man she marries.”
“I'm sure Ruby MacAllister would be thrilled to marry Alpha of the Cunningham tribe,” Dax rejoined.
“You won't be Alpha if you don't get married,” Kaiser murmured. “You can't lock down your position until you find a mate. The rest of the tribe won't respect your authority.”
“I know, Pop.”
“Do you think you could see your way to accepting Ruby?” Rena begged. “You said yourself she's nice-looking. What more could you ask for?”
Walker squared his shoulders. “She's not my true mate. I couldn't marry any woman who wasn't my true mate. That would be a disaster, and it would be unfair to the lady.”
“There are dozens of other Bruin ladies you could marry,” Rena went on. “There's Natalie Dodd. She told Harmony straight out she thinks you’re the most handsome man on the mountain. You can't beat that.”
“And rich, too,” Dax added.
Kaiser looked up from his plate. “Who's rich—Natalie or Walker?”
“Both of them. That's what makes it a perfect match. There's Melody Mackenzie. There's Rose Kerr. There's Haven Farrell.” Rena spread her arms to include all of Bruin country. “There are dozens of ladies you could marry.”
Dax grinned. “You could marry dozens of ladies, Walker. Wouldn't that be something?”
“It's not a perfect match if I'm not interested in the lady, and I don't want you matching me up with anybody. I don't have to go to every Bruin gathering that comes along to find my mate. That will happen all by itself.”
“It won't happen if you stay in that room of yours,” Rena grumbled. “Can't you see the way these women look at you? You're tall, handsome, powerful, and you're Alpha of your tribe, but you snub them all. I don't know what's got into you.”
“I'm sorry, Mama,” Walker murmured. “None of those girls turn my head. They're all very nice and good-looking, but I've talked to each of them enough to know none of them is my heart's true mate. You wouldn't want me to marry someone, only to make both them and myself miserable. I'm better off alone until I find the right woman.”
Dax leaned his elbows on the table, but no one bothered to tell him to mind his manners. “Hey, Walker, I've got an idea.”
Walker groaned. “I can't wait to hear it.”
“How's about I take the Land Rover and scout out the Farrells' south boundary? I could run their fence line and make sure they haven't moved any of their posts onto our territory.” Dax’s eyes burned with excitement.
Walker set down his fork. “You stay away from the Farrells'. You don't go anywhere near their south boundary or any other part of their territory. Do you hear me, Dax? Don't make me have to tell you twice.”
Dax leaned back. “I hear you.”
“You hear me, but you don't listen,” Walker growled. “This is the second time I've had to tell you in the last week. You know good and well I'm working toward peace with Brody Farrell, and you undermine my efforts at every turn. You're gonna get yourself in trouble that way.”
Dax gritted his teeth. “You're too soft, Walker. The Farrells are playing you for a fool. While you're making peace, they'll be playing their old tricks and sneaking behind your back.”
“As long as I'm Alpha of this tribe, you'll follow my orders, Dax,” Walker barked. “You keep away from the Farrells until you can get on board with this peace initiative.”
Dax bared his teeth with a wicked glint in his eyes. “You heard what Pop just said. You're not full Alpha until you find a mate.”
Walker puffed out his chest and broadened his shoulders. “Are you trying to challenge me, boy? 'Cuz if you are, you better pack a lunch.”
Dax shrank down in his chair. “I'm not trying to challenge you. I'm just saying…”
Walker's voice boomed through the house. “Well, don't say. If you're not prepared to challenge me in front of everyone, just keep quiet and do as you're told.”
Dax dropped his eyes to his plate. “If I was Alpha, I would attack them point-blank. I wouldn't bother with any peace initiative.”
Walker said nothing, but his eyes flashed at his brother. This open insubordination didn't bode well for his future leadership. He had to nip this behavior in the bud before it blossomed into something too dangerous to control.
Walker kicked himself under the table. His father was right, of course. Walker could whoop any Bruin who looked sideways at him, but he couldn't be full Alpha of his tribe without a mate at his side. He had to find a woman, and not just any woman. Bruins could smell a true match a mile away. Marrying the wrong woman would undermine his future more than marrying no one. Bruins mate for life, and no one trusted a lone wolf.
Walker finished his eggs and ham. Dax left the house while Walker carried his plate, fork and knife to the dishwasher and rinsed his face and hands in the sink. His mother helped his father back to their room. They would stay there for the rest of the day and only come out again for dinner. Kaiser slept most of the time, and Rena took care of him when he woke up.
The less time Kaiser spent outside his room, the more power fell into Walker's hands until he dominated his whole tribe. The more he dominated his tribe, the more tenuous his position as a single man. He couldn't keep his place as Alpha much longer without a mate.
Pretty soon, he found himself alone in the kitchen. The whole house stood silent and barren around him. He could be the last man alive in the world. A motor spluttering in the distance brought him back to the present. He went to the front window and watched Dax fiddling with a derelict car in front of the barnyard. He would never find a better time to confront his brother.
Walker strode through the front door and down the path. Dax looked up and went back to what he was doing, but Walker didn't stop. He marched right up to Dax. Without missing a beat, he grabbed his brother by the back of the neck and yanked him out from under the hood.
Dax let out a squawk. Walker dragged him off his feet and hauled him around the barn corner where no one could see them from the house. He swung Dax around and slammed him against the barn wall. He threw his weight against Dax to pin him against the wall and jabbed his elbow against Dax's throat. “Is this what you're asking for? Is this your idea of a good time? Do you want me to school you like a little girl who can't keep her knickers up?”
Dax choked for air. Saliva foamed between his lips, but he couldn't speak.
Walker bellowed into his face. “If I find out you put one toe in the general direction of the Farrells, I swear to God, I'll skin you alive and leave your bleeding carcass to the rats. Is this what you want? Is this what you're asking for by mouthing off to me in front of Pop?”
Dax grunted. He mouthed the word, “No,” but no sound came out. He clawed Walker's arm, but he couldn't pull it away from his neck.
“You better get yourself in line, son,” Walker thundered. “As long as I'm Alpha here, you'll fall in line or I'll make you cry to Mama about your sore rear end. Is that clear?”
Dax barely squeezed out a nod, and Walker let him go. Dax's feet touched the ground, and his knees buckled under him. Walker caught him under the armpits and steadied him until he could stand on his own.
Walker pushed him away. He growled through gritted teeth. “Now, go
back to work.”
Walker waited until Dax staggered around the corner before he let himself fall forward against the barn wall with his head resting on his arm. What was he turning into? He could never bring himself to say boo to his brothers and sisters before. Now that he was Alpha, he had to throw his weight around. He had to make sure no one in his whole tribe stepped out of line. No one else would do that job for him.
He couldn't face walking past Dax again on his way back to the house. He didn't want to go back to the house, anyway. He couldn't bear the awful loneliness. No one talked to him. No one looked at him. He had nowhere to go but back to his room and nothing to do but bury himself in his figures.
Instead, he turned away and headed down the hill into the forest. He hadn't let himself get away in weeks. He needed to clear his head. As soon as the trees closed around him, he dropped on all fours and galloped away as a bear. His paws padded over the moist ground, and his nose caught many fine smells in the woods.
He swept his face back and forth over the path as he ran to catch every scent. He recognized every aroma. He picked out the rabbit's footprint and the chickadee hopping through the leaves. He detected Dax's footprints heading down the mountain to the stream where he went fishing.
He wandered through the woods for days. The bear didn't recognize the passage of time. He slept in his den hidden in the mountains. He hunted and fished for his food. He disappeared from the face of the Earth and lived his life as a bear.
He headed up the mountain toward Bruins' Peak, but he turned off before he got anywhere near Farrell territory. His peace negotiations with Brody Farrell hadn't advanced far enough for him to venture over the boundary without some good reason. He ran around the Peak and headed back south. He didn't turn toward home. He turned down the ridge toward Iron Bark when picked up another scent he didn't recognize.
That scent fired his imagination with images of distant lands and exotic flowers. He ranged all over Bruins' Peak, but he never detected that smell before. It led over the ridge snaking down from the far side of Dunlap territory toward the Cunningham boundary. Whoever left that scent had no business on Cunningham land, but he didn't raise his hackles at the approach of danger.
He slowed to a ramble and put his nose right down against the ground to inhale that scent into his soul. He followed it one step at a time over the ridge into a quiet glade surrounded on all sides by young birch trees. The leaves shimmered golden-green in dappled shade.
He stopped when he spotted a young woman standing by herself. The woman didn't move, but looked all around her at the trees forming a circle on all sides. She held herself still. The breeze moved her straight brown hair against her neck. Her woolen shirt clung to her curves down to her narrow waist, and hip-hugger black pants rounded over her generous posterior to run down her long legs to her bright white sneakers.
He took a step toward her. He stepped on a stick to get her attention, and her head whipped around. He recognized her. It was Marla Dunlap.
Chapter 3
Marla took a few steps farther along the disappearing flagstone walk, but the trees circling closer on all sides stopped her. The forest stared back at her, and its smells assaulted her senses until she couldn't stand it.
The dark, crumbling smell of dead leaves and wet wood flooded her brain with images and confused emotions. She shoved the memories back down where she couldn't see them. She didn't want to think about the woods, but she couldn't escape them. She couldn't bring herself to move forward and she couldn't go back.
The memories brought the bear with them, the bear hibernating in her soul. The bear grumbled in its sleep. She had to kill the memories fast before they woke the bear. She couldn't face the bear. The bear would rend and tear and kill. It wouldn't stop or go back to sleep until it killed the whole world in raging fury.
The trees wouldn't leave her alone. They wouldn't let the memories submerge. The smells nagged the memories awake to bury her under their overwhelming tidal wave. She turned this way and that, but she couldn't see the way out of the woods. She could see only more and more trees hemming her in on all sides.
A snapping twig made her turn on her heel, and she came face to face with the biggest bear she had ever seen. She might be a Bruin, but she hadn't seen many of them in their bear forms. She kept inside where Bruins stayed human. She didn't want to see a bear. She didn't want to think about Bruins as bears.
This bear studied her with his flinty black eyes. His golden-brown hair hung thick and fine around his shoulders and down his back. She didn't recognize him like this. He took a step toward her and lowered his head. He swung his head back and forth and rumbled low under his breath.
She glanced around, but she couldn't see the path anywhere. She had to keep an eye on that bear coming toward her and keep an eye on the trees at the same time. Her heart thumped against her ribs, but in the end, she fixed her eyes on him. He came closer and closer. He glanced up at her face each time he passed his head to the other side.
He stopped in front of her and barked a low grunt. His shoulder stood almost as high as her head, but he didn't threaten her. He flared his nostrils to catch her scent, and a screaming bolt of fear mixed with excitement sparked a skip in her pulse. Something tingled in her guts. What did he smell when he inhaled her scent like that?
She couldn't remember life as a bear. She hadn't shifted since she was a young girl. Even now, the woods didn't welcome her the way they should.
He came closer, and his big head touched her leg. He rubbed his cheek against her thigh with the rumblings vibrating deep in his chest. She tried to pull away, but he followed her. If she withdrew a step, he advanced a step to meet her.
He lifted his head and touched his wet nose to her cheek. She kept absolutely stiff and still and waited for him to leave. What did he want with her? Something deep in her soul already knew what he wanted. He wanted her, and he wanted her as a bear. If she stood still and didn't change, he would have no choice but to back off. He would leave her alone and she could take her eyes off him long enough to find the path back to her Homestead.
He sniffed all around her face and down her neck. He blew his breath into her face so she caught his scent in return. She couldn't stand it any longer. She clamped her eyes shut and held her breath so she wouldn't smell that unmistakable Bruin smell.
All at once, he wasn't there anymore. She didn't feel his warm breath or smell him—at least not as well as she did a moment before. She squirreled one eye open, and there he was, a few feet away. In front of her eyes, he pushed himself up on his hind legs. His shoulders squared, and his arms hung straight down. His golden fur shrank into his skin, and his face flattened.
She got a good look at him then. His brown hair ran back from his forehead to hang around his ears and neck. The last time she saw him, he wore a full beard down to his chest. Now he wore it trimmed to a neat goatee with muttonchops cutting down his cheeks to his jaw. His chest stretched wide and solid under his T-shirt, and his leather belt sat on chiseled hips to hold his jeans around his powerful legs.
He surveyed her up and down. “You're Marla, aren't you?”
Marla stiffened. “Who are you?”
“I'm Walker Cunningham.”
She looked away. “I don't know you.”
“I know you,” he countered. “I haven't seen you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper, but I recognize you. You look different now.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “So what?”
“Why didn't you shift just now?” he asked.
“What for?” she snapped.
A touch of a smile played around his lips. “We could go for a walk together.”
She pulled her head down between her shoulders. “I don't want to.”
“Why not?” He couldn’t stop grinning. “It could be fun.”
“Naw,” she mumbled. “I better get home.”
His grin faded. “If you don't want to shift and you don't want to go for a walk, what
are you doing out here?”
She shrugged. “I just wanted to get out for a while. I wanted to get away from my family.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” he admitted, “but it works a whole lot better if you shift first.”
She turned her head so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. She bit off her words to avoid saying them out loud. “Whatever.”
He hurried to fill the gap she left open. “What's your problem with shifting?”
“I don't shift,” she declared.
“Why not?”
She lost her nerve when he challenged her. She went back to shrugging and looking away. “I just don't want to”.
“That makes no sense,” he countered. “You're a Bruin, aren't you?”
“I don't have to be a Bruin if I don't want to be,” she grumbled. “As long as I don't shift, I'm not one.”
He put his head one side. “You're a strange bird, aren't you?”
She bit back a smile. He had a curious knack of working his way under her skin. “You just said I was a Bruin, so I guess that makes me a strange Bruin.”
He pointed at her. “And you said if you don't change, you're not really a Bruin—although I don't see why you don't want to be one—so I guess that makes you a strange bird.”
“I'm not a bird and I'm not a Bruin.” She confronted him straight on for the first time. “I'm just me.”
He held both hands open. “Okay. I can accept that.”
“So…can I go now?” She leaned in the direction of the path.
He stood back to let her pass. “I'm not stopping you.”
She looked around, but she didn't move. What was wrong with her? She wanted to leave, but she didn't. She kept staring at him in wonder. She couldn't understand him at all. She couldn't understand herself, either.
He took a step closer. His bear presence occupied her very thoughts. “You didn't tell me what you were doing here.”
She took a step back to get away from him. “No, I didn't.”
“Are you lost or something?”
Bruins' Peak Bears Box Set (Volume I) Page 44