Abel showed him back to the house where Ash first saw the NightShade discussing his mission. Abel held the front door open until Ash stepped inside another log cabin. An upstairs extended over the main room. The beds must be up there, since Ash didn’t see any downstairs.
A willowy lady worked over the big cookstove in the corner, and two beautiful girls helped her by setting the table and cleaning the room. Noah came down the stairs and shook hands with Ash. “Glad you could make it.”
Ash wanted to creep off somewhere away from everybody. “I’m sorry to put you out like this.”
“You’re not putting anybody out. You’re very welcome. Any guest is welcome, as long as they’re not Midnight.”
The whole family laughed, and Abel pulled out a chair at the table for Ash. He and Noah sat down across from him. Noah stood taller than Ezra Stark and carried a heavier build. Now that Ash saw more of these people up close and personal, he started to notice the resemblance. They really were all members of one huge extended family.
One of the girls set a steaming plate of bacon and eggs in front of Ash, along with another plate piled high with heavily buttered toast. Ash scooted up to the table. This was the kind of breakfast he could get enthusiastic about. If the Blacks had this kind of food, why did the Starks eat such meager fare?
Ash smiled up at the girl. “Thank you.”
She beamed down at him. “Sure thing. I hope you like the company just as much.”
Noah boomed across the table. “That’s enough, Luna. You and Eden go upstairs until our guest finishes eating. We don’t want you distracting us right now.”
Luna retreated to the other side of the room where Ash couldn’t see her, but he heard giggling behind his back. What did they know? If the NightShade were anything like the Bruins, word of June and Ash’s nonexistent romance would spread all over the mountain in a few hours. Everyone would know Ash got sent away to stop him mating with June.
Noah shook his head. Ash took a bite of his bacon. “This is really excellent. I miss breakfasts back home with my family.” He looked around. “Where do you raise your animals? I haven’t seen any livestock.”
“We keep them on the other side of the mountain,” Noah replied. “The sun and soil are better over there. This side is too rocky and rugged for grazing, and the terrain is too steep for pens and pastures.”
Ash nodded. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that. You must raise all your own food, just like us.”
“We have to,” Noah replied. “We don’t ever leave the mountain.”
Ash started to say the Bruins did the same thing when the other girl, Eden, appeared at the table. She set a vase of flowers in front of Ash. “This is so you don’t get too sad and lonely while you’re here.”
She flashed him a stunning smile, and Ash turned bright red. Eden burst out laughing, and she and Luna ran upstairs with their hands over their mouths.
“Don’t pay any attention to them,” Abel told Ash. “They’ve got romance on the brain. Whenever anybody gets interested in anybody else, they turn into these giggling ninnies.”
Ash had to smile. “I’ve seen it all before at home. I only wish they weren’t getting so much mileage out of me. I never meant to get mixed up with June or anybody else.”
Abel shrugged. “You couldn’t exactly stop it happening, could you?”
“Then why is her family trying to separate us?”
“Who knows?” Abel replied. “Maybe they’re just worried about you being an outsider and all. They don’t want June leaving, and they don’t want an outsider moving in. We’ve never met anybody from another bear people, and now they’re worried about their little girl mating with one of them. This is all new territory for us.”
Ash mumbled into his plate, “Me, too.”
“Just try to put it out of your mind if you can. You come with me after breakfast. I’ll show you around the mountain.”
Ash looked up. “Thanks. I’d like that.”
Abel stuck a forkful of eggs in his mouth. “You tell me all about your mountain. Word has it you people are well off.”
Ash shrugged and looked away. He hesitated to tell the NightShade just how well off the Bruins really were, especially the Dunlaps. He didn’t want to rub their noses in their own poverty, but what was he here for if not to tell the truth? “I guess so.”
“What do your people do besides raise your own food?”
Ash warmed to his subject. He could talk about his people all day long. “We raise some excess and sell it into town. We’ve got seven tribes on the Peak, and each one does something different. My tribe raises vegetables in big green houses. Another tribe raises cattle on their ranch. Some others sell timber. That sort of thing. Most all the tribes make good money supplying the town with whatever they need. We shop at the supermarket in town, and some of the kids even attend social events there. Compared to you, I guess we have a lot to do with the humans in our area.”
Noah frowned. “That would never work here. Associating with humans or anyone outside our own group never brought us any good.”
“I can understand that,” Ash replied. “We’ve had some serious problems with hunters and other people from town messing with us, but we solve those problems when they arise. My uncle even mated with someone we all thought was a human social worker from town. Turned out she was one of us.”
Noah and Able stared at him. “How did that happen?”
“Her mother threw herself off a cliff when her mate died, but she didn’t succeed in killing herself. Some hikers found her, and they took her to the local medical clinic. She had her baby there before she died, and the baby grew up in foster care. Years later, she comes up the Peak to interview her own grandfather, and my uncle fell in love with her.”
Noah cleared his throat. “Sounds like some kind of fairy tale.”
“It was, but it only goes to show some good things come from associating with people from town. We know some good people in town. They’ve helped us a lot.”
“That would never happen here,” Abel interjected. “We don’t have anything to do with anybody.”
Ash waved his hand. “I’m not saying you have to. I’m just telling you how it is for us. We wouldn’t be as well off as we are if we didn’t deal with them. What about you? Do you use everything you produce, or do you have any excess?”
The two men exchanged a glance. That simple look told Ash all he needed to know. These people harbored some secret they didn’t want to let him in on. That’s why everyone wanted to keep him away from June. They didn’t want her mating with an outsider for fear Ash would find out what they wanted to keep hidden.
Abel broke in on his thoughts by setting down his fork. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
10. Chapter 9
June stared at her father in horror. “How could you do this? Don’t you know this violates all our customs?”
Ezra shook his head when Arryn interrupted, “We did it for your own good. You can’t get involved with him. What if he finds out something he shouldn’t? You mating with an outsider violates a lot more of our customs than this.”
“You didn’t have to send him away,” June shot back. “All I did was feed him. What’s wrong with that?”
“You did a lot more than that,” Arryn replied. “I saw you two together with my own eyes. There’s a lot more going on between you two than just hospitality. Don’t deny it.”
“If there is something going on between me and Ash,” June countered, “and I’m not saying there is, then separating us like this won’t stop it from happening. You should know that. What do you think will happen to me when he goes back to his own people? Are you trying to break my heart or something?”
Her brother pointed into her face. “You see? You are involved with him. That doesn’t matter. You’ll never see him again. That’s the best thing for everybody.”
June rounded on her father. “Don’t tell me you went along with this, Daddy. Don’t tell me you actually turned a guest
out of our house over some stupid misunderstanding.”
Arryn cut in, “We didn’t turn him out. The Blacks will take care of him until he leaves.”
June ignored him. She kept her eyes fixed on her father. Ezra looked down at the ground. This situation disturbed him as much as it disturbed June. “I’m sorry, honey. I had to. It’s the best thing for everybody. If he found out about us, we would all be in danger, and we can’t let that happen. Once he’s gone, we won’t have anything to worry about.”
She threw up both hands and whirled away. “This is a fine way to repay the Bruins after the way Azer rescued Hazel. I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn away from us over something like this.”
The two men stared down at their breakfast plates. “I’m sorry, honey,” Ezra murmured again. “You can’t be anywhere near him. That’s the last word.”
June looked back and forth between these two men. Up until yesterday, she clung to them as the cornerstones of her life. She never would have believed something could come between her and her family. Now, she wanted to destroy them both—and for what? A man?
Not for just any man. Her anger turned to despair. She couldn’t let them tear her away from Ash. In just a few days, he took over her heart. She cared a lot more about him than she ever cared about her family. She could turn her back on everything for his sake.
Turn her back on everything! How could she? She couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Renegade Ridge. That was out of the question.
A ragged choking noise stuck in her throat. Her voice cracked when she tried to speak. “I don’t see why this is such a big deal. Why can’t there be anything between me and Ash? He’s a bear, isn’t he? He’s the same as us. Mating with him would be the same as mating with a NightShade.”
Her father stared at her in blank horror. He glanced over at Arryn at the same moment Arryn glanced at her. June saw that glance, but it only crushed her further into despondent grief. They could separate June and Ash all they liked. It was already too late. She’d fallen for him.
One way or the other, they had to be together. Their lives and their destinies interwove into a single fate. They couldn’t separate Ash from June any better than they could separate her from her right arm. Separation meant death for both of them.
Ezra slid his chair back and waved to his son. Arryn got to his feet, and both men walked out of the house without a word. They left June alone, and heavy silence fell over the cabin. When was the last time she found herself alone like this? She couldn’t remember, and the deafening stillness drove her out of her seat.
She couldn’t sit here and fall apart. She took refuge in work. She gathered up the breakfast dishes and put a pot of water on the fire to heat for washing up. She busied herself around the cabin, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Ash.
What was she supposed to do—run away from Renegade Ridge? Her father was right about one thing. Neither June nor Ash belonged in the other’s world. She couldn’t trust herself any better than her family could trust her. If she went to live on Bruins’ Peak, she would spill the NightShade’s secret. One way or the other, sometime, some way, it would leak out. Then what?
Ash wouldn’t stay on Renegade Ridge. He repeated that again and again. He would go home and abandon June. Maybe he had a nice little Bruin girl waiting for him back home. Maybe he promised his heart to someone else.
She shook those thoughts out of her head. Bruins mated for life, just like NightShade. He didn’t promise his heart to anybody, not if he mated with her.
She lifted the pot off the fire when a knock rattled the door on its hinges. Before she could answer it, the door swung open and Eden Black waltzed into the cabin. “Hey, girl. Not still working on a fine morning like this, are you?”
June shrugged. “Just trying to keep my mind occupied, you know?”
Eden flung herself into the nearest chair. “Keeping it occupied with Ash Dunlap, you mean? He’s a fine specimen of a man, I’ll say. I can see why you fancy him the way you do.”
June turned away to hide her burning cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Eden waved her hand. “Come on, girl. We all know about you two, and judging by the way he blushes when anybody talks about you, he feels the same way about you.”
June’s eyes widened. “He does?”
“Sure. He gets all red around the ears and looks away whenever anybody mentions anything about it.”
“Do you really think he feels the same way about me?”
“I’m certain of it. So what are you gonna do? How are you two gonna ride off into the sunset together?”
June groaned. “We’re not riding off anywhere together if Daddy and Arryn have their way. All they talk about is keeping us apart.”
Eden jumped up and paced around the room. “That’s ridiculous when you and Ash are life mates. Anybody can see it plain as the nose on your face. We just have to work out a way for you two to be together.”
June set her hand on her hip. “We?”
Eden burst out laughing. “Come on, baby. Let a girl share your happiness by helping you out of a fix.”
June bent over the pot of hot water. “I’m not happy. That’s the problem.”
“You’re not happy because you haven’t figured out a way for you and Ash to be together. Once we get that settled, you’ll be happy as Larry.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“What you need is a way to make your daddy and Arryn understand you’re already mated.”
“The only way to do that…” June broke off. “You’re not suggesting I…you know, trap Ash, are you?”
Eden’s eyes gleamed. “What better way to get your message across?”
“How do I know it will really work? It could drive Ash away.”
“How could it?” Eden asked. “If you’re really mated, he won’t run away. He’ll want it as much as you do. If you’re not really mated, then the sooner he backs off and disappears out of your life, the better.”
June stared at her. “You’re really serious, aren’t you? You want me to lay a trap for him and…what? You want me to jump his bones?”
Eden cackled with laughter. “Listen to you, you shameless hussy. You don’t have to lay a trap for him. All you have to do is get near him and let nature take its course.”
June shook her head. “This is nuts. I’m not doing anything.”
“Aw, come on. Why not? Do you want Ash or not?”
“Not when Daddy has forbidden me to see him,” June countered. “I couldn’t go behind his back like that.”
“You wouldn’t have to go behind his back, either. I’m just saying you have to decide what you’re willing to do to make this happen.”
“I’m not doing anything that could upset Daddy. He’s got enough on his mind.”
“Well, what would happen if you should accidentally meet Ash on the mountain somewhere? You two could talk and walk and hold hands and do whatever else you do. Maybe something might happen, and no one could deny anymore that you’re mated.”
“Forget it,” June snapped. “I’m not doing it.”
Eden shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
11. Chapter 10
Ash hiked behind Abel. They crossed the Ridge where the sun burned on jagged stone spires. Abel scaled the cliffs hand over hand. Ash worked hard to keep up until Abel scrambled out on the very highest pinnacle overlooking the whole mountain range.
Ash caught his breath at what he saw. “This is incredible. Look. There’s Bruins’ Peak. It looks so small from here.”
Abel pointed the other way toward a sloping band of granite flowing out of the mountainside. “That’s Midnight Moraine.”
Ash studied the landscape. “You must come up here a lot to climb those walls the way you did.”
“All the time. I like climbing, and now we’re gonna climb down other side.” Abel picked his way over the stone fields heading down the other side of Renegade Ridge.
Ash hurried afte
r him. “What are you trying to do—kill me?”
Abel laughed. “No, fool. I’m just trying to take your mind off June and steer you away from Midnight Moraine. Don’t you know my daddy and Ezra gave me strict instructions to keep you out of trouble?”
Ash shrank down on himself. “I’m sure they did, but you don’t have to tell me so to my face. Just let me believe a little longer that I’m not some naughty little kid who needs a babysitter.”
Abel dropped back to his side. He smiled, but he didn’t laugh. “It’s all right, man. It’s not your fault you fell in love with June. It will all work out in the end, just as soon as Ezra and Arryn and all the others realize it’s the real deal.”
“What if we’re not really mates?”
“You are.”
Ash spun around to stare at him. “How can you be sure when I’m not sure myself?”
“I’ve seen my friends mated enough times. I recognize the signs. You care about her, and you wouldn’t get so embarrassed talking about her if you weren’t really mated with her.”
“But we haven’t even done anything. I’ve touched her hand maybe twice. That’s all. How can we be mated?”
“You tell me. Are you mated or not?”
Ash turned away.
“That’s what I thought. You have nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to everybody eventually.”
Ash gazed into the distance. “I didn’t think of that.”
Abel plunged down the other side of the mountain. The two young men entered a long expanse of forest. Ash had no idea where they were or where they were going. Maybe Abel never intended to show him the NightShade’s livestock or food production areas. Maybe he just wanted to get him out of the area.
That was fine with Ash. Whatever worked for the NightShade worked for him. He would do anything to avoid causing these people and himself more trouble than he already had.
Abel halted so fast Ash bumped into him. “What’s up?”
Abel pointed into the trees, and Ash held his breath to listen. A rustle caught his ear, and the musky scent of pig prickled his nose. Saliva squirted into his mouth. He stole a peek at Abel, and Abel nodded at him. “You wanna go first?”
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