Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “You let me know what I can do to help,” Ash replied.

  Jordan smacked Ash on both shoulders. “You’re already doing it. You’re my dream come true.”

  Ash blushed. “Shoot, man. I just told you I’m married.”

  Jordan swooped in and planted a loud kiss on Ash’s cheek. “Tell your wife she’s got competition.”

  “From you?” Ash snorted. “You’ve been sniffing the wrong kind of daisies, my friend.”

  Riley spoke up, “If you two ladies are finished flirting with each other, we do have business to attend to.”

  “How will I get in touch with you, now that you don’t have a phone?” Jordan asked.

  “Smoke signals?”

  “Come on. Get serious.”

  “Do we really need to keep in touch?” Ash asked. “We all know where we stand now.”

  “I still don’t like letting you go,” Jordan replied. “I wish I knew how to let you know if anything develops.”

  “I can come out here every couple of days or so. Do you come out here often?”

  Jordan nodded. “All the time.”

  “There you go. We’ll meet out here every so often, just to keep the channel of communication open. We can say howdy even if nothing develops.”

  “Good.”

  Ash turned away. “I better get home.”

  Jordan called after him, “Hey, Ash.”

  “What now?”

  “Take care of yourself.”

  “You, too. Thanks for everything.”

  Ash strolled off into the trees, but he didn’t run. He paused a short distance away to look back. Jordan and Riley looked back at the same moment, and all three waved good-bye.

  Ash’s heart leapt out of his chest. He’d done it. He’d brought peace to three different shifter peoples. His spirit soared over Renegade Ridge, all the way over Midnight Moraine and on toward Bruins’ Peak in the far distance.

  He took off through the trees going as fast as he legs would pump. He flew over the landscape until nothing could hold him down. Far underground, the NightShade prepared their millions to stand up to the Midnight as never before.

  Arryn’s bus rumbled down the highway toward Iron Bark. In a few hours, he would knock on the door at Dunlap Homestead. Aiken and Harmony would invite him in for a nice home-cooked meal. Boyd would send word to the other Alphas, and they would all converge on the Homestead to negotiate with Arryn. How Ash wished he could be there to listen in! His heart filled with love for his people—all his people, near and far.

  Jordan and Riley would bail up Hunter and make him understand his bear-baiting days were over. With any luck, no Midnight would ever set foot on Renegade Ridge again, but the NightShade would continue to keep watch over their territory. No one would ever hold them down again.

  Right now, Riley and Melody are getting ready to welcome the newest shifter species into the world. A cross between June and Ash couldn’t come near that. Something half-panther, half-bear would patrol these woods. If mating for life threw the Midnight for a loop, this would blow them out of the water.

  Ash ran all the way up the hill and stopped in the sunny patch where he said good-bye to Arryn. If only Arryn was here right now, Ash would have someone to talk to about this.

  He surveyed the countryside all around. He would like to climb up to the summit so he could see more, but he wanted to get to work on the new cabin. He wanted to make it secure for winter. Then he and June could relax in their new home.

  He set off up the slope the rest of the way home when he met June coming down to meet him. She hugged him around the middle and kissed him. “Everything all right?”

  He clasped her tight. “Everything’s fine. Everything’s just fine.”

  *******The End.

  Book 2: Onyx

  Sarah J. Stone

  21. Chapter 1

  “What a disaster!”

  Onyx Archer lounged on the bed in Hunter Faulkner’s bedroom and listened to Hunter and her brother Cole talking. She rested her head on the pillow and tried to catch Hunter’s eye, but he didn’t notice.

  “Well, you can’t blame me,” Cole said. “We didn’t get anywhere near the NightShade.”

  “How did they find out we were coming?” Hunter asked. “That’s what I can’t figure out. They’re usually hiding in their holes and we can walk right up to them.”

  “That’s what Riley did,” Cole countered. “Maybe it wasn’t as simple as that even when he tried it.”

  “And maybe,” Hunter argued, “maybe they changed their tactics. Maybe they don’t hide in their holes anymore. Maybe they’ve set up a watch.”

  “If they set up a watch,” Cole returned, “they would have intercepted us long before we ever got close to Renegade Ridge. No, I still think it was dumb luck. Maybe one of them saw us and alerted the others.”

  “That still doesn’t explain their reaction,” Hunter replied. “The NightShade never fought back before, let alone treed us and tried to kill us. This puts a whole new spin on the project. I don’t like our chances of catching one of them now.”

  Cole scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I don’t, either, now that you mention it. I wouldn’t mind walking away from it.”

  “We can’t walk away,” Hunter insisted. “Think of the profits. The Moraine is languishing since we lost Riley and Raven. We have to find another way to restart the ring before we fall into poverty the way we were before.”

  Onyx interrupted from the bed, “Can we please stop talking about this stupid bear-baiting stuff? I’m so bored with it I could scream. I didn’t come here to listen to you two gabble on like old ladies in a sewing circle.”

  Hunter’s head shot up. “Sorry, baby. I forgot.”

  He pushed himself off the windowsill and sauntered over to the bed. He sat next to Onyx and bent over to kiss her. She snuck her arms around his neck and pulled her down on top of him. She slithered her tongue into his mouth. “That’s a little more like it.”

  He murmured between kisses, “I thought you’d be tired from last night.”

  She heaved her breasts against his chest and sucked air through her nostrils. “I never get tired of you, baby. You know that.”

  He hummed into her mouth. His body vibrated with rising energy, and his chest swelled. One hand slid up her ribs to maul her breast until she whined against his lips. Tingly passion excited the frilly tissues between her legs. She rubbed her thighs together in aching desire.

  “You want that, baby?” he whispered. “You want me right now?”

  She answered by hauling him down on the bed. He still sat with his feet on the floor, but his torso weighed her down and pushed the air out of her lungs. She fought to keep control of herself. She wrapped one leg behind his back and squeezed.

  He nuzzled down her neck and bit her nipple through her thin T-shirt. She threaded her fingers through his short hair. She kneaded the back of his neck and whined in naked lust. Her crotch hurt so bad, and her juices soaked into her panties.

  Cole leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. “I’ve got an idea, man. I think I know a way we can get us a bear. Once we have that, this ring will float itself off the ground. All we have to do is sit back and rake in the cash.”

  Hunter climbed onto the bed. He stretched his burly frame next to Onyx, and their bodies fit together top and bottom. He slotted one knee between her legs and enfolded her in his meaty arms. He muttered between delectable kisses. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I was thinking we’ve been going about this all the wrong way,” Cole replied. “We’ve always attacked the NightShade head-on, and that worked out fine up until now. Now they’re starting to stand up for themselves. We can’t just barge in there anymore. We almost got our heads blown off last time.”

  Hunter licked around Onyx’s mouth. He caressed down her hip and ducked under her T-shirt. His warm palm sent excited sparkles running down her stomach to the nest of wet desire between her legs. She heaved her hips agai
nst him and felt the hard knob inside his pants.

  Hunter’s breath caught in his throat. “So what do you suggest we do instead?”

  Cole gestured with his hands while he spoke. He showed no signs of noticing Hunter engaged with his sister on the bed. “I say we sneak up to Renegade Ridge in the middle of the night. Even if they have posted a guard—which I doubt they have—we can skate around them no problem. We break into one of their shacks and carry off the first person we find. What do you think?”

  Hunter dove under Onyx’s shirt. He left blistering kisses down her stomach to her waistband and kissed lower. “Sounds good.”

  “As soon as we have the bear in hand, we can send out word. People are chomping at the bit for another ring. They’ll come from far and near, and they’ll pay twice as much as before. In a way, Riley and Raven backing out could be the best thing that ever happened to us. People understand now how much the ring is worth.”

  Hunter didn’t reply. He pulled the blanket over his head. A hump bobbed under the covers between Onyx’s legs. She closed her eyes and writhed on the bed. The blanket came up to her chest, but her hands followed Hunter out of sight. She sobbed and whimpered in rampant desire.

  Cole stared at the sight for a moment. Onyx paid no attention to her brother. She floated a million miles away in a sea of warm wetness down there between her legs. She seethed and contorted to get as much of Hunter as she could.

  Cole got up and left without a word. Onyx barely registered the door clicking shut. Blessed silence descended over the room. Now she could concentrate on that man down inside the bed. His big hands groped around her ass and behind her back. They lifted her body against his hot breath. He teased her to glorious ecstasy with every part of himself.

  He hooked his fingers over her waistband. He started to ease her tight shorts down over her ass when a shout echoed outside the bedroom window. Onyx opened her eyes and listened. When she didn’t hear anything more, she closed them again and raised her hips so Hunter could pull her shorts down.

  Hunter froze for an instant under the blanket, too. The next minute, he took another mouthful of her thigh. He slid her shorts down over her ass. They rested in the crease where her ass met her thighs.

  Just then, Onyx heard another cluster of shouting voices outside. They came faster and louder. Footsteps ran across the wooden porch at the house next door. Onyx lay still and listened. More and more urgent voices shouted back and forth. People ran past. Doors slammed.

  Hunter yanked the blanket off his head and looked around. “What’s going on?”

  Onyx sat up. “I don’t know. Everybody’s shouting outside.”

  He tossed the blanket aside, and she hitched up her shorts in a hurry. They both tumbled out of the room and hurried outside, along with Hunter’s dad, Wyatt, and his uncle Caleb. They all stopped outside the front door and gaped.

  Crowds of people filled the street in front of the house. They walked as fast as they could toward the other end of the compound. Onyx hailed Scarlet Faulkner coming the other way. “What’s going on?”

  Scarlet didn’t stop. “I don’t know. Nobody seems to know. I’m going to find out, though.”

  Hunter headed down the path to the front gate. “I’m going to find out, too. This is nuts.”

  Onyx raced after him. Nuts didn’t begin to cover it. She never saw so many people in one place. People poured out of their houses on every side. They stopped what they were doing and migrated to the far end of the compound. What could attract them like this?

  Hunter held the gate open for Onyx. Then they set off together through the throng. A few dozen paces down the street, Cole came rushing over. “What’s happening?”

  “We have no idea,” Hunter replied. “We can only go along and see for ourselves.”

  Cole fell in at Hunter’s right. He surveyed the crowd on both sides. “Whatever it is, it must be a pretty big deal. Every man and his dog is out here.”

  Before Hunter could reply, the crowd bunched up in front of them. People slowed down and stopped. Hunter wormed his way through the packed bodies. Onyx kept close behind him. He plowed an opening big enough for her to get through.

  A familiar voice called over the hubbub, but Onyx couldn’t see anything. Heads and shoulders surrounded her on every side, but she would recognize that voice anywhere. “All of you are going to have to stand aside and let us pass. We’re going through, and you can’t stop us.”

  Hunter growled under his breath. “What the…?”

  He broke through the last remaining onlookers, and Onyx weaseled forward to stand at his side. That’s when she saw what everybody was staring at. Hunter’s brother Jordan and their cousin Riley stood shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the street, but everyone in the crowd whispered and pointed at two strange men standing with them.

  One of them stood almost as tall as Jordan, but he had pale skin and curly golden hair down to his shoulders. His blue eyes flashed over the crowd, and he held his shoulders set firm and square facing all these people down. He carried himself with casual grace, but Onyx couldn’t stop staring at the other man.

  He wasn’t as tall as the blonde guy and nowhere near as big as Jordan and Riley. No one could mistake his size for weakness, though. His powerful shoulders and chest bulged under a rough jersey of knitted homespun, and he wore heavy leather rawhide pants with no shoes.

  His dark brown skin gleamed in the sun, and his hair cropped close around his head. A patch of longer black fuzz topped his crown, and a dark menace glinted in his black eyes. He narrowed his eyes at the crowd, and he balled his hands into fists ready for anything.

  Danger radiated out of his whole being. Every Midnight in the crowd sensed it. His heart and soul burned black inside his body—blacker than any Midnight. If she never saw another person like him in her life, she would know on sight he was NightShade. What was he doing here?

  Hunter bellowed over the ruckus, “What exactly do you think you’re doing here with that?” He leveled an accusing finger at the two strangers.

  Jordan raised his voice to address the whole crowd. He laid his hand on the blond man’s shoulder. “This is Ash Dunlap. He’s a Bruin from Bruins’ Peak, and this is Abel Black. I don’t have to tell you he’s a NightShade from Renegade Ridge, and both these men are my friends. Do you hear me? They’re my friends, and we’re going to march through this compound together. We’re going to Riley’s house where Ash will visit Melody. They haven’t seen each other in months, and there’s not a force on God’s green Earth that says they shouldn’t visit each other here over anywhere else.”

  Cole spoke up at Hunter’s side, “You can’t do this. You can’t bring them into our territory. They’re our enemies.”

  “We’re their enemies,” Jordan countered. “That’s what you really mean. The Bruins and the NightShade have never done anything to hurt us—ever. They have never kidnapped our people or baited them in the ring. We’re the ones doing that to them. They have never attacked us or made war on us. We’ve only imagined they wanted to when they didn’t. There’s nothing stopping us from being friends with them, and there’s nothing stopping us from living in peace with them.”

  Hunter threw up his hands. “This is ridiculous. Come on, Cole. We wanted a bear, and now we’ve got one.”

  “If you or anyone here lays a finger on these men, we’ll fight you.” Jordan jerked his thumb over his shoulder at a couple dozen Midnight men standing behind him. “We’ve got all these guys backing us up, too. Do you want to fight all of us at once?”

  Hunter pulled his head down between his shoulders. He frowned and looked away.

  “I thought so.” Jordan raised his voice to a roar one more time. “We’re staging a peace march.”

  Cole exploded. “A peace march! Is that what you call it?”

  “Call it what you want,” Jordan replied. “We’re marching. We’re marching Midnight, NightShade, and Bruin all together, side by side. We’re here today to show all of you that pe
ace and friendship is possible. If we can do it, you can all do it, too. We can all put our differences aside and live side by side. We’ve all got more territory than we need. None of us has any reason to trespass on anybody else’s land. We can stop all the bear-baiting and fighting and everything else holding our people’s apart. We can thrive and prosper together instead of tearing each other apart.”

  Jordan took a step forward, but Hunter dodged to block his path. “You can’t do this. I won’t let you. We’ve been after one of these things for months. We can take him right now and restart the ring. You know that’s the best thing for Midnight Moraine, not some stupid peace march.”

  Hunter tried to laugh at the joke, but Jordan walked right up to him. “You can’t stop me. I’m going through.” His voice boomed louder than ever. It sent shivers up Onyx’s spine. “I’m going through. We’re all going through. Anybody here have a problem with that? Come on forward. We’ll fight you all to the last man if we have to.”

  Hunter surveyed the men. He came back to Jordan’s face, and the brothers faced each other in matched animosity.

  Jordan murmured low so only Hunter could hear him, “What do you say, Hunter? How do you like your chances?”

  No one moved a muscle. Onyx held her breath to see what would happen. Jordan defeated Hunter once before in a challenge. They couldn’t keep fighting every time they disagreed about something. What was Hunter supposed to do, though? Jordan got more and more brazen in his so-called peace efforts. He would drive a wedge through the whole Moraine one of these days.

  Hunter didn’t move. He didn’t back down, but something gave way between the two men. The tension snapped. Without a word, Jordan walked around Hunter and set off down the street. Riley, Ash, and Abel started walking at the same moment, and their supporters came behind them.

  They streamed straight past Hunter, Cole, and Onyx who stood there stunned. The crowd parted to let them through. The four men walked shoulder to shoulder down the street and out the other side of the compound on their way to Riley’s cabin.