Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “I don’t want to go back,” she replied. “I want to come with you.”

  He pursed his lips. Even looking at her hurt worse than he ever thought possible. “You can’t. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Please. I want to come with you.”

  “I said no,” he snapped. “Go back. You’re Midnight. You belong on the Moraine. No Midnight can come up to the Ridge. You know that.”

  Her voice rose to a shrill cry. “I can’t! I…I don’t belong anywhere now. I only want to be with you.”

  “You know that’s impossible.”

  She doubled over and clutched her arms over her stomach like he kicked her in the guts. “I can’t, Abel! I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I can’t go back. I have to go with you.”

  “What are you talking about?” he bellowed. “You know you can’t go with me. We’re enemies. I ought to kill you right now.”

  “Don’t do this to me,” she sobbed. “How can this be happening to me if you don’t feel the same way? I’ve seen enough people mate for life. This doesn’t happen to one person without it happening to the other person, too.”

  He looked away. “Forget about mating for life. It’s never going to happen.”

  “Don’t you feel anything for me at all?” she begged. “Just tell me that, and I’ll leave you alone. I swear it.”

  “What difference does it make? There can never be anything between us. You can never come up to Renegade Ridge and I can never return to Midnight Moraine, especially after what just happened.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” she screamed. “How do you think I’m supposed to go back to Midnight Moraine? I just fought my own people for your sake. I don’t even want to think about how many of them I might have killed. How am I supposed to show my face around them after this?”

  He hesitated, but he couldn’t stop frowning. He had to stop this. He had to stop this here and now. “I’m sorry. Thank you for helping me. I’ll never forget that. I would do something to pay you back if I could, but you can’t come up to the Ridge. That’s final.”

  Her eyes darted around the forest. Her voice squeaked when she tried to talk. “I don’t belong anywhere now. I might as well be dead.”

  “Don’t say that. You’ve got your family back home. You’ve got your brother and your sister and who knows what else.”

  She kicked the dead leaves at her feet. “I don’t have a brother. He’s dead.”

  Abel shook his head. “He’s not dead. He’s just knocked out. I heard his heart beating before I left the ring.”

  Her head shot up. “Really?”

  He nodded. “Go home, Onyx. I can’t stand seeing you hurting like this.”

  “Please don’t walk away from me,” she whimpered. “I don’t want to be anywhere but with you.”

  He took a step toward her. He couldn’t stop himself. “I can’t. Don’t you understand?”

  “I don’t understand any of this. I never wanted any of this. All I did was look at you, and now my life is over.”

  “Hey, hey. It’s not the end of the world.”

  “It’s the end of the world if you don’t feel the same way about me. How can I want to mate for life with you if you don’t feel the same way?”

  “I do feel the same way about you.”

  Her eyes shot to his face. “You do?”

  Abel grimaced. He hadn’t meant to say that. It slipped out by itself, but now that he said it, he couldn’t take it back. “Listen to me. It’s hopeless. This whole thing is killing me. I can’t stick around here, and you can’t come with me. It’s not because I don’t want to. Okay? Can you understand that? I can’t have anything to do with you. There’s… It’s complicated.”

  She searched his face, but he couldn’t give her any answers. He couldn’t tell her the real reason he couldn’t let her follow him up to the Ridge. He couldn’t run the risk of her finding out about Arion.

  “Is there someone else?” she asked.

  “You know better than that. If it’s happening to you, it’s happening to me.”

  “You promise?”

  He stared down at his bare toes and nodded.

  “Why can’t we be together?”

  “Where would we go to be together? There’s nowhere.”

  “Why can’t I come with you?”

  He studied her face and let out a heavy sigh. “Listen to me. No one has come up to the Ridge in centuries, and our people don’t leave it. That’s the way it is.” A choking sound came from her throat, but he turned away. “I have to go. Go home.”

  She took a few steps to follow him. “Abel…”

  At the last second, he whirled around to face her. He darted up to her and seized her behind the neck. He crushed her mouth under his lips and yanked her off just as fast. He snarled in her face between his teeth. “Listen to me, Onyx. Don’t come up to the Ridge no matter what. I don’t care what you do. Do NOT set foot on Renegade Ridge. Do you understand me? The NightShade will shoot any Midnight on sight. If you came up there, I would have no choice but to kill you myself. Got it?”

  Before she could answer, he tossed her head away. He turned on his heel and ran off into the forest.

  29. Chapter 9

  Abel collapsed against the wall outside his front door. He closed his eyes and turned his face up toward the stars. He marshaled all his strength to hold himself together this long. Now, in sight of safety, his resolve crumbled. He couldn’t go on like this much longer.

  He compressed his lips and swallowed down sobs. He couldn’t get Onyx’s tortured face out of his mind. She risked everything to save his life. He never would have gotten out of that basement without her help. Now he had to kick her in the teeth and send her back alone.

  How he wanted to take her in his arms, to sooth her aching heart with his kisses. He couldn’t do that, though. Even kissing her once demanded more than he could bear. Didn’t she realize how much he wanted her? Didn’t she understand how leaving her behind cut him to pieces worse than anything those men did to him in the ring?

  He heard his parents and sisters talking inside the house. How could he face them with blood all over his body and bruises all over his face? How could ever explain what happened since Hunter and Cole kidnapped him the other night?

  He had to get this over with. He didn’t want to spend the night in the forest. At least, he wanted to spend the night in the forest, but he couldn’t. If he stayed on Renegade Ridge one more minute, he would cave to temptation. He would hunt Onyx down, no matter the consequences. He couldn’t live around her without taking her for himself.

  What was happening to him? What was he turning into? What would the Elders say when they found he left without their permission? They might send out a hunting party to bring him in. They might keep him locked up in Arion until he died of a broken heart from pining for Onyx. Abel had no idea what they would do. No one but Arryn Stark ever left the Ridge before, and he got permission first.

  Abel forced himself off that wall. He willed himself to walk through that door, into the bubble of light and love and comfort he knew so well. His mother jumped out of her chair so fast she knocked it over. It banged on the floor. Eden and Luna stared at him from across the room. Their eyes searched his wounds and his tattered pants. His father dropped his fork. “Abel! What happened to you?”

  Abel didn’t want to think about what he looked like. He could see the shock and dismay in their faces. He put out his hand to his mother. “Mommy. Daddy. I’m really sorry to do this to you, but I have to leave the Ridge.”

  “Leave the Ridge!” his mother screamed.

  Abel nodded. “I’m sorry. I only came back to pack a few things. Then I have to leave. It’s for your own protection. I wish I could explain more.”

  He started toward the stairs leading up to the loft. His father materialized at his side. “Does this have to do with what happened the other night? The Midnight captured you, didn’t they? They hurt you. That’s why you’re all b
anged up.”

  Abel climbed the stairs to his own corner of the loft. “You know they did, Daddy. You don’t have to ask that.”

  He couldn’t look at his father. He found a change of his own clothes and peeled off the old pants Cole gave him. He heard his mother sobbing downstairs and his sisters comforting her. “Let Daddy talk to him. Daddy will make sense of this.”

  Noah’s voice boomed through the house. “You can’t leave, son. No one has ever left the NightShade before. Don’t make me order you downstairs.”

  “You can’t order me,” Abel returned. “If no one has ever left before, I’ll be the first.”

  Noah stood back and watched Abel change his clothes. “Let us clean you up before you go, son.”

  “I’m sorry, Daddy. I have to get out of here fast. I wish I could stay, and I really wish I could explain to you what’s going on. I have to leave the Ridge. I’m doing this to protect everyone, and to protect Arion.”

  Noah frowned. “If the Midnight took you and hurt you, the Elders should know about this. We can’t make peace with them if they keep doing things like this.”

  Abel shook his head. “Don’t tell anybody. There are some really good people on Midnight Moraine, and it would be a shame to throw away all their efforts to make peace over the stupidity of a few people.”

  Noah hissed under his breath. “You did not just say there are some really good people on Midnight Moraine. Don’t even think about saying something like that when they just captured and beat my son nearly half to death.”

  Abel looked up into his father’s brooding eyes. He put out his hands and clasped his father to his chest. “I love you, Daddy. Please, for my sake, just do as I ask. I’ve been through enough today. You can’t imagine. Leaving you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but I have to do it. I’m doing this as a NightShade. I’m doing this as my last act to protect Arion and all the NightShade.”

  He tried to let go, but his father locked him in his embrace. “Don’t do this, son. Don’t leave us like this.”

  Abel fought back tears. He pressed his mouth against his father’s ear, but he couldn’t manage more than a whisper. “You wouldn’t ask that if you knew. Say you’re proud of me, Daddy. Say you give me your blessing.”

  Noah clapped his hands around Abel’s arms. “You know I’m proud of you, son. If you’re doing this for our people, I couldn’t be more proud. I only wish I could look forward to you coming back someday.”

  “I hope I can. I really hope so.”

  He pushed his father away. He couldn’t wait any longer or he would lose his resolve. He gathered up a spare change of clothes and stuffed them into a bag. He tripped down the stairs. He rushed up to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Bye, Mommy. I love you.”

  He squeezed his sisters’ hands and raced out of the house. He paused outside just long enough to cover his eyes with his arms. He couldn’t do that for long, though, not without breaking down. He ran down the path and collided with something solid in the dark.

  Rough hands grasped his shoulders and wrestled him upright. A familiar voice hit his ear. “Hold on there. Where’s the fire?”

  Abel gasped for breath. “Ash! What are you doing here?”

  “I’m just coming home from Ezra’s. What are you doing, charging around in the dark at this hour?”

  Abel swallowed down the lump in his throat. “I can’t talk now. I gotta go.”

  Ash’s fists tightened around Abel’s shirt. “You’re not going anywhere, Mister, not until I get some explanation. Your sister Eden was at our house earlier today, crying to June about how you got kidnapped in the middle of the night. Is that true?”

  Abel made one more valiant effort free himself, but Ash held him against all his efforts. “Look, it’s no big deal. I have to go now.”

  Ash dropped his voice a register. “You better start talking, boy. Where have you been? What happened? I’ve spent the better part of the last year working toward peace with the Midnight. If they caught you, I better know about it.”

  “Yes, they caught me,” Abel blurted out. “They came into the house in the middle of the night and threw a blanket over my head. There. Now let me go. I have more important things to think about right now.”

  Ash did not let him go. “What could be more important than being reunited with your family after you got kidnapped by the Midnight? Did they take you back to the Moraine? Did they try to bear-bait you?”

  Standing here talking about everything that happened overpowered Abel. He couldn’t face this man who became his closest friend and lie about what happened. He didn’t want to burden his family, but Abel had to talk to somebody. “Yes, they bear-baited me.”

  Ash’s hands fell at his sides. “Did they hurt you?”

  Abel looked away into the dark. He barely forced himself to whisper. “I’ve got a problem, Ash. I’ve got a big problem.”

  Ash drew close to his face and murmured under his breath. “Whatever it is, let me help you. Don’t run off. You’re hurting. I can hear it in your voice. Tell me what’s going on.”

  The words tumbled out of Abel in a rush. “Something happened to me on Midnight Moraine. It happened at the peace march.”

  “What happened?”

  “You remember that girl, the one who stood next to Hunter Faulkner when he said he wanted to capture me right there in the street?”

  Ash frowned. “That’s Onyx Archer. She’s Jordan’s sister-in-law.”

  Abel nodded. “That’s the one.”

  Ash waited for him to continue. “What did she do?”

  “Nothing!” Abel cried. “She didn’t do anything, and I didn’t do anything. I looked at her maybe once.”

  Ash stared at him in the dark. “You’re not saying…”

  Abel hung his head. “This is the worst thing that could possibly happen. This is much worse than me getting caught and thrown into the ring.”

  Ash let out a shaky breath. “Are you seriously telling me you’ve fallen for a….a…” He didn’t finish.

  Abel grabbed his friend’s shoulders. “You gotta help me, Ash. You gotta get me out of this somehow. I’m going crazy, and Onyx… She’s in serious pain. She helped me get out of the ring. I got as far as the stairs before they jumped on me all at once. They would have dragged me back and maybe killed me, but she fought with me and helped me get loose. She wanted to follow me up here and…”

  “You can’t let her come up here,” Ash interrupted. “Whatever else you do, you can’t bring her here.”

  “I know that!” Abel screamed. “Don’t you think I know that?”

  “Sorry, man. Of course, you do. I’m just saying, it’s a pretty sticky situation.”

  “Sticky doesn’t begin to cover it. What am I going to do?”

  “Well, where did you plan to go now?”

  “I have to leave the Ridge,” Abel replied. “If I stick around here, I’ll wind up going back to her. I’ll wind up telling her about Arion. I don’t see how we could ever be together, but I couldn’t be with her without telling her. She wanted to come with me. I had to force her to go back. She’ll wind up here one of these days. She doesn’t want to be anywhere except where I am.”

  Ash whistled through his teeth. “Holy Christ, man! This is really real, isn’t it?”

  “I have to lead her away from the Ridge,” Abel exclaimed. “That’s the only way I can keep the secret.”

  “I see now why you have to leave.”

  “Listen to me, Ash. The Midnight are bear-baiting again. Who knows what they’ll do to catch another bear. Get in touch with the Elders. Organize a rotating watch all over the Ridge to guard against the Midnight. You’re the best man for the job. You can get my daddy and Ezra involved. You can protect the Ridge from them.”

  “You bet. You know I’ll do anything to protect this Ridge. I sure wish you didn’t have to leave, though.”

  “Me, too. You don’t know how much I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

 
Ash clapped him on the shoulder. “You better get going. Jabbering with me won’t make it any easier.”

  Abel started to turn away. He looked back once. “Do me a favor, will you?”

  “Anything. You name it.”

  “Keep an eye out for Onyx. If she comes up here, try to keep these hillbillies from blowing her head off. I understand if you can’t protect her. Just try. Do it for my sake.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll do my best. It must be pretty hard on her. It seems like there must be some way for you two to be together. Why would Fate bring you together, only to tear you apart?”

  “Maybe God is trying to torture me.”

  “You know better than that,” Ash returned. “Let’s think about this for a minute. We might be able to come up with some solution.”

  Abel shook his head. “It’s hopeless. I don’t want to find a solution, anyway. I don’t want to live if it means loving my worst enemy.”

  30. Chapter 10

  Ebony held open the door of the bedroom she used to share with Onyx. Her eyes popped open. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m packing,” Onyx replied. “I’m packing up and getting out.”

  Ebony stood stock still and stared. Onyx fished her underwear out of the drawer and tossed it into the suitcase lying open on the bed. She worked her way around the room. She packed up her clothes and her toothbrush and her phone and her wallet.

  Ebony sat down on the bed next to the suitcase. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  Onyx’s voice came from inside the closet. “You can see what’s going on. I’m packing up and leaving Midnight Moraine.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Onyx yanked her head out of the closet. “Why? Do you really have to ask that? I’m sure the news is all over the Moraine by now.”

  “I heard about how you helped Abel get out of the ring. I heard how he body-slammed Cole and killed Felix Powers. Hunter would have shot him if you hadn’t saved him.”

  “Then you know all about it.” Onyx wound her phone charger wire around her hand and tucked that into the side pocket. “Hunter and Cole are furious with me. They’ll never get the ring restarted now. No one wants to set foot in that basement with all these bears rampaging around. No one wants to take his life in his hand, no matter how exciting it is.”