Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “I wish I could stay here with May,” Arryn told him. “I wish I didn’t have to leave. I wish more than anything I didn’t have to leave you. I’ve never had a friend like you.”

  The care and gloom lifted off Silas’s shoulders. His countenance brightened. “Aw, shucks, baby. I feel the same way about you.”

  Arryn shook his head. He couldn’t laugh at the joke. “I wish…well, I wish a lot of things.”

  Silas squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t wish. It’s perfect the way it is.”

  Arryn walked Silas out to his car after lunch. All the Alphas stood around shaking hands and hugging and finished off snippets of conversation before they got in their cars and drove away. Silas embraced Arryn. “Don’t be a stranger. I’m sure my sister is a lot more charming, but try to keep in touch, okay?”

  Arryn laughed, but the sound died on his lips when he saw Shaw and Rhys leaning against the Dunlaps’ big shed. They talked with their heads together and glared at the Alphas milling around. “You be careful around home, son,” Arryn told him. “Don’t turn your back on that for an instant.”

  Silas gazed across the yard to his enemies. “Don’t worry. I never have, and I’m not about to start now.”

  “You tell me if you need me. You won’t forget, will you?”

  “I won’t forget.” Silas patted Arryn’s arm. “You be careful, too. Those two are up to no good. They’re bound to make trouble sooner or later.”

  52. Chapter 13

  Arryn hovered among the trees and surveyed the cottage from a distance. He wished more than anything he could confide in Silas about the NightShade’s real position. Arryn never experienced anything as hard as lying to those Alphas in the meeting. Lying to Silas was a different story altogether. How could he love Silas this way without telling him the truth?

  Arryn didn’t deserve a friend like Silas. Silas was ten times the man Arryn would ever be. Silas could let Arryn love his sister and even take her away without asking any questions. He gave Arryn and May his support no matter what. Why couldn’t Arryn tell him the truth for the sake of their friendship?

  While he stood there brooding about everything that happened, May came to the cottage door. She closed her eyes and lifted her smiling face into the setting sun. She looked around the clearing and noticed him lingering between the trees.

  She smiled at him, but he barely recognized himself. The long slow walk up the hill impressed on him more than ever how much he changed since coming to Bruins’ Peak. He held his own in that meeting, and the other Alphas accepted him. He faced down Rhys and Shaw. He kept his head and made his case, and they voted to support him.

  He accomplished the mission for which his people sent him here in the first place. He was one of them. He was Alpha. He was as Alpha as any NightShade could be. Not even the glorious sight of May in the doorway could shatter his resolve.

  He would return to Renegade Ridge. He would take the place by storm. He wasn’t his daddy’s boy anymore. He would stand on his own legs as his own man. He would face this world with his mate at his side. He strode into the clearing to meet her. Her smile broadened. That smile could overshadow the sun.

  May stopped in mid-stride, and her smile vanished. At the same moment, a figure emerged from the trees to intercept Arryn. He didn’t have to see who it was. That old prickle of danger and hatred scorched his guts. Only one man on the planet made him feel that way. It was Rhys Dodd.

  Rhys blocked the path separating Arryn from his mate. That’s the first mistake the big Bruin made. He should know better than to stand between a bear and his mate. He curled his fingers into fists and flexed his muscles at Arryn. “Howdy, partner.”

  Arryn walked right up to him. “You’re not my partner, and you’re in my way. Stand aside and go home. You don’t belong here.”

  Rhys nodded. “Oh, I belong here, all right. I’m gonna tear you to pieces. I’ll make sure you take a whopper of a tale back to your people. No Bruin will ever make an alliance with the NightShade.”

  “Is that what this is all about?” Arryn asked. “You want to ruin the peace initiative by spoiling my visit?”

  Rhys bared his teeth in a hideous snarl. “You’re not the brightest star on the tree, but you’ll do. You can take that message home to your Ridge. We’re not making peace, not with you or the Midnight. We’ll fight. I’ll make certain of it.”

  Arryn laughed in his face. His laugh drifted over the forest into the clouds. “You want to ruin the peace initiative? You better come on and try it, then. You’ll never defeat me. You’ll never stop us making peace.”

  Rhys bared his teeth to snarl, but Arryn moved faster than lightning. He kicked out one foot and swept Rhys’s legs from under him. Rhys’s tail bone hit the ground. He bounced to his feet bellowing like mad and charged Arryn full speed. In mid-flight, he shifted. His face flew back from his bones. His skin sloughed off, and shaggy brown fur sprouted in its place. His jaws extended, and his glistening white fangs gnashed to rip and shred.

  May jumped away from the door with a, “Rhys, no!” But it was already too late. Rhys transformed before her eyes. Before he got near enough to touch Arryn, he shifted into the raging Bruin lusting for his enemy’s blood.

  Arryn’s eyes narrowed to slits. His black irises glinted in the sunlight, and his countenance contorted in a mask of repulsive hate, but he didn’t shift. He couldn’t fight this man on size and strength. Rhys outweighed him by hundreds of pounds. He had to take a lesson from Silas and choose his own time and place to counter this foe. Arryn waited until the last possible second and dodged to one side. Rhys sailed past him. Arryn seized a fistful of meat behind Rhys’s ears and smashed him face first into the ground.

  Rhys came up spitting and roaring, but Arryn wouldn’t release his grip. He clenched his fingers around Rhys’s neck. Rhys propelled himself off the ground on all four legs. Arryn harnessed Rhys’s own momentum. He skipped along at Rhys’s side and sent the enormous Bruin thundering head first into a tree.

  Rhys collided with the trunk and spun away reeling. Arryn didn’t miss a beat. He grabbed the nearest ear and wrenched it sideways as hard as he could. Rhys squealed in pain, but the more he struggled to free himself, the harder Arryn twisted it. Rhys screeched and bellowed, but he couldn’t get away.

  Arryn dragged the huge bear back to the clearing by the ear. Rhys had no choice but to follow. He hurried after Arryn on cringing legs to loosen his ear in Arryn’s grip. Arryn shoved him down on the ground and yanked him around until Rhys rolled on his back.

  Arryn crouched at his side and hissed through gritted teeth, “Shift back. Shift back and submit.”

  The bear yowled and foamed, but he wouldn’t shift. Arryn stomped one vicious heel against Rhys’s throat and crushed his windpipe under his foot. Rhys choked and gagged, but he couldn’t escape the fist mangling his ear.

  Arryn ground his bare foot into Rhys’s neck. “Submit now before I suffocate you. Do you think I won’t do it? Do you think I care enough to keep your sorry carcass alive? I hate you! I’ll kill you right here for the fun of it. Submit if you want to see the dawn.”

  Rhys flailed a little longer, but his energy already waned. His movements diminished until he sank back in the dirt. His limbs splayed out in all directions, and he exposed his chest and belly to the air.

  Arryn let go of his ear and took a step back. He wiped his fingers on his pants. “Get out of here. Don’t come back here again.”

  The bear writhed around onto his chest. He leapt to his feet and scrambled for the woods. Arryn’s ribs and shoulders heaved to catch his breath. He barely noticed when May rushed to his side and threw her arms around him. “Are you all right? I thought for sure he would beat you.”

  Arryn held her against him, but his mind wandered far away. This fight reinforced in his mind the brutal reality he had tried to avoid all day. He had to convince May to leave Bruins’ Peak. All the power lying dormant in him, and his being commanded him to take her away while he could, t
o whisk her far away from all this.

  He swept her off her feet. He grasped one arm around her ribs and hooked her knees over the other. She gasped, but he paid no attention. He carried her into the cottage and laid her on the bed. Her startled eyes searched his face.

  He climbed onto the bed and lay on top of her. He kissed her until she softened under him. The blood rushed to her cheeks. Her breath came rough and harsh through her nose. Her body seethed and fermented underneath him. He could take her anytime he wanted to. She was plaint and alive against his muscles.

  He gave her lip one last little nibble before he pushed up on his elbows. His eyes bored into her deepest soul. “I’m leaving here, May, and you’re coming with me.”

  She held her breath. “Do we have to?”

  “Yes, we have to. I won’t stay here, and we can’t live without each other. You’ll come back to Renegade Ridge with me.”

  Her eyelids dipped. Tremors shivered down her skin to their hips joined in eternal perfection. Her voice shook when she whispered, “I don’t think I can do that.”

  Now was Arryn’s moment. Now was make or break time. Now and only now he would find out what she was really made of. Was all this messing around so much child’s play? Did they have any chance for a future at all? He had to find out.

  “What if we could live in a place with more luxury than Bruins’ Peak could ever dream of?” he asked. “What if you could have all the comfort and possibilities you have here? What if you had more people to socialize with, more culture and learning and family and space than you could ever possibly imagine? What if you could have all the modern technology and more? Would you want to come with me then? Would you still say you don’t think you can do it?”

  A faint sob choked out of her throat. “What are you talking about? I won’t have those things on Renegade Ridge. You know that. How can you even ask that?”

  “Just tell me,” he urged. “If you could have all that, would you still hesitate to come with me? Is that the only thing holding you back?”

  “I understand you’re worried about giving me a good life,” she replied. “You don’t have anything to be ashamed of. It’s not your fault you’re poor.”

  He cut her off with a shake of his head. “Just answer my question. Would you want to do it?”

  “Of course, I would want to do it. How can you even ask that? You know I love you more than anything. I want more than anything to be with you. I would do anything to be with you, even if it means living in poverty. I’ll do whatever it takes, but why even ask about that? You’re speaking in hypotheticals. It could never happen. You belong on Renegade Ridge, and that means I’ll never have those things.”

  She fought against tears to get the last words out, but Arryn collapsed onto his back on the bed next to her. He threw his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. She put her head on his chest and stroked him while she struggled to get herself together, but he floated a million miles away—or at least several dozen miles away.

  He had his answer. He was taking her to Arion.

  The poverty on Renegade Ridge held her back—nothing else. If she knew what awaited her in Arion, she would jump at the chance to go there. He didn’t want to stay on the surface himself. He wanted to get involved in running the city’s logistics. He might even get into politics. The next phase of his life spread out before him, full of promise and unlimited possibilities. He couldn’t wait to get her back there. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she saw it.

  53. Chapter 14

  May stopped at the bottom of the hill. She checked over MacAllister Homestead from behind the curtain of foliage. “Are you ready for this?”

  Arryn took her hand. “I’m ready. No more hiding. No more sneaking around. We’ll tell them the news, and then we can deal with the aftermath.”

  “There won’t be any aftermath,” May replied. “They’ll accept it.”

  “They might accept you taking me as your mate, but they won’t accept us leaving so easily. They’ll resist it, just like you did.”

  “You can’t blame them for that. They’ll be worried about my future, the same way I am.”

  He drew her close to him. “Are you still worried about it? I thought you trusted me.”

  “I do trust you. That’s why I’m doing it. That doesn’t mean I like the idea. Wherever we go, we’ll go together. I can still be worried about it.”

  He turned back to the sun-baked Homestead. May scrutinized his profile. He wasn’t worried about it at all. Renegade Ridge was normal to him. He was going home. Nothing else mattered to him.

  She knew that wasn’t true, though. He cared about her, but she had to accept the inevitable. She would become a poor mountain wife, just like all the other NightShade. She would spend the rest of her life working hard and living hard. Hard men would surround her. She would get her fingernails dirty and walk around barefoot in her simple homemade clothes. That was the future she signed up for when she fell for Arryn Stark.

  Arryn tugged her forward. “Look. There’s Silas. Let’s go.”

  They emerged from the trees into the sunny open. Silas saw them coming and smiled. He already knew. No one had to explain anything to him. Arryn walked faster to meet his friend, and May’s heart lifted. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Her brother wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He trusted Arryn. He knew Arryn wouldn’t do anything to make May suffer if he could avoid it.

  The house door opened, and Iris stepped outside next to Silas. She said something to her son, but when she noticed him staring across the yard toward the woods, she followed his gaze. She spotted her daughter walking hand in hand with Arryn. White fingers laced through his black ones.

  A frown crossed Iris’s face. A second later, it faded and her expression cleared. She smiled at May. She understood, too. Her daughter found her match. No one had anything more to say about it.

  May’s spirits soared. Her mother and her brother approved. She would tell her father, and she and Arryn would ride off into the sunset. The sunset would look as beautiful from Renegade Ridge as it did here. Whatever the future held for her, it would be good. Arryn would see to that.

  The couple approached the house. Silas’s lips parted in a big grin. He shook Arryn’s hand and kissed May on the cheek, but no one said anything. Iris’s eye shone. She tried to stop herself smiling, but she couldn’t.

  Silas stood back to let May and Arryn enter the house when hard boot heels vibrated the porch floorboards. May froze in her tracks as Shaw came around the corner. He took one look at May and Arryn holding hands, and the same old crunched up scowl spread across his face. He could only muster one facial expression. That’s how thick his wooden head became since he moved in. “What’s going on here?”

  “You can see what’s going on here,” Arryn replied. “May and I are mated. We’re going to talk to Don, and I’m taking May back to Renegade Ridge.”

  “Over my dead body are you mating with May,” Shaw spat back. “You don’t belong here, and you’re not going anywhere near Don.”

  “I think I can visit my own father when I want to, Shaw,” May snapped. “I have more right to be here than you do.”

  “You’re not walking into this house with that.” He sneered at Arryn. “What’s the matter? Aren’t Bruin guys good enough for you anymore, that you have to dig something like this out of the gutter? What are you going to do? Are you going to live with him in a sewer somewhere? Are you going to crawl into a hole in the ground and lick the mud out of the puddles for your bath water? That would be just perfect. That’s the best you deserve.”

  Arryn lowered his voice to a menacing rumble. “Don’t you talk to her like that.”

  “What are you going to do about it? You think you can waltz in here and take what you want?” Shaw rounded on May. “Get in the house. You’re never seeing him again. I’ll get rid of him, and you’ll stay in your room until you come to your senses.”

  “You can’t order me
around,” May replied. “You’re not my Alpha.”

  Arryn took a firm grip on May’s hand and stepped forward. “Ignore him, May. Let’s go inside and see your dad.”

  Shaw shoved him back. “I’m the only Alpha you need to know about, and you’re not walking into this house. No one enters this house without my permission, and May won’t leave it without my permission, either.”

  Iris spoke up, “Leave them alone, Shaw. This is none of your business. Don will decide if May can marry Arryn, not you.”

  Shaw didn’t turn around. “You heard me, Mister. Get out of here before I put you down.”

  “You can’t put me down any better than Rhys Dodd could,” Arryn shot back. “I’ll make you cry like a little girl the same way he did.”

  “You want to try it?” Shaw demanded. “Come on.”

  Arryn squared his shoulders and his forearms flexed, but Silas ducked between him and Shaw. “Take it easy, Arryn. I’ll handle this.” He turned his back on Arryn and came face to face with Shaw. “If you want to fight somebody, you can fight me.”

  Shaw’s eyebrows shot up as though a UFO landing in the yard couldn’t have surprised him more. “You!”

  “Yes, me, Shaw,” Silas replied. “You’ve made a nuisance of yourself around this Homestead one minute too long. Come on. It’s you and me, right now, and the winner take all.”

  Shaw opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He blinked at Silas.

  Silas snorted. “You’re scared, aren’t you? You can’t stand up to me. You’ve known it all along. Come on. I’m taking you to the woodshed, and when we come back, I don’t want to hear the word ‘Alpha’ pass your lips for the rest of your life. Understand?”

  Shaw frowned. “You want to…”

  “I challenge you,” Silas replied. “You’ll never interfere with anyone in this family again, and as long as I say so, May and Arryn can do what they want.”

  Shaw stiffened. Now that his surprise wore off, he got his old bluster back. “You did a good job keeping your head pulled in these last few months, boy. You should have kept on doing it. I’ll break you in half. You think you can be Alpha? I’ll show you what a real Alpha can do.”