To his surprise, Natalie didn’t frown or scream or beat him with her fists. An angelic smile spread across her face. She darted forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Silas! I love you.”
He gasped. “What’s this all about?”
She clutched his hand. “I’m in exactly the same situation. I started this silly internet romance with a man across the country. I’ve been going out of my mind trying to figure out how to end it, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He’s been pushing to meet up. I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want anything to interfere with us mating.”
Silas frowned. Something didn’t make sense here. “Did you…did you work for this guy?”
Natalie lowered her voice to a confidential murmur. “I started freelancing as a graphic designer online. I never told any of my family. I don’t know why. This guy hired me to do his website, but it turned into so much more than that. Oh, I’m so relieved I finally talked to you about it. I lived in dread you would find out.”
Silas pursed his lips and turned away. He picked up his phone from the bedside table, unlocked the screen, and punched up his internet browser.
Natalie’s shoulders slumped. Her voice came out as a hoarse squeak. “Say something, Silas. Please look at me. Tell me you forgive me and everything’s gonna be okay. I don’t want to have anything to do with this guy. I only want to be with you. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but don’t turn your back on me—not now when we’ve just spent the night together.”
He turned his hard face on her and held up his phone. “Look, Natalie.”
She stared at the screen before her eyes. Silas watched the light of recognition spread across her face. “What in the world? How did you find this?”
“This is my website, Natalie. This is the website I wanted to show you yesterday. I hired Penny Shields to do this website for me. Looks familiar, doesn’t it? You’re Penny, aren’t you? And I’m Max Allen.”
Her eyes shifted from the phone to his face. “You are?”
He set the phone down, but he never got the chance. She hurtled across the bed and attacked him in crazy passion. She knocked the phone out of his hand and mauled his mouth with kisses. She screamed and laughed and cried all at once.
When he recovered his surprise, he held her close. All at once, she sat up, and they both started talking at once. “But you said…”
“You didn’t really…”
“Do you remember when…?”
“Don’t tell me you actually…”
They paused to stare at each other. Then they both burst out laughing, and Natalie collapsed into his arms. She buried her face in his chest. He kissed her hair and rubbed her neck. He was never so happy, not even last night when he made her his for life.
The truth came out, and it was all over now. Not only did she understand, she was Penny. He loved her more than he ever.
He chuckled low in his chest, and Natalie stiffened. “What’s so funny?”
He dragged his lips over her scalp. “You sure were hot online. You really know how to turn me on.”
She pressed her face into his stomach. “You were pretty great yourself. I almost wish I didn’t have to give that up.”
“You don’t,” he told her.
Her head swung up. “What do you mean?”
He stroked the hair off her cheeks. “We don’t have to stop fooling around online. Max and Penny can still get it on over the airwaves.”
Natalie gasped. “You’re not serious! We’ll be married.”
“All the more reason to keep doing it. You can send me suggestive messages when I’m in meetings and give me a stiffy so I’m raring to come home to you at the end of the day.”
She dug her fingers into his ribs to tickle him. “You’re crazy. Married people don’t do that sort of thing.”
“Then we’ll be the first.”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “You really think so, don’t you?”
“Of course. No one has ever turned me on like you. I was going out of my mind because I thought Penny was human. Now, I find out she’s lying naked in my bed right now. Nothing could be better.”
She hid her face under a curtain of hair. “Shut up.”
He cupped her chin to lift her head until he met her gaze. “I’m serious. We’re married. That doesn’t mean I stop wanting you. We can have the greatest sex life on Bruins’ Peak. We’ll keep up this Max and Penny romance. It can be better than you and I ever imagined. We can be raging hot for each other. It doesn’t have to end.”
He kissed her, and she settled back down. She draped her limbs over him, and her softness seeped into his bones. He melted into an erotic haze one more time.
“I loved Penny,” he murmured. “I loved Penny more than any Bruin woman I had ever met. I would have left Bruins’ Peak to be with her. I never loved anybody more. She took all my concentration. She made life worth living for a while there.”
Natalie kissed his stomach, and his cock hardened under her breasts. “I felt that way about Max, too. I would have thrown away everything to make it work. I just thought it couldn’t.”
He whispered into her hair, “It can. It can.”
89. Chapter 14
Silas cinched his belt into place and shrugged his shirt around his shoulders. “You ready for this?”
Natalie grinned. “I can’t wait.”
He tucked in his shirt. “Then let’s do it.”
Natalie straightened her clothes, and Silas opened the bedroom door. Her heart raced following him downstairs, but when they got to the living room, they found the place deserted. Dana’s baby boy cried in the distance. They hadn’t left their end of the house, and she didn’t see Briar or Grace anywhere.
Silas went to the kitchen. “What do you usually eat for breakfast?”
She pushed past him. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll cook for everybody.”
“Don’t make anything for me. I’ll just have a cup of coffee. I’ll eat later.”
She set her hand on her hip. “You’re not getting through the day on coffee, Mister.”
He grabbed her from behind and shoved her hips back against him. “I usually get up at four in the morning. I work out and take a shower and make my own breakfast. Unless you’re planning on doing the same, I’ll take care of myself.”
She did her best to resist, but his rough hands excited her more than she wanted to admit. She couldn’t push him away. She wanted him, right there in the kitchen.
Just then, Don and Iris’s bedroom door crashed open. Silas jumped away as Briar rushed into the living room. She cast one anguished look around, covered her face with her hands, and burst into tears. “Pop’s gone!”
Silas hurried to her side. He put his arms around her, and she sobbed against his chest. “It’s all right.”
“Ma’s in there,” Briar wailed. “She’s lying on the bed with her eyes closed, and she won’t move. She’s gonna go next. I know she is.”
He let her go and strode out of the room. He returned a second later and hugged Briar again. He shook his head at Natalie over Briar’s head. So, it was all true. Don MacAllister was dead, and his wife and mate of sixty years wasn’t far behind him.
Natalie retreated to the living room window. She didn’t want to get in the way of the family’s grief, even though she was part of it now. She was Silas’s mate and the new Alpha’s mate. She was MacAllister, through and through.
This death affected her as much as anybody else, maybe even more. The way lay clear for Silas to take over, but Natalie couldn’t comfort him in his loss. All the Alphas would gather at MacAllister Homestead. The whole Peak would come to the funeral. No one would notice Natalie’s rise to take her place as matriarch.
She would work behind the scenes. She would keep the family going until all the funeral hoopla passed and Silas solidified his position as Alpha. She would keep everybody fed. She would make sure everybody had a warm bed to sleep in. She would keep taking care of Grace and any other kids wh
o needed it. She would give all Bruin kind a home in their hour of need.
That was the new matriarch’s job. Briar did it when Riskin came to power. Star did it when Duke Farrell died and Brody took over. Now, it was Natalie’s turn. All these women might understand her plight, but no one could help her.
She scanned the trees beyond the fence. This was her Homestead now. This was her forest. She would never go back to Dodd Homestead again—not the way she used to. In the space of a single night, her whole life had changed.
When she cast a glance over her shoulder to see Silas and Briar still buried in each other’s arms, she read on his face the same terrible change. He wasn’t a boy or even a son anymore. He was Alpha of his tribe. No one would comfort him in his grief and loss. Everyone would turn to him for answers now. He would tell everybody else what to do. Only Natalie would see his private hurt. Only her touch and her presence could comfort him in the privacy of their own bedroom.
A flash of movement caught her eye. Her gaze snapped in that direction, and she froze to the spot. Rhys trotted out of the forest on a bee line for the house.
She always loved Rhys the best of her brothers, but at that moment, her feelings hardened against him. She wasn’t Dodd anymore. She was MacAllister now, and he couldn’t pick a worse time to show up and throw his weight around.
Another shrieking cry echoed down the stairs, and Natalie recognized Grace’s voice. She was still upstairs and screaming at the top of her lungs. “Mommy! Mommy!”
Behind Natalie’s back, Briar tore herself out of Silas’s arms. She dashed for the stairs with tears still streaming down her cheeks. A moment later, she vanished from view.
Silas let out a heavy sigh. “Well, that’s it.”
“Silas,” Natalie murmured.
He looked up, and when he saw her face, his expression changed. The heavy defeat vaporized off his shoulders, and his shoulders flexed. “What is it?”
Natalie nodded toward the window. “Take a look.”
He took three firm steps to her side. He set his jaw and growled through his teeth, “All right. Let’s go.”
Rhys glanced right and left on his way across the yard. He stopped by the garden gate and put out his hand to unlatch it. He swung the gate back and stepped through. Only a few paces separated him from the house. Silas turned toward the front door.
Rhys took one long stride through the gate when another figure streaked around the corner from behind the house. Shaw Cunningham threw himself into Rhys’ path and blocked his advance.
Rhys bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Shaw squared his shoulders at the man who used to be his friend. “You’re not going in there.”
Rhys towered over him. “I’m going wherever I want to go, and you can’t stop me.”
“You’re not going anywhere near that house,” Shaw returned. “Don is dead. You’re not going anywhere near anyone by the name of MacAllister as long as I’m around. Leave them alone to bury their father before you start sticking your big toe in this.”
Rhys clenched his fists. “And what do you think you’re gonna do to stop me? You want to tear a patch off me? Good luck!”
Shaw shook his head, but Natalie noticed him shrink in on himself. He couldn’t take Rhys, and they both knew it. “You can do whatever you want to me. I’ll fight you to the death to stop you going in there.”
“You patsy!” Rhys snarled. “Have you forgotten everything I’ve done for you? Where’s your loyalty?”
“My loyalty is with my wife and son,” Shaw replied. “This is my tribe, and what you do to them, you do to me. The Alpha is dead, and a new Alpha is rising. If you can’t get that through your head and put your temper on the back burner at least until they bury their dead, I’ll do what I have to do to stop you. You’re not going near that house, and you’re not fighting any member of this family today. You can take that to the bank.”
Rhys bellowed through his gritted teeth, but Shaw wouldn’t back down. Rhys tossed his head back and thundered at the house. “Come out and face me, Silas! I know you can hear me. Come out and defend yourself. Fight me here and now if you’re not too much of a coward. Come out and fight instead of hiding inside like an old woman.”
Howling rage boiled out of Natalie’s soul. “That bastard! I’ll deal with him myself.”
She whirled toward the door, but Silas grabbed her arm. “Don’t, Natalie.”
She rounded on him. “You can’t stand here and let him say these things about you. You can’t let him call you a coward and an old woman. If you won’t go out and stop him, I will. I know how to deal with him. I’ll shove those words straight down his throat.”
She tried to wrestle her arm out of his grasp, but he held her back. “Don’t, Natalie. Look. Look at Shaw. He’s proving his loyalty to our tribe. Don’t take this moment away from him. Let him fight his own battle.”
She looked through the window to see Shaw pointing into Rhys’s face. He rumbled so low in his chest she barely made out the words. “You take that back. You take that back before I make you take it back.”
Rhys slapped his hand aside. “Get out of my way, you spineless rat. I swear I’ll knock your head off if you speak to me again.”
Shaw puffed out his chest and dodged to get in Rhys’s way again. “Get out of here, Rhys. Don’t make me whoop you.”
Rhys didn’t reply. He slammed both hands flat on Shaw’s chest to shove him back. Shaw stumbled a step back. He hesitated a fraction of a second. Rhys struck the first blow. The fight was on.
The next instant, Shaw launched himself at Rhys full tilt. He struck a shattering blow of his shoulder against Rhys’s sternum. Rhys staggered back through the gate. Shaw’s momentum carried both men out into the yard. Rhys lost his footing. Shaw pinned him to the ground so hard the vibrations traveled all the way into the house and shuddered up Natalie’s legs.
Tension racked her nerves. She itched to get out there and fight. If anyone could school Rhys, she could do it. She wanted to slash and tear and punch and kick. She wanted blood. She wanted to rip and destroy, but she couldn’t move. Silas’s presence at her side held her captive. He gave her an order to stand still. She couldn’t disobey a direct order from her Alpha.
Shaw followed his initial attack with incredible energy. He climbed onto Rhys’s chest. He sat on his opponent and pelted his face with fists flying. He pounded Rhys into the dirt until blood spurted from Rhys’s nose.
Natalie’s spirit surged. Shaw was winning. He would leave Rhys broken and defeated. Maybe then Rhys would learn he couldn’t push everybody around whenever he pleased.
At the last second, Rhys brought up one arm under Shaw’s leg. He flipped the smaller Bruin over and shook the ground with Shaw’s body. Rhys rose off the grass in one leap, and before Natalie’s eyes, the handsome façade of his muscled body vanished in a blur.
Brown fur shot out of his skin, and the snarling teeth protruded between his black lips. His shoulders hunched, and a slathering, gibbering brown bear lunged on top of Shaw.
Shaw struck the ground, but when Rhys loomed up tall and deadly over him, Shaw squirmed over on his side. Faster than the eye could follow, his body changed. All four limbs braced against the soil, and his hands turned inward to form claws. He craned back his shaggy neck, and a snout full of fangs bellowed up at Rhys.
The change didn’t surprise Rhys in the slightest. Now that they both shifted, Rhys didn’t have to hold back. He unleashed his full fury on Shaw. All the comradery they once felt for each other changed into raving hatred. Rhys fell on his old friend in deadly rage.
He leapt on Shaw before the smaller Bruin could gain his feet. Rhys slammed his weight onto Shaw’s back and knocked him flat. He clamped his jaws around Shaw’s neck from behind. Shaw’s bellows turned to shrieks as Rhys’s teeth closed into his skin, but he couldn’t free himself.
In desperation, Shaw hurled himself sideways. He jumped over to crush Rhys unde
r his weight, but Rhys held on for all he was worth. Shaw paddled his legs to scrape Rhys off, but he couldn’t dislodge his larger foe.
Rhys snarled between his clenched jaws, but he soon tired of Shaw’s antics. With one massive wrench, he forced Shaw back over on his stomach. Rhys crawled onto his back and set his teeth in the scruff of Shaw’s neck.
More than once, Natalie lunged for the door, but Silas caught her. He didn’t explain. He just held her against her impulsive drive to fight. His arms restrained her, but she couldn’t turn away. She had to watch her brother seal his own fate.
Rhys would win this fight. Natalie never entertained any doubt of that. When he did, he would turn all Bruins’ Peak against him. No one would have anything more to do with him after he interfered with the MacAllister’s grief.
Shaw tried the same maneuver a second time. He wriggled to one side, but he only succeeded in sinking Rhys’s teeth deeper into his neck. Rhys hopped his hind legs onto Shaw’s back and locked him in place so he couldn’t move.
Every passing minute gave Rhys the advantage. He squeezed his jaws tighter until Shaw yelped in pain. He couldn’t fight Rhys. Anybody could see that.
Natalie wanted more than anything to bury her face in Silas’s chest. She didn’t want to see Rhys deliver the killing strike. The MacAllisters would bury not only Don and Iris, but Shaw, and probably Dana, too. Natalie couldn’t imagine a bigger disaster on what should have been the happiest day of her life.
Rhys gave a sudden kick with his hind paws. He flipped Shaw over onto his back. At the same moment, he released his hold on Shaw’s neck and dove for his throat. Shaw opened his mouth to bite back, but he couldn’t move fast enough. Rhys’s jaws closed around his windpipe.
Shaw gaped his jaws wide one last time, but no sound came out. Rhys stopped his breath. He would yank once and rip out Shaw’s throat, and the show would be over.
At that moment, another earth-shattering bellow shook the forest. It echoed up the mountain and over Bruins’ Peak. It rattled the birds from their perches and woke the ancient rocks from their slumber.
Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III) Page 57