Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Natalie’s head whipped around to see another Bruin trotting out of the trees. He was a big male in his prime weight. He shook his head, and his beady black eyes flashed around the yard. He came to a stop beyond the fence and twisted back his head to thunder to the skies. It was Riskin.

  Rhys let go of Shaw to glare at his brother. He wrenched his neck around to return Riskin’s challenge. Riskin crossed another few paces and stopped again. No one could mistake his intentions.

  Natalie’s heart soared. Riskin! He would handle this. He wanted to take responsibility for Rhys if Rhys made trouble for the MacAllisters. He must have tracked Rhys here. Now he would deal with it so Rhys wouldn’t bother the MacAllisters again.

  Rhys read the whole situation in a second and turned his rage on his brother. He jumped off Shaw, and Shaw raced for cover. Rhys didn’t notice. He lunged at Riskin in slathering fury.

  Riskin stood still and waited. He was all Alpha. He waited until Rhys charged him. Rhys galloped across the yard. A roar blasted out of his throat. He bared his teeth to slash Riskin to pieces.

  Riskin bided his time. Rhys launched himself off the ground with all four limbs ready to grab and cut, but Riskin lifted his forepaw and flattened his brother to the ground with one swat. He sent Rhys barreling backward to somersault across the grass.

  Natalie struggled even harder against Silas’s grip, but she no longer wanted to join the fight. She wanted to jump up and down and cheer. Riskin! Riskin was here.

  Rhys hit the ground and bounced up just as fast. He rocketed toward Riskin, but Riskin jumped aside in the blink of an eye. Rhys landed where Riskin once stood. Riskin raised his paw one more time and flayed Rhys’s shoulder open down to the elbow.

  Rhys rounded on him in a gibbering rage, but Riskin opened his mouth and slashed Rhys across the chest. Blood matted Rhys’s fur. Every cut sank into Rhys’s consciousness. He couldn’t fight his brother. Riskin beat him once. He would do it again, and again, and again, until Rhys fell into line where he belonged. That was the Alpha’s job. Rhys would never understand this. That’s what made Riskin fit to be Alpha over his twin brother.

  After the last vicious cut, Rhys took a moment longer to make his next move. He lunged for Riskin’s throat, but Riskin bent his head low and crunched his fangs into Rhys’s leg. He stopped short of snapping the bone, but he punctured the muscle enough to make Rhys’s knee buckle.

  The big Bruin went down on his knees. He bellowed louder than ever, but he didn’t bounce back up. He struggled to his feet.

  Riskin stood back and regarded his brother with his small, inscrutable eyes. He waited, but Rhys didn’t return the blow with another attack. Rhys limped in a circle just out of reach. He growled and tossed his head, but he didn’t try again to molest his brother.

  Riskin shook the shaggy fur on his neck one more time. He could stand there for hours. Rhys wouldn’t try again to contest Riskin’s authority. Natalie almost wept in sheer relief. The fight was over.

  In one fluid movement, Riskin darted forward. He slashed once at Rhys’s hind flank, but Rhys bolted for the cover of the trees. Riskin’s teeth clicked together on empty air, but Rhys was nowhere in sight. He was long gone over Bruins’ Peak.

  Riskin surveyed the field. The breeze ruffled his fur. The birds twittered in the trees over his head, but no trace of the fight remained. He trotted to the gate and hopped up on his hind feet. His bear skin ran off him in a watery shimmer, and the tall strong man took the big bear’s place.

  His sweaty hair hung in his eyes, and sweat stuck his shirt to his chiseled shoulders. His chest surged with his breath, and his bright eyes scanned the house. Behind the window, Silas raised his hand, even though Riskin couldn’t see him from outside. Riskin gave a curt nod and ran off into the trees.

  90. Chapter 15

  Natalie sank into a chair at the kitchen table. She buried her face in her hands and let out a shaky breath.

  Silas paced around the room in front of her. “Nothing to worry about. Riskin said he wanted to handle it, and he did. He’ll find Rhys, and he’ll bring him home. Don’t worry.”

  Natalie seized his hand and pressed it to her heart. “I have to go home, Silas. I have to go back to Dodd Homestead.”

  His eyes widened. “What for? I thought…”

  She cut him off with a shake of her head. “I have to talk to Riskin—I mean, really talk to him. I have to face him and tell him I’m moving in here to marry you. I have to pack my stuff. It’s the last time I’ll go back, but I have to go.”

  He ran his thumb across her knuckles. “All right. Go on, then. Just come back to me, Natalie. I need you here.”

  She kissed his hand. “I will. You know I will. I don’t want to be anywhere but here with you.”

  He inclined his head toward the door. “Let me walk you to the gate, at least.”

  They strolled down the path in silence, but when she opened the gate to pass through, he rested his palm against her cheek. “Penny.”

  She couldn’t help smiling when he called her that. “I love you.”

  He took his hand out of her grasp. “Go on. Go quickly and come back.”

  “I’ll return as soon as I can. You’ll explain to Briar, won’t you?”

  He nodded. “I’ll take care of everything on this end. You take care of your business and come back. That’s all I ask.”

  She raised her face to kiss him. “I will. I swear it.”

  “How will you deal with Rhys? He’ll be furious when he finds out.”

  “You leave Rhys to me. I’ve been closer to him than anybody. Maybe he’ll listen to me.”

  “He’s never listened to anybody.”

  “Then I might get through to him. Who knows? I can only try.”

  “You marrying me could make him madder than ever.”

  Natalie snorted. “I don’t think it’s possible for him to get any madder. Anyways, he has to hear it straight from me, just like Riskin. I can’t run the risk of him hearing from anybody else. That would drive him around the bend.”

  He moved in to kiss her. They stood kissing at the gate a long time. Anybody could come up the driveway or out of the house and see them. Anyone could look out the window, and the jig would be up. Natalie didn’t care. The sooner word spread over Bruins’ Peak, the better. She wanted everyone to know—but not before she had a chance to talk to Rhys and Riskin herself.

  She broke away. Her fingers dangled off his as she backed through the gate. “See you soon.”

  He watched her out of sight until the trees closed around her. She ducked down the path and hit the trail going up the mountain before she heard the front door shut. She set off running. She had to hurry. She belonged back there, in that house, in that yard, on that Homestead. She didn’t belong anywhere else anymore.

  She put on speed. She raced over the mountain and along the ridge until Dodd Homestead came in sight through the tree branches. The same feeling overcame her here. She didn’t want to go inside. She didn’t want to get stuck here. She wanted to get back to MacAllister Homestead and forget the lonely, empty years she had spent in this place.

  Ghosts haunted every corner of the house, yard, and territory. The ghosts of her parents, Addison and Virginia—even the ghost of who Natalie used to be made the house unquiet. She no longer felt the settled, peaceful contentment she used to feel when she approached that house.

  She pushed herself forward. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could hurry home to the rest of her life with Silas. She marched up the walk and turned the door handle. She walked into her old living room, but she didn’t hear a sound. Briar and Grace were back at MacAllister Homestead.

  Rhys could be hiding in the forest, exactly the way Riskin did before Briar rescued him. He could be bleeding and broken, but that wasn’t likely. Rhys was a fighter. He would lick his wounds and come back for a second helping. That must be why Riskin wasn’t home. He was hunting Rhys to stop him from coming back and picking another fight.
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  Natalie strode down the hall and paused in the doorway to survey her old room. Her bed stood against the far wall under the window. Her gauzy canopy surrounded it in a pink cloud. Her laptop and her headphones sat on the bedside table.

  Her whiteboard organizer hung over her desk in the opposite corner. She scanned her work schedule and turned away. She already knew what she had to do. She didn’t have to take that with her. She carried all the information in her head and on her tablet.

  She hadn’t looked sideways at her tablet or her work since this whole thing with Silas started. She didn’t need it. In a few years, she would have her own children. Then she would have even more work cut out for her. Would she keep freelancing? None of that mattered anymore. She would live her life on Bruins’ Peak. She would be a Bruin, just like all the other Bruins she knew.

  That undeniable sense of peace and rightness filled her heart to bursting. Her life overflowed with love and connection and belonging. She didn’t need anything else.

  She pulled an old suitcase out of her closet and laid it open on the floor. She picked out her favorite clothes and packed them into it. She added her laptop and a few odds and ends from her desk. She included her jewelry and some trinkets and keepsakes from her parents. She zipped and latched the suitcase and stood it up next to the door.

  She made a slow circuit of the room. She examined every detail, all the minutia about which she used to care so much. How trite and pointless it all seemed now. Looking around that room gave her a sneaking glimpse into the mind of the girl she used to be. Only that girl could get involved with someone like Max. She didn’t have a clue what was really important or how to live a meaningful life.

  Natalie came to her whiteboard. She raised her hand and passed slow deliberate strokes across its surface to erase every trace of her freelance work. Riskin and Briar would come into this room after she left. Why did she even care if they found out what she was up to? What did it really mean, anyway?

  She might pick her work up when she got home. Then again, she might not. Either way, she would live her life. She would love Silas. She would embrace all those things that truly mattered. She would dispense with the extras and keep the gems to brighten the rest of her years alive on this mountain.

  She came back to the door. She took hold of her suitcase and gave the room a final glance. Tears stung her eyes for the life she left behind, but she wouldn’t grieve over it. She said a silent good-bye to her old self and walked out the door.

  She wheeled her suitcase onto the front porch before she went back inside to take her leave of the kitchen and living room. Those rooms meant a lot more to her than her old bedroom. She touched old photographs of her parents and herself and her brothers as children. They would never be children again. They would never be a family again.

  How could she say good-bye to that? How could she let go of Rhys and Riskin? Riskin and Briar and Grace would stay in this house. Rhys would get himself married, or he would get himself killed—one or the other. Either way, she could never go back in time to the happiness of her childhood.

  She shook those thoughts out of her head. She didn’t want to go back to her childhood. She didn’t love Silas then. She had to grow up to do that, and she couldn’t love Silas as a Dodd.

  Natalie turned away from all the old memories. She went back out to the porch. She couldn’t run home with this suitcase dragging her down. She would just have to walk it, but she didn’t mind. She would suffer any hardship to get back to MacAllister Homestead as fast as she could.

  She grasped her suitcase handle when Rhys ran out of the trees. He ran up the path to the house, but he slowed to a stop when he saw Natalie standing there.

  He did his best to smile. “Hello. Are you going on vacation?”

  “Oh, Rhys,” she gasped. “Just look at you. Your shirt’s all torn, and you’re a bloody mess. Sit down here and let me clean you up.”

  He waved his hand to one side. “That? That’s nothing. Say, what’s for breakfast?”

  She pushed him into the nearest chair, all thought of leaving gone. “Oh, be quiet and sit down. You’re not going anywhere looking like that.”

  She rushed back inside and came back with the first aid kit from under the bathroom sink. She cut away the filthy shreds of his shirt and swabbed antiseptic over the cuts on his arms and chest. The air hissed through his teeth, but he didn’t wince. Hi scanned the forest all around. He didn’t seem to notice her at all.

  She laid clean gauze squares on the cuts and taped them into place. “There. That should keep them clean until they heal.”

  The longer she worked on him, the more he came to his senses. He regarded her while she put her gear away. “Are you going somewhere, Natalie?”

  She shot a sidelong glance at him. This was the moment of truth. She didn’t look forward to breaking the news to Rhys, but she wanted more than anything to get it over with. “I’m moving to MacAllister Homestead. I’m mated to Silas.”

  He didn’t respond at first. When she looked up, he still surveyed the trees out there beyond the yard.

  “Rhys? Did you hear me? I’m going home to MacAllister Homestead. I’m getting married.”

  “I’ll kill him,” Rhys whispered. “I’ll never stop until I kill him.”

  Natalie smacked her lips. So that’s the way it was. He didn’t surprise her in the slightest. He never had an original thought in his life. “No, you won’t,” she snapped. “You won’t kill him. You’ll just get yourself killed instead. Maybe then Bruins’ Peak can live in peace without you dragging us back into conflict every five minutes.”

  “I’ll never rest until I kill him,” Rhys murmured. “I don’t care if it takes me twenty years. I’ll make war on him forever. I’ll lie in wait for him so he won’t be able to go into the forest anymore. I’ll make his life a living hell. I’ll make him wish he never crossed me.”

  Natalie laid a hand on his arm. “Please don’t do that, Rhys. Give it up. Do it for my sake if you can’t do it for everyone else’s. If you hadn’t tried to fight Silas, you wouldn’t be torn up like this in the first place.”

  Her touch snapped him alert. He stopped searching the woods for phantoms and glared at her. “I can’t give it up. I have to see it through. I started this. I have to finish it.”

  “Silas is my mate,” she told him. “If you make war on him, you’ll be making war on me. Is that what you want?”

  His shoulders slumped. “Of course not.”

  “Then please give it up. If you kill him, you’ll be killing me. Let it go, and let the MacAllisters live in peace.”

  He stiffened against her. “No, I won’t. If you want to mate with my worst enemy, then it’s all over between us.”

  “You can’t really mean that,” she exclaimed. “Don’t turn your back on me. You can’t do that. I won’t let you.”

  “Watch me.” Rhys stood up. He didn’t look so imposing with bandages all over his bare chest and arms.

  Natalie compressed her lips and got to her feet to confront him. “If that’s the way you want it, so be it. I’m MacAllister now, and I’m leaving to go home to MacAllister Homestead. I’ve got a future in front of me that doesn’t involve hating the whole world and working myself into an early grave.” She took hold of her suitcase handle. “I hope you can find it in your heart to make peace with Silas, once and for all. Bruins’ Peak deserves this, and only you can make it happen.”

  For just a second, Rhys hesitated. He stared at her clutching her suitcase, about to walk out of his life forever. The old recognition, the old bond of caring flashed across his face.

  The next instant, his features darkened against her. “No! I won’t do it. I’ll never make peace with him. I don’t care if it costs me everything I’ve got. I’ll never make peace. Never!” He ran off into the trees one more time.

  Natalie watched him move out of sight. She held her shoulders stiff and her head up until he disappeared before she let her chin fall on her chest. Her lip t
rembled, but she refused to feel anything for Rhys. If he wanted to ruin his life, that was none of her business. Her business was being happy.

  She couldn’t be, though. She didn’t want to be miserable—not today, of all days. She wanted to rejoice in the future ahead of her, but how could she do that with her own brother wrecking everybody’s lives?

  She could do it. She would do it. She had to. She took another firm grip on her suitcase. She had a long walk home, and the effort would clear Rhys and his madness out of her head. She better get going.

  At that moment, footsteps resounded on the veranda floor. She whipped around when Riskin appeared. He jerked his chin at the suitcase. “How’s it going, Natalie?”

  Her hand flew to her heart. “Riskin! You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”

  He kissed her on the cheek. “I just heard every word you said to Rhys. So you’re going home to Silas. That’s all well and good. He’ll make a good mate for you.”

  She peered up at him. “You heard, and you didn’t intervene?”

  “Why should I intervene? If you couldn’t convince Rhys, no one can. He loves you more than anyone else on this Peak. If he can’t let go of the grudge for your sake, he’ll never let it go. Me disciplining him again won’t help, and he had to hear from your own lips that you’re mating with Silas.”

  Natalie’s shoulders drooped. “I guess so.”

  He took the suitcase handle out of her hand. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride over there. You’re not walking over the mountain with this.”

  He set off for the shed where he kept his car, but Natalie stood still. “So, you approve? You give me your blessing to marry Silas?”

  “Of course. He’s a good, strong man, and he’ll be Alpha of his tribe as soon as we get Don and Iris buried. I couldn’t ask for a better mate for you, and I’m married to his sister. I couldn’t exactly disapprove, could I?”

  Natalie hurried after him. “I don’t know why I was worried about it.”