by Joyce, T. S.
Run, Elyse!
Teeth sank into his back, and he spun, caught a gray wolf with his claws as three more attacked. He was surrounded, but this was the way it was supposed to be. Elyse was supposed to live.
The sounds of high caliber rifle shots echoed now, one after the other, and the wolf at his throat dropped like a stone under him.
In desperation to buy her time, he clawed and fought. Pain slashed at him, but he had no thought save mauling the next wolf, and the next.
“Lincoln, help us!” Elyse yelled.
Lincoln? He was one of them. The enemy. A McCall.
“Please!” Elyse begged.
Another shot rang out.
Two wolves were fighting now. Dissention in the ranks, but it wouldn’t be enough. Ian had four on him, and his fur was matted with red. Pain, pain, pain.
Another shot and another, and Ian couldn’t stand on his own anymore. Too little energy left. Too much ache. Too much red snow.
He hit the ground hard, but the teeth left him. Inhaling deeply, he pried his eyes open. Elyse was sprinting for him, boots crunching against the deep snow, rifle up as her blazing gold eyes followed something he couldn’t see. Warrior. Badass. Fearless. My mate. Mine. It was okay to go like this, looking at her.
Elyse stood over his body, weapon trained on something in the woods, but she didn’t move to pull the trigger anymore.
Her hand brushed his fur. So comforting. “Ian, it’s okay to sleep. I’ve got you.” She looked at him with such fierce determination and repeated, “I’ve got you.”
And then the winter woods faded, leaving only Elyse’s fearless gold eyes for a moment before the world went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Five
November
December
January
February
March
April
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ian grunted and pushed upward, paws against something cold and unfamiliar. Wooden floors? He forced his eyes open and looked around the den. Not his den on Afognak, but he knew this smell. Home.
He was starving, but he didn’t need to go far. There were wooden crates of food, filled with sawdust and shelves of canned meat. Strips of smoked venison hung from the rafters above. He needed to Change back but couldn’t fight the gnawing hunger long enough. Ravenously, he yanked down the long strips of venison and tore into them until every bit of the meat was devoured. Only when that was gone did he brave the pain of the Change after the long winter.
His human body was smudged and emaciated, but that part was expected. What he couldn’t comprehend was why there was a web of new scars across his legs and torso. What the hell? His stomach still felt so hollow he was nauseous, so he pulled the canned meat from the shelves and ate that, too, then moved onto the remaining carrots in the wooden crate. Only when he’d eaten everything in the root cellar besides the strands of garlic did he crawl up the ladder and out of the den.
Even muted, the light in the living room was blinding, and he had to blink several times to bear it. Elyse wasn’t here. He couldn’t hear her or Miki, and a sliver of worry took him as the memories of Changing mid-hibernation crashed down on him. He stumbled toward the bathroom. It smelled like her. Even the shampoo she used lingered, so she must be okay. Still here, protecting him. He ran the water in the shower, but it was just a trickle and cold as balls. Still, he scrubbed his skin clean. He ghosted a glance at his reflection in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, but his face looked just as wretched as it always did. Hollow face, long beard, dull, sunken eyes. A vain part of him didn’t want Elyse to see him like this.
Outside, an unfamiliar dog barked out a deep timbre. Ian ran his hand over his damp hair and then noticed the pile of neatly folded clothes in the corner of the bedroom. The stretch of his smile felt good after so long, and when he lifted the garments to his nose, they smelled like the soap Elyse made. No dusty, musty clothes like he usually changed into when he first woke up from hibernation.
He dressed as quickly as his aching muscles allowed, then stumbled to the living room. He pushed the thin curtain back from the window and froze. The dog wasn’t unfamiliar. Miki was just grown. He stood in the middle of the yard, looking up at something with a dog grin, his tongue lolled out to the side. He was big, much bigger than Ian had ever thought a runt would grow. Strong legs, a straight back, and a thick black and white coat that had a healthy sheen. White eyebrows over his mismatched eyes gave him a humanlike expression as he barked again.
“Beggar,” a soft voice said.
The smile fell from Ian’s lips as he pulled the curtain back farther. Elyse chucked a big stick into the woods and laughed a tinkling, happy sound as Miki bounded off toward it.
Ian’s breath froze in his throat. A long red scar ran down the length of her cheekbone now, though she didn’t favor it. Her smile was still just as big. She looked different in other ways, though. Her hair was longer and hung around her shoulders in soft, pretty waves. She wasn’t rail-thin anymore. She was stronger, and her posture was straighter. Her laugh echoed through the homestead and warmed him as Miki danced proudly back to her with the stick.
Unable to keep from touching her another second, Ian pulled open the door.
Elyse’s eyes jerked immediately to his, and she let off a tiny shocked sound. “Ian.”
Unsteady, he strode down the porch stairs as she sprinted toward him. He wasn’t strong enough yet to catch all of her weight as she launched at him like a torpedo, so he fell backward with her, cradling her from the fall as he laughed. Back in the mud, he clutched her to him. She felt so damned good against him, all warm and clutching his shirt. She was crying, so he held her even tighter and kissed the top of her hair.
Miki was bounding around him, whacking him with the stick in his mouth, so Ian let go of Elyse just long enough to rough up the dog’s fur on his head.
Elyse eased back, her eyes rimmed with moisture and her cheeks damp. “Ian, say something to me. I’ve waited so long to hear your voice.”
He cleared his raspy throat and whispered, “I love you.” That should be the first thing she heard from him. And from this spring onward, he swore to himself he would always start their warm-weather life with those words.
“I love you, too.” She nuzzled against his neck and curled her body over him. “I love you, I love you, I love you. And also, you should know I had to tell Josiah what you are.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, how else do you think I dragged your big furry ass into the root cellar? We had to borrow a damned tractor from the Fairways just to get you to the porch. Oh my gosh, I have so much to tell you. So many stories. Books I read and all the trouble Miki got into and one of the cows had a late season calf and I snared a rabbit all by myself and Ian, I missed you so much!”
He chuckled under the tiny kisses she laid all over his face, but that wasn’t what he wanted. Holding the back of her head, he pulled her close and leaned up. Her lips met his, and he closed his eyes against how damned good she felt. It could’ve been minutes or hours before he eased back.
Above him, the sun was shining behind her head like a halo as Elyse smiled down at him. His mate was so stunning she stole his breath away. Gently, he ran his finger against the long, red scar on her face.
The smile slipped from her mouth, and she shrugged. Dropping her gaze, she whispered, “I’ve been nervous about you seeing me like this.”
“No,” he whispered, his throat tightening. He knew that feeling. He’d had the same insecurity about her seeing him right after hibernation. “Elyse, look at me.”
She couldn’t seem to, so he rocked upward and pulled her into a straddle across his lap, then hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her striking green-gold gaze to his. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And that scar? Sexy as hell. You got that protecting me, didn’t you?”
Her face crumpled, and her chin trembled with emotion, but she was holding his gaze now, his brave
mate. She nodded once as a tear slipped to her cheek. “Yes.”
Ian closed his eyes against the heartache. She was marked forever because of him. But another emotion overwhelmed any sadness that would take away from her moment of triumph. She’d waged war on an entire pack of werewolves and won. And then she’d gone through something unspeakably hard in the aftermath—healing and dealing with the trauma all alone. And here she was, healthy and strong, filling their yard with laughter and gifting him easy smiles. “I’m so proud of you.”
Elyse laughed thickly and buried her face against his neck, hugging him up tight. She was crying again, but that was okay. It didn’t make her soft. He’d seen her go to battle for him and knew what she was capable of.
“I saw you standing over me, firing at any wolf trying to get to me. Bleeding and fearless. You stunned me, Elyse. My beautiful badass.”
She sighed a happy sound and snuggled into his embrace, as if she could never be close enough to him.
He smiled over her shoulder as Miki lay down and began gnawing on his stick. Ian inhaled deeply and looked around the homestead to the barn, then to the pasture where the small herd of cattle bawled occasionally, chewing on their hay. He looked to the horses’ corral where Demon was acting ornery as ever, bucking and nipping at Milo.
Everything and nothing had changed.
“Ian?” Elyse whispered against his throat.
“Yes?”
“You said to give you a winter season.”
His smile deepened. Oh, he knew what she was asking. He eased her back and kissed the long scar on her cheek, then let his lips linger on hers before he drew back and asked, “Knowing everything, are you still in this?”
Her lips trembled into a smile, and she nodded. “I am.”
Ian swallowed hard and brushed her wavy hair behind her ear so he could better see her. Lifting his gaze to hers, he asked, “Elyse, will you marry me?”
She laughed and gripped his wrists, held his palms to her cheeks as they flushed pink and warm under his touch. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I already bought a dress.”
Ian chuckled and searched her dancing eyes. “Is that a yes?”
And then Elyse, his Elyse, pursed her lips and nodded an answer that changed his entire life for the better in the span of an instant. With a shuddering sigh, she rested her forehead against his and smiled. “The answer was always yes.”
Epilogue
Elyse bounced nervously as she waited for the truck she could hear coming. Ian had been on a delivery, earning them money that would help them carry through the year, and damn, she missed him fiercely when he did trips like that. Even if they were sparse and short, any time spent away from him was hard after the long, lonely winter.
“There he is,” Josiah said from beside her. There was a smile in his voice, and she understood it. She couldn’t wait to see the surprise on Ian’s face either.
The old brown and white Ford crested the hill and bumped and bounced down the muddy road toward them.
She grinned big at Tobias and Jenner, and the latter, Ian’s dark-headed brother, looked down at her with an exasperated expression in his vivid blue eyes, as if her mood was catching and he couldn’t cling onto his grumpiness hard enough. “I already told you. He’s not going to like us in his territory.”
“We’ll see,” she sang, completely unconvinced.
Tobias, who looked eerily like Ian but with emerald green eyes, stood stoically on the other side of Jenner with a slight frown marring his thin features. Hibernation hadn’t been easy on any of the Silver brothers.
Ian slid out of the truck and walked around the front, eyes on his brothers, as if he was seeing ghosts. “Tobias? Jenner?” He jogged toward his brothers, but then stopped right in front of them, expression unsure. “What are you doing here?”
Jenner nodded toward the preacher that stood on Elyse’s other side. “We’re standing for you on your big day.”
“The woman who hired you to be her husband begged us,” Tobias clarified, his blue eyes tightening.
“Elyse,” she said happily, undaunted by Tobias’s grousing. “My name’s Elyse. You should probably learn it since you will be my new brother.”
“In-law,” Tobias muttered. He cleared his throat and stuck out his hand to Ian with a low growl. “It’s good to see you.”
“D’aaw, love!” Elyse said, scrunching up her face and hugging her wildflower bouquet tighter.
Ian blinked hard and glanced at her white dress, then the preacher, then back to Tobias’s extended hand. Instead of shaking, Ian leaned in and hugged him roughly, clapping him hard on the back, and then moved on to Jenner and greeted him the same way. “It’s damn good to see both of you, too.”
All three of them were growly, snarly, beastly men until Ian moved farther away, but that was okay. Nothing could dampen today.
Glancing down at his jeans and thin, black sweater, Ian asked, “Do you want me to clean up?”
“I think you look perfect,” Elyse said, jumping into his arms and hugging his neck.
His chuckle was so deep, genuine, and warm, it vibrated against her chest. Walking her backward until they stood in front of the others, he smiled politely at the preacher.
With a slight frown, Ian leaned back on his heels and glared at Lincoln McCall, who was standing quietly on Josiah’s other side. “What’s he doing here?”
“Well, I’m a big fan of Link’s since he helped me out of that little wolf situation this past winter,” Elyse explained with a significant look at Ian. “And besides, you have two groomsmen, and I need two bridesmaids to make it even.”
Lincoln and Josiah both groaned.
“Seriously, Elyse,” her brother gritted out, “stop calling us that.”
“Men of honor?” she said.
“Whatever,” Josiah said, clasping his hands in front of the suit he’d dug up from somewhere. “Let’s start this already. I’m hungry.”
“That’s the spirit, bridesman.”
A muscle twitched under Josiah’s eye, but he smiled instead of arguing.
“I’m hungry, too,” Ian’s brothers said in unison.
“Ha!” Elyse rocked forward on the toes of her hiking boots she wore under her dress and murmured to the preacher, “We’ll take the condensed version, if you don’t mind.”
With a nod, the preacher began the ceremony. “We are gathered here today to witness the union of Ian Silver and Elyse Abram…”
His words faded to a murmur as she looked up into Ian’s eyes. She was stunned with how happy he looked. He glanced back at the wedding party, who stood behind them, then back at her.
Thank you, he mouthed.
And she understood the deep gratitude that swam in his bright blue eyes. He’d missed his brothers. Even if their bears didn’t get along, this was a big day, and they were family. They should be here, standing beside him, just as her brother was here, showing his support.
She hadn’t planned on Ian when she put that advertisement in the newspaper, but standing here with him, holding his hands in hers, staring up into his adoring eyes, she knew their struggle had been worth it. They had fought for each other. They bore scars for each other, and loved each other beyond all faults.
She had given herself completely to a worthy man and been rewarded with a bond so deep it left her breathlessly happy.
And as she said “I do,” she was giving so much more than the simple vows the preacher had asked them to repeat.
She was promising to walk this difficult life hand in hand with her mate, no matter what danger came.
She was giving her solemn oath to spend every winter protecting him and every summer loving him unconditionally.
Her eyes were wide open going into this. Winters would always be long and hard, but summers…oh, those warm months held the potential for indescribable happiness.
“You may now kiss your bride,” the preacher said.
Up on her tiptoes, Elyse met Ian’s lips. This was the moment she would remember for always—holding Ian in the front yard of their homestead, newly married, vows still warm on their lips as the people who meant the most clapped softly behind them.
Ian rocked back and looked down at her. With the pad of his thumb, he wiped away a tear before it touched the scar on her cheek. “Elyse,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
She smiled slow and squeezed his hand, then said the words that were just as important as their other vows. “I’ve got you, too.”
Up Next in the Bears Fur Hire Series
Bear Fur Hire (Book 2)
Coming November 2015
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Other Series by T. S. Joyce
Saw Bears
Lumberjack Werebear (Book 1)
Woodcutter Werebear (Book 2)
Timberman Werebear (Book 3)
Sawman Werebear (Book 4)
Axman Werebear (Book 5)
Woodsman Werebear (Book 6)
Lumberman Werebear (Book 7)
Fire Bears
Bear My Soul (Book 1)
Bear the Burn (Book 2)
Bear the Heat (Book 3)
Gray Back Bears
Gray Back Bad Bear (Book 1)
Gray Back Alpha Bear (Book 2)
Gray Back Ghost Bear (Book 3)
Gray Back Broken Bear (Book 4)
Lowlander Silverback (Book 5)
Last Immortal Dragon (Book 6)
A Very Beastly Christmas (Holiday Novella, Book 7)