Sheltered by the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 1)

by Terry Bolryder

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going with Francis to deal with the wolf. I’ll be back. I promise.”

  “Riker, nothing you did changes anything for me. Why are you being like this?”

  “Just angry at the wolf,” he said. “Riled up after a fight. I need to calm down. Francis, can you call Ryland to pick up and watch Ana?”

  She frowned, disappointed, but didn’t protest. She had no idea how he was feeling, but luckily, she wasn’t going to push him over the edge.

  “Sure thing,” Francis said, looking between them, confused. “I’ll do it.”

  Riker strode away, his conflicted heart impacting his strength and making him feel weaker than he had any right to be feeling. Rock tapped him on the shoulder, but he shook him off and slung the wolf over his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go dump the trash.”

  “Okay,” Rock said, looking over at Ana before following Riker.

  Ana would have a quiet afternoon with Ryland while Riker pulled himself together. Ryland would be willing to help when needed. Maybe it would even pull him out of his funk.

  And give Riker time to tell Ana she’d just accepted a bear’s marriage proposal without knowing it.

  17

  “Wait, you fucking mated her?” Rock asked as they set Harry down in the cabin they’d set aside for a holding space.

  “Yes,” Riker said, attaching handcuffs and pulling Harry’s arms behind his back. “Because of this douchebag.”

  Harry groaned and slowly regained consciousness. “What’s going on?”

  “You lost it and went all alpha in the ring, jerk,” Rock muttered, checking Harry’s cuffs.

  “You don’t need to do this. I won’t do anything again,” Harry said, looking at them with a smudged face and blond hair. He was thin, rangy almost, like a lot of wolves. Probably not very alpha despite having a power. Or perhaps he just had some bad eating habits that included more drugs than food.

  “Just in case, we’re going to keep you here,” Rock said.

  They walked to the front door of the cabin, and Riker put a key in the padlock to secure the door behind them, ignoring Harry’s angry shouts.

  They couldn’t have a liability right now, and Riker had to go deal with the fact that once again, the mountain had interfered with his own happiness.

  “Why didn’t you tell her when you did the first step?” Rock asked, folding his arms and looking stern as they walked. “I’m assuming that was an accident, too?”

  “Yes,” Riker said. “I got caught up in the moment.”

  “Well, damn,” Rock said. “The first woman comes along who makes you live in the moment and you go and screw it up by living in the moment.” He rubbed his forehead. “Still, she’s been your mate all along; all you did was make it official. There’s gotta be some way to fix this.”

  “I don’t know,” Riker said. “She wanted to make the choice on her own. That was important to her.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want,” Rock retorted.

  “I wanted to give her anything she wanted,” Riker said.

  Rock stopped as they faced the cabin, knowing Ana and Ryland would be inside. “Well, if there’s one thing we both know about life, Riker, it’s that it’s no fairy-tale.”

  “I wanted her to be my fairy-tale,” Riker muttered, rubbing the back of his neck and hating how defeated he sounded.

  “Then go make it happen,” Rock said. “Convince her you two should be together.”

  “How?”

  “How do you think? Get her a ring, make her a fancy dinner at your place, and then ask her to be yours.”

  “Right,” Riker said.

  “On second thought, maybe you should wait until the last day you’re here, take her to your other house to show her more of your life. Give her the perfect day, after spending the best days you can together, and see what she says.”

  “Do I tell her we’re already mated?” he asked.

  “Not unless you want to screw things up before you use all your days to win her over. I mean, you can’t take back what you did, so no use ruining things over it.”

  “But being honest—”

  “You do what you want, bro,” Rock said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’m not the best to give advice for things like this. But if it were me, I would wait. I would give myself the best shot to win her over.”

  But Riker felt he would tell her as soon as possible. She’d dealt with enough men hiding things from her. He’d tell her, and she could decide what she wanted, even if it made things awkward between them. What did Rock know?

  They headed back to the cabin because they’d been away long enough that Ana and Ryland might start to worry. They hadn’t wanted the confinement cabin to be anywhere near anyone else, and they’d wanted the wolf to be conscious before they left him.

  When they got back, Ana slammed open the door and ran over to Riker, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. Holy hell, did that feel right, keeping her next to him.

  He rubbed her back. “You okay? Is Ryland in there?”

  “Yes,” she said. “He’s being quiet, though.”

  “Just embarrassed,” Riker said, putting an arm around Ana’s shoulders and walking with her into the cabin.

  “I can hear you, you know,” Ryland said, pointing to his ears sarcastically as he sat at the dining room table. He stood, and Riker clapped him in a hug.

  “You have to stop feeling bad, okay?” Riker said as Ryland avoided his eyes. He was back in his fancy sweaters and chinos, every bit the polished executive, no sign of the raging bear anywhere. “It’s not your fault.”

  “Thanks,” Ryland said gruffly. “Now let’s get to more important things. What the hell happened with my wolf?”

  “You might not want to claim him as yours after what happened today,” Riker said, sitting and pulling Ana easily onto his lap, where she cuddled in. His brothers were used to his shows of possessive affection and usually politely averted their eyes.

  Or stared, as Rock did right now, with a smug grin.

  “Eyes to yourself, Rock.”

  “Get a room,” Rock said.

  “These are all my rooms,” Riker retorted. “Anyway, Harry went rogue on Francis, used his alpha power, and threatened everyone.” He sighed. “I shifted to help stop him, and he threatened my mate, too.”

  Ryland’s grey eyes went dark. His sharp features looked extra severe when angry. “Are you okay?” he asked Ana.

  She nodded. “I didn’t even hear the threats. That would explain why Riker got so angry, though.”

  “Just how bears act about their mates,” Ryland said.

  She looked up at him, green eyes curious. “Mates? That’s right. You haven’t really explained that fully.”

  “It can wait,” he said, feeling his courage abandon him. Things were finally good between them. How could he go ruining them when Rock was right? It wouldn’t change anything. He cursed himself for being selfish, but if he lost her, he didn’t know what he would do. “You haven’t even decided if you’re staying.”

  She was silent. “I know. Okay, we’ll talk about it later.” She stood, stretching. “I’m going to go take a quick nap now that I know everyone is home okay.”

  “Want me to join you?” Riker asked.

  She shrugged. “If you need to talk to your brothers, that’s fine. I assume you have to discuss bear stuff.” She gave him a wink with one sultry green eye. “I’ll be there when you’re ready.”

  “Damn,” Rock said as she entered Riker’s room and shut the door behind him. “I’d like one of those, please.”

  Ryland laughed, the sound welcome, lighting up his stressed face. “I’m not sure any more exist. A human who just walks into bear country and falls in love with a repressed alpha bear who can’t even talk about his own feelings?” He shook his head. “She’s brave.”

  “And you’re still beating yourself up
,” Riker said. “Stop it.”

  Ryland’s expression was pained. “She was there, Riker. I could have hurt her.”

  “We don’t know that,” Riker said. “We got her out of there just in case. What we do know is she was in danger, and you reacted to protect her.”

  Ryland sighed. “I guess it just made me realize, with that bear inside me, I might not be able to take a mate at all. It might be too dangerous.”

  Riker didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never thought of it that way. Then again, none of them had ever really discussed taking mates. Probably, they all felt too damaged for it in different ways. But if he could find one, perhaps his brothers could.

  If his story worked out right that was.

  “So where is Harry?” Ryland asked, pulling him back to the business at hand.

  “In the confinement cabin,” Riker said.

  “Okay,” Ryland said. “So who’s going to check on him and when?”

  They discussed that, and then Rock pulled out the sheet where they decided the next day’s matches. Riker watched with a kind of detachment over the whole process.

  He’d been doing this for years, ever since he could remember, with his dad and then with his brothers.

  But right now, all he wanted was to be with his mate, snuggling her and, at the same time, thinking of ways to give her the best day ever so he could propose.

  “If you guys have this, I’m going up with Ana,” he said.

  Ryland waved him off. “No problem.”

  He took the stairs two at a time and opened the door to see her looking up at him sleepily. But instead of saying anything, she just reached out her arms for him to come join her.

  So he went.

  Ana could sense something had changed with Riker. Since that day the wolf had broken out, he’d been somewhat distant. Maybe it was also just the fact that he was caught up with the final stages of the brawl, which was wrapping up, and trying not to neglect his duties.

  But another part of her, a shameful part, feared it was because he could somehow sense the hesitance in her heart as the deadline for the canyon opening approached.

  Then next day would be their last full day together, and even though they were still staying close, making love, sharing their secrets, they had studiously avoided any talk of the future.

  Living up here was some kind of fantasy life, with all the wide-open space and fresh air and her hot man beside her, protecting her and showing her his world.

  Yet part of her longed for what she’d left behind. She wasn’t even sure what waited for her without Corey, but she’d always wonder if she didn’t at least go back and see.

  If she just gave in to her gut, romantic feelings and decided to stay here with Riker, only going back to move in her things, she wouldn’t really know what she was giving up to be with him.

  She wanted to go ask her roommates about what was happening and tell them what happened with Corey. She wanted to talk to her family, square off on what had happened the past few years as they’d grown apart.

  She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, pulling it into a ponytail as usual, getting ready for Riker to come back from the evening fights.

  She didn’t think he’d understand even if she told him. He would feel abandoned, for sure. And he probably wouldn’t be willing to go with her to live in her world.

  Even though being with Riker this week had been more adventure than she’d ever had in her whole life combined, she couldn’t really know if what they had was real and not just an escape from life. Not until she had a bit of time to adjust and look back on it.

  But she could tell from the way Riker looked at her, with those intense gray eyes and tight jaw, that he wouldn’t see it the same.

  He’d been abandoned once already.

  But this wasn’t abandonment. This was trying not to be hasty about a decision that would affect her the rest of their lives.

  A week ago, she’d been with another man. A week!

  If she were to just give up everything to stay with this man, it would be ten times more than she gave up to be with Corey. At least with Corey, she’d been able to live by her family and friends, even if she didn’t see them as much.

  But it was hard to figure out because what felt right mentally didn’t really feel right emotionally. Emotionally, she just wanted to stay with him and not care about the consequences and how it looked to anyone else.

  What if it was fate that brought her into his mountains? She certainly felt it was fate when she rested in his arms or when he made love to her and looked at her like she was the only woman in the world.

  Like she was his one big hope.

  How could she let that down? Yet, if she stayed for only that reason and denied herself the time she needed to make the decision, she might always end up regretting it, and she knew he wouldn’t want that.

  Whatever happened, she felt they would end up together. She just wasn’t sure how that would happen and if one of them would end up getting hurt in the meantime.

  She was folding clothes when she heard someone knock and come in behind her. She whirled around to see Ryland leaning on the doorframe.

  “Ryland,” she said with a sigh of relief. “You startled me.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “Can I come in?”

  “You already did, but of course,” she said with a smile, closing her pack. “What can I help you with?”

  “It’s Riker,” Ryland said, a hesitant look on his face, as if he knew it wasn’t his place to be here, but he couldn’t help it. “I’m worried about him. You know he’s crazy about you.”

  “I’m crazy about him,” she said easily.

  “But you’re planning on leaving,” he said.

  She froze. “I don’t know what I’m doing yet.” How had he read her so well?

  “I can just sense things sometimes. I guess it comes from growing up in a house where I had to be aware every minute of someone’s emotional state, because it could be dangerous otherwise. But I just see this hesitance in your eyes, and it makes me worry about Riker.”

  “I just think I may need some time and space to figure out if this is all real.”

  “Nothing out in that world will tell you how you feel about Riker,” Ryland said. “That just sounds like running.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe I am scared because I let a man sweep me up before. Maybe because I know what it’s like to get caught up and give everything up for a man and then have him tire of me. Or maybe not love me right in the first place. But the truth is all romances start with fiery passion. That doesn’t mean they will last.”

  “This is different, and you know it,” Ryland said. “Riker isn’t some fling.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “And that’s even scarier. Because what I feel for him is even stronger than what I felt for Corey. But that just makes this that much riskier for me. If I stay, Riker gets everything. His life as he likes it and me. But I lose everything to stay with him. Risk everything.”

  “You could still visit family.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said. “It would be a total adjustment. And if he did change his mind, if he did stop loving me…”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “I told myself that before,” she said sadly.

  “So the problem here isn’t that it’s going too fast. It’s that you don’t trust him.”

  “I don’t know if I trust anyone,” she said. “Least of all myself after a huge breakup. I mean, I trust that Riker is different. He hasn’t pressured me to stay here at all. If it were Corey, he would have constantly pushed me. But I still feel Riker silently pushing, wanting. And I just don’t know if I can get caught up in this as fast as he needs me to.”

  “I’ve seen the way you look at him,” Ryland said. “You’re already caught up. You’re just scared and trying to distance yourself.”

  “I just want to make the right decision.”

  Ryland let out a sigh.
“If Riker can’t make this work, maybe there’s no hope for any of us.”

  She jerked a finger at him. “No, don’t put all of that on me. It’s not my fault.”

  “But you’re his mate,” Ryland said. “How could you leave him?”

  “Is this really about me anymore?” she asked. “Ryland, I thought you understood. I care about Riker, but I have to care about myself, too. I’m not saying I’m dumping him. I’m just saying I may need some time to figure things out.”

  “Same thing as far as he’s concerned,” Ryland said.

  “I haven’t even decided,” she said. But still, the thought of just staying here, of risking her whole life on just one week of knowing someone, no matter how wonderful, seemed like a way to invite something bad happening again.

  “When are you going to tell him?” Ryland asked.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Your last day?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  The fights were finishing today, and the ceremony would be taking place the next day. Riker had already arranged for Ryland and Rock to take care of it so he could spend the day with Ana.

  “Look, he hasn’t said anything to me about it either. We both agreed to live in the moment.”

  Ryland rolled his eyes. “That’s no excuse for not looking to the future.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “All right. Fine. Break his heart. But make sure before you do, it’s really what you want. Because Riker’s a great person, and that’s a lot to risk over simply being too fearful to go forward.”

  With that, he left the room. Ana tried to feel anger when all she really felt was shame.

  She should be braver. She did care for Riker. Love him. She just didn’t necessarily trust herself anymore, and as the week in the mountains was coming to an end, she didn’t have any excuse left to not face tomorrow.

  Because tomorrow was about to arrive, and she still had no concrete decision.

  18

  Riker waited for Ana to pack her night bag, his nerves on edge. Their last day.