by Amira Rain
He glanced at me before turning his gaze to Malachi. "I take it this is the runaway?"
Malachi dipped his head in the slightest of nods. "Yes."
The man with reddish-brown hair glanced at the two younger men with him before looking at Malachi once again. "We'll take her."
One of two younger bear shifters stepped forward and extended a hand to help me stand. My heartbeat, which had slowed just slightly after my life had been spared, now accelerated again. The young man extending a hand to me was by far, hands down, the most attractive man I'd ever seen in my life. Though maybe it was a tie between him and the other young man with him.
*
The young man extending a hand to me didn't say a word. He just held his hand out to me, his expression unreadable. His beyond-handsome, square-jawed face almost seemed to be completely blank. However, his piercing blue eyes held just a faint trace of some expression I wasn't quite sure of. Something like surprise or recognition even, maybe. Though whatever it was, it was so faint I really couldn't be sure. I knew I'd never seen him before in my life. I definitely would have remembered seeing a man like him.
He appeared to be about thirty or so, maybe older than the other younger man with him by a couple of years. Like the reddish-haired man, they were both tall and extremely well-built. They wore jeans and boots, and dark t-shirts fitted just tight enough to highlight the contours of their muscular chests. I wasn't quite sure why I'd been expecting the bear shifters to be wearing suits. I guessed maybe just because I'd heard that some of the Ashcrest dragon shifters did when coming to the auctions. But somehow, jeans and t-shirts seemed to suit the bear shifters of Sun Creek.
I looked at the blue-eyed man's strong-looking, long-fingered hand, unsure if I wanted to take the hand of a bear shifter. After all, he could have been one of the ones who'd killed my adoptive parents. But then, I realized that he was making a gesture he surely thought of as friendly or kind, and I knew I might be incurring his wrath if I rebuffed him. However, after a quick moment's thought, I found I just couldn't take his hand. I couldn't accept help from a bear shifter.
I got to my feet just as silently as he'd extended his hand. And then I just stood, waiting for him to shout at me, or possibly even hit me. Rebuffing a helpful gesture from a wolf shifter would have certainly resulted in hitting.
Gray, my own adoptive father, had even hit Estelle and me on occasion. Once, when I'd been maybe sixteen or so, he'd backhanded me hard enough to leave a bruise on my cheek that lasted for weeks. He'd always apologized after hitting, though, which none of the other wolf shifters ever seemed to do. Estelle told me once that the first time he'd hit her and apologized, she knew he was the man for her. She took the apology as a sign that Gray had a bit of heart and compassion. Which, if later saving my life and adopting me was any indication, he did.
The man with the piercing light blue eyes didn't hit me. In fact, my rebuffing of his helping hand didn't even change his unreadable, expressionless expression at all.
He simply turned to Malachi and finally spoke. "I'm not in the mood to haggle. We'll pay ten pounds of gold for her. Do we have a deal?"
Ten pounds of gold was an absolutely astounding sum. It was positively jaw dropping. I knew that most girls sold at auction were purchased for only a pound or two, sometimes even less. I knew Malachi wouldn't even attempt to haggle with the blue-eyed man, and he didn't.
He nodded once, his dark eyes betraying a bit of surprise and maybe even glee at the sum. "Ten pounds of gold will be just fine."
The reddish-haired man handed the blue-eyed man a canvas bag, which the blue-eyed man handed to Malachi.
"It's all there, and you'll have to take our word for it. We won't be following you back to town to weigh or count. We're ready to leave."
The blue-eyed man's voice was rich and deep, and the tone of it was thoroughly commanding. Actually, everything about him was commanding. From the way he stood with his head up and broad shoulders back, to the way he looked Malachi right in the eyes without even blinking. I didn't think Malachi was going to insist that the gold in the bag be counted, and he didn't.
He did, however, open the bag, scowling a bit, and had a quick look inside before looking back up at the blue-eyed man. "Alright, just so you know, all sales are final. If she gives you trouble, or continues to try to escape, we won't be taking her back and issuing you a refund."
The blue-eyed man made the faintest of scoffing noises, his eyes twinkling with just a hint of amusement, the first real expression he'd shown yet. "Noted. I'm sure we'll be able to keep her contained."
No doubt by using physical force, I was sure.
Malachi tipped his hat at the blue-eyed man, his lip curling in a slight sneer. "Pleasure doing business with you."
He then immediately began stalking back through the woods with the two other wolf shifters at his heels.
I wasn't surprised he didn't shake the blue-eyed man's hand to conclude the business transaction. For one thing, I knew he'd be loathe to show much respect, being that the bears had just killed two of his people. And just from what I'd heard, wolf shifters and bear shifters just didn't shake hands anyway.
I also wasn't surprised that Malachi didn't even give me a backward glance as he walked away, despite having been one of my adoptive father's friends. The wolf shifters of Stony Rapids were many things, but sentimental certainly wasn't one of them.
The blue-eyed man turned his gaze to me. "We'll walk out of the forest now. We have a vehicle waiting on the dirt track just outside of it. Normally, we prefer to travel in bear form, but we didn't think you'd appreciate having to travel on one of our backs at this point."
If he was expecting a thank you for this courtesy, he was going to be disappointed. I didn't consider myself a rude person, and even in Stony Rapids, please and thank you were common enough phrases. However, I wasn't about to give a bear shifter a thank you. I wasn't going to say thank you to a person who might have murdered the people who'd saved my life, taken me in, and raised me as their own, even if that raising had involved occasional violence. I wasn't going to say thank you to the blue-eyed bear shifter, because doing so would have somehow felt like a betrayal of my adoptive parents. I didn't care what the consequences of my action, or non-action, rather, would be.
I thought the consequence was going to be getting hit. The blue-eyed man suddenly raised a hand to my face, and I immediately flinched, reflexively turning my face to the side, expecting some sort of slap or blow and not wanting it to be on my nose. But, to my surprise, no blow came. After a long moment, I looked up. The reddish-haired man and the younger man standing next to him were exchanging glances. The blue-eyed man was staring at me, frowning. Another second ticked by before he spoke.
"You had a drop of blood rolling down your face, I'm guessing from being scratched by a thorn while you ran. I was going to wipe it away before it rolled onto your shirt. What did you think I was going to do?"
I couldn't understand how he could not know what I'd thought he was going to do.
I actually snorted. "I thought you were going to strike me, of course. For not thanking you for having a vehicle so that I wouldn't have to ride on one of your backs."
He studied me for another long moment, his frown deepening, before responding. "I'm not going to strike you."
Despite the fact that he appeared sincere, I just didn't quite believe him. Or, maybe I believed that he wasn't going to strike me right then. Maybe he just didn't want me to run again and knew I might if I were hit. Maybe he just wanted to get me to the car without any hassle. I didn't know. I did know there were some groups of people who just didn't believe in hitting women, didn't find it acceptable. I imagined the men from Ashcrest didn't.
I never remembered my first father, my birth father, ever hitting my mother, so I knew the people from Coldwater must not have found violence against women acceptable, either. However, I just couldn't believe that any people so cruel as to attack a man and a wife on a canoe an
d kill them in cold blood, just for sport, would have much of a problem with violence of any kind, against anyone.
I'd heard that at least a dozen of the bears had descended on Gray not a second after he'd shifted. They hadn't even given him time to properly prepare for a fight. And being that no women were shifters, meaning that Estelle hadn't been one, she hadn't even been able to shift and defend herself at all. One of Malachi's men had been nearby and had witnessed the attack, but knowing that he couldn't do much against a dozen bear shifters, he hadn't stepped in.
The drop of blood that had been rolling down my cheek must have fallen to the ground when I'd turned my face, but I could now feel another one sliding over my cheekbone.
I wiped it away with the edge of my shirtsleeve, resigned to my fate. "I'm ready to walk now. I'm ready to go to Sun Creek."
Being that I knew any other escape attempts would be futile, I wasn’t aware that I had any other choice than to be taken back to their city, I would do best to retain my pride and dignity, no matter what happened. I didn't have much else left to cling to, not even any personal possessions since I'd thrown them off when the wolves had begun chasing me.
Soon after, our group of four began walking out of the woods. We came across my backpack, my longbow, and my bag of arrows, and the man with the piercing blue eyes picked everything up, wordlessly, and carried them.
I followed a few paces behind him and his two companions while we walked through the sunlit forest. I'd learned very early on that in Stony Rapids, girls and women were expected to follow behind the men, and this had become such a habit for me, I didn't even give it a second thought.
A few of the men, like Gray, had allowed their wives and daughters to walk more or less alongside them, though just a shade or two back. Other men insisted that their wives and daughters walk a good pace or two behind them, to make it crystal clear they were following. Being that I knew nothing about how far back the bears liked their women to walk, I figured I'd better play it safe until I knew.
After a few minutes of walking, the blue-eyed man addressed me, though without even turning his head. "You can walk beside us, not behind us, you know. You're not a slave."
"Yet I was just purchased like one."
I hadn't been able to resist the comment. I'd always had a problem with speaking exactly what I was thinking at times. That had gotten me into trouble with Gray on several occasions.
But the blue-eyed man still didn't even turn his head. He remained looking forward. "The trail is wide enough for four."
I really could not think what this man's game was, and I was becoming less sure with each passing minute I spent with him. I wasn't sure about his companions, either. I was starting to feel like I was not sure about a damned thing. Especially since I was staring at the backs of three of the most finely-chiseled physiques I'd ever seen in my life, which was jumbling my thoughts more than a bit, I couldn't deny. I wondered which one of the three bear shifters I was to be mated with. I wondered if it would be one of the two younger men, though the older one of about forty certainly wasn't too hard on the eyes, either.
If I was to be mated with one of the two younger men, I wondered if it might be the man with the blue eyes. I wondered why I was even having these thoughts. No matter whom I'd be mated with, it didn't even matter. I didn't intend to enjoy the experience. I'd submit to it, but that was all, and only because I knew I'd have to make peace with my new life in order to survive. Fighting the man who was likely to become my husband wouldn't help. So, being that survival, not enjoyment, was my top priority, I told myself it didn't even matter who I was to be mated with.
And yet, I found it difficult to keep my gaze off the three men walking in front of me, specifically the younger two, and even more specifically, the man with the blue eyes. There were plenty of other things to look at. I could at the ground. I could sweep my gaze from side to side, looking at the jewel-green trees lining both sides of the trail. I could continue looking forward, but just raise my gaze up a bit higher, to the pale blue sky visible between the cracks of the tree canopy. I could look at a pair of blue jays, just a bit ahead of the bear shifters, happily flitting around in the warm, early September air.
I could have looked at any number of different things. Somehow, despite the fact that I could, I found that I just kind of couldn't. It was disturbing me that I couldn't. So, after a little while, I increased my pace while veering to the left a bit, until I was walking shoulder to shoulder with the younger man with green eyes. The blue-eyed man was to the right of him, and the older green-eyed man was then next to the right.
Nobody spoke at first. But eventually, when we were nearing the end of the trail, the blue-eyed man addressed me without looking at me again.
"I'm Grant Black. The man on your right is my younger brother, Adrian, and the man on my right is my older brother, Samuel. Along with a council of other men, we rule the town of Sun Creek. I'm the chief and leader."
I was surprised to hear he was the chief and leader, just because I would have thought the oldest of the brothers would have been. At the same time, I wasn't surprised at all. With the way the blue-eyed man, or Grant, as I now knew him to be, moved, he couldn't not be the leader of his community. With the way he walked with long, purposeful strides, head up, broad shoulders back, maybe even just a shade ahead of the other two, he couldn't not be leader.
Nothing about the way he carried himself indicated that he was the type of man who could have existed answering to someone else. Even something about his deep voice and the calm, measured way he spoke radiated authority.
But this wasn't to say that his two brothers looked or acted like little girls. I could tell they were both men of power in their own rights. They both had the same air of power, strength, and confidence that Grant did. Though, maybe just not to the same extent that Grant did.
Now that I knew the three men were brothers, I could definitely appreciate a family resemblance, and not just in the way they were all tall and well-built. They all had dark hair, with Grant and Adrian having hair so dark it was nearly black. Even Samuel's reddish hair was so dark as to be considered more of an auburn-toned dark brown than red. There was also something similar about the brothers' fairly light-colored, heavy-lidded eyes. They were focused and alert eyes, yet at the same time, what some people might call "sleepy bedroom eyes." They were the kind of eyes that could convey a sensual thought with just a look.
I still intended to display the same coldness to the bears that they'd shown my adoptive parents. However, though they were murderers, it was becoming clear that the bears were a civil people, at least when it suited them to be. And it was also becoming clear that I might have to start responding in kind, at least if I wanted to survive. However, I planned to keep my civility in return to a bare, bare minimum.
So, in response to Grant introducing himself and his brothers, I glanced at the three men beside me with what I hoped was a look completely devoid of expression. I wasn't going to give them even a trace of warmth.
"My name is Lila."
That was all they were going to get. Just my first name. I certainly wasn't going to say nice to meet you. But, to my discomfort, Adrian, directly to my right, did. His green eyes held unmistakable sincerity. A long moment ticked by, and I didn't respond. My face suddenly became a bit warm for some reason. After another moment, I felt compelled to speak, though in a voice barely above a whisper, and I didn't look at him while I did so.
"Likewise."
I regretted it the instant the word passed my lips. I felt as if I'd insulted my deceased adoptive parents. My murdered adoptive parents. I felt as if I'd betrayed them, somehow. I'd made a comment indicating that I was pleased to meet the people who had killed them. I couldn't believe I'd done it. Not that I knew if Grant, Adrian, and Samuel had specifically taken part in the killing themselves, though since Grant was the chief of the bears, I knew he had to at least know about it. At the very, very least.
I couldn't take back wh
at I'd said, obviously. The word had been spoken. It was done. I'd just have to steel myself to be harder and less agreeable in the future. And the future was now; I had another chance.
Grant and Samuel both echoed the words Adrian had spoken, saying that it was nice to meet me. But this time, my response was only the slightest nod with my gaze straight ahead. I honestly wasn't sure if it had even been perceptible to them. But I didn't even care. I didn't intend to further disrespect the two people who'd saved my life, taken me in, and fed and clothed me as their own daughter.
Our group of four walked the rest of the way through the sunlit woods in silence, though it was not far. Soon we cut across a narrower path that branched off from the wider path we'd been on, and not twenty paces later, the narrower path opened into a dirt track suitable for cars to drive on. A shiny black pick-up truck sat parked on one side of the track. It looked brand-new. No doubt, it had been made in Detroit. The ten thousand or so residents who lived there were the only people in the world who had continued to manufacture and sell vehicles after the Freeze and the decrease in human population that had come along with it hundreds of years earlier.