31
EVAN
The earth is cool beneath my feet, and the air is scented with the dampness of early morning dew and the musty scent of the leaf-covered ground. Hunter prowls in front, his nose low as he checks for the stink of wolf. Since we fought to retrieve Goldie, we’ve been waiting for the pack’s return and attempt at revenge, but there’s been no sign of them.
“ It doesn’t make sense .” Robert’s thoughts echo mine. It doesn’t make sense. We’ve had skirmishes with the wolves before. So many that I couldn’t count them if my life depended on it. So what’s different now?
“ Maybe they left for good, ” Hunter muses. He’s voicing what we’re all hopeful for but don’t believe could be true. Wolves don’t give up territory any more than bears. Not unless they’re forced, it becomes totally inhospitable, or they find somewhere better. Our own clan chose to move to a new territory where they wanted to set up a new kind of living arrangement. They bought land they could build a small settlement on, with accommodation close, like a commune for bear shifters. Before we found Goldie, I wished Hunter would have been more receptive to the idea. Getting left behind by our support network wasn’t easy. It’s been just us rattling around in that house for three years, and in that time, we started to lose hope. Now that Goldie’s in our lives, that hope has returned, but we’re still under more pressure from the wolves than we would have been if the others in our clan were nearby.
“ We should take a visit to Connor. See if he’s heard anything, ” I suggest, expecting Hunter to disagree.
“ Tomorrow ,” he says, catching me off guard.
“ Tomorrow ,” I repeat.
When tomorrow comes, we can’t leave Goldie by herself. The danger feels uncertain. We’re not worried that she’ll run again; she learned that the dangers outside our home are significantly worse than inside. We leave Robert to keep her company.
I ride with Hunter, selecting Goldie’s playlist. I usually chatter to fill Hunter’s brooding silences, but I can’t be bothered today. Outside the window, the world rushes past in a stream of green, brown, and blue. With our mate not yet claimed, a sense of unease rests inside us all. It makes Robert more serious, Hunter more pensive, and me quieter. My bear wants to know her in all ways. He wants to discover her truth and share his own, but she’s still holding us at arm’s length.
Hunter growls as a song called Steal His Heart plays in the background. “How long do you think she’s going to make us wait?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Sometimes I feel as though we’re getting close, and other times, it’s like we’ve taken ten steps back.”
“I’m trying.” Hunter sounds defensive, but he doesn’t need to be. I wasn’t insinuating that he’s the problem. If anything, his marked transformation has opened some of Goldie’s petals.
“You’re fine. She just needs time.”
“You really think that’s all it is?”
I shrug, lowering the volume of the music. “Maybe today will help. If Connor knows something?”
“You think if the wolves have left, Goldie will relax.”
“The threat can’t be helping. She’s not used to worrying about her safety. Have you decided what you’re going to tell Connor about Goldie.”
“Nothing, if I can help it.”
“You think he won’t know. He has his ear to the ground.”
Hunter signals to turn into the clan compound. “Let’s see what he says.”
We park in the shade of a majestic tree, and I throw open the car door, desperate to feel the cool wind against my skin. My muscles ache from sitting too long, and my bear is desperate to be free.
Connor emerges from a small building that borders the parking lot, flanked by Howden and a big, bearded dude with a missing eye and slash across his cheek who earned the nickname, Grizzly. Bear shifters are not that inventive when it comes to nicknames. Connor’s hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it, touching his collar. He’s bigger, too, with broader shoulders and sturdier thighs. He’s come into his alpha status.
“Hunter. Evan.” When he’s close enough, he holds out his hand, shaking Hunter’s first, then mine, with a grip firm enough to break normal human bones.
“Connor.” Hunter nods and takes a step back, broadening his stance and glancing around. “The place is looking good.”
“We have room for you if you ever change your mind.”
“We won’t but thank you.”
I defer to my older brother, keeping quiet even though I have questions burning the back of my tongue.
“Let’s sit.” Connor sweeps his arm to indicate a seating area in front of the house. The chairs and tables are wooden and stained with an unnatural orange shade.
When we’ve settled in—Connor with Grizzly and Howden on his side, and Hunter with me on his—Hunter leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “We’ve been having trouble with wolves.”
Connor nods and touches his chin, rubbing his dark beard. “I heard there was a death.”
“Yes.” Hunter doesn’t flinch at the mention of the battle to retrieve Goldie, but I know he’ll be turning over Connor’s knowledge in his mind.
“Your mate is with you?” Connor cocks his head to the side, studying both of us.
“She’s with Robert at home.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“So, you’re worried about the wolves.”
The word worried feels deliberately placed to undermine Hunter as the alpha of a smaller clan. If something happened to Connor, Hunter would be entitled to battle for position in the wider clan, even though we’re outsiders now .
“The wolves are an annoyance. We want to focus on growing our family.”
“Yes.” Connor rasps his beard again, nodding.
“So, have you heard anything? We’re not detecting their presence. If they’ve left, we want to know. We can scale back our observations.”
Connor looks to Howden, then Grizzly. He knows more than he’s letting on, but he’s not being open. At least, not yet. I don’t like how much consideration he’s giving before sharing. We’re not rivals. We exist side by side. We help each other out when needed. If there was a serious threat to Connor’s clan, we’d assist without thought and expect him to return the favor. We’re bears, and that connection should trump anything else.
“They were relocated,” Connor says at last.
“Relocated?” The word bursts from my mouth before I have a chance to swallow it. Hunter doesn’t flinch, but there’s an established protocol, and I’ve stepped outside it.
“You have new neighbors.”
“Who?”
“They’ve bought the lumberyard to the west of Braysville.”
I grit my teeth at the proximity of our new enemy.
“Why haven’t we scented them?” Hunter asks.
“From what I have been able to discern, they’re not like their predecessors. They’re businessmen.” There’s a sneer to Connor’s voice that Howden and Grizzly laugh at. The idea of wolves being diligent in commerce seems foreign, but only because our nearest neighbors have always been on the wrong side of the law.
Hunter turns to me as though he wants to convey something, and I understand immediately. If we were mated, we’d be able to communicate telepathically in our human state as well as our bear form. Hunter wants Connor to believe it’s the case or we look weak in front of the clan.
“Yes.” Hunter nods at nothing. Maybe my expression confirmed my understanding of that point, and he’s letting me know I’m right.
“The war has raged too long and claimed too many.”
“Less on our side,” Connor says proudly.
Hunter focuses on Grizzly’s face, then tips his head to the side. “All casualties are regrettable.”
Grizzly flinches, the implied reference to the wolf injury he carries on his face like a stab in the gut. Connor is cavalier about it, Hunter less so.
“Battle scars are something to be proud of. It shows bravery.”
Hunter won’t disagree. “We want to simplify our lives, and if there is an opportunity to make peace with a new pack, we want to take it.”
“You are alpha,” Connor says smoothly, with an almost imperceptible shrug. “What you do is the business of your clan alone.”
“We are all bears,” Hunter reminds him. “Bears first, rank second.”
“I have no issue with you attempting to make peace but remember that an olive branch can be perceived as weakness, and your olive branch is yours alone.”
I narrow my eyes at Connor, despising his attempts to set our family apart from the wider clan. Hunter has come to show unity, and Connor attempts to maintain separation. He was unhappy when we didn’t sell up and relocate, but this is petty .
Hunter turns to me again, and I allow one eyebrow to raise. He nods and stands. “Time to go, Evan,” he says.
He holds his hand out to Connor. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
I hold my smile inside at my brother’s thinly veiled sarcasm. No food or drink was offered. They sat in front of us like an interview panel. After this experience, I don’t doubt that Connor’s manner had a lot to do with Hunter’s decision to retain our ancestral home and split from the group. He never told us his rationale, but that’s typical Hunter. He holds his cards close to his chest, particularly when he wants to mitigate bad feelings.
We shake Grizzly’s and Howden’s hands and return to our vehicle. Inside, Hunter tugs his belt across his body and flicks on the radio, leaving Goldie’s playlist to fill the silence. If I Be Wrong by Wolf Larson accompanies us as we leave the bear compound to return to our home and our reticent mate.
“You’re a better alpha than Connor will ever be,” I tell my brother.
He nods, keeping his eyes on the road, but he rests a little easier in his seat.
“I want us to make peace,” he says. “I don’t care what Connor says. The wolves will think what they want to think. If they say no, we fight like we always did. If the old wolves return, we’ll deal with that as we always have.”
“I want us to make peace, too.” I tap my fingers on my thigh to the mellow beat of the music. Listening to the songs our mate loves fill the car with her spirit. The truck eats the road but not fast enough. I miss her.
“It’s important to Goldie.” Hunter turns to me, checking my response .
“It is. She’s worried about herself, but she worries about us, and I can guess she’s thinking about the future, too.”
“Our cubs?” he asks, surprised.
“No woman wants to bring children into a dangerous world.”
“Maybe peace will help her decide,” my brother says softly.
“Maybe,” I agree. All we can do is hope.