“Okay, Buck.” Leland started. “We’ll get the spring calves branded and then we’ll go look for your mate.”
“I've got a load of timber that I need to deliver to my main supplier by the end of the week. I haven't been out on the mountain in way too long. I'm behind on everything. I don't know how I'm supposed to keep up. Jessie's been on me to help build his cabin, and I don't have enough logs for that either.”
“Nothing matters more than your mate,” Leland said.
“I've done everything I can. Everything’s falling apart.”
“If your mate is acting like that, then there's something obviously wrong.”
“Course there's something wrong. She was attacked by a feral shifter and changed against her will. Before that, she’d gone through so many difficult things that she just lost it. I don't know what to do for her. I feel like a failure.”
“Have you talked to the law about the feral shifter?” Leland asked.
“Course I did. But Rollo told me he couldn't do anything about it. So I'm left on my own to find this guy and kick his ass. All while trying to take care of a woman who doesn't want me to take care of her. Not to mention my work and my obligation to the family.”
“Go saddle up. We’ll be done by the end of the day and then we'll come up with a solution together.”
“Did you ever find out where that feral shifter was staying?” Jessie asked, leaning over the horn of the saddle.
“I suspect he is being sheltered by the Updike pack.”
“I should've known,” Leland said.
Buck sighed and went to the barn to get a horse. He saddled up Chancey, the gelding Appaloosa, and joined his brothers in the paddock outside the barn.
Chapter 11
“I don't understand why you kept her secret for so long,” Leland said, tipping back a bottle of Fate Mountain Lager as the brothers sat on the back porch of Leland’s house watching the sun go down after a long day’s work.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Buck said. “I had to respect her choices. There was a reason she ran away from the Bright Institute. I didn't think it was my right to make her face whatever she had run away from.”
“I can understand that,” Leland said.
“Why don't you tell the Bear Patrol and the Rescue Bears where you last saw her,” Jessie suggested.
“That's probably the best thing to do,” Buck said. “But I'm not going to tell anybody about her cave. I'm going to go back there myself to see if she came back.”
“Why not tell anyone?” Jessie asked.
“I don't want there to be any way that Alex Terry can find out where she is.”
“Do you think he still might hurt her?” Leland asked.
“He's got a screw loose from what I understand. Why else would he bite her and change her against her will? That isn’t the shifter way.”
“That guy needs to be put down,” Leland said.
“I couldn't agree more,” Buck said. “But there are no human laws against changing someone into a shifter.”
“That should be the death penalty,” Jessie said.
Buck looked over at his brother, surprised at the harshness of his words. But Buck had to agree. A shifter who would change a human against their will was the lowest form of being on the planet as far as Buck was concerned. You didn't just put an out of control animal inside of a person. It was unforgivable.
“He's going to have to come out of hiding eventually,” Jessie said.
“And then what?” Buck asked.
“Then we take him out,” Leland said.
“We can't get caught,” Buck said. “There are eyes on us.”
“That's what comes with being the good guys,” Leland said.
“And we are the good guys,” Jessie said.
All three Kincaid brothers looked at each other and lifted their bottles of Fate Mountain Lager in agreement. After they'd finished their beer, Buck got on the phone and informed Rollo of the current situation. Maria was still in deep trouble. Buck asked Rollo to form a search party to bring her in. He told him where he'd last seen her near the hot spring.
The brothers then climbed into Leland's red pickup truck and headed into town to speak to Commander Rollo and the boys from the Rescue Bears.
When they arrived at the police headquarters, all the guys from the Bear Patrol and the Rescue Bears were crowded together in Rollo's office. As they discussed their plans to find Maria, Buck had to force himself to keep the location of her cave a secret.
“And what about the Timber Bear Ranch property?” Rollo asked as Corey sat behind his computer, uploading information into his random probability drive.
“We'll take care of the Timber Bear Ranch,” Buck said.
Corey continued uploading information into his computer as Damien Fellows the Tech Bear from the Bear Patrol looked over his shoulder. Corey glanced up at Buck.
“Are you sure there isn't another factor we’re missing here?” Corey asked.
“I've told you all I know,” Buck said.
“I can't help but think there is something missing. Where did you first find Maria?” Corey asked.
“That campground,” Buck said.
“What were you doing at the campground?” Damien asked.
Buck gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“I told you all I know. Please, just find her and help her. And while you're at it, why don't you find Alex Terry and bring him to justice, once and for all,” Buck said, changing the subject.
It was the perpetrator of the crime who should pay, not Maria. She was just a confused young girl that was alone in the woods. There should be an equal force of men ready and willing to go take out the real threat. But human law prevented them from bringing the feral shifter to justice for his crimes. Buck couldn't have been more disgusted. He didn't want to tell anyone about Maria's cave for that reason alone.
“We have no jurisdiction to get a search warrant for the Updikes’ property because there are rumors that a man who might be guilty of assault could be there,” Rollo explained.
“There is currently a warrant out for his arrest,” said Deputy Bear, Knox Carter.
“When we locate him, we’ll bring him in on charges. Maria can testify against him, and he’ll get the penalty the law dictates for his crimes,” Rollo said.
“Well, thank you for your help,” Buck said, trying his hardest to keep his tone even and cooperative.
Inside he was seething. His inner grizzly burned with rage. He had never been so angry at his fellow bears in all his life. They should be bound and determined to go find that lion shifter and take him out. Shifters like that shouldn't exist in the world.
“Well, we're going to get back home,” Leland said, stepping out of Rollo's office after Buck.
Jessie followed Leland and Buck gave his friend Rollo one last nod before walking out of the door. He had known Rollo a long time and had always been on the chief of police's side through the problems they'd had over the years with on Fate Mountain.
Now, he couldn't support Rollo's determination to keep to the letter of the law. Buck felt he had a right to take matters into his own hands. And there was nothing that anyone could say or do to convince him otherwise. Buck hated being in such deep disagreement with his friend, fellow bear, and Alpha of the Bear Patrol. It sent his grizzly into a confused rage inside his mind. Buck could barely hear himself think as Leland drove back to the Timber Bear Ranch.
“Jessie, Leland, thank you for your help.”
“We can go with you to her cave and help you get her back down,” Leland offered.
“I think that would make it worse,” Buck said.
“You’ve got to let us help you with something,” Leland said.
“What I need right now is a couple of men to go up on my logging site and cut down my quota for the delivery I have due at the end of the week.”
“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Jessie asked.
Buc
k slapped his baseball cap against his thigh and growled. He stomped away to his truck and slammed the door closed behind him. Leland walked over and knocked on the glass. Buck sighed and rolled it down.
“What?” Buck growled.
“Look, Buck,” Leland said. “I respect your sense of responsibility. And I'm here to help you in whatever way you need to be helped. Jessie and I will go up on the mountain and cut down your quota. You go take care of your girl. And if you can't find her by the end of the day, we’re going to come and help you,” Leland said.
“All right, Leland.”
Buck pulled out of the yard and onto the gravel road that led up to the mountain. He saw Jessie and Leland standing in the gravel yard in front of the garage, looking confused and befuddled.
Buck didn't care what they thought. His work was what kept the ranch running all this time while their dad was determined to run it into the ground. He wouldn't apologize for being responsible and wanting to keep his commitments. He would be the one to find Maria if anyone found her.
He would be the one to take care of her. He would be the one to bring her off the mountain. He would be the one to help her heal. And this time, he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Buck drove as far as he could on the road and then parked his truck. He climbed out and started the trek up the deer trail toward her cave. When he arrived, it was obvious that she had been there. Recently.
The smell of her human and her lion was all over the place. But there was also another sent. A scent he didn't recognize. It was pungent and acrid. It smelled of lion shifter. He roared in the forest as he shifted, ripping out of his clothes.
He stood at the mouth of her cave in his grizzly form, tasting the scent of what had to be Alex Terry on the air. His normally sedate bear became ballistic as he turned in the direction of the scent and violently barreled up the mountain to find them.
Chapter 12
Maria shifted suddenly and found herself outside the mouth of her cave. She didn't know how long she'd been gone or how long she'd been out. The amnesia from her shift was severe and impenetrable. But at least her animal had let her out near her home. Maria scrambled to her feet and hurried into the dark cave. She rustled through her collection of clothing and found the warmest outfit she had.
Relief washed through her at the realization her animal had eaten recently and had not left her starving in the cold again. She hurried to the fire and began to build it up, quickly filling the cave with its warm glow. She sat beside the fire and tried to collect herself. That's when she finally realized that Buck's scent was all around her. It wasn't very old, maybe half a day. She had just missed him. She growled at herself to find that she had run away from him yet again.
The day at the hot spring she had been ready to go all the way with him. He had given her more pleasure that she could even comprehend. In the moment of release, her lioness reared her ugly head in fear and lashed out at Maria's love. She'd scratched Buck across the face and run away in her feral form. The last thing she remembered was the look of betrayal and hurt in his eyes.
She couldn't keep doing that to him. In the morning, she decided she would go away and never come back. She couldn't keep living on Buck's land and hurting him like this. She still didn't have any control over her lion. Until she did, she could never be the woman Buck needed.
She was broken, damaged goods. She hadn't gained any control during her time on the mountain, and it was time she came to accept that. She had been silly and selfish to think that if she just stuck it out a while longer, she could someday have Buck and the life that he promised.
She never wanted to see that look in his eyes again and know that she was the cause of it. It hurt too much. An owl hooted in the dark outside her cave and she shivered under her thick parka. She made herself a cup of coffee from the grounds Buck had left and settled in for a long night of solitude.
She couldn't sleep, even if she tried, and didn't even want to. She sipped the bittersweet brew and let out a long sigh, resigned to her fate as a solitary broken shifter. She didn't know where she would go or what she would do next.
All she knew was that she needed to get away from here, and she needed to stop hurting Buck. He should find someone else to help him and take care of him the way he deserved. She knew that most shifters only wanted their fated mates, and she knew she could never love anyone else but Buck.
But Alex Terry certainly hadn't cared that she wasn’t his mate. Just as she thought of Alex Terry and the night he’d bitten her, she heard a branch crack in the woods. She looked up and there was a dark figure standing in the mouth of her cave. His face was covered by the hood of his jacket. His scent filled her nostrils and she scrambled backwards.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped.
Alex Terry, the feral lion, walked into her cave with a strange light in his eyes, a cruel smile on his lips, hands open as if in surrender. Maria scrambled to her feet and faced him.
“How did you find me?” she snapped.
“Your boyfriend is very bad at covering his tracks. I’ve known that you were matched since the night I bit you. Don’t you remember? I saw the results on your Mate.com app.” He paused, letting it sink in that she didn’t remember. “Then he bought female outdoor clothing from the camping store the day everyone from the Bright Institute was out searching for you. I know that they are out searching for you again now, everywhere but Timber Bear Ranch. All I had to do was put two and two together. I investigated the edge of the Timber Bear Ranch property and smelled the campfire. Lo and behold, here you are.”
“Why did you come here?” Maria asked.
She wished her lioness would protect her now as this evil man stared her down in the one place she thought she was safe.
“Because Maria,” he started, walking further into her cave. He sat down at the fire and crossed his legs, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Maria stood on the other side of the cave, staring at him as he enjoyed her coffee.
“This is delicious,” he said. “Did Buck bring it to you?”
“That's none of your business.”
“But it is my business, Maria. I chose you. I want you.”
“I told you a thousand times that I am not your fated mate. That's the whole reason I signed up for Mate.com and found Buck in the first place. I wanted to prove to you that we do not belong together. You are a shifter. Why can't you get that through your head?” she demanded.
“I don't care about things like fated mates, Maria. I want you for everything that you are.”
“Why would you want me? I’m an orphan. I used to get beat up on every day in my old neighborhood. Then I was kidnapped by human traffickers. I’m a mess. Why do you that?”
“Because Maria. You and all of your broken parts are exactly what I desire.”
“What's the matter with you?” she asked.
He stood suddenly, his eyes blazing with his inner animal. His lips curled back to expose sharp white teeth. He approached her, the scent of his animal flowing off him in waves. She felt his dominance radiate against. It was brutal, sadistic and unkind. She could barely stand. Her inner lioness was nowhere to be found.
“You want me because I'm damaged?” she said as he stood before her, his teeth clenched and his lips curled back. He stared down into her with wild, yellow eyes.
“Yes,” he whispered. “That's exactly what I want. I love how broken you are. Unlike your boyfriend, Buck, I don't want to put you back together. I want to break you down more and more and more. I want to see how far you can go. That's why I put the lion inside you. Now you're exactly where I want you. And I’ll never let you go again.”
“You're insane!” Maria screamed.
“Sanity is just a human concept. I don't follow human standards. I follow my own.”
“You don't follow shifter standards either. You have no honor,” she snapped, knowing the kind of man her true mate was, and the kind of honor that he had shown her.
“What make
s you think that all shifters are like the Kincaids?” he scoffed, grabbing her arm.
“Because I know plenty of shifters who are,” she yelled as he yanked her through the cave.
In human form, Alex was much stronger than Maria. She was powerless to resist him. He pulled her out of her cave just as the morning sunlight was starting to creep over the mountains.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded.
“I need to show you something, Maria.”
He continued pulling her through the forest and up a steep grade. They finally came out into a clearing and walked out to a drop off over a cliff. The drop was hundreds of feet and the mountains stretched out before her in the distance.
“What do you see, Maria?” Alex asked her, standing behind her with his arms gripping her biceps.
His fingers bit cruelly into her skin and she tried to elbow him in the stomach with no results. She begged her inner lioness to come out and protect her. But the beast was subdued. She felt a tear slide down her cheek. Why was she so weak and out of control? Why couldn't she just stand up for herself and what she believed in?
“I asked you what you see?” he whispered in her ear.
“I see Fate Mountain, the hills, and the forests in the valley below.”
“What else do you see?” he asked, his hot breath wafting across her face.
“I see a cliff. And the long fall.”
Alex kicked some rocks over the ledge and they fell. The crash below wasn't even audible.
“That's right, Maria,” he said. “Now it's time for you to ask yourself. What matters more: your life, or some silly ideas about honor, fate, and soulmates?”
“I already know the answer to that,” Maria said, pressing her eyes closed and taking a deep breath.
Her life mattered very little if she didn't have her principles. If she didn't have hope or something to believe in, she might as well throw herself off this cliff right now and end it all.
When she opened her eyes, she was ready to tell Alex all of that but she stopped short. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of movement. She looked in that direction just in time to see Buck’s grizzly barreling into the clearing.