Montana Wild Bears: Books 1-4 Bundle (BBW Paranormal Werebear Shape Shifter Romance Boxed Set) (32 page)

“Fine. But I’m going to need a minute,” he said, resigning himself to his unavoidable fate.

“I can see that.”

Ryder glanced up, seeing Jackie look down at his crotch with a pained expression painted on her face. At least she was finding their responsibilities as distasteful as he was.

“And I expect you to thank me
thoroughly
for my sacrifice when I get back,” he said, kissing her on the lips and fighting himself to keep from lingering with the kiss.

“I’d expect nothing less.”

Ryder helped her off the table, slapping her on the ass playfully as Jackie skittered off towards the kitchen, her blonde hair a mess of waves trailing behind her.

“Coffee?” she yelled. Ryder grinned to himself, hearing the strain in her voice. He could smell it from all the way in the living room. She was completely wet and ready for him. That smell had been driving him up the walls all winter, and he hadn’t got nearly as much rest as he was planning to. A situation he would never be sad about. He’d trade sleep for the rest of his life for another moment in bed with Jackie.

“Yup.”

She’d shown up at his door in November, when it was already cold as hell and near impossible to get as high up in Bitterroot as where Ryder lived. He didn’t ask questions, and she didn’t offer any answers. He’d just stepped out of the way, and she’d plopped down on his couch with one duffel bag and asked him what was for dinner. There had been enough fireworks to amuse the residents of Bear’s Grove for a few weeks the last time they’d seen one another. A few years of cooling down did miracles for the two of them. There had never been any doubt in his mind that she was the only one he could ever be with. It was a relief that she seemed to think the same about him.

She returned soon with two steaming cups of coffee. One black as tar for Ryder and one with honey for herself. Before sitting down, Ryder pulled out a chair for her so she could join him at the table that he had almost managed to use as a distraction for getting out of his responsibilities.

“So, what are you going to tell them?” Jackie asked, quirking a brow. Ryder scruffier a hand through his hair, barely suppressing a shrug.

“I thought I would get Drake and Troy and the rest of the lieutenants together and tell them my stand on it.” He paused knowingly, doing his best to look as blasé as he could. The quick jab that Jackie landed at his arm made him recoil back in mock outrage. “What was that for!” he demanded, a smirk trembling at the edges of his lips. Jackie positively glared at him, and Ryder basked in the light of her frustration. He knew exactly what she wanted him to tell her, and he had the right to have at least a little bit of fun with it.

“You know very well what! Tell me your
stand on it
,” she grumbled, her brows knitting together. Her button nose scrunched up a little every time she got peeved at him. Her legs were gathered up, the balls of her feet barely gripping the edge of the chair with her knees drawn up to her chest. He didn’t mind the view at all, her long legs peeking over the side of the table.

If I could just drag her to the bedroom for one more minute…

“Ryder,” she said sternly, shaking him from his revelry. “Focus.”

“Right. My stand on it.” Ryder cleared his voice. “Well. I’m going to tell them that Jacqueline Arder and I have rekindled our relationship yet again.” She threw him a scathing look, and Ryder raised his palms. “Easy there, beast. I’m not done yet. I’m going to tell them that
this time
we won’t try to kill each other when we get angry and that we’re grown-ups who can handle their conflicts in mature, sophisticated ways. Like fucking until we don’t have the energy to be mad anymore or punching a few solid objects, if that’s what you’re into,” he said, receiving another jab at his shoulder.

He sipped at his coffee and grinned, putting the heavy ceramic mug down.

“I’m going to tell them that the love of my life is here to stay, and we’ll be married by the end of the summer. And the Arder-Bitterroot alliance will
finally
be set in stone. A particularly gorgeous looking stone if I do say so myself,” he said, taking her hand in his and running a thumb over the heavy opal that adorned her ring finger. Being the last remaining Hunt bloodline bear, he had had his pick of family heirlooms when choosing the engagement ring. His choice had immediately landed on his mother’s ring, though. There were few women as fiery as his mother had been, and if there was anyone who could do the ring justice then it was Jackie.

Ryder’s gaze tracked up to his bride, and her expression had softened, a small smile dancing on her lips. She leant forward and kissed him lightly on the lips, before stretching her hand out and admiring the ring.

“Jacqueline Arder-Hunt. Doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Jacqueline
Hunt
,” he corrected her casually.

“We can argue about that later.”

“I’m sure we will,” he agreed. To the bystander, their quibbling and quarrelling could have looked like a relationship in danger, but Ryder knew he simply had the good luck of having a woman who could speak her mind. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. Jackie was sassy, hot-tempered, capable and with Alpha blood. She was everything he could ever ask for in a mate, and he’d known that she was the one ever since he was barely old enough to understand the concept of love. She was his fated mate and there was no way around it. They’d broken up more times over the years than either of them could count, but no matter what happened, they always ended back together again. The bond was undeniable, and, try as they might, they were still drawn together and there were few things in the universe as hot and charged as Ryder and Jackie at their best.

“Do you think they’ll take it well?” she asked after a short pause in the conversation, both of them having fallen silent for a moment. He nodded thoughtfully, taking in her scent with a deep inhale. He couldn’t help it. She smelled delicious. And there was something about her lately that made it harder and harder for him to leave her alone even for a minute. It was as if something was tying him right to her side, making him unable to leave. Not that he wanted to. Ryder thought he knew what it was, but she hadn’t confirmed or denied his suspicions yet. It was only right to give her time, if that was what she needed. He’d kept putting off the meeting with his lieutenants for far too long, solely for the reason that he didn’t want to let her out of his sight for a second. But she wasn’t part of the clan yet and taking her to the meeting would have bypassed so many clan traditions and rules that he would run out of daylight before he was done counting them all.

“I think they’ll take it just fine. I mean, it’s not like this is something new. Like you said, everyone’s seen you in town already, and I’d like to think that none of my people are imbeciles. Loyal to a fault, sure, but all with their faculties intact. If anyone had a problem with this, then they would have come to me already. What about your family?” Ryder took a deep swig from his coffee. As much as he’d been reluctant about making it official for the Bitterroots, Jackie had been no better with the Arders. He figured her reasons were much the same as his. Whenever things became official, became ‘real’, something would happen to them.  A dumb fight, a misplaced word or a stupid deed – something always managed to screw up their happiness. It was almost like if they’d managed to hide their love away, keep it tucked away safely in the confines of the lodge, then it couldn’t be destroyed. They could be safe and sound in their little bubble of happiness.

Her lips pursed, and she focused far too hard on her cup. His nostrils were still filled with her sweet, intoxicating scent.

“You know Jackson will just ask when we’re moving back then. He never liked that you left.”

“He wouldn’t be wrong. We’d effectively be joining the clans through marriage. Whether we wanted to keep them as separate entities would become a matter of principal, rather than necessity,” Ryder offered carefully. Jackie’s eyes met his, and her hesitation was obvious.

“And who’d run the clan then? You or him? Two Alphas would be as if asking for an argument. With three, maybe, but that’s not the case here.”

Ryder huffed, emptying his cup.

“Jackson and I always managed to sort out our issues. There’s been bad blood in the past, but that has never been us. I left because we had too many bears for one mountain range, not because I had a problem with Jackson. We’re essentially brothers. I’m just outnumbered because of the Alpha trifecta, but I doubt he’d hold it against me. Besides, this is where we came from, this is where our roots are. Can’t fault a man for returning to his heritage.”

Jackie’s brows were knit in a frown, and Ryder smiled. He leaned across the table and kissed her forehead, right in the center of her scowl, making it evaporate. “Besides, I have a secret weapon.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“The Arders’ little sister. You know you’re much scarier than any ancient magic,” he said, grinning toothily.

Jackie snorted, but she echoed his grin. Ryder knew when to make a break for it before she could outwit him again. “And with that, I’m going to go talk to my lieutenants. I’ll try to be back by dinner, but don’t wait up. The first spring meeting always takes forever.”

He stood up and dragged Jackie up on her feet as well. She giggled, a sound he never got tired of, and he stole a long kiss from her until he was veering dangerously close to the point of no return again. More than reluctantly, he let her go and stepped back.

“Be good,” she said, hugging her arms around herself.

“I try not to. I love you.”

***

His heartbeat pounded in his ears, threatening to deafen him. Ryder ran as fast as he could, the sun having set a while ago and the forest blanketed in darkness. Only the snow on the ground lit his path, but he knew exactly where he was going. He didn’t need to think about it. His heavy, powerful paws carried him through the snow with long strides, his thick coat marred with soot and blood. Each time he thrust off from the ground, bloody footprints were left behind and a trickle of crimson tracked between the steps. He was bleeding from several places, and the vision in his left eye kept blurring, but none of it mattered. Nothing at all mattered. He could drop dead on the spot, but not before he knew Jackie was okay.

Please, please be alright.

The plume of smoke that wafted over the forest came down from the mountains. It carried with it a scent of jasmine and pine, so faint and diluted that only he could pick it up. He knew what it likely meant, but he would not think about it, not before he was there. Just a little more… just a few more steps and he’d be home. The closer he got, the more smoke there was. It suffocated him, filling his nostrils with the scorched smell of burning logs and the few worldly possessions he held dear. They’d come so quickly, like a blizzard of destruction that descended down upon the bears with the force of a thousand demonic fangs. It was mere luck that Ryder had been with the lieutenants when the first call came in. If they’d been scattered, in their homes, it would have been worse.

Ten bears… at least ten.
The thought hammered in his head, as painful and present as his worry about his mate. They’d barely had time to react when everything seemed to go up in flames around them. The snarls and victorious howls of the wolves scraped at his ears, echoing through his head like an endless rain. Bryce had been cut down from right next to him, three wolves ripping out his throat before Ryder could do anything. But he’d taken two of the wolves down along with him. Drake’s sister and his mate had perished in the fire at their home, trying to save their cub. Several others had died in the skirmishes between the wolves and the bears, and though they took at least twice as many wolves to the ground before they succumbed, it was not enough. It was like there was an endless wave of wolves, and there were only so many werebears.

Ryder bristled with rage and grief. After the first wave, the Kadin pack wolves had only given them enough time to get the families and run. The somber face of the pack’s young Alpha, Daren Kadin, struck him as a harsh juxtaposition next to the destruction that his pack had caused. He was a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain, Ryder had thought, and he had gained it all on the expense of Ryder and his clan. Ruthless, determined, ferocious.

Wolves. Scavenging mutts,
he thought darkly. At least they had given Ryder a chance to tell his people in the mist of destruction to get out, but that didn’t make their losses any easier to handle. The wolves would be back at midnight, and the Bitteroots would have to get out by then, or face the consequences. By the littering of dead bodies on the ground, Daren Kadin had left little to the imagination as to what he meant by that.

But there was enough time to deal with his rage later. To grieve later. He just needed to know if his heart would be broken completely by that one fateful day or if he could still find the strength to scrape himself back together again. The tree line was clearing ahead of him, and he could see the bright, horrific tongues of flame lapping at his lodge. Two windows had blown out, and it was being consumed by the fire. His steps hastened. He broke through the forest and skidded to a halt in front of the building, a tortured roar rumbling out of his throat. Whiffing the air with his large snout, he raised to his hind legs. There was barely a house there. The roof had collapsed, and the carrying walls were standing by shear strength of will at that point.

The crackling was deafening, and he could feel the burn of the flames, standing so close. He couldn’t smell Jackie anywhere. Ryder ran around the house, shifting midway around the side. He grimaced as his legs touched the snow – the heavy gashes that covered his body and the undeniably fractured leg being much more than a mere nuisance in human form. He was a bloody, wounded mess, and had he been any less of a werebear, he would not have been walking, let alone running anymore.