Awakened by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 5) Page 7

  Rune chuckled and it was good to hear his friend laughing again, to see that bright spark in his eyes and how happy he was.

  Maverick finished his second beer and went for a third, drifting away from Rune and Callie, towards the group gathered around the grill. Callie would blend right in with them. Every single one of them was wearing shorts of some fashion, the blond twin bears pairing their cargo shorts with black T-shirts while Skye wore a faded grey tank with small blue denim shorts and Cameo had a sensible cream tee on that went well with her khaki hiking shorts, and made her look every bit the ranger she was.

  Lowe was at the helm as always, a smile in his blue eyes and a beer in his hand as he snapped tongs at Cameo, making his mate giggle and try to evade him. The blond bear didn’t relent as she hid behind Skye, causing the petite brunette to frown at Lowe.

  Knox snatched the tongs from his twin’s grip, his grin wicked. “I’m going to do the grilling for once.”

  “Good gods, no.” Lowe was quick to launch at his younger brother, making a valiant attempt to reclaim the tongs.

  Cameo and Skye burst into laughter as the two of them chased each other around the grill.

  Maverick shook his head and sighed, nodded to Saint as he emerged from his cabin with Holly plastered to his side. Another two victims of the shorts trend. The sight of his alpha in a pair of knee-length black cargo shorts was disturbing. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen Saint in shorts before.

  He did his best not to look at Holly directly, noticed that Lowe and Knox did the same, diligently keeping their eyes off her. Maverick wasn’t a cub. If he looked at Holly in her small shorts and bikini top, Saint would explode. His alpha already looked on edge, was flicking glances at all the males.

  Holly pressed closer to her mate, her hand brushing his chest through his dark T-shirt as she said something to him, her whole face lighting up with it. The two of them were inseparable. Maverick glanced at the other couples. In fact, all of them rarely left each other’s sides. He was starting to feel like a fifth wheel.

  He glanced in the direction of the cabin where Bronwyn was staying before he could stop himself.

  Unfortunately, it meant he was looking right at Rune.

  His friend’s blue eyes narrowed with his frown and then his features relaxed and he glanced over his shoulder. When Rune’s gaze came back to him, it was warm, soft with understanding that Maverick wanted to pretend didn’t exist. It was easier that way. The last thing he needed was Rune getting ideas about him having feelings for Bronwyn, even if that was the truth.

  Maverick grabbed another two bottles of beer, feeling he was going to need them if he was going to make it through tonight. Running had made him feel better, but this time it had only lasted until he had walked back into Black Ridge and felt Bronwyn’s eyes on him.

  His whole body had lit up the second her gaze had landed on him, his blood rushing faster, heart pounding in a way that had unsettled him. He had fought in cages for decades, had faced countless foes in that time, but he had never felt as nervous as she made him with only a look.

  He downed one of the beers, tossed the empty in the pail near the grill, and grabbed another.

  “You good?” Saint rumbled as he paused close to him, concern shining in his dark eyes. Holly tiptoed and he leaned towards her, his expression softening as she pressed a kiss to his whiskered cheek, and then she bounced away from him, heading for Skye and Cameo. Saint stared at the back of her head, or more specifically, the mating mark on her nape that she had revealed by twisting her black hair up into a messy knot. Maverick went to move away, but Saint caught his arm. “I asked if you were good.”

  Maverick shrugged, rolling his shoulders beneath his black cable-knit sweater. “I’m fine.”

  He wasn’t.

  He really wasn’t.

  He had been going in circles for hours, torn between polar feelings, and between twin needs. Part of him had wanted to go and see Bronwyn, and the rest of him had wanted to head to the lodge and stay the hell away from her. She deserved better. He felt that all the way to his soul. Rune could deal with her trouble for her. It would be better that way.

  The look Rune gave him when he glanced at his friend warned him that it wasn’t going to happen. Rune would make him stay, and as much as he hated to admit it, as deeply as he wanted to run from this, his friend was right. He couldn’t do that to Bronwyn. She needed help, needed protection, and something deep inside him wouldn’t let him walk away and let someone else take care of her.

  “Your run didn’t help?” Saint’s deep voice rolled over him, pulling him back to his alpha.

  Maverick shook his head.

  Saint looked worried by that, closed the distance between them and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “This something I should be worried about too?”

  When his alpha flicked a glance towards the other side of the creek, Maverick was quick to shake his head again, because he knew Saint. If Saint believed Bronwyn was a threat to his pride, that she was going to place them in danger, he would be quick to remove her from the property. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t leave her undefended like that. Vulnerable. If she was right and she did have hunters on her tail, then she needed strong fighters around her, people who could handle them. She wasn’t a fighter.

  She was too kind. Too gentle. Had a good heart, one that didn’t deserve to be stained with blood.

  Holly came bounding back to her mate, looped her arm around his other one and waggled a bottle of beer at him. Saint took it with a smile and her grey-green eyes landed on Maverick. A frown wrinkled her nose.

  “Don’t you ever wear something that suits the season more?” She waved her hand around, towards the deep blue sky. “It’s summer.”

  Maverick shrugged again.

  Saint freed his arm from her grip and settled it around her shoulders, tucking her against his side. “Mav feels the cold more than most of us. It’s just the way he is. Not all of us can run around in shorts and a bikini top in twenty degrees Celsius weather.”

  “I’d pay to see Maverick in shorts and a bikini top.” Holly’s eyes gained a mischievous glint.

  Maverick was quick to move a step back from his alpha, had placed some distance between them before Saint had even growled at him, flashing fangs in his direction.

  Saint swept Holly up into his arms, ripping a shriek from her, and marched her towards their cabin. “That’s it. I’m putting more clothes on you, before I’m tempted to peel off what you are wearing or murder someone.”

  Maverick made his way to the firepit that stood to the right of that cabin, picked up the iron and podded the blazing logs, his gaze locked on the flames, his mind wandering again. It didn’t go far. It drifted to the female every inch of him was waiting to see again, a female he couldn’t have, and he tried to shut out the sounds of everyone as they passed the evening with their mates.

  Rune came up to stand beside him and Maverick kept his gaze on the fire, avoiding him.

  “You need to talk?” Rune lifted his beer to his lips and took a long draught of it.

  Maverick shook his head.

  “I need to run… or fight… or do something.” He closed his eyes, tossed the iron onto the pebbly ground and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know what I need.”

  “I do,” Rune murmured.

  Maverick tensed and resisted the temptation to look at his friend. If he didn’t look at him, then he didn’t have to acknowledge that Rune knew what had him tied in knots. He could keep on pretending that everything hadn’t just become complicated, that the path he was on didn’t have a split ahead of him, and he didn’t need to decide which route he was going to take.

  Rune sighed. “Maverick—”

  He cut himself off and Maverick knew why.

  He had sensed her too.

  He turned and dropped his hand from his face, opened his eyes and fixed them on the point beyond Saint’s cabin.

  Bronwyn came into vie
w there, tentatively glancing around her, looking so uncertain that a need to go to her blasted through him, shook him to his core and had him taking a step towards her. He locked his body up tight, resisting that urge. It wasn’t difficult as he stared at her, as the sight of her hit him hard, stunning him.

  Gods, she was beautiful.

  She swallowed and lifted her left hand, nervously tucked one of the haphazard strands of her pixie cut behind her ear, and then smiled wider than he had ever seen her smile when Callie hurried over to her. The black-haired wolf tucked Bronwyn close to her side, and Bronwyn’s honey-coloured eyes lit up as she said something, as Callie ushered her towards the group who had all stopped to look at her.

  Bronwyn’s gaze shifted to him as everyone greeted her, branded her name on his soul as a flicker of nerves lit her eyes and she toyed with her hair again. She said something to the group and stepped away from them.

  Heading for him.

  Maverick’s heart raced, every fibre of his being deeply aware of her as she walked towards him, her curvy hips swaying in her tight jeans and the loose lower half of her burgundy top fluttering around her stomach in the gentle breeze. She toyed with her hair again, hooking it behind her left ear, the shy way she glanced at him hitting him hard.

  Making him nervous.

  Her gaze lowered to the ground as she neared him and Rune, an awkward edge to her.

  “Damn, Winnie. You grew up beautiful. Didn’t she, Maverick?” Rune nudged him.

  Maverick tensed and his eyes darted to Rune, and then to her. He hesitated when her gaze met his, his tongue getting tangled, and a hint of a frown formed on her brow and she looked away from him.

  He cursed himself. What was he doing? Even better, what was Rune doing? The male was up to something, knew something, and Maverick didn’t like it. He stared at Bronwyn, tried not to but couldn’t convince himself to look anywhere else. If he was being honest with himself, he would say right that moment maturing hadn’t suddenly made her pretty.

  She had always been beautiful to him.

  He didn’t have the balls though.

  Swigged his beer in silence instead.

  “I think I hear Callie calling. You two will be all right on your own for a while?” Rune gave Bronwyn a look, one that had Maverick feeling uneasy again. Again? He hadn’t stopped feeling uneasy from the moment Bronwyn had called him.

  “Um.” Bronwyn lifted her hand but Rune was already walking away from them. She glanced at Maverick, the nerves he could see in her eyes trickling through him too.

  Maverick searched for something to say, something very safe and unlikely to give away anything he was feeling.

  His gaze snagged on the pendant hanging around her neck and he frowned at it, was moving before he could stop himself. He took hold of the heart locket, his blood thundering, rage curling through him. Who had given it to her? A lover?

  Awareness slowly rolled up on him as he glared at it.

  Awareness of her eyes on his face.

  Of the tremulous beat of her heart.

  Of the nerves he could feel in her.

  And how close he was to her, how his knuckles brushed her chest as he held the locket in his fingers, how her scent swirled around him, intoxicating him and making his head hazy as it roused something fierce inside him.

  His gaze shifted up a few inches.

  To her mouth.

  Those sweet rosy lips beckoned him.

  Chapter 9

  Bronwyn’s cheeks flushed as Maverick stared at her mouth, lost in thoughts of kissing her. He blinked and panicked a little, felt the need to do something so she didn’t get the wrong impression and ended up opening the locket.

  He stared at the photograph inside it and blurted, “You were a chubby baby.”

  She snatched it from him, her fingers brushing his, sending a thousand volts of electricity arcing up his arm. “It’s not me. It’s my brother.”

  Her scowl melted away as she turned it towards her and gazed down at it, her mood shifting towards sombre again.

  “The locket was my mother’s. When the—” She drew down a deep, shuddering breath and he wanted to grip her shoulders, wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her and tell her she didn’t have to talk about it, because he couldn’t bear to see her hurting. She sighed and angled her head, a hint of a smile curling her lips before it faded again and her emotions swayed back towards hurt. “When the hunters raided our pride… When they grabbed me, the chain snapped. I thought it was lost forever. After Saint and the others freed us, and I went home, I found it waiting on my nightstand. My aunt had found it.”

  “Your aunt?” He frowned at that. “You never mentioned you had family other than your brother.”

  She nodded and glanced up at him, and then her gaze fell to the locket again. She stroked her finger over the other photograph it contained, a faded one of a smiling couple.

  “Maverick, these are my parents.” She angled the locket towards him. “Mom, Dad, this is Maverick. You would have liked him.”

  He doubted that.

  Didn’t stop his heart from softening though, turning to mush in his chest as she fondly gazed at the picture, her brow slightly furrowed.

  “How long ago did you lose them? Was it during the raid?” He peered at the picture. She looked like her mother, had that same kind air about her and big beguiling eyes, and a bright smile.

  Bronwyn shook her head. “It was long before that. I was twenty-six… twenty-seven maybe when they were killed in an avalanche. We had no family left at that pride, so the alpha shipped me and my brother off to live with our aunt and cousin in Whistler.”

  He flexed his fingers and curled them into fists, battling the desire to brush them across her cheek when tears lined her dark eyelashes and he knew they weren’t only about her parents. She was thinking about her brother too.

  “Do you remember anything about them?” Maverick glanced at the photo again.

  She shook her head. “Not really. I was so young and it was so long ago. My aunt tells me stories about them. She’s my mother’s younger sister. Are your parents still alive?”

  He was quick to shake his head too when she looked at him, swigged his beer and cleared his throat as feelings he had thought he had buried long ago made it feel too tight. “They were killed in a raid on our pride forty years ago.”

  “The one that brought you to the compound?” Her golden eyes softened as they held his.

  He nodded, gulped down another mouthful of beer, and then blew out his breath. When he had arrived at the compound, Rune had asked about his family, and Maverick remembered he had bluntly told the male they were dead. He hadn’t shed a tear for them. He hadn’t been a good son, or a good kid. He had given them so much trouble when they had done their hardest to wrangle him under control, to stop him from fighting every bear who so much as looked at him in the wrong way.

  He never had been a good male.

  But he had never felt it more keenly than he did at that moment as he looked at Winnie, wanting something he knew he couldn’t have.

  She dropped her gaze back to her pendant. “I guess my aunt and my cousin are like a mom and a sister to me. Andrew never got along with them. He never got along with anyone at the pride. I think that’s why… I think…”

  Her throat worked on a hard swallow and he couldn’t stop himself from touching her arm when he sensed the shift in her emotions.

  Bronwyn sniffled and snapped the locket closed. “I think that’s why the pride didn’t fight harder to protect us when the hunters came.”

  The need to pull her into his arms was strong, battering him, and he almost crumbled. She pulled away from him though, chuckled mirthlessly and shrugged it off. There was no point in her pretending that the actions of her pride hadn’t hurt her. It was written all over her face when she looked at him, and now he knew why she had looked so miserable when she had arrived at the compound.

  She had craved a family and had thought she had found it, and
her brother had ruined it for her.

  “Your aunt and this cousin love you though. I’m guessing they do anyway. You look happy when you talk about them.” He held his nerve and refused to look away when she stared deep into his eyes, hers widening slightly.

  Because he noticed little things about her?

  It wasn’t as if he could be any other way when it came to her. He didn’t mean to, but he had always studied her closely, had always been attuned to her, aware of even the smallest change in her feelings.

  “They do. It’s… been nice living with them.” She lightly boxed him on his arm, lingered with her knuckles against it as her expression softened again. “I missed you and Rune though.”

  Gods, he had missed her too.

  Ached inside even now, when she was standing before him.

  So close to him, but so far beyond his reach.

  He searched for something to say as she gazed up at him, deeply aware of how close she was to him as his blood thundered, as that uneasiness flowed through him again, tearing him in two. What was it about this female that had him speechless all the time, unable to so much as look at her without feeling tied in knots?

  He wasn’t sure he was equipped to handle the way she made him feel.

  It was all new to him, but at the same time, it wasn’t.

  And that scared him.

  Together with how she looked at him, as if he was some kind of saviour, a male who deserved her attention.

  He was far from being both of those things.

  And that was his problem.

  The cages and the compound might be in his rear view, but that didn’t change who he was or the things he had done. He wasn’t a good male. He wasn’t gentle. Kind. If she knew the kind of beast he was, she would run and not look back.

  But that wasn’t the reason he needed to keep his distance from her.

  Hell, maybe it would be better if she did know.

  Maybe it would be better if he told her right now about the kind of male he was. He could paint a black picture of how he was with females, could tell her how brutal he could be in the heat of the moment, when a side of himself that he wasn’t proud of came to the fore to steal control. He could make her see the kind of male she was dealing with and she would leave.