Page 29 of Bear's Rejected Love

The back part of Roan’s cabin was on fire. The blaze hadn’t spread to the front yet. It must have happened only a short time before, because didn’t fire spread quickly? Or had the rain that soaked everything earlier in the day prevented it?

She was about to charge straight to the front door when she saw two large shadowy figures rushing towards her.

The girls.

Ora and Helena, and Helena had the baby in her arms.

“Girls!” She reached them and opened her arms. They’d come from the road, well away from the cabin.

Ora had a blanket wrapped around the baby, but both girls were in thin nightgowns. She hugged them both, frantically checking their faces, their hands, the baby. They stood there so eerily quiet, while hot tears scalded her cheeks and she gulped for air after her sprint through town.

“It’s okay,” Ora told her. “We’re okay. The power was out, and the kerosene lamp got knocked over. I tried to put it out, but it spread too fast. I ran to Helena’s room and got her. The baby sleeps with us. We grabbed him and went out the window.”

“Roan? Oh my lord, no!”

Helena charged into her, grasping her around the shoulders to keep her from rushing towards the burning cabin. Even though she was only fourteen, Tabitha could feel the girl’s strength, “Roan started the fire. He crashed through the window. He’s out. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry? Don’t worry? How could they both be so calm? It was- it was…

On a scale of one to ten, watching their home burn was probably a one on their trauma scale. She realized that was why they could stand there so calmly, why they could breathe, why they could think so levelheaded and clear.

“What do you mean he started the fire?” That finally cut through to her.

“Not like that,” Ora whispered. “Honor was fussing. He wanted a bottle. I got up to make him one in the kitchen, but we didn’t have power. I lit the lantern, I know they’re dangerous, but the flashlight was dead too. I was only going to be a few minutes. I don’t know what happened, just that Roan was suddenly there, and he looked… haunted. He didn’t look like he was with us, you know? Like he might be back there. Sometimes, he dreams. I put out my hands and tried to tell him he was okay, that he was with us, that it was just me, but he shifted. The wolf came out. The owl might be stubborn, but the wolf is uncontrolled. I did say playful today, and he is, but he can be very… skittish. He ran through the kitchen, knocked the lamp off the counter, and then he broke through the window and went charging out into the night. He was running fast and scared. I doubt Roan even knows what’s happening, if he’s shifted back at all by now. He could be miles from here.”

She needed to say something other than oh my god.

Tabitha put her arms around the girls’ shoulders and let them further back. The heat of the cabin was blistering. She could hear voices. There were no sirens. There was no firetruck. What would they even do in a situation like this? What if it hadn’t just rained? Fear made her feel sick. She couldn’t swallow past the lump in her throat. But she did. She did and she took a breath, and she got it together because getting it together and keeping it together was her thing. She’d always done it for Corbin, and she’d do it for these girls and the silent, wide-eyed baby in their arms.

He didn’t know he was in danger. The girls had thought fast and kept him safe. He probably hadn’t even inhaled so much as a breath of smoke.

“Help is coming. We should get away from here. I’ll take you to Sam and Lily’s, unless you’d like to go to my cabin, but there’s no one there. Corbin went for help.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to find Roan. When he shifts back and realizes what happened, it’s going to kill him. I need to let him know everything is okay. A cabin can be rebuilt. The three of you cannot be replaced. But you’re okay. You’re all okay.”

“We’re fine,” Ora agreed, rubbing her hand over Tabitha’s arm and sliding it up to the back of her neck. She met the girl’s intense stare, which reflected the orange glow of the burning cabin. “We’re truly fine, Tabitha, we are.”

“We’ve been through so much worse,” Helena agreed, echoing Tabitha’s thoughts from a few minutes before. “Honor is fine too. Just bring Roan to Sam’s. We’ll go there. We’ll make him see that it was an accident.”

Ora’s lips set in a hard line. “We still choose him. People baby proof houses. We’ll just be more careful.”

“He’s going to think this is unforgivable,” Tabitha moaned. She shouldn’t be talking out loud. She should be moving. “He’s going to run again.”

“No!”

“No!” Helena gasped at the time Ora did. She hugged Honor a little bit tighter.

The baby was unusually quiet, transfixed by the burning cabin and then by the shadows who warmed in. As a volley of shouts and yells stormed the night, Tabitha yelled to the group.

“We’re over here. Everyone is safe! No one is in the cabin.” It would be horrible if someone went inside, thinking that anyone was trapped.

“They’re safe!” She heard an answering cry. “Let’s get this under control.”

“I’m taking them to Sam’s!” Her voice carried through the night. “Corbin! Corbin, are you there?” She wasn’t frantic for him. She knew that her son had more common sense than to ever approach a burning building and the other men would keep him back.

“Mom!” He came running through the night and flung himself at her. He smelled like sweat and smoke and she still burst into tears even knowing that nothing bad would happen to him.

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