Page 68 of Combust
“—a wildfire. I don’t know how it started, or why my papa and the other grown-ups decided to stay put on our clan’s property instead of evacuating. All I remember is the sound of that fire, like a train bearin’ down on us. And Mama throwin’ herself over me, telling me that she’d protect me, but I needed to shift right quick.”
“I did. She told me that I should never reveal that I was both human and bear to any outsiders. And then she tossed me out the upstairs window. I landed badly, and broke one of my forelegs. It was the middle of the night, and I remember lookin’ back and seein’ the house completely swallowed in flames. I think the people in town could see it burning like a beacon. I tried again and again to get into the house, to reach Mama, but I couldn’t make it through the fire. I hurt myself real bad doin’ it, but I was crazy with losing my mama and I didn’t care if I died.
“The next bits are muddled up in my memory. I was still in bear shape when a crew of wildland firefighters found me. I don’t know how long that was after the house burned. I was in shock and grieving hard, and I think I’d been in the garden for at least a couple of days. Those firefighters thought they’d come across a regular old orphaned bear cub, so they bundled me up and delivered me to a wildlife rehab center to have my burns and broken bones treated.”
“Oh, Cade,” Maggie voice was filled with infinite compassion. She snuggled closer.
“When I’d healed up, they put me in an enclosure with other orphaned bear cubs for a few days. Then someone figured out that I wasn’t a black bear, like the rest o’ them, but a grizzly. So, I got a whole pen to myself. There were a couple of women who took care of me and treated me real nice. I used to debate with myself about shifting back to human, but Mama had ordered me with her last breath to keep my shifter nature a secret, so I did.”
It was funny how most of the really important things, like Mama and Papa’s faces, had faded to almost nothing in his memories, but minor details, like the colorful toys given to him by his keepers Eva and Selma, were still vivid in his mind’s eye.
Cade chuckled bitterly. “Oh, but I was a head-scratcher to these folks. They couldn’t figure out what the hell a grizzly cub was doing in the Ozarks. And then there was the fact that as a shifter, I grew up far more slowly than the other bear cubs. But eventually, I did get big enough that I heard Eva and Selma speculating about when they’d release me into the wild, and where I ought to go.
“But that never happened. Because grizzlies aren’t native to the Ozarks, and because I’d bonded with my caretakers, the Arkansas Fish & Game Commission officials classified me as unreleasable.”
“What did that mean for you?” Maggie asked. “Did you stay at the wildlife rehab place?”
“Nope.” Funny how that had hurt nearly as much as losing his real parents. “They eventually sent me to a wildlife park up in Wyoming. It was one of those places that has extra-big enclosures and lets the public visit. I was devastated to part from Eva and Selma, but at that point, I’d been living in bear shape for so many years, I’d just about forgotten how to be human. So, I settled in there while I finished growing into an adult.”
“When did you finally shift back to human? And what happened when you did?”
“Well, I might’ve still been at that park, except it went bankrupt. I overheard my keepers discussing it. They thought that it was a real shame that the park’s owners intended to sell me to some kind of shady outfit, and they didn’t know what would become of me. They were afraid that I’d either be shot by hunters who wanted a guaranteed kill and a trophy, or sold off and slaughtered for my parts and pieces.”
“That’s horrible!” Maggie exclaimed.
“I thought so, too. So, I waited until the wee hours, then finally shifted back into my human shape. It was easy to get out of the enclosure once I had opposable thumbs again. I snuck into the owner’s house, stole some clothes and a bit of money, and hit the road.”
Escaping the wildlife part hadn’t been nearly as easy as he’d just painted it to Maggie, but in the end, hehadmanaged to make his getaway without anyone the wiser about his secret.
“I won’t lie, I was scared to death and ignorant as sin about nearly everything. I had a whole lot of catching-up to do. It was a struggle just to get my ID, and all those years without schoolin’…” Cade shook his head. “I still remembered the basics of how to read and write, but I did it like a second or third grader. I had to apply myself, but thank goodness for libraries and librarians. And it was a librarian who showed me how to get a copy of my birth certificate from the Arkansas Department of Health. Finally havin’ that at hand made getting all of my other documents a sight easier.”
He looked at her. “Since then, I’ve worked as a wilderness guide, ranch hand, you name it, doin’ pretty much anything that required a strong back and didn’t ask too many questions. At my last job, on the Barenbach Ranch, the owners encouraged me to attend community college at night and get my Ranch Management degree. I took their advice, and was glad I did.”
“So, why did you leave that ranch?” Maggie appeared to be fascinated with his story.
“Mr. Barenbach passed suddenly. I heard it was a heart attack. None o’ his kids or grandkids wanted to run the ranch, so his widow decided to sell. That’s when I saw your papa’s ad for a ranch foreman, and figured I’d try my luck up north. Over the years, I’d heard rumors that Bearpaw Ridge was a shifter town, and that the Swansons might be a bear shifter clan, so I was hopin’…” Cade shrugged.
“That this might become your new home?” Maggie stretched up to kiss him.
Cade closed his eyes and let the pleasure of her lips wash away the pain pulsing in his hands and feet.
When the kiss ended a good while later, he felt brave enough to tell her what was on his mind. “I’m tired of moving around. I want to put down roots. I want a real life and a family of my own…with you, Maggie.Ifyou’ll still have me.”
“These past two weeks without you, Cade—I missed you so much. I felt like part of me had been torn away, and it hurt.” She pushed herself upright, giving him a momentary pang at the loss of contact. But her next words more than made up for the lack of her sweet curves melting against his side. “I want you to stay, Cade. I finally realized something that my bear has known for a while now. That we’re meant to be together. Grandma Elle and Dad like you, and I know they’d be ecstatic if you became a full clan member.”
He stared at her, not daring to believe what he was hearing.
After a lifetime of loss and rejection, it seemed inconceivable that his deepest desires were on the verge of coming true.
“You want to mate me?” he asked, just to make one hundred percent certain that he wasn’t getting his hopes up for nothing.
Maggie suddenly looked uncertain, and for an instant, he feared that he had misunderstood her.
“Ifyou’re still courting me,” she said tentatively. “I mean, if you’ve decided that you don’t want—”
He interrupted her. “Hellyeah, Maggie, I want to be your mate. I never stopped wanting it.” And just like that, all of Cade’s dreams just came true in one fell swoop. “I was afraid that I’d screwed up everything.”
“Me, too,” she said. “You made a heck of a first impression on my bear, even if it took a while longer for my human side to come around.”
