Page 45 of Big Lone Bear

Chapter Twenty-Seven

On Saturday nights, the clan’s cave was usually filled to the brim, but with the threat of the cougars so high in the area over the past week or so, Espie was not surprised to scent far fewer bears inside their sacred space as she and Luther approached the entranceway.

She recognized Miguel, Ivo, Taymond, and Copper, and a few other younger males. She knew that one of the precautions that her brother had taken was to send some of the older bears (who mostly stayed at the caves) far deeper into the cavern, where they’d be safe if Ursalina’s magic failed and that subsequent failure had allowed their enemies to breach the entrance. And of course, all the women and children had recently been instructed to remain in town where they would not be foolishly placing themselves in danger.

“I shouldn’t be here, Espie,” Luther protested, no doubt feeling the force of the sorceress’ spell beginning to push against the outsider attempting to step through. “If you and your brother had a fight because of me, I shouldn’t just walk in the front door to his kingdom without even knocking first.”

“You’re with me, though,” Espie insisted. “I won’t let anything happen –”

“How dare you bring that rogue bear in here?” Miguel growled from where he was seated near the bonfire. The other men, seeing him, shifted into their bear forms and began to growl, but not one of them moved, and they wouldn’t move unless their alpha told them to do so.

However, it was obvious to Espie that Miguel didn’t believe there was a threat to the cave itself. The bone Miguel had to pick with Luther was personal in nature. He wasn’t worried about his status as a rogue bear, nor was he concerned with whether or not Luther had been involved in any of the killings. Miguel didn’t morph into a huge, seven foot tall bear because of any of those things. He only wanted to be her big brother, to test the bear who had dared to mate his sister without even asking for his permission first.

Espie let out a surprised shriek as Miguel’s eyes locked with Luther’s. Her fated mate shifted back into bear form, ready to fend off the huge grizzly if he needed to. Espie remained human, and she stepped right in front of Luther. If her brother intended to bully someone, he’d have to get past her first.

“Miguel, I’m sick of this,” she shouted. “You need to listen to me right now!”

Espie got knocked out of the way amid the chaos as the two bears slammed into each other. While Luther’s bear form was a bit leaner, they were both huge; two titans battling it out for all to see: an alpha battling an outsider; an older brother testing the strength of his sister’s fated mate; a bear challenging a potential rival.

To his credit, Luther held his own, even with Espie screaming and trying to work her way between them. Soon enough, though, bright red blood stained that pretty white fur.

“Stop!” Espie’s voice reverberated off the walls, and finally she managed to get between the two feuding bears, her fragile human body acting as a barrier.

Miguel roared, and his obvious displeasure with being challenged was palpable in the air. It forced all the young men back, as though Miguel had commanded them away, but Espie was unimpressed.

“Stop this,” Espie ordered, breath ragged, and bearing a few scratches of her own. “Now! Luther hasn’t done anything wrong!”

Miguel snorted at her and tried to push her out of the way with his huge grizzly head, but to her credit, Espie held her ground.

The same thing couldn’t be said for Luther. Either unwilling, or unable, to continue to fight, the polar bear turned and limped out into the forest, leaving the fight—and leaving Miguel to face a tear-streaked little sister alone, her cheeks flushed and her eyes holding an anger unlike anything he’d ever seen before.

Espie had thought their last fight had been enough to shake their once strong, sound relationship, but it was nothing compared to how she felt as she glared at him now. His attack had been impulsive and brash. He hadn’t even allowed Luther to explain himself or his presence there.

“That was – stupid, brother,” she admonished the huge grizzly who stood there staring at her in shock. “You are such an idiot! You need to get that temper of yours under control and learn to think before you act. You could have killed someone who was only here trying to help reveal the true culprit of all of this chaos, and until you can apologize and accept the fact that Luther is one of the good guys, I’m through. I don’t even want to look at you right now!”

Miguel clearly must have shifted back as Espie turned and headed for the entrance, because she heard him call after her. “Espie, wait! Come back and tell me why you’re covered in your own blood. Who the hell did that to you? Espie?”

“Cougars,” she shouted back over her shoulder, but she didn’t even bother to slow down. “Just go figure it out for yourself!”

Espie was seeing red. How dare Miguel attack her fated mate? Her inner grizzly was pissed, and she was never pissed at her brother. But he could have killed her fated mate just then without ever even meeting him properly first. She took off into the forest in search of Luther, but she lost his scent after about twenty minutes of tracking, and so feeling dejected, she decided to head for home.

With any luck he may have chosen to stumble his way back to her cabin, but she didn’t really know where he might go. The blood trail disappeared, but she couldn’t say if that was good news or bad. All she could do was hope he’d made it back to wherever he was going in one piece and that he hadn’t been injured too badly to heal.

She ached with uncertainty as she headed for her cabin, wondering if he would try to contact her at least to let her know how he was doing. Her stomach was in knots, and she ran through the trees without any concern for cougars or any other dangers that might be out there. She just wanted to reach the resort so she could figure out how to help.

Because she was a naked human, Espie skirted around the tourist cabins, although not that many were filled anyway, and moved purposefully toward her own cabin, always on the lookout for Luther. His scent was near, but it wasn’t fresh, but rather from the last time he’d been there. It was nothing to get her hopes up over.

As she approached the edge of the woods, her cottage roof in sight through the trees, a new scent caught her attention instead. Her inner grizzly stirred suddenly with such a fierce protectiveness that it made her chest tight. She picked up her pace and came to a staggering halt as she reached her front steps.

There sat a naked little Violet, too busy yanking grass out in front of the bottom step to even notice that Espie had returned. She did, however, glance up when Espie rushed across the lawn to her.

“Violet? How on Earth did you get here? Are you hurt?”

The little girl shook her head, her dark hair tumbling about.

Espie breathed a sigh of relief. “What are you doing here? Are you okay? Are you all by yourself?”

She couldn’t imagine Violet getting there, unseen and alone. The forest was full of dangerous cougars who were stalking the trails now, but it had always been treacherous for a small child even before all that. Snakes. Coyotes. There were plenty of predators who wouldn’t think twice about attacking such a young cub.

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