by Shannon West
Oh, Lord, this was worse than he had anticipated. Surely she didn’t intend to go up there. “I don’t know, Mama. Somewhere further up the mountain. It’s pretty isolated, I think.”
“Well, damn it all to hell, Spencer Sutherland, I could just whip your ass. Not only did you let your baby brother go off with a damned MacKay, but you don’t even have a clue as to where he took him.”
Spencer started feeling defensive, and more than a little worried himself. What if his mother was right? What if something bad happened to Travis? “Well, Hawke thought it would be okay.”
“Hawke?” Emma stopped pacing and turned to look at Spencer, narrowing her eyes.
Spencer knew that look, and he took a step backward, beginning to fear for his own safety. He decided to throw Hawke under the bus to distract her. “Yes, Hawke. He said it would be fine. He said that Camron was a good guy, responsible and hard-working.”
“And a MacKay. Anyway, do you think that I give a damn what Hawke Sutherland had to say on the subject? I’ll tell you what, I could whip both your asses, and I just might do it before this is all over.”
Spencer was really squirming now, under his mother’s intense stare. “I’ll try to find out where the cabin is, Mama, and go check on Travis.”
“Never you mind. I’ll take care of this myself. I think that you’ve done quite enough, don’t you?” Emma turned on her heel and headed for the front door.
“Mama, where are you going?”
“I’m going to get my boy.”
“You don’t even know where to look. Why don’t you let Hawke and me find out where the cabin is and go check on him, like I said a minute ago?”
She stopped and gave Spencer a look that could wither an oak tree. “You and Hawke both better back off and let me handle this, if you know what’s good for you.”
“Hawke is the sheriff, Mama. If there is a problem, he should be the one to take care of it.”
“Yeah, he’s done such a good job so far.” With that parting shot, Emma went out the front door, slamming it behind her.
Spencer looked over at his father, still sitting in his easy chair, not saying a word. “Thanks for all the support, Dad.”
“You know your mother, son. When she gets like that, there ain’t no point in arguing with her. I’ve lived with her for over thirty years, and I know when to keep my mouth shut. What I don’t understand is why you don’t.”
“I do know, Dad, but I was trying to prepare her for the rest of it. I was going to let this sink in with her and then tell her—you know—what else is going on.”
“What are you talking about, son?”
“I’ll tell you, Dad, but I don’t think that we should tell Mama yet. The thing is, well, Travis and Camron are…mates.”
“That’s impossible. They’re both clan males. Not only that, Camron is a MacKay. That would just be a mess.”
“It’s not impossible, but it is a mess. That’s why I wanted to ease Mama into it, so don’t tell her.”
“Oh, trust me, I have no intention of telling her. You can handle that job all by yourself.”
Spencer sighed. Just the thought of her reaction to this news was giving him cold chills.
“I’m going to go see Hawke and see if he’ll go with me to find that damned cabin. Maybe we can warn them at least. I’ll let you know if we find out anything.”
Chapter Seven
Hawk was drinking his first cup of coffee, and Jace was at the kitchen table playing on his computer, when they heard a car coming up the driveway. Hawke walked over to the front window to look out. “What the hell? Looks like Spencer’s car, and he’s flying in here like the hounds of hell are chasing him. I wonder if something has happened.”
He watched Spencer jump out of his car as soon as he stopped and bound up the front steps. Hawke opened the door just as Spencer got to it. “What the hell is going on, Spencer? Is everything okay?”
“No, everything is not okay. I told Mama about Travis going to the cabin with Camron and she lost her mind. Damn, I don’t know how I’m going to tell her about the mate thing.”
Jace was still sitting at the table, but looked up in surprise. “What mate thing?”
Still focused on Spencer, Hawke didn’t take the time to answer Jace. Frowning, he continued to stare at his cousin. “You have to tell her, Spencer. For God’s sake, they’ll be living together when they get back from the cabin, I imagine. She’s bound to notice a little detail like that.”
“What mate thing?” Jace said again, and this time he got up and came to stand next to the two men. He pulled on Hawke’s arm. “Let’s try this again--what mate thing?”
When Jace walked up, Hawke had absent-mindedly put his arm around him and pulled him close. Now, he looked down at Jace as it finally registered with him that he was there. “What, baby? Did you say something?”
“Uh...yes. I asked you, what mate thing?”
“Oh, damn, I forgot to tell you. Camron told Spencer and me that Travis is his mate.”
“Holy shit! How is that going to work? I thought that Camron was dating that Jenny girl and Travis was seeing Holden MacKay.”
“Yes, but if and when the mating urge hits, there isn’t much that you can do about it.” He quirked an eyebrow at Jace. “You may remember how that goes.”
Jace laughed. “Oh, yeah, I seem to remember something about that.”
Hawke smiled. “Anyway, Camron took Travis to some hunting cabin that belongs to his family to talk to him and, you know, bond with him.” He waggled his eyebrows and laughed.
Spencer hissed in a breath at that. “Lord, Hawke, this is my little brother you’re talking about! And Mama is thoroughly pissed that I allowed this to happen.”
“You didn’t allow it to happen, Travis did. He’s a grown man and can make his own decisions. I’m sure that if he hadn’t wanted to go, Camron wouldn’t have kidnapped him. Your mama’s going to have to realize that Travis is not a child anymore.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Oh, and, by the way, she’s none too happy with you right now, either.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Well. I just happened to mention that you were there when Camron told us that he wanted to take Travis to the cabin, and that you had said that Camron was a good guy, trustworthy and responsible.”
“Thanks a lot. All I need is Aunt Emma being mad at me.”
“Yeah, she said that she ought to whip both our asses.”
“Well, she did that plenty when we were growing up, and I don’t remember it as a pleasant experience. Where is she now?”
“She left, saying that she was going to get her boy, but she doesn’t even know where the cabin is. I thought that maybe you and I could find out if Camron’s mother knows how to get to it, and maybe we could go up there and check on things, maybe head her off.”
“Okay. If we’re going farther up the mountain, though, I’ll need my four-wheeler.”
Jace had been standing with Hawke and Spencer, listening to this conversation and chuckling at their fear of Emma Sutherland. “Can I go?” I’d like to get out for a while, and a ride up the mountain would be fun. Besides, I’d like to see Travis. I haven’t seen him for a while.”
Hawke looked down at Jace. “Sure. Why not? There’s no real danger up there, except for Emma, of course. Anyway, she doesn’t have a problem with you. It’s Camron, Spencer and me that have to worry about her.”
Hawke told Jace to get ready while he went to the garage and got his four-wheeler out. That done, Hawke went inside the house and came out with two deer rifles, giving one to Spencer.
“We’ll take these just in case. You never know what you might run into up there, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Jace had packed them a quick lunch and brought it, along with some water bottles as he joined them. It was a raw kind of day, but Hawke saw that he’d put on his heavy jacket, so they were ready to ride. They climbed onto Hawke’
s SUV as Spencer kicked his starter nearby and they all headed toward the MacKay home place.
****
Emma couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so mad. What the hell had Spencer been thinking, saying that it was okay for Travis to go off with Camron MacKay? Well, she’d take care of him later, him and his cousin Hawke. Thanks to them, she was on her way to Camron’s mother’s house to talk to a woman she’d never spoken to before—and a MacKay at that.
Emma was trying to pull herself together before she got there because she needed information from the woman and was more likely to get it if she could be nice. Her grandmother had always told her you could catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, usually after seeing Emma be rude to someone.
She pulled up to the MacKay home and got out, looking around. It was a nice house, with a neat, well-kept yard. In the distance, she could just make out another smaller house back in the trees and wondered who lived there.
She walked up on the porch and knocked on the door, which was opened almost immediately by a middle-aged woman that Emma assumed was Camron’s mother. “Mrs. MacKay?” The woman nodded. “I’m Emma Sutherland. I’m sorry to bother you, but it seems that my youngest son has gone to a cabin on the mountain with your son, Camron, and I need to know how to get there.” She paused, then as an afterthought hit her. “Please.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no. My son just forgot some medicine that he has to take every day for his heart, and I was going to take it to him.”
“I’d be glad to get one of my other sons to take it up there for you on our four-wheeler.”
“No, that’s not necessary. I’d really rather go up there myself. I didn’t know it would be necessary to have an ATV, though.” She frowned, but squared her shoulders and nodded. “That’s fine though. I’ll call my husband to bring ours. It shouldn’t take too long.” She put a hand to her forehead. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s just—you know how young boys are. He might pretend not to need it so he won’t be embarrassed in front of his friends. I just hope it doesn’t bring on another attack.”
“My goodness. Well, you’re welcome to use ours, if you feel that you have to get there quickly. Now, you just go past my son’s house over there, and you’ll see a trail leading off into the woods. That’s the trail that will eventually lead up to the cabin. You’ll come to a fork in the road about two miles down and take the right fork, up the mountain. Now as I recall there are a few more forks in that trail, but you just keep to the right. You’ll come out right in front of the cabin eventually. If you’ll meet me around back, I’ll give you the keys. You can just leave your car in the backyard.”
Emma thanked Mrs. MacKay and took off back to her car to take it around back. For a MacKay, Camron’s mother was pretty nice. She wasn’t clan though, so she must have married in and managed to stay mostly unaffected by them. Then too, maybe that old adage of her grandmother’s about the honey and vinegar worked, after all.
****
Hawke, Jace and Spencer were quiet as they pulled their four-wheelers into the MacKay driveway until Spencer suddenly slammed his hand down on the dash and pointed. He yelled out over the roar of the motors. “Goddammit, Hawke, there’s Mama’s car parked in the back. She beat us here.”
“Yeah, I see that. Wonder if she’s still here? Y’all wait right here and I’ll go see.” Hawke got out of his vehicle and walked up on the porch just as the front door opened and Camron’s mother pushed open the screen door.
“Lord, Sheriff, I’ve sure had a lot of company today.”
“I see Emma Sutherland’s vehicle out back. Is she still here?”
“No. She said that she had some heart medicine that her boy who’s up there with Camron needed. I loaned her one of our four-wheelers to take it to him. I offered to get Will to take it, but she said no. I figured that she wanted to see for herself that he was okay. How old is that boy, anyway, and why in the world did Camron take a young kid like that up there?”
“Uh...he’s not exactly a kid, Mrs. MacKay--he’s twenty-one years old. It’s kind of a long story--I think that he and Camron just went up there to spend some time together.”
“Well, my stars. Why would his mother be so concerned about him then?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about Mrs. MacKay. I’ll just go on up behind her and make sure everything’s all right. So how long has she been gone?”
“About thirty or forty minutes, I reckon. I’m not sure that I gave her real good directions. I haven’t been up there in a while.”
Just give me the same directions you gave her, and we’ll go check on things.”
She told him how to get there and he went back to his ATV and climbed on. Starting the engine, he grinned over at Spencer. “She’s been here all right. And now she’s on her way up to save the day.”
Spencer covered his eyes for a moment with one hand and groaned. Jace leaned forward from behind him, putting a hand on Hawke’s shoulder. “Oh, c’mon, she’s just one older lady. How bad could it get?”
Hawke laughed out loud and patted Jace’s hand. “You have no idea, baby. You have no idea.”
****
Emma saw what looked like a small shack way up the trail and headed for it. Surely her baby was not staying in a hovel like that. As she got closer, she saw that it was indeed a small, one-room cabin, and that it was a bit bigger than she’d thought when she first saw it, but not by much. Still, it was pretty rustic and she was certain that Travis would be glad to see her and would welcome a ride down the mountain after she’d given that man who’d taken him here a piece of her mind. Maybe a swift kick in the balls as a remembrance, while she was at it.
When she reached the cabin, she got off the four-wheeler and walked toward the front door. On the way she passed a wood pile and picked up a stout piece of wood that fit her hand just right. She didn’t know what she might face inside, and she wanted to be ready. Walking up to the front door she flung it open without knocking.
A young man who was not her son had his back to her and was bent over putting wood in the stove. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and an ugly suspicion presented itself to her. She raked a glance around the room and saw the one mattress on the floor with the covers askew. She whirled around to face the man who had straightened and turned to face her.
“Camron MacKay! You son-of-a-bitch!” She brandished her makeshift club at him and bared her teeth.
“Mrs. Sutherland, what are you doing here? How the hell did you get up here?”
“I rode a four-wheeler up here. What do you think? And I’ve come to take my son home.”
Emma could see confusion and anger blossoming on Camron’s face as he looked from the club back to her. He folded his arms across his chest and glared back at her. “What the hell are you talking about? And you better put that thing down before you hurt yourself.”
“Humph! Hurt you, more likely! Now where is my son? I know you kidnapped him and brought him up to this god-forsaken place. I swear, I’ll have you arrested for this, Camron MacKay if I don’t beat you to death myself first!”
“Now, you just wait a minute, Mrs. Sutherland. I did not kidnap Travis. He came with me of his own free will.”
Emma gave him a scornful look of disbelief. “Humph! Like I’d believe the word of a kidnapper! Now where is he? Tell me, by God or I’ll…” She swung the piece of wood at him and was shocked when he caught it and pulled it out of her hands like it was only a twig. He threw it across the room and then stepped out of her reach when she came at him.
“Calm down, Mrs. Sutherland. I’m not going to fight you!”
“Then tell me where my son is! Do you have him tied up somewhere?”
Camron rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. He went down to the creek, I think.”
“Down to the creek? I hope he’s not in that icy water. He has a heart condition, you know. I can’t believe that you would just let him go off by himself like that!”
&
nbsp; “He’s not a child, ma’am, and he’s perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, I’d say he’s in a damn sight better shape now than he was when we first came up here.”
Emma could see that Camron was angry, but she didn’t care--she was way ahead of him. She watched him as he snatched a t-shirt up and pulled it over his head, noticing that his face was hard and set. He wasn’t responding to her the way her sons and her husband always did and for the first time she felt a bit of grudging respect, even if he was a MacKay.
“Where is this damn creek?”
“Not far. If you’ll just wait a minute, I’ll go get him.”
“No, you just never mind. I’ll go get him myself.”
She knew that Camron was about to argue the point, but she was determined to go herself and she was about to say so when the door opened and Travis stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face.
****
Travis heard the sound of the four-wheeler from where he sat on the rocks by the creek and stood up to see who had come up the trail. As he got closer, he saw a four-wheeler parked close to the porch, and wondering who it could be, he ran up to the door and pushed it open. When he saw his mother standing there he could hardly believe his eyes. She stood on one side of the table with Camron on the other, and neither one looked very happy. As a matter of fact, Camron looked to Travis as if his head might explode at any minute. As for his mother, she had that look of righteous anger that he’d only witnessed on a few memorable and unhappy occasions. When she got like this she reminded him of an old-time runaway freight train and right now she was roaring down the track with a full head of steam.
Travis turned first toward his mother, still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that she was really here. “Mama, what the hell?”
“I’ve come to rescue you from this kidnapper, son.”
Travis’ mouth fell open and he looked over at Camron, watching him ball his hands into fists while his face got even redder--so red, in fact, that Travis was afraid Camron might be about to have a stroke. Travis took a step past his mother, dodging her arms as she reached for him and stood beside Camron with a restraining hand on his shoulder. “Please, Camron. Let me handle this.”
