A Pinerock Bear Christmas (Bears of Pinerock County Book 6)

by Zoe Chant

  Alec didn't expect trouble, but, well, that was the thing about trouble. It wasn't the things you expected that really got you; it was the ones you didn't see coming.

  And not all the wild clans were friendly.

  Axl put on a burst of speed and came up alongside him, bumping Alec's shoulder with his own. They coudn't talk in this shape, but no words were necessary between the brothers. Alec fell back and let Axl take over breaking trail for awhile.

  The cold might not bother him, but wading through the deep snow was exhausting. That might be what had happened to Gannon; he'd gotten tired and decided to wait out the storm before coming home. It was possible he'd lost track of time. Sometimes it was hard to remember how to think in hours and minutes when you let your bear take over.

  Axl made a sharp whuffing sound and buried his nose in the snow. Alec came forward to sniff, too. Gannon's scent was unmistakable, despite the snow covering up his trail. He'd come this way recently.

  They turned to follow his trail, forging through the snow with a renewed sense of purpose, Jaron bringing up the rear.

  It was only a few minutes before Gannon's scent grew hot and fresh. Alec didn't smell blood, other bears, or anything that might signal a crisis. He did, however, catch the familiar scent of cattle.

  Gannon's bear was a humped, dark shape under a pine tree. As he became aware of them, he stirred, raising his head and shaking the snow off. It didn't look like he was injured or ill. Instead it looked like he'd just curled up for a nap under a tree.

  As soon as they were close enough, Alec gruffly swatted Gannon with a paw, asserting his alpha right to discipline the members of his clan. The nerve of you, the gesture suggested, making us come out here in this weather!

  Gannon dipped his head in acknowledgement, though not outright submission. Although his bear was a natural alpha, he and Alec had worked out their differences long ago, and they both operated under a mutual understanding that Alec's bear was in charge. This didn't mean that Gannon's bear would abase itself, though, even when it was being scolded.

  Alec grunted at him and jerked his head in the direction of the ranch. Your mate's waiting! Let's go!

  Gannon carefully and gently uncurled, standing up halfway to reveal a calf sheltered beneath his bulk. It was one of this spring's calves, lying down and clearly exhausted. Gannon had been keeping it warm.

  And then suddenly Gannon shifted, the dark bear dwindling to a naked human male, crouching in the snow with one hand resting on the calf's side.

  "Didn't know how to get her back to the ranch," Gannon explained. "Snow's too deep for her to walk through. Couldn't carry her as a bear. Couldn't walk all the way like this."

  Exasperated, Alec shifted as well so he could talk. Immediately the wind knifed against his naked flesh; the snow was painfully cold on his bare feet and legs. "Shift back before you make yourself hypothermic, idiot. Axl, Jaron—go back to the ranch and find something we can use as a sled. We're not too far away."

  He took his own advice and shifted back immediately, because he was already shivering violently. He had to stamp around to get the blood pumping through his furry body.

  By that time Axl and Jaron were already gone, trotting back through the dark, snow-filled forest as their alpha had ordered.

  Gannon had also shifted back, and was lying curled around the calf again, his shaggy fur entirely shielding it from view. Alec huffed a sigh and settled down next to him, pressing his body against Gannon's to wait for their clanmates to come back.

  It wasn't entirely dark out here in the woods. The falling snow seemed to fill the world with a faint luminosity, enough to see by. Humans had the idea that bears' vision was poor, but that wasn't true. They weren't the best sighthounds of the animal kingdom, but they had acute night vision.

  He could see the glimmer of Gannon's eyes as the other bear looked at him sideways.

  Alec huffed again. Out here hunting for lost calves instead of back there snuggling with your mate. Isn't that just like you!

  But it was like him, and like Alec too. The women they had married understood that. The thing about the ranch was that it meant chores that couldn't be put off or delayed. A lost calf in a snowstorm had to be found before it succumbed to hypothermia. That was just how it worked.

  And Gannon had found this calf in time, so there was no harm done.

  Their mates would be glad to have them back in time for Christmas Eve dinner. They'd all gather around the fire ...

  Well, no. What they'd probably do was collect plates of food in the kitchen while trying to keep up with two active toddlers, a baby, and one exhausted, hormonal pregnant woman, with Charmian trying to boss everybody around, Tara nettling the rest with her sometimes ill-considered sense of humor, and Daisy probably getting so overwhelmed by all of it that she'd have to retreat to lie down in a bedroom for awhile. Not to mention that some of the clan, his own mate among them, had brought guests with them this time, to add to the cheerful chaos.

  Alec's lips pulled back from his bear teeth and he grinned fiercely into the storm.

  There had been a time in his life when he would have dreaded the idea of going back to all of that. He'd loved the quiet solitude of the ranch, loved the peaceful routine of his everyday life. If he'd wanted hustle and bustle, he would have moved to town.

  He'd fought a dominance battle with his brother, who was also one of his best and most trusted friends, just to stop change from coming to the ranch.

  And now change was here, and ...

  And all he could think about was finishing up their business in the snow so he could get back to the cheery disaster zone of his house, to trip over children's toys and listen to their mates arguing and try to drown out Remy's Christmas music with his own.

  It wasn't going to be a silent night, that was for sure.

  Good, he thought. He'd had far, far too many silent nights after his parents passed away, leaving him in charge of the ranch and the clan.

  Gannon raised his head, his furry ears swiveling forward. An instant later, Alec heard what he'd heard, the sound of an engine.

  Well ... that was unexpected.

  It was only a moment or two later when a headlight stabbed out of the falling snow. A snowmobile pulled up alongside the two bears, dragging a sled, and stopped. The driver pushed up the face shield on his helmet, revealing Cody's cheerful face grinning at them.

  "Hey, you two! Need a hand?"

  Alec whuffed at him. Apparently the question (What are you doing here?) translated just fine without words.

  "I didn't want to try driving over from Crystal's and my place in this storm, so I decided to take our new workhorse out for a spin." He patted the snowmobile's handlebars affectionately. "With just me and Crystal to keep the roads around our new spread plowed out, sometimes it's hard to get to the upper pasture with a horse or a truck. So Remy gave me and Crystal this baby for Christmas. I got over to the ranch just as Axl and that Jaron kid got back and explained where you all were. So I figured I'd run out to give you a hand."

  Gannon stood up so the calf could be seen. Cody hopped down off the machine and loaded the calf into the sled, wrapping it up in a heavy blanket and using a strap to tie it down so it couldn't get up. "Just for the short ride to the ranch, that'll be fine," he remarked, looking down at his handiwork. The calf struggled a bit and then settled down. "I'll get her into the barn and warmed up. See you two back at the ranch!"

  He waved before revving the machine and setting off into the storm.

  Gannon and Alec looked at each other. Alec managed a bearish equivalent of a shrug.

  They'd never had machines like that on the ranch back in his father's day. His dad, a very traditional clan alpha, would never have tolerated it.

  But things moved on. Times changed.

  Alec wouldn't have it any other way.

  And they had a Christmas dinner to get back to.

  He huffed at Gannon, who nodded. Single file, the two of them moved out, walking
in the broken trail in the snowmobile's wake.

  Heading home.

  Chapter Six

  Gloria regretted a little (well, okay, more than a little) missing out on the promised manflesh bonanza when the bear shifters got back. Axl and Jaron had rendezvoused with Cody, on his snowmobile, at the edge of the yard, and then dressed quickly and came inside.

  But she thought maybe it was just as well. She didn't want to spy on Jaron. Whatever she took of his, she wanted to be freely offered.

  She wanted to see him shift. She wanted to see him naked. But only if he knew she was there, watching and admiring.

  Meanwhile, she got to watch red-haired Tara reunite with her husband Axl, who swept her off her feet into a deep kiss that made Crystal and Charmian cheer. Clearly years of marriage and kids had done nothing to dampen their eagerness to see each other again.

  Gloria noticed that Jaron was standing awkwardly by the door, looking like just as much of a third wheel as she felt at the moment. If you want to talk to him, she told herself, now's your chance.

  "Hi there," she said shyly, coming up beside him.

  "Hi." He smiled at her, and it rocked her backward. That was a smile you could get lost in, a smile that went straight to her core.

  What was it about this guy? She'd never felt this kind of attraction to anyone before. Definitely not to her last boyfriend; that had started out as a blind date, and they'd settled into a relationship and then broken up, but never at any point had she felt this intense sense of rightness whenever she was around him.

  Not to mention this sheer animal arousal. Just standing near Jaron made her tingle.

  Jaron looked like he was desperately hunting for something to say. He opened his mouth and closed it. Don't talk to women much, do you? Gloria thought sympathetically.

  "I'm Gloria," she offered.

  "Oh. Right." He blushed. "I'm Jaron."

  "I know."

  He looked surprised. "How do you know?"

  "Oh, the ranch women told me." Now it was her turn to blush. She'd as much as admitted she'd been asking about him.

  She hadn't been fully aware of how tall he was when she was sitting down on the far side of the room. Now that she was standing close to him, she had to tip her head back to look up at him. She was seized with a brief vision of Jaron leaning down, closing his lips over hers—

  The door opened in a swirl of snow and one of the other ranch men came in—Remy, she thought. There were just so many people she'd been introduced to. Snowflakes dusted his close-cropped hair.

  "Hey, you're Gloria, right?" he asked.

  "Yes?"

  Remy held out a big hand. "Is this your phone?"

  "Oh. I guess so." She took it in surprise.

  "It was in Charmian's car," Remy explained. "Cell reception up here is really spotty, but since they put in the new repeater over on Bald Mountain last summer, it's been a lot better, and I noticed your phone was going off in the car. Someone tried to call you."

  "Oh, I bet it's my brother." She gave Jaron an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry. I should probably call him back so my family knows I'm not in a ditch somewhere. I was driving to Spokane."

  "That's where you're from?" Jaron asked. "That's pretty far."

  "Oh, no, I'm from Georgia. Even farther. Which is why I should call my family and let them know I'm okay." She looked up hopefully. "You'll be here when I get back, right?"

  "I'm not going anywhere," Jaron promised.

  Gloria took the phone to a relatively less noisy corner of the room, over by the big picture window looking out on the swirling snow. The phone was flickering between one and two bars, but it was able to connect on her second try. When her brother answered, she heard Christmas music playing in the background.

  "Oh, Gloria, thank God," her brother said. "I'm so glad you're all right. We expected you earlier, and they're forecasting heavy snow east of here."

  "I know, I got caught in it," she said, putting her hand over her other ear to try to hear him over a fresh burst of squealing and laughter from the kids.

  Even while she was on the phone, her gaze was drawn across the room to Jaron—who was now talking to Tara and Saffron, she noticed, or rather, the women were talking to him. All three of them looked over at her, then looked away quickly when they noticed she was looking at them.

  What was that all about?

  "Gloria?" her brother asked, and she realized he'd been talking and she hadn't even noticed. "Is everything okay? Where are you?"

  "I'm in Montana. My car broke down—don't panic, I'm fine! I met some nice women who invited me back to spend Christmas with their family. I'm not going to make it to your place this evening. Probably not for a couple of days, at least."

  "The important thing is that you're okay," her brother said. "These women—you trust them? You haven't been kidnapped or anything?"

  Gloria laughed. "No, they're very nice, and so are their families. There are a bunch of people here, kids and everything. It's a good old-fashioned family Christmas. In fact, I should probably go. I think dinner's going to be ready soon."

  "I'm glad you found a good place to land. We'll miss you, but I was going to suggest you look for a hotel room anyway, if the blizzard's as bad as the weather channel says it is."

  "Oh, this is much better than a hotel," Gloria promised as there was another squeal of childish delight and laughter from the adults. "They're really friendly and they've been so welcoming to me. I'm going to have a good Christmas, I promise."

  "I hope so. As long as you're safe and happy. Merry Christmas, sis."

  "Merry Christmas."

  She hung up the phone with a small twinge. It would have been nice to see her nieces and nephews, and she had a whole suitcase of presents for them in her car. But she found that she wasn't feeling nearly as bad as she'd expected about not being able to spend the holiday with them.

  Because she really did feel comfortable here. It wasn't her home; it was someone else's home. But all her recent Christmases had been spent in a small apartment, with her family far away.

  Now she looked around at the Christmas decorations, the tree, the snow outside the window, the family all gathered together. It was like something from a holiday movie.

  I want a home like this someday, she thought.

  Perhaps it was only a coincidence that she caught Jaron's reflection in the window at that moment, gazing at her across the room with a cautious, hopeful smile.

  She tucked the phone away and went over to him.

  "So, you talked to your family?" he asked, and she nodded. "Are they okay that you can't come?"

  "They understand. Nobody can control the weather."

  "Yeah, I guess not." Jaron shuffled his feet. "So, uh, the ladies say ..." He gestured to indicate Tara and Saffron, who were in the kitchen doorway with their heads together, whispering. "They say we can't eat 'til the rest of the guys get back, so they suggested we might ... uh, I mean ... what I'm saying is, you want to take a walk in the snow?"

  Gloria gave the two women in the doorway a wry smile. They both tried not to meet her eyes. Oh yes, I know exactly what you all are up to, she thought. But she really didn't mind a bit. It was so crowded in the house that there was no chance to talk to Jaron without being interrupted. And snow was still magical to her.

  "I'd love to."

  She borrowed a heavy coat, boots, and warm gloves from the other women, and walked with Jaron into the falling snow in the yard. The Christmas lights glimmered through the dark, the snowflakes dancing in haloes around them. At some point, wiser heads had prevailed on the music, and now it was playing more softly and in harmony, adding a further touch of magic to the night.

  "This must be a lot different from Georgia," Jaron said.

  Gloria laughed. "Yeah. A bit. We do get snow there occasionally. I saw it a few times, growing up. But never much, and never for long. This ..." She tipped her head back, gazing up at the snowflakes whirling down out of the dark sky, blinking them off h
er lashes as they try to land in her eyes.

  "It is pretty great." Jaron's voice was quiet. Gloria glanced at him. The snow settling on his short, bristly hair made her want to reach up and brush it off.

  "Did you grow up around here?" she asked.

  "Yeah. Back in the mountains. I left my family to come work for the sheriff's department. I wanted to help people."

  Her heart swelled. The attraction she felt for him was a powerful, physical thing, but everything he said to her, his quiet courtesy, his attentiveness, made her like him. "That's very brave of you," she said.

  His cheeks were already pink with cold; now they turned pinker. "It's brave of you to come all the way from ... Where is Georgia, anyway?"

  Gloria tried not to laugh. She didn't want to hurt his feelings and break the mood. "You don't know where Georgia is?"

  "I didn't learn about much outside the mountains, growing up." He looked down at the trampled snow underfoot, not meeting her eyes.

  Gloria reached out and shyly, cautiously, hooked her gloved fingers through his. "I can teach you, then. If you want me to."

  She'd never before experienced the feeling of being able to teach new things to someone else. She wasn't dumb by any means, but she didn't have a college education, and she didn't have the kind of occupation that people wanted to hear about, like a scientist or a doctor. She was just ordinary Gloria Munson. She'd been working in a shoe store before she got laid off.

  But Jaron looked at her like she was something precious and magical. Like everything she said was smart and wonderful.

  "Do you mean that?" he asked quietly.

  "I do. I would love to teach you about the world I come from."

  "I hope you will," he said quietly. "I still have so much to learn. I've never been to a town bigger than the ones in Pinerock County. I didn't even know how to drive a car 'til Sheriff Axl taught me."

  He spoke cautiously, as if he was putting his heart in her hands. It must be hard for him to admit those things. Gloria took his other hand. Their breath curled like smoke between them.

  "I can't wait to show you everything I know," she said. "I want to travel with you and see the world. Do you want that?"