Briar narrowed her eyes at her mother. “This isn't one of your roundabout ways of getting me to meet potential mates, is it?”
Iris turned bright red. “I wouldn't dream of it. You know Bass is one of my patients. I thought you might want to start making the rounds in my place. Everyone knows you're learning the trade from me.”
Briar couldn't help but smile. “I'll go visit him, but I want to stop by Dodd Homestead, too.”
“What for? That's in the opposite direction.”
Briar thought fast. “Virginia Dodd asked me to drop off some Evening Primrose lotion for her hot flashes.”
Iris frowned. “She never said anything to me about any hot flashes.”
“May could come with me. She knows Virginia from that time she babysat Sierra.”
Iris's expression cleared. “Oh, okay. Well, don't take too long. Dinner will be on the table by the time you get back.”
Briar's heart beat fast as she collected a bag of standard medicines and tools. She burst into May's room. “Come on. We're making the rounds for Ma.”
“I don't want to make the rounds for Ma,” May shot back. “That's your deal.”
Briar snatched her hand. “Come on. This is important. We don't have a lot of time.”
May let Briar tow her off the bed. “What's so important?”
“I'm going to the Dodds' to find out about Riskin.”
May groaned. “Jiminey Cricket! Not Riskin Dodd again!”
Briar waved to her mother and ran out of the house with May on her heels. She set off through the woods with her pulse pounding. She hated lying to her mother, but at least she really had a bottle of Evening Primrose lotion. She would offer it to Virginia Dodd, and if Virginia took it, Briar wasn't really lying, was she?
May hurried to catch up with her. “What’s the rush? Are you doing something you're not supposed to?”
“I'm just curious. Just go along with me, just this once. There's no harm done.”
“You better be right. If anything goes wrong, I'm telling Ma.”
“Okay. If anything goes wrong, you can tell her whatever you want.”
The sisters stopped in at Cunningham Homestead to see Bass. He gave them a big grin when Briar knocked on the door of his little cabin. He invited them in, but Briar shook her head. “My ma wants me to check you're soaking your ankle the way she told you to.”
He pulled up his pant leg. “See for yourself.”
She bent down and poked the wound with her finger. The new scar tissue stretched over the wound, nice and clean and healing well. She nodded. “That looks good. I'll let her know. Thanks. See you later.”
She hurried on her way. May caught up to her and hissed low in her ear. “Now I know you're up to something. You barely looked at his leg.”
Briar didn't turn around. “Ma just wants to make sure he really is soaking his ankle the way she told him to. Now I know he is. There's nothing more to see or do.”
“Nothing except go to the Dodds', right? You're up to something, Briar. I know you are.”
Briar stopped in the path and faced her sister. “I just want to take a little longer at Dodd Homestead. I want to ask them about Riskin. That's all. Maybe they know something about him no one else does.”
“And then what will you do? Supposing they know something. You still won't be able to get close enough to help him.”
“Maybe not, but at least I'll find out. I want to know everything I can about him—I mean, about his situation.”
May shook her head, but just then they came in sight of the wide hacienda spread out on a sunny hill. Briar slowed down, and May laid a hand on her arm. “This is a bad idea. We should turn back.”
Briar pushed forward. “We're not doing anything but talking. That's all.”
The moment she left the shelter of the woods, a young woman her own age stepped out under the eaves to meet her. Briar smiled and caught her breath. “Hi. I'm Briar MacAllister. I'm here to see your mother.”
The other woman didn't smile back. “I know who you are, but my mother's not sick. You can turn around and go home.”
An older woman stepped out behind the younger one. “Never mind, Natalie. Let her say whatever she has to say.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Dodd.” Briar took a deep breath. “I overheard you at the Dunlap wedding talking about your hot flashes. I brought you some Evening Primrose lotion. I thought it might help.”
Virginia Dodd frowned at the bottle. “I shouldn't take this. I better not.”
“If it helps make you more comfortable, why not take it?” Briar asked. “Just try it. There's not charge.”
Virginia narrowed. “Does your mother know you're here?”
“Of course, she does. I told her I was bringing this to you.”
Virginia hesitated. “Oh, all right. I'll try it. If it doesn't work, I'll give it back to you.”
Virginia and Natalie waited for the girls to leave. Briar shifted from one foot to the other. At last, she gathered her courage to blurt out, “Actually, Mrs. Dodd, I wanted to ask you about Riskin.”
Virginia froze. She stared at Briar with her face as white as a sheet. “What about Riskin?”
“I was just wondering if you've seen him since he left the Mackenzies. My brother and sister and I just saw him in the woods yesterday. He's pretty bashed up, you know.”
Virginia cast a sidelong glance at Natalie. “I don't know where Riskin is. I haven't seen him in months.”
Natalie broke in, “No one around here cares if Riskin is bashed up or if he's starving to death out there in the woods. If he wants to roam the woods for the rest of his life, that's his business. He didn't even have the balls to come home and face his family after Mattox sent him packing. If he's miserable out there, he has no one to blame but himself.”
Briar gasped. “He's your brother. Don't you care at all what happens to him?”
“He's an idiot for holding a grudge this long,” Natalie shot back. “He's a spoiled toddler who can't accept that he can't have what he wants. He should get over it and move on, just like the rest of us.”
Briar turned to Virginia. “What about you? You're his mother. Don't you want to help him if he'll let you? There must be a way to bring him back.”
Virginia looked all around with wild eyes. She opened her mouth, but before any sound could some out, a tall man with big shoulders and a muscular chest popping through his T-shirt came around the corner. His pale brown hair gelled up from his high forehead. He frowned at the women at the door. “What's going on?”
Virginia closed her mouth with a click. “Nothing at all. This young lady is Iris MacAllister's daughter. She's bringing me some lotion for my hot flashes.” She dropped her eyes to the bottle in her hands and mumbled under her breath. “This is my other son, Rhys.”
“They're asking about Riskin,” Natalie sang out. “They want to know if we're interested in helping him and bringing him in.”
Rhys glared at Briar. “Riskin is a waste of Bruin flesh. He's been a millstone around this family's neck for years. Running wild in the woods is too good for him. I never want to see his face again as long as I live. He better not come around this Homestead if he knows what's good for him.”
“What's so bad about him?” Briar asked. “He got hurt. That's all. If he can't get help from his own family, who can he get it from?”
Rhys jabbed his finger in her face. “No one better help him. Let him rot out there, for all I care. Anyone who helps him can expect the worst from me. I can tell you that.”
Briar retreated before his foaming hostility. She didn't dare ask any more questions. She waved to Virginia. “All right. Thanks for everything. You'll let me know how the lotion works out, won't you, Mrs. Dodd? Great. Good luck. Bye now.”
She grabbed May and made for the woods on the double. As soon as the trees swallowed them up, Briar stopped to catch her breath. “Holy smokes! Did you ever see such a bunch of kooks in your life? What's wrong with them? How could th
ey be so nasty to a member of their own family?”
May cast a glance back toward the house. “Don't you know? Rhys is Riskin's twin brother, and Riskin is the older son. He would have inherited the Alpha position from their father Addison, but now that Riskin has gone wild, Rhys stands to take over. He doesn't want Riskin to come back. That would threaten his position.”
The girls walked a few paces farther down the path toward home when a branch snapped to one side. Briar pulled up short in time to see a figure step out of the shadows. It was Virginia Dodd.
The old lady glanced back toward the house. Then she searched Briar's face. “Did you really see Riskin in the woods?”
Briar gestured toward the ridge near the swimming hole. “We sure did. He was up there.”
Virginia came close with her breath trembling on her lips. “Was he all right? Did he look okay?”
“Well, not really,” Briar replied. “He's pretty cut up from his fight with Mattox, and he doesn't look like he takes care of himself. He could be better.”
Virginia passed a hand over her eyes. “Oh, I would give anything to help him if I could, but I don't dare cross Rhys. He would throw me out if he found out I did anything for Riskin.”
“How could he throw you out of your own home?” Briar asked. “You're his mother, and Riskin is his brother. The whole Peak would turn against him if he did that.”
Virginia shook her head. “He's taking over around here. He might as well be Alpha already, but I can't stop thinking about Riskin. I worry about him, you know? He's my own son, and he's out there all alone. I want to help him come home, but I don't know how to do it.”
“There must be a way.”
“I tried, you know. I tried a million times when he first left the Mackenzies, but he always attacked me and drove me away until I gave up. I could see he needed help, though. Some of his injuries have never healed right, and he still limps when he walks. Did you notice that?”
“Well, I never really had a chance to check. He ran away when I tried to get near him.”
Virginia nodded, but she kept looking back toward the house. “I can't do anything for him anymore. I wish I could, but I have to watch out for Rhys. He's too strong for any of us now. I have to hurry back.”
Chapter 4
The bear growled to himself and kicked over logs in his endless search for that elusive scent. Ever since he left the girl by the swimming hole, his tortured spirit raged stronger than ever against everyone and everything. If he couldn't have that scent, nothing meant anything anymore.
He moved so far away from thinking like a Bruin he never considered going near Homesteads or people anymore. The thought of shifting no longer entered his head. Sniffing that girl brought him the closest he ever came to a person.
That scent tormented him, waking and sleeping. He woke up furious that he couldn't find her. He searched all day for some relief and never found it. Food burned a hole in his stomach so he found no peace no matter what he did.
He hated the world for driving him to this madness. He lived as a bear so long he no longer remembered the original injury that drove him away. That didn't matter. Only his present circumstances bothered him now. He had to find that scent. He had to find it at all costs.
All of a sudden, he stopped dead in his tracks. There it was. It floated into his nostrils on the wind and sent him into a frenzy. He had to gobble it down with great puffs of inhaled air. He had to track it and attack it and maul it with his jaws.
He barreled through the woods at top speed. His nose scanned the air for any hint of that scent, that bear scent, but he crouched low with his hackles raised when he spotted that girl among the trees.
She strolled along the path with a basket in her hand. She swung the basket and moved her head from side to side in the sunshine, but she couldn't have been looking very hard. She didn't see a thing on either side of her.
She wore the same tight white shirt as before, only dry this time. The elastic bands of her white bra showed through the cotton on her back and shoulders. Her chest sloped down in a graceful curve near her armpits, and her trim waist curved out to her buxom hips under a tight miniskirt. Her bare knees showed above the tops of calf-high, flat-heel leather boots. Her copper hair blew back in the breeze.
She strolled right past the bear without seeing him. She kept walking around the bend so the wind came behind her. It blew the bear's scent straight at her, but she didn't turn around. She bent down at the base of a tree and took something out of her basket. She set it among the tree roots and walked away.
The bear cowered in his hiding place. Her rounded ass swayed under her skirt when she walked. Her back got smaller and smaller. He caught the scent of something tasty under the tree, and she didn't come back. He crawled forward and sniffed.
The juicy, savory smell of roasted meat shot squirts of saliva into his mouth. He detected another scent buried under the meat—something bitter and galling. Not even that could deter him. He snuffled the cloth wrapping aside and swallowed the meat in one gulp. The cloth smelled of her.
He tiptoed along the path in time to see her place another package under another tree. She walked away from that one, too, and left him to discover it on his own.
The third time she stopped, she set down the basket and moved away without looking back. The bear snuck closer, but didn't go after the food just yet. What was she up to?
He hid in the scrub, but she didn't leave. She moved a few paces away, but when he watched her voluptuous backside retreat into the distance, it changed into the brown fur of a golden she-bear.
She ambled from side to side, always moving away from him. She snuffled here and there. She rooted through piles of leaves and overturned logs with her paw, but she never turned around.
She wandered this way and that. She walked in a zigzag through the forest until the wind shifted the other way. The wind carried her bear scent straight into his nostrils. Every hair stood on end. He couldn't do anything but move toward her.
He followed from a distance. He should run away, but he couldn't. Her scent drew him after her on an unerring line. She grunted under her breath in her curious search for something. Nothing disturbed her, not even when the wind blew his scent at her from a few feet away.
The she-bear paused to drink at a stream. She followed the stream uphill for a few paces and turned. She just happened to turn around right in front of him, but she showed no sign of surprise or alarm at finding him near.
She let out a quick bark of recognition and kept right on walking. She climbed over a boulder and startled a rabbit out of its hole. She let out a snort of surprise and bolted after it.
Curiosity overcame the bear's reserve. Before he knew it, he jumped forward to join the chase. He came in sight of the female in full pursuit, and his mind blazed to life. He flanked the rabbit and drove it sideways. It dodged the other way. The she-bear skidded in the soft leaf litter and regained her footing. She moved left while the bear moved right, and they moved in for the kill.
She pounced on the rabbit. She slammed down one paw on its back, but it slithered out, right into his grasp. He drove his open mouth down on top of it and crunched.
The warm blood trickled down his throat and satisfied an ancient hunger he never knew was there. He lifted the rabbit in his jaws and pranced around in a circle to show it off to his…to the she-bear.
She turned her head aside and blinked. When he came back and dropped the rabbit in front of her, she sniffed it and licked the side of his face. She tried to nip the limp rabbit, but he growled at her.
The she-bear crouched down and grumbled under her breath. She darted her snout up under his chin and licked him again. He nosed the rabbit and growled, but when she made another bite at it, he didn't try to drive her away. He tore off a tuft of fur and sneezed. Then they both sat down on the ground and ripped the rabbit to pieces.
The she-bear finished eating first. Without waiting for him to finish, she got up and walked away. He wo
lfed down the last bites and hurried to catch up with her, but she showed no sign of seeing him.
She wandered all over the woods in a circuitous journey with no particular destination in sight. Sometimes he trotted at her side. Sometimes something distracted him so he fell behind, but he always came back to her. He sniffed her ears until she swung her jaws around to snap at him.
All at once, she stopped. She hunted around at the base of the tree. The male hung back. That tree smelled of people. The same basket sat among the roots.
The she-bear tipped the basket over and pushed open another cloth-wrapped package with her nose. The male hung back and wouldn't come near it until she nosed something savory toward him. He sniffed the same laced meat he ate at the other two spots.
She nibbled off a corner and moved it closer to him. She nudged it right under his nose where the delicious scent rose into his nostrils. He couldn't resist. He bent down and took a bite.
The juices filled his mind with thoughts of home. He moved closer, and his shoulder touched hers. He leaned his weight against her and rumbled low in his chest.
The next instant, the saccharine-sweet smell of rose perfume stung his eyes. His big head whipped around, and he found himself sitting right next to the red-haired girl. She didn't look at him.
She picked up a glass container from the basket's spilled contents. She twisted off the top and help it out to the bear. “This is witch hazel salve. It's really good for wounds. Let me put some on your leg. It looks like it hurts when you walk on it.”
She swirled her finger in the salve and moved her hand closer to him. The bear jerked away from her with a toothy snarl and vanished into the woods.
Chapter 5
Briar froze with her hand on the door knob. “What's going on here?”
People crammed the living room. Her mother Iris, Silas and May sat in the MacAllister living room.
As soon as Briar walked in the door, Iris stood up to confront her. “We know you went out to meet Riskin Dodd. You don't have to deny it, Briar.”
Briar squared her shoulders. “I won't deny it. I went to give him some food, and I took him some medicine, too. His injuries have never healed.”
Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume II) Page 15
