Bears of Burden: WYATT

by Candace Ayers

  “Bill caught a couple of squirrels for dinner.”

  Yeah, it was about time for me to get back to the city. At least the town. The universe had messed up when assigning mates. I couldn’t be farther from the right woman for Wyatt. I meant, he couldn’t be farther from right for me.

  Although, if that was true, why did it hurt so bad to think about letting him be with Sarah, a woman who was clearly a better fit for him?

  CHAPTER 20: Wyatt

  Georgia had been mostly silent since she’d regained consciousness. She’d just been staring at me and every so often mouthing things to herself. If I was a weaker man, it would’ve scared the hell out of me. She was a thinker and if the frown on her face was any indication, the thoughts weren’t good. I felt like she was searching me, looking for flaws. Her eyes had lost their heat and gained something cold and calculating that told me she was probably quite good at heading a large corporation.

  “I washed your hair in the creek. You threw up in it a little bit.”

  Her eyes widened and then she finally looked away from me. “So, squirrels, huh?”

  I grabbed her other foot and rubbed it. They were still muddy from fishing and I found myself knocking off dried bits as I went. A little mud didn’t bother me, but her face froze in horror when she noticed what I was doing. She snatched her foot away from me and curled it under herself.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Stupid question.

  Her eyes narrowed and some of the heat returned. “What’s wrong? Seriously? I pushed someone into a pit of poison ivy, hooked you through the leg, wounded myself multiple times, and I look like death warmed over. I can’t even see my face, not that I want to, but I can imagine how awful it is. I’m meant for salons and spas and cordon bleu. Not squirrel!”

  I looked up at the darkening sky and blew out a breath. “I thought you were having fun today. You seemed happy while you were fishing.”

  She hesitated a second, but then her determination set her chin up a notch higher. “Do you know what I normally do? I throw parties—all kinds of parties. I throw wild parties that involve lots of liquor, sometimes male strippers. I throw fundraisers that command a thousand dollars a plate. I throw parties that involve caterers, fancy finger foods, and sometimes chocolate fountains! That’s right, fountains of chocolate. Fountains of chocolate make me happy.”

  Annoyance chewed at me. “Do they?”

  There was another hesitation. One big enough for me to drive a truck through. “Yes. They do. I want to go home.”

  I felt myself growing angrier and angrier. She wasn’t just insulting Wyatt the guide. She was insulting me. Rejecting me. Pain seared through me like a dagger, but I ignored it in favor of anger. “Fine. You can run back home to your parties and chocolate fountains. Tomorrow. Tonight, you’re going to join the campfire and at least make an attempt to have fun. Pretend if you have to.”

  A handful of rocks suddenly hit my legs. She scowled at me. “You’re not my father. You don’t tell me what to do.”

  “Did your father ever actually tell you what to do? Did he lay down any rules for his precious princess? Because it sure as hell seems like you’ve spent your whole life doing only what you want when you want. Branch out some. Don’t be such a spoiled brat.” I was on a roll. “Also, no more male strippers. Jesus, Georgia.”

  She surprised me by snapping her mouth shut and nodding. When she did speak, the cold, hard look was back in her eyes. I could detect a sliver of pain, but she tried to hide it. “You’re closer to the truth than you know. You know what? I think I will try to have more fun tonight. That sounds perfect.”

  I watched in horror as she dragged a bottle of tequila from her bag, a bottle I’d somehow managed to miss when she was repacking her clothes into my knapsack. I’d been too distracted by the tiny underwear. “You can’t drink on a survival tour, sugar.”

  Her eyes flashed. “Try and stop me. And, stop calling me sugar. I’m not your sugar. I’m not your anything.”

  I wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her but I didn’t trust myself not to actually shake her, so I kept my hands to myself. “Fine. Get drunk and then get yourself killed. Smart.”

  She stood up, clutching at the pants I’d pulled onto her, and glared at me. “This conversation is over.”

  I grabbed her arm as she tried to pass me and yanked her down, into my lap. “We’re not done here.”

  She fought against my hold but it was useless. I wrapped one arm across her chest and another across her hips and tucked my chin into her neck so she wouldn’t be able to headbutt me. It didn’t take long for all the fight to drain out of her.

  “I hate you right now.”

  The words stung like a slap to the face. An ache formed in my chest that took away my breath and knocked the fight right out of me. I hadn’t thought things through enough. She could walk away from me. She was going to walk away from me. She didn’t fit into my life any more than I fit into hers. I’d marked a woman who wasn’t going to stay with me.

  The realization struck me hard and I pushed her away from me while climbing to my feet. I needed to shift. I needed to run and roar and claw the shit out of something.

  “You can find the group. I’ll be back later.”

  I didn’t look back as I left. I just wanted to escape. I yanked my shirt off as I went and struggled to hold on, barely making it out of sight before shifting. My bear roared, his pain just as palpable as my own.

  I’d spent the time she was unconscious planning how I was going to tell her about my bear, about shifters and ma tes, about everything. I knew she’d be freaked out, but I thought it would be okay. Turns out I worried needlessly. There was no point revealing my secrets to a woman who didn’t want me. She’s said it herself. She hated me.

  I climbed to the highest point of the mountain and released another roar. My heart was breaking, cracking in two, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. My mate didn’t want me. Somehow, the universe had messed up.

  I thought of my own parents and the awe with which Mom talked about being mated. She’d loved Dad with her whole heart and then some. I didn’t understand why things didn’t happen for me the way they had for them. I guess sometimes it just didn’t work out.

  CHAPTER 21: Georgia

  “Everyone takes a swig. Them’s the rules, friends!” I laughed as I took yet another swig from the bottle and handed it off to Martha.

  I’d been at the campfire for close to two hours. I knew because I’d been checking the time on my phone religiously. I’d dragged it out of the shelter once Wyatt had stomped off. I thought about calling Allie and telling her to come rescue me. I thought about calling the airport and scheduling a flight. Hell, I even thought about calling the cowboy who’d driven me into town and promising him anything he wanted if he could find me. Only, that last thought made me wretch after being with Wyatt. Plus, my phone still had no service, so I was just using it as a clock counting off the minutes that Wyatt had been away.

  I’d hurt him. I knew it and I hated myself for it. It was for the best, though. We weren’t going to work. He didn’t like me, not the real me. He wanted someone else. He was in denial about it but he’d realize it after I left.

  “You going to pass that?” Sarah sneered at me. She wasn’t my biggest fan, but she loved tequila. She was covered in an oozing rash that made me want to rub myself with sandpaper.

  I handed her the bottle and then turned back to the fire. “We need music. Music and dancing.”

  “I have some music on my phone. I like to play it to go to sleep. It’s not very loud, though.” Bill spoke up.

  I grinned. “Alrighty, this is my kind of surviving.”

  I grabbed his phone and one of the metal cups connected to Martha’s pack. I started the music app and then slipped the phone into the cup, amping up the sound. Bill didn’t have any of the music I usually listened to, but he had some songs we could dance to. They were old, but they worked.

  “Come on! Let’
s survive my way!”

  Bill threw up his hands. “What the hell! Wait until my wife hears about this!”

  I laughed. Laughter was good. It meant I was having fun. Right? That’s what I’d always told myself back home. I was laughing and having a good time. So, I wasn’t missing anything. Nothing was missing from my life. I was perfectly fine. Just me. All by myself. I didn’t need anything or anyone.

  Everyone eventually joined in, even Sarah. Although, she stuck to just drinking and nodding her head to the beat of the oldies. It was fun, so much fun that I almost forgot that I wasn’t in a beautiful hotel somewhere surrounded by movers, shakers, and trust-fund kids. The night sky was better mood lighting than anything I could’ve put together and the smell of the campfire created a buzz of excitement.

  I managed to temporarily forget how miserable I was, and focus on the festive mood around me. It wasn’t easy. Every branch I heard snap, I jerked my head around to see if Wyatt was returning. I wanted to see him. I wanted to feel his body against mine one last time. Maybe I was feeling the liquor more than I was admitting.

  Martha brought out more marshmallows and one of the other men, Allen, cooked up what I decided was chicken, but was probably squirrel. I still wasn’t eating any of it, though. Instead, I munched on berries that Bill had picked earlier. The party was going strong.

  My bottle was gone but someone had pulled out another one and it was going fast, too. I laughed until my sides hurt. Then, I laughed more. Laughter was the only way I knew of to keep everything out.

  After another hour had passed, I sat down on a log and let my head fall back. “God, it’s beautiful up here.”

  “It is, isn’t it? Wish I was enjoying it more.”

  I looked over at Sarah, surprised to see that I’d ended up so close to her. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to push you. I didn’t even know it was you until I looked over the ledge.”

  She was blitzed. Her eyes were barely open as she smiled, actually smiled, at me. “It’s okay. Everyone’s letting me drink more of the liquor because they feel sorry for me.”

  I gave her a delicate high five and nodded. “I like the way you’re turning it into a positive.”

  “He doesn’t care about me. I know that. I’m not stupid. I just wanted to get back at my boyfriend.” Her eyes filled up with tears and she coughed out a sob. “He’s been cheating on me for months. He doesn’t know I know. So, I came up here and I slept with Wyatt.”

  My throat closed on a growl and I nodded, suddenly unable to articulate.

  “I got back home and confessed to my boyfriend. You wanna know what he said?” She didn’t wait for me to answer. “He just shrugged his shoulders and asked me if I wanted a fucking trophy. He didn’t care!”

  I winced. “He sounds like an dickface.”

  “He is! He didn’t care that I’d slept around. He told me that he was glad because now he doesn’t have to feel so damn guilty about breaking up with me. He broke up with me!”

  I patted the top of her head, the only part of her not covered in oozing rash. “You’re better off. He doesn’t deserve you.”

  She sighed. “Am I? I came back here in a daze. I tried to hook up with Wyatt again. I made myself look like a psycho-stalker chick. I’m not a psycho-stalker. I just… I feel… I feel like I’m about to come unhinged. I was with him for seven years.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I would hug you, but you’ve got the…” She cut her eyes to me and I abandoned that line of thought. “Anyway, you have every right to go a little crazy. No one would think any less of you for it after what you’ve been through. Plus, no one here really knows you, right? Maybe the forest isn’t the best place to heal from a broken heart. Maybe a salon and a giant box of chocolate would serve you much better.”

  She dropped her head back and blew out a shaky breath. “I would love a salon. This stuff is great, but I can’t think straight right now, much less try to catch a damn rabbit for dinner.”

  “They eat rabbits?!” My voice had gone up so high that the rest of the group turned to me, startled. I waved them away. “God, that is barbaric. Look, I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m going back down the mountain. I could use a guide to get there. You seem to know your way down. How about it? I’ll treat you to a salon experience to make up for my part in causing this rash…”

  She stared at me, her eyes opening a little wider. “Sure. That would be nice.”

  I patted her head again and then grabbed the bottle she’d been holding. “You’ve got a tour to lead down the mountain tomorrow. No more liquor for you.”

  She pouted, but I ignored her. I was too busy noticing Wyatt from across the dancing flames of the campfire. He’d finally come back. And in no better spirits, from the downtrodden look on his face.

  I wanted to go to him. I needed to make sure he was okay. I headed his way and managed to get my foot caught in the strap of Sarah’s pack. I went down hard, no one nearby to catch me, and landed with my face inches from the fire.

  I scrambled back and sighed. “That was a close one.”

  Time seemed to stand still as I glanced up and noticed everyone rushing towards me at the same time. I was about to freak out and scream at them to tell me what was going on when I smelled it. Burnt hair. I looked down. Correction. Burning hair.

  CHAPTER 22: Wyatt

  I couldn’t get the sight out of my head. Georgia, standing there with her heart on her sleeve, looking like she wanted to run to me. Then, Georgia standing there with the ends of her hair going up in smoke. I’d rushed over to her, but she’d still lost a lot of hair. A lot of it. The ends were fried and blackened and smelled terrible. It oddly complemented the purple bruise and red scratches on her face. Not to mention the other scrapes and bruises covering her.

  When she passed out, again, I’d carried her back to my shelter and tucked her in. I couldn’t help crawling under the blanket with her and wrapping my arms around her. She’d had a hell of a couple of days. I’d never seen a person more incompatible with the wilderness.

  She’d entered my life with pretty, manicured nails and salon-perfect hair all shiny with expensive highlights and lowlights. I was giving her back to Allie broken and beaten with cuts, scratches, bruises and badly singed hair. I felt like a fool. I’d marked a woman who couldn’t have been farther from what I needed. I had to let her go and I knew that there was a chance I’d lose my mind. Mates were supposed to stay together. They were supposed to mesh. Like Thorn and Allie. They made sense. Like Mom and Dad. They made sense, too.

  Pain ate away at me until I couldn’t remain beside her anymore. I got up and sat outside the shelter, leaned against the mountain wall behind me. Sleep escaped me and I struggled with my thoughts until the morning sun started to peek out over the top of the mountain.

  I carried myself to the stream and washed up before heading back to my shelter to check on Georgia.

  I found her bent over her pack, her charred hair pulled back in a short ponytail. She was shoving stuff into the knapsack while simultaneously holding her head and then her back.

  “You okay?”

  She jumped and then groaned. “No. I’m not okay. I’m going home.”

  My bear roared at me to stop her. He demanded that I make her want us. Even though I knew it was useless, I gave it one last, lame try. “You giving up?”

  Her eyes were damn near death-ray lasers as she turned to me. “Look at me, Wyatt. Look at me! I’m a mess. I need to get out of here before I kill myself. I lit my head on fire last night! I don’t belong up here. I don’t belong with…”

  “Me.” I finished for her. “You don’t belong with me.”

  A flash of emotion pricked her eyes. Pain? “I don’t. I need to go. I need to go back to something I recognize.”

  I wanted to fight. Even though I knew she was right, it was hard to just let go. It was obvious how out of place she was. It would never work. I was on the mountain nearly year-round. She’d be alone and miserable in town. She would ne
ver be happy with me.

  Her hands fisted at her side and she nodded. “Okay. I’m going. Thanks for the fun, Wyatt.”

  I caught her arm and nearly doubled over at the hope in her eyes. She wanted me to fight for her. I wouldn’t force her to stay, though. “How are you getting down the mountain?”

  She jerked away from me and headed off. “Sarah is taking me. Have a good rest of your tour.”

  I let her go.

  I let her leave me standing there, with the gaping hole that had just been ripped out of my chest.

  I sucked. The situation sucked. Fucking life sucked.

  I yanked my shelter down and threw my pack against the rock wall. Anger and frustration threatened to take me to my knees as I felt her move farther and farther away from me. I wondered how it would feel when she was over a thousand miles away. Would I still hurt like this? Would I still hate myself?

  *

  The group was in fine form that morning. The ones who weren’t hungover were visibly disappointed to learn that Georgia was gone. Martha, especially. I could see her disappointment with me on her face. She was disappointed in me for allowing Georgia to leave. What the fuck was I supposed to do?

  I was about to send everyone out to gather more food when I felt something in me shift oddly. I could suddenly feel fear, and it wasn’t my own. I knew instantly it was Georgia. Something was frightening her. I took off running. I didn’t know how far she’d gotten down the mountain, it couldn’t have been far, but I had to get to her fast.

  I didn’t pause to undress before I shifted, leaving my clothes in tatters. I galloped headlong towards whatever had scared her badly enough for it to have reached me through the mate bond. I smelled her and heard her before I saw her.

  “Dammit, Wyatt, what are you doing? You’re scaring me!”

  My stomach dropped and I stumbled. Who was she talking to?

  “I know I should’ve told you that I knew but it doesn’t matter now anyway! For god’s sakes, stop. You’re being an ass!”