Bear-ly Spring

by M. L. Briers

  “Finally…” Nash said.

  “Although, I’ll not apologise for thinking that – considering the circumstances…” He growled and the vampire groaned.

  “Circumstances?” Andy offered back.

  “That it seems to be his people – on his side of the mountain that are involved…” Elijah growled at the thought.

  “You sound as if you’re trying to talk yourself back into believing that Jethro had something to do with…” Nash stopped talking and considered his words…

  “What is it?” Jethro asked.

  “He’s right…” Nash said and Elijah growled long and hard as he turned towards his brother in anger… “Not about Jethro being behind it…” Nash berated the man and he slowly eased down…

  “Way to get me killed, Nash…” Jethro grumbled.

  “That the witch and the wolves lived on Jethro’s side of the mountain. Jethro’s land…” Nash said, ignoring the man’s grumbles.

  “And…?” Alana asked.

  “And, that’s what they stand to lose should Elijah mate first…” Nash offered. “We all know that Elijah is a…” He stopped and cleared his throat…

  “Don’t stop on my account – please…” Elijah twisted his head on his neck and growled at the vampire.

  “Like a bear with a sore head and unsociable…” Nash offered back and the big man grunted in reply. “If he took Jethro’s land then he could turf them out of their homes, especially knowing how he felt about wolves…”

  “I would not…” Elijah growled and stopped to consider it. “Maybe the wolves…” he grumbled.

  “But who would serious think that he was going to win?” Jethro offered with a small chuckle and his brother’s head snapped around on his neck…

  “Seriously?” Elijah growled long and hard back at his brother.

  “Think about it…” Jethro offered back and his brother grumbled and grunted once more.

  “Fine…” he growled.

  “But could they take the chance? Would they?” Nash shrugged, amused by Elijah’s easy capitulation to his brother’s declaration.

  “What does that say about us?” Alana asked as she looked to Andy.

  “Fodder…” she shrugged back.

  “Chattel,” Alana nodded.

  “That’s not…” Both mates started together, but both of the women grinned at the same time and silence them.

  “So, we go to Aunt May’s…” Jethro announced.

  “Stop calling the damn woman Aunt,” Elijah grumbled. “She isn’t kin and she tried to kill my mate.”

  “He has a point…” Nash offered. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” Elijah shot back.

  “Maybe she has nothing at all to do with this and she’s just a senile old witch that wanted to spell me for the fun of it.” Nash offered back.

  “I don’t like coincidences…” Alana offered on a small shake of her head.

  “Me either,” Andy said – tossing up her shoulders.

  “So… May is the bad guy.” Jethro said and boy was that going to take some wrapping his head around.

  “Witch…” Elijah growled.

  “Bad witch…” Jethro shrugged.

  “Wicked witch,” Alana offered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ~

  “Dead witch!” Jethro announced as they stalked around the outside of May’s property – the scent in the air was blood – Fae blood, and unless there were other witches that they didn’t know about in the area, then it was a sure fire bet that it was May’s.

  That scent was too strong to be just a small amount of blood and they both knew it.

  They’d left their mates in Nash’s care back at Elijah’s cabin for the protection that the barricades provided, and now both men were glad of it. If May was dead then it was a sure sign that she was involved somehow…

  “Do we bother to go in?” Elijah asked, eyeing the surrounding area.

  “She’s already given us the answer that we were seeking,” Jethro said as he turned on his heels and started back towards his truck. “Best not to leave any fingerprints at the scene for the humans to find.”

  “Back to our mates or hunt the wolf?” Elijah said. He was torn, eager for both.

  “Mason will be masking his scent and holding up somewhere to heal. At least I would be if I were him.” Jethro growled out as his brother followed on behind him.

  “Agreed. He won’t come again tonight … I did him too much damage.”

  “Tomorrow then…”

  “If he doesn’t turn tail and run.”

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Mason allowed his body to slide down the stone walls of the old barn. They’d been right, he’d been masking his scent, and with the winds that had been steadily picking up; any remnants of his scent should have been long since carried away.

  They were right too that he wouldn’t attack again that night. He was healing, but his body was still weak.

  The cuts from Elijah’s claws had gone deep – too deep – but they weren’t right about him turning tail and running off … he owed his brother a debt of honour that he would never turn his back on.

  May might be dead, his brother was gone, and the bear’s might have been out to stop him, but he more determined now to do them harm than ever before.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  It was an uneasy alliance that had been forged between the brothers. On the one hand they would work together to protect their kin. On the other; neither man wanted anything to do with the other.

  Like a wedge between them that stood in the past and the present. The history that had divided them over the years met with the real possibility that one of them still risked losing their land, their home, depending on the outcome of them being able to woo their mates.

  It was a harsh, cruel thing to do to the brothers, but then, Jethro doubted that their father could have foreseen this day coming when both brothers would find their mates at the same time, if at all.

  The journey back to Jethros’s cabin was done in relative silence until they neared the point where they could see his property in the early morning light as the moon yielded to the sun’s arrival on another spring day.

  “Your vampire…” Elijah started and he heard his brother grunt.

  “He’s not my anything. You make him sound like a pet,” Jethro tossed back.

  “Said …” Elijah ignored the comment and continued. “That he would leave and not witness who mated first.”

  “A draw?” Jethro offered back.

  “If you consider finding your one true mate a game, yes,” Elijah grumbled a growl.

  “That wasn’t what I meant.”

  “Just implied then.”

  “Why do you have to make everything so damn…” Jethro turned to stare out of the window. His brother had a knack of riling him deep within his very soul. “We should both be revelling in finding out mates…”

  “And yet – the threat of losing that which is engrained into our very bones hangs over our heads.” He agreed.

  “You want to call a truce for fear you will lose…”

  “There you go again, assuming you are the better man…” Elijah growled.

  “Again, not what I meant.”

  “Then you need to work on your language skills, brother.”

  “I meant that the same thing is also in the back of my mind.” Jethro offered that admission.

  Elijah grunted in response. He didn’t for one moment believe that his brother had such fears.

  Being more congenial towards humans and the outside world was something that his brother did best. Elijah was in no doubt about that.

  If it came down to it; then he expected that his brother would mate first and satisfy the terms of their father’s will.

  “It’s amazing that yesterday that would have bothered the hell out of me. Losing the land. My home. But after what’s happened with my mate…” he let that thoughts slip away.


  Jethro grunted in response and they fell into silence once more as they pulled up outside the cottage…

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Nash…” Jethro said as he stood by the front door of Elijah’s cabin. “A word.”

  Nash nodded and started across the room towards him as Elijah accepted the beer that his mate offered out to him.

  “May?” Nash asked and Jethro shook his head.

  “We didn’t go in but the scent in the air…” Jethro didn’t need to say more; the vampire understood.

  “Let me guess what this little chat is about…” Nash said, reaching out into the man’s mind so that he didn’t have too. “Interesting.” He offered with a smirk.

  “Don’t read my damn mind…” Jethro growled out.

  “I have good news and bad news, which would you like first?” Nash folded his arms and tipped his head to one side…

  “Good.”

  “Too bad. I’m a bad news first kind of a guy…” Nash offered back. “That offer is off the table. I won’t be leaving so that I don’t witness who mated first.”

  “Then why the hell…?” Jethro growled in annoyance.

  “The good news, however…” Nash held up his hand to silence the man, and Jethro grumbled a rolling growl. “Is that the terms of your father’s will have already been met.”

  “What?” Elijah cocked his head and craned it forwards on his neck as he narrowed his eyes on the vampire.

  Neither brother had mated yet. He didn’t understand what the hell the vampire was talking about.

  “Well, the clause…”

  “Clause?” Jethro twisted his head and regarded the man with confusion.

  “A separate section that states that if the two of you knuckleheads ever got your act together and stood side by side against a common foe then the first part of the will would become null and void and the clause would become the standing part of the will…” Nash rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and nodded his head slightly as he revisited his words…

  “In English?” Elijah growled.

  “I could give it to you in Latin if you continue to bust my chops…” Nash shot back.

  “Nash!” Jethro growled.

  “Fine, the terms of the will are settled,” Nash tossed up his hands. The brothers eyed each other.

  “Who got the land?” Elijah growled.

  “I’m so sorry for both of you…” Nash offered towards their mate and got growled at in stereo.

  “Nash!” Jethro grumbled.

  “You both did – geez, do I need to draw it in pictograms?” He slapped himself on the forehead and brought laughter from Alana and Andy.

  “Both!” The brothers said together.

  “Now you’re working in unison. You couldn’t have done that years ago?” The vampire grumbled.

  “Nobody was trying to kill a mate…” Elijah growled.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “It was in the will not to tell you. Your father wanted you to see the error of your ways on your own. Besides, would it have made a damn difference?” Nash bit out.

  Elijah and Jethro eyeballed each other again. Both men grunted.

  “There you go then.” Nash tossed up his hands once more. “Now I can finally go on holiday.”

  “Holiday?” Andy scoffed. “Sunning yourself on a beach somewhere?” She asked and Alana snorted a chuckled.

  “You’re a riot!” Nash offered back with a sour look on his face.

  “So, it’s done.” Jethro turned to his brother.

  “Done.” Elijah offered back.

  “Tomorrow we hunt the wolf…” Jethro said.

  “Until we find him.” Elijah agreed.

  “I’ll be back early…” Jethro eyed his mate. “Early – ish.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  ~

  “Eat.” Elijah wasn’t about to take no for an answer again as he pushed a bowl of stew towards Andy and she eyed it with suspicion.

  “What’s in it?” She sniffed the aroma and didn’t turn her nose up at it. He guessed that was a good sign.

  “Potato, carrot, onion…” She lifted her spoon. “Dog food…”

  “What?” She balked as her eyes became saucers and her mouth fell open. For the first time he had an honest to goodness smile on his lips and it held her spellbound. “That’s not funny…” She shook her head.

  “It wasn’t a joke … waste not want not,” Elijah couldn’t help himself. It was the look in her eyes, and then she swallowed down hard and eyed the bowl some more.

  “I…”

  “It’s beef…” he offered with a grunt of a chuckle and her eyes snapped back up to his. “Beef. I swear. Check the packaging in the bin…” he chuckled again, and it felt good to him.

  “You really are a butthead…” she grumbled.

  “I’m a butthead that can cook. Try it.” He nudged the bowl at her again and she considered it for a long moment – her spoon hovering in midair.

  “All I can see is dog food now…” she grumbled.

  Elijah turned towards the kitchen bin and fished out the food wrapper.

  “Like I said, beef.” He assured her, dropping the wrapper back in the bin and going over to wash his hands.

  She dug in with her spoon and eyed the contents against the silver, sniffing once more. Then she stuck out her tongue and tested the flavour, surprised at how good it was. She opened her mouth and he turned to look at her, she paused…

  “I swear … if you say one more thing I’ll spit it out all over you,” she offered back and he chuckled again.

  “I forgot you were a girl…” he grinned.

  “Really? My boobs didn’t give it away?” Andy heard the low, hungry growl that rolled through him and she didn’t think it was the stew that was causing him to make that sound. “Forget I said anything.” She said and then closed her lips around the spoon.

  Elijah watched her for a moment as her eyes said what her words couldn’t as she chewed happily. She made a sound in the back of her throat and his cock almost tore through his jeans to get to her…

  “That’s sooo good,” she said as she dove back in for more.

  Elijah smiled to himself. He liked that she liked it. That he’d done that, brought her just a little pleasure with something so simple.

  He’d love to bring her a lot more pleasure and hear that sound come from her again…

  “Eat…” she motioned towards his bowl with her spoon and he was jolted into remembering his own food that wasn’t something that he normally had trouble with.

  He strolled around the counter and sat beside her on the stool, dragging his bowl towards him and eyeing her as she continued to eat. Just watching her was pleasure enough for him.

  “Where’d you learn to make this?”

  “Necessity mostly, but my mother used to make a stew like this, although hers was better.”

  “Than this?” She shook her head in disbelief.

  Elijah tasted it and nodded.

  “It’s still missing something…” He said.

  “Your mother cooking it.”

  He nodded again as he chewed and spooned, chewed and spooned.

  “So, you were sent to the mountain because you’re a trouble maker?” He asked and she snorted a chuckle.

  “I was told I was hanging with the wrong crowd and I was going to get into trouble – they were probably right. So I thought I’d take a break.” She said and he grunted in reply. “Now look at me…” she teased and he shot her another look.

  “You regret coming to the mountain?”

  “Not yet…” she shrugged.

  “You regret meeting me.” He didn’t ask that time. He stated it as fact.

  “Not yet…” she grinned back and he held in place, just staring back into her eyes. He couldn’t sense any deceit in her, but her eyes still said playful.

  “You gonna stay?” He growled just a little as his bear grumbled inside of him. The beas
t didn’t want to give her the option to turn him down – Elijah certainly wasn’t his beast.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  Andy wasn’t about to commit herself to anything, not right there and then. Too much had happened so fast that her head was still kind of spinning with it all.

  She still didn’t know him. Not really. Not enough to take a leap of faith like that…

  “Are you going to tell me what you and your brother were fighting about now?” She asked, flicking a look at him. She saw his muscles tense a little.

  “My younger brother,” he offered back. His voice was quieter.

  “So there are three of you?”

  “Were three. Now two.”

  “And you think he was to blame and he thinks you were…?” She’d got that much from when they’d argued earlier. Elijah kept his eyes down on his bowl but he didn’t make a move to eat.

  He nodded.

  “So, I’m only going to get one side of the story…”

  “There was a fight. The wolves … not the ones that attacked you – the ones that used to live on this side of the mountain. There had been some banter going back and forth for weeks, and my brother, Sean, was roughed up a little.” He placed his spoon in the bowl and pushed it away.

  “We decided to go have it out with them. Sean decided to tag along behind us – we didn’t know he was there – the kid was like the spirit wind … there was a fight – things got out of hand and Sean’s bear jumped in.”

  Elijah turned on his stool and took a long deep breath in. The muscles in his jaw worked overtime as he eyed the floor between them.

  “One of the wolves took off and I went after him, leaving Jethro to look after Sean – two against one – should have been an easy fight…” he swallowed hard. “Sean ended up facing the angry wolf and he didn’t stand a chance, tore his throat clean out – not even Nash could save him then.”

  He pushed up and moved off, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “And you both blame each other?”

  “He was younger, leaner, learning to fight – he should never have been there…” he craned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “We … we should never have been there.” He turned to snatch a look at her over his shoulder. The look in her eyes mirrored how his heart felt.