“You smell like woods and bear and arousal.” He canted his head and frowned. “You don’t smell like a man.”
Shocked at his open way of speaking to her, and the fact that he glossed right over the arousal observation, she pressed her back into the seat and added inches between them. “I haven’t been with one since Trent died.”
“Was he your mate?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he didn’t want to be.”
“But you wanted to be his?”
The damned tears were back, threatening to expose how weak she really was, and she drew a shaky breath to calm the anger that Ethan caused with his painful questions. “Yes.”
“Trent Cress died six months ago.”
She clenched her hands and gritted her teeth. Desperate for a way to unseat his battering of observations, she asked, “Did you kill him?”
His eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Did I kill Trent Cress? Why would I?”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
His gaze dipped to her lips. “I didn’t kill your man. I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it, and Trent didn’t deserve his end.”
With that, he pulled away and slammed the door beside her. He sauntered around the front of his Bronco with long, graceful strides. Her stomach did uncomfortable flip-flops just watching him.
He might not be Trent’s murderer, but he was still trouble.
Chapter Three
Ethan pulled his radio to his lips and jammed the button. “Rieland?”
Static. “What?”
“If Muriel comes out of Marsden’s house before we get back, tell her I’ve taken Reese up to the campground. We’ll be back in an hour.”
A long pause filled the cab of the truck and Reese tucked her knees to her chest and focused on not smashing her face on the window. The Bronco rocked back and forth over the rough terrain and Ethan rested the radio on his thigh.
“Fine.”
“Rieland,” Ethan said, warning lacing his tone. “Check your attitude and don’t talk to me like that anymore. I wasn’t asking you a favor. I was giving an order.”
“You give a lot of those lately,” Rieland said, then the static went dead.
A low growl left his throat as Ethan glared at the uneven road ahead of him.
“You slept with her, didn’t you?” Reese asked.
He pulled an annoyed look her way and muttered, “That’s none of your business.”
“Yet you asked me ten personal questions, all of which you expected me to answer.”
He inhaled slowly and gripped the steering wheel with one hand so hard his knuckles turned white. The other, he rested out the open window.
“Yes, I slept with her.”
“She’s so mean though. Mean girls are your type?”
“I like sex, Reese,” he said in an exasperated tone. “And there aren’t a lot of women to choose from up here, in case you haven’t noticed. Rieland is actually one of the nicest of the bunch.”
Laughter bubbled up from her chest and tapered into a peel of giggles. “That does suck. I bet she manhandles you in the bedroom, doesn’t she?”
“Again, none of your business.” But the corner of his mouth was beginning to tilt up and she really wanted to see the man smile.
“Oh, come on. Who am I going to tell? I don’t know any of your people. Spill it, Brenner. Did she choke you? She wanted you to call her Katerina the cavewoman warrior, didn’t she?” Reese lowered her voice. “Did she make you cry?”
A small grin cracked his face and she couldn’t take her eyes from it. God, he was stunning. “Nothing like that. She just liked things…rough.”
“Do you like it rough?” She wished she could swallow the words back down as soon as they left her lips. She’d become too comfortable with this conversation. His smile had emboldened her and now she’d crossed a line.
“I like pleasing the woman I’m with,” he said in a serious tone.
The smile had disappeared from his face, and a little ache slashed through her at its absence. She’d gone too far.
“I’m sorry. You don’t know me and that really is none of my business.”
The Bronco slowed as he pressed the brake, and he turned an intense gaze on her. “One inappropriate question for an inappropriate question,” he wagered.
Unable to speak under the depth of his eyes, she nodded her consent.
“Do you like it rough?”
“I like to please the man I’m with,” she said, throwing his answer back at him.
“You strike me as the type of woman who knows exactly what she wants in the bedroom, Reese Evans. Do you like it rough, or do you like a man to be gentle with you?”
Her voice came out a whisper as warmth spread to her lower belly and rested at the apex between her clenched thighs. “I like both.”
The corner of his too sensual mouth turned up once again and he diverted his attention back to the road. “Good bear,” he said, pressing the gas.
It should’ve bothered her that he kept calling her that, but he didn’t strike her as the type of man to call just anyone a pet name. In his own, slightly condescending way, he was offering her a compliment. Telling her good job as best as a dominant alpha like him probably knew how.
“Are you a grizzly bear?” she asked. More inappropriate questions as her mouth seemed to say whatever the hell it wanted without her permission.
“Grizzly, yes. You are too, aren’t you?”
“Ha. No. I’m a black bear and not a big one.”
He jerked his head toward her and frowned. “Really?”
She couldn’t help but be flattered at his surprise. She must be coming off much more dominant than she really was. Good. “Yep. Both of my parents are black bears too.”
“They’re both still alive?”
“Mmm hmm. They live in Joseph. I eat Sunday dinner with them every week and see them at every clan meeting.”
Shadows played across his eyes, and they seemed to darken. He didn’t ask any more questions, only drove, and when he pulled past a lookout tower several stories high, he waved to the tinted windows above them.
We all take turns in the tower. It’s tedious work, but we can see smoke from forest fires easiest from there. It’s also where hikers and campers call in for information, or to call for help.
“Hey, boss,” a voice rang out over the radio Ethan had set in the cup holder.
“How you doin’, Jesse?” Ethan asked into the speaker.
“Slow day. A pair of lost hikers, but I got them straightened out. A black bear raided a tent last night, but no one was hurt and I sent Tarran to take care of it. Other than that, nothing.”
“Good. Keep me posted on the bear. Do we know which one it was?”
“I think it was the orphan. He’s getting desperate and the campers were good about latching the Dumpster lids last night. We’ll have to put him down or move him after this. Up to you. He can’t get in the habit of downing tents of sleeping campers though. He’s not big yet, but he’ll be a massive boar with bad habits in a couple of years.”
“We’ll move him first and see if it holds. If he comes back, we’ll make the decision then.”
“I’ll let Breshia know,” Jesse said through the static.
“Breshia is our vet, and she handles tranquilizing the problem animals,” Ethan explained. “She oversees relocation when we have to go that route. We have eighteen of our clan who work as rangers. The others take care of gardens and the livestock that get us through winter. We rotate days off and each morning, everyone heads out to work according to what they were assigned that day. We can each do all of the jobs, but some, like the tower, are less active than others, so to make it fair, we trade off. Some of my rangers go down those trails,” he said, pointing to a couple of muddy roads forking off the main, “and they run patrols. Their jobs are to stop poachers, check the land for any illegal activity, and watch out for injured animals. Thos
e are more common than you’d think during hunting season up here. The Seven Devils are some of the hardest terrains to hunt in this part of the world, and no matter how skilled you are as a marksman, things can go wrong.”
“You don’t mind that they kill bears up here?”
“Not as long as it’s done legally and humanely. And most of it is done far enough away that we don’t have to worry about changing into our animals as long as it’s done at night and we stick close to the camp. It’s the poachers I can’t get on board with. Most hunters go through the safety courses and practice their marksmanship. They are prepared when they come out here to take a legal bear, and it helps keep our population from exploding. They really do help keep the bears healthy and the campers from waking up to a hundred pairs of eyes staring at them. And they give more to conservation than any other unified group in the world. The hunters who do it right aren’t the problem. It’s the poachers who come in here illegally and take dangerous risks to the bears and campers we have to watch out for.”
“Have any of your clan been mistakenly shot before?”
“No, but some have had close encounters. Especially with the poachers who come out at night. They’re trying not to get caught, and it poses a greater risk for accidents.”
The brakes screeched softly as he pulled up to a gate. Hopping out, he strode toward it and opened it wide. In a helpful mood, she slid behind the wheel and eased the growling vehicle through the opening. When he’d closed the gate, she scooted back over.
A sign let them know they were entering the Hells Canyon Campground and Ethan followed a long, winding road until the first campsites came into view. A couple with a pair of fishing poles slung over their shoulders waved.
“Hey, Ethan,” the curly-headed woman called.
Ethan pulled to a stop and offered a two fingered wave. “Heading out again?”
“Yeah, they were biting so well yesterday, we hit the limit. I think we’re going to have a fish fry tonight if we catch enough.”
“Where’s my invite?” he asked.
“This is it right here,” the man beside her said with a cocky grin. “Seven-thirty. You know where to find us,” he called as Ethan chuckled and pulled away.
Reese stared, dumbfounded. She’d imagined he never smiled, but he was so natural with those people. She’d misjudged him, clearly, and the mysteries around Ethan Brenner stacked higher.
“They’re regulars. Real fanatics of the park, and superstitious too. They always want campsite number twelve, so we save it for them if they call us before their trip out here.”
“Are you going to their fish fry?”
“Nah. I have a long shift in the tower for the next couple of days. Jesse took over for me this morning so I could let Muriel know what’s going on with her father, but I need to relieve him. He has a cub, and no mate to help raise him. He needs to be home by the time his boy, Jonathan, gets out of school.”
“Homeschool?”
“Sort of. The classroom is small. We only have three cubs in the clan right now and two are really young. Jesse’s boy is seven. Classes take place in one of the cabins.”
“Why do you do it?” she asked. “Why do you all choose to live up here, away from town and off the grid?”
He shot her a look that said he couldn’t tell if she was seriously interested or teasing him. “Have you ever had a job you loved?”
She thought about Buckeye’s Bar and Grill. About the endless beers and burger baskets she served. About the lousy tips and being exhausted after a day of plastering on a smile. “No. I don’t think I have.”
“Then you wouldn’t understand.”
She opened her mouth to demand he make her understand, but out her window, a ranger truck was parked sideways in front of a shredded tent, and a woman in uniform was taking notes as a pale man with crossed arms and a scowl talked to her.
Ethan pulled up beside the truck and got out. He hadn’t told her if she was supposed to stay in the car or not, but either way, it wasn’t her style to wait around. Plus she was a curious little bear, and that man looked utterly shaken.
“Ethan Brenner,” he said, offering the man his hand. After a shake, he turned his attention to the luscious red-headed ranger. Tarran, her nametag read. “Jesse told me what happened.”
“One of the other campers got a picture of the bear.” Tarran handed him a camera and flipped it to a picture of an adolescent bear making off with a package of food in its mouth.
“I could sue this place,” the man said. “We had no warning. Just woke up with a giant bear ripping into our tent. My wife almost had a heart attack.”
Ethan shook his head and made a clicking sound behind his teeth like the man was shit out of luck. “Suing the park won’t work. There are bear warnings everywhere. Look there,” he said, pointing to a bright yellow, easily readable sign with tips on how to keep bears out of the campground. “Rule number one is to store food where they can’t get to it. This picture shows the animal taking…what is that?” he asked, squinting at the camera. “Cinnamon rolls? You put yourself and all of this campground at risk by not minding the rules. We already have a vet standing by and I’ll send out a team to find the problem bear to relocate it. I understand if you’re too shaken up to stay, but look at it this way. You have a really cool story to tell your friends back home. Who gets robbed by a bear and lives to tell about it?”
The man shook his head and offered a small, disbelieving smile. “We did.”
“That’s right. You’re very lucky he only got away with your breakfast.” Ethan pulled out a card and wrote a number on the back. “This is the number to our tower, and on the back is my cell. Please let me know if we can do anything else for you, or if you have any questions about the rules and food storage tips.”
“I will,” the man said as the color began to return to his cheeks. “Thanks.”
Ethan waved to the man’s wife and daughter, then turned to talk to Tarran. Feeling intrusive on their private conversation, Reese ambled toward the vehicles and took a long breath of fresh mountain air. Campsites dotted both sides of the road and a community restroom sign pointed to a sandy colored brick building that sat in the shadow of a giant evergreen tree across the one lane road. It was a warm may day and a walkway was lined with campers off to various errands. Down the street, a line of horseback riders followed a woman in a big garden hat on a spotted pony. She seemed to be giving them some sort of tour.
When Reese turned around, Ethan and Tarran were still talking quietly, but the red-headed shifter had drawn up close to his side and was staring intently into his eyes. Something green and ugly writhed inside of her and she turned away to hide how affected she was.
Why did Reese care if the woman was into him? He wasn’t hers. In fact, Ethan was basically a stranger. He hadn’t brought her on this little adventure to spend alone time with her. He’d brought her because, for whatever reason, it bothered him that she thought he and his clan were a bunch of uneducated mountain recluses.
He’d proved his point. And with one last sneaky glance at Lovey-Eyed-Tarran, Reese slipped into the Bronco and shut the door softly beside her.
A few minutes later, Ethan leaned against the open window with a confused look lingering in his dark eyes. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. You’ve proved that you are much more than I thought. There is a lot more to this place than I’d imagined. You have a good thing here, Ethan. I need to get back to Muriel though.” She needed to get back to her uncomplicated life. One where she could look into a stranger’s eyes without being reminded of Trent and all she’d lost.
The trip back was torturously slow. She was upset and couldn’t figure out why. Maybe this was just how she would be from now on—emotional and unpredictable.
Ethan seemed just as confused as her and glanced at her often, though he didn’t seem to know what to say. When they passed the tower, Jesse, a lanky man with sunglasses and shoulder-length red hair, was standing on the outs
ide railing high above them with binoculars pulled to his face.
“Hey, Boss,” he called down. “Do you smell it?”
Ethan stopped the Bronco and took a long drag of air out the open window. Reese did the same.
Smoke. Not much, just a hint of it.
Ethan asked, “Is it in the canyon?”
“No,” Jesse said, still looking at something through the binoculars. “Looks like it’s near Joseph.
And suddenly, a horrible feeling gripped her gut. His words caused her blood to chill until it was hard to move.
Ethan looked sick, though for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. His face had contorted to something unrecognizable as he gripped the steering wheel.
Instinct was a powerful enabler, and right now, hers was screaming to get the hell out of the mountains and down to Joseph to make sure her friends were all right. Maybe it was the fact that Trent had been burned that caused her unexplainable panic, but what if it was more than that? What if the bear fighting to claw its way out of her knew something she didn’t?
Ethan dragged his gaze to her and his eyes churned with a silvery color that couldn’t pass for human any day.
“Go,” she breathed.
He hit the gas hard and jerked them through mud holes and around tree stumps. Minutes felt like hours as she jostled this way and that in the passenger seat.
Muriel waited by the central tent when they pulled through the clearing, watching the horizon with a worried expression. The smoke smelled heavier here. Without a word, Reese jumped from the Bronco before it even came to a complete stop and bolted for Muriel’s jeep.
“Something’s wrong,” Reese called out, panicked.
In seconds, Muriel was behind the wheel of her jeep, cranking the engine. The vehicle roared to life and they tore off as soon as Reese was settled. She held onto the grab bar and caught her first glimpse of the plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky as they crested a hill. When she dropped her gaze to the side view mirror, the sight of Ethan froze her breath in her throat.
He was stalking to the edge of the woods. His shirt was gone and his pants on the way, and as he lowered to his knees, his skin ripped apart and a giant, dark-furred grizzly exploded from him. Arching his massive head back, he roared, scattering the forest birds into the sky.