Bear Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #2)(45)

“We got an order from Clayton. I need you to come out to the homestead.”

“Aw, f*ck off, Ian. I’m busy.”

“You aren’t, and I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important. Tobias will be there in an hour to pick you up. Pack for a few days.” The phone clicked, and the dial tone blasted against Jenner’s oversensitive ear. Asshole.

He resisted the urge to slam the phone back in its cradle, but just barely.

Tobias was right on time. Lennard seemed pleased as punch that Jenner was actually taking time off, and everyone was getting on his damned nerves. For the third time, he made sure the camera was in his back pocket so he could take a piece of Lena with him.

The plane ride sucked, naturally, because Tobias smelled like a f*cking bear and growled constantly, but on the bright side, Link picked him up so he didn’t have to cram himself inside a car with his crazy brother. Just a crazy werewolf instead.

At least he would probably get a good rabbit stew out of the deal. Elyse liked to cook that best, and he hadn’t eaten in a couple hours.

“Why are you smiling?” he asked Link suspiciously as he pulled onto the dirt road that led to the homestead.

“Because it’s not me you’re hunting.” Half-truth.

Jenner narrowed his eyes but let it go because he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone right now, and half-truths reminded him of Mom.

The sun sat low in the sky as Link pulled to a stop in front of the cabin, and Jenner’s hackles rose higher when he saw Elyse waiting on the porch for him, her eyes all emotional.

“Are you crying?” he asked, appalled.

“No,” she said, her voice squeaky. “I have something in my eye.”

“Where’s Ian?” Because about now he was ready to bleed whoever Clayton had put out the kill order on.

Elyse pointed down an ATV path that led into the woods. “Down there.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” he muttered, not in the mood for games. “I’m not playing, Elyse. I’ve had a shit couple of days, and I’m not up for some damned scavenger hunt for my brother.”

“Jenner Silver, I will stab you if you don’t stop complaining. You want to see your brother? Follow the f*cking tracks!”

“Elyse looks pissed,” Link murmured. “Just go, okay?”

“Fine,” Jenner gritted out, shouldering his backpack. “Later.”

He made his way through the trees and, sure enough, there was Ian’s scent for him to follow. It was an old trail, though, and the farther away from the house he got, the fainter the scent, which didn’t make sense. Up ahead, he could see a light through the trees, and he opened his mouth to yell that Ian better not jump out and try to scare him or he would Change and shred him, but just as he was about to say the first word, another scent hit his nose.

Jenner jerked to a stop and inhaled again. The wind was shifting, so maybe he’d just imagined the body wash Lena had used on the trail. But when the wind righted again, there it was, unmistakable. Heart hammering, Jenner dropped his backpack and began to jog. And when Lena’s scent grew stronger, he sprinted forward. In a small clearing surrounding a log cabin, he skidded to a stop.

Lena was standing on the small front porch, surrounded by candle lanterns hanging from pegs. Her hair was down and wavy, two shades darker than the evening sky, and her eyes were full of bottomless emotion.

He reached her in five long strides, hopped over the three stairs, and crushed her to him. “Lena,” he murmured between kissing her lips and kissing her cheeks.

She giggled, but it was the thick sort that said she would cry soon if she wasn’t already. His Lena.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I have a proposition,” she said, hugging his neck and burying her face against his throat.

She felt so damned good against him right now, but when he patted her back, a dust cloud lifted from her sweater. She was filthy from head to toe. “Why are you covered in dirt?”

“Because I was digging.”

“Digging what?”

“Your den.”

She wasn’t making a lick of sense, so he just stared at her, at a loss for words.

“Link and Ian offered to help me dig, but it felt right doing it myself.” She tugged his hand and led him off the porch, then around to the side of the house where there was a large opening under the porch. “Ian made sure the cabin was safe over it, though. Look.” She squatted down and pointed at the hole.

Jenner looked inside and shook his head, utterly floored by the enormous hole she’d dug. Ian had bolstered the legs of the house with metal, but underneath, the den was as wide as it was deep.

“Lena,” he drawled, reality niggling at him.

“Just wait until you hear everything I have to say before you tell me no, Jenner, because this is really important to me, and you said you love me, and if you do, you owe it to me to listen.”

Jenner stood slowly, pulling her with him. “Okay.”

“I don’t like that you pick a different den every year so close to where the boys are running guided hunts. I hate it. It doesn’t feel safe.”

“Here won’t be any safer because Ian will be hibernating too close. The only other time we tried, we went to war as soon as we woke up. Almost killed each other.”