Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(62)

He was just as terrified of losing her as she was of losing him.





Chapter Twenty-Two


Miki was fast asleep in Elyse’s lap when Ian pulled the truck to a stop in front of the cabin.

She was shocked to find Josiah chopping wood near the porch.

“Jo?” she asked, getting out with Miki cradled in her arms.

The pup woke up and wiggled to be set free, so she let him down, and the little hellion went bouncing toward her brother, letting off his big pup bark.

Josiah left the ax in the chopping block and knelt down, offering Miki his hand. Ian pulled the tailgate of his truck down and started unloading while Elyse followed the dog’s path to her brother.

“Is everything okay?”

Her brother looked up at her with those somber gold-green eyes that were so much like hers. “We lost two more cattle last night to wolves.”

“Oh my gosh. Which ones?”

“The bull and one of the mommas.” Josiah sat down in the dirt and pulled Miki into his lap. “They have to be rabid or something. They left the half-grown calf and went after two big ones. And that ain’t all. The wolves didn’t even eat them. They just killed them for sport. Makes no damned sense this close to winter.”

Elyse swallowed hard and looked up at the churning storm clouds above them. The McCalls had done this, led by that *, Miller.

“I brought the calf with me, but we need to get back and bring the rest of them in. They’re exposed out there, and every day they spend out in the open now, they’re at risk.”

“Did you see the wolves?”

“Nah, they’re being crafty, only taking the cattle in pitch dark. I can hear them, though. Howling and calling like a f*cking celebration every time they take an animal.”

Ian nodded to her once. Even from the truck, he’d heard the devastating news. Cattle were expensive and hard to come by, and that bull would cost them a lot to replace. Fucking Miller. He was hunting them from all sides now, taunting them with how much he could destroy their lives. He might not have the right key for the new padlock on the freezer, but he was still stealing from her.

Ian strode forward and reached down, gave Josiah a mannish handshake, then helped him up. “Thanks for letting us know. I’ll need a couple of hours to cut up the venison we got, and then we can head out.”

“Good hunt?”

“We filled two tags.”

Josiah laughed. “You mean you filled two. I know my sister. She won’t shoot anything bigger than a ptarmigan.”

“You’re wrong,” Elyse said. “We both had a good hunt.”

Josiah’s dark eyebrows arched high. “No shit?”

“No shit, man. She even dressed hers out.”

“Damn,” Josiah murmured, shocked. “I wish Uncle Jim was here to see this.”

The flattery heated her cheeks as Elyse dropped her gaze. That was as close to a compliment as her brother ever got. “Me, too.”

“Okay, well let’s get the table out. I can help and cut the work in half while Elyse saddles up the horses.”

As much as Elyse wanted to take a shower after their two-day hunting trip, it was already mid-morning, and they were burning daylight. She took her and Ian’s rifles and checked that they were unloaded, then put the safety back on both before she climbed the porch stairs and settled them against the railing where they wouldn’t fall over. And when she turned to head for the horses’ shelter, Josiah was watching her with a slight frown.

“You’re different.”

“Thank you,” she clipped out as she strode for the gate where the horses waited.

Ian chuckled from behind her, and she grinned to herself.

A bucket of grain was the only thing that was going to keep Demon from pinning her against the fence. Bribery worked best with this black-coated beast. As she brushed his thickening coat out, she lifted her gaze time and time again to where Ian and Josiah were preparing the venison and wrapping it in brown paper. They talked low and easy, but she couldn’t hear anything from here.

Demon tried to bite her when she put the saddle blanket on him, but he always did that, so she was ready and dodged his teeth. Irritated, he kicked, as if his near miss put him in a worse mood, and she rolled her eyes at what a little monster he could be. He was the taller of her two horses, so she had to give the saddle a strong swing upward to get it on. Demon pawed the dirt near the fence where she’d tied him, but at least the bucket of grain distracted him enough that he didn’t try to bite her again.

Milo was much better behaved and always had been. He was a chestnut horse with a big white blaze down his nose. He didn’t need the bribery, but she gave him a bucket of food to munch on to be fair. She could’ve sworn Demon was glaring at her the entire time she sang to Milo and saddled him, but she didn’t care. Ian was going to handle that horse’s foul mood, and she was going to have a nice, peaceful trail drive with her dependable horse.

She was finished before the men, so she left the horses tied to the fence and ready while she went inside and packed another backpack of food for Ian’s ravenous appetite. They would only be roughing it one night, but it still required preparation, so she busied herself with packing them so Ian wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Supplies sitting next to the guns outside, she rushed in and changed her clothes. Thermal pants under her jeans, two pairs of wool socks in her hiking boots, and a double layer of sweaters under her winter jacket. She glanced at herself in the mirror, and it shocked her to a stop. Her cheeks were filling out and tinged the rosy color that had left her during the hard years. She stood taller and didn’t have her chin to her chest, staring down at the ground like she used to do. The dark circles under her eyes had disappeared, and deep within her strange-colored eyes, she saw something she’d never seen before and almost didn’t recognize. Pride.