Redeem the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #5)(11)

Juan shrugged. “She puked.”

Like that explained anything.

Chase arched his ruddy eyebrow and turned his hat backward like he was contemplating battle strategies. “Brody knows, too.”

“What?” Joanna said, casting a narrowed gaze at her mate.

Brody was pulling an iron skillet of stew off of a fire a few tents away, and cast Juan the same irritated expression Chase had.

Juan winked at Corin with a wicked grin, like he’d known what he was doing all along. She was actually impressed with how not dumb he was. Snickering and backing away from the group new embroiled in an argument that would only make her laugh harder and piss someone off, she turned and stopped dead in her tracks.

A man stood on the edge of the camp, lit only by firelight in the shadows of the evening. His raven black hair was short on the sides and styled longer on top. His eyes were bottomless, as black as pitch.

Corin stumbled forward as a strangled sound wrenched from her throat.

It couldn’t be him. He looked different and the same all at once. The fourteen year old boy was no more. In his place was a man. He wore a white thermal sweater that clung to his muscled torso like a second skin. Dark wash jeans hung from narrow hips and encased powerful legs. He was tall, much taller than she remembered, but it was his coal black eyes that she would never mistake on anyone else.

“Daniel?” Her face crumpled and tears stung her eyes.

Rushing forward, she threw her arms around his waist and sobbed against the familiar scent of his skin. All these years, she thought she’d never smell him again. He was so warm, and she absorbed his heat greedily.

She couldn’t believe it. He was here. He was alive.

She’d never let go, not when it felt so damned right to be in his arms again.

But…

She wasn’t really in his arms. The arms in question were jutted stiffly by his side, not touching her, and he was stretching his neck away from her. When she eased away and whispered his name again questioningly, he dipped an empty gaze to hers.

“I’m not Daniel. My name is Brooks and I’m looking for Riker, alpha of Bear Valley.”

“Who are you?” Juan asked from behind Corin.

Brooks’ expression cooled, and a hollow smile touched his lips. “I’m the alpha of the Long Claws.”





Chapter Five



Daniel was the alpha of the Long Claws?

“No,” she breathed. Horror filled her veins, congealing her blood until her arms felt heavy and weak.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “You’re Daniel. Daniel Butler.”

His eyes narrowed and power rocketed from his body, almost bowling her over. Her legs buckled, and she fought the urge to fall to her knees in front of him.

He approached slowly and with each step he took, she bowed under the rage that electrified her body. Her mouth went dry and she closed her eyes against the urge to submit. It was too much. Instinct won against her heart’s desire, and she pitched forward on her hands and knees. He stood over her, domineering, with a cruel twist to his lips. Whomever he was, Brooks or Daniel, this wasn’t the boy she had known.

“You don’t know me, and I’ve never laid eyes on you before today,” he growled. “You disrespect the treaty by touching me unbidden. Do it again, and I’ll cut you down where you stand.”

“Please, Daniel—”

“Enough! I’m not who you think I am, woman.”

She lunged for his hand, desperate to touch him again, but he flinched away like she held a branding iron. His eyes were filled with such hatred, and another lament bubbled from her throat.

Helplessly, she whispered, “I can’t lose you again.”

“Where’s your alpha?”

“I’m here,” Riker said in a rumbling voice that sounded more animal than human. “Come. We’ll speak on neutral ground.”

The lash of dominance against her skin diminished as Brooks’ gaze left hers. From every angle he looked like her Daniel, but he couldn’t be. There was no soul in his eyes. His jaw was shadowed with short dark whiskers and the thick cords of his throat moved when he spoke. If it were him, the boy she’d known had died long ago, and the tragedy of that day was like a shard of glass through her middle. She hunched over the pain as he stepped around her.

“I know your bear,” she whispered as a warm tear made a pat sound against the dirt near her knees.

“What did you say?” Brooks demanded, turning to level her with a look so furious, it heated her cheeks.

Be brave. “Your bear is ancient. Short nose. Long legs. You saved me once.”

Something slashed across his ebony eyes. Some emotion, here and gone so fast she couldn’t identify it. With his cruel mask back in place, he looked down upon her as if she were nothing. “I’ve never saved anything in my life.”

He turned and followed Riker through the trees and she crumpled to the ground.

The chatter of the gathering crowd was only a dull hum against her eardrums. If that man was Daniel, she wished he had died that day instead of turning into the cruel creature he’d become. She wished she’d never laid eyes on him like this, and she clutched tighter to her wavering memories of the boy she had loved.

“I don’t understand you. Are you trying to get yourself killed before the battle even starts?” Juan asked, helping her to her feet.