Bear in the Rough: Bear Shifter Romance (Broken Hill Bears Book 1) (4 page)

As they took a deep breath and hoisted their packs for the first of what would become hundreds of times, Marin called “selfie time!”, and they all gathered in front of the trail sign. As Freya looked at their three grinning faces in the photo, she wondered what lay ahead for the three single girls, off to spend the next few months in the wilderness. But little did she know how cataclysmic those events would be, and that in a couple of months, her life would never be the same again.

*

The first day was hard. Their backs ached from the unfamiliar weight of the packs, and they stopped often to readjust the straps until the weight was distributed properly. They got hot and changed their clothes before they’d walked for an hour. The miles went far more slowly than they’d expected. But Freya had prepared herself so thoroughly for all eventualities that it wasn’t as hard as she’d anticipated. Everyone applied blister band aids proactively, so no-one wound up with blisters; they conserved their water, and Freya filtered the water they collected at a refilling point exactly as she’d practiced at home.

By the end of the first day, they’d only gone nine miles, but they all agreed it was a pretty good start. They pitched their tents, Freya helping the other two, got the stove started, and cooked beans and franks.

“This is pretty cool,” Marin said, as they sat in a circle in between their tents. They’d lit a small fire and it kept them warm as a cool breeze rustled around. “Is this how you imagined it?” Freya gazed up at the stars blazing in an inky-black sky.

“As a best-case scenario,” she said with a smirk.

“Always the optimist,” Eloise said. Freya cast a sideways glance at her. She’d been complaining here and there, as they all had. Being the curviest of the three, the straps on her pack seemed to rub her flesh the worst, and she was clearly the least fit of them all. But Freya sensed that she was trying to be upbeat, and she warmed to her for her determination.

“How was your first day, Eloise? Honestly.” Eloise bit her lip and gazed up at the stars as well.

“Hard. I mean, some parts of my body are kind of on fire now. And I sure wish I’d done more exercise in preparation. I mean, who would’ve thought that little old pack could get so heavy when you carry it for nine miles?” They all laughed.

“Yeah, I knew carrying the pack would be hard, but that was something else. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when it gets hot out there,” Marin said.

“Hopefully we’ll be a lot fitter by that point,” Freya said. “Just remember, all the blogs I’ve read say that the first few days are the worst, as your body adjusts, and after that, it’s all downhill.”

“Amen to that,” Marin said. “Hey, I just remembered – I’ve got a little treat for us all, to celebrate making it through the first day.” She leapt to her feet and started rummaging around in her backpack. When she couldn’t find whatever she was looking for, she started tipping out the contents. “Got it!” she said triumphantly, grabbing a small bottle. But something else had caught Freya’s eye – a little silver packet. She snatched it up.

“And what’s this?” she exclaimed. Eloise squealed.

“Marin! You’ve brought condoms?” Marin gave a shriek of laughter and, even in the dark, Freya saw a blush spreading all over her freckly face.

“There will be men doing the hike as well. Some of them might be attractive,” she said. Eloise shook her head.

“I’m so off men. Even if I met the hottest guy in the universe right now, and he said that he loved my curves, I’d tell him, no. Call me up in a year’s time.” They all giggled.

“I hear you,” Freya said. “My last relationship sucked. In fact, all my relationships suck.”

“Might that be because you never give the guys a chance?” Marin said. “I remember what you were like at high school. Every time a guy was interested in you, you’d run away.” Freya stared into the fire.

“And I haven’t changed. I think it’s because of my dad leaving us. I feel like if I let myself get close to someone, they’ll probably leave too.”

“So you have to make sure that you run away first?” Eloise said gently, and with the empathy that she was well know for. Freya nodded.

“That seems to be the strategy that my brain has worked out for me.”

“Hopefully this trek will give you the peace you need to put all of that behind you,” Eloise said.

“Let’s hope so.” Freya glanced at Eloise, feeling a rush of affection for her.

“And I hope that this trek will help you prove to yourself that you are a strong person who deserves to be with a great guy.”

“Thanks, Freya.”

“And, Marin, I hope this trek proves to you that you’re the equal of anyone in your family,” Freya said, aware that Marin always felt inferior to her superstar family. They were all senators, high court judges and scientists, and they made her feel like a loser because she worked as a park ranger, despite the fact that she really loved her job. Marin nodded.

“I’ve been thinking about my grandmother on and off all day, imagining her feet treading this exact path, so many years ago, when it was way more unusual for a woman to trek alone, and there was no technology and fewer places to refuel. I want to do this as a tribute to her, but also to show myself that I’m not wasting my legacy. Anyway, back to the condoms. I brought them as a last minute thing, but I say, no men while we’re on the trail. This is a girls’ trip.” She brought out the hand she’d been hiding behind her back, and showed them what she was holding. It was a small bottle of spiced rum, only enough for a shot or two each. The other two gasped.

“Nice work, Carter,” Freya said. Marin unscrewed the top.

“No men on the trail!” she announced and took a sip, before passing it to the others. They repeated the words, and as Eloise drained the final drops, they let out a whoop.

The rum warmed Freya’s stomach and made her very sleepy.

“Off to bed for me,” she said, yawning. They all got up, cleaned their teeth and climbed into their tents. Freya slid into her sleeping bag and zipped the door closed. She wriggled until she was comfortable and lay on her back, listening to the wind whistling against the canvas of the tent. It was kind of comforting and she soon drifted off to sleep.

Some time later, she awoke abruptly. There had been a noise invading her dreams.
What was it?
She listened hard. It came again. A long, pitiful wail.

“Girls! I’m scared!” it said. Freya sat up fast.

“Eloise? What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Eloise’s voice was trembling. “I keep hearing noises and they’re scaring the crap out of me.” Freya sighed out a long breath, thinking.

“Eloise, there’s nothing that can get us out here. There’s not even bears in this part of the trail.”

“I know, I guess. But I keep imagining all kinds of things, and I can’t take it any more.”

Freya wriggled over to the tent opening and unzipped it.

“Eloise, c’mere. You can sleep here in my tent.”

“Really?”

“Yup. But hurry up. I’m real sleepy.” There was a sigh of relief and the sound of unzipping, and Eloise suddenly appeared out of the darkness. Freya lit her torch and guided Eloise and her sleeping bag into the tent. There was very little space, but somehow they managed to lie flat, side by side.

“Thanks, Freya,” Eloise said in a small voice.

“It’s okay, but you better not snore,” she replied.

*

The second day was harder than the first. They all woke up in pain. Freya couldn’t figure out if she was more sore from the previous day’s exertions, or from sleeping on nothing but a bed roll. Her entire back was stiff, and heaving the pack onto it was a real challenge. They walked slowly, only covering six miles in the entire day. Freya fretted the whole day as they were getting low on water and were due to fall well short of their next water source, but luckily a ‘trail angel’ – people who generously left food and water supplies on the trail for hikers to use – had deposited a large cache of water right at the 15-mile mark. That night, Eloise shared Marin’s tent, and after that, she alternated between the two of them.

And so it went on – walking, looking for water, making food, sleeping, and chatting in snatches here and there. Tempers were often frayed, and little squabbles broke out from time to time. Eloise always lagged the others, and Freya fought to remain as kind to her as she could be. She sensed that Marin was doing the same. And despite the discomfort and the exhaustion that seemed to worsen every day, they were really bonding with each other, sharing their life experiences and dreams for the future. Freya felt herself opening up to the others in a way she’d never done before. Her friends knew that she had no parents, but she’d never really communicated how hard it had been to lose them, that on the day her dad disappeared, she effectively lost them both. She was still waiting for her dad to come back; she acknowledged that. But the irony was that she was so mad at him that, if she saw him, she’d probably punch him square in the face, then never speak to him again.

Things continued in the same fashion for 12 days, and then they changed dramatically. But not at all in a way that any of them could have anticipated.

His clan didn’t trust him. Xander felt that with every bone of his body. There were whispers and sly looks. No-one dared tease him any more, but he heard himself being referred to as ‘Brains’ in the murmuring voices. And Maximus was so, so hostile towards him. He wouldn’t even look him in the eye, and all conversation was about practical things. Xander sensed that he held him responsible for their father’s death, as if his return had somehow precipitated it.

Xander had never felt so low. His grief for his father was overwhelming. His bear howled and wept almost constantly, making things so much worse.

“At least you got to see him one more time,” his mom told him tearfully. It was a small consolation, but he was also angry at her for not making him come home earlier so he would’ve had more time to spend with him. She was too broken in her own grief to be much comfort to him, and loneliness enveloped him, like a cold, wet blanket. He found himself wishing that he was back in the military, with the easygoing company of the other men who knew nothing about his life, instead of in this tense, difficult environment.

To his surprise, Rocco was the easiest one to be with out of the whole clan. He looked up to Xander to comfort him, and it was a relief to be doing something for somebody else. Rocco wasn’t hostile to him. He’d always admired Xander’s brains, as much as he teased him, and Xander sensed that Rocco believed that he should be Alpha.

One day, five days after they’d buried their father, Rocco came to see him in his cabin with something important to say, and his words shocked him to his core, filling him with a new respect for his little brother.

Xander was lounging in his living room. It was a cozy space, with rustic wooden furniture and animal pelts thrown around. Each of the clan members’ places were decorated differently. They used the money they made from fighting to build often very elaborate cabins, in all kinds of styles, from mock Tudor, to mediaeval castles, complete with turrets, dungeons, and drawbridges. Some were decked out like an adventure playground, with slides, climbing nets and swings; others had movie theaters or swimming pools in the basement. Privately, Xander thought they were a little vulgar and he favored the traditional style – dark wood, wraparound porch, and simple, cozy rooms, with plenty of space. His one indulgence was a bookcase covering an entire wall, lined with books on a huge variety of subjects. He also had a state-of-the-art sound system and a huge flat-screen TV.

Unusually for him, Rocco knocked before entering.

“Dude, you need to let some air in here,” he said, wrinkling his nose as he poked his head around the door.

“Uh. I do?” Xander replied, thinking that nothing was less important right now than how fresh his cabin smelled.

“Yeah. It smells like you’ve got a bunch of werewolves in here or something.” Rocco propped the door wide open, came inside and sat down opposite him. Xander noted distractedly that Rocco didn’t throw himself across the couch, as was customary for him, but sat up straight, knees wide apart, elbows resting on knees, and hands laced together.
Exactly like our father used to sit
.

“What’s going on?” Xander asked.

“Uh, it’s a little chaotic out there.” Rocco cleared his throat. “There’s a lot of infighting; the Black Paws have been nosing around, trying to figure out what’s happening with the clan. Dude, I know this is a difficult time for you, but you’ve got to put an end to all this.”

“All this what, exactly?” Rocco cleared his throat for a second time, sounding unusually nervous. 

“Some people have been saying that you’re not the right one to be Alpha, and that dad should’ve picked Maximus.” He leaned a little closer. “I should also tell you that Maximus has a lot of supporters. I think there could be some danger of a rebellion.” Xander stared at his younger brother very hard.

“You’re serious?”

“Xander, you know I wouldn’t bother you with this shit right now if I wasn’t sure. You know how hard it is for me to tell you that your own brother might be trying to depose you?”

Something shifted in Xander’s head. A shard of anger, white hot, seared his brain. He leapt to his feet.

“It was our father’s dying wish that I become Alpha. Maximus has no right to take my place!” he bellowed. “Dad’s not even cold in his grave yet, and that asshole’s already disrespecting him!”

“Yeah!” Rocco agreed, jumping up from the couch as well.

“What should I do?” Xander began to pace up and down. “Should I call another assembly?” Rocco’s eyes widened; his brother was so deeply saddened by the loss of their father that he was being simple minded.

“It’s gone way beyond that. You need to prove to them that you’re the boss.” A light came into Xander’s eyes.

“I need to fight.”

“Right. Tomorrow. At the next wrestling match. You go and fight the Black Paw Ridge fighter. His name’s Troy, he’s never been defeated by anyone before. He flattened our guy, Treviso, in six rounds earlier this year. Beat him and you’ll have the respect of everybody.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Bro, it’s not an option. You’re Xander the Great, the undefeated. You’ll beat him.”

“I haven’t fought in so long.”

“Errr, what were you doing in the military?” Xander gave an indulgent laugh.

“Fighting, in a very different way. There’s not much call for hand-to-hand fighting these days. Not when you can control a missile launch from half way across the world.”

“I guess. But it’ll come back to you. You’re in great shape. Or are you hiding rolls of human fat under there?” Xander patted his hard abs.

“Nope. Military drills were pretty thorough. Even if I was only ever expending half my energy.”

“So are you good? Shall I tell the event managers that you’ll be headlining?” Xander’s bear pushed at his skin, urging him on.

“Hell yeah!” he found himself bellowing. “I’ll beat the crap out of that miserable Trey, or whatever his name is. I’ll show him and whoever else dares challenge me exactly who’s boss!” A bloodcurdling roar from his bear cut off the end of his sentence. Rocco looked impressed.

“Xander, you’re back!” he said. “I’ll go let Len know the good news.” As he reached the front door, he paused. “And when the fight’s over, you need to find your mate.”

“A mate,” Xander muttered to himself as he collapsed back onto the couch. “Why do the clan give a shit about whether I’m mated or not? I’m the Alpha. Ultimately, I’ll make all the decisions.” His life had changed so much lately, and his grief for his father cut him so deep, that the last thing on his mind was looking for a female to share his bed for the rest of his life. “I’ve got more important things to think about right now. Like the fact that I’ll be fighting the Black Paws’ best fighter, in public, observed by hundreds of shifters and humans, in a little over 24 hours.”

He leapt to his feet and stripped his clothes off, not half a second before his bear burst out of him. He had to prepare. First, he’d run and hunt, test his reaction speeds, climb some tress and work on his arms. And then he’d shift back and lift some logs in his human form. He couldn’t fail at this. The stakes were incredibly high. Losing to the Black Paws would make him an unworthy leader, and could mean war, as other clans would try to step in and seize power.

As his bear let off a roar of aggression, his stomach knotted with apprehension.