To Catch A Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Wolf Valley Raiders Book 2) (7 page)

Cole changed first, although he still looked hostile. Then Riley turned back into his human form, standing with his fists clenched before Bliss.

“This is the rancher?” Cole said accusingly.

“Yes, it seems last night we went out to steal the cattle from my mate. So Cole, Riley, I would like you to meet Hugo.” She gave them a hard look, the one she saved for Sol when he was behaving particularly childishly.

“Good to meet you,” Hugo said, holding out his hand.

Cole looked at it and then stepped forward, taking Hugo’s hand and shaking it. “Hugo.”

“Riley, it’s good to meet Bliss’s brothers,” Hugo said, offering him friendship.

Riley stared at Hugo for a moment and then walked forward, saying, “I guess that does explain where you were last night, Bliss.”

She ignored the insinuation and simply said, “Well, that wasn’t so bad. Was it?” The three men in front of her obviously had different ideas, but none of them voiced their opinion. “Great. Let’s get to work to free Sol.”

“Why don’t we go and see Colin. I might be able to rustle up a few other people who will help.” Hugo looked at Bliss, waiting for her response.

“Who is Colin?” Cole asked suspiciously.

“Hugo says there was extensive mining in this area, and that Sol might well be in one of the old shafts. If so, Colin will be able to pinpoint where he is and take us to him through the tunnels rather than trying to get him up through this small gap,” Bliss explained.

“And he will help us?” Riley asked. “Only we heard that Wolf Valley isn’t the friendliest place.”

“It’s not. Well, parts of it isn’t—the town’s gone wild over the last few years. They need an alpha to keep them in order.”

“And
you’re
not up to the job, Hugo?” Cole mocked.

“It’s not as simple as being up to the job. Bliss told me about your father, the oath he made you make to come back here. That kind of power doesn’t come to just any wolf,” Hugo countered.

“Bliss has told you a lot about us, I see,” Cole said, making Bliss wary of where this was going.

“I’m his mate, Cole,” she said, stepping forward. “He deserved some kind of explanation as to why we were in his field trying to steal his cattle.”

“Payment,” Cole said, taking a step towards Hugo. “Our father was the rightful alpha of Wolf Valley, but he was exiled.”

“But you don’t know what for?” Hugo asked.

The two Merric brothers came close to Hugo, squaring up to him. Bliss knew it wouldn’t take much for the testosterone to fly and this to end in a fight. She stepped between them, and said, “OK. We will go and see if Hugo’s friend Colin will help. You need to stay put and talk to Sol until we get back. If that is a mine shaft, the last thing we need is for him to run off.”

“Bliss is right. If Sol stays here, Colin might be able to pinpoint his location in the tunnel. If he runs off, then he could end up anywhere down there. And believe me; I have seen the map. That is a big place.” Hugo stepped around her brothers and reached for her hand, taking hold of it and then heading back down the mountain.

Behind her, she could hear Cole and Riley talking. “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” she called, and then Hugo turned wolf, and she followed, exhilarated to be running free with her mate in the open air.

Hugo led her sure-footedly back down from the peak, and then he cut across into the forest, his pace fast. She followed, her body brushing against his as they ran. He was taking her back to his house, she didn’t question why, she simply trusted that he knew what he was doing and was going to help her.

When they reached his house, Hugo changed back into his human form, and she did the same, waiting to see what Hugo had in mind. “Stay here,” he said, going inside, only to appear a minute later, holding up his truck keys. “It’s not safe to run about as a wolf in the day. So we need to take my truck.”

Bliss followed him to his vehicle, and opened the passenger door, pulling herself up into the seat. Buckling her seat belt, she held on tight as he sped along his drive and out onto the road. He was taking this very seriously, which both frightened her and made her love him even more. Here was her man, her soul mate, going out of his way to help the very people who would have stolen his cattle without a second thought last night.

“Thank you,” she said, looking at him and smiling. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. You know that,” he said, returning her smile, but not hiding his desire for her, which was visible in his eyes.

“I know how you feel for me. But that’s because fate makes you want me. Helping my brother, that’s all you. I know you could have just kept quiet, but you didn’t. So I wanted to thank you.”

“I want you to be happy. I certainly don’t want you to feel guilty if something happened to your brother while he’s trapped down that hole.”

“I already do feel guilty. I should have made sure he was safe last night. I should have thought about him. I should have known he wouldn’t go home.”

“Hey, there are two other adults who could look after him. Your brothers share equal responsibility.”

She sighed. “Sometimes they are as immature as Sol. The two of them are always fighting, or else cooking up some new scheme to get us into trouble. They’ve taken this thing about avenging my father very seriously. I don’t know if we actually realised how binding the blood oath was.”

“And what about you?” Hugo asked.

“I don’t know,” she began. “He used to tell us what happened and how the people of Wolf Valley were responsible for my mom dying. We grew up believing those stories. But now … I don’t know. I loved him, but he drank so much I think what really happened kind of got mixed up in his head.”

“And you looked after him and Sol? Where were your other brothers?”

“They went off to see the world. It wasn’t much fun living where we were and not being able to change into their wolves, so they moved around a bit, worked where they could until my father was diagnosed with liver disease and it became obvious he wasn’t going to live very long. They came back and somehow my father made them bitter about what happened to him. The oath just compounded things.”

“And that was all he said? That he was exiled?”

“Yes. I think he had an argument with the then-alpha.”

“Ahh. Henry Fredricks. He was a true alpha, kept everyone in their place. He had a daughter if I recall, no son, which was why there is no alpha. So your dad was involved in some trouble?” Hugo asked, turning off the road and heading up a dirt track onto another part of the mountain.

“He never said.” Bliss tried to remember if he had ever hinted at why he was exiled. “It must have been bad, mustn’t it? If it’s true he was promised the role of alpha on Henry’s death, but then got sent away.”

“Must have been,” Hugo agreed. “Maybe we can ask Colin about it. He knows all the history of Wolf Valley. I reckon he is so old he has probably witnessed most of it with his own eyes.”

“Really? That might be helpful.”

“Might be indeed. Well we will soon see, because there is the man himself.”

And sure enough, a man with a shotgun was standing in front of his house, gun raised. When he saw it was Hugo he lowered it, but when Bliss got out of the truck, he brought it to his shoulder once more.

“Hey there, Hugo. I see you’ve bought one of those raiders with you. I’ll call the sheriff, unless you already have.” The old man meant business, she could see that, and all hope of him helping her rescue Sol soon vanished.

But Hugo had a knack of getting people to do what was needed. He just had to use his powers of persuasion.

“Sheriff isn’t needed here, Colin. Bliss here has seen the error of her ways and is a reformed character. Isn’t that right, Bliss?” He looked at her and winked. It was the truth; she just didn’t know it yet. There was no way he was going to let his mate risk her life doing anything illegal. Those days were over, even if he had to tie her to the bed to keep her out of trouble.

“That’s right.” Bliss took a step forward and smiled, holding out her hand to Colin. “It’s good to meet you, Colin. Hugo tells me you know a lot about the old iron mines.”

“I might do,” Colin said, still eyeing her suspiciously, but Hugo could see he had that glint in his eye, which said he would like nothing better than to talk about the mine and anything else they would care to know about. Colin lived a lonely life out here and the thought of visitors who would be interested in hearing him talk for hours always appealed to him.

“Bliss here needs help, Colin. And as far as I am aware, you are the
only
person with the knowledge we need.”

“She needs my help, does she? Well, normally I would be more than willing—you know that. But she has a reputation,” Colin said disapprovingly.

“She
had
a reputation; now she is my mate.”

Colin looked a lot more interested now. This piece of information could be added to his archive of facts about the people of Wolf Valley. “She is? Well, that’s something I would like to hear about.”

“Could we talk in the truck? One of Bliss’s brothers has fallen into the mine. He’s well and truly stuck. There is no way for him to climb back up. He seems to be stuck being a wolf. So we wondered if there was a way to get to him along the old mine shafts.”

“Ahh, now you’re asking me to help another one of those raiders. Maybe he is better off stuck down there where he can no longer do any damage.” Colin took a step back towards his cabin.

“Thing is, Colin, he’s a bit simple. I can’t even imagine how scared he must be. He won’t understand what’s happening.” As Bliss spoke, Hugo could hear the catch in her voice; she was close to tears, and Colin heard it too.

“I see. Well, I guess I can look.” He went back into his cabin, calling out, “I’ll get my maps.”

“Thank you,” Bliss said, throwing her arms around Hugo’s neck and kissing him. He felt her sob against his chest and then take a deep breath before straightening up. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“I have an idea, because I know how I would feel if anything happened to you, Bliss.” He kissed her lips, wanting nothing more than to take her home and to bed. Let her brothers sort out their own mess. But he knew she could never be happy unless her family was taken care of.

When Colin came back out, a roll of maps under his arm, they all headed back to the truck. Once they were safely inside, Hugo drove as fast as he dared along various tracks, taking them on a back route towards the mine.

“We’ll find him, Bliss,” Colin said as they bumped up a rough track, only Hugo’s expert handling of the truck keeping them upright.

“I hope so, Colin. I feel bad I wasn’t there for him last night.” Bliss looked out of the window, trying to bury her regret.

“You know I’ve lived long enough to know that most things like this happen for a reason. You know what I mean?” He smiled at her kindly, making her feel even worse. There were good people in the world, good people in Wolf Valley, even though her father had tried to convince them differently.

“I’m beginning to.” She turned to face him, knowing she might never have the opportunity later to ask him the burning question in her head. “You’ve lived in Wolf Valley for a long time haven’t you, Colin?”

“All my life. Been sad to see the way it’s fallen apart.”

“So you would have known my father.”

“I would,” he nodded warily.

“You know who I am?”

“I do. Lionel Merric’s girl. I knew you when you were a babe in your mother’s arms.” He studied her carefully, and noted the look of sadness that crossed her face. “I was sorry to hear of her passing.”

“It was while she was giving birth to Sol. He’s the one in the mine,” she said, keeping her emotions in check when really she wanted to cry like a baby.

“I heard she had complications. It’s sad your brother never met his mom. She was a beautiful, kind woman.” Colin shifted his gaze, and Bliss wondered what he was thinking.

“And my father?” she prompted.

“He was the beta of Wolf Valley. The old alpha had told him he would be the next in line. But he disgraced his name.” Colin looked into the distance, as if watching something far away.

“Will you tell me what happened?” she asked, eager to finally know another side of the story, perhaps the truth after all these years. “He told me he was exiled and it had been a mistake. He told us over and over how we should avenge that mistake. He made us promise.”

Colin nodded. “And that is why you are all here causing trouble. I knew you were Merric blood, I thought you had his bad blood in you. But it goes a little deeper than that, doesn’t it?”

“He made us take a blood oath. On his deathbed. None of us could say no.”

“Then I will tell you what happened. And hopefully we can put an end to this cycle of pain. Your mom died of a broken heart. Did you know that?”

“Yes, because they were exiled from Wolf Valley.”

“No, honey,” Colin said quietly. “That is not what broke her heart.”

“Then what?” she asked, needing to know but dreading it all the same.

“Your father got exiled for having an affair.”

She frowned: could having an affair be that bad? But she caught Hugo’s quick glance as he heard those words, and in his eyes she could see how bad it was.

“Bliss’s dad broke the mating bond?” Hugo asked, making the pieces fall into place.

“He did. Oh, he loved your mom, but he thought he deserved more than one mate. There was no way that could be tolerated. It broke every tradition.”

“My father never told us that.”

“He was exiled because of the affair.” Colin patted her shoulder. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.”

“No, thank you, Colin. It makes things so much clearer. I always thought there must be something more to it. My poor mom.”

“She had to follow your father. She was pregnant with your brother, three pups at foot. There was no escape for her.”

Bliss sensed that dam of emotion inside her again and could barely keep it walled up. This news was worse than she could have imagined. Their dad had caused so much pain and suffering; he did not deserve their loyalty. Then she let her anger take over. She would not be a victim to her father anymore.