“Stay. We can figure out the research tomorrow.”
“I will, but I have to take care of something first.” I stroked his cheek. “It’s family business, but I'll be back as soon as I can.” I had to let the pack Alpha in on what I was doing.
12
WESTON
I felt so much better after talking to Asher. After I woke up to an empty bed, I’d allowed myself to spiral. I talked myself into believing that he didn’t want me and that I was a bang-and-go. But I wasn’t. Asher did want me, he did care, and he went so far as to offer to support me in my project if my funding fell through like I had a feeling it would.
I hated that Asher had to leave. It wasn’t as if he was going for a week, or even overnight. He was going to be back soon enough, but I already missed him. It was a different kind of missing than when I woke up and he was gone.
I missed seeing his face, hearing his voice, and feeling his touch without the fear that he was gone forever. You’d think that would be easier. He was coming back to me, after all. But in a way it was harder, because without those nerves controlling me, I allowed myself to feel the loss, to sit with those emotions instead of actively trying to push them aside.
Longing to stay with him, just being in his arms for days, for years, for decades, anchored me in a way I hadn’t expected.I’d known a lot of married people throughout my life, and when they talked about growing old together, it always sounded forced. I got it now. If anything, they were understating the intensity of that pull.
When Asher left, I tried to keep busy. Instead of focusing on my watch and wondering how soon until he returned, I went to a general store to pick up a couple of items. I organized my room. I folded my laundry again, as if it hadn’t been nicely folded as it was.
But the entire time, I kept getting this pull, a compulsion to go back and face the fear I’d felt at that flash of fur. If Asher was going to support me in following my dream, I owed it to him to be able to not run away every time there was a bear sighting. I had to prove to myself that I wasn’t too afraid to go all the way to the end.
Not wanting to have him come back to an empty room, I gave myself an hour total to get this done. I could always go back another day. I got my gear, drove down to the same spot as before, put my snowshoes on, and found the tracks. They were less defined than before thanks to the wind, but they were clear enough to follow.
As I walked the path, I kept telling myself over and over again,I can do this. I worked hard to get here. I’m afraid.The bears aren’t going to hurt me.
But this time, it felt different. There was something in the air that didn’t smell like winter, not like snow and ice, not like an animal even. Maybe a snowmobile had traveled close by and this was its exhaust? It definitely had an oily quality to its scent.
I wasn’t sure why I was paying so much attention to my nose, but maybe it had to do with being in a place where the cold hurt my face. Maybe it changed your senses. That wasn’t something I’d ever read about before, but I decided it was worth looking into. I reached into my pocket for my recorder where I kept random ideas I had, only to find it empty. Crap. I must’ve left it at the B&B. At least it wasn’t something research imperative I needed to record.
I stilled as a noise louder than a bird, but probably an animal smaller than a bear caught me off guard. It shouldn’t have. I was in the woods, but it felt off, and I stood absolutely still.
When a man stepped out from behind a cluster of trees. He wasn’t wearing winter gear, just jeans and a shirt, and didn’t look like he even pretended to be cold. I’d been right to be on edge. A human out here without any protection from the cold looking at me like I was the enemy was far more terrifying than any bear.
“Weston,” he said. “You should never have come.”
My jaw dropped. How could he possibly know my name? Sure, this was a small town, but if I’d run into him, I’d have remembered, especially with his attitude toward me.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know everything about you. I know why you’re in town, the color of your suitcase, and the brand of your toothpaste.”
Unless he’d been in my room, how could… Fuck, he’d been in my room.
“I know this isn’t your first time in our territory, and I know you came to destroy the bears.”
“No, no, I’m absolutely not.” I understood locals being protective, but this? This went beyond that. He was trying to intimidate me, and it was working.
“Then why are you scouting den territory?”
“Scouting? No, I’m just getting a feel for things before the crew comes.”
“Crew? You’re bringing more humans?”
Who else would I bring?
“Scientists, yes. But they are collecting data, nothing more. You’re making this sound so much more invasive than it is.”
“You’re going to come here, tag their ears, move them to other places, and take samples. We know how scientists work.”
We? There were more than just him out here? I looked around and didn’t see anyone, but then again, I hadn’t seen him in the first place. Not until he let me.
