Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III) Read online

  Bruins’ Peak Bears Volume 3

  Books 11-15

  Sarah J. Stone

  Erin D. Andrews

  Can be read as stand alone, but I reccomend reading Volumes I and II:

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077F83GLX

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0786RKYVC

  1. Copyright and Disclaimer

  Copyright © 2018 by Sarah J. Stone

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Website: www.sarahjstone.com

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Book 1: June

  Book 2: Onyx

  Book 3: May

  Book 4: Eden

  Book 5: Sunset

  Witch Academy Box Set

  Special Invitation

  More From The Author

  Book 1: June

  Sarah J. Stone

  2. Chapter 1

  June Stark turned her face toward the sky and shut her eyes. “It’s good to feel the sun again.” The bright summer heat played across her eyelids and warmed her chocolate-brown arms. “It’s been too long.”

  Her little sister Hazel gazed across the valley where Renegade Ridge met the rest of the mountain range. A door slammed behind them. June glanced back to see her brother Arryn go into their father’s cabin. When he didn’t reemerge, she went back to soaking up the sunshine.

  “Do you think the Midnight will ever come back here?” Hazel asked.

  June didn’t open her eyes. “I don’t know, honey. I hope not. Tell me again how it happened.”

  Hazel smacked her lips. “Do I have to? I’ve already told the story about a million times. You already know the details.”

  “I know,” June replied. “It’s just so exciting. Tell me how you first met Azer Mackenzie.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that’s who it was at the time,” Hazel replied. “I was in the ring, and the dogs and the men were coming after me. I thought for sure I was a gonner. Thousands of people were packed into the stands above my head, and their yelling would wake the dead. Then all of a sudden, this huge brown bear jumps down right in front of me. He raged and roared all over the place. He killed one dog with a sweep of his paw. He chomped the other one in half and sent it running for the door. He killed some of the men, but the others got away.”

  June sighed. “Wow. That is so exciting and wonderful. It’s like something out of a fairy tale. I would love to meet someone like that.”

  Hazel hung her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever see Azer Mackenzie again. He’s too good for this world.”

  June let her eyes drift open. “It is hard to believe anybody could stand up to the Midnight like that.”

  Hazel stole a peek at her sister under the small braids hanging all over her head. “Do you think Daddy will fight the Midnight the way Azer said?”

  “Shh!” June hissed under her breath. “Not so loud. Don’t let Arryn hear you talking about that.”

  “Why shouldn’t I talk about it?” Hazel asked. “Everyone on the Ridge has talked of nothing else since I got back. Azer said the Bruins want to fight the panthers, but our Elders won’t make up their minds. Why don’t they make a decision so we know what to do when the Midnight come back?”

  “If they come back,” June corrected. “We don’t know if the Midnight will ever come back. Maybe Azer scared them away for good.”

  Hazel made a face. “You know that won’t happen. Nothing could scare them away. They’ll come back, and they’ll stop at nothing to catch another NightShade for their bear-baiting ring.”

  June shook her head, but before she could answer, Arryn came back outside. He scowled at the two sisters lounging in the sunshine. “You two should get inside. It’s not safe for you out here. You know that.”

  June rolled her eyes to heaven. “Come on, Arryn. It’s perfectly safe. We need some fresh air sometime. You can’t keep us locked up twenty-four hours a day.”

  “Do you want to get caught by the Midnight the way Hazel did?” he asked.

  June looked around. “Do you see any Midnight around here? I don’t.” She laughed out loud at her own joke, and Hazel giggled.

  Arryn set his jaw. “They could sneak up on you at any second. You could be relaxing out here one minute and be gone the next. That’s exactly what happened to Hazel, and we would never see you again. Now, get inside before I tell Daddy you’re out here.”

  “Go ahead and tell him,” June snapped. “I’ve been shut up in that house for weeks. I need sun and air to grow.”

  Hazel snickered. “Like a plant.”

  June shot her a grin. “Exactly.”

  Arryn barked loud and short, “Hazel!”

  Hazel pulled her head down between her shoulders. “All right. I’m going.”

  The little girl got to her feet and slunk into the cabin. June didn’t turn around. She kept her face toward into the sun. She wouldn’t let her tyrant brother spoil her enjoyment. He might be able to order Hazel around, but not her.

  Arryn’s voice came again from behind her. “I’m waiting, June.”

  “And you’ll be waiting a lot longer, Arryn,” she replied. “I won’t spend my life indoors, no matter what you say. The Midnight haven’t caught any one on Renegade Ridge in months. We don’t even know if they’re still bear-baiting.”

  “Why would they quit, just like that?” Arryn argued. “They could be lurking anywhere. We’ve lost enough people to those bastards, and we only got lucky getting Hazel back the way she did. I’m not taking any chances.”

  June shook her head, but she couldn’t think of any good response to that. He was right, of course. She didn’t want to get caught by the Midnight. No one did, but she had to go outside sometime. She started to go crazy shut inside day and night for months on end.

  Her father came to her rescue by stepping through the door. Not as tall as Arryn, he carried his powerful frame with more solid bulk than any man June knew. His heavy features gave him the appearance of age when he was only forty-seven years old.

  June jumped up. “Daddy! Tell Arryn we need to get out of the house and get some sun once in a while. Tell him he can’t order us inside all the time.”

  Ezra Stark wavered between his two oldest children. “You know it’s not safe, honey. Arryn’s just trying to protect you.”

  “Well, how am I supposed to live locked in the cabin all the time?” she countered. “I’ll get sick. That would be much more dangerous than Midnight who aren’t there.”

  “You haven’t gotten sick yet,” Arryn argued.

  “That’s because I get outside—no thanks to you,” June shot back. “You keeping me a prisoner in my own house is a much bigger threat than any Midnight.”

  Ezra shrugged. “Well, I don’t know, honey. I guess I can see both sides of the issue.”

  June crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s the problem with the NightShade. They see both sides of the issue. That’s why the Elders won’t make up their minds about whether we’re coming or going.”

  Ezra frowned at his oldest daughter. “Don’t let me hear you saying anything against the Elders.”

  “Well, it’s true,” June re
plied. “Them dithering puts us all in much more danger than the Midnight themselves. They should make up their minds so we can all get on with the rest of our lives.”

  “I agree with you,” Ezra replied. “I’ve said for years we should fight back against the Midnight, and now we’ve got word from another shifter group they want to join with us to do the same thing. I always said we should send an emissary to talk to these Bruins. Now, I’ve got a couple dozen other NightShade agreeing with me.”

  “Daddy!” June exclaimed. “That’s wonderful.”

  He held up his hand. “Hold on a second, honey. Nothing’s certain yet, so keep your shorts on. None of us has heard from the Bruins yet, so we could make the first move and break the ice. I suggested you could go, Arryn, and…”

  “What?” Arryn interrupted. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You could volunteer,” Ezra suggested. “We need a younger person to talk to their Alphas. Hazel said this Azer Mackenzie was kinda youngish.”

  “I can’t go traipsing off across hell and gone to talk to anybody,” Arryn countered. “Who’s going to protect the family if I’m not here?”

  “I’m still here,” Ezra pointed out.

  “We don’t need protection,” June added. “There are no Midnight anywhere around.”

  “Have the Elders approved sending an emissary?” Arryn asked.

  “No, but…”

  “There you go.” Arryn chopped his hand through the air. “If they haven’t given the word, no one is going anywhere.”

  “You know as well as anybody they’ll take forever to decide,” June pointed out. “They’ll add that to the list of things they can’t decide about.”

  “They might decide faster if they had a willing volunteer.” Ezra leveled a loaded glance at his son.

  “If I’m not willing, I wouldn’t really be a volunteer, would I?”

  June elbowed her brother. “Go on, boy. Take the plunge. You’ll get out and see some of the world. That’s more than most NightShade get to do in their lifetimes.”

  Arryn pursed his lips and turned away.

  “Never mind,” Ezra interrupted. “Nobody has to come up with any definite decisions anytime soon.”

  “Of course not,” June grumbled. “No one has to come up with any definite decisions at all—ever. We’ll just keep on with our policy of delay, delay, delay. We’ll do nothing, and nothing will ever change.”

  Ezra paid her no attention. “Just think about it, will you, son? You’d be perfect for the job.”

  June grinned at her brother, but he refused to look at anybody. “I’m not going and that’s final. You can get somebody else to carry your message—whatever it turns out to be,” he said.

  Ezra compressed his lips, and his broad shoulders stiffened. “I won’t order you to go. I was hoping you would see the need to go of your own accord, but I can see I can’t count on you after all.”

  “No, you can’t count on me—not for this,” Arryn replied. “I’m staying home.”

  Ezra’s mild manner wore thin, and a black cloud crossed his face. He aimed an accusing finger in his son’s face. “Now listen here, son…”

  Arryn flared up at him. “Don’t go sticking your finger at me. You said you wanted a volunteer, but maybe you’d rather have another slave to order around.”

  Ezra bellowed out loud and flew at his son. Arryn came at him at the same time from the other side. June called out, “Daddy!” but the two men already extended their hands to seize each other.

  At the moment when they closed to fight, all three family members froze in place. The men stared at each other, and their arms fell at their sides. Ezra cocked his head to listen.

  Arryn looked down the hill. “Somebody’s coming.”

  All three peered down the mountainside. They strained their ears until they heard footsteps winding between the trees. The sound got closer. Leaves rustled, and a twig snapped.

  The family stared toward the noise. Their eyes popped out of their heads, and their mouths hung open when a young man came into view. He climbed straight up the hill. He followed no path, and he tossed a shock of golden hair out of his eyes at the sight of the family gaping at him.

  He wore clean black jeans and polished leather boots over his feet. His ironed button-down shirt flipped open at the collar, and not one scratch marred his belt buckle.

  He stopped in front of the cabin and looked around. He wasn’t even breathing hard from the climb. All his perfect white teeth showed when he smiled. He stuck out his hand to Ezra. “Howdy. My name’s Ash Dunlap.”

  3. Chapter 2

  Ash shook hands with Ezra and Arryn, but he had to force himself not to gawk at June. He gave her a tepid smile and went back to talking to Ezra. “Good to meet you at last. Sorry it’s taken so long to get somebody over here from Bruins’ Peak. No one really knew what to say to you. My brother Foicks wants war, and I want peace. We’ve spent weeks fighting amongst ourselves about it.”

  June interrupted, “Sounds familiar.”

  He looked over at her, and his eyes widened. “Does it? Well, we finally came to an agreement about it. It’s lucky nobody got themselves killed in the process. I’m almost ashamed to tell you, except my brother and I agreed I would tell you everything and hold nothing back.”

  He found himself talking only to her. She fascinated him in ways he couldn’t comprehend. She wore her hair in dozens of short braids all over her head. They made her hair look straight when it wasn’t. Her bright black eyes gleamed out of her face, and perfect white teeth shone in her mouth.

  She had on a simple cotton dress and no shoes. Her bare feet hugged the ground. Her spirit sprang straight up out of the mountain. Ash never saw any Bruin—correct that—he never saw any bear shifter so connected with the earth and her surroundings.

  Her eyes and teeth stood out bright from her brown skin. Every Bruin woman Ash ever met looked washed out and shallow compared to her. How did he manage to live his life without noticing that?

  Ezra’s deep voice broke in on his thoughts. “I’m glad to meet you, son. We were just talking about sending my son Arryn here to talk to your people instead. Our Elders still haven’t decided what to do about the Midnight since Azer Mackenzie sent us a message by my little girl Hazel.”

  Ash perked up his ears. “Why haven’t they decided? It’s been weeks. We got a letter from Azer telling us what happened. He said you wanted war. He said we could fight together, but I said we could still have peace. Once the Midnight find out our two peoples are working together, we’ll be in a better position to make them back down.”

  Ezra scratched his head. “Well, I don’t know what to make of this. We can’t jump to conclusions. I’ll have to tell the Elders what you said. Every decision has to go through them.”

  Ash frowned. “Why does it have to go through them? Azer’s letter said Hazel’s father wanted to fight the Midnight. You’re her father, aren’t you? What’s to stop you from fighting if you want to?”

  Ezra shook his head. “We don’t work that way. We’re a collective. The Elders make the decisions, and everybody else follows along with that.”

  Ash looked away. “That’s about as different from our way of doing things as you can imagine. We make up our own minds about everything. No Bruin can tell any other Bruin what to do.” He broke into a grin. “Maybe that’s why we had such a big conflict over this.”

  “Sounds difficult,” June broke in.

  His head whipped around to regard her. Her face cracked into a brilliant smile, and the color spread over her cheeks. The sight made him blush, too. “You have no idea.”

  They would have gone on staring at each other forever if Ezra hadn’t distracted Ash. “I can see both sides of the issue. I can see how every man and every family making their own decision would simplify things, but we just don’t operate that way. I have to say I agree with your brother. Both Arryn and I want to make war on the Midnight. We would have done it a long time ago, but we can’t a
ct until the Elders give their word.”

  “Doesn’t that sort of overcomplicate things?” Ash asked. “Aren’t you a man? What’s the problem? You want to make war? You take your gun and off you go.”

  Ezra only shook his head. “You don’t understand, but that doesn’t matter. We’ll pass your message on to the Elders. Now, why don’t you come inside? Breakfast is on the table. You can share a meal with us while you’re here.”

  Ash followed the men inside. So they wanted war. They wouldn’t listen to his message of peace. Maybe this trip wasn’t such a good idea after all. He had to mind his manners, though. They invited him to eat with them, so maybe that was a step in the right direction.

  Arryn opened the cabin door, and the party stepped through it. Ash’s heart sank when he saw the place. The whole house consisted of one dirt-floored room. Frayed cotton cloth covered the thin shake walls. A tattered quilt covered one double bed in the corner.

  June went to the stone fireplace and lifted a steaming Dutch oven out of the coals. She set it on a hewn wooden table in the center of the room. Arryn and Ezra sat down in the rough chairs made out of tree branches, and Ezra motioned Ash to join them.

  So this was how the NightShade lived. Ash couldn’t imagine anything more different from the trim houses and Homesteads he left behind on Bruins’ Peak. He grew up in the lap of luxury compared to these people. How did they stand it? Didn’t they have any gumption at all to build a better life for themselves?

  Then again, maybe living in constant fear of the Midnight kept them down. Maybe the NightShade’s poverty stopped them from mounting an effective resistance against the panthers.

  June laid three plates on the table in front of the men. She lifted the lid off the Dutch oven and served a slab of cornbread to each. Ash’s heart sank further. Where was the bacon and eggs, the pancakes and oatmeal and French toast? These people must be really poor.

  How could a people as affluent and comfortable as the Bruins negotiate with people like this? How could people so different communicate with each other?