Briar on Bruins' Peak (Bruins' Peak Bears Book 7) Read online

  “Who is he?” May asked. “I don't recognize him.”

  Silas came back to where Briar stood. “Oh, that's just Riskin Dodd. He roams around this area now.”

  “What's wrong with him?” Briar asked. “Why does he stand off like that? Why doesn't he come out and say hello?”

  “Haven't you heard the story?” Silas asked. “He went a little crazy after Mattox Farrell drove him away from Mackenzie Homestead. Riskin was supposed to marry Lyric, but Mattox beat him in a fair fight and took over as Alpha in Riskin's place. He's never been the same since.”

  Briar took a step closer. “Look at him. Look how scarred and dirty he is. I've never seen a Bruin like him before. That scar along his face looks nasty.”

  “They say the challenge between him and Mattox was a real doozy. They say Riskin had to run away to save his own life. He never went home to get his injuries tended. He's been running wild in the woods ever since. I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't shifted in all that time. He just lives out here as a bear. He'll probably stay like this forever. He never got over his defeat.”

  Briar started back along the trail toward the pool. “Let's help him. He looks like he needs some loving care.”

  Silas caught her by the arm. “Don't go near him. Leave him alone.”

  “We can't leave a Bruin out here in distress.” Briar yanked her arm out of his grasp. “If there's a way to help him, we should do it.”

  Silas shook his head, but she ventured back along the pool and inched up the stream toward the bear. She held out her hand and dropped into a crouch. “Come on. Come and say hello. I won't hurt you.”

  The bear flared his nostrils toward that extended hand. There was that scent again. It came from her. Every sense strained to investigate her. Her hair dripped water down her shirt front and wet it so it stuck to her skin. Her chilled nipples pricked her shirt, and her pants hugged her hips around her ass when she squatted down.

  Her green eyes searched his haunted face. They traced the scars around his muzzle and neck and shoulders. They lingered over the vicious gash stabbing down one corner of his eye. Her hand snuck just a little further forward, and she murmured under her breath. “That's it. I won't hurt you. No one's gonna hurt you now. It's all right. Come on out and say hello.”

  All at once, he started back with a bare-toothed snarl. The moment he broke out of his trance, the danger overcame him. He shivered his lips back from his teeth and bellowed at her. He charged and slammed his big head into her chest.

  Briar careened over backward in the gravel, but the bear already turned tail and crashed into the undergrowth, away from her. He ran some distance away, but that overpowering scent stopped him from leaving it too far behind.

  What was it? What was she? She was bear, just like him. That he knew for certain, but no other bear scent worked on his tormented soul like hers. He spied on lots of Bruins around these mountains since he came to live as a bear. None of them ever held him like she did.

  Even now, after he left her behind, her scent clung to him where he bucked her with his head. It wafted around his ears and drifted into his nose no matter how much he tried to scrape it off in the dirt. It drew him back to peek at her through the bushes.

  Briar got up and dusted herself off. She walked back to her brother and sister. Silas shook his head again. “What did I tell you? You stay away from him.”

  “I thought I could get him to talk to us. I thought he might want company. I've never seen a Bruin like him.”

  “He's not like other Bruins. He's lost all connection with his people. He would attack you and hurt you as soon as look at you. Now, come on. I don't have all day.”

  He started walking again, and the girls fell in line behind him. Briar brought up the rear, but at the last moment, she glanced back toward the pool. The bear shrank into the shadows to stop her from seeing him. A moment later, she disappeared.

  Chapter 3

  Briar moved around the Homestead kitchen. Silas and some other men sat in the living room and talked in murmurs, but Briar didn't pay any attention to them. She mashed herbs in her pestle and scraped the contents into a glass jar.

  Her mother Iris supervised her. “You're getting so good at this I don't have to watch you anymore. If you keep doing this good work, I might start sending you out to visit patients.”

  Briar didn't answer. She started stripping dried mint leaves off their stalks onto a piece of newspaper.

  Iris stopped what she was doing. “Did you hear what I just said, Briar?”

  Briar looked up. “Do you know anything about Riskin Dodd?”

  Iris stared at her. “What?”

  “Riskin Dodd. Did you know he's living out rough as a bear since his defeat at the Mackenzies'?”

  Iris went back to stirring a pot of boiling rose hip syrup. “I don't know anything more than what you just told me. They say he doesn't shift anymore.”

  “He's injured. Silas says he never had his injuries tended before he went off to the woods.”

  “So, what if he didn't?”

  “We spotted him out by the old swimming hole,” Briar told her. “He's all scarred up, and he's aggressive and mean. He attacked me when I tried to go near him.”

  “All the more reason you shouldn't go near him. I heard from Beatrice Dunlap that he's dangerous. Everyone all over the Peak is saying you should keep away from him.”

  “If everyone keeps away from him, how's he supposed to get treatment?”

  “Who said anything about giving him treatment? If he wanted treatment, he could come in and get it.”

  “How could he do that if he's too aggressive to come near people? Mattox must have really hurt him bad if he won't even come around other Bruins. He wouldn't even shift to say hello to us.”

  “If he wanted treatment, he could go to his own Homestead. He wouldn't come to us. That's for certain.”

  Briar sighed. “Yeah, I know. I was just asking. I wonder if anyone else knows anything about him.”

  “What is there to know? He challenged Mattox and he lost. End of story. He got hurt, and he's too proud or whatever to get treatment. If he wants to sulk in the woods, that's his problem. He didn't even have the good grace to come to Marla and Walker's wedding. I'm sure his mother was heartbroken.”

  “It is pretty sad, though, when you think about it. It's not his fault Lyric fell for someone else. Riskin would have been married to his childhood sweetheart. He would have been Alpha of his tribe and had everything he wanted. He gave his whole life to the Mackenzies, and now he's got nothing, not even his sanity. There must be some way to help him.”

  “You can't help him get Lyric and the Alpha position back. Whatever else he does, he'll have to learn to let that go, and he probably won't do that if he stays a bear in the woods. He should have gone straight home to his family when it happened instead of licking his wounds under a rock.”

  Briar hummed under her breath and didn't answer. The battered filthy bear by the pool kept coming back to her. What was the point of making all these medicines and learning how to heal sick and injured people if she couldn't help the one person on this mountain who really needed it?

  She didn't say anything more about Riskin, to her mother or anybody else, but she couldn't stop thinking about him. Someone around here must know something more about him than the same old story everybody already knew. What was he like before he went wild? Maybe his family didn't know how far he'd moved away from sanity and a decent Bruin life.

  She turned the problem over in her mind for hours, but she never let herself sit still in the couch corner the way she did before. The tragedy of Melody Mackenzie's fall no longer bothered her. Riskin's problem took Melody's place, but he didn't depress her the way Melody did. He was right here, in her own backyard. He was a Bruin, a Bruin in need of a helping hand.

  Toward evening, Briar heard her mother calling her downstairs. “How would you like to go visit Bass Cunningham? He needs to soak his infected ankle twice a day in
Epsom salts, and I don't think he's doing it. You could check on him.”

  Briar narrowed her eyes at her mother. “This isn't one of your roundabout ways of getting me to meet potential mates, is it?”

  Iris turned bright red. “I wouldn't dream of it. You know Bass is one of my patients. I thought you might want to start making the rounds in my place. Everyone knows you're learning the trade from me.”

  Briar couldn't help but smile. “I'll go visit him, but I want to stop by Dodd Homestead, too.”

  “What for? That's in the opposite direction.”

  Briar thought fast. “Virginia Dodd asked me to drop off some Evening Primrose lotion for her hot flashes.”

  Iris frowned. “She never said anything to me about any hot flashes.”

  “May could come with me. She knows Virginia from that time she babysat Sierra.”

  Iris's expression cleared. “Oh, okay. Well, don't take too long. Dinner will be on the table by the time you get back.”

  Briar's heart beat fast as she collected a bag of standard medicines and tools. She burst into May's room. “Come on. We're making the rounds for Ma.”

  “I don't want to make the rounds for Ma,” May shot back. “That's your deal.”

  Briar snatched her hand. “Come on. This is important. We don't have a lot of time.”

  May let Briar tow her off the bed. “What's so important?”

  “I'm going to the Dodds' to find out about Riskin.”

  May groaned. “Jiminey Cricket! Not Riskin Dodd again!”

  Briar waved to her mother and ran out of the house with May on her heels. She set off through the woods with her pulse pounding. She hated lying to her mother, but at least she really had a bottle of Evening Primrose lotion. She would offer it to Virginia Dodd, and if Virginia took it, Briar wasn't really lying, was she?

  May hurried to catch up with her. “What’s the rush? Are you doing something you're not supposed to?”

  “I'm just curious. Just go along with me, just this once. There's no harm done.”

  “You better be right. If anything goes wrong, I'm telling Ma.”

  “Okay. If anything goes wrong, you can tell her whatever you want.”

  The sisters stopped in at Cunningham Homestead to see Bass. He gave them a big grin when Briar knocked on the door of his little cabin. He invited them in, but Briar shook her head. “My ma wants me to check you're soaking your ankle the way she told you to.”

  He pulled up his pant leg. “See for yourself.”

  She bent down and poked the wound with her finger. The new scar tissue stretched over the wound, nice and clean and healing well. She nodded. “That looks good. I'll let her know. Thanks. See you later.”

  She hurried on her way. May caught up to her and hissed low in her ear. “Now I know you're up to something. You barely looked at his leg.”

  Briar didn't turn around. “Ma just wants to make sure he really is soaking his ankle the way she told him to. Now I know he is. There's nothing more to see or do.”

  “Nothing except go to the Dodds', right? You're up to something, Briar. I know you are.”

  Briar stopped in the path and faced her sister. “I just want to take a little longer at Dodd Homestead. I want to ask them about Riskin. That's all. Maybe they know something about him no one else does.”

  “And then what will you do? Supposing they know something. You still won't be able to get close enough to help him.”

  “Maybe not, but at least I'll find out. I want to know everything I can about him—I mean, about his situation.”

  May shook her head, but just then they came in sight of the wide hacienda spread out on a sunny hill. Briar slowed down, and May laid a hand on her arm. “This is a bad idea. We should turn back.”

  Briar pushed forward. “We're not doing anything but talking. That's all.”

  The moment she left the shelter of the woods, a young woman her own age stepped out under the eaves to meet her. Briar smiled and caught her breath. “Hi. I'm Briar MacAllister. I'm here to see your mother.”

  The other woman didn't smile back. “I know who you are, but my mother's not sick. You can turn around and go home.”

  An older woman stepped out behind the younger one. “Never mind, Natalie. Let her say whatever she has to say.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Dodd.” Briar took a deep breath. “I overheard you at the Dunlap wedding talking about your hot flashes. I brought you some Evening Primrose lotion. I thought it might help.”

  Virginia Dodd frowned at the bottle. “I shouldn't take this. I better not.”

  “If it helps make you more comfortable, why not take it?” Briar asked. “Just try it. There's not charge.”

  Virginia narrowed. “Does your mother know you're here?”

  “Of course, she does. I told her I was bringing this to you.”

  Virginia hesitated. “Oh, all right. I'll try it. If it doesn't work, I'll give it back to you.”

  Virginia and Natalie waited for the girls to leave. Briar shifted from one foot to the other. At last, she gathered her courage to blurt out, “Actually, Mrs. Dodd, I wanted to ask you about Riskin.”

  Virginia froze. She stared at Briar with her face as white as a sheet. “What about Riskin?”

  “I was just wondering if you've seen him since he left the Mackenzies. My brother and sister and I just saw him in the woods yesterday. He's pretty bashed up, you know.”

  Virginia cast a sidelong glance at Natalie. “I don't know where Riskin is. I haven't seen him in months.”

  Natalie broke in, “No one around here cares if Riskin is bashed up or if he's starving to death out there in the woods. If he wants to roam the woods for the rest of his life, that's his business. He didn't even have the balls to come home and face his family after Mattox sent him packing. If he's miserable out there, he has no one to blame but himself.”

  Briar gasped. “He's your brother. Don't you care at all what happens to him?”

  “He's an idiot for holding a grudge this long,” Natalie shot back. “He's a spoiled toddler who can't accept that he can't have what he wants. He should get over it and move on, just like the rest of us.”

  Briar turned to Virginia. “What about you? You're his mother. Don't you want to help him if he'll let you? There must be a way to bring him back.”

  Virginia looked all around with wild eyes. She opened her mouth, but before any sound could some out, a tall man with big shoulders and a muscular chest popping through his T-shirt came around the corner. His pale brown hair gelled up from his high forehead. He frowned at the women at the door. “What's going on?”

  Virginia closed her mouth with a click. “Nothing at all. This young lady is Iris MacAllister's daughter. She's bringing me some lotion for my hot flashes.” She dropped her eyes to the bottle in her hands and mumbled under her breath. “This is my other son, Rhys.”

  “They're asking about Riskin,” Natalie sang out. “They want to know if we're interested in helping him and bringing him in.”

  Rhys glared at Briar. “Riskin is a waste of Bruin flesh. He's been a millstone around this family's neck for years. Running wild in the woods is too good for him. I never want to see his face again as long as I live. He better not come around this Homestead if he knows what's good for him.”

  “What's so bad about him?” Briar asked. “He got hurt. That's all. If he can't get help from his own family, who can he get it from?”

  Rhys jabbed his finger in her face. “No one better help him. Let him rot out there, for all I care. Anyone who helps him can expect the worst from me. I can tell you that.”

  Briar retreated before his foaming hostility. She didn't dare ask any more questions. She waved to Virginia. “All right. Thanks for everything. You'll let me know how the lotion works out, won't you, Mrs. Dodd? Great. Good luck. Bye now.”

  She grabbed May and made for the woods on the double. As soon as the trees swallowed them up, Briar stopped to catch her breath. “Holy smokes! Did you ever see
such a bunch of kooks in your life? What's wrong with them? How could they be so nasty to a member of their own family?”

  May cast a glance back toward the house. “Don't you know? Rhys is Riskin's twin brother, and Riskin is the older son. He would have inherited the Alpha position from their father Addison, but now that Riskin has gone wild, Rhys stands to take over. He doesn't want Riskin to come back. That would threaten his position.”

  The girls walked a few paces farther down the path toward home when a branch snapped to one side. Briar pulled up short in time to see a figure step out of the shadows. It was Virginia Dodd.

  The old lady glanced back toward the house. Then she searched Briar's face. “Did you really see Riskin in the woods?”

  Briar gestured toward the ridge near the swimming hole. “We sure did. He was up there.”

  Virginia came close with her breath trembling on her lips. “Was he all right? Did he look okay?”

  “Well, not really,” Briar replied. “He's pretty cut up from his fight with Mattox, and he doesn't look like he takes care of himself. He could be better.”

  Virginia passed a hand over her eyes. “Oh, I would give anything to help him if I could, but I don't dare cross Rhys. He would throw me out if he found out I did anything for Riskin.”

  “How could he throw you out of your own home?” Briar asked. “You're his mother, and Riskin is his brother. The whole Peak would turn against him if he did that.”

  Virginia shook her head. “He's taking over around here. He might as well be Alpha already, but I can't stop thinking about Riskin. I worry about him, you know? He's my own son, and he's out there all alone. I want to help him come home, but I don't know how to do it.”

  “There must be a way.”

  “I tried, you know. I tried a million times when he first left the Mackenzies, but he always attacked me and drove me away until I gave up. I could see he needed help, though. Some of his injuries have never healed right, and he still limps when he walks. Did you notice that?”