Page 29 of Just Right
Oh. Guess not.
Funnily, Rowan actually sounds like he cares. Like he wants to know.
I shrug under my coat. “She’s funny. Smart. She always had my back in school. This one time, in middle school, Joey Millertripped me in the lunchline. I dropped my whole tray, but before he could laugh, Char grabbed the tray and bashed him in the nose. People used to call her ‘Red’ ‘cause of her hair, but she likes to say she’s ‘Red’ because that was the color of Joey’s blood when his nose started spurting all over the place.”
I figure, of all of my memories surrounding Charlotte, that might be the one that gets through to a bear shifter more than any others. She was loyal and protective, strong and fearless. She wouldn’t have shacked up with the first beast that found her in the woods. Oh, no. Char would’ve kicked their ass, then kicked them out of their shelter.
True, Rowan probably has no idea what ‘middle school’ and ‘lunchline’ mean, but the gist is the same. I needed a protector growing up and, for me, that was always Charlotte Linden.
“It seems like you care for her.”
That’s putting it mildly. “She was the only family I had. Then she went on a trip to Blackmoor four years ago and… she was gone.”
Rowan’s gaze slides over to me. “She could have chosen to stay.”
I’ve been thinking about that. For all the times I’ve heard that petitioners don’t always leave the forest—even on the messageboards, online posters suggested the same—I’d wondered if that could’ve been Charlotte’s fate. I mean, it would explain why I never heard from her again. There’s certainly no cell service here or wi-fi. It’s not like she could havetoldme… but if I really think that Charlotte found a reason to stay, then I have to ask myself: have I?
“Maybe,” I say noncommittally. “But I owe it to her to at least look.”
“Family is important. I should know. Colt and Finn are all I have,” Rowan tells me after another moment’s pause. “I’ve been taking care of them for a long time now.”
“I know.
Another sideways glance. “You’ve been doing a good job yourself.”
I refuse to be embarrassed. I’m a mature woman. They’re bear shifters who are at least older than me. We made consensual decisions to sleep together, and I won’t apologize for that.
So, instead, I smile. “Thanks.” My smile develops a wicked, teasing edge. “I know you’re the big bro, Rowan, but I could take care of you, too.”
Do I expect him to shut down the conversation? Yup.
Does it still sting that he’s rejecting me again?
Oh, yeah.
Rowan falls quiet again. Following his lead, just like I have been all afternoon, I keep my mouth shut. I really do—until I can’t anymore.
Hours later, I finally break the silence when I notice the darkening sky above us peeking through the closely-grown trees in this part of the forest.
“Hey. Um. Are we getting ready to head back?”
He told me that he was coming with me to search, but we had to be home before dark. And while I might not have the best sense of direction, I don’t think we’re heading toward the cabin yet.
Like me, Rowan glances up at the sky. I might know shit-all about being out in the woods, but even I can tell that the sun is starting to set. We have maybe two hours or so before it’s too dark for me to see, and I know we’ve been out here way longer than that.
“We could,” he says slowly, “but I thought I caught a human scent when we veered off the last path. It’s faint, but it’s female. Not you,” he adds when I open my mouth to ask, “but a human who’s been in Blackmoor long enough that it colors her scent.”
I’m not really sure what that means, but if he thinks he’s on the trail of a human woman? I don’t want to get too psyched. There’s a good chance it isn’t Char… but what if it is?
“I’m prepared to push on if you are.”
This is the first time Rowan’s left a decision up to me instead of making it for me. Is it a trap? Or has he finally decided that the best way to handle me is to treat me differently than he does the twins?
It doesn’t matter.
I only have one question. “Is it safe?”
We haven’t run into any other threats all day. Part of that is luck. Part of it is skill; Rowan can follow a track, and avoid a trail easily. Most of all, though? It’s the fact that I’m in the company of a grizzly bear who might be in his skin, but he’s no less of a freaking grizzly. Lesser predators are keeping their berth. Hunters probably realize he’d be a harder kill than a Mama bear protecting her cubs. And fiercer predators might hedge their bets and realize that Rowan has someone to protect himself and it wouldn’t be an easy battle.
