Chapter Two – Wyatt

Wyatt’s wolf paced back and forth. Unusually agitated, he scented something...someone...on the air tonight.

He stood on the cliff and looked down into the dark valley below. There was something moving down there, someone coming toward him along the trail. He bent his head and inhaled deeply, a shudder of anticipation passing through him. Could it be, at last?

His wolf turned away from the cliff edge and ran, surefooted and true, back along the trail to where it branched in two. One fork led toward the familiar, his cabin in the woods, the other down into the unknown. Wyatt hesitated. If his wolf senses were true, the person down there was more important to him than life itself.

Bile rose in his throat as he recalled memories he’d buried long ago. Coming to live in the woods on the side of the mountain had been his way of dealing with events that had spiraled out of his control.

It was never in our control, his wolf reminded him he wasn’t to blame.

But knowing you were not to blame and believing you were not to blame were two very different things.

Fate has brought her here, his wolf said simply, and took control, running headlong down the steep trail.

The scent grew stronger, it was unmistakable, and his mouth watered at the thought of this woman, his woman. But then he caught another scent mingling with it, a male. She was not alone.

Wyatt slowed, jogging along the trail, letting his senses guide him. He stopped, staring into the darkness at the outline of a person walking toward him. He slid off the path, slinking behind a large bush, listening to her footsteps as small stones crunched beneath her boots.

As she neared his hiding place, she slowed and then stopped. He heard her whisper on the breeze, telling someone to stay down. Wyatt stared into the darkness but couldn’t see another person.

“Show yourself,” her words were firm as she stood tall, staring into the night.

Wyatt walked out from behind the bush and rejoined the trail. There was no use hiding from her; they were meant to be together. Whatever she was doing here, and not many people walked these paths in the dark, he was now involved.

“A wolf.” She took the backpacks she was carrying off her shoulder and placed them on the wiry mountain grass lining the trail. Small hands reached out and pulled them away.

She was with a child. Her child? Wyatt let that knowledge sink in as the woman raised her hand and rubbed the back of her neck. She could feel it, too, the connection between them. However, as he stepped closer, she shifted into a bear, and her jaws opened, revealing long sharp teeth as she roared her challenge. His mate was not about to give in easily.

Wolf and bear stood facing each other. Less than ten feet separated them, but it felt like a million miles. This was not how he expected the first meeting with his mate to go. Not that Wyatt had ever intended to find his mate. He’d resigned himself to a life alone when he came up here, scarred by what the loss of a mate could do to a man. But here she was, and the attraction was undeniable.

So why deny it? his wolf asked as he let go of this mortal plane and allowed the human side of Wyatt to slip back into being.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Wyatt said quietly as he took a step closer, his hands held out in front of him as he slowly approached her.

The bear bared her teeth and snarled, snapping at the air. This made the boy behind her whimper, distracting her for a moment, while she checked on him. The need to comfort the child was stronger than her need to confront Wyatt.

Strong. As it would be in any female bear shifter. His wolf was impressed. She took her duty to protect her cubs seriously.

She would make a good mother to our children. Wyatt took another step forward, and she turned back to him, snapping her jaws in the air.

In his head, his wolf laughed. Do you want her to clamp her jaws around your throat and rip it out?

Not on my list of things to do, Wyatt replied as he adjusted his thoughts. This female bear, his mate, was strong, he wouldn’t insult her by insinuating she was a soft creature in need of his protection. She was so much more than that. She was a warrior, unless he was mistaken.

“Can we talk about this?” he asked gently. “You came onto the mountain for something. Let me help you find it?”

“We’re looking for Wyatt,” the child said, and immediately the bear snapped her head around and glared at the small boy. “He might know where to find him.”

“I certainly do,” Wyatt replied, moving another foot closer. “He’s right here.”

“You’re Wyatt?” the boy asked in disbelief.

“I am. But I don’t think I know you, or...” He pointed at the bear.

“We don’t come from around here.” The boy’s words were cut off when the bear shifted into her human form.

“We’re not supposed to tell other people who we are or why we’re here.” She stood with her hands on her hips, but despite her stature, and the threat she conveyed, the boy wasn’t scared.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m Wyatt.” He closed the space between them, and added in a low voice, “Or that I’m your mate.”

She turned and looked him squarely in the face, her features mostly hidden in the darkness that enveloped them, but he could make out the glint of white in her eyes, and the fullness of her lips as she pursed them, ready to speak. “I’m no one’s mate.”

Wyatt nodded his head, the undeniable thrill of her presence making him quiver inside. “We can get to that later.” He looked down at the boy on the side of the trail. “For now, we should get you both to safety.”

“How do you know we need to get to safety?” Monica asked suspiciously. She bent down and retrieved the boy and the backpacks, before returning to her defensive stance.

“Because you’re wandering around in the dark on the side of a mountain.” Wyatt pointed to the child. “With a small boy. No one does that unless they are on the run.”

“And how do I know you are Wyatt?”

“Is there any way I can prove it?” Wyatt asked simply.

“Perhaps.” She was silent for a moment. “Where do you live?”

“In a cabin in the woods. You follow this path and turn left at the top of the cliff.” He pointed back the way they’d come.

“And who exactly are you, Wyatt?”

The question stung. Who was he? He didn’t know anymore, but that wasn’t the answer she needed. The only answer that would satisfy her was his name and rank. “You’re military?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “You are avoiding my question.”

“I don’t share that information with anyone, not anymore.” He smiled sorrowfully. “I left that person behind when I came here.”

Another sigh. “Then we’ll say goodbye and go back the way we came.” She took a step backward, and the bond between them wrenched at his gut. Couldn’t she feel it, too? How could she deny it?

“I can help you.” He reached out to touch her and his fingers made contact with her jacket. A jolt of electricity shot through his fingertips and up his arm. If she experienced it, too, she ignored it and simply shook him off.

“The only person who can help us is the Wyatt you used to be. If you really are Wyatt.” Her words were strained. She had experienced the shock of their first contact.

“How do you know the Wyatt I am now won’t be more of a help?” he asked evasively.

“Crap, I don’t need riddles.” Her nerves were taut, about ready to snap.

“Then what do you need?” He softened. If he didn’t let her in, he would push her away. “You’ve come a long way to simply turn back around.”

“My daddy sent us.”

“Jack,” she hissed.

“Jack.” He assessed the small child in her arms. The age fit just right. But why was she here with him? Was she his mother? Was this woman before him the wife of Sergeant Trent Willard? “Jack Willard.”

She moved quickly, but he was faster, he wrapped his arms around them both before she could drop the child to the ground and prepare to fight.

“Wyatt Turner. I served with Trent Willard for ten years. He married Yolanda six years ago. I didn’t go to the wedding. But she was already with child.” He loosened his grip and she sagged forward as if in relief. “Now will you let me take you to safety?”

“Yes.” Her voice was strained, and she shifted the weight of the child on her hip and adjusted the packs. “Lead the way.”

“I can carry something for you. Ease the burden.” His offer was dismissed, she didn’t want to show weakness and he had to restrain himself from taking the backpacks from her.

“Nothing can ease my burden,” she told him and tightened her grip on the child. “Lead the way.”

Wyatt didn’t ask again. She had her reasons to be suspicious. When she was ready, she would tell him all he needed to know. When she trusted him. And since they were mates, that should be soon.

He led her back along the trail until they reached the bottom of the cliff. “This part is steep.”

“I can manage.” She waited for him to move. “Sooner you start climbing...”

Wyatt gave a low chuckle. “I’ll make you some dandelion coffee when we get to my cabin.”

“Yuck,” Jack said.

“It’s good, but then you’re too young for coffee anyway. I don’t have much else other than water from the mountain streams.”

“Why do you hide away up here?” she asked as the trail got steeper.

“Who says I’m hiding?” He cast a glance over his shoulder. “And if I was, why would I tell someone who hasn’t given me her name?”

“Monica.” She ground her name out as the trail shifted under her feet, sending a stream of small stones racing down the trail. She grunted and righted herself before going on.

“Well, Monica, I came up here to get my head together.” Did she know that? If Trent had sent her, had he also told her the history of the man she would be dealing with?

“How long have you been up here?”

“Long enough.” He stopped as the trail wound around to the left and offered his hand to her. “This part is tricky.”

Monica reached out and put her hand in his, lending him her trust. He pulled her forward, his arm going around her waist as Jack shifted his weight and nearly overbalanced them. “Thanks.”

“Another twenty feet of steep terrain and then we reach the top. It’s another mile or two to my cabin.” He struck off along the trail again, ignoring the burning sensation in his hand where their skin had touched.

She followed, and their conversation stalled as she used all her strength to get herself and the boy to the top. When at last the trail leveled off she stopped, regaining her breath. “That was quite a climb.”

“The rest of our journey is over level ground.” He held out his hand. “At least let me take the packs.”

“I’m okay.” She nodded and took a step forward, then added, “Thanks for the offer.”

It was a start. Wyatt nodded. “The ice maiden thaws.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

Did she have any idea how sky-high his hopes already were? He wanted to know everything about her. He needed to know what danger she was in, so he could help her. That was what mates did for each other. And he was her mate, no matter how much either of them wanted to deny it.

Do we want to deny it? his wolf asked.

When he looked inside his heart, when he examined his deepest desires, Wyatt realized that the answer was no. He didn’t want to deny it, he wanted to embrace this second chance at happiness. Despite the pain losing a mate could cause and how it could drive you to the brink of insanity and throw you off the side.

His time in the mountains, hiding away from other people and doing penance for mistakes he’d judged himself of, was over.