Chapter Ten – Jacob

“I thought that cliff face was the hardest part of your shortcut.” Avery grasped hold of the hand he offered her, and jumped from one boulder to the next to stand close to him while the water tumbled down the mountain all around them. They were crossing a ravine while water roared past them, threatening to drag them into its dark, dangerous depths if they made a wrong move.

“I should have factored in the shortness of your legs.” He gave her a wry smile, and she decided to bite. Jacob had shifted their relationship back to professional, or semi-professional. Avery had never met a police officer with quite the same sense of humor. Not while they were working a case, anyway.

“Didn’t you study them enough before we climbed the rock face? You seemed to take your time with all that staring.” A cloud of spray erupted as the water gushed down the steep ravine, hitting the large rock they were standing on, making it slippery.

Jacob wrapped his strong arm around her and held her close. “So that you don’t slip,” he told her in his husky voice. OK, so they hadn’t gone back to completely professional.

“So thoughtful.” She twisted around in his arms, and got into position to jump to the next boulder.

“Ready? Two more to go and we can reach the back.” Jacob waited for her answer and then sprang away from her, landing comfortably on the next boulder. He was going to have to teach her how he did that. He was so self-assured, so confident in himself and his body.

Now it was her turn. She judged the distance. “I can make it.”

“Take my hand.” He held it out for her.

“No, I can do this alone.” Avery leaped into the air, knowing instantly she was going to fall short. Jacob reached for her, and she tumbled into his arms. “See, I told you I could do it.”

Jacob chuckled a low rumble as he held her against his chest. “I am not going to argue.” He released her and turned to jump the distance to the next boulder.

“You look like a gazelle,” Avery called over the loud rumble of water. “Maybe you missed your calling, you could have been in the ballet.”

“Yeah, my brothers would love that. I can hear them now, telling everyone their brother is a ballet dancer.” He held his hand out and coaxed her forward.

Avery reached for his hand as she jumped, and let him pull her forward. She landed safely beside him. “I could just imagine you in ballet tights.”

“You think I have the legs for it?” he asked, standing on tiptoes before leaping for the bank.

“Definitely.” Taking a deep breath, she launched her tired body into the air, her aching legs straining to cover the distance.

She made this final leap alone, landing safely on the bank, the rushing water behind them as they began to climb upwards. The terrain was tough, and her muscles burned, but her adrenaline kicked in and she pushed herself to keep up. She would pay for it later, her body was going to reach burnout if she wasn’t careful, but for now, she had to keep going.

As they crested the side of the ravine, Jacob kept low and headed for a stand of scrubby bushes that bordered the ravine. There he stopped and sank down to rest on his haunches. “We need to move quickly and quietly. The pass is a mile in that direction. From here on out, there’s a chance we may meet up with Manny and Joe. We don’t want them to know we’re here.”

Avery nodded, and took out her water bottle and drank her fill. “What if we don’t get to the pass first?”

Jacob looked through the bushes, his head cocked to one side, listening. He couldn’t be sure, but his enhanced hearing had picked up the sound of someone shouting. It was way in the distance, and at this range, he could not tell for sure which direction the voices were coming from.

“I hoped we would. But I’m not sure. We know when they were at the cabin, but we don’t know how fast they traveled yesterday. But by Wyatt’s reckoning, if they stick to the same schedule, they will reach the pass a couple of hours before nightfall.”

“And if they reach it before us?” Avery passed her water bottle to Jacob.

“Then we will have to wait. Wyatt was right, it would be too easy for them to see us if we follow too soon.” He took a slug of water, his eyes on Avery as she took another energy bar from her pack. Over the last twenty-four hours, he’d watched her, learning every curve of her body, every feature of her face. She was beautiful, funny, and smart. Everything he could have ever hoped for in a mate.

There was only one thing that concerned him. Would she ever want to settle down and have his cubs? She was so determined, so eager to do her job, that Jacob worried her career was her life. That following in her father’s footsteps would be more important than walking down the aisle on his arm. Of course, he wouldn’t mind if they didn’t get married. Tying the knot was not obligatory. Their bond went much deeper than that, its power, at least over Jacob, much stronger.

“I hope you’ve brought a board game.”

“A what?” He mentally shook off his thoughts and focused on Avery once more.

“A board game? Don’t tell me you and your brothers were always too busy climbing mountains to play Monopoly or Risk?”

“Oh, we played. Strategy was never my forte.” He stood up and stretched his legs; any voices he might have heard were gone. Or perhaps they were never there at all.

“Then we make a good team.” She stood with him, stretching her muscles, the strain on her face evident. He’d pushed her too far, too fast, but it had to be done if they had any chance of getting through the pass first.

“Are you saying I’m the brawn, and you’re the brain?” Jacob asked.

“Something like that.” She put her arm up and tensed it. “Although by the end of this, I’m going to have the brawn too.”

“You sure will.” He smiled at her, and watched her mouth as it turned up at the corners to mirror his. “I’ll make a ranger of you yet.” Jacob could imagine the two of them out here on the mountain, doing their job by day and making love under the stars at night.

“I like being a cop.”

“Maybe a transfer to Bear Creek?” Jacob winced at his own words. He was being pushy. Avery had no idea what she was to him. No idea that one way or another he was determined she was going to come live here with him.

“Maybe I could.” She hid her face as she spoke. “Although, I always dreamed of being the police chief of Holloway County one day. But since I am on vacation, following a lead from Lonnie…”

“Surely when we catch them, and break the drug ring, you and Lonnie will be heroes. Perhaps you might even get your promotion.” What was he saying? Was he trying to talk her into not coming to live in Bear Creek?

What would he do then?

Move to wherever she is, his bear told him.

Give up our lives here? Jacob asked in return.

Love works two ways. We have to do what is best for our mate. His bear’s sage words struck him as the truth. If he truly loved his mate and wanted the best for her, if she wanted to fulfill her own dreams, then he would have to go along with that. He wanted an equal partner in this relationship.

Avery was lost in her own thoughts. She hadn’t answered him, and Jacob feared he’d overstepped some kind of boundary. He was a stranger offering her advice and trying to map out her life for her.

“I would never have dreamed of being happy in a small town like Bear Creek,” Avery finally said. “But the mountain. It’s amazing.”

“And the people aren’t half bad either.” Jacob couldn’t help himself, even though he knew he ought to keep his mouth shut.

“I’ve only met three people in Bear Creek. One stared at me through his store window, one is the sheriff, who you are proposing should be my new boss, and one is a ranger.”

“And what do you think of the ranger?” Jacob asked, and then stopped dead in his tracks, his hand raised to silence her.

Avery reacted immediately. She froze on the spot, and then sank down toward the ground. “What did you see?”

“A flash of color.” He pointed through the bushes.

“I can’t see anything.”

“How fast do you think you can run?”

“Depends on how far,” she replied.

“We’re still half a mile away from the pass. We need to get there first.” He peered through the trees. “OK, I have a plan.”

“You do? Great, let’s hear it.”

I’m a bear shifter. Yes, that really was his plan, to shift into a bear and frighten them off.

“You have the map. I want you to run for the pass. When you get there, go straight through. It’s difficult terrain, but you can do it. Just keep going no matter what.” He moved through the bushes, wanting to go with her as far as possible.

“You want me to go through the pass on my own?” She frowned, studying him, trying to figure out what he had in mind.

“I’m going to frighten them off.” Keep it simple, that’s what he told himself; if she didn’t ask, he wouldn’t tell her how he planned to accomplish that.

“I thought we weren’t going to let them know we are here.” She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t like it. If they get even a hint that we are pursuing them, it’s over. One phone call to their supplier, and it’s all over.”

Jacob put his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Avery pressed her lips together, returning his stare, as she prepared her response. Her eyelids fluttered, hiding her emotions as she nodded. “Yes.”

“I’ll catch you up.” He turned to race through the bushes once more. She followed, the branches of the low trees they passed under snagging at her clothes.

“You’d better.” She half turned as he stopped. “If you want that date, you need to be alive.”

“A date. Are you asking?” he called quietly. They were downwind of Manny and Joe, his voice would thankfully carry in the opposite direction.

Avery rolled her eyes. “I thought you already had. Forget it.”

“No.” His voice came out too loud. He shook his head and repeated, “No. I accept.”

Avery pulled the map out of her pocket, and gave him one last smile as she ducked behind a bush and was lost from view. But his other senses could pinpoint her. The bond between them a thread that tied them together for eternity.

Damn it! He had to put her out of his mind. Impossible. OK, to the back of his mind.

Yes, he could do that.

Turning to head toward the trail Manny and Joe should be following, he ran swift and true. Once he was sure he was out of sight of Avery, he shifted into his bear, and went to scare the shit out of two idiot drug dealers.