Cormac blinked. “The Fae? Why?”
“It’s all right,” Nell said. “Reid is useful, and he likes Shane. I trust him.”
Interesting. But whatever.
“Good,” Brody said. “Let’s head out. Anything’s better than hanging around here sweating.”
Nell put her arm around her son. Cormac rose and joined them, and the three closed into a warm, comforting huddle. Cormac had no inclination to step away, to let Nell and Brody be private. The encompassing hug meant they accepted him, that Cormac was part of them now.
Cormac brushed his hand over Brody’s hair and kissed Nell briefly on the lips. Then they broke apart to go hunt for Shane.
Nell knew Shane was in the cabin at the end of the track as soon as Cormac stopped the truck out of sight on the mountain road.
The sun was rising, touching the folds of land flowing down from the woods that all but hid the cabin at the end of a clearing. The tiny cabin had a wide front porch that overlooked the clearing, its back wall shadowed by ponderosa pines.
Josiah’s second cabin, the one Graham, Jace, and Reid were checking, was a small house in the middle of a desert valley, reachable only by a narrow dirt road. Such a setup, Nell had noted when Xavier showed them the map, would allow the bounty hunter to spot anyone approaching from miles away. On the other hand, Josiah would never be able to get himself away from that cabin without being seen.
No, this cabin was the better candidate, with its escape route into the woods, which was why Nell insisted that her group come to check it out. Graham had understood that and hadn’t protested, and Nell had been silently grateful to him.
“We should shift,” Brody said. “Come at him from three sides.”
“So that way he can shoot only one of us?” Cormac asked dryly. “I would guess he has a good rifle with a scope, plus rounds big enough to take out a Shifter. One of us would be very dead.”
“You have a better idea?” Brody asked.
“I go myself. I’m good at woodcraft.”
“I’m a grizzly who grew up in the northern Rockies,” Brody countered. “I know from woodcraft. And that’s my brother in there.”
“You lived in a house and wore clothes,” Cormac said. “I assure you, I spent most of my growing-up years sleeping on leaves and eating raw fish. He’ll never see me coming.”
Nell briskly stepped between them. “Will you two stop playing king of the woods? I have the best chance. I can walk right up and knock on the door. The bounty hunter is human, and the majority of human males have taboos against shooting or hurting a female.”
Cormac turned on her. “And some humans see females as beings who should be treated like crap. Even if he doesn’t shoot you, he might take you hostage.”
“And then we’d have two of you to rescue,” Brody said.
“No, he’d have a snarling mama bear ready to kill for her cub,” Nell said. “I hope I rip this stupid dress when I shift to beat his ass.”
“Aw, Mom, you look pretty.”
Nell ground her teeth. “I don’t know who I thought I was kidding, wearing this thing. It’s not me.”
The look Cormac gave her would have seared her to her toes if she hadn’t been so scared for Shane. “I for one prefer you out of the dress, but we’ll talk about that later.”
Brody briefly closed his eyes and shuddered. “Goddess,” he said. “They don’t stop.”
Cormac stripped off his coat and shirt. “I can get behind the cabin and inside before the hunter knows there’s a danger.”
“Want us to provide a distraction?” Brody asked.
Cormac slid out of his jeans. “What, dancing up and down saying Shoot me, shoot me? I don’t want him knowing anyone is out here yet. You’ll know when to come assist.”
“When he hangs your dead bearskin out the window?” Nell demanded.
“Nell, honey.” Cormac came to her in nothing but his boxers, the cold not concerning him. He slid his arms around her waist, his skin so roasting hot he warmed the January morning. “You’ll know. I already know everything you feel.”
Nell went cold, then hot again. She’d felt it, though she’d been trying to deny it, the tiny seed in her heart, the minute tether that could grow into something amazing if she let it.
“Cormac.” She shook her head. “Too soon. Too fast.”
Cormac smiled at her. “Nell, under the Father God and before a witness . . . I claim you as mate.”
Brody stared at them a second then broke into a wide grin. “Yes!” He pumped both fists, but his shout was a whisper.
Nell’s throat closed up in panic. “That’s a dirty trick, Cormac.”
“I’ve waited too many years to find a mate of my heart,” Cormac said, his hands warm on hers. “But there’s no time like the present. I’ve mate-claimed you, love. Promise you’ll at least think about it?”
“This isn’t the time or place,” Nell said.
“Stop arguing with him, Mom,” Brody said. “Just go with it for now.” His huge grin broke through again. “This is awesome. Now we need to get Shane, so we can celebrate.”
Cormac moved with newfound speed. He knew the mate bond was forming between him and Nell—it had started in Cormac when he’d found the letter from Magnus and read the words across the decades. Find Nell. Care for her in the way I haven’t been able to.
Cormac had felt the bond grow when he and Nell had been alone in the cabin—the spark had jumped like the flames that had leapt from the kindling in the fireplace.
The mate-claim was the first real step in making her his. A mate-claim meant Cormac had declared his intentions to fully mate with her, that he wanted her to join with him in the official ceremonies under sun and moon, which would bind them together forever. It meant that all other males had to back off, that Nell was his.
Cormac wished he could have found her all those years ago, so she wouldn’t have had to make her way in the world alone, truly alone. But at least he was here now, and he could get Shane back for her.
Whether Nell refused his mate-claim later, or denied that she felt the mate bond, Cormac could at least make sure her cub was safe. He’d been too late to help Nell in the past, but he could help her now.
Cormac skirted the clearing under the cover of the trees, keeping to the shadows and making his way around to the back of the cabin. This low in the mountains, the snow had melted, but clouds hung over the peaks, and the cold breeze from them said that snow was on its way.
The cabin looked quiet, but Cormac knew that two living beings were inside. He could scent them clearly—one human, the other Shifter, injured and overlaid with the strong scent of unhappy grizzly.
The porch wrapped all the way around the cabin, the interior one story. Probably two rooms—kitchen and living room combo and one bedroom with a small bathroom. Compact, tidy, great summer getaway.
The cabin had too many windows. Cormac couldn’t be certain in which room the hunter and Shane waited—living room or bedroom. Bathroom might work as an entrance if Cormac went in human. That is, if he could figure out which window led to the bathroom, and if the bathroom had a window at all.
He kept to the shadows as he drew as near to the cabin as he dared. One corner was shaded by a huge pine, but that corner also could fully be seen by the wide windows across the back porch.
The side of the house was more exposed to the clearing but had fewer windows. Cormac shifted back into human, lowered himself to a crouch, and ran from the edge of the trees to the house, pressing himself down under the windows.