He didn’t elaborate any further. I didn’t have enough explosives on me to get in and get him out without a high probability of getting one or both of us killed. The rational part of my brain understood that, but it was small in comparison to the rest of my brain screaming to do it anyway.
“And he’s starting to freak. Can we please just get back up the mountain quickly?” Tarron asked. “I’ve seen this enough with the rest of you fools. This man needs his mate and he needs her now.”
Olivia
Chapter 12
Having everything out in the open with my family was somehow healing. I didn’t even realize I had needed to heal, but in hindsight I knew I had been broken since the second Baine had left without ever having said a word to me.
I understood now that it had been because of my brothers and my father. Hearing Baine tell me he still loved me had been more of an affirmation than some big news. My heart had always belonged to that grizzly bear.
Two days had passed since he left with his unit. It was impossible to keep it all a secret from the Clan because Macie proudly announced it to anyone who would listen. Baine and I had been the talk of the town, quite literally.
My daughter had even held court with Mrs. Young. I thought the woman was going to have a heart attack from all the exciting juicy details that kid of mine gave her.
She was growing up, that much had become painfully obvious. Macie was far too aware of everything around her. I’d always known it, but it was glaringly apparent just how observant she truly was as she recounted every detail of the brief time she’d spent with her dad.
Kano and I had to sit her down and explain why she shouldn’t go around telling people that Baine was here to find her grandfather. She had understood and to the best of my knowledge she hadn’t uttered a word about him to anyone. That just meant her sole focus was on me and Baine.
I hated being the talk of the Clan, but my father had raised me to believe the Clan needed to come first, always. When he vanished, it left a hole that Kano has tried desperately to fill. The strange circumstances around his disappearance brought up so many questions and concerns.
I knew Dad would never just abandon us like that. Everyone knew it. It left a feeling of unease and uncertainty amongst the Clan. Kano did what he could to dispel their concerns, but we all knew he wouldn’t just leave which meant something terrible had to have happened to him.
Now, the theories of hunters having killed him while in his bear form, or him falling down a ravine were far better than the actual truth. Someone had taken him from us.
Not very many humans messed with us bears. It was almost as if they could sense the power we barely concealed beneath our skin. We lived in a small remote area high up in the mountains. I couldn’t even remember the last time a human had stumbled into our town.
I still struggled to believe Dad was alive. It hurt too much and I was more of an avoidance type if I were being honest with myself. Pushing things down and refusing to deal with them was how I’d survived Baine leaving in the first place.
My heart ached at the thought of him. It still felt like a dream more than reality. If it wasn’t for Macie constantly peppering me with questions about him then I would have convinced myself I’d just imagined it all by now.
He’d been gone for only a short time really, but with each passing hour I began to worry if he’d ever return.
“He’ll be back,” Tori insisted.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because he’s your true mate and now that his bear has confirmed that, I doubt there’s anything that could ever keep him from here,” Resa pointed out.
“She’s right you know,” Felix admitted. “And you know how much I hate to say that.”
Resa nudged him hard but Felix just grinned.
“You three don’t have to babysit me all day. I’m fine.”
“Oh, we know, but Kano excused us from work until Baine returns if we keep an eye on you,” Resa confessed. “We’re not going anywhere.”
She spun around in one of the empty chairs in my salon as she grinned up at the ceiling. I groaned.
“He’s just worried about you,” Tori assured me.
“Their worry is what caused him to leave in the first place. I know his heart’s in the right place, Killian’s too, but left to them, they’ll just screw things up even more.”
I loved my brothers, I truly did, but to them I was some fragile porcelain doll that had to be protected. They never really gave me credit for all I’d done. If you asked Killian, he’d say he practically raised Macie. While I appreciated his help and allowed him all the time he wanted with his niece, I’d never once asked him to do that and I stubbornly refused to rely on any of them.
My daughter was my responsibility. Period. I was proud to be her mother and took it more seriously than anything else in my life, not that I was one to be a slacker to begin with.
“They mean well,” Felix said defending his cousins.
I sighed. “I know they do.”
“So have you given any thought to what you’re going to do?” Resa asked.
Tori shot her a look that screamed shut up.
“Thought on what exactly?”
Resa looked uncertain. Tori shook her head.
“If you take Baine for a mate, he’s going to want you and Macie to leave with him and move to wherever it is he came from,” Resa blurted out.
“What?” I hadn’t even really thought that far ahead yet.
“Stop worrying her,” Tori fussed.
“I-I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I stuttered out.
The thought of leaving this place, my home, made me physically ill. I’d never been anywhere outside of our Clan territory. I wasn’t one of those people that longed for something different. I loved it here. I loved being surrounded by family and friends where everyone knew me and I didn’t have to worry about Macie wandering around on her own because each and every clansman would protect her with their life.
All sorts of things started overwhelming me at once like thoughts and situations I’d never even considered before. Could I do it? Could I pack up and leave the only place I’d ever known? Was I brave enough to go? Would Baine be willing to stay? Could he?
I realized I didn’t really know much about his job and the people he worked with. I didn’t really know much about him anymore either.
Tori sighed. “I told you she was just going to stress about it if you brought it up.”
“Well, she needs to be thinking about it. I don’t want her to leave,” Resa whined laying it on the line that she thought I should stay.
“It’s not like she’d never come back,” Felix argued.
“You guys do realize I’m right here, right?”
“We’re just worried. We’ll miss you.” Tori hugged me.
“I haven’t gone anywhere. I don’t even know if I am going to go anywhere.”
My cousins all shared a knowing look. I pushed the thoughts from my mind. I really couldn’t worry about that right now. For the moment, life was normal. The salon was even busier than usual because everyone wanted to come in and gossip. I’d barely had a second to think about anything other than screwing up someone’s trim.