"We all have our hands full here. Griffin is working on getting the other animals secure."
"Where's Michael?" Naomi asked of her brother, again looking around.
"Michael is the fire chief and a paramedic. He's doing what Zander's doing, as he should. They’re keeping people safe and secure," Zeke said. Zander, Michael, Knox, and other members of the community were going door-to-door, making sure residents were transported to safer places where they could shelter or at least had supplies for the night and were ready to hunker down.
"Naomi," Zeke said, gentle but firm. "You need to relax. Donovan is a professional. As soon as he grabs that third cub he'll be coming back up here."
"Except that he'll stay out there until he gets that cub. Because that bear’s life is more important to him than his own," Naomi said.
She started for the door. Zeke frowned.
"You know she's going after him, right?" Jill said from the phone.
Zeke looked down at her. "You're not going to tell me to stop her?"
"Actually, somebody should probably go after Donovan," Jill said. "If he's never been in a hurricane before he might not realize how fast this could get bad. And she's right, he's going to stay out there looking for the animal. Unless someone convinces him otherwise. Naomi is smart. She can handle this. And him.”
"Naomi's pretty light. I could easily grab her," Zeke mused.
"You have three penguin eggs that you need to not crack," Jill reminded him. "And I don't think you can stop Naomi. She seems determined to make sure Donovan is okay if no one else will."
"Yeah, what's that about?" Zeke asked.
"What that's about," Jill said with a soft smile, full of emotion, "is that we don't get to choose who we fall in love with.”
He gave her a heartfelt nod. “Thank God for that.”
“What in God’s name do you think you’re doing?”
Donovan wasn’t really surprised to hear Naomi LeClaire’s voice as he was dying. She was perfect angel material. Beautiful. Serene. Elegant. Calming and soothing.
And absolutely capable of making a man want to atone for all his past sins just to see her smile.
At the moment, however, she was definitely not smiling. In fact, she looked kind of pissed.
She stopped right next to him, staring down, her hands planted on her hips. “Get off the ground, Donovan,” she said.
Or rather she yelled. But that was because of the torrential downpour of rain battering the pavement—and them—and the howling wind. Probably.
“Have I drowned? Did something hit me in the head?” he asked.
“It better have, because if I drove out here to find you lying in the middle of the road in a hurricane on purpose, I’m going to hit you in the head,” she informed him.
He blew out a breath and sat up. “I’m doing it on purpose.” He held up a hand. “For a very good reason,” he added quickly.
“Yeah, bear cubs,” she said. “I heard. “You need to get your ass in the truck and get back to town.”
He had never heard Naomi yell. Or say ass. Or look mad.
This was…interesting.
He frowned up at her, having to squint because of the rain. This wasn’t a hurricane.
Yet.
“What are you doing out here? You should be back in town at Ellie’s with everyone else, where it’s safe.”
Crazy woman.
She gave him an oh-you-did-not-just-say-that look. “Get in the truck, Donovan.”
“There’s one more cub.”
“So you’re lying next to a dead bear trying to get the cub to come to you?”
That was exactly what he was doing. He noted, and loved, that Naomi was not squeamish about the bear carcass right behind him. “Yep.”
“You’re nuts, you know that?”
“I’ve heard that a time or two.” Or twelve. Or twenty.
Naomi crouched next to him. Her long black hair was in braids and the braids were gathered back and tied at the back of her head. The rain ran off her hair and her face, down her bare arms. The pale yellow tank top she wore was plastered to her body and her denim jeans were soaked, as were the black boots she wore. Yet she still managed to look completely polished and put together.
He’d never met a woman like her. He had no doubt that she really did think he was crazy. Yet here she was, in the middle of a not-quite-a-hurricane-but-definitely-not-just-a-rainstorm, trying to talk sense into him. And the strangest thing was, it was probably going to work.
Not too many people in his life had been successful in making him think twice about the things he did. But Naomi LeClaire had a way of making him take an extra second to ask is this a terrible idea? before he jumped into something. He’d only known her for ten months but he now had flares and duct tape in the glove box of his truck, bungee cords and a shovel in the back, and ibuprofen and hand sanitizer in the pockets of the utility vest he often wore when he was out working. And she hadn’t lectured him or told him to get any of it. The items had simply shown up in his truck and pockets at one point or another.
But he’d known they were from her.
And now she was yelling at him.
He should probably listen.
Of course, he hadn’t done that prior to coming out here in the storm and live-trapping two of the three black bear cubs. Nor had he done it before tromping around in the underbrush on either side of the road where he assumed the third cub was. Nor had he done it before deciding to lie down next to the bear’s dead mother’s body, hoping the bear would come back seeking safety or nourishment. But now that Naomi was here, he was definitely thinking that perhaps he shouldn’t be out here in the storm alone.
“Just a few more minutes. These cubs have been on their own a couple days. He’s gonna know to find shelter and food, but he’s young. He’s gonna come back to his mom. It’s bad enough that he’s out here alone. But with the storm, we may never find him again.”
“But—”
“Go look in the back of my truck,” he said.
She glanced at his truck, then back to him. Then blew out a breath and headed over to his big black Ford Raptor. The truck bed had a cover on it and she folded it back. Inside was a live trap with two black bear cubs that were about four months old.
She came back a couple minutes later. “Fine. Have you seen him at least?”
Donovan grinned. In addition to being gorgeous and a calming force and someone who took care of everyone around her—including him, for some reason—Naomi was also an animal lover.
She was damned near perfect as far as he could tell.
“Yeah, caught a glimpse. He ran off that way.” Donovan pointed to the west as he got to his feet.
“What happened to the mom?”
“Hit by a vehicle, it seems.”
“These poor babies.”
“I know.”
She met his gaze. “It’s really not safe out here for you either. At least you got two of the cubs. I know it’s heartbreaking to think about leaving him behind, but come on. Your safety is important too.”
Donovan couldn’t look away from her. A part of him recognized that of course she would say something like that. Most human beings would be pleading for another person to keep themselves safe in a storm like this. But honestly, Donovan wasn’t used to people worrying about his safety. Griffin, sure, but Donovan had worked his ass off to keep things from Griffin that would make his brother worry.