Knox was always fiendishly hungry. It was a good job Lowe loved cooking as much as he did. His brother had one hell of an appetite.
It dawned on him that his uneasy feeling had passed thanks to losing himself in conversation and tried to think of another topic to keep his mind occupied. Other than Knox and the bees. Food stuck in his head, tormenting him, keeping his pace brisk despite the slippery ground.
“I probably should’ve thawed a few steaks for Saint.” He glanced at Knox, whose look said it all.
Saint hadn’t exactly been in the mood to have them sticking around though, had wanted them gone because Knox had scared the female.
“What happened back there?” Lowe rubbed his hands together, trying to get some warmth into them. His gloves were good, but apparently not that good. The tips of his fingers were already cold.
Knox shrugged and growled. “Saint chewed me a new one. He probably should’ve asked you to watch the female.”
“Yeah, well, I probably would’ve let her escape.” Lowe felt his brother’s gaze on the side of his face, pushed his woollen hat back and ran a hand over his short blond hair as he sighed. “Just… it doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Always the gentleman.” Knox took another jab at his arm and grinned at him, flashing straight white teeth. “Mom always said you were the nice one out of the two of us, and I was too much like Dad.”
They both fell silent at that.
When that silence became too thick, started to feel as if it was choking him, Lowe forced a sigh and tilted his head back, gazing up through the canopy to the grey sky.
“I miss them.”
Knox wrapped his arm around Lowe’s shoulders and tugged him towards him. “Me too.”
Lowe lifted his left hand and patted his brother’s gloved hand. It had been hard for both of them when they had lost their parents. Things had changed at their old pride on the coast just north of Vancouver and they had ended up striking out on their own, trying to find a place that felt like home to them.
They thought they had found it in a small cabin they had built near a lake, had settled there and things had been good for a while.
Until they had been out in their bear forms and Knox had been shot by hunters. They had shifted back and had run as far as Knox could manage. When his brother hadn’t been able to keep going, had collapsed and terrified Lowe, Lowe had started dragging him, trying to get him to help. Lowe’s throat closed as he remembered finding himself at a point where two valleys converged, sitting with his brother and too tired to keep moving.
He could still recall how it had felt to sit there looking at Knox, sure he was going to die.
And then Saint had appeared.
Lowe had attacked him, hadn’t been able to stop himself from shifting into his animal form to protect his brother, even though he had sensed Saint was a bear too.
When Saint had offered to help save Knox, Lowe had been more than grateful. Saint had helped him move Knox to Black Ridge, had set them up in a cabin and had let them stay there until his brother had healed and was back at full strength.
And then, just when Lowe and Knox had decided it was time they moved on, even when neither of them had wanted to, the big bear had offered them both a place in his pride.
They owed Saint everything, but somehow the male didn’t make them feel like they did. He had never treated them as if they owed him anything, rarely pulled rank on them, and always took care of them. From day one, Saint had made them feel as if they belonged in his pride, as if Black Ridge had always been their home, and as if they had always known each other.
“You’re awfully quiet.” Knox nudged him as they reached an area where the trees were sparse and the snow was deeper.
Lowe couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Knox’s right shoulder.
His brother’s blue eyes widened slightly. “Ah… winter silence making you all contemplative? Or is this because Saint gave me a spanking for upsetting the female?”
Lowe shrugged. “I’m going to blame the cold. Must be freezing my brain and making me sentimental.”
Knox scoffed at that. “You don’t need the cold for that to happen. For a big bear, you’re a big softie. You know that?”
He wanted to deny that, but their mother had been right about him. Lowe was the gentler one out of the two of them and sometimes he wished it wasn’t the case—like the times he got his heart broken.
Knox had never had his heart broken. Knox could somehow roll into town or Vancouver, find a female to fool around with to blow off some steam, and escape with his heart intact.
Whenever Lowe tried that, it started out well, and then ended badly. He tried not to let his feelings get involved, tried to keep things fast and fun like Knox could, and then more often than not he ended up foolishly developing feelings and thinking he could make a relationship work.
It never did.
“I know that look,” Knox grumbled. “It’s that female. I don’t like her. She’s messing everything up. First Saint is acting all crazy, and now you look miserable.”
Lowe shrugged again, trying to let it roll off his back. “I told you I was done with trying to make things work with females. No more. Last two years, I haven’t had any problems.”
“Last two years you’ve had precisely one encounter with a female. I don’t call that progress.”
He slid Knox a hard look. “I don’t see you out there sowing your wild oats. When was the last time you went to town to get laid? Two years ago now?”
“I’ve been busy.” Knox glowered at him, but before he looked away, Lowe glimpsed something in his blue eyes, something that looked an awful lot like hurt.
Was it possible he and his brother weren’t so different after all, and Knox’s last visit to town to find a female had ended badly for him?
He wanted to know, but he also didn’t want to press his brother. Knox could hold a grudge like no other man in this world, wouldn’t talk to him for months if he went prodding the bear and aggravated him.
“Weather’s getting worse.” Knox didn’t sound happy about it either. “How close do you think we are to the lodge now?”
Lowe zipped his coat up a little more as the icy wind battered him, driving snow into his face, and looked back over his shoulder, into a blizzard that stole everything from view. “Not sure. Might be halfway there. It’s hard to tell. It’s got to be late afternoon now. Maybe close to evening. I feel like I’ve been walking forever.”
“Me too. Not sure we’ll make it to the lodge before nightfall, but I’m fucked if I’m stopping anywhere for the night. We’ll just have to keep our spirits up while we walk.” Knox growled as the wind caught him, splattering his weatherproof clothing with snow, and stomped onwards. “Tell me more about steaks and whiskey.”
Lowe chuckled as his brother sounded as if this was the end for them. He hated snow as much as any bear, but it wasn’t that bad. Things could be worse.
A gunshot echoed around the mountains.
His entire body locked up tight. Knox froze too, head whipping in all directions. Lowe tried to get a fix on the location of whoever had fired that shot, but it was impossible. He strained and waited, senses reaching outwards, sweeping as far and wide as possible to cover as much ground as he could manage. He couldn’t sense anyone other than him and Knox, and a few animals in the dense forest. He remained on high alert though. Whoever had fired that shot was bound to shoot again, giving Lowe a chance to get a fix on them.