“Yeah, the best. And you?”
“I did. Listening to the water lapping at the beach, snuggled with you, it was the best. I can’t believe you slipped away without disturbing me though.”
“We were all tangled up together, but I was very careful to untangle myself, one limb at a time, without waking you. I think you were dead tired though.”
“Oh, I thought you had gotten hot and moved away from me.”
“No. I just had to go to the bathroom.”
“Have you been up for very long?” He still couldn’t believe he slept through her leaving him.
“Yeah, for a while. I left my clothes in the woods, shifted, and ran along the trail to check for any more bear signs. I didn’t want any surprise attacks. Then did my business.”
He nodded out toward the lake. “The crew is coming. I’m going to find where you went and—”
“Scent mark over my spot. I know how possessive you males are.”
He laughed. Yeah, they were, and when it came to Elizabeth, he definitely was. He headed into the woods.
When he returned to the campsite, he found that Elizabeth had rolled up their sleeping bag and set it outside. She had started the fire too. She was the perfect camping mate. He helped her take down the tent and secure it; then they went in search of more kindling and firewood for when the others arrived.
“I saw everyone coming, the kids excited to see us. Do you always do things like this?” She was picking up more twigs.
“It’s kind of a ritual, I guess. I hadn’t thought of it, but in the past, after we had our homes built and during the summer, Cameron and Faith came to spend the night at the island. We asked if they would like breakfast, and they thought it was a lovely idea. They were already mated way before then, of course. Then when Owen and Candice were together, they wanted to wait until summer and then they paddled out and stayed overnight. When we asked them if they wanted us to bring them breakfast, they said no way!” He grabbed up some fallen branches.
Elizabeth laughed.
“They told us to wait until lunchtime, so that’s what we did. By then it was a tradition, and Gavin and Amelia expected it of us. Of course with you, this time is different because we’re not mated. But they still want to show us a good time.”
“And maybe hope we mated during the night?” She arched a brow.
He smiled. “I’m sure there is that.”
“Well, if things keep going the way they are, I’m guessing that won’t be long. We can do this again, and they can bring breakfast, or lunch, to a newly mated couple.”
“Hot damn, yes!”
She chuckled.
The canoes arrived at the shoreline, everyone yelling greetings, the kids not bothering to wait to jump out, getting their feet wet and not caring one bit.
David was glad to see Slade and Sheri in one of the canoes.
“No flight this morning?” David asked.
“One of our standby pilots took over for me since I said we had a really special event planned.” Slade glanced at Sheri as if to say she was the reason he wanted to do this, more than anything else.
“The other standby pilot took over for me,” Amelia said. “This is important.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Well, this is super fun.”
“We want to see where the bear was,” Corey said.
“We’ll take you for a run on the island after we fix breakfast,” Faith said, everyone helping to carry food and cooking gear out of the canoes. They’d brought everything. Bread to make toast, eggs already scrambled and ready to cook, sausage links and bacon.
“So no more bear signs?” Sheri asked.
“No, I checked it out this morning,” Elizabeth said.
“I did too. Once he left last night, that was the last we saw of him. Though once we start cooking, he might return to see if we left anything behind,” David said.
Before long, they were eating around the campfire, drinking coffee and hot tea, and telling campfire tales.
“You should have seen the time Owen and I were chased up a tree,” David said. “It was as if the bear had known we had hunted bears—unsuccessfully, I might add. Payback, you know.”
“I agree. I thought we were goners,” Owen said. “He was on us before we could even blink, no time to get out of our clothes to shift so we had to run for it. Now, we’re talking a grizzly, too, not a black bear. They’re known to be more unpredictable. I swear he was like some furry monster from a horror show where the critter is bigger than life, stronger, more determined to kill the poor screaming humans trying to escape him.”
The kids were listening in fascination, though they’d heard the story before. Sheri and Elizabeth hadn’t.
“Were you screaming?” Corey asked.
“No way,” David said, winking at Elizabeth. “That’s what happens in the movies. We were just trying to make it to the closest climbable tree and get up it before he got either of us. I swear I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree that fast in my life.”
“Yeah, me either. Though grizzlies can climb too, if they are determined, so even there we weren’t safe. He did make it up a little way, but he lost momentum or decided he wasn’t that interested in us and slid back down to the ground.” Owen took another bite of sausage.
“We were out of breath, hearts pounding, smelling of fear,” David said. “The bear wasn’t done with us though. He circled the tree, pawed at it, even pushed at it with his paws as if he could shake us out of the tree. He stretched up to reach us, but we were high enough he couldn’t get to us. He was grunting and snorting, irritated, aggressive. We sat in that tree for an hour before he finally sauntered away. Our cell phones weren’t picking up any reception either so we couldn’t warn the others to stay away.”
“We still didn’t leave after that. Even though he didn’t come back to the tree, we could hear him snuffling and making noise in the underbrush some distance away. We figured he was scouting for grubs or berries, and we didn’t want to risk it,” Owen said.
“Where was this?” Elizabeth asked.
“Montana,” Owen said.
“I was with them,” Faith said. “We had no idea the trouble Owen and David had gotten themselves into. We didn’t even think about it until they didn’t return for lunch. At that point, we went into search mode.”
“Oh, no,” Sheri said.
“Yeah, well, we had bear spray and a rifle with us—not to shoot a bear, if that was the trouble—but to be prepared, just in case. We never expected to find Owen and David in a tree.” Cameron smiled, having never let them live it down.