A Grizzly Kind Of Love (The Mating Game Book 3) (8 page)

Zane borrowed a car from Rex, and they left straight from the garage. He wanted to make sure that nobody had time to place a bug on this new vehicle. Rex and several other employees of the garage accompanied them back to Wynona’s house to pack up a suitcase before she left. Zane had an overnight bag that he took out of his pickup truck.

Even though Rex had checked the truck from top to bottom, they couldn’t be a hundred percent sure that they hadn’t missed a tracking device; hence the borrowed car.

Then they drove for hours, out of North Carolina and into Tennessee. Wynona knew his parents had been killed in Tennessee, and she thought it was a little odd that he’d want to go there of all places, but she didn’t want to bring up such a painful subject.

They finally drove through a tiny dot-on-the-map town called Fox Hollow, and then down a dirt road off the main road, until they reached a little cobblestone house set in a clearing among towering pines.

They climbed out of the car and Wynona looked around. There was a neat stack of firewood in the front yard with an axe next to it, buried in a stump. There was an old-fashioned pump, the kind that needed to be primed. Clothing strung on a clothesline flapped in the gentle breeze. She saw adult clothing and several sizes of children’s clothing hanging from wooden clothespins. There was a vegetable garden off to the right side of the house, and a chicken coop. Chickens pecked in the dirt and a rooster strutted.

“What is this place?” Wynona asked.

“You’ll see.” He grinned at her, opening the trunk of the car. He reached in to get their bags.

“Oh, no, let me do that!” a voice called out.

A male fox shifter who looked to be in his fifties came from the side yard, on crutches. He’d lost his right leg below the knee, and had a prosthetic. He was accompanied by a wolf cub that trotted next to him in wolf form and sniffed at Wynona’s ankle, and a bobcat shifter female who appeared to be about six or seven.

“Wynona Bennett, meet my honorary uncle, Frederick Wiley,” Zane said. Zane was more than a foot taller than the redheaded fox, who had a bushy mustache and thinning red hair streaked with gray.

“I don’t know about honorary. More like ornery,” Frederick said cheerfully. He glanced at Zane. “Getting used to the new leg, though.” Frederick stuck his hand out and pumped Wynona’s hand with a firm grip. “Very pleased to meet you, I’m sure.” He glanced at the wolf cub, which was licking Wynona’s foot. “Lucas, you stop that, now – that’s not polite,” he said with a frown. Lucas turned and ran back into the garden.

“He just came to us a few weeks ago. He’s still a little shy,” Frederick said apologetically. “And this young lady is Rory, the best chicken wrangler ever.” The little bobcat shifter beamed at that.

Frederick grabbed one of the suitcases, and Wynona struggled not to wince as he painstakingly slung it over his shoulder, almost tipping over.

She glanced at Zane, who shook his head and mouthed, “Let him do it.”

“You kids go on in! I’m right behind you!” Frederick said.

They walked up the front steps, onto a porch with a porch swing, and into the house.

A female fox shifter with gray hair pulled into a bun stood by the sink, washing dishes, and when she turned around, her face lit up. “Zane, what a wonderful surprise! We didn’t expect you for two more weeks! And you brought a guest, how lovely!”

Two other shifters stuck their heads into the room, looking at Wynona curiously.

“Yes, forgive my bad manners for not calling to let you know I’d be coming,” Zane said.

“You know you’re always welcome here. You did wipe your feet, now, didn’t you, dear?”

“No ma’am, I did not. My sincere apologies.” He walked over to the doormat and wiped his feet.

Wynona stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment as he rejoined her. “Who
are
you?” she whispered.

“Wynona,” he said, “I’d like to introduce you to my aunt, Christine Wiley, and Shea and Dean.” Shea was a wolf shifter who appeared to be about fourteen, and Dean was a bear shifter who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. They both came over and shyly shook Wynona’s hand, saying, “Pleased to meet you.”

Frederick came in with the suitcase and set it down on the kitchen floor with a thud and an
oof
. “I’ll get the rest,” he said, sounding slightly winded. “Be right back.”

Wynona itched to run out and get the suitcases, but she sensed it was important to Frederic to do it himself.

Zane pulled out a package from his suitcase and handed it to Christine. “A hostess gift for you,” he said with a small bow. Christine opened it. It was a wicker basket, and it contained perfumed soaps. “From both of us.”

“Oh, that’s so lovely, dear, you remembered my favorite scent!” She beamed at him like a proud mother. “And we got your thank you note, by the way. I’m so pleased that you enjoyed the jams.”

Wynona stared at Zane with narrowed eyes. “A thank you note? Again, who
are
you?” she muttered. He winked at her.

Christine looked at Wynona and clapped her hands with glee. “And you’ve finally found your mate! We knew you would! We’ll put you in the guest cottage out back. Where’s your ring, dear?”

“My ring?” Wynona echoed stupidly. “Uh, well, you see… I—”

“I’m still shopping for the perfect ring,” Zane said. “It’s got to be the perfect ring for the perfect woman. Aunt Christine, one thing, very important. Nobody can know we’re here.”

“Mum’s the word. A nice private honeymoon, then.”

“Oh, it’s really not—” Wynona started to explain.

“—necessary at all, but thank you anyway,” Zane interrupted her again.

“Dear, do not start out your married life by interrupting your wife,” Christine chided him. “We raised you better than that.”

Frederick came through the door dragging the other suitcase as she said that. He nodded.

“Listen to your auntie. By the way, do you need help with anything?”

Zane nodded. “Actually, yes, haven’t changed the oil in my car in a while.”

“Zane, Zane,” Frederick chided gently. “You’re such a good mechanic, and there you go, neglecting your own car.”

Frederick eagerly hurried outside to change Zane’s oil.

Christine glanced at Zane with her brow slightly wrinkled, and her mouth twitched in a smile, as if she knew exactly why Zane had brought a car that needed an oil change.

Wynona was bubbling over with questions, but before she got a chance, Christine said, “You two are just in time to help with dinner.”

The next thing she knew, Wynona was helping to wash and peel potatoes, and Zane was helping his “uncle” to grill steaks.

There were six foster kids in all; two more had been out playing in the woods behind the house. They all sat down to dinner at an enormous old table in the dining room and said grace before eating. Wynona watched as Zane said things like “Please pass the potatoes” and made polite conversation with Frederick and Christine and the children.

“We’re going to tuck in early,” Zane told Christine. “But I’ll gather the eggs for you tomorrow.”

As Zane led Wynona to the guest cabin, she shook her head again. “One last time. Who
are
you?”

They stepped through the door of the one-bedroom guest cabin, which was decorated in a frilly country style, with an overstuffed floral print sofa and hand-stitched samplers on the walls. Frederick had hauled their suitcases in there and left them in the living room.

Zane started to walk towards the kitchen, but she blocked him, with her hands on her hips.

“I imagine you have questions,” he said.

“Boy, you got that right.”

He sat down on the couch and she sat down next to him.

Zane leaned back and heaved a sigh, his expression growing serious. “The Wileys raised me after I lost my parents. Well, not immediately after. I don’t remember much about my parents being killed. There was just this terrible blank. I was injured, and I ran away. I traveled through the woods for weeks until I found a campground where humans would come with their RVs. I lived in the woods near there for a couple of years, hunting my own food and stealing food from campers. Park rangers finally chased me off, so I went on the run, traveled a long way, and stumbled on the Wileys. I was pretty near feral by that point, but you’ve seen how they are. They’re always taking in abandoned kids, and all of the kids turn out great.”

“So they never called the authorities when you showed up?”

He shook his head. “They had no idea who I was. Based on the condition that I was in, they thought that I was an abandoned, feral cub, which is not that unusual. By then everybody in my family thought I was long dead, so nobody was looking for me. I barely had any memory of my family at the time; it came back to me slowly over the years. When I finally started to remember things and did some research, I saw that the people who killed my parents were dead, and Sergio was in an asylum, so there was no need for me to do anything more. Once I turned eighteen, I started traveling around the country, working at mechanic’s shops, but I always came back here.”

Her heart ached at the thought of all that he’d been through. “Why didn’t you tell your family that you were alive, once you realized who you were?”

He shrugged. “Hubert and Cecily? I told you, I never liked them. My family never liked them. Didn’t even speak to them. They’re loud, flashy, obsessed with their social status, spend all their time shopping or jetting around the world, and so are the rest of the clan. About a dozen of them, all social-climbing posers. There was just no reason to reach out to them.”

“Okay. I get that, But when you were finally found, why did you pretend that you’d lived on your own all those years?”

“I wanted to protect the Wileys from all the publicity,” he said. “They’re very private, modest people; the world would have showed up on their doorstep, pestering them for TV appearances, and they would have hated it. I still call them all the time, visit them every month or two, I just don’t tell anyone about it. Even Rex doesn’t know.”

She looked at him in bewilderment, as if seeing him for the first time. “When you were found…you took people to that campsite where you’d been living.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I built that log cabin myself. No big deal. I like to camp.”

“But that whole crude, uncivilized, near-feral act of yours…”

He grinned fiercely. “Worked really well to keep Cecily and Hubert away from me.”

She punched him in the arm, really hard. Unfortunately his arm was so rock solid that it just hurt her hand. “You son of a bitch. You could have acted like a perfect gentleman from the minute I first met you!”

He laughed out loud. “Yep. I sure could have. But what fun would that have been?”

That big, stupid, stubborn bear. All of that aggravation he’d put her through – to amuse himself!

She sat there muttering curses under her breath, while he got up and walked over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of beers. They sat there and drank in silence for a couple of minutes, and Wynona fumed and thought of various uses for bear skin rugs. Zane had a lovely pelt. He’d look good in front of a fireplace.

“So why did you finally agree to be mated?” she said, setting her beer down on the coffee table. “You never cared about the family land or the business in the past.”

Zane shrugged. “It was because of the Wileys. I need the money for them, especially since Frederick had his accident. When the Coventry Clan filed to take our land, I had to agree to be mated. Didn’t really care who, because I never saw myself in a relationship.”

He met her gaze. “And then I met you. And I knew right away. I knew it would be you.”

Wynona felt her annoyance melting and her heart started beating faster. “But…but you let yourself be signed up for this whole ‘I’ll teach you how to be civilized so you can court a mate’ thing.”

“And which mate did you think I’ve been courting?”

Her jaw dropped.

“The best way to get to know you better was just to go along with the whole
My Fair Lady
deal – what?” he laughed at her shocked look. “I’ve been known to watch a movie or two.”

Wynona stared at him. “Well, I…I mean…I’m literally speechless.”

“Nah, you’re still talking.” He grinned at her.

She swallowed hard as a feeling of warmth spread through her. Leander had been right; Zane really had decided to be her mate as soon as he’d met her. “When you went to lunch with Tiffany, I have to admit…I thought I was going to be sick.”

“When I went to lunch with Tiffany, I thought
I
was going to be sick.” He laughed. “I can’t believe you made me do that. You owe me. Big time.”

“I know, right? But then, I had no choice because—” She stopped herself.

She’d almost told him about the whole deal with her ex-husband.

“Because what?”

Her gaze dropped. “I can’t tell you.”

Would that be it? He was talking about mating, and she was keeping secrets from him.