A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (30 page)

Cowboy was a deep brown colored bear that weighed over a thousand pounds by our estimation. He wasn’t the oldest bear in the group, but he was by far the cockiest and most powerful of the males. And, without question, he’d be the last bear we moved.

Max had spent the last three days since our return outfitting a truck with a bear cage that could be pulled behind the truck and then driven through the gate, he’d had his men build into his fence that bordered Grizzly Pointe. The land Max owned had once been included in the bear’s territory until his grandfather bought it. Then, as years passed by, a fence was erected to keep the bears on their side to protect them as much as the humans who lived among them. Though the meadow encompassed a few miles of land, when you have young children roaming around, a few miles between you and a colony of bears wasn’t enough.

Ever the forward thinker, Max told me now that I was his, and that ten kids needed protecting (insert eye roll), he planned to put another fence around his house to keep those future children safe. And if Maxine had her way, that would be nine months from now (insert another eye roll).

It took me all of three days, not that I hadn’t seen it before, to realize I’d agreed to explore a lifetime with the dynamic duo, or was it Laurel and Hardy? No, more like Lewis and Martin, only Maxine was smarter. Anyway, I digress. What seemed humorous when I first meet them had now become old hat, and when they got started, I learned to walk out of the room and do my own thing while they went at it. Of course, Max always thought he won those arguments, but I knew better. No one told Maxine what she could or couldn’t do, including her son, and the sooner he figured that out, the lower his blood pressure would be.

Jess and Brian, true to their word, flew in last night and were heading up to Grizzly Pointe to help us with day one of removal and relocation. We’d kept in touch on Facebook and all seemed to be going well with Brian. Though, I was looking forward to seeing them in action.

I’d sent an email to my parents, who were traveling overseas, about my new job heading up the wildlife preserve for Max and SIOZ. I’d also mentioned that I’d finally met someone with whom I foresaw a future. It was easier to break it to them slowly that, barring any unforeseen fetishes, such as more than one wife, I’d eventually be making Alaska my permanent home. They’d been thrilled of course and couldn’t wait to hear all about it upon their return, though, they both questioned my sanity about living in a state with uneven terrain.

Day two of my return to Trails End I was once again in a situation with Max and Annie together. I’d driven up to his logging operation to talk to him about the bear cage and found him in the lumber yard with his hands on hips as she spoke. When he saw me pull in, he motioned me over. So, I walked over, uneasy, of course, until he’d pulled me in close as Annie watched.

“Annie’s here to say goodbye,” Max had announced as soon as his arm had me tightly in his grasp.

I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded and smiled weakly at the woman. After hearing Max and I had pushed her to drink after years of sobriety, it weighed heavily on me and I was determined not to cause her any more grief. Max had explained that she’d come to Trails End about four years ago to work for Ralph, her uncle, and to escape a past that included alcohol abuse. Her father had been abusive growing up and she’d started drinking at an early age to compensate. When she finally got control of her drinking, she’d moved to Trails End to avoid the pitfalls that would send her back to her addiction, her father. Now she’d fallen off the wagon for another addiction, Max, and it seemed clear she was leaving to avoid the same pitfalls that would send her back into a life of addiction again.

“I’ll let you two talk,” I told both of them. However, as I turned to leave, I looked back at Annie and explained, “You’ll find him some day. Anyone as strong as you are definitely has something beautiful coming your way, you’ll see.”

Annie had smiled when I told her that, and Max kissed my forehead before I made my way to his office to watch out the window as they’d said goodbye. She cried a few times, but Max kept his distance, he didn’t make the same mistake as last week. When she went to leave, after all her tears ran dry, Max had given her a brief hug before she climbed into her packed car and driven away. After she was gone, he’d climbed the stairs, made his way straight to me, and I’d hugged him close as I thanked God he’d chosen me.

Basically, as you can see, I’d been a busy beaver between Max, Annie, Maxine, Jess and Brian, Mom and Dad, and preparing for the relocation. The only loose ends that hadn’t been tied up neatly in a bow were who killed Curly and Donald and when the wrath of Thor would wreak vengeance on the Chief of Police. (Jury’s still out on that one since Max is playing his vengeance wreaking cards close to his well-defined chest.)

“I think we should move BooBoo and his mother today. Other than Cowboy, they’ll be the hardest to move, and it needs to be done at the same time,” I suggested to Lucy and Frank.

“Agreed,” Frank replied.

“When is Max coming over with the truck and men?” Lucy asked.

“Should be here anytime, he’s just scouting the meadow between here and his property for the flattest route to pull the cage over.”

“Jesus, look at the size of them,” Brian mumbled from behind me.

We were currently at the edge of the meadow, maybe a mile from base camp, watching Booboo and his mother trying to catch what salmon were left in the river. Booboo seemed to be healing well from his gunshot wound and was now standing next to his mother Nala as Lucy had named her.

“I can’t believe you can get this close to them without them attacking,” Jess stated.

“We’ve been coming up here for five years, three times a year, as long as we keep our distance and don’t approach them, they ignore us,” Frank explained.

“And if they attack?”

“Hasn’t happened yet, if it does, I’ll let you know,” Frank chuckled.

“I feel so much safer,” Jess mumbled.

“I’ll protect you,” Brian jumped in kissing her forehead. Jess melted a little as I watched them interact and I wondered if that was what Max and I looked like to others.

“Older couples are sweet,” Lucy whispered to me as we both watched.

“Yeah, they are kinda cute, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, way cuter than you and Max. You two are more like watching these bears during mating season. You cross your arms, glaring, while Max stomps his scent into the ground, grunting, ‘look at me, I’m the biggest bad-ass bear in town,’ he even has the walk down.”

Just then, Max came into view with his truck and we watched as he pulled up, got out, and we laughed as he stomped his way towards us.

“I’m not even gonna ask,” he sighed as he walked up, curled his hand around my neck, kissing me sweetly.

“You stomp like Cowboy,” I told him when he finished.

“I stomp like your bear?”

“Yeah, during mating season the males have a distinct walk when they approach a female they want to mate with. They stomp their scent into the ground to let others males know the female is his.”

Smiling, Max replied, “Does it work on the females as well as it works on you?”

“It doesn’t work on me,” I defended.

“Wasn’t that you I stomped in the kitchen this morning and last night in the shower? What about yesterday on the—”

“Fine it works,” I snapped as I covered his mouth with my hand.

“You ready Max?” Frank chuckled.

“Jake and Buddy are right behind me on an ATV. You know which one you’re moving today?”

Upon hearing Jake’s name, I saw Lucy run her hand through her hair and look down at her clothes. She’d been cooped up on the mountain for the past week putting a dent in her love life, so to speak.

“We’re gonna move Booboo and his mother, get them out of the way first,” I told Max.

“Will they both fit in the cage?”

“Yes, we’ll tranquilize the mother first since it takes her longer to succumb to the drugs. Then we’ll tranquilize Booboo. Once they’re both out, we’ll tag them, draw blood and hair samples, measure their feet and then we have tarps we’ll place them on so we can easily load them in together. Once that’s done, we’ll take them both over to your property and wait for them to wake up. When they’re awake, we’ll raise the gate and out they will run. Simple.”

“Who’s tranquilizing the bears?”

“The best shot in the county,” Shane announced as he walked up with our dart gun.

“Best shot my ass,” Max smiled.

“I have shot your ass. Did that buckshot wound heal by the way?”

“Yeah, Shane, my ass healed about twenty years ago.”

“He’s still pissed he couldn’t sit for a week,” Shane explained as he turned to me.

“Is that what those dimples are?” I giggled.

“Are they right around his lower left butt cheek?” Shane smiled and I burst out laughing.

“Are you two done?” Max snapped looking between the both of us.

“Not if he has more stories like that.”

“Jesus, remind me not to introduce you to any more of my friends.”

“Just show him one of your imperfections, Mia. Not that you have any from what I can see.”

Max’s eyes shot to Shane’s upon hearing I had no imperfections and Shane’s grin grew wider as he put his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, big guy, all fun and games man, you know that.”

“Can we get back to the matter at hand?” Max bit out.

“Right,” I agreed quickly ‘cause Mad Max was in the house. “So, Shane will tranquillize the bears and we’ll wait for them to take effect.”

“All right, only request I have is that you stay back from the bears until they’re in a cage.”

“They’ll be out cold, Max.”

“I’m not arguing about this, let the men handle the removal and you stay back with Jess and Lucy.”

“Max—”

“He’ll just “stomp” you, Mia, might as well give in now, and save yourself the headache,” Jess laughed. Max smiled and then winked at Jess while I considered disowning her and stomping Max myself.

Ignoring them both, I watched Shane load a large dart into the rifle as Frank pointed out Nala. The shot had to hit a large muscle to avoid injury or overdose so he aimed for the muscles around her neck. Luckily, he got her on the first shot. She jumped, then spun around looking for danger to her cub, and then settled down once she didn’t see an immediate threat, but kept shaking her neck trying to dislodge the dart. Shane then loaded a dart, with a smaller dose of tranquilizer and took aim on Booboo, who was already on alert and sticking close to his mother. Shane took aim, pulled the trigger and Booboo took the dart near his shoulder.

Now we wait.

Max gave up on stomping me when the bears went down twenty minutes later and I marched out ignoring his rumbling voice as he walked behind me. He was not going to tell me what I could or could not do and the sooner he got used to that the better.

When we reached the bears, Jess and Lucy stood to the side as Max, Brian, Frank, Buddy, and Jake dragged Nala onto the tarp. Then waited for Frank and me to tag and take measurements as Shane drew blood. After we’d finished, they carried Nala and placed her in the cage, then we repeated this with Booboo until both were safely inside and the door was lowered.

Like I said, simple.

Now all they had to do was drive back to Max’s side and when they woke up, open the gate and set them free. Two bears down, nine more to go and then all the bears would be protected for generations to come.

Eighteen

Thelma and Louise

Day five since returning to Trails End saw two more bears measured, tagged, and moved. We’d been lucky so far, all four containments had gone off without a hitch. This chance to work with the bears made all those years in my office writing reports worthwhile. It was thrilling to stroke my hand down their coarse fur, to see up close the way the ends were lighter in color, giving it that grizzled look that gave the bears their name. Not to mention seeing firsthand how incredibly big they were. The adult bears, ranging anywhere from five hundred pounds, the females, up to half a ton, Cowboy, were intimidating. Their paws were massive with razor sharp claws protruding like daggers, and their canines were over three inches long and deadly. I had to admit I was glad they were out cold as we examined them, but I wasn’t about to express my fears in front of Max.

Once loaded, Max and the men took the bears over to his side, with Frank and Shane along to keep an eye out and release them once awake. That left Jess, Brian, Lucy and I to make our way back down to town after another successful day. We split up once we’d climbed down, with Jess, Brian and Lucy heading back to Maxine’s as I made my way to Martha’s house. I’d been staying with Max since we returned, but I knew it was time for me to make arrangements that were more permanent. Max may be comfortable with me in his home, but if I was going to make Trails End my home, then I needed a place of my own. I figured Max would argue, but I needed to have my own space as we worked out the kinks in our new relationship and got to know each other better. I’d never lived with anyone before, and though I wanted Max in my life, I needed to ease into his. Basically, I needed a sanctuary that I could go to when I wanted to throw an axe at him thus giving me the time I needed to learn not to throw an axe at him.