Grizzly Flying High (Air Bear Shifters 1) (12 page)

“You deserve happiness, sure. But maybe you should wait to drop the bombshell that you’re dating a human until at least a day has passed since the fight,” Chance said, crossing his arms.

Sawyer felt anger bubbling up in his stomach. “I’m not postponing my happiness any longer because some of my clan members don’t think I can tell the difference between a dangerous human and a harmless one. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get ready for the party.”

Sawyer started pushing past Chance, but Chance held his hand up.

“Wait. There’s another thing.”

Sawyer let out an exasperated breath, but he stopped and waited for Chance to speak. The only people in his clan who could challenge him so boldly were Chance and Anderson. Sawyer didn’t have much patience for people telling him how to run his clan, but he trusted Chance and Anderson to give him good advice. They had grown up with him, running through the wilds of Alaska together as cubs. Chance had an uncanny sense of when he had pushed Sawyer far enough, so if Chance wasn’t backing down yet, then whatever he had to say was important.

“Look, there are a lot of people who think that you need to banish all of the bears who sided with Simon,” Chance said, and then slowly added, “I think they’re right.”

Sawyer’s eyes darkened with anger. “No way,” he said. “You know I don’t want to banish anyone. Honestly, I would’ve let Simon stay but I understand that I can’t let the challenger himself get away with what he did. I think having him around, as a reminder of a failed challenge, would be better than sending him away. But, I get it. Too many people think that shows weakness.”

“Well too many people think that letting any of the dissenters stay shows weakness,” Chance said. “You have the right, as alpha, to banish anyone who dissented during a challenge.”

“I know that,” Sawyer growled. “Don’t try to school me on clan law. I’m well aware of what I could do. But I’ve already made my decision. My goal is to rebuild unity in the clan, not continue to let Simon’s challenge wreak havoc long after he’s gone.”

Chance sighed, and started walking for the steps. Sawyer had reached his limit, and Chance knew it. But Chance couldn’t resist calling one last admonition over his shoulder as he left.

“Just think about it, Sawyer. People will be watching you at the party tonight.”

Sawyer merely growled again in response, and then moved to open his front door without another glance in Chance’s direction. His happy mood had soured considerably, and he wanted to seclude himself in the comfort of his own cabin for a while before he had to face his fractured clan at the celebration tonight.

“Come on, Amanda,” he said, holding the door open for her so she could walk in ahead of him. “Let’s go inside and relax. I could use a good glass of whiskey, and I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a hot shower.”

Amanda eyed the crowd with as disinterested an expression as she could manage. All around her, people were dancing and drinking, and generally having a great time. But she was sitting alone in the darkest corner of the room, as far away as possible from the festivities. Sawyer had excused himself briefly to speak with the clan leaders, and Amanda had assured him that he didn’t need to worry about her. She would grab a drink and some food and mingle, she’d told him, with a bright smile.

And she had indeed grabbed a drink and some food, but she hadn’t even made an attempt to mingle. She knew she should have. Every now and then, wary eyes glanced in her direction, and she wasn’t oblivious to the whispers of many of the shifters as they shook their heads ever so slightly in disbelief.

Despite how many times Sawyer had tried to reassure her that everyone would love her, Amanda couldn’t stop the sinking feeling that Chance had been right. The clan didn’t want a full human here. They didn’t trust her, and they didn’t make an effort to come get to know her. She couldn’t really complain, since she wasn’t making an effort, either. But, still, the longer Sawyer’s time away from her continued, the more conspicuous she felt sitting in her dark corner and shoving hors d’oeuvres in her mouth.

Amanda frowned. She had been so happy in the forest earlier. Everything had suddenly seemed to make sense, and she had let herself finally contemplate actually moving to Alaska and being with Sawyer permanently. She had convinced herself that she really could start over here, enjoying the wilderness and the slower pace of life with a community of people who were more interested in spending quality time with each other than with building their network of business contacts.

But those pipe dreams were quickly going up in smoke as Amanda sat alone in the corner. She told herself over and over to just get up and talk to people, and that all the whispering and suspicious looks were probably just in her head. But still, she sat there, washing down tiny meatballs with huge swigs of rosé wine, and wondering how upset Sawyer would be if she just made a break for it and escaped back to his cabin for the evening.

She might have seriously left, except that she wasn’t sure whether she could find her way back to his place in the dark. Frost Peak was a decent-sized community, and Amanda hadn’t kept very good track of the way they had walked to get to the town meeting hall for the party. She had paid more attention when they walked to the airplane hangar to pick up her backpack so that she would have some clothes, but by the time they headed out for the party she had been too nervous and excited to keep track of the roads.

Amanda looked down at her simple black dress, and wiped a few crumbs from her thigh. It wasn’t nearly as glitzy as the cocktail dresses many of the shifters in the room were wearing, but it was better than jeans. Apparently, the after-party on the day of an alpha challenge was a big deal. Amanda had a lot to learn about clan life, she thought with a sigh.

After popping the last bite-sized meatball into her mouth, Amanda looked around the room and decided to at least make an attempt to talk to someone. She couldn’t write off everyone without at least giving them a fair chance, after all. True, they hadn’t come up to talk to her, but she hadn’t exactly been giving off the most welcoming vibes by sitting in the corner with a frown on her face, either. Taking a deep breath, she was just about to stand up when she heard a little thump as someone sat in the seat next to her.

“Hi, Manda,” her new companion said.

Amanda smiled when she looked over and saw Silver sitting beside her.

“Hi, Silver. Good to see you again. Your dress is lovely.”

“Thanks,” Silver said, looking down at her sparkling dark purple dress. “Daddy let me pick out a new one for the party. He almost never lets me buy new dresses, but he said tonight was a big deal. He’s really happy that Sawyer won the alpha challenge. He was so happy that he didn’t even get mad at me when he found out I didn’t actually go to the fight.”

Amanda smiled kindly at the girl, although in her head she was wondering what kind of father would want his child to witness a fight like the one that had gone on this morning, anyway.

“Daddy says you’re staying in Frost Peak,” Silver said, swinging her legs back and forth rapidly and seeming to enjoy the fact that the chair was too high for her feet to touch the ground.

“Did he, now?” Amanda asked, trying to keep her voice light. She wasn’t sure how to respond to the little girl. A few hours ago, she would have been enthusiastically agreeing with Silver. But now, she wasn’t so sure that staying was a good idea. Of course, Sawyer seemed to fit her better than any man she had ever been with. She felt drawn to him and connected to him like she never had to anyone else before. And the sex—good god, the sex had been amazing. But no matter how amazing Sawyer might be, Amanda would never be happy in a place where everyone else constantly side-eyed her.

“What’s wrong?” Silver asked, breaking into her thoughts.

“Oh, nothing, sweetie. I was just thinking about a lot of boring grown up things.”

Silver puffed her little chest out proudly. “You can tell me about grown up things. Everyone says I’m very mature for my age. I’m practically an adult already.”

Amanda laughed. “You do seem very mature. But I don’t want to talk about sad things. Why don’t you tell me about yourself? What kind of things do you like to do?”

Silver’s face brightened. “I like a lot of things. Playing in the forest, coloring, baking cupcakes with Daddy.”

“That all sounds really fun,” Amanda said.

The little girl furrowed her brow and nodded. “Uh-huh. But my favorite thing is dancing. I love dancing. Daddy lets me take ballet and hip-hop lessons, but he won’t dance with me. He says it makes him too sad.”

“Dancing makes him sad?” Amanda said, raising an eyebrow. “Usually people get happy when they dance.”

“Yeah,” Silver said. “But my mom was a dancer. She died when I was born, and Daddy hasn’t liked to think about dancing since then. I guess it reminds her that she’s dead.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Amanda said, her heart tightening in her chest with sympathy for the young girl. Silver was just at the age where she would have loved putting big bows in her hair and playing dress up with her mom’s pearls and high heels, but Amanda doubted that Silver’s father would be into games like that. And if he couldn’t even bear to dance, odds were he had packed away all of his late wife’s shoes and necklaces.

“Hey!” Silver said brightly, turning to face Amanda with an excited expression on her face. “Maybe you could dance with me.”

“Uh, sure. I’d be happy to sometime, if it’s okay with your dad, that is,” Amanda said.

“Right now,” Silver said, jumping down from her seat and holding her little hand out to Amanda. “Come dance with me right now.”

Amanda glanced over at the dance floor, which was only occupied by a few couples who were doing a surprisingly good job of grooving to the latest pop hits. “I…I don’t know, Silver. I’m not sure I’m ready to dance in front of everyone right now.”

Silver’s face fell. “Why not? Did someone you know who danced die, too, like my mommy?”

Amanda sighed. How do you explain the intricacies of feeling self-conscious around a new group of people to a five-year-old? Amanda had a feeling that Silver would think every excuse Amanda had to give was silly. And maybe she was right. Maybe Amanda should just get out there and dance, and not care who saw her or what they thought of her dancing skills.

“You know what?” Amanda said. “You’re right. Right now is a great time to dance.”

Silver squealed, and Amanda stood up and let the little girl lead her to the dance floor. Just as they stepped onto the floor, a peppy, happy tune started up—one of Amanda’s favorites. Apparently, it was one of Silver’s favorites, too, because the little girl squealed as she started jumping around to the beat.

Amanda took a deep breath and did her best to forget about all the strangers in the room watching her. She mimicked Silver’s moves, doing her best to keep up with the little girl who had enough energy for three people. Thankfully, Amanda had been in several dance troupes during her high school days, so she was pretty good at picking up dance moves quickly. Pretty soon, by concentrating carefully, she was moving in sync with Silver, which only made the little girl squeal with delight again.

“You’re a good dancer, Manda,” Silver said, a huge grin lighting up her face.

“Thanks,” Amanda said, grinning back. “You’re really good, too.”

And Silver was good. Amanda had never seen someone so young who could move her body as well as Silver could. The girl was a natural, and Amanda found herself wondering about the girl’s mother. It was such a shame that Silver had never had the chance to dance with her.

Before long, the next song began, and Silver and Amanda kept going without missing a beat. Amanda could feel herself breaking a sweat, and she was sure her hair was beginning to look ridiculous, but she didn’t care. She was having fun, and, for the first time since she had arrived in Alaska, she forgot to worry about the future or about the task of “finding herself.” She kicked off her shoes, and just enjoyed the moment and the joy of dancing with the sweetest little five-year-old she had ever met.

Five songs later, the music switched to a slower song. Silver made a pouty face, but Amanda just laughed at her and tousled her hair. “I need a break, anyway, little lady. I’m not quite as young and energetic as you.”

That’s when Amanda turned and realized that a huge crowd had gathered around the dance floor. She had been so involved in the moment that she hadn’t realized that their dancing had attracted nearly everyone in the room. Even Sawyer, who had apparently finished whatever conversations he’d needed to have, was now standing on the edge of the dance floor. When Amanda caught his eye, he started clapping.

“Nice work,” he said. His eyes were filled with heat and desire, and he was making no attempt to hide it.

Many of the other members of the crowd joined in with Sawyer’s clapping, and Amanda felt her cheeks turning red. This hadn’t been exactly the way she had wanted to introduce herself to the entire clan, but, hey, at least she’d been having fun. She gave a small little wave and then scurried off the dance floor to stand next to Sawyer. Silver, on the other hand, seemed to love the attention she was getting. She did several curtsies, and bowed at least half a dozen times. After the fifth time of her twirling around in a perfect pirouette for the benefit of the crowd, her dad came out to the dance floor to grab her.

“Alright, Love, that’s enough,” he said. “Why don’t you give the dance floor a break and let some other people have a turn.”

Silver’s joy was undeterred by her father’s admonitions. “Did you see me, Daddy? I was dancing so fast!”

“So fast,” he agreed, planting a kiss on her cheek and then walking over to where Sawyer and Amanda were standing. He set Silver down, and reached out his hand to Amanda.

“I’m Anderson,” he said. “Silver’s father. Thanks for dancing with her. I know she loves it so much, but it’s so hard for me to get out there and dance after…after losing her mother. So, thank you. It was a real treat to watch my little girl so happy.”

“No problem,” Amanda said, shaking his hand. “I had fun.”

“I hope we’ll be seeing more of you around these parts,” Anderson said, then grinned and slapped Sawyer’s back. “It sounds like we will, if this guy has any say in it.”

Sawyer snaked his arm around Amanda’s back, his touch sending waves of tingling heat through her body. She loved the way just his touch filled her with such a thrill.

“If I have any say in it, you’ll be seeing her around all the time from now on,” Sawyer said, winking down at Amanda and sending a fresh wave of tingles through her.

Anderson moved aside then, to allow more people to come up to Sawyer and meet his new girlfriend. Everyone seemed suddenly interested in talking to her, and, for the most part, everyone seemed really nice. They all complimented her on her dancing skills, and told Sawyer he had snatched up a beautiful one.

Amanda noticed that there were a few people who hung back and didn’t want to talk to her, but, overall, the majority of people had warmed up to her after her impromptu dance performance with Silver. Her worries about not being accepted here faded, and she even started to enjoy the party. By the time she left with Sawyer several hours later, she was full of good food and slightly tipsy from too many glasses of rosé.

“I think that went well,” she said, looking up at Sawyer and hiccupping. “Oops. I think I need a little water.”

He laughed, and pulled her close as they continued the walk to his cabin. “We’ll get you some water as soon as we get home.”

“Everyone seemed nice, and they seemed to like me. And no one seemed mad at you,” Amanda said, furrowing her brow. “I don’t know what Chance was so worried about.”

“I do,” Sawyer said with a sigh. “Tonight was just a party. It was intended to be fun. Tomorrow is an all-clan meeting. That’s when the real fun begins.”

Amanda waited for Sawyer to explain, but he fell silent and didn’t seem interested in talking about it anymore, so she let it go. All these clan events were hard for her to understand, but she decided that, at least, tonight had been a success. She would be happy with that for now, and worry about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.