Animal Rescue Bear Read online

  “Yes, he is.” Sian nodded as if she were looking at the same image in her head. And then her attention snapped back to Ronni. “I hope you are not thinking what I think you are thinking.”

  Ronni’s expression switched from dreamy to guilty. “I’m not exactly catch of the month. I can’t remember the last time someone asked me out on a date.”

  “That’s because you put the unavailable sign on the door.” Sian raised her eyebrows. “I can see it because I wear the exact same one.” Her eyes swam with tears and she got up and came to perch on the edge of Ronni’s desk. “Look, he loves you.” Sian clicked her fingers. “It was like, wham! The moment he walked into the office I could see it and you two could feel it. You don’t have to change your hair or your clothes for him. The only reason you need to do any of that stuff is for you.”

  Ronni stood up and hugged Sian. “Thanks, Sian.”

  “No problem. And if your bear decides to change her hair, make sure she comes to me.” Sian winked and pushed herself away from the desk. “Right, I have my chores to do.”

  Ronni looked at her watch. “Louise will be here in an hour.” Louise was another of the volunteers, although since giving birth to her second child, she had reluctantly cut down on the number of hours she could spare.

  “Right, let’s get the chores done and we can put our heads together about this auction.” Sian headed for the door and Ronni picked up the phone. “I’ll call Ophelia, too, see if she’s free to pop in at eleven.”

  With a renewed sense of purpose, Ronni called Ophelia and dropped Louise a text, explaining the situation. Then Ronni joined Sian in getting all the chores done so that they could sit down and make plans over a cup of coffee and the cakes Ophelia had promised to bring from the bakery in Bear Creek.

  Whether it was the promised cakes, or the need to get plans in motion, Ronni wasn’t sure, but the chores were finished in record time. As she headed back toward the reception area, Ronni stopped dead in her tracks.

  “What the…” The small parking lot outside of the animal shelter was filled with cars and trucks, and even a couple of bikes. She tilted her head to one side, not sure why there were so many people here. Then her heart jolted in her chest.

  Had word gotten out already that the land was for sale and property developers were arriving in droves to take a look at the plot?

  Before she had a chance to think any further, Louise’s smiling face appeared from the door leading to the office. “Come on, it’s a little cramped in here.”

  “Cramped?” Ronni was still rooted to the spot when Sian came up behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” Sian glanced at the cars and then at Louise. “What have you been up to?”

  “It wasn’t me, it was Ophelia. She made a few calls…” Louise beckoned Ronni. “Come on, we’re waiting for you.”

  Sian slid her arm around Ronni’s shoulders. “We’d better do as she says.”

  Ronni swallowed the lump in her throat as the realization of what was happening finally settled in her mind. She wasn’t going to cry. She was not going to cry.

  But as she opened the door to the reception area, she promptly burst into tears.

  “Here.” Ophelia handed Ronni a tissue and a cup of coffee. “And there is cake on your desk.”

  “Thank you all so much for coming at such short notice.” Ronni looked around the small, crowded room. There were volunteers, past and present, plus a couple of people who had adopted pets from the sanctuary.

  “We don’t have much time from what Ophelia tells us.” Simon Roberts, who they hoped they could tempt out of retirement, was a middle-aged silver fox who had adopted a cat named Tickles a couple of years ago. With his good looks and mischievous twinkle in his eye, he attracted a lot of attention from single women. Unfortunately, since he was a wolf shifter, none of them stood a chance at taming the eligible bachelor, and until he found his mate his heart belonged solely to Tickles.

  “We don’t. We have four weeks to find the money we need.” Ronni took a shuddering breath as the enormity of the task swept over her. But she stilled the sneaking voice of doubt that threatened to rob her of her courage. “However, I’m sure if we work together, we can do it.”

  “We can,” Sian agreed. “So far, we’ve come up with the idea of an auction.”

  A murmur of excitement threaded its way around the room. Perhaps because everyone present wanted to see Simon in action. He had an air of authority that few men possessed.

  “That sounds fun,” Louise said as she squeezed between Elizabeth and Dani.

  “Can we count on you, Simon?” Sian asked.

  “Of course.” He bowed his head.

  “What kind of things are we auctioning?” Dani asked, taking a bite from her chocolate brownie and rolling her eyes in bliss.

  “Anything and everything,” Simon interjected. “I pride myself on being able to sell snow to an Eskimo.”

  “That, I’m excited to see, since we might have snow soon.” Sian glanced at the clouds gathering over the mountains, but then brought her focus back to the room. “We thought we would get some local businesses to donate items or services. They would have prominent ads displayed in the auction catalog, so it would be a great way for them to get the word out about their businesses.”

  “And we thought we could also include an auction of promises.” Ronni looked around the room. No one else seemed to mirror her own horror at getting up on a stage and allowing people to bid on them.

  “Oh, I could promise to landscape someone’s garden.” Elizabeth, who had a strawberry birthmark on her face and had once been a shy wallflower herself, was the one person Ronni thought she could count on to hate the idea.

  Her bear chuckled. This is for the animals. You’ll have to suck it up and get on with it.

  Her bear was right. Ronni had always put the animals first. This could not be the exception.

  “I can offer to babysit once a month for a year,” Dani suggested.

  “I would bid on that!” Sian’s eyes widened with excitement. “Although my girls insist they are too old for a babysitter.”

  “I’m not sure what I can do.” Louise frowned.

  “Me neither,” Ophelia said. “Maybe we should come up with something together.”

  “Yes!” Louise agreed.

  “I need to think of something, too,” Ronni had no clue what she would offer.

  “A date. You never know, you might meet your mate. That would be soooo romantic,” Ophelia said.

  Ronni shuffled nervously in her seat and looked down at the floor.

  “You’ve already met him!” Louise could not hide her excitement.

  “Have you been holding out on us?” Ophelia fixed Ronni with an accusing stare.

  Sian reached over and patted Ronni’s back. Ronni took comfort from Sian and raised her head to look at the people in the room. “It only just happened. This morning.”

  “It’s not Kevin Jones, is it?” Louise questioned. “It can’t be, you’ve met him so many times before.”

  “No, it’s not Kevin Jones,” Ronni tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s Lucas from the Chance Heights Activity Center.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced. Should she be telling everyone the news? Perhaps he wanted it kept a secret.

  “Lucas Chance, you lucky woman,” Elizabeth said.

  Dani laughed. “I agree. He’s quite a catch.”

  “You both know him?” Ronni asked, all thoughts of standing on a stage for a charity auction gone.

  “Yes, he does a lot of work with children who are adopted or who have had a difficult start in life.” Elizabeth’s tone conveyed her respect for Lucas.

  “The Chance family has also held fun days and campouts for the school.” Dani rose from her seat on the desk and gave Ronni a hug. “I am so happy for you.”

  “Thanks, Dani.” Ronni swallowed hard, determined not to cry again.

  “Everything will work out,” Dani said confidently as sh
e straightened up.

  “Fate does seem to be working its magic already,” Ophelia said. “It often ups its game around Christmas.”

  “One can only hope,” Simon Roberts said with a whimsical smile.

  “Have you never found your mate?” Sian asked Simon.

  “Nope, this wolf has never been lucky enough to find the other half of my heart.” All the women in the room sighed. Simon, a man in his late forties, grinned at them. “I appreciate your sympathy.”

  “Maybe you’ll find your mate, too,” Sian patted Simon on the shoulder. “I think fate has a lot more Christmas magic up its sleeve.”

  “I hope you are right.” Simon sat up straight. “We’re not here to talk about me. Let’s get down to business. Love does not put food in a dog’s bowl or give a cat a warm bed.”

  “I could not agree more,” Ophelia said.

  “Okay, let’s make a list of tasks we need to accomplish and then divide them down.” Ronni let out a sigh of relief. With so much enthusiasm they would certainly raise enough money to buy the land and save the animal sanctuary.

  And build a nice little love nest, her bear added.

  That’s not what this is about, Ronni told her bear firmly.

  Okay, I’ll phrase it a different way. And have enough money left over to build a manager’s cottage so we can be here all day and all night. Which we already do.

  Ronni rubbed the small of her back. She sure would like a bed to sleep in rather than the lumpy sofa in the room behind the reception office.

  A bed with room for two, her bear nodded.

  Ronni shut out the stray thought that tried to sneak in and lead her off track. But the stray thought persisted in trying to worm its way into her mind. And what a naughty little stray thought it was.

  She ducked her head, so no one could see her blush. Her stray thought might be naughty, but since it consisted of Lucas on a bed, it was also a very nice thought.

  Very nice indeed.

  Chapter Six – Lucas

  Lucas took the long way home. He needed some time to work out his feelings before he told his family about his mate.

  His mate. Lucas wanted to pinch himself to check that he wasn’t dreaming.

  It was real all right, his bear told him. Very real.

  So why wasn’t he racing back to Chance Heights to break the news to everyone there?

  He sighed and searched inside of himself. There it was. He wanted to savor the moment before he let it loose on the world. It was a once in a lifetime experience and he wanted a moment or two just to allow it to sink in before he was swept away by his family’s reaction. They would be incredibly happy for him. He was the last Chance family member to find their mate.

  Reaching the turn to Chance Heights, he paused, his foot hovering above the gas pedal. Home or mountain? He shrugged and turned onto the narrow road leading up into the mountains. He would give himself half an hour of freedom. Half an hour for his bear to rejoice in finding their mate.

  His bear pushed at the edges of Lucas’s mind. Now that the choice was made, he wanted to be free to run off some of the pent-up energy he had bubbling up inside him. He wanted to roar to the world and tell it he’d found his mate, his one true love.

  The rough road turned to dirt and Lucas pulled the truck to one side and slid out. His feet hit the ground and he swung the door shut before heading further up the trail almost at a run.

  As soon as he was hidden beneath the low hanging tree branches, his bear erupted from him like a rush of water from the faucet.

  His bear chuckled. I take it you won’t be writing any poetry for Ronni.

  Lucas shook his head. Romance is not my strongest character trait, he admitted and hoped Ronni wouldn’t mind.

  But what if she did? What if her idea of a relationship was flowers and poetry?

  A nervous shudder filled him. What if she was disappointed in him? It could happen, right?

  Get over yourself, his bear said sharply. Do you really think fate matched you together so you could disappoint each other?

  We wouldn’t disappoint each other. There’s nothing about Ronni he would change. But I might disappoint her. If he’d chosen another career, he might have earned more money. Enough money even to buy the land outright and give it to her as a wedding gift.

  She’ll like you just the way you are, his bear reassured him. Now shut up and let’s run.

  His bear kicked up a small avalanche of stones as he increased his pace and ran along the trail. The gravel scrunched under his massive paws as he took the corners sharply, his body angled toward the ground as the cold November wind ruffled his thick bear fur.

  He ran until his lungs were fit to burst, until each breath was a battle he had to win, and each step made his bunched muscles ache. He ran until all doubts about his bond with Ronni were gone, blown away like a leaf on the fall winds.

  She was his. And he was hers. He knew it before he even looked at her face and he sensed it the moment they touched for the first time. The mating bond was not wrong. It was very, very right.

  An hour later, having run off his doubts, Lucas stopped the truck outside the house he’d lived in his whole life. Chance Heights had been in his family for generations. But for Lucas, it was time to move on.

  He got out of the truck and slammed the door shut. Before he got a step further, his older brother Marcus came around the corner of the house. “There you are.” He grinned, a wide grin that Lucas could not fathom.

  “Here I am.” Lucas held his arms outstretched.

  “Nana is in the kitchen.” Marcus turned right around and was about to walk away when he stopped. Lucas heard it, too.

  “Sage is coming over?” Lucas’s forehead creased as he searched his brother’s face. They knew. How the hell did they know? “Who told you?”

  “Elizabeth told Suzie, who told Kit, who told the dragons, who told Patrick, who told Sage.” Marcus shrugged. “You know families can’t keep a secret for long.”

  “Wait.” Lucas turned his finger as if rolling back an imaginary spool of thread. “How did Elizabeth know?”

  “There was a meeting about raising enough money to buy the plot of land the animal shelter sits on. Elizabeth was there.” Marcus put his arm around Lucas’s shoulder as they waited for Sage to arrive.

  “And Ronni announced it?” Lucas asked.

  “Not exactly. There was talk about how Ronni could auction herself for a date…”

  “No way!” Lucas said. “Unless it was with me.”

  “That’s how the news got out.” Marcus glanced at Lucas. “We were going to wait to see how long it took you to tell us.”

  “I was going to tell you now,” Lucas said quickly. “I went for a run first to let off a little steam and try to come to terms with the situation.”

  “Does that mean you are not happy with the situation?” Marcus asked with concern. “I heard Ronni was one of the best, you know the way she sacrifices her time for all those animals.”

  “It’s not that…” Lucas shook his head. “I’m happy. Really happy.” He wanted to make that clear before Ronni heard that he wasn’t happy. “It’s more of how things are about to change.”

  He smiled as Sage got out of her car with Patrick trailing behind her carrying their new baby girl, Honor. The little girl was named after the Chance children’s mom who had died in a plane crash along with their dad, Kyle.

  Sage didn’t say a word, she just threw her arms around Lucas and hugged him tightly. Lucas wrapped his arms around his sister and Marcus enveloped them all in a protective embrace.

  “Mom and Dad would be so happy,” Marcus said, his voice tight with emotion.

  Sage nodded against Lucas’s shoulder. “I’m so happy, too.”

  “Let’s all go inside.” Lucas kept his arm around Sage as he guided her inside. “I’m assuming Nana and George know, too.”

  “Of course.” Marcus grinned. “Nana is so happy. I mean really happy.”

  “We all ar
e,” Sage said, nestling against Lucas. Then she looked over her shoulder at Patrick and her daughter, Honor. “I’m just thankful that we’ll all have children together, too. I can’t wait for them all to grow up together.”

  “Hey, wait a second. I’ve only just met Ronni. We have not discussed anything yet,” Lucas protested.

  “She’s a shifter, of course she’s going to want kids,” Marcus said happily. Ever since meeting his own mate he’d become all paternal and protective where children were concerned.

  “Ronni runs the animal sanctuary. That takes a lot of work and commitment. She might want to wait a while, especially since she’s trying to raise the money to keep the animals safe.” He frowned. Only now when he was discussing the possibility of not having children did he realize how much having children meant to him.

  “Of course, and you are both young. You have plenty of time.” Sage tried to cover her disappointment.

  “Until I have kids of my own, I’ll have to spoil Honor instead.” Lucas glanced over his shoulder at his niece.

  Patrick cradled the little girl in his arms, her head resting on his chest. A pang of longing struck Lucas in the heart like an arrow. That was what he wanted, to hold his own child in his arms. But he also wanted his mate to be happy and if that didn’t involve having children then he would understand.

  “There you are.” Nana’s voice rose in greeting as they entered the kitchen.

  “Here I am.” He opened his arms and his mom came in for a hug. George hovered behind her, a big smile on his face.

  “I was hoping you would find the woman of your dreams.” George shook Lucas’s hand and then hugged him. “I was also hoping you would not have to wait as long as I did to find happiness.” He glanced sidelong at Nana. “Although I am going to admit it was worth the wait.”

  Marcus chuckled and then looked up as Joanna entered the kitchen. Her belly was swollen, her baby growing inside her day by day. Lucas swallowed down his jealousy. That wasn’t the kind of man he was. No, he was pleased for Marcus and Joanna, really pleased.