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Chapter Twelve
One step forward, eight steps back—that seemed to be Ivo’s way these days. He must have totally blown it with Alani, and all because his jealous temper had a mind of its own.
After stalking out of her apartment, he hurried down to his truck and got the hell out of dodge, blowing off Angel Fire for the mountain range beyond. He was in the mood for a little destruction, and there was no better place to blow off some steam and forget what a complete fucking idiot he was than the mountains.
He blew through bear territory and into ram country without a second thought, sensing he might need a companion, or he would really fly off the handle. Although he had avoided Vince yesterday like the plague, Ivo knew the ram shifter usually spent Mondays in his ram form, patrolling the borders of the small sliver of land the rams had claimed for themselves.
Even if he had been ordered to do it by his Alpha ram, Ivo was pretty sure the guy would blow off his duty if it meant bombing around the mountain causing havoc. Vince was just that kind of guy.
So he parked where he usually did, still fuming at the thought of Alani having a lover—or worse, being married—and yanked off his clothes and tossed them in the back of his truck. As he did, he caught a whiff of her scent, still potent and lovely. Like lavender.
He closed his eyes for a moment; picking up his shirt and bringing it to his nose to take a deep inhale. It smelled of Alani’s natural scent and the flowery deodorant she used. With his eyes closed, his hands tightened into fists, and then he tossed the shirt away, desperate to forget.
In one night, he had fallen for her. In morning’s light, he had ruined it all in true Ivo Ames fashion.
As he had always suspected, he wasn’t good enough for his fated mate. Another had already claimed her heart. He was just a temporary distraction.
Shifting into his black bear form, he thundered through the trails, crushing and stomping and snarling at anything that dared to cross his path, then came to a sudden halt when a ram sauntered out of the trees some ten feet in front of him. His inner bear huffed, displeased to scent Vince’s ram form, but Ivo ignored the creature’s annoyance and shifted back, standing there in the middle of the mountain stark naked and scowling. Moments later, Vince did the same.
“Hey, buddy,” the shifter said as he approached, his smile tinged with something dark, something Ivo didn’t recognize. “I thought I heard a bear stomping through these parts.”
“I need to fuck something up,” Ivo growled, hands flexing, adrenaline pumping, pounding, through his system. “Bad.”
“My favorite way to banish the Monday blues.” Vince laughed, and then punched his shoulder playfully. “I’m ready when you are.”
They smirked at one another. Brothers in arms. Brothers in chaos. Ivo knew, rationally, he should have handled things differently. Alani had every right to some privacy, but she was his fated mate. Her secrets were his secrets. He had every intention of bringing her into his private shifter world—but all of that changed if she had a lover waiting for her to come home to him.
Just the thought of another man touching her made his temper spike. Of course, she wasn’t a virgin. Virgins don’t fuck like she did last night, and Ivo didn’t begrudge her that. Everyone had a past, even fated mates. But the future belonged to the two of them, together.
He knew he couldn’t be angry with her for this. She didn’t know any better. Yet it stung all the same. It wounded his pride, seeing her so dismissive of his curiosity. He needed time to recover—and maybe to grow up a little.
His inner bear was highly in favor of the latter, grumbling and huffing at him, but Ivo ignored the notion and simply shifted, throwing his primal mind into the thrill of the chase.
And there was plenty to chase along the mountainside; he and Vince saw to that. Spring brought out all manner of little woodland critters, and the dynamic ram-bear duo harassed any foolish enough to be enjoying the beautiful morning sunshine when Ivo was on the warpath.
Their games came to a pause as they hurtled down a deep hill together, with Ivo shifting back into a human to slow his descent. While he was a large man in general, the bear within weighed a lot more. The momentum bear bodies could pick up when they were really moving was insane—which was why he had refused to participate in Miguel and Clarissa’s ridiculous bear-skiing scheme to scare away the miners. How Miguel’s massive grizzly form managed to navigate and stop on those skis was a miracle.
Vince shifted back to his human form too, the pair slowing to a gentle jog and an eventual stop at the base of the hill. Below that it was a steep drop to another rocky slope, the snow melted away to reveal the danger beneath. It really was ram terrain. Behind them, a wave of destruction washed across the landscape; you would think a hurricane had ripped through the area with the mess they’d made.
Ivo wished it made him feel better, but it didn’t. Sure, with his heart racing and his bear enjoying the freedom of an unrestrained run, he wasn’t quite as angry as before, but he wasn’t happy. He wasn’t better. He still hated himself for how he had acted around Alani, and he hated even more that he had walked away without discovering the truth behind her phone conversation.
Maybe if he had brought it up casually in conversation, over breakfast or something, she might have been more inclined to talk. Instead, he came at her all accusatory and harsh—no wonder she responded the way she did.
His inner black bear snorted in agreement.
“So,” Vince said, a little winded from their crashing and bashing, “you want to tell me what got you all worked up?”
Ivo shrugged. Just like he didn’t want Alani to meet the guy, he definitely didn’t want Vince knowing he had a girl in his life. Somehow that made him a little queasy, like the thought of Vince thinking about Alani made him sick.
“Nah, man. It’s not worth it.”
“Clan troubles?” the ram shifter asked, his arms crossed as the wind whipped across both of them. At this height, there were no more gentle breezes. In his peripheral view, he caught Vince’s biceps bulging. “You never talk about them, but I doubt they treat you well.”
Ivo tensed. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you spend all your time with a fucking ram, man.” Vince laughed and clapped Ivo hard on the shoulder. “Come on… Shifters tend to stick to their own. I like hanging out with you, but I can’t lie… It’s strange to me that you’d rather tear this shit up with me instead of another bear.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like the new Alpha would be down with me destroying the mountain like we do here,” Ivo muttered, turning his dark gaze out to the valley below, then slowly trailing along the range. At the far end sat bear territory and within it the sacred cave that belonged solely to their clan. They drew strength from it. Their witch drew power from it. There was no way in hell Miguel would let Ivo rip up saplings and knock over bird nests. No way.
