Alpha Rancher Bear: BWWM Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Bears of Pinerock County Book 3) (13 page)

"Where did I get all this
stuff
?" Charmian moaned.

She looked around the wreckage of her living room. Her house was currently in a half-packed state, with some of her things already up at the ranch in Alec's—no, she needed to stop thinking of it as Alec's house, because it was their house now. Most of the furniture she'd be selling off. The rugs were rolled up. Stacks of books and heaps of clothes were everywhere.

She had lived in this house for twelve years. She still remembered how proud and excited she'd been when she slept for the first night in a house that was
hers
. (Well, hers and the bank's.) Now she was getting ready to sell it, and she was surprised how little regret she felt about that.

Moving was still a pain in the ass, though.

"Hey, you got anything else in here to go in this load?" Alec called through the open door.

"Is there room for anything else in the truck?"

"Hmm." He lounged against the doorframe. His T-shirt clung to his pecs with the sweat of exertion, and he smiled, one of those true smiles she'd grown to love, when he saw her admiring glance. "Only if you don't mind sitting on top of it."

"In that case, I guess we're ready to go." She whistled. "Bucket! Where'd you go?"

The little mixed-breed dog slunk out from under the couch. He didn't know what to make of all the packing. It was completely outside his experience.

"C'mon, buddy, don't be like that." Charmian picked him up. "You'll like your new home, I promise. It's not just going to be a little yard, like here. There's acres to run around in, and other dogs to play with." She looked up at Alec. "I hope he doesn't fight with the farm dogs. They're a lot bigger than he is."

"They're friendly dogs. If he gets along okay with other dogs, he ought to be all right."

Charmian took a deep breath and looked around the living room one more time. With Bucket in one arm, she picked up her overnight case with the other, containing her toothbrush and toiletries. Tonight, she wouldn't be coming back to her place to sleep. Tonight she was moving into Alec's—into
their
house on the Circle B.

Alec took the case from her, so she had a hand free to lock the door. Spring sunshine streamed gloriously over her shoulders. In a few short weeks, winter had become nothing but a bitter memory. Crocuses and daffodils were blooming all over the county.

And she was moving on to start a new chapter of her life.

She would still run the clinic, of course. Nothing about that was going to change. But from here on out, she was part of Alec's clan. She'd always have them to back her up if she needed them.

Bucket perked up once they got in the truck. He loved going for car rides. And he'd taken to Alec immediately. Charmian was fairly sure it was mutual; Alec seemed to be refreshingly free of that whole "macho guy" thing about little dogs. In his quiet way, he enjoyed the company of all kinds of animals, scruffy little mixed-breed dogs included.

"So when do you want to take the next load?" Alec asked, backing carefully out of the driveway—the back of the truck was piled so high that visibility was limited. "Tomorrow?"

"Actually, I was thinking I'll head into Spring Meadow and do some car shopping." She'd been driving a loaner truck from the ranch when she needed to, but she was getting tired of it. She needed to get a vehicle of her own again. The Jeep had been a total loss, although insurance had compensated her for some of it.

"Remy says he has a friend who's selling a used Wrangler. Just a couple years old."

Charmian laughed. "Does Remy know everybody who does anything with cars, trucks, or motorcycles in the entire county?"

Alec returned her grin. "Sure seems like it sometimes."

Charmian rolled down her window a few inches, enough to get some of the fresh spring air in the truck without giving Bucket enough space to jump out. The little dog stood up in her lap with her arm around him, looking out at the scenery speeding by. The trees were starting to bud. She always seemed to forget how glorious spring was in Pinerock County, but the weather was determined to remind her.

"Hard to believe there was two feet of snow on the ground just a few weeks ago," Alec remarked, as if he'd read her thoughts. He seemed to do that a lot. When she asked him about it, he swore up and down that mind-reading wasn't a side effect of the mate bond. He had no more idea of what she was thinking than anyone did, at least in theory.

But already, in just the few weeks they'd known each other, he had come to know her better than anyone else in her life. And he was acutely attuned to her emotional nuances. She always felt as if she was the center of Alec's attention. He noticed even the smallest things, as if gazing at her, cataloguing everything about her, was his new reason for existing.

Still, since that very first day at the ranch, he hadn't tried to give her an order or prevent her from doing anything. They butted heads sometimes; they were both strong-willed people with strong opinions. But she could tell Alec was trying hard to give her space.

"Gotta stop and pick up a few things from the store," Alec said, glancing over at her.

"I can't imagine where we'll put them."

"I know; sorry. Remy and Saffron are having their housewarming this afternoon. Cody texted while you were in the house to let me know the party still needs a few things."

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry; I totally forgot that was today! You're not missing it on my account, are you?"

Alec shook his head. "No, they knew I was going down to pick you up. They're looking forward to seeing you."

They swung by the big grocery store in Spring Meadow, and an hour or so later were jolting up the Circle B ranch road. Charmian had bags tucked under her feet and Bucket clutched firmly in her lap.

"It's so exciting that their house is ready to move into," Charmian said. She'd pitched in over the last few weeks, whenever she had free time, helping with the finishing work on the inside of the house. She had little carpentry experience, but at this stage, all hands were needed; anyone could help with painting and sanding. The upstairs of the house was still a work in progress, and it was lacking niceties such as carpets and trim, but Charmian knew that Remy and Saffron had made it a priority to get out of the trailer before the baby came—and it was due any day now.

"It's good we got the nice weather, after all that snow," Alec agreed. "It's been an easy calving season, so we haven't been run quite as ragged as normal."

He pulled into the yard of the ranch, parking in front of the big house. Charmian's eyes were drawn across the yard to Remy and Saffron's new house. It still wasn't much to look at; the outside of the house was lacking siding or paint. But smoke curled from the chimney, and Saffron grinned when she saw that the still-unfinished porch was decked with streamers and balloons.

Bucket squirmed in her arms. "And now's the real test," Charmian murmured when she saw the farm dogs, Beau and Chex, running across the yard toward the truck. Beau was a black Lab, and Chex was a spotted mixed-breed with only three legs.

Charmian clipped Bucket's leash onto his collar, and held him while allowing the dogs to sniff each other. None of them seemed to be acting aggressive, so she set him on the ground and let them get acquainted.

"Figure we can shut him up in the house for today," Alec remarked, leaning across the truck seat to get her overnight case. "That way we won't have to watch the dogs too closely. Let them get to know each other in their own time." He shook his head. "It'll be strange having a dog in the house. These guys are strictly outside dogs."

Indeed, Beau and Chex stopped at the bottom of the porch steps and didn't try to come in. "You don't mind, do you?" Charmian asked.

"No. It was always ..." Alec paused, then smiled. "My dad didn't believe in letting dogs in the house. So I never have. But I think it's about time I stopped doing things the way my dad always did them."

He opened the door for her. Charmian put down Bucket and let him run around sniffing things. He was a well behaved dog in other people's houses, so she wasn't too worried about him trying to chew or pee on anything, but she kept an eye on him anyway.

"You know what," she said, catching Alec's arm. "Let's forget about unloading the truck right now. The only thing I need from it is Bucket's kennel. We have a party to get to."

She left Bucket shut in the bathroom with dishes of food and water, and his travel kennel with the door open—it was also his bed, although he frequently slept on her bed instead; she wondered how Alec would react to
that
, but wasn't quite ready to tackle that conversation yet.

Alec had already, at her urging, gone across the yard to deliver the food items and paper plates they'd picked up. Charmian gave Bucket a last cuddle, put his favorite toy in the kennel and shut the bathroom door.

She stepped out onto the porch, and looked around. Cheerful voices came to her from across the muddy yard, and she smelled the crisp smoke of someone firing up a barbecue grill. It was chillier up here in the mountains than it had been in the yard of her old house, with a brisk spring wind blowing down from the heights.

It would take a little getting used to, living out here. And the commute was going to be ... interesting.

Worth it
, she thought, and hopped off the porch with a spring in her step.

Everyone was out in the yard of Remy and Saffron's new house. As Charmian approached, she saw that there was some kind of commotion going on.
Oh, no, I hope they aren't fighting about something ...

"There she is," someone said, and Alec came hurrying over to take her hand.

"I know we just drove up here," he said, "but how do you feel about driving back?"

"Excuse me?" she asked blankly.

The little huddle of people began to separate, and it became clear that Saffron was at the middle of it.

"It seems," Cody said, his eyes sparkling, "that the housewarming party is postponed, because Saffron has decided to have her baby today."

"Decided?" Saffron snapped. She was sitting on a sawhorse, gripping it with a hand on either side of her hips. "
Decided
? I'll have you know, if any decisions were being made, it definitely wasn't
me
making them."

Charmian could feel her professional side taking over, the bossy midwife persona sliding smoothly into place. "You're having contractions, right? Do you know how far apart they are?"

"All I can tell you is, not nearly far enough." Saffron submitted to Charmian's firm, practiced fingers palpating her abdomen. "I've been feeling them a little since yesterday, but I thought it was those ones you told me about, the ones that don't really mean anything ..."

"Braxton Hicks contractions," Charmian supplied. "They don't usually signal labor on their own, but they're a sign that your body might be getting ready for it."

Just then another one hit Saffron, and Charmian gripped her hand while she shuddered, riding it out.

"
That
definitely wasn't a Braxton Hicks." Charmian squeezed her hand. On Saffron's other side, Remy, looking desperately anxious, was holding her other hand. "Don't worry, you've got plenty of people here to take care of you. Now, it's up to you whether you want to be driven down to the clinic, or go ahead and do this at the ranch. You're a fox shifter, right?" Saffron nodded, and Charmian went on, "Shifter births are usually easier than human births because of your healing factor. But it's your first baby, and those are always a little longer and harder. So it's up to you."

"All of us were born here," Alec supplied, and Remy nodded.

"Which doesn't mean Saffron wants to do it that way," Charmian said sharply. "Don't pressure her."

"I ... I think I want to have my baby here," Saffron said. "It doesn't feel right to do it in town. I don't know if that's a shifter instinct or not, but this is my home now, and my brand new house. I know it sounds silly, but with the timing and everything, I feel like this is where my baby wants to be, too."

"Not silly at all," Charmian said. "I have all my gear in the truck." Most likely at the bottom of a pile of everything else she owned, but they were going to have to unpack it eventually anyway. "Let's make up a birthing bed for you, and we can start getting ready, all right?"

"What do we do?" Remy asked. "Boil water, right?"

"No, that'll come later. This isn't like what you've seen on TV. The most useful thing you can do right now is go unpack Alec's truck so I have my things. And, you—" She pointed to Axl and Tara. "Go get some blankets from your house. We're going to need extras. Er, no, wait ..." She paused, realizing a few sentences too late that she'd just started ordering everyone around, and looked at Alec. He was the alpha here. She needed to start getting used to that.

Alec smiled one of his little half-smiles. "You're the expert," he said. "That means you're the boss. What are your instructions, boss?"

She returned his smile, finding it contagious as always. "You two, unpack the truck," she said, pointing in turn to Alec and Cody. "Remy, while Axl and Tara get blankets, you can help me and Saffron get the house ready to be a comfortable place for her to labor."