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Authors: Sloane Meyers

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BOOK: Grizzly Flying Home
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Chapter Fifteen

 

The next few weeks turned out to be pretty amazing. Emily met Sawyer’s wife Amanda, and their little girl, Storm. She also met Chance’s other best friend, Anderson, along with his wife Lexi. Lexi was hugely pregnant, and Emily found herself caught up in the excitement of a soon-coming baby. Anderson’s precocious daughter, seven-year-old Silver, was taking her role as big sister seriously already, and gave Emily a tour of the new nursery, as well as a debrief on how to best take care of a newborn. Emily had to admit that, for a seven-year-old, Silver had an impressive amount of knowledge on how to take care of a baby.

Emily found herself feeling more relaxed about life in Frost Peak after meeting Amanda and Lexi. Knowing that two other full humans were not only living here, but happy and thriving, eased Emily’s fears. Emily also met with the clan elders and, while they were not exactly the warmest, friendliest people she had ever met, they didn’t seem to hate her. Chance had warned her that the elders tended to act like grumpy old men most of the time, no matter who they were talking to. Emily tried not to take their standoffish attitudes seriously, and she even managed to impress them a little bit with her knowledge of clan laws. Emily had Silver to thank for that. The little girl was an encyclopedia of information on how the clan was run, and happily answered any questions Emily had. Silver seemed to enjoy being treated as an expert, and Lexi, who was exhausted by the late stages of pregnancy, seemed happy to have Emily around to help her deal with Silver’s boundless energy.

Emily was also enjoying her fledgling romance with Chance. It had been so long since she had felt butterflies in her stomach for anyone, but Chance gave her butterflies every single time he looked at her. Emily had to keep pinching herself to believe that she had really been lucky enough to have a man like him fall in love with her.

Despite Emily’s joy in her new life, however, things weren’t quite perfect in paradise. While Chance did clearly adore her, he was very busy. He had served as the second in command of the clan before he left for California, and Anderson had taken over for him while he was gone. But, now that Chance was back, Anderson was happy to turn the position back over to him. With a new baby on the way, Anderson was looking for ways to slow down his busy life. Emily knew Chance was excited to be able to take over his old duties once again, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit frustrated at how much time his work was taking. He assured her that things wouldn’t always be this busy. He just had a lot of catching up to do since he had been gone for so long and things had changed so much.

Emily did her best to keep herself busy with redecorating the cabin. She purchased new furniture and color-coordinated curtains, then removed all the sports posters and replaced them with fresh new artwork. Chance didn’t complain once about his cabin being taken over by the new things. In fact, he seemed relieved to finally have someone around capable of picking out decorations that didn’t involve famous football players. Emily also purchased new dishes to replace the mishmash of plates and cups that Chance had been using before he met her. Slowly, but surely, the cabin started to feel like a true home.

Emily also started taking photographs of the surrounding forest. She eased into her work, and set up a comfortable office in one of the cabin’s bedrooms. Since she didn’t have to worry about coming up with money for rent, she had the luxury of taking her time as she began making plans for relaunching her business.

Despite staying busy with her photography and her redecorating efforts, Emily still felt a nagging frustration as Chance got home from work later and later every day. She tried to be understanding, but she barely had a chance to talk to him in the morning before he rushed out the door, and he came home so late that he barely had time to shove cold leftovers in his mouth before collapsing into bed. Emily didn’t say anything, because she was afraid of making him angry. She knew that Chance was a completely different person from Scott, but she couldn’t shake the fear of pissing off her boyfriend. Experience had made her deathly afraid of an angry partner.

She was relieved, then, when Chance brought the subject up himself one Friday morning before rushing out the door.

“I’m really sorry I haven’t been around much,” he said, pulling Emily in for a hug and a kiss on her forehead. “Getting back into the swing of things has been so crazy, and I want to make it up to you. Why don’t we spend the day together tomorrow? Just you and me, all Saturday long. We can do whatever you want.”

Emily smiled and breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. Chance kissed her again and smiled at her before heading out for the day, leaving her feeling like a little kid on the day before Christmas. Emily touched her fingers to her lips where Chance’s lips had just been, relishing the warmth for just a moment before springing into action.

She was going to make this Saturday the best date day ever. Chance had been working hard, and, although she was annoyed by his absence, she knew he was stressed out by the workload. She would do her best to make the day relaxing and fun. It would be good break for both of them. Emily went out, heading to the grocery store first to stock up. She loaded her cart with plenty of wine, and then with food for the entire day. She got an assortment of ingredients for omelets in the morning, then materials for fresh pizza for lunch. For dinner, she bought meat to make a roast with a balsamic glaze. She also bought baking supplies so she could make a decadent cake from scratch. On the way home, she stopped to buy a few new DVDs. She tried to pick out a few different movies that she thought Chance would enjoy, so that he would have some options. She grabbed some scented candles and bubble bath so they could enjoy a romantic soak together. She smiled as she imagined being in his arms in a warm bath of bubbles. It had been far too long since they’d had a chance to spend time together. At her last stop, Emily picked up a silver picture frame so she could frame a print she’d had made of one of her favorite pictures of Chance and her. They were standing on the back patio of Sawyer’s cabin, smiling and hugging each other against a beautiful backdrop of snow-covered mountains. Emily loved the picture and had been meaning to frame it, so she was excited to have it up in time for her day in with Chance.

Emily spent the day baking and prepping as much of the food for the next day as possible. She didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary in the kitchen tomorrow. She planned to spend most of her Saturday in Chance’s arms. After a long day of prepping food, Emily made herself a simple dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce, and opened a bottle of wine to enjoy a glass and relax. She hoped that Chance might somehow make it home early to start off their date day, but he texted her at eight p.m. to let her know it would probably be several more hours. Emily tried not to feel too disappointed as she put the leftovers from dinner in the fridge. At least they would have tomorrow together.

At midnight, Emily gave up on waiting for Chance and slipped into bed herself. She stared up at the ceiling in the darkness, trying to push away the deep, empty feeling of loneliness enveloping her. She felt bitter that she had moved out here to Frost Peak with Chance only to have him disappear into his work. She knew it had been her choice to move, but, still—she hadn’t known he would be gone all the time when she agreed to come out to live in the middle of nowhere.

Emily knew she wasn’t being completely fair to Chance. He was working hard, and he had promised her that if she wanted to move away from here they could. All she had to do was say the word and they could go to Kodiak, or Anchorage, or even back to California. Emily sighed sadly. Deep down, she knew she didn’t want to go back to California. She loved Alaska. It was the kind of place that quickly got into your blood and stayed there.

But she wished there was a way for Chance to actually spend time at home and see her. She felt like the longer they were here in Frost Peak, the more swallowed up in work he became. With her thoughts churning uneasily, Emily had a hard time falling asleep. Eventually, though, she did. The last time she remembered looking at the clock before drifting off, it was past one a.m. Chance still wasn’t home.

She woke up seven hours later with a start when a truck down the street revved up a little too loudly. She sat up in the dim light and glanced around, feeling disoriented by being pulled from sleep so quickly. When she looked at Chance’s side of the bed, it was empty. Fear gripped her heart for a moment, wondering what could have happened to him to cause him not to come home. But then she realized that he
had
come home. His side of the bed was slept in, so he had been here. Emily smiled. He must just be up already.

She quickly jumped up and wrapped a sweater around her to ward off the cold morning, then bounded out to the kitchen. But the room was dark, and Chance was nowhere to be seen. Emily flipped on the lights. Was he in her office, or one of the other spare bedrooms? As light flooded the room, her eyes fell on a wrinkled, torn piece of notebook paper on the kitchen table. On it, Chance had scribbled a note in messy, hurried handwriting.

Em, I’m so sorry, but there was an emergency and the clan elders called me in to help deal with it. I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise. Please don’t be angry. I’m so very very sorry and I promise I’ll make it up to you. Love always, Chance.

Emily felt the sickening hot fire of anger spreading across her body. So this was how it was going to be, huh? He was always busy with work, and even when he promised to set aside the day for her he let clan business get in the way. Emily crumpled the note into a little ball and threw it across the room. He essentially worked in a glorified city government. What could possibly be an emergency that would require him to leave at the crack of dawn? Especially after getting home well after midnight the night before?

Emily stormed into her office and started gathering up her photography equipment. It was cold outside, and she hadn’t made any plans for doing photography over the weekend. But she needed to get out. She couldn’t sit around here for one more minute and stare at this empty house, or at all the food she had prepped for a fantastic date day with Chance that wasn’t going to happen now.

Emily didn’t even bother to change out of her pajamas. She just put on ski pants and a thick jacket over them, then grabbed the keys to the snowmobile Chance owned and headed out the door. She revved up the small vehicle and took off in the direction of the forest, still feeling like she was burning up on the inside from anger. She couldn’t think clearly right now, and she desperately needed to get out into nature and calm down before she did something rash like tell Chance they were moving away from Frost Peak.

She didn’t want to tear him away from his hometown, but she was tired of feeling like she was living on her own. Something had to change. Emily picked up speed as she reached the edge of town and entered one of the snowmobile trails that snaked through the woods. She didn’t even want to think about it right now, or try to figure it out. She just wanted to get the hell away from that empty house for a while.

Chapter Sixteen

 

Chance wearily parked his truck in the small parking lot behind the town hall building, and started making his way inside. He glanced at his watch, sighing when he saw that the time was nearing eight-thirty. Emily had been sleeping peacefully when he left, but she would be waking up any minute now. He knew she was going to be livid when she realized he was gone. But what was he supposed to do? The clan elders had said there was an emergency. As second in command, he couldn’t just tell them to find someone else to deal with it. Sure, Sawyer was also responsible for clan emergencies. But if the elders couldn’t reach him, or it was a big enough emergency to warrant two leaders dealing with it, Chance had to be ready to respond as well.

Chance stepped quickly into the building and made his way to the largest conference room, where the elders had asked him to meet them. When he stepped into the room, two of the elders were sitting at the end of the large table in the room, sipping coffee with a box of donuts in front of them. Chance looked around, confused.

“Where is everyone else?” he asked. He rubbed his forehead, wondering if he had misunderstood something. This didn’t look like an emergency situation. It looked like two old guys shooting the breeze while they indulged in an unhealthy breakfast.

One of the elders looked up at him and smiled. “Oh, hey there, Chance. You came. Good for you. You passed the test.”

Chance narrowed his eyes at the two men. “Test? What test?”

The second elder leaned back in his chair and took a big bite of his donut. “We wanted to see if you would respond to an emergency quickly, especially early on a weekend morning after working late the night before.”

Chance felt anger bubbling up inside of him. “Is this some kind of joke?” he asked, barely concealing the rage in his voice. His whole life, the importance of respecting the elders had been drilled into him. But right now, he had never wanted so badly to punch one of them in the face. He could only imagine how angry Emily was going to be when he got home. And for what? A test?

“When have I ever not responded to an emergency?” Chance yelled, finally losing control of his emotions. “I’ve given my life to this clan. I’ve always been here when I was needed, and I’ve worked long hours to make sure everything gets done that’s needed to keep the clan business running smoothly. I have a life too, you know. I have a girlfriend, who I’d like to marry but who is probably pissed off at me right now because she never sees me. I promised her I’d spend the day with her today since everything here was supposedly wrapped up. Just because I’m willing to give my all when necessary doesn’t mean you can drag me down here any old time as some sort of prank or test.”

“You’ve given your life to this clan?” the first elder asked, raising an eyebrow at Chance. His voice was maddeningly calm in comparison to Chance’s angry rant. Chance felt momentarily ashamed that he’d lost control, but he shrugged off the feeling. He deserved to be angry. The way they were treating him was unacceptable.

“Yes, I have,” Chance said, the rage still dripping from his voice. “I’ve spent my life working for the clan. And in this last month alone, I’ve worked eighty hour weeks, which you know as well as I do really wasn’t necessary. Then I finally get a day off and you call me in for a fake emergency. You can’t do that. I’m a hard worker, and I’m committed to what’s best for the clan. But I’m not your slave.”

“You left, Chance. For two years you just disappeared and let Anderson take over your duties as second, as though you couldn’t care one way or the other what happened to Frost Peak. We have to make sure that you’re really committed to being back. Sawyer said we could use whatever means necessary to do so.”

Chance paused, speechless for a moment in shock. “
Sawyer
okayed this?”

The elders looked back at him triumphantly, pleased with the trump card they had just thrown on the table. No one could argue with something that the alpha had allowed. Not even his best friend. They didn’t answer him, but their silence spoke volumes.

Chance turned on his heel and stormed out of the building, so angry that he could barely see. He fired up his truck and sped across town to Sawyer’s cabin, pulling into the driveway way too fast and parking crookedly across it. He hopped out and ran to the front door, banging on it with all his strength. If it hadn’t been made of solid wood, Chance’s fist probably would have gone right through it.

A few moments later, Sawyer’s lifemate, Amanda, opened the door with wide eyes. She was holding their little girl, Storm, on her hip, and Chance momentarily felt guilty for his loud intrusion when he saw the frightened look in Storm’s eyes.

“Chance? Is everything okay? You look really upset,” Amanda said.

“I need to talk to Sawyer,” Chance spit out, trying to keep from yelling for Storm’s sake.

Amanda nodded and pulled the door open wider. “Sawyer, get over here,” she called out toward the other side of the cabin. A few moments later, Sawyer padded into the room, looking sleepy and wearing sweats. His hair was mussed up like he’d barely woken up, and he held a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

“Chance? What’s wrong?” he asked when he saw Chance’s distressed expression.

Chance felt a fresh surge of anger rush through him. If Storm hadn’t been in the room, Chance would have punched Sawyer’s face in right there.

“What kind of sick joke is this, man? You beg me to come home, then tell the elders to work me to death and play tricks on me once I get here? You realize I don’t have to stay here, right? I have a job waiting for me back in California, if I want it. I thought I was coming home to my closest friends, not to a bunch of people who think I need to be punished for taking a brief sabbatical away from Frost Peak. A sabbatical that, may I remind you, you approved of.”

Chance had started to yell despite himself, and Storm started to whimper. Sawyer set down his coffee cup on an end table and walked toward the door. “Come on, let’s talk outside. You’re scaring Storm.”

Chance stepped backward on the porch so Sawyer could step out of the cabin and shut the door behind him.

“What the hell are you talking about, man?” Sawyer asked. “I never told the elders to play tricks on you. That’s ludicrous.”

“Well, you gave them permission to do whatever they wanted, which is essentially the same thing,” Chance said, crossing his arms defiantly.

“Okay, you’re going to have to catch me up here. What happened? Obviously something went down for you to show up on my doorstep ready to fight before nine a.m. on a Saturday morning.”

Chance took a deep breath to try to calm himself down enough to explain. “I’ve been working crazy hours, Sawyer. More than eighty a week, I’d say. I’ve barely been home, and Emily’s pissed at me. But I wanted to get caught up on clan business. I figured within a few weeks I’d be back up to speed and I could go back to working normal hours. But things just seem to be getting crazier. I finally told the elders I needed a Saturday off. I promised Emily I’d spend the day with her, and she’s been over the moon excited about it. But then, early this morning I got a call that there was an emergency. I went down to Town Hall and two of the elders were there, laughing at me and eating donuts. They said they were just testing me to see if I was really committed to the clan. I got angry and called them out on it, telling them enough is enough and I have a personal life, too. Then they told me that you are the one who told them to do all of this.”

Sawyer’s eyes grew wide, and Chance could see anger starting to build in his alpha’s eyes as well. “I never told them to work you to death or surprise you with fake emergencies.”

“Well, you told them to use whatever means necessary. You basically gave them free reign to bully me, and it has to stop. This is bullshit, Sawyer. If you question my commitment to the clan, fine. Tell me that right now, to my face, and I’ll leave. I’ll take Emily and move back to California.”

Chance got right in Sawyer’s face, something he’d only done a few times before in his life. But instead of getting angry and antagonistic, Sawyer gently took a step backward to defuse the situation. “No, Chance. I’ve never questioned your commitment. Not even when you left. I understood you needed space, and I gave it to you. I’m thrilled to have you back, and I certainly don’t want you ‘punished’ for leaving, especially when you left with my blessing. The elders came to me and said they were worried that you were too far behind on clan business to take over for Anderson when his new baby is born. I replied that you’re a sharp guy, and you’d catch up quickly. I told them to use whatever clan resources necessary to train you quickly. They asked me if that included the emergency accounts, and I said yes. I told them to use whatever means necessary to make sure you were ready. I was talking about financial means, not about working you to death. They know that. They twisted my words.”

Chance took several more deep breaths, trying to calm down. He felt a rush of relief, knowing that his best friend hadn’t just thrown him to the wolves. But it still didn’t solve the problem of the way the elders were treating him. “Well, you need to call off your dogs, Sawyer. They’re making my life a living hell, and driving a wedge between Emily and me.”

Sawyer nodded. “Hang on. Let me grab my keys and tell Amanda I’m heading down to town hall. I’m going to call an emergency meeting of my own and give the elders a taste of their own medicine.”

Thirty minutes later, Sawyer and Chance walked into the same conference room where Chance had been earlier that morning. This time, all twelve elders were there, sitting around the table looking worried. When Sawyer walked in, they started clamoring for answers.

“What’s going on?”

“Is everything okay?”

“What’s the emergency?”

Sawyer raised his hands for silence, and waited for the chatter to die down before he started speaking. “The emergency is that I’ve realized you have all twisted my words horribly, and used them to make life miserable for Chance. You all know that when I said use whatever means necessary to get Chance back up to speed, I meant spend whatever clan money needed to get him supplies or training. I did not mean to overwork him and torture him with fake emergencies. Chance is back, and he is second in command of this crew now. That means if anything were to happen to me, he would be your alpha. You would do well to remember that, and to treat him with the respect he deserves.”

Sawyer’s voice roared with authority, and most of the elders looked down at their hands or stared at the wall as he spoke. Only one of them dared meet Sawyer’s eyes.

“So you’re telling me this isn’t a real emergency?” the elder asked. “You dragged me out here away from my family on a Saturday morning because Chance feels overworked and under-respected? That doesn’t seem fair. Sounds like Chance needs to man up and stop complaining.”

Sawyer turned blazing, angry eyes toward the elder. “You are the one who needs to stop complaining. Chance has been disrespected, and he has every right to be upset. I guess now you all understand how it feels to be torn away from your family on a weekend. From now on, I expect you all to treat Chance like the second in command that he is. When I am not in the room, you treat him just as though he is alpha of this clan. His word is as good as mine. Do I make myself clear?”

The elders all meekly nodded their affirmations, and Sawyer let out a deep, frustrated breath. “Good,” he said. “Now leave, all of you. You’re free to go.”

The elders quietly left the room, leaving Chance standing alone with Sawyer and feeling vindicated.

“Thanks, buddy,” Chance said. “I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.”

“Good. I wish I had known they were working you like this. I would have said something sooner. It’s partially my fault. I should have checked in with you to see how you were easing back into things.”

“Honestly, Sawyer, it’s been rough. Aside from the problem of being overworked, I feel a little strange being here. So much has changed in just the two years that I’ve been gone. I feel like an outsider, and I hate it.”

“It’s normal to feel that way,” Sawyer said. “Things have changed a lot, but most of it is just surface level. We’ve streamlined a lot of clan business and upgraded our computer systems so that we’re doing more things electronically instead of on paper. But that’s about it. The clan is still the same at the core of things.”

Chance nodded. “I guess that makes sense. I’ve been feeling so guilty, though. I brought Emily here, raving about how wonderful this place was. Not only has she been all but abandoned, but I myself haven’t been happy. I’ve been feeling like a man apart.”

Sawyer clapped Chance on the back. “You’ll settle back in soon. Things are a little crazy now, with all the changes to the systems. And the fact that Anderson is about to step back from his duties so he can help with the new baby puts even more pressure on you. You’re doing great. Why don’t you go home and talk to Emily. Take the whole weekend off. Monday, too, if you want to. Rest, recuperate, and then jump back into things with a fresh mind. Things always feel better that way.”

Chance let out a deep sigh of relief. “You’re right. I need a break. And after a weekend off, I’m sure my perspective will have improved. I’m gonna go find Emily, and hope she’s not too pissed off at me. Hopefully the chance to spend the whole weekend with me will ease her anger a bit.”

Sawyer smiled. “Attaboy. Go get your girl.”

BOOK: Grizzly Flying Home
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