Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

RUBY

E arlier

She watched as Knox and his men left the compound to confront the intruders, not knowing quite what to do. As she watched the others disperse, Ruby followed her nose.

“May I help you miss?” asked a lovely woman who looked like the perfect characterization of a clan cook come to life.

“I’m Ruby Edwards. Knox asked that I remain here, but I’m not very good at just sitting around. I’m a cook by trade and wondered if I might be of help here in the kitchen.”

“I’m Agatha. That’s so kind of you, and I won’t turn down the help. There will be more of a demand today on the kitchen. What do you like to cook?”

“I worked at an upscale diner in Aspen, but I also love to bake.”

“If you could make some cookies or bars that would be so appreciated.”

“I’d be happy to do that. Just show me where I can work and be out of the way.”

“If you can tell me what you need…”

“Agatha, you strike me as an efficient and organized cook. Just assign me a space and I’ll find what I need. I don’t need anyone waiting on me, and I don’t want to make extra work.”

Agatha’s smile told Ruby she’d just made a friend, as the last thing Agatha needed right now was the boss’ girlfriend playing prima donna.

“Bless you, miss. Why not use the space in the auxiliary kitchen. The mixer is plugged in there, and there’s a double wall oven as well.”

“Got it. Now, I’ll let you get back to work, and if I run into a problem, I’ll let you know.”

Agatha squeezed Ruby’s arm before turning back to her workers.

Ruby's hands moved with practiced ease, scooping and rolling the sticky dough between her palms before placing each mound onto the baking sheet. The sweet, homey scent of oatmeal butterscotch cookies filled the kitchen, a warm contrast to the cool mountain air that seeped in through the open window.

"Miss Ruby, what are you making?" a small voice piped up from behind her. She turned, smiling down at a group of children who had gathered around like moths to a flame.

"Oatmeal butterscotch cookies," she said, her tone light and inviting. "Would you like to help me?"

Their nods were eager, eyes wide with curiosity not only about the cookies but also about the woman who couldn't shift like they could. They whispered among themselves, sneaking glances at Ruby as if trying to spot some hidden difference that set her apart.

As she guided little hands in the art of cookie-making, laughter bubbled up from the group, their innocent fascination helping to soothe her anxiety. It was easy to forget the sharp edges of her past here among these open-hearted children, easy to lose herself in the simple joy of baking.

"Can you really not turn into an animal?" one freckle-faced boy asked, his dough-covered fingers paused mid-squish.

Ruby chuckled, dusting flour off her apron. "No, I can't. But I can make a mean batch of cookies. That's kind of a superpower, don't you think?"

"Definitely," a tiny girl with pigtails agreed, nodding so fervently a few crumbs fell from her lips.

The room was filled with a warmth that had nothing to do with the oven. At one point Ruby looked up to see Agatha looking in on them and smiling. As the cookies baked, the children sat on the floor, and Ruby told them stories of the bustling life she'd left behind in Aspen and how Silver Falls was so much better. With every word, she could feel the tight knot inside her unraveling, the sense of belonging in this strange, wonderful place growing stronger.

Later, after most of the cookies had been devoured and the children had run off to play, Ruby leaned against the counter, lost in thought. Her mind wandered to Knox, the silent strength of him, the way his presence seemed to fill any space he occupied. Despite the initial shock of discovering the truth of Silver Falls and the alpha who led the grizzly-shifters, there was something undeniably compelling about him.

She remembered the intensity in his gaze, the way it stirred something deep within her, something primal and unexplored. It was a connection that felt almost tangible, like an invisible thread pulling taut between them.

“You were wonderful with the children. Thank you.” The voice startled her, and she spun around to find Agatha watching her with knowing eyes as she handed her a mug of coffee.

"My pleasure. They were delightful, and they didn’t manage to eat all of the cookies.”

Agatha laughed. "When I stuck my head in you looked like you were thinking about Knox."

“Was it that obvious?" Ruby asked, feeling a flush creep up her neck.

"Only to someone who's seen that look before." The cook gave her a conspiratorial wink. "He's a good man, Knox. Strong. Loyal. And he hasn't looked at anyone the way he looks at you since... well, since ever."

"Really?" Ruby's voice was barely a whisper, her heart thudding at the thought.

"Really." The cook's affirmation was as solid as the mountains surrounding them. "But be careful, Ruby girl. Hearts are fragile things, especially around here."

With those words hanging in the air, Ruby realized she wanted to explore whatever this was with Knox, to delve into the depths of the connection she felt. There was danger in it, sure—the danger of falling for someone whose world was so different from her own—but wasn't that what life was all about? Taking chances, finding your place, discovering who you were meant to be?

"Thank you," she said to the cook, her voice steady now. "For everything."

"Go on, then. You should take a breather. They probably won’t be back until dark, and Knox will be the last one in." With a gentle push, the cook sent her on her way, and Ruby's steps were light as she made her way through the lodge, noting the big communal dining area, gathering room and other common spaces.

“I hear you’ve been making friends,” said Coco, who she’d found gazing out one of the windows.

“The kids were easy. I had cookies.”

Coco laughed. “Maybe, but Agatha is no pushover, and she has wasted no time in telling people what a gem you are and what a fine first lady to the clan you’ll make.”

“First lady?”

“The mate to the alpha is the first lady of the clan.”

“Knox and I haven’t talked…”

“Of course not. My brother tends to favor action over words. All I ask is that if you don’t feel you could take him on, leave now. I’ll buy your place at a profit to you.”

“I’m not planning on leaving, Coco. I can’t make any guarantees, but I know I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about your brother.”

“Good enough. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

As Ruby followed Coco through the narrow, stone-lined hallways of the clan's home, she couldn't help but feel a web of unease threading through the air, although she didn’t feel as if it were directed at her. As opposed to the times she’d walked through the town, here she felt accepted and not at all like an outsider.

They stopped at an alcove where a window looked out onto a dense thicket of trees that led to the river, which in turn led to Silver Falls. The setting sun cast long shadows over the forest, and for a moment, Ruby was caught in the stark beauty that was both enchanting and foreboding.

"Knox told me a little about your family," Ruby ventured, her gaze still on the horizon. "But he didn't share much."

Coco chuckled. “Typical male bear, and the alphas—whether they lead or not—are the worst.” She leaned against the cool stone wall, her expression distant as if lost in memories. "Our parents were wonderful people—strong and caring. But we lost our mother to poachers when Knox, Bodie and I were just kids. It shattered something in Knox, I think. Our dad was alpha, and it wasn’t until Knox was with the Army Rangers that dad got taken by poachers, as well.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Not really. Most of the shifters here in Silver Falls keep a sharp eye out for poachers and let the others know. You should know when Knox got out of the Army and came home, he hunted down those who were the ones who murdered our father."

Ruby turned from the window, her heart twisting for the pain etched so deeply in Coco’s features. "I'm so sorry, Coco. That's a heavy burden for anyone, especially a child."

"Thank you." Coco's eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "And then there's Bodie, the middle child. He's an Army Ranger now, following in Knox's footsteps. I know Knox is proud, but he also worries. And me? I’m the baby. Both of my big brothers will tell you I’m a spoiled brat.”

It was Ruby’s turn to laugh. “And are you?”

“Damn straight."

"Family ties run deep here, don't they?" Ruby said, understanding more about Knox's protectiveness.

"Deeper than the roots of the oldest trees," Coco affirmed.

They stood together in silence until Ruby broached the subject that had been haunting her thoughts. "Coco, what happened to my aunt? No one has really talked about it. I just assumed she died of old age."

The atmosphere turned heavier, like the room itself was bracing for the blow of Coco's words. She hesitated, clearly wrestling with whether to share the grim details.

"I wish I could tell you that were true, and if you were just passing through, I probably would. But I have a sneaky suspicion you’re here to stay. I don’t know one person in town who didn’t love your aunt. When no one had heard from her for a few days, we got worried. It wasn't like her to go silent. A few of us went to check on her, and..." Coco paused, swallowing hard. "We found her dead. It was brutal; she'd been tortured."

A chill raced down Ruby's spine as the gruesome image seared into her mind. "Tortured?" she whispered, her voice sounding alien in the thickening silence.

"Yes," Coco replied solemnly. "It's not something we've experienced here in Silver Falls. Not like this."

"Who would do such a thing?" Ruby's fists clenched at her sides, the fierceness in her spirit igniting with a desire for justice.

"No one knows, and Beckett—he’s Knox’s best friend and the town’s sheriff—has investigated, but we still don’t know. I do know that neither Knox nor Beckett will quit until they find out." Coco's determination mirrored Ruby's own. "Your aunt was loved here, Ruby. And we take care of our own."

"Then we will find out together," Ruby stated, resolved in her newfound purpose alongside her connection to Knox and his clan. There was danger lurking in the shadows of Silver Falls, but she wouldn't let fear dictate her path. Not when there was so much at stake.

They left the main part of the lodge and were in a smaller, more intimate section. Ruby paced the length of the sitting area—back and forth in front of the hearth. She could feel the knowledge of how her aunt had passed as it began to really sink in. "But why?" she asked again, turning to Coco, her voice low but insistent. "Why would someone do that to her?"

Coco sighed and leaned against the worn windowsill, her gaze distant as though peering into a past laden with secrets. "There's an old legend about Silver Falls," she began tentatively, "about a lost silver mine somewhere in the mountains. A cache of silver is said to be hidden there, untouched for centuries."

"Treasure hunters?" Ruby's brow furrowed skeptically.

"Many have come looking over the years," Coco confirmed. "Most leave empty-handed, but some... they get obsessed. Whoever killed her must have thought Lorraine knew where it was."

"Why would they think that?" Ruby asked.

Coco shrugged. “People believed she had knowledge passed down through generations.”

“But her family wasn’t from Silver Falls…”

“No but your uncle’s clan has been here since the beginning. Information amongst beavers is always passed down the female line. Your uncle had no sisters, so anything that was known would have passed to her, and some may believe from her to you.”

“I know nothing.” Ruby said as a shiver ran through her. A shiver composed of a mixture of fear and anger. It had never occurred to her that her aunt might be connected somehow to such tales of greed and desperation. It cast a shadow over the quaint image she held of Silver Falls, revealing a darker underbelly.

"I only have vague memories of my uncle. We visited them once while he was alive. After he died, we visited several times but then my mother and aunt became estranged, and we never saw her again. I was kind of surprised when she left me the lodge,” Ruby said after a moment. “Thank you for telling me. I think I need to understand everything if I'm going to stay here."

"Of course." Coco's voice was gentle, offering silent support.

As the day waned and the shadows grew long, Coco led Ruby upstairs to what was unmistakably Knox's room. It was a sanctuary that spoke of strength and solitude.

"Knox would want you to be here when he gets back," Coco said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “We’re about the same size, I’ll get you some things you can use.”

"All right," Ruby agreed, taking a steadying breath. She perched on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap to quell their trembling.

“You’ll be fine, and if he’s an asshole, I’m right down the hall, and you can stay with me.”

It was some time before Ruby saw Knox and his men returning. She heard some commotion downstairs and fought the urge to go running down to him and fling herself in his arms. He had things to do, and she thought it was best to wait for him. When Knox finally entered, the room seemed to shrink in response to his presence. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, and his deep eyes found hers immediately.

"Are you okay? Your people?”

“We’re all fine. I understand you pitched in and helped. Thank you for that. It’s tough on everyone who isn’t in the thick of it. Baking cookies helped probably more than you know. Grizzlies have a notorious sweet tooth.”

“I never knew… I mean I have some novels that talk about shifters, but…" she started, but he raised a hand to stop her.

"There's a lot you don't know—about me, about this place, about what happened to your aunt. Can we deal with the easy stuff tonight and let the more complicated things wait until tomorrow?” he asked, his gaze steady. She nodded, and he went on. "As you probably figured out, I'm the alpha of my clan. That means it’s my job to keep our people safe, to keep our existence hidden.”

Ruby laughed. Finding out shifters actually existed had been a bit of a shock, but she knew instinctively that Knox wasn’t making this up and she was now caught up in something that could have come right out of one of her romance novels.

Part of her brain told her she should either reject this idea and him as insane and utterly impossible, but she knew he was telling the truth. Then her brain told her she should run like hell, but she found herself more intrigued than anything.

"… relationships are difficult when you’re alpha and being called to a human complicates things exponentially…” he continued, but Ruby wasn’t really paying him much attention.

That too was no surprise. Many of the books she read dealt with the idea of a shifter falling for a non-shifter. She tuned back in when she realized he was feeling somewhat guilty.

“We haven’t known each other that long. There was no way for you to know if you could trust me. Although if you’d peeked at my Kindle, you might have given me the benefit of the doubt,” she teased.

He reached out to draw her close, lowering his head to kiss her. She melted into him, giving him solace and passion—the only things she had to offer. He raised his head and looked down into her eyes.

“I’m exhausted…”

“If you’d rather I slept elsewhere…”

“There’s no place I’d rather you be than here with me.” He grinned at her. “And here I am alpha, I get to have my way.”

Ruby laughed. “Then tell me, my alpha, what is it you wish from me?”

Without a word, Knox undressed her before undressing himself and leading her into the attached bath with its enormous shower. He adjusted the water and stepped in, letting the water cascade down and over his body before pulling her in with him.

Ruby grabbed the enormous sea sponge, squeezed out some liquid soap and began washing his body clean, checking for wounds. There was some bruising, but there were no open cuts or slashes, although his body did show the history of all he’d been through. As she bathed him clean, his cock responded by becoming completely engorged, and Knox groaned in pleasure as she massaged his muscles, working the kinks out.

When she’d turned him back around, she began to sink to her knees, but he prevented her from doing so. He leaned down, his tongue coming out to swirl around her nipple before biting down on it gently. Arousal surged through her system, and she could feel her pussy get primed for him. The warm water beat all over them, but it was nothing compared to the heat of his mouth as he suckled her nipples.

As his mouth and tongue played with one nipple, his fingers came up to play with another. She tried to think of all the things she still needed to know about him if they were to have a future together, but the way he sucked her nipple into his mouth made it impossible to think of anything other than the pleasure he could inflict upon her.

One hand trailed down her body, slipping between her legs, tugging and pinching her clit before he penetrated her with two fingers. She could feel her pussy pulse around them.

“What a good girl,” he growled low. “Already wet and ready for me.”

He backed her against the tile wall, and gripping her thighs and using the wall for leverage, he raised her up until she was poised over his cock before lowering her gently onto it, impaling her. He was so large he seemed to take up every bit of space inside the shower, but more so, inside of her.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he rumbled, and she complied, as she could do nothing else.

Slowly he began to raise and lower her on his cock, growling and grunting as he did so. Ruby held onto him, doing so as if her life depended on it and spreading herself wide.

He ground against her with a force that bordered on painful, his pelvis relentlessly rubbing against her sensitive clit as he thrust up with what felt like an insatiable hunger. Every movement sent shockwaves of pleasure through both of their bodies, building and building until they were both consumed by a primal need for release.

Ruby’s muscles clamped down as her climax overtook her, racing through her system, flooding her veins with pleasure. Once he knew she had come, he gripped her harder and began to pound into her, his cock twitching and swelling as he did so before he gave her his cum.

Knox leaned into her, holding her close and keeping them both on their feet, as he felt behind him to turn off the water and then stepped out of the shower. Keeping her impaled on his cock, he was heading out the door, showing no inclination to lift her off him. Realizing he meant to haul her off to bed, she grabbed a couple of towels.

“Wait. Let me get us sort of dry before you take me to bed and fuck me into oblivion.”

“Is that what you want, Ruby? For me to fuck you into oblivion?”

“Very much so.”

He stopped only long enough for her to get their upper bodies dry; the rest, she decided, could wait. The moment she was done, he carried her to the bed and laid them down.

“I know you still have questions,” he began.

Ruby nodded, recognizing the unspoken plea for respite in his eyes. "Tomorrow," she agreed, allowing the promise of the night to envelop them both, providing a temporary shelter from the storm she feared was about to break in Silver Falls.

Later that night when the moon was beginning to wane, the room's warmth wrapped around Ruby as she stood in one of Knox’s flannel shirts looking out the window over the compound below. Knox stepped forward, closing the distance between them with an intent that quickened her pulse. His hands found her waist, strong and sure, and she tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

"Ruby," he murmured, the timbre of his voice sending shivers down her spine. "I've dreamed of this moment."

"Have you now?" Ruby challenged with a playful smile, her fingers tracing the lines of his jaw, feeling the roughness of his apparently permanent stubble.

"More than you know," Knox replied with a half-smile before leaning down to capture her lips in a kiss that ignited a fire within her.

Laughter bubbled up between their shared breaths as they turned and stumbled back to bed, shedding inhibitions along with whatever was covering their bodies, each discarded piece revealing more of the desire that had been simmering between them from their first meeting. Their intimate dance was a mixture of urgency and tenderness, of exploration and familiarity, as if their bodies were remembering a connection from lifetimes ago.

As the night deepened, so did their bond, and Ruby found herself surrendering to sensations she'd never known, anchored only by the strength of Knox's embrace. They moved together in a rhythm as old as time, each touch, each whisper, each laugh carving out a space for her in Silver Falls—a place where she belonged not just in body but in heart and soul.

In the days that followed, Ruby threw herself into the work on the bed and breakfast, feeling the pieces of her new life slotting into place like a puzzle she hadn't known was incomplete. Knox worked alongside her, his presence a steady force amidst the sound of hammers and the smell of fresh paint.

"Looks like we make quite a team," Ruby commented one afternoon, watching Knox expertly fix a loose board on the porch.

"Seems so," Knox agreed, glancing up at her with a softness in his eyes that made her heart skip a beat. "Not just here, but in everything."

Her interactions with the clan were initially met with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. The adults watched her with guarded expressions, their whispers like rustling leaves in the wind. But the children were drawn to her, their innocence and laughter bridging gaps she hadn't realized needed crossing.

"Miss Ruby, will you tell us another city story?" a young shifter asked one evening as she sat in Knox’s lap on the porch, the setting sun casting long shadows over the yard.

"Of course, little one," Ruby replied, winking at Knox who was disinclined to have her move. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her, but didn’t try to prevent her from rising.

When she stood up, Coco was beaming at her. “They adore you.”

“Of course, they do,” Ruby laughed. “I bake them cookies. All kids love those who feed them fresh-baked cookies.”

From that time forward, Coco became her unwavering advocate. Ruby often overheard her weaving stories of Ruby's strength and kindness. Gradually, the clan's wariness thawed, replaced by nods of respect and offers of help.

"Seems you're winning hearts and minds faster than I thought possible," Knox said, joining her one evening as she handed out homemade cookies to a group of eager young shifters.

"Maybe," Ruby laughed, "or maybe they just really like my baking."

"Or maybe," Knox said, pulling her close, "they see what I see."

His lips brushed against her forehead in a promise that spoke of shared tomorrows and whispered secrets. He might have said more were it not for the ringing of his cell phone. He glanced at the caller ID and placed the call on speaker. “I have you on speaker. What do you want, Beck?”

“The town council wants to have a meeting tomorrow night. You should know they want to know what your plans are about Ruby and if you think the attack on your place was an isolated incident or the prelude to something bigger.”

“We’ll be there to discuss the attack and to talk more about Lorraine’s murder. My plans for Ruby are not up for discussion. That falls under clan business.” There was a general and audible grumble in support of Ruby, which made Knox grin.

“It’s not that simple, Knox, and you know it,” Beckett said. “She’s human. Her knowing about our secret is a threat to us all.”