Free Bear Shifters: Hunt Collection #1 by Ava Hunt Page B

paper to Rayner. "You have to go, Rayner."
    Rayner took the paper from Jaime. He left the bar and went to buy a ticket to Brazil.

 
    Chapter Eleven
     
    Rayner worried on the long plane ride south. What would he say to her? How would he apologize? He had said nasty things – unforgivable things – to her when he last saw her, before she left him. Would she forgive him?
     
    He turned the engagement ring over in his hands, worrying. A human tradition that was meaningless to Bears, but maybe it would be enough.
     
    The plane touched down. He had to catch three different trains and two buses to get to her remote village. It was hot and humid here. The smells of different creatures danced through his skin. Maybe she wouldn't want to leave, he fretted. Maybe she liked it here. Could he move to be with her if he had to?
     
    He looked around at the foreign trees with distaste. It wasn't home. It was lovely and strange, but it wasn't home. Reserve Park was home. Reserve Park was where he wanted to raise cubs with Jeneva. He wanted to guard them, watch them flourish and grow together in the safety of their Den and their family. He wanted his cubs rubbing on all the same trees he had rubbed on. He wanted Jeneva to enjoy her life with the other Bears. He didn't want to have to hide who they were, living among humans and not knowing where there were other Dens to be found. Jeneva had to come home with him. It was the only way.
     
    In her room, Jeneva was packing her things again. It had only been a week. She had to be more careful. Back home she never had to worry about shifting. She had forgotten that in the human world there were more rules about who you could be, and how. Father Mallory had spent time to find another mission that she could go to, in Peru. It was another long plane ride, but the place sounded nice enough.
     
    There was a knock on the door. Father Mallory came in. "We're sorry to send you off, Jeneva. We do like you but you understand that we simply can't. The villagers won't allow it."
     
    "I understand Father," Jeneva said.
     
    "By the way, a man has come to see you. A friend of yours, he said. Should I send him back?"
     
    Jeneva's heart pounded in her chest. "A visitor? For me?"
     
    "Yes. I'll let him know he can come back," Father Mallory stepped away.
     
    Jeneva sank down onto her cot, her head swimming. She held her hands, praying, and sure enough Rayner came in through the doorway.
     
    "Hey, love," he said. "I'm sorry for what I did to you." He held a big bouquet of flowers. Jeneva ignored the flowers and rushed into his arms. He dropped the bouquet and wrapped her tight in his embrace. Jeneva sobbed into his shoulder with stress, and relief, and anger.
     
    "You're such an idiot, Rayner! You hurt me so much!"
     
    "I know," Rayner sighed deeply, and stroked her hair. He absorbed everything about her – her scent, her presence, her body and the way it fit so perfectly with his. "I was wrong."
     
    He sat down on the little cot and Jeneva sat on his lap, straddling him.
     
    "I got the truth from George. He set us both up, Jeneva. He sent himself text messages from your phone saying that you made a mistake being with me, that you were going to leave me and go to Brazil."
     
    "From my phone?" Jeneva gaped. "But there was nothing like that on there!"
     
    "He was clever. He erased the text messages so you wouldn't see what he had done. He's been banished from the Den now for what he did to us. He's lucky that he escaped with his life."
     
    "I see," Jeneva said. She was sad. Would she never see her friend again? Then again, he wasn't truly her friend if he could do what he had done. It hurt to see the truth. She started to cry.
     
    Rayner hugged her fiercely. "I... said some terrible things, Jen."
     
    "I did too."
     
    "You didn't. Not like what I said," he pulled her away to look at her. "It was unforgivable. You were humiliated in front of the whole Den. I can't ask you to return but, if you will