Free Dark Solace by Tara Fox Hall

up by caring for Devon, or
discussing Elle’s future, the latter being a matter of shared
concern.
    “She was playing with Devon all afternoon in
cougar form,” I said to Theo one night, after Devon went to sleep.
“I’m glad they get along so well, but I’m concerned with how big
she is. The patches on her face are white now.”
    “She’s an adult,” Theo replied gruffly. “She
looks almost exactly like Tawny, Sar. Elle could probably have a
child herself now, if she mated and stayed in lion form.”
    I squeezed his hand, giving him worried
eyes.
    “That’s why she’s so provocative,” Theo
continued. “She’s getting the urge from her lion half to mate, and
it’s bleeding through to her human form, intensifying her
desires.”
    “What are we going to do?” I asked.
    “Take it as it comes,” he said with a shrug.
“There isn’t anything else we can do. She’s going to grow up, Sar.
There’s no stopping it.”
    “I know that,” I said, annoyed. “I just wish
she’d gotten a little longer to be a child. I love Devon’s looks of
wonder, those huge blue eyes of his taking in everything. I love
his spots, the way his ears perk up at the slightest sound. I want
his childhood to last a while, Theo. Elle’s was too short—”
    “We’ll have longer with Devon. I’ll help him
change form in a few weeks. I want him to appear as a human child
that is at least a year or two old when he first becomes human, to
lessen the time he’s helpless. But after he knows how to walk, we
can let him remain human, so he ages a lot more slowly.” He stroked
my hip gently. “I’m almost fully healed.”
    I’d pulled out the last of Theo’s stitches
that day. With each one, I’d thanked Lash for saving him, then
prayed for some peaceful, boring years. I wanted time with Devon as
a child, time for Theo to get those experiences that he’d missed
having with Elle. We’d all had enough drama and excitement lately
to last us a decade or so.
    * * * *
    I drove to Hayden early Friday morning. After
I parked my truck, I pulled on my gloves, then grabbed my gear from
the truck bed. Time to get after those fallen trees.
    I walked down by the edge of the low stone
wall, carrying my chainsaw in my right hand, and the lube and gas
mixture in my left hand. My tools were in the saw’s case along with
extra chains, in case one broke. My mind was ruminating on my
conversations with Terian over the past week, prepping for a report
to Titus.
    Terian was gaining in power and confidence.
Yet in spite of his boldness, I didn’t see any traces of evil
behavior to report. In fact, I preferred this new, daring Terian of
action to the old reluctant Terian who’d been afraid of what he
was.
    There was a sudden throaty roar of heavy
machinery. Excited, I hurried down the path towards it.
    Lash had the bears out in force today.
Several were picking up sticks and branches and mulching them,
another was working on a front-end loader moving mud, and five more
were standing around one crouched down, sawing one of the huge
logs. I watched for a moment curiously, wondering why the scene was
so quiet. Then it hit me; the dumb ass had bound his saw.
    The mechanics of chainsawing wood are simple:
one whole log becomes two and both obey gravity. When a long and
wide chunk of wood is on the ground and that ground is uneven, the
wood can shift as it is cut, closing the cut until the blade of the
saw is bound between the two pieces of wood. That had happened to
the werebear, imprisoning his blade. It was now buried deep in the
three-foot-wide trunk.
    Tugging was not going to work, even with
supernatural strength. I laughed to myself, then walked over
nonchalantly with a solemn face.
    Lash came over to meet me. “Sar,” he said,
nodding once.
    “I brought my saw. Where should I start?” I
asked innocently.
    Lash folded his arms and looked at me,
clearly dubious. “You sure you want to do this?” he hissed. “You
wouldn’t rather be relaxing in