An Unexpected Affair (4 page)

"But it only happens once in a lifetime?" Derek asked.

"Again, it's in our best interests to mate for life, to ensure the survival of our cubs. Once we pair up, our brains release certain hormones to ensure we remain faithful to that one significant other."

"Right." Derek paused for a moment, uncertain about how to ask the most pressing question on his mind. "So it's all to do with producing healthy offspring, correct? Which means this sort of thing could only happen with another bear..."

"What are you suggesting? You've developed a crush on a wolf or something?" Elise curled her lips, revealing a row of perfectly white sharp teeth in something somewhere between a smile and a sneer. The rivalry between wolves and bears ran deep, so it wasn't surprising for her to tease him like that.

"Not exactly."

Elise observed him in silence, which made him even more uneasy.

"Have you ever heard of a bear choosing a human mate?" he asked at last. As awkward as the situation was, he really did need to know. And there wasn't another bear to ask for many miles.

"A human..." Elise sat down in the damp heather, seemingly lost in thought. "Apparently in the cities, inter-species dating is a lot more common than it used to be. The challenges are many, though. It only works for those who have chosen to live fully in the human world and lost their bear side. However, now I'm reminded of another story from a long time ago - it's more of a myth than anything else. Did your mother ever tell you of Bhaltair and Aileen?"

She looked up, her eyes locking with Derek's, and her expression once again grave and serious after the werewolf remark, which had been partially in jest.

He slowly shook his head, the names did seem familiar, but he did not recall the story at all.

"In the olden days," Elise began, "back when we lived openly among humans, once every few generations, a bear would discover his true mate in a human. My speculation is, it's to do with revitalizing the bloodline. As the story goes, Bhaltair was the leader of his clan, a bachelor well into adulthood, who despite being surrounded by women of his kind never bonded with any of them. One day upon visiting a nearby village, he came across a human girl, Aileen, and it was as if lightning struck. His inner bear knew, he knew, he had to take her as his mate. Of course, Bhaltair, being a clan leader and accustomed to being in charge wasn't subtle about the matter, and some say that there had been hostilities between his clan and the humans already. It was more of an abduction than a love story in the end..."

"Oh?" Derek could barely hide his shock at hearing Elise describe pretty much what he'd felt when he first saw Clarice.
Lightning
.

"When Aileen's father, Lord Domnall, found out where she'd been taken, he collected as many men as he could, calling them in from the surrounding villages. It inspired one of the greatest genocides in our history. You will have heard of the
Sons of Domnall
... It is said they evolved from that very first group of soldiers, who vowed to hunt us to extinction."

"And that's why we keep our existence a secret," Derek remarked, finally remembering bits and pieces of a similar story his mother had told him a very long time ago.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps it's just a bedtime story we tell our cubs. A morality tale aimed to illustrate why the code of secrecy is so important. Any particular reason you're coming to me with all this?" Elise asked.

"I was just curious, didn't know who else to ask... As you know, Aidan's turned into quite the globetrotter, so you're the only family around." Derek brushed away her question.

"I see. Well then, glad to be of help."

Derek nodded at Elise, who understood that this signaled the end of their little chat. She turned back one last time, no doubt wondering what he had gotten himself into, then ran off North, where undoubtedly Jack would be waiting for her at home.

It wasn't what he had wanted to hear, especially her mention of the
Sons of Domnall
was very worrying, but at least he now knew his situation wasn't unique.

Although his mother had been a firm believer in following your destiny - especially when it came to mates - Derek was a lot more practical. He wasn't about to leave his reality in favor of a human existence. His inner bear wouldn't allow it anyway, it practically tried to claw its way to the surface every time he got near Clarice. No, he refused to jump head first to his doom.

Elise's story suggested that Aileen hadn't felt the same connection with Bhaltair. Humans must be incapable of sensing these things as bears do. Chances were, his own lightning strike with Clarice was equally one-sided.

Then there was the code of secrecy to consider. It existed for a reason, and not just to hide from the mythical bear assassin squad, the
Sons of Domnall
. Those guys were probably a figment of bear imagination, but that didn't detract from the fact that people were scared of what they didn't understand, and scared people were dangerous. Even if Clarice did feel an attraction for him, he couldn't trust her with the secret of his species.

He was going to fight this thing tooth and nail. It was only two weeks, for God's sake. Surely he could resist his urges long enough to watch Clarice drive off in that rented hatchback of hers, never to return...

Indeed, the next morning brought a brand new day for Clarice. She was up bright and early by seven, made herself a hearty breakfast and settled down on the comfortable armchair by the fireplace with her laptop. It wasn't ideal, writing in an armchair, but she couldn't resist its inviting plushness and the feel of its velvety material against her skin.

Before everything went south with Alan, Clarice had already prepared an outline for her latest novel and written the first three chapters. Everything from the fourth chapter on though was as good as useless. The moment she'd caught Alan red-handed, she couldn't get into the mood to write the sweet historical romance she had set out to write, and instead found that her characters grew minds of their own.

Chapter after chapter consisted of the hero and heroine arguing, their antics escalating drastically with each sentence. By the end, she was in a good mood to kill off both of them.

That's not a romance,
Clarice said to herself while re-reading it all. She might as well have missed her deadline entirely if she was going to submit something this inappropriate.

With a few clicks on her touchpad, she got rid of all of the offending words and was once again faced with a blank page at chapter four.

Think happy, romantic thoughts.

Instead of the blond well-polished and svelte hero of her outline, she kept thinking back to Derek's imposing physique. The face of her romantic fantasies wasn't clean-shaven as she originally imagined but featured a scruffy, extremely masculine beard and brown hair.

Screw it.

Clarice picked up her notebook, the one she was accustomed to recording early thoughts and book ideas in, flipped it open and started to brainstorm. After writing frantically for the better part of an hour, she had a new character profile and plot outline ready.

Her heroine, Lady Adlington wasn't going to fall head over heels in love with the Duke of Harringate as initially imagined. No, she would have an illicit affair with the brusque stable hand in the Duke's employ. When the relationship inevitably came to light, it created a huge scandal. It caused the two lovers to go on the run, to find a place where they could live their lives undisturbed, away from the strict class divide of Victorian England that sought to end their romance. Perfect.

She put the notes down and picked up the laptop again, going through the first three chapters to make the necessary changes. Most of it still fit. After adding in the odd hint here and there, as well as a scene when Lady Adlington first laid eyes on the handsome man of her dreams, Clarice's fingers seemed to fly over the keys at an incredible speed.

This place had worked out amazingly well for Clarice. Gone was the anguish over her failed relationship that had stood in her way back home. No longer did everything feel hopeless, because in her heart Clarice had felt all love was doomed to fail.

She had found her inspiration again. Her muse came in the unlikely form of a married farmer with rough, strong hands and broad shoulders. A man who probably had never opened up a romance novel or thought much about emotions in general. A man so unavailable, Clarice couldn't help but be attracted to him like a moth to a flame.

It was already dark by the time Clarice put down the laptop. She'd forgotten to eat or drink anything. She'd even failed to get up and stretch at regular intervals, and as such her day of laser focused writing had taken a toll on her.

After a cup of tea, she felt some of her senses return to her, but her body was still tied up in knots. A walk, that's what she needed.

She stretched her arms, her legs, even tried to untangle her spine, and picked up her coat to head outside. As she opened the front door, she noticed a parcel wrapped in newspaper waiting for her on top of the welcome mat outside.

After picking it up, she weighed it in her hands. It was heavy, despite its rather small size.

Back indoors, she placed it on the small round dining table and started unwrapping the various layers of paper. Inside she found a plain piece of paper with a note, resting on top of what looked like a big fish fillet covered in cling film.

Freshly caught this morning. Don't leave it too long.

The note wasn't signed, but it was obvious that it had come from the farmer and his wife. Probably more from his wife, Derek himself didn't seem like the sort of guy who went around randomly gifting people food. Still, the gesture made her smile, and immediately her stomach rumbled to remind her that indeed, she hadn't eaten all day.

If only she knew how to cook, or at least had a connection on her phone which would allow her to consult Google for instructions.

Flipping the note over, she saw that there was yet more writing on the back. A recipe.
How thoughtful.

After leaving the parcel in the modest fridge underneath the counter, she once again stepped out of the cottage for a short wander around the farm. No way was she going to risk her sanity as well as safety by leaving the property in the dark. She had thoroughly learned her lesson the previous evening.

She wandered down the gravel track towards the driveway leading up to the main house and for the first time since arriving on McMillan Farm, she allowed herself a good look at the building. It looked old, at least 100 years, if not more. The pitched roof suggested the farmhouse was very spacious inside, which seemed unusual for a utilitarian building of that age.

The barns surrounding the house stood in a grouping of three, around a main courtyard facing towards the other side of the driveway. There was a stable set further back, but no sign of any animals, perhaps they were still out grazing.

She walked along the side of the house, taking care that nobody was watching her. Although she didn't want to seem sneaky, she really didn't want to be forced into any polite conversations with anyone, least of all Derek, the sexy farmer.

The net curtains on towards the left of the building barely concealed the dim lighting inside. Perhaps they were just sitting down for dinner, the man and his wife.

Clarice walked on along the path through the partially wilted summer flowerbeds planted along the main wall either side of the large front door. Once she'd reached the corner, she noticed that this side of the house featured a well-manicured kitchen garden, with vines climbing neatly erected poles. She wasn't sure what they were growing there; she'd never had much of a green thumb herself, but it sure looked pretty as well as useful.

Further along the side of the house was a small fenced off area containing a few chickens that were surprisingly quiet. Perhaps they had already fallen asleep in their coop for the night.

Before she had much of a chance to explore further, did a light switch on inside the room looking out over the kitchen garden. This window didn't have any curtains, allowing her a clear peek inside. She could see Derek's silhouette walk into the room that turned out to contain a dining area, carrying a large tray. Yep, they were getting ready to eat.