Eventide of the Bear (The Wild Hunt Legacy #3) by Cherise Sinclair

“Did Genevieve come to Cold Creek with you?”
    “No. Genevieve and I weren’t together even a year.” Ryder stared at the table for a moment. “It’s just me and Minette.
    Ben relaxed. He’d despised Genevieve, hadn’t been able to see what had drawn Ryder. Well, okay, he understood her appeal. Pure, slinky sex. Her personality, however, was as irritating as fangs scraping on concrete. The female was lazy, wanted to be provided with a life of ease, and demanded attention stay on her. She was more self-centered than any female he’d ever met, even the one he’d mated last Gathering.
    As Minette tilted her drink, and a sucking noise broke the silence. With a flinch, she set it down, shoulders curving inward.
    Why?
    When her timid eyes met Ben’s, he smiled slightly. “Drink, lass. Apple juice is my favorite, too.”
    After a second, she timidly reached for the glass again.
    She was scared.
    As his protective instincts fired up, he worked to keep the anger from his face, because he was probably the one scaring her. Because she didn’t know him.
    Ryder’s fault.
    She would have been an adorable baby. A cute toddler. He’d have loved watching her grow. His anger flared to life again.
    Moving to the counter where the cub couldn’t hear them, he motioned Ryder over. “So, the reason you left me was because Genevieve was pregnant?”
    His brother looked as if he’d bitten into a rabbit’s bitter gall bladder. “I left because I was obsessed. Didn’t think I’d survive life without her. And you’d said you’d never lifemate.”
    Ben winced. He did carry some responsibility for their breach.
    Five years past, he’d returned to Texas and, with crap luck, bumped into his father—well, the male who’d raised him. Although Ben had known his mother had died in childbirth, this time his sire bluntly said Ben’s large size had killed her. Torn her apart. Moreover, he’d predicted Ben’s offspring would do the same.
    By the God, to hear that he’d killed his mother? To think a cub of his would kill a female carrying it? He’d resolved his seed would spill on unfertile ground, and he’d live without taking a female as a mate. He would never cause another female’s death.
    Being a complete idiot, he hadn’t considered what effect his declaration would have on his littermate.
    When Ryder pulled a knife from his belt sheath to cut up an apple, Ben’s heart tugged. They’d been separated at five—and when they’d reunited at twenty, it seemed a miracle their brother-bond was still strong and whole. He’d given Ryder the knife after their first barroom brawl when they’d fought side-by-side as if they’d never been apart.
    The bond hadn’t seemed such a miracle when Ryder had walked away. Ben rubbed his chest as if he could ease the pain of the damaged bond embedded in his soul.
    After Ryder handed Minette a couple of apple pieces and returned, Ben cleared his throat. “But your obsession with Genevieve faded?”
    “All too soon. She didn’t want me. Any male who would support and worship her would have done as well. When the newness wore off, she started playing jealousy games and hooking up with different males, even—” Ryder broke off, then continued after a pause. “I left after a Gathering where she goaded a bunch of males into a fight. I’d guess she became pregnant then.”
    “How’d you find out about the cub?”
    Ryder handed his child another apple slice to keep her occupied. “A friend living in Deschutes Territory visited Farway, saw Minette, and told me to have a look.”
    One look would be all it would take. Minette’s big eyes and fair skin were Genevieve’s, but the nose, high cheekbones, curved upper lip and plump lower lip, and pointed chin created a delicate caricature of Ryder. No doubt of her parentage existed. “Hard to imagine Genevieve watching over a newborn.”
    “She lived with a couple of rich wolves when Minette was a baby, but apparently, last year, she got