Page 34 of Eco-Activist’s Mountain Men (Mountain Men Reverse Harem #4)

There’s a tension in the air over breakfast. I’ve done my best not to show anything, but I’ve never been much of an actor. The others can tell something’s wrong.

Eventually, Toby offers me a refill, and as he sets it down, he asks, “What’s up, bro? You don’t seem quite yourself this morning… You feeling okay?”

Seems I can’t put the moment off any longer. I sigh deeply, then pull myself together. It’s a tough conversation, but it has to happen. Might as well get going.

“You’re right, Toby. There is something on my mind. It affects all of us, so I thought I’d announce it after breakfast, and we could all discuss it together.”

“I see.” He studies me with those trusting blue eyes of his.

He’s always had me up on a pedestal. Same mom, different dads.

I guess because I’m older—and maybe because of my Army career—he’s always looked up to me.

It’s good he trusts me, though I wish he realized he’s every bit the man I am. Maybe more.

He’s smarter, for one. Brains never were my strong suit. He could’ve gone to college, made more of himself. But he followed me into forestry, stubborn as a mule, wanting to be where I was. So now, of course, I feel doubly responsible for him.

“Well, we’re all here,” he says. “Spill it, then. What’s your news?”

I sigh again, take a sip of coffee, then lean forward.

I start by telling them how happy I’ve been these last few days, since the plunge pool.

How it feels to be part of something bigger than work.

How I’ve enjoyed their companionship and love.

How the only cloud I’d seen was the Kill Climate Change visit coming in a couple of days—but how that seemed manageable, since Luna had made her decision to walk away from it all. No banners. No setup for Tim’s cameras.

Then I tell them about Pat’s voicemail. I play it for them verbatim. When the recording ends, silence falls over the table. Everyone’s digesting. Thinking about what it means. To us as a group, and to them personally.

Finally, Toby clears his throat. “Listen, guys, I know I’m a bit of a fool—a jokester—but what I want to say right now… It’s serious. I mean it.” He swallows, nervous, then pushes on.

“I agree with my brother. These last few days have been real special. I mean that. Maybe we’re all dropouts in our different ways—Luke with his anger, me with my not taking things seriously, Eric not knowing how to fit in, and Luna needing to find a cause to get behind.

Even you, Jack—hiding from commitment. Look, one way or another, we’ve all ended up here, right? ”

We nod.

“Okay. Well, seems to me maybe there’s a reason.

Maybe it was meant to be. Look at Southpaw.

He knew. Before any of us had a clue, he knew.

He took you to Luna, Jack. Then he rescued her again up the mountain.

Now it’s like his work is done, and he’s ridden off into the sunset like any good superhero should.

He brought us together, and now we’re a family…

” He trails off, clears his throat again, and pushes back from the table to pour more coffee, not wanting us to see his misty eyes.

Silence lingers. Then Eric speaks.

“Guys, you welcomed me when I came here. Treated me like one of your own. I was so nervous at first. I thought I’d never fit in.

I thought people would laugh at me—or worse, ignore me.

But you… You proved me wrong. You’re the salt of the Earth.

Honest. Straightforward. No double meanings, no backstabbing.

And then Luna…” His voice falters, color rising to his cheeks.

“You lit up my life—with your honesty, your beauty, your… your…”

We laugh softly, not unkindly. The levity helps.

“All I’m saying is—whatever everyone decides, I’m in. If you’ll have me.”

Luke reaches over, claps him on the back, and pulls him into a hug that makes Eric both grin and wince.

“What Eric said—that’s me too,” Luke rumbles. “Hell, I love it here. And I love you guys. Count me in.”

All eyes turn to Luna. The lynchpin. Without her, we’re just four colleagues again. Friendly, sure. But not a family. Not like now.

She hesitates, twirling a lock of candy-pink hair, then says softly, “You guys think you owe me. But it’s the other way around.

Don’t you see? In a literal sense, I owe you my life.

If you hadn’t rescued me, I’d have died in that storm.

Exposure alone would’ve finished me off—even without predators.

“But that was just the start. You didn’t just save me.

You welcomed me in, even when I came as an enemy.

You showed me forestry isn’t the enemy—it’s the solution.

You don’t just harvest. You plant. You manage.

You protect. And now… I want to be part of that.

Instead of fighting you, I want to join you. ”

Her eyes sweep across us, steady and sure.

“I’m in too. This feels like destiny. I want to save our family. I want to work with you to protect these forests.”

She pauses. “Trouble is… I don’t know how. I agree with Jack. We have to stop Tim from ruining the company’s reputation—especially now, when it needs to look as strong as possible for buyers.”

Silence again, all of us processing. Then Eric leans forward, eyes sharp.

“Wait. Luna, what’s Kill Climate Change’s leader’s name again?”

“Tim. Tim Collier. Why?”

“I thought so.” He looks at me. “Jack—didn’t Pat say the guy who made the lowball offer was named Collier?”

“Yeah,” I admit slowly. “That’s right. But that’s just a coincidence, surely?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Easy to check.”

Eric pulls out his phone, types quickly. Finds the Collier Logging website. Clicks Management.

Up pops the photo of a man in his forties, average build, mousy hair, a scrubby beard. He’s dressed in a blue suit with an open shirt, trying hard to look approachable.

Eric hands his phone to Luna. “That him?”

She takes it, glances once, then freezes. Her hand trembles. She snatches the phone, staring hard at the image on the screen.

"Oh – My – Actual – Fucking – God," she breathes. "I don't believe it… It's him! That's Tim Collier—my Tim Collier, I mean. The leader of Kill Climate Change. No doubt about it. It's him, alright."

Luke lets out a low growl, his jaw tight. “Are you saying the CEO of Collier Logging is also the leader of Kill Climate Change?”

“Seems that way,” Eric says, voice grim.

“So, the guy who’s flying in with a helicopter in a couple of days to film Luna under a banner… is the same bastard who’s trying to buy Pat out for half the company’s worth.”

Luke’s face hardens. His skin goes pale, eyes cold. Then he turns to me.

“Jack. We have to do something.”

“Yeah,” I say. “We do.”

“Yeah… but there’s something else. Stay here. I’ll be right back. I’ve got something to show you all.”

We exchange puzzled looks as Luke disappears down the hallway. Less than a minute later, he’s back, something metallic in his right hand. He sits down heavily and places the object on the table.

It’s a pair of wire cutters. Slightly rusty, but otherwise new-looking.

We stare at them. Then all eyes swing back to Luke.

“Where did those come from?” Toby voices the question we’re all thinking.

“Remember the morning after Luna fell? When I went out searching? I found her backpack and brought it back.”

“Yeah.”

“Right.”

A couple of nods.

“Well, just a few paces from where she went down, I found these, half-hidden under grass and brambles. Looked like they’d been lying there maybe a week—long enough to get rusty. But they couldn’t have been there much longer, because otherwise they’d look a lot worse. These are practically new.”

We nod slowly.

“So, what does it mean?” Eric scratches his head, lost.

Luke leans forward. His tone is steady, deliberate. “I’ve been thinking about this for almost two weeks. I wasn’t sure before. But with what we just learned about Collier Logging? I think I know exactly what it means. And it ain’t pretty.”

“Well, go on then,” Luna presses, anxious now.

Luke pushes back his chair and drains his coffee mug, holding it out for Toby to refill. Then he sets it down and looks straight at Luna.

“For you to follow the full story, I need to tell you one more thing. And to do that, I’ve got to admit something. Luna, I knew nothing about you then. To me, you were just a stranger with a Kill Climate Change banner. So forgive me.”

“Okay,” she says softly, eyes locked on him. Intrigued.

“I’m sorry, Luna—but when I retrieved your bag, before I gave it back, I looked inside.”

She blinks, then shrugs. “Go on.”

“There were the usual things—clothes, wallet, phone. But there were also two hotel receipts. Both from the same place in Portland—the SleepEZ. One was dated the night before. Made sense. I figured that’s where you stayed before coming out here.”

Luna shifts uncomfortably but doesn’t speak.

“And the other?” I ask.

Luke’s voice drops. “The other was crumpled and dirty, like it had been stepped on. Same hotel. But dated a week earlier.”

“Oh.” I can’t see the angle yet. But Luna gasps, hand flying to her mouth, face gone pale.

Luke leans toward her. “Luna, I need to know. Where did that second receipt come from?”

She nods, already knowing what he’s getting at. “It was lying on the ground by the Douglas fir. I hate trash, so I picked it up and shoved it in my backpack. I completely forgot about it.”

Luke nods, serious. “That—or something like it—was my suspicion.”

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, then continues.

“Here’s what I think actually happened. A while ago, this Tim Collier decided the best way to screw over his competitors was to form an activist group.

That way, he could target them and hit their reputation.

So he creates Kill Climate Change. And he’s subtle—doesn’t go after every competitor, but enough.

Enough to cause damage and get headlines. Maybe he even enjoyed it.”

“The bastard,” Toby mutters. Eric looks as sick as I feel. Luna’s eyes blaze like she’s ready to kill.

“Anyway,” Luke continues, “a few months ago, Collier hears a whisper. A certain competitor’s CEO has a wife with cancer, and he’s thinking about selling.

Collier jumps. He makes a ridiculously low offer.

When Pat refuses, Collier decides to up the pressure by making them look unsafe.

He tells his crew: Go plant banners on the walkways.

Next morning, he’ll swoop in with his chopper and a film crew, get footage, spin the story.

“But secretly, before that day, Collier hikes into the forest himself. He takes new wire cutters—these wire cutters. And he sabotages the walkways. Cuts just enough guide wires so they still look safe… but the first person who walks out onto them falls. Twenty feet. Onto rock.”

“Jesus,” Toby whispers.

“Yes. Deliberate. The plan was for Luna and the other guy to fall—before they even unfurled their banners. Then, when the helicopter arrives? He films it all. Two people lying broken on the ground. No PPE. No safety. The headlines write themselves: incompetent, corner-cutting company kills activists. Outrage. Scandal. Value of the company plummets. Then Collier comes back to Pat, offering that same bargain price—except now Pat’s desperate. ”

Luke stops. The silence is thick.

My fists clench. My blood pounds. If this is true, this son of a bitch just signed his own death warrant.

“That’s what he meant!” Luna bursts out, eyes wild. “In his voicemail, he said: ‘Should look great in 4K high-res, with you lying on the ground underneath.’ I never understood. Now I do. The bastard. I swear, I’ll kill him. And when I’m done, my father will kill him again.”

Eric’s voice is quiet but shaking with fury. “If this is true, then Collier is directly responsible for Luna’s fall. For her injuries.”

Luke nods. “Exactly. He set her up. And when the storm ruined the plan, he assumed she bailed. He thinks she’s still waiting in some motel for the new date. He doesn’t know she already fell. He doesn’t know we’re here. He didn’t count on us. Or on Southpaw.”

“Damn right,” Toby mutters.

“So,” I say, voice low. “Collier’s coming back in two days. What are we going to do?”

The table goes silent. Faces grim. All except Luna. She’s lit up, alive with fire.

“Leave it to me, boys. I know exactly what to do.”

We exchange uncertain glances.

“First, I’ll need paint. Red, preferably. Or blue. Something that’ll stand out on white.”

“Uh… yeah. We’ve got plenty,” I say.

“And you rescued my banner, right? Toby, you told me that.”

“Yeah,” Toby admits. “It’s on top of your wardrobe. Folded and dry.”

“Perfect. Give me a few hours. I’ll need help with painting. Then tomorrow, we’ll rehang the banner.”

“Rehang it?” I frown. “But Luna, I thought?—”

“We won’t give him the message he expects. We’ll give him ours.” She looks straight at me. “Jack—I need Pat’s number. Trust me. It’s important.”

We glance at each other. Nobody knows what the hell she’s planning.

But she sure as hell does.

And something tells me… Collier’s not going to see it coming.