Storm Bear

by Bianca D’Arc

  Grizzly Cove: Crossroads

  Storm Bear

  by

  Bianca D’Arc

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2019 Bianca D’Arc

  Published by Hawk Publishing, LLC

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  DEDICATION

  I’d like to thank all those fans who have followed my Tales of the Were from werewolves, to big cats, to bears and back again. It’s been a wild ride and it’s nowhere near done! We still have a few bad guys to vanquish before I’ll call a halt to this series, which has sprouted so many tentacles. I’m enjoying the world too much to wrap it up without making sure I’ve tied up all the loose ends and corralled all the plot bunnies. Never fear, there will be more Tales of the Were for at least another year or two.

  Special thanks to Peggy McChesney, my dear friend and proofreader extraordinaire. Best of luck in your new adventures!

  As with all my books, I dedicate this one to my family, who were always there for me when I needed them.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Bear Meets Girl

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

  PROLOGUE

  “No! Get back here!” Sabrina ran down the slight hill she’d been standing on to cast her spell. How had it all gone so wrong so fast?

  She’d intended to just nudge the heavy rain that was headed in the direction of the town’s weekend carnival away toward the other side of the valley. Instead, she’d somehow spawned a whirlwind, and it was heading right for the Ferris wheel!

  Sabrina ran after it, waving her arms and trying to cast a counter spell. She almost didn’t care who saw her. It was more important to stop the whirlwind, right now, than to protect her dubious anonymity. Besides, most of the residents of the tiny town tucked into the Canadian Rockies were shifters, anyway. No real reason to hide from them. They could probably sniff out her magic, regardless.

  Thankfully, she’d been cautious this morning, only casting something small, because lately, her bigger magics had gone terribly awry. Thank the Goddess Sabrina had decided to start out small this morning, otherwise she could have been looking at a full-blown tornado, rather than just a small-scale dust devil. Still, the thing could do some damage if it traveled through the wrong place.

  She cast like a crazy woman—probably looked it, too—as she followed the whirlwind down into the grassy meadow just outside of town, where the carnival had set up shop. Only a few early risers saw her, shaking their heads or scratching them as they watched her headlong flight after the small whirlwind she’d created. Nobody stopped to offer advice or help, but that was okay. They were shifters, not mages.

  It probably would have taken a real master-level mage to suppress her whirlwind, now that it had got going. Hells bells! She was a weather witch. She should be able to control any sort of weather out there—especially something that she had whipped up herself.

  But it wasn’t working that way lately. Sabrina didn’t know what was wrong. She didn’t know what to do. She just kept fumbling around, trying to fix whatever had happened to her innate magic. It had never been this difficult before.

  She had grown up without any real knowledge of magic, so she’d never had any truly formal training. In college, her weather sense had awakened and she’d had to figure things out for herself, but it hadn’t been strong, and it had only been the one gift. She wasn’t a mage by any stretch of the imagination.

  She’d muddled along, figuring out how her one tiny gift worked and she’d become good at steering weather. Unfortunately, it felt like suddenly, everything was different. Her abilities were spiraling out of control, just like that whirlwind she was chasing. Nothing made sense to her, anymore.

  She needed help, but she had no idea where to get it. Weather witches weren’t recognized as mages by almost all of the reputable mage schools. She couldn’t just call up one of the ancient families that trained wizards and witches and ask for an appointment. Not with just a measly weather power to her name. They’d laugh at her and hang up. They weren’t interested in one-trick ponies. They only dealt with those who had real power. The full package.

  Weather witches didn’t really even count as magical folk to real mages. They were tolerated because they were useful, but if one malfunctioned—like Sabrina was doing lately—there was no recourse. They’d probably tell her to just stop using what little magic she had. It would be like cutting off a limb, Sabrina knew. She’d tried it when things had first started going awry, but she just couldn’t do it. The magical build up demanded release, and things were much worse.

  Better, she had decided, to let off the steam, so to speak, a little at a time. Use her talent in small increments to make the town a better place. Bring rain to the crops. Keep things like downpours away from town celebrations. That should be simple enough, right?

  Apparently not.

  One of the early morning observers shook his head as Sabrina passed by, chasing her whirlwind.

  “Well, that does it,” he said to himself. Still shaking his head, he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He punched in a number and waited for someone to pick up on the other end. “Rafe? Yeah, hi. It’s Tobias. Can you spare Rocky or someone like him to come up here? Our weather witch is broken and needs fixed.”

  “Isn’t that more a job for a mage?” the man on the other end of the line asked.

  “Nah. A bear ought to be able to handle it. Someone with more magic sense than me and my wolves, at any rate. She’s only got the one talent, and it’s not very big. From what I hear, mages want nothing to do with her kind,” Tobias explained. “She’s nice enough, and I’d like to help her. She’s done a few good turns for our town, and my Pack, in the past. If you could send someone who could straighten her out, I’d be much obliged.”

  “Well, I doubt if Rocky can do it, but I’ll ask him if he’s got a friend that we can send up your way,” the man promised. “What exactly is the problem?”

  “After we hang up, I’m going to send you a video file. It’ll be self-explanatory,” Tobias assured the other man.

  They hung up not long after, and Tobias used his smartphone to capture some images of poor little Sabrina chasing her whirlwind, cussing at it like it was a misbehaving pet. Tobias’s head was pretty much constantly shaking as he sent the file to Rafe.

  Sabrina was messed up. Tobias
only hoped the Lords would be able to send someone to help her.

  *

  Near Sturgis, South Dakota, the three bear brothers said their farewells. Each was headed in a different direction, looking for adventure in parts unknown. It was time. Time to test their mettle and do a little solo roaming.

  Ace loved his brothers, but they’d had a bit too much together time lately. Bear shifters liked to be on their own a lot more than other types of shifters. Ace knew it would be good for both him and his two younger brothers to get out there and do some things without constant sibling supervision. So, they’d decided to go their separate ways once they finished helping a friend out in Sturgis.

  Ace was going to take I-90 and head up into Montana. He had some contacts up there that he intended to look up, then he’d figure out where to go from there. He’d finished with commitments and schedules and just wanted to see where the wind took him for a little while.

  He had been feeling increasingly restless over the past year or so. He’d been feeling an urge to claim a territory of his own and settle down, but there was no female bear shifter on the horizon. Heck, there hadn’t been any sort of serious female in his life for a while now.

  He hoped, by giving in to the urge to roam, he’d allow fate to take a hand in his life. Maybe he’d find his true mate. Maybe not. But, either way, he was looking forward to an adventure.

  Ace revved his Harley and headed west. The wind buffeted him, welcoming him as he got up to highway speed. Ah. There was nothing like it. The open road, his hog under him and no timetable in sight.

  It was time to answer the call of the wild…

  CHAPTER ONE

  Ace drove his Harley up into Montana and decided to pay a visit to an old friend. Rocco Garibaldi was a well-known associate of the current Lords of all werefolk in North America. He was also a bear shifter who had been working for the Lords for many, many years, and he was a personable fellow who made friends easily as he liaised between the various bear Clans and the Lords.

  Ace looked him up, and though he was friendly enough, Rocky passed Ace on to the Lords before he really knew what was happening. Rocky introduced them and then left Ace on the Lords’ doorstep, relying on their hospitality.

  It was an odd situation, but Rafe and Tim, the twin Lords, turned out to be nice guys who welcomed Ace readily. In fact, they invited him to dinner. Rafe and their mate, Allie, were inside the house while Tim and Ace sat on the veranda, out of the way of dinner preparations, talking.

  “What do you know about weather witches?” Tim asked Ace.

  “Aren’t they considered a minor power among magic users?” Ace replied.

  Tim nodded. “Most of them only have that one talent, and it’s usually not enough to get the real mages interested in them. They’re left to their own devices, for the most part. Occasionally, one will team up with a younger person to teach the craft, but that’s about as formal an education in magic as any of them get. Mostly, they’re self-taught. It’s an earth-based magic somewhat akin to our own.”

  Ace hadn’t realized that, but it made sense. “So, why the interest in weather workers?”

  “We got a call from a small town in the Canadian Rockies that’s having a little problem with their local weather witch. The town hosts a werewolf Pack and a few other assorted shifters. A lynx family and some others, but nobody with enough magic of their own to try to help their weather witch,” Tim explained. “They asked us to send them a bear, if we could get anyone to go up there.”

  “You think a bear shifter will be able to help the witch?” Ace wasn’t so sure. While it was true that most bear shifters had way more innate magic than other shifter species, just being a bear shifter didn’t guarantee an aptitude for human magic.

  Tim shrugged. “At the very least, you could sniff out exactly what’s going on up there and report back. The most the local wolf Alpha would tell me was that she was messed up.” Tim pulled out his smartphone and began tapping the screen. “He sent a short video, and it’s actually kind of funny.”

  Tim brought up the video and turned the phone toward Ace. What he saw almost made him laugh out loud. A woman was running after something, then the angle widened to show a small dust devil whirling in front of her as she ran after it like a runaway dog. She was shouting at it to “get back here” and to “stop” just like he’d heard people yell at their pets who wouldn’t cooperate. He couldn’t help the smile on his face.

  When he looked up as the video ended, he met Tim’s gaze. He was grinning too. Both men shook their heads.

  “She’s definitely got spirit,” Tim observed, turning his phone back to look at the image frozen on the screen.

  “I’ll go,” Ace heard himself saying. He hadn’t even realized he was going to agree to the mission, but there was something about the woman on the little screen that had captured his attention—and that of his inner bear.

  Tim’s grin grew wider. “I thought you might,” he said with a hint of satisfaction.

  “Do me a favor,” Ace said, once again speaking before he knew what he was going to say. “Send me that video file.”

  Tim shook his head and chuckled, tapping the screen of his phone a few times. “Sent,” he said a moment later. “Just go up and see what’s what, then report back if it’s anything you can’t handle yourself. Frankly, I think she just needs someone to help her figure out her powers. According to the Alpha up there, she’s gotten stronger in recent months, and that’s probably throwing her off. A few days of observation and maybe a few pointers from you, and she should be good as new.”

  Personally, Ace didn’t think it was going to be that easy, but he held his tongue, finally stopping himself from speaking every word that came to mind. What was it about these Lords of all were that made him blurt out his thoughts without realizing what he was about to say? Or, maybe, it was seeing the woman on the screen that had momentarily robbed him of caution. He wasn’t sure, but he did know there was something about her. Something compelling that made his inner bear sit up and demand that he ride to her rescue.

  “Looks like I’m working for you, for the time being,” Ace said on a rueful sigh.

  “There are worse things, I’m sure,” Tim joked. “Don’t think of this as work. Think of it as an adventure.”

  “That’s what our recruiter said when my brothers and I joined the military,” Ace replied. “If you hear news reports about a bear being swept up in a tornado, you’ll know what happened.” Both of them chuckled as they watched the sun set through the tall pines. “Sure is pretty up here, Tim. Thanks for making me welcome.”

  “Any friend of Rocky’s,” Tim replied. “Besides, you bear shifters have been stirring things up in the world lately. We welcome a chance to make friends and allies among your species.”

  “You mean the guys who founded Grizzly Cove?” Ace asked. As far as he knew, those dudes were the ones shaking things up. It wasn’t normal for so many bear shifters to gather in one town, but somehow, they were making it work.

  “You know any of them?” Tim asked, sounding intensely curious.

  Ace shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve crossed paths with a few of the founders, and I have a close friend living there now with his new mate. I thought maybe, if my travels took me in that direction, I might check the place out. My buddy invited me and my brothers to visit.”

  “Well, when you’re done in Canada, maybe you can swing by Grizzly Cove and help them out. From what we hear, they’ve got a tiger by the tail over there, but they claim to have things under control.” Tim shrugged. “I know they’ve already sought specialist help, but we’re all waiting for the guys they need to be free to go up there and try their luck.”

  “Against the leviathan, you mean?” Ace asked. His friend, Ezra Tate, had told him and his brothers about the problems Grizzly Cove was having with evil in the ocean.

  Tim’s gaze narrowed. “I know the guys they’re waiting for—the sons of Admiral Morrow. They’re Navy SEALs with elemental power o
ver water. But I also know the Morrow boys are deep undercover in far off lands, right now. I just hope your friends in the cove can hang tight until the Morrow brothers are free to help.”

  “I have every confidence in that group. They were hell on wheels in the service, and they’ve stuck together ever since. They’re more like a family of bears than a group of loners, and they work really well together,” Ace told Tim. “I mean, look what they’ve accomplished since retiring from the military. Not every shifter group could manage to create an entire town from scratch in just a few short years. And they’re finding mates and settling down. That was their plan, and they’re actually executing it, which is kind of remarkable.”

  “I know their military reputation,” Tim said. “If any group of shifters can hold it together, it’s them, but none of us have ever dealt with something like the leviathan before.”

  “They’ve done remarkably well in holding the thing at bay,” Ace allowed. “I heard they’d managed to protect the entire coastline.”

  “One of the new mates you mentioned is a powerful witch. And they got some other help from a new kind of shifter. Or, perhaps I should say a really old kind of shifter.” Tim’s smile was wry.

  “What kind? Or should I not ask?” Ace probed. Tim and his brother were the Lords of this generation. They had any number of secrets Ace didn’t need to know. He’d follow Tim’s lead as to whether or not to reveal what he knew.

  “You’re going to hear about it sooner or later.” Tim sighed. “Apparently, there’s a dragon out there in the world.”

  “A dragon? No way,” Ace replied, shocked.

  “Way,” Tim replied. “He’s Romanian, apparently. We haven’t met him, yet, but it’s something we’d like to do as soon as can be arranged. We hear he’s found family among the bears in Grizzly Cove, so he might settle there.”

  “Bears related to dragons?” Ace mused. “And Romanian?” He thought for a moment. “I know there’s a big-assed Russian bear there named Peter. Is he the relation?”