In the afternoon, after they’d spoken to Tristan and Nikki about their findings, Kyla and Dascha drove back into town to chat with the doctor, whose name was Cooper, about the unknown victim in the woods.
“Any idea who he is?” asked Kyla.
“He hasn’t regained consciousness and he had no I.D. on him, so no. We’ll have to wait til he comes out of the anaesthetic. We had to perform surgery because of some internal bleeding, but he should be okay. Do you know what did it?”
“The tracks were a large bear’s,” said Dascha. “Probably a grizzly protecting its cubs. Either that or he came on one and surprised it. It happens sometimes to the most experienced woodsmen.”
“It seems odd, wouldn’t you say, that he had no identification, no gear? You said that he was deep in the woods.”
“It is odd. But who knows what he was doing out there? Maybe he’s not quite right in the head.”
“We’ll see what he has to say when he comes to. Give me your number in case we need to learn more about the location of the attack.”
Kyla gave the doctor her cell number and she and Dascha headed back to the cabin.
“I hope this is the end of the mystery,” said Dascha. “The last thing this pack needs right now is more media attention.”
“I agree with you on that. There’s no way we could keep the cabin’s location secret any longer if cops and forensic teams started roaming around the area. It would be the worst thing to have to move our location.”
“Well, honestly I’m amazed it’s been hidden this long. And this hunter, or whatever he is, that I found was too close for comfort, really.”
Kyla could see that Dascha was thinking about something.
“Do you suppose that he was looking for the cabin? For us?” she asked.
“I hope not, Ky. I don’t know why he would be, other than curiosity. But he wasn’t dressed like your typical tourist. He meant business, this one.”
A nagging worry was growing inside Kyla’s mind, but she tried her best to let it go.
Four
That evening, Kyla received a phone call from Dr. Cooper.
“The man’s woken up,” he said. “We know a little more now. For instance, his name is John Peterson. He says he was attacked and robbed by a shifter.”
“No way,” said Kyla. “Our pack members would never do that. We have a code of conduct…”
“Yeah, I’ve seen your code of conduct on television,” said the doctor, obviously referring to the mayhem created within the pack when Tristan and Craig let their rage out, nearly tearing each other to shreds.
“We would never hurt a human. If you watched the show you’d know that.”
“It doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a member of your pack.”
“Who then?” Kyla knew the answer as the question came out of her mouth.
“A man. Another shifter, a bear, according to the victim. And a very large by the sounds of it. Mr. Peterson said that he came at him out of nowhere, shifted, and stole his pack and wallet.”
There was only one bear shifter that Kyla knew of in the area, and she couldn’t imagine that Maddox would do something like this, even if he’d been a little out of control in the bar.
“This all sounds a little sketchy to me,” she said. “Do you think we could come by tomorrow and have a word with him?”
“Sure. Come by after ten and find out what you can. By the way, Kyla, my own thoughts about in-fighting aside, if your pack ever needs anything, call me at home. To be quite honest I’m fascinated by your genetic structure and this man, this Peterson, he’s not exactly kind. I’d like to offer my help. I realize that you’re facing an uphill battle, trying to be accepted be society. I know you’re good folks.”
“Thanks, Doctor. The pack is grateful for that.”
That night as she drifted to sleep, Kyla had another vision. She wasn’t sure, until she realized that she’d shot up, awake and alert, that it wasn’t a dream.
In her mind’s eye she saw flashes: a bear. A stream. Buildings in the woods, blurred by a veil over the scene. Even a white tiger, padding down Wolf Rock’s main street.
Breathing heavily again, she did her best to get back to sleep and to forget the tricks that her head seemed to be playing on her.
In the morning, she and Dascha headed for the hospital as soon as visiting hours had started up. The thought of what John Peterson might say filled Kyla with foreboding; she wanted to believe that the man she’d met in the bar, the guy who’d been so appealing in every way, wasn’t responsible for this mess. Aside from her personal attraction to him, it would do irreparable damage to the wolf pack to have it get out that shifters attacked people.
“We’d better smile and be friendly,” said Dascha. “God knows what kind of man this is. He’s probably more than a little pissed that someone shredded his chest.”
“Agreed,” said Kyla, her inner wolf shuddering in apprehension. She didn’t like what her instincts were telling her. This is not going to end well.
“Mr. Peterson,” she said gently as they approached the stranger’s bed. The man was lying on top of his sheets in a hospital gown. His face was scratched and there was a lump under his clothing; no doubt the bandages covering his chest. He had a sour look about him, but Kyla couldn’t blame him for it.
“Yes? Who the hell are you?”
What a charming fucking man, Kyla thought.
“I’m Kyla Greene, and this is my friend Dascha. We’re members of the Longtooth pack.”
At hearing that they were shifters, the man recoiled in fear, his hands pushing his back up against the head of the bed.
“I should have known,” he said, his voice trembling. “Those fucking blue eyes. But he didn’t have your eyes. He...”
Peterson clammed up, reluctant to say anything more.
“Please, don’t be frightened,” Kyla continued. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’d never hurt a human anyhow. It’s not our way. We just have some questions for you.”
“Not your ‘way?’ You’re fucking mutes. Animals. That’s your way. One of you tried to kill me two nights ago and…”
“One of us did nothing of the kind,” said Dascha.
Rage was building in him; this man was clearly a bigot and probably deserved whatever he’d received and worse. The shifter found himself unable to maintain anything like a charming smile.
“What my friend means,” said Kyla, though she herself was fighting an urge to change into her wolf form and to bite the man’s head off, “is that you claim it was a bear shifter who did this?”
“It was. But you’re all the same, your kind. Fucking lunatics. The government should just nuke this whole damn part of the country and wipe you off the map.”
“Fucker,” growled Dascha, who could barely restrain himself now. His youth was rearing its head and Kyla could see that she needed to diffuse the situation before he made things worse.
“Dascha,” said Kyla quietly, “please could you get me a drink? Just some water would be fine.”
Her pack mate understood and left. He knew perfectly well that transforming and killing a wounded patient wouldn’t do anyone any good.
“Now, Mr. Peterson, can you describe the man for me? The one who attacked you? We want to find him and make sure he’s brought to justice.”
“You probably want to give him a fucking medal. I’ll bet that’s what you want.”
“No. As I said, that isn’t our way. Put yourself in our shoes, sir. Can you imagine for a second that, with all the media attention we’ve received, we’d want the world to think we’re killers?”
“I suppose not,” the man grumbled, the reluctance to agree palpable in his voice.
What an asshole, thought Kyla.
“So please tell me what he looks like,” she said, her voice calm.
The she-wolf feared the answer. The idea of her pack hunting down Maddox…
“Well, he came at me kind of fast and asked me a pile of questions about
what I was doing there in the woods.”
“And what were you doing?”
“I was hunting.”
“Hunting what?”
“Doesn’t matter what. The bastard stole my things. My crossbow, my gun, my pack, my wallet. Everything.”
“I think it does matter what you were hunting, Mr. Peterson. Hunting is illegal here.”
“What are you gonna do, report me, you fat bitch?”
Wow. This man might have his insides torn to pieces but Kyla would have liked a go at the giant balls that made him think it was a good idea to insult a powerful female shifter.
“I won’t report you,” she said, using the discipline that she’d learned over the years as a pack member. “Unless you give me no choice. But let’s just get back to the point: what did he look like?”
“He was tall. Dark hair, dark eyes. Black tattoos.”
Damn it, why couldn’t he have been blond and blue-eyed?
“Any other distinguishing features?”
“He turned into a fucking bear. That was a pretty fucking distinguishing feature.”
Dascha came in then with a bottle of water.
“Thank you, Mr. Peterson,” said Kyla, and she grabbed Dascha by the arm and guided him back out.
“Any thoughts?” he asked. He’d managed to calm himself a little.
“Well, he’s a jackass, that one. I’m glad there aren’t too many people around like him. As for our bear, he’s apparently tall, dark hair, dark eyes.”
“That sounds like the guy who showed up in town the other day. You and Jay were there, right?”
“Yeah, we were. I was the only one who talked to him—Maddox is his name. But honestly, he doesn’t strike me as a guy who would do this sort of thing.”
“Well, he didn’t do himself any favours by freaking out a lot of tourists. It’s not that hard to believe he could be violent.”
“He was just having fun with them. He could have killed them if he was really a psycho, but not for one second did my wolf tell me he was a threat. Besides, what would you do if a strange woman came up and grabbed your junk?”
“See if she’s a good kisser.”
The pack held a meeting that evening to discuss the next move.
“There’s going to have to be a hunt,” said Tristan. “We need to make a pre-emptive strike here. It’s for the bear shifter’s own good; if we don’t get to him and convince him to get out of Dodge, the cops will come down on him. I’ve talked to the sheriff, and he’s agreed that the pack would do a better job combing the woods than the police anyhow, so he’s left this in our hands. For now.”
“So what’s the plan?” asked Dascha, eager to get moving.
“We’ll split into groups. First off though: Kyla, you’re the one who talked to him in the bar. Any idea where he lives?”
“No. I mean, I do know he’s from Montana and doesn’t live around here. I saw some red dirt on his boots, which means he’s been up in the mountains east of here, and I have a feeling we’d find him up there rather than in town.”
“We’ll start our search there, then,” said Tristan.”
“Tristan, you know me: I’m not one to challenge your authority,” said Kyla, attempting to sound confident. “But if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go looking myself first. I know his smell and, well, he’s a good guy, believe it or not. I don’t think we need to mount a full-scale hunt. Besides, this attack happened not far from here. It would be smart to keep vigilant in case more hunters are roaming around the area.”
“For the record, Kyla, I trust you and that’s the only reason I’m willing to take your word in all of this. Otherwise I’d say that we need to surround him and capture him. I’ll give you until tomorrow. But if you haven’t found him by morning we’re going to split up and form groups.”
“Fair enough. Let me see what I can do, Tristan.”
Five
The autumn air had taken on a bit of a chill and Kyla found herself glad to have bundled up. She’d decided to hike out in human form, so that in the event that she should come upon Maddox she’d have the option of talking to him. Shifters had incredible instincts and Kyla’s were heightened more than most, but she wasn’t sure how the young man would react to her wolf, and she didn’t want to make him feel unnecessarily threatened, or to provoke a conflict with a grizzly who could take her down in a heartbeat.
This hunt was a mixed blessing, or at least the results would be. If she found Maddox herself, she could protect him. But that in itself was a conflict in her mind; maybe he didn’t deserve her goodwill. Maybe she was wrong about him. But no; every instinct in her told her that he wasn’t the guy the pack should be looking for.
She wished that she had some sort of control over the visions that had begun when she met Maddox; that she could somehow be certain of what had happened, and more particularly of what was to come. But it was all a fog, and not helping her in the least.
“Why the hell can’t I have a useful skill?” she mumbled to herself as she hiked through the dense underbrush, dry leaves crisp under her boots.
Her hike took her in the direction of the nearest peak to the cabin. The mud she’d noticed caked on Maddox’s boots could be found on one of its flanks, and she knew to begin her search there, in a dense pine wood that sat just below the treeline. It was rare for her to venture in that direction, but something told her that it was her best chance.
As the ground below her began to slope upwards, she came to a clearing, which she’d never seen before. Her time in the pack had been spent exploring the territory, but she realized that the woods that she knew so well were all within a few miles of the cabin. Now she was on someone else’s land and it would be wise to remain cautious.
Kyla sat down at the edge of the clearing to gather her thoughts and ponder her next move. Which way to go? She sniffed the air, her human nose as sensitive as her lupine one. She smelled deer, trees, grass…and something else.
Maddox.
She’d know that smell anywhere; from the first moment he’d walked into the bar she’d been aroused by it. And now it was coasting on the wind, and he was somewhere in the forest ahead.
At this point she was going to have to start moving faster to catch up to the grizzly, and she knew that the best way to do so was in wolf form. She began to unbutton her shirt, a sort of reluctance setting in; now she’d be risking coming upon him in her form and any thoughts of being unthreatening were potentially being dismissed.
After she’d peeled her shirt off, she pulled off her boots and unzipped her pants. It amused her more than it should to stand mostly nude in the woods; she always wondered what a group of hikers would think if they came upon her.
Looking around, she became confident that no such incident would occur and she unhooked her bra, allowing her full breasts to be kissed by the breeze as she exposed them. The combination of sensations: the soft wind on her nipples, and the scent of Maddox in the air made her go wet.
“Jesus, I’m hunting for the guy and all I want to do if I find him is fuck him,” she thought.
Finally, she pulled her panties down and laid her clothing in a tidy pile before her shift. It was only when she was about to change to her wolf form that she realized that, if she found Maddox now, she’d have no clothes when she came into her human form. Things could get a little awkward. After all, most girls wait until the third date to get naked.
Kyla shifted, knowing that she had little choice. It was always a little unpleasant, the sensation of being torn apart and put back together, but by now she’d learned to accept it as one accepts having legs waxed or a needle jabbed into one’s arm at the doctor. It was more the anticipation of the pain that was unbearable than the pain itself.
Her light brown wolf form began to lope through the woods then, following the scent that she’d picked up. He wasn’t far off, she knew; it was just a question of finding him before he ran off.
The jog wasn’t long. After about ten minutes Kyla foun
d herself on the bank of a narrow creek, just like the one she’d seen in her mind, and hopeful, she sniffed the air again. He was somewhere east of her, and she’d be upon him soon.
She followed the water, remaining concealed in the woods though she knew that Maddox could probably smell her just as she could him.
Ahead, she saw that a tall rock face climbed skyward, spreading from the north to the south. She knew now that if she didn’t come upon him soon, she’d have to turn and change trajectory.
But she found him.
When she came upon him, Maddox was sitting on a large rock by the water, his arms wrapped around his knees. He wore only boxer shorts, and Kyla could see that he was aware of her presence. She stopped and stood, studying his form.
His legs were muscled like a Greek statue’s and his large, strong arms with their tribal markings were tight. He seemed deep in thought, and tense.
“Kyla,” he said. She knew that he was familiar enough with her scent to be confident of her identity, in spite of the fact that he’d never seen her wolf.
She walked up to him and put her muzzle near his face, her tongue darting out in a reassuring pant. Maddox laid a hand on her side, both to assure her and himself that neither was a threat to the other. Though it went against shifter protocol, Kyla liked it.
“I guess you’re here to take me in?” he said. There was no smile on his face now; no dimple. “Let me get you something to wear and we’ll talk.”
With that, he rose and walked to a small opening in the rock face which stood about twenty feet from the creek. Kyla wondered for a moment if he might run, but instinct told her not to be concerned.
He re-emerged carrying a large flannel shirt, the sort that a lumberjack might wear. He wrapped it around her form and turned away to give her a little privacy while she shifted.
“Thanks,” she said as she buttoned the shirt. “We’re not usually modest within the pack but somehow this was feeling like it might get a little awkward.”
Bearing Up In Wolf Rock (A BBW Bear Shifter Romance) (Wolf Rock Shifters) Page 4
