Bears? There are other shifters?
“Come on, wolf girl. Your tongue is hanging out. Tuck it back in and let’s go.” Isaiah nodded toward the trees and took off at a fast trot. Run? Gallop?
Jesus.
She finally found the ability to command her paws to move and followed Isaiah. Wyatt took up the rear.
“You guys… You…” She tried to communicate with them, but fell short, not sure what to say. The enormous brown bear in front of her kept moving. Wyatt wasn’t kidding; they were fast. She knew she could run faster than the average bear, but who knew about shifters? If they were anything like wolf shifters, they were stronger than their animal counterparts. Better diet. Longer lifespan. Access to medical care. All the things wild animals lacked.
They ran hard. Time was of the essence.
She gathered her thoughts and started firing questions. “Your clothes?”
“They shift with us,” Wyatt communicated. “It’s a bonus. When we arrive, we can shift back, handle things, and leave.”
“They shift with you? That’s incredible. How is that possible?”
Isaiah fielded that one. “We’ve been around longer. Evolved more. Adapted.”
“Longer than what? Wolves?”
“Yep.”
“My head is spinning. How did I not scent you?”
Wyatt communicated again. “We have existed centuries longer than your species. When I say we’re more evolved, I mean it. We have blocking capabilities you’ve only dreamed of. We can conceal our scent from anyone, including your species. We project ourselves as human even to your kind.”
“No one knows? I mean no wolves?”
He glanced at her. Was he laughing? “A few know. They’re sworn to secrecy.”
A few? Who? Her own people? She was about to ask when Isaiah interrupted her thinking.
He moved to one side to let her pass. “You take the lead. You truly do know this territory better than us. When we get close, let us know, and we’ll shift and hike into the group.”
“Okay.” She couldn’t see how they were going to explain themselves under any circumstances, but the choices were limited. All she could do was defer to them and hope for the best.
She could see the campfire before she got close enough to stop. Thank God the group was exactly where Melinda and Laurie had last seen them. When she skidded to a halt, the bears did too.
“Wait right here while we speak to them,” Wyatt commanded. He lifted onto his hind legs and jerked his entire body as though shaking the bear right off him. Seconds later, he stood in human form in the same clothes he’d had on when they left.
Amazing.
“I’m serious,” he said out loud now. “I do not want to face the wrath of your mates by returning to civilization without you.”
She nodded. “I’m not stupid.” Did he understand her communication even in human form? Insanity.
“Let’s go,” Isaiah said. “I’m betting these aren’t the only people we need to rescue tonight.” He led the way through the trees with Wyatt on his heels.
The second they were out of sight, Melinda blocked herself from all others except her mates and called out to them. “You will not believe this.”
“Thank fuck,” Trace responded. “Do you know how worried we are?”
“Where are you?” Keegan asked.
“Near the biologists. Wyatt and Isaiah went to speak to them.”
“Why not you?” Trace asked.
“Don’t have clothes.”
“How did you get there so fast with two humans?” Keegan asked.
“You will not believe it when I tell you. But let’s save it for later.”
“Are you safe, Melinda?” Keegan’s thoughts were filled with alarm.
“Very. Trust me. I’ve never been safer. Now, tell me where we need to head next. Who else is on this mountain?”
Trace gave an exasperated sigh. “You’re really going to run to another location and rescue more stranded people?”
“Until I can’t run another pace from exhaustion or because active lava is in the way.”
“Okay.” Trace hesitated. “Fine. Hikers. Die hards who wouldn’t come down when the earthquakes started. Camping. About a half mile to the west and a quarter mile down the mountain. At least that’s what they declared when they left the lodge. My dad is here with a list of who he knows is up there and where he thinks they are.
“A lot of people from both Sojourn and Cambridge are helping get to everyone who lives on the mountain, but sending them to find people without specific addresses is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Some of them are in range of the sirens. Others might not be able to hear the warnings. In either case, they won’t necessarily descend just because they hear a siren. They’ve been experiencing earthquakes for days.”
“I can scent them.”
“I know, baby. That’s why I’m going to direct you.”
Keegan interrupted. “Please be careful, hon. You mean the world to me. Don’t do anything heroic that will get you killed.”
“Oh, trust me. I’m in good hands. Nothing’s going to happen to me up here.”
“I can’t wait to hear the details of this saga.” Trace’s voice trailed off, and she cut the connection just as Wyatt and Isaiah returned.
“Done,” Wyatt said. “They were already packing up after that last quake. They don’t have communication, but they were concerned. They’re heading down as we speak. Who’s next?”
It was still weird speaking to any living being telepathically who wasn’t shifted, a mate, or a female relative. Weirder was knowing these two were actually bear shifters with powers that far exceeded her own.
She turned around to face the direction they would head next, almost stumbling when she found a spirit hovering yards away. Even in the darkness, she could easily make it out. There was just enough light from the moon and stars to help guide them.
Wolves didn’t need much light, but she had no idea how well bears could see.
Speaking of bears… Both men had shifted behind her and now flanked her. “It’s one of yours,” Wyatt communicated. “I say follow it.”
“One of mine?” She tipped her head to one side to face him.
“The spirit. It’s a wolf spirit. Ours are a lighter shade. The brown ones. Yours are black.”
“Are you kidding me?” She had never known this tidbit of information, either. She’d always assumed the spirits she and the rest of her people witnessed where wolf guides.
On the flip side, she’d seen a variety of spirits that varied slightly in color, never thinking anything of it. There had been six hovering around the fracking site. Three were black. Three were brown. The brown ones were larger.
She shuddered as she faced the black aura in front of her now. One of mine…
Interestingly, she’d often thought of the spirits as seeming to coalesce into the form of a bear. That’s how she thought of the auras at times. Other wolves described them as such also. Coincidence?
She shook her head to clear her mind and took off behind the spirit. “Trace is communicating with me about the location of hikers. Do you two mind covering some more ground tonight?”
“Of course. That’s what we’re here for. We can keep up until there’s either no one to save or the volcano forces us down the mountain.” Isaiah remained to her left and two paces behind.
Melinda followed the black aura at a quick pace. The aura moved in front of her at exactly the same rate. It knew. It was guiding her on her terms.
It didn’t take them long to reach the next destination. The aura stopped moving, shimmering in front of her and seeming less agitated than she’d ever seen. More like excited. Invigorated at the prospect of saving lives.
Without a word, the bears shifted and trod up to the tent on the side of the mountain.
She reached out to Trace while she waited for them. “Trace? We found the hikers. Who’s next?”
“Melinda? How did you find the
m so fast?”
“I have a guide.”
“The two men?”
“No. Well, yes, that too. But a spirit is leading us.”
“Shit. Amazing.”
∙•∙
Isaiah called out as they approached the tent. “Hello? Is anyone in there?” He knew for a fact there were two people inside, both men. Both human. He could scent them from a distance, just as he could scent anyone from a distance.
As the zipper whipped open around the entrance, one man stuck his head out. Isaiah waited. Wyatt stood at his side, his hands in his pockets. It was the easiest way to appear non-threatening and a method Isaiah and Wyatt had adapted over the years to calm people when they approached. At their size and height, eyebrows rose all the time.
“What the hell?” the first guy asked as he crawled from the cramped tent and stood. “Are you lost?”
The second man slipped out behind the first, grabbing his partner’s forearm. “Gerald?”
Gerald, a blond lanky man with his hair flopping over one eye, clasped his hand over the other guy’s.
Isaiah spoke again. “You two aren’t safe. You need to get down the mountain as fast as possible. Do you have a car?”
Gerald’s brow scrunched. “About a half mile down. Are you talking about the quakes? They’ve been happening for days. Who cares? Are we on private property or something?”
Isaiah shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. There’s volcanic activity. The possibility of an eruption is imminent. It’s not safe here.”
Gerald gasped and tipped his head back. He shivered in his T-shirt and tight black jeans as he sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
“Sulfur. From the volcanic gas,” Wyatt added. “Do you need assistance? Or can you make it out of here quickly?”
“Rick?” Gerald turned to his partner, squeezing his hand now and pulling it toward his chest.
Rick, the shorter of the two with darker hair cropped short, nodded. “We better get a move on.”
Gerald’s shoulders slumped as he mumbled under his breath. “Can we never catch a break?”
Rick turned to face Isaiah. “Thanks for the warning. How did you find us?”
Isaiah turned away quickly, shouting over his shoulder. “Getting coordinates from town. Got to go find others. Don’t waste any time. Get off this mountain.” He jogged behind Wyatt, not willing to stick around long enough to explain the unexplainable.
When they reached Melinda’s side, they shifted back into bear form quickly.
Wyatt nodded at the aura that reappeared in front of them. “And there’s our spirit guide. I say we follow it. Seems like it won’t fail us. Your mate surely has ten thousand other things to take care of.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sharon stood next to Jackson in the sheriff’s office and listened to Trace’s boss, Sheriff Bergman, shouting out instructions to everyone around him. Every deputy was on call.
Next to him was Sheriff Richards from Sojourn. Since the epicenter of the quakes and the location of the eruption was north of Cambridge, every deputy available from both towns was present at the Cambridge sheriff’s office.
Even Pete Sandhouse was there.
Sharon wanted to glare at the asshole, but it seemed when push came to shove, he was willing to put his bigotry aside and save lives. At least she hoped so.
After the initial instructions were passed out to every willing hand in the high school parking lot, the command center had moved to the sheriff’s office.
The same group of people who had grumbled at each other as though they would sooner kill each other than get along just hours ago were now working side by side to save lives and arrange lodging for stranded hikers and workers from the logging site and the fracking company.
Sharon’s parents had opened their lodge to anyone who was displaced and needed a place to sleep or a meal to eat. Race, sexual orientation, religion, and even status as a human faded away under the crisis.
Sharon’s heart pounded every time she thought about Cooper up on the mountain. She didn’t want to distract him, but she also couldn’t stand going more than fifteen minutes at a time without word. “Coop.”
Jackson turned to face her, his hands fisted at his sides. He did that a lot. She knew it was because he needed to touch her and couldn’t in public. Or at least shouldn’t.
“I’m still here, babe.”
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing new. The volcanologist and the US Geological Survey are here. We’re setting up near a cave just south of the epicenter. There’s no guarantee an eruption would happen specifically in that location, however. It could easily be farther up the mountain.”
“Or not at all?” she asked.
“That too. It could be months or years before anything else happens. We’ll watch the situation closely from here for now. But I’m not taking any chances. And no one else should either.”
“Of course.”
Jackson interrupted. “You call hanging around the location of dozens of holes in the Earth that are spewing gases not taking any chances?”
Cooper ignored Jackson’s retort. “Jackson, keep Sharon safe. Please. I don’t want to worry about the two of you also.”
“Should we be evacuating Cambridge? All the relief effort is centered here right now. Are we too close?” Sharon asked.
“You’re safe for now. This is fifteen miles away. As long as everyone on the mountain between here and there has been warned and relocated, that’s the best you can do. If there’s a change, it will be easier to round everyone up and move farther away if they’re all inside the city limits. Like I said, the activity we’ve seen so far could be the end of it, perhaps even for a hundred years.”
“Okay. Stay in touch.”
“Let me get back to work before people start thinking I’m having a seizure over here staring into space.”
He cut the connection.
Chapter Thirty
Sharon jerked awake when someone touched her shoulder. She sat up abruptly from her spot on a cot that had been brought into the sheriff’s office. There were dozens of them around the room. Melinda sat next to her. “Sorry, hon. I hated to wake you, but I knew you’d want to know when I got back.”
“Shit.” She looked around the noisy sheriff’s office, still bustling with activity even though it was early morning. “Were you out there all night?”
“Yeah. Learned a lot too.”
“About what?” She sat up straighter. “Those brothers?”
“Yep. For another time. I’m heading back to the hospital. Thought you might want to come along.”
Sharon glanced around again. “Not sure if I should.” She spotted Jackson leaning over a table covered in maps.
“It will do you good. Cooper’s still in the mountains. Everyone anyone knows has been warned and evacuated. Jackson’s providing his expertise about the logging sites, both old and new and what possible structures might be still usable at each site.
“Come with me. You need food and fresh air. It will keep your mind occupied.”
Jackson glanced her way and nodded. “Go with Melinda. Take a break,” he communicated.
She chewed on her bottom lip and then consented. “Okay, but only for a while.”
“Great.” Melinda stood. “We’ll get coffee on the way.”
Ten minutes later the two of them were on the road to Sojourn’s hospital. It was forty minutes away.
Melinda drove.
“How’s Mimi this morning?” Sharon stared out the window at the first light of day. Gray. Dreary. Hazy. The air smelled horrible, even from inside the car.
“The good news is she regained enough strength to sit up last night. Her doctor is a shifter. The first chance he gets as soon as she’s able, he’ll have her shift and see if she can heal that way. It’s a tough situation, however, since leaving the hospital isn’t a good idea, and shifting someplace where one might get caught is even worse.”
“
Damn. That sucks.”
“Exactly. But it makes me nervous not knowing what, if anything, might happen if only she could shift and let her body heal on its own.”
As they crossed onto the reservation, Melinda slowed the car. “Oh good. A roadblock.” Her voice oozed with sarcasm.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Probably to warn people to stay off the mountains and listen to the news in their homes.” As she came to a stop, she rolled her eyes. “Oh double yay.”
“What now?”
“Pete Sandhouse.” She nodded toward the deputy heading their way.
Sharon recognized him. She’d seen him several times in the past, but after last night’s display, she would never forget his face. What a jackass. The man was a shifter for Christ’s sake. And he was also somehow opposed to threesomes. It made no sense to her. He knew perfectly well that mates were chosen by Fate, not happenstance.
Melinda rolled down the window.
“Ladies.” He tipped his hat as he spoke. His word should have sounded pleasant enough. But it didn’t. And the smirk on his lips made Sharon want to punch him.
“What do you want, Sandhouse?” Melinda asked.
He cackled. “Let’s see. What do I want? A public apology would be nice for starters.”
“Not going to happen, Pete. Let us through.”
“Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a city-wide ban on ascending the mountains. It’s not safe today.”
“I’m super clear on that, Pete. Can we go now?”
He stared at her, narrowing his gaze. “Heard about your grandmother. Such a shame. You must be heartbroken. A woman like her… Still in her prime… A stroke is quite the silent killer.”
Melinda gritted her teeth. “She’s not dead, you asshole. Now, can we please get by so we can visit her in the hospital?”
“Oh. Sure. My bad. You ladies have a nice day. Watch out for lava and stay safe.” His words were mocking as though he didn’t believe a word about the Earth’s upset.
“Goodbye, Pete.” Melinda rolled up her window before she finished the sentence. “Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.
“I’m surprised he’s not on probation or something with the sheriff’s office after the way he acted last night.”
Sharon's Wolves (Wolf Masters Book 10) Page 21
