I could smell them on his fur. He’s not alone in the forest.
Hunter shifted back to his human form when he reached the tent and slipped back inside. Cynthia was hurriedly pulling on her clothes.
“Was it one of the children?” Cynthia asked as she crawled to the end of the tent and pulled on her boots. She couldn’t help staring as Hunter scoured the tent for the rest of his clothes and finished dressing.
“It was, we’re certain,” Hunter said then shook his head. “I’m certain, my bear smelled the others on the young bear’s fur.”
“You got that close to him?” Cynthia asked.
“We caught him at one point, but we let him go. It might be easier to track him than for us to try to make him talk.” Hunter pulled his sweater over his head. “If he’s distrustful, he might not give the others up.”
Cynthia thought about this for a moment. “You’re right.” She quickly laced her boots and crawled out of the tent. “Are we packing this up?”
Hunter followed her outside and then turned to look at the tent, where only a couple of hours ago they had made love. “No, we’ll leave it here and travel light. I can come back and fetch the rest of our gear later.”
“Do we leave everything?” Cynthia asked, stepping away from the tent.
“No, we need to take what food we have, water and the satellite phone.” Hunter knelt and began rummaging through the packs, transferring everything they might need into one.
“Shall we call this in?” Cynthia asked as he handed her the phone.
Hunter paused and stared into the forest. “No, let’s leave it for now. The scent is strong, the trail should be easy to follow. Once we’re certain we’re close, we’ll call it in.”
“You don’t want to them to be scared off.” She tilted her head to one side. “I agree. The last thing those kids need is to feel as if they are under attack.”
“Let’s go.” He tucked the backpack over his shoulder and grabbed hold of her hand.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go on ahead?” she asked. “I don’t want to slow you down.”
“You won’t,” he assured her as he lifted his head and scented the air.
“I will.”
Hunter turned back to face her. “When we find them, you are going to be the one to convince them it’s safe.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “They are going to trust you far more than they will trust me.”
She patted his chest. “Don’t be too sure. You are the one who is going to help the shifter child. If he’s stuck, you are the one who can help him.”
“There, a perfect team.” He kissed her forehead and they turned toward the direction the bear had run off in, both of them knowing this was the final leg of a long journey.
But they both knew it was potentially the hardest part, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five – Cynthia
Cynthia followed close behind Hunter, treading where he trod and stopping when he stopped to allow him to listen to the sounds of the forest. Sounds that were lost to her. She wished she could upgrade her senses to match Hunter’s. Instead, she learned to rely on him.
“He went this way.” Hunter hunkered down and cleared a clump of undergrowth to one side, pointing at the ground.
“A paw print.” She leaned over and studied it. “A bear paw print.”
Hunter nodded. “The tracks head into the forest. We are still a good way inside our section, but if it looks as if the children are inside one of the other sections, we should let Guy know.” He looked at his watch. “But I’d rather let the others sleep. That way they can take over in the morning if we don’t find them before we tire.”
“Before I tire,” she corrected. “I suspect you could go on for a day and a night at least.”
Hunter glanced over his shoulder, his eyes resting on her lips. “Tired shifters make mistakes, just the same as tired humans do.”
“And we can’t afford to make mistakes.” Cynthia nodded. “If we do, we might lose them forever.”
“That might be a little overdramatic, but yes, there is a chance they might hide better or even leave the forest.” He sighed deeply.
“Maybe they might risk calling their parents,” she suggested, still unsure of why at least one of them hadn’t gotten hold of a parent.
“They might. But it’s a risk. They might stay on the run. Let’s hope we find them before they get a chance to slip away.” He stood up and straightened the backpack, before setting off downhill toward an opening in the trees. As they got closer, the moon slipped from behind the clouds and reflected off a small pool of water.
“Water.” Cynthia kept her voice low. “Are they close?” Even before she’d asked the question, she knew the answer. Of course, if they were close Hunter would have sensed them and relayed the information to her.
“No, but they might use this as a watering hole. If they have plastic bottles or something else to store the water in, they might just visit here once or twice a day.” He followed a game track that led to the small pool of water. There they stopped once more and examined the banks. “I’ve lost the scent, it’s mingled with so many others. We can examine the ground for tracks, if not I’ll move away and try to pick it up again.”
Now that she knew what to look for, Cynthia helped look for bear pawprints. She didn’t find any, but what she did find was a footprint. “Here.” She pointed at the ground. “It’s a small shoe print. Too small for a man, so it has to be a woman or a child.”
Hunter came around to examine the print. “Good find.” He placed his hand in the tread of the shoe, feeling the ridges and dips. “We had rain a couple of nights ago. So this is fairly fresh.”
“In the last couple of days?” she asked for confirmation.
“I’d say so. Possibly the last twenty-four hours since the watering hole is well used by smaller animals and the footprint is still clear.” He backed up, looking at the ground.
“How well can you see in the dark?” Cynthia asked, wondering if night vision was another shifter perk.
“Okayish.” He dumped the backpack on the ground and dug out a flashlight. “Let’s see if we can follow the shoe prints. It should start getting light soon, that will make it easier to follow them.”
Hunter set off into the forest, with Cynthia trailing behind. “Still no scent to follow?”
He looked over his shoulder. “It’s difficult so close to the watering hole. The bear scent is mixed up with others. I’m certain that’s why the bear came here.”
“Clever.” She stumbled over a tree root but quickly righted herself, promptly walking into Hunter’s back.
“I’ve picked up the trail again.” He lifted his head and smelled the air. “They’re close.”
Cynthia’s heart hammered in her chest. “All of them?”
He nodded.
“Can the bear shifter sense us?” Cynthia whispered.
“His senses won’t be as strong, so he won’t sense us right away, but he will when we get close and that’s when they might run.” He turned around and indicated the satellite phone. “We should call backup now, we need the eagles in the sky.”
Cynthia nodded and pulled the phone out of her pocket. She dialed Guy’s number and explained the situation.
“Okay, I’ll get the others up and rendezvous with you.” He took down their location, sounding incredibly alert even though she’d woken him in the middle of the night. Even as she spoke on the phone, she could hear him rousing Liam and Angel.
“What happened with the police?” she asked quickly.
“I had an interesting talk with the local sheriff. I’ll tell you when we meet up.” He ended the call and left Cynthia and Hunter with nothing else to do but wait.
“Will they take long to get here?” Cynthia asked Hunter.
“The eagles can be here fast. But Guy will have to drive around the perimeter of the forest and then run.” Hunter shrugged. “There won’t be any traffic on the road and he’s fast, so an hour tops.”
“An hour.” She itched to get in there and find the children. Cynthia could think of nothing she would rather do than hold the children in her arms and tell them everything was going to be okay and there was nothing to be scared of.
Was that a lie? From what she’d seen there was always something to be scared of. Some bad person waiting to corrupt the innocent or destroy another person.
But she also knew there were good people in the world. People like the shifters who had come out into the forest to help track down the children with no reward another than the knowledge it was the right thing to do.
“We can move in a little closer,” Hunter said as he watched her in the darkness. He’d switched off the flashlight so the children wouldn’t be alerted to their presence if they saw the light.
“I don’t want to spook them,” she answered.
“We’re good for another couple of hundred feet.” He nodded in encouragement.
“How far away are they?” she asked as she followed him closer to the children.
“About a quarter of a mile away.” He grinned at her surprised expression. “It takes practice to extend your senses that far. My guess is the kid in there is only capable of a hundred feet or more. But I don’t want to take the chance he might have honed his senses over the last couple of months.”
“Will our child be a shifter?” Cynthia asked, taking them both by surprise.
“Yeah, yeah, he or she will be a bear shifter.” Hunter grinned.
“Any preference, boy or girl?” Since she already had one of each, Cynthia didn’t mind what sex their baby was.
“Nope, as long as it’s healthy and happy, that counts for everything.” He stopped walking and slipped his arms around her shoulders. “And anyway, maybe we might have more than one child. So we might have one of each.”
“Sounds like you want to start a soccer team,” she joked as she rested her head on his chest. “A houseful of happy kids does sound wonderful.”
He dropped a kiss on her head. “What if these kids don’t have homes to go to?”
Cynthia looked up at him, searching his face for hidden meaning. “You would adopt one of these lost kids?”
“Sure. In a heartbeat. I don’t think it matters who a child’s parents are, they all need to be loved and nurtured. Can you imagine not having anyone in the world to report you missing? Yet two of these kids could have fallen through the cracks and no one would ever know they were trafficked.” He gave her a gentle smile and she took it.
“You are a special kind of man, Hunter.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips.
“I’ve been told that before.” He kissed her back, his lips scorching hers. Then he suddenly lifted his head and look up at the sky. “Incoming.”
He took hold of her hand and they stepped back, looking up at the inky black sky. As they watched, the sound of feathery wingbeats reached Cynthia, which meant they must be close. “There.” She pointed into the air as two large eagles appeared, although she figured Hunter had probably known the exact direction the eagles were coming from minutes before she did.
“You found them.” Liam shifted midair and landed on the ground, knees bent, as if it was as natural as walking.
“Almost certain,” Hunter replied as a second eagle landed.
“Hi, Angel.” Cynthia was pleased another female was here. Hunter was right, the children might respond better to a woman, a mother figure. Or they might not. Experience told Cynthia there was no hard rule on anything, particularly where children were concerned.
“Hi there.” Angel smiled brightly, looking a little nervous. “I’ve never skulked around in the forest at night before.”
“Welcome to the dark side,” Hunter said enthusiastically. “Bear shifters are renowned for skulking in the dark.”
Liam laughed quietly. “I am not going to disagree with you.”
Hunter put his hand up and the group fell silent. “There are more shifters coming.” A frown creased his brow. “It’s Rob and Charlie.”
“Guy said to go on without him if we have enough numbers.” Liam turned around and looked into the forest.
Cynthia stared as hard as she could, but she couldn’t see or hear what the others heard. “Will six of us be enough?”
“Should be, as long as they don’t all run in different directions, we can track them overhead. So that means we only have to convince two of them we’re the good guys.” Liam switched his attention to Cynthia. “You know their parents, right?”
“I do. I’ve met with Horatio’s mom several times and spoken to Joey’s parents over the phone. They live some way away and never traveled to meet me and I didn’t want to leave the children,” Cynthia explained. “Horatio’s mom is named Michaela, and Joey’s parents are Samuel and Lisa Leonard.”
“Use their names, make them aware that you know who they are and that their parents are waiting for them to come home,” Liam advised.
“What if the threat that’s kept them here is their parents?” Angel asked. She shrugged. “I’m just having a hard time believing they didn’t go straight home without a damn good reason.”
“Let’s go and ask them.” Rob lifted his head as if scenting the air, then his eyes became slightly unfocused. “Four of them. One shifter. Three humans.”
“That’s what I sensed,” Hunter agreed.
“Wow, you can push your senses further than me,” Angel said. “I’m going to have to practice.”
“When your career depends on it, you learn,” Rob said curtly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, it’s okay. I get it. You’ve all worked in the forces; your life does depend on it.” Angel pointed around them. “Which direction?”
“This way.” Rob went first, striding into the forest, his attention focused on finding the boys.
“He’s a little intense,” Angel said. “But I like him.”
They all followed, walking in single file behind Rob, with Hunter at the rear. Cynthia walked immediately in front of Rob and kept glancing over her shoulder to see if his expression had changed, hoping it would give her some indication of whether the children were on the move.
“You could just ask me to tell you,” Hunter hid a smile, but she saw his teeth flash white in the growing light. The sun would rise soon, and the day would finally dawn when she could tell Michaela she’d found Horatio. It had been a long time coming.
“Sorry, I’m just so nervous about the whole thing. I’m scared something will go wrong at the last minute,” she confessed.
“I’d have thought out of all of us you might be the one with the coolest head, since you’ve covered the story all the way along and are used to all this clandestine stuff,” Angel said.
“I usually am, but I’m too emotionally invested in the outcome.” She needed those boys to be safe. She needed them to be in one piece. She needed to bring them home.
Yet the nagging question Angel had asked persisted in her head. Why hadn’t they gone home? Why hadn’t they found help?
And would she be able to convince them that she and the shifters with her now were the good guys?
Chapter Twenty-Six – Hunter
They were close, he could sense the four children. But had the children sensed their would-be rescuers? And if they had, would they run?
Hunter trusted every one of his companions. He was certain they could bring this to a calm and successful resolution. If they were given the chance.
The group stopped in their tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Cynthia hissed as he placed his hands on her upper arms.
“There’s someone else out here,” Hunter spoke quietly, his lips close to her ear, his breath caressing her skin. He closed his eyes, pushing all thoughts of how much he wanted his mate out of his mind. This wasn’t the time for seduction, it was time for protection. Both his mate and the children needed protecting...because whoever was out there in the forest were strangers.
“Three.” Liam showed three fingers as he
mouthed the word.
Hunter could tell from Angel’s expression she could not sense the other people yet. He turned his head to one side, trying to distinguish if they were shifters. He was certain they were not. That left a small dilemma. Did the shifters risk exposing themselves, or did they take down the three people in their human forms?
“How do we know they are bad guys?” Cynthia asked quietly. “They might just be hikers.”
“True,” Rob replied. “We need to find out.”
“I’ll go,” Cynthia offered.
“No,” Hunter said quickly.
“Yes.” She turned around and squared up to him. “I can approach and say I’m lost. You can all follow and surround them. If things go south and they mean me harm, you can swoop in and save the day.”
“Why don’t I go in and say I’m lost?” Hunter said in return.
“Because you aren’t believable,” Angel answered. “Cynthia is right. If she goes in, they will either react in a helpful way, and we will know they are innocent bystanders and carry on with the plan. But if they react in a negative way, then we know they are scumbags and deserve to be hunted down by a marauding bear.”
“I would not like to cross you, Angel,” Rob said lightly, then he switched his attention to Hunter. “But she’s right. If you go in there, they’ll be suspicious and maybe think they’re being set up.”
“You don’t really look like the type of person who gets lost in the forest.” Cynthia patted Hunter’s chest and moved away from him.
“Really?” Hunter asked lightly, trying to hide how much he hated this plan. “It sounds as if you are being sexist.”
Cynthia chuckled. “No, I’m being truthful. You can’t get away from preconceptions. Believe me, they would be more likely to fall for the story of me being lost in the forest than you.”
Hunter let out a long, drawn-out sigh, which was met by a raised eyebrow from Liam. “We’ll be there for her every step of the way.”
“You’ll have to be since I have no idea where they are.” Cynthia walked to the front of the line and Hunter followed.
“I’ll guide you there. But before you go in, I’m taking a closer look.” He swung his head around to look at Angel. “While we’re dealing with this, why don’t you go and take a look at the children?”
Protector Bear (Bear Creek Protectors Book 4) Page 19
