Shifter Nation- East Coast Bears Collection

by Meg Ripley

  “Fast. Not silent. And I can smell, you know.”

  “Fine. Ten, but when it’s too hard, just remember, I tried to help you out.”

  He laughed again. “Okay.”

  He shifted back and put his bear head down on the ground, then covered his eyes with his paws. The sight of a bear doing something so human made me crack up. I laughed at him for several seconds, until I realized that his little barks were numbers. He was already counting while I stood there laughing.

  I shifted back and sprinted away. I had the perfect place in mind: in a little hollow near the water. The dampness would help hide my scent and I could roll in the mud or jump in the water if I needed to really make it tough for him.

  I ran fast, focused on getting there before he got too close. My eyes were trained on the spot where I headed, but not on the ground in front of me, like they should have been. I ran that way when I chased prey, but any other time, I was careful to check the grounds and take care with my footing. There were hollows that could twist an ankle—human or otherwise. And there were traps. Some were my own.

  I stepped into a small hollow and felt my footing go, and my heart jolted at the feeling. I yanked my leg back to avoid falling and felt the hard jaws of the metal trap close around my foot, crying out in a whimper of pain.

  This was not my trap or any other I was familiar with. I couldn’t even see all of it since it was down in the hole. I let out a howl, hoping Ezra was close and hadn’t run off in the opposite direction. He had to have followed my scent, right? He had to be close.

  I let out another howl, panting from the pain, and searched for any sign of movement that might be him.

  14

  Ezra

  I had been running, following her scent. I didn’t think she could have gotten too far ahead of me; she wasn’t that much faster.

  But then I heard her howl. And it tore through me like I’d jumped into ice water.

  I ran faster. I ran so hard, I thought my heart would explode. I had to find her. I kept thinking that was it, the killer got her. We shouldn’t have been out there. We should have been more careful.

  My throat burned and I pushed harder. When she came into view, she was whimpering, but perked up when she saw me.

  At least she hadn’t been stabbed or shot, but the situation was still dire. Britt wasn’t able to disengage the trap, and neither could I, not without someone else to help provide leverage. I smelled the scent of the killer and, of course, she had, too. With a look of sheer terror in her eyes, she whimpered again. I took a long sniff; the scent of the killer didn’t seem too fresh. He probably wasn’t nearby right at that moment.

  I tuned back in to my clan. I had blocked them out because they were all going after the killer. They were talking to each other, discussing locations and details, and I hadn’t needed to be a part of it. I’d been too busy goofing off with Britt, which seemed incredibly stupid in retrospect—though honestly, I didn’t regret a moment of it.

  You guys find him yet? I didn’t think they had, but I wanted to confirm.

  Britt whined.

  He’s not anywhere he’s supposed to be, Conner replied angrily.

  All of our information has been wrong or too late, Owen added.

  We’re not out of options yet, Mason said, but we’ve been after him a long time. We’re going to have to start relieving some of the guys out there so they can get some rest.

  Britt whined again, more insistent this time, and batted at me. I lifted a paw to my temple, trying to show her that I was in communication with my clan. I rubbed my nose against hers, trying to give her some comfort, then licked her face.

  I have a situation here, I told them. Britt is trapped.

  Trapped? Owen asked.

  Yes, her foot is caught in some kind of trap. And the killer’s scent is on it, but it’s not recent. I’m not going to leave her. Have any of you guys been able to open a large jaw trap?

  There was some discussion back and forth, then Conner said, Mason and I will come and check it out. Between the three of us, we should be able to get it open.

  I sent them a mental image of our location.

  Where is that? Mason asked.

  I wasn’t really sure. We were far from Britt’s, in a remote part of the park I wasn’t as familiar with. I tried to give them a better sense of where we were stuck.

  We’re on our way, Conner said, Hold tight.

  I shifted back and cupped Britt’s face in my hands. “I was talking to my clan. They’re on their way to help us.”

  She nodded once, but locked her terrified eyes on mine.

  “Can you shift back?”

  In a moment of extreme stress like this, it would be very difficult for her to revert to her human form. If she could manage it, that would be a good sign. Staying calm was always best in these situations, and if we needed an ambulance or other help, there would almost surely be a few humans coming to our aid, too, so being a panther meant staying panther. It also meant she’d be treated by a vet instead of at a regular hospital until we could get her away from humans. It would be much better all around if she could become and stay human.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated. Sweat broke out on her forehead, but eventually, slowly, her coat melted into her skin, her snout sunk back and reformed as her nose, and her ears slid down into place.

  She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “It…it hurts.”

  “I know, I’m so sorry this happened. Some of my clan will be here soon to help.”

  “Which ones?”

  “Mason, who’s the officer, and Conner. He’s part of the search and rescue team, so this type of thing is his specialty.”

  She looked at me hard. “This isn’t just someone stuck in a hole, I’m caught in a trap. We have to get this off. It punctured deeply, maybe even to the bone, and it smells like…” She gulped hard and closed her eyes, sending a tear down her cheek.

  I leaned in closer and took a hard sniff. There was something there that didn’t belong. Besides the odor of the metal and her blood, fear and sweat, along with the scent of the killer—now more vile to me than anything I’d ever smelled before—there was a musty, earthy scent that I didn’t recognize.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “I don’t know for sure, but I’ve smelled it before. My gramma had some once. Some kind of poison.”

  “What?” I breathed.

  “If it’s the one I think, it’s not meant to kill. Just slowly incapacitate.”

  I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. How was this possible? How was this happening?

  I squeezed her hand hard and shifted back to check in on the guys. Where are you guys?

  Almost at the park entrance, Mason said.

  We have a problem. There’s some kind of poison on the trap. Britt says she thinks she’s encountered it before, though she can’t recall what it is. She thinks it’s only meant to sedate, but we can’t be sure.

  Can you at least try to get the trap off? Mason asked.

  Send me an image of it if you can, Conner added.

  I looked down at it, but with my clumsy bear paws, I couldn’t do a thing. I sent what I could see, but it wasn’t a good view since the trap was in the hole and blocked by Britt’s body. I’m going to shift back for a sec to see what I can do.

  In human form, I could get my head closer and get a better look.

  “Okay,” I said to Britt. “You trap all the time. You sure you can’t tell me how I can get this off?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t use traps like these.” She blinked and another tear ran down her cheek. “They’re too inhumane. Too painful to the animal.”

  I didn’t have my phone, and even if I did, I’d never get reception this far out. So trying to Google it or watch a YouTube video on how to open it was out of the question.

  My heart raced so fast, it was clouding my thinking. I got my hands down in the hole with her foot, and I tried to pull open the jaws of the trap, but they did
n’t even budge. They were locked tight, lined with sharp teeth that sank into her skin. I rubbed my finger around the teeth and took a sniff of the poison to get a stronger scent.

  “What are you doing!” she cried. “Get that off your skin!” She shook her head and muttered, “Dumbass.”

  At least she was still herself.

  I wiped my fingers in the grass and mud. “I need to shift back to tell them.” I pressed my lips to hers hard and fast, then shifted.

  This is the poison, I told them, and sent the impression of the smell. It wouldn’t be as strong as smelling it firsthand, but it was something. Recognize it?

  No, they both answered.

  Even the other members of my clan paid attention, and I felt them trying to place the scent.

  Then I heard Hailey react. It’s hemlock, she said sadly.

  I wasn’t familiar enough with it to know what it did. What does it do?

  She could die. Hailey’s words were somewhat choked. Do you have any idea how much she was exposed to?

  It’s on the trap, I said. I don’t know, but it obviously broke the skin.

  Is she having any symptoms? she asked.

  I don’t know what the symptoms would be.

  Conner spoke up then. Look for drowsiness and swelling, increased saliva, severe muscle pain. Later stages are loss of speech and consciousness before…

  Before what? I asked.

  You have to get her to the hospital right away, Hailey said, and I could hear the panic in her thoughts.

  We’re trying to find you, Conner said, frantic. Where the hell are you guys?

  I stuck my nose in the air and sniffed and listened. There was no sign of them, so I sent the mental image again.

  Not helping. I could hear the physical strain in Mason’s thoughts. They were running hard to get to us. I don’t know where that is!

  I don’t either, I said, and my own throat grew thick. I looked at Britt, and she had her head down, resting. Was this the drowsiness Conner had mentioned?

  I shifted back and took Britt’s hand. “They can’t find us. Can you tell me where we are?”

  She looked up at me, forlorn. “Run south and go find them.”

  “I am not leaving you.”

  “You have to. Unless you want me to die here.”

  I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath before I kissed her, then shifted back to bear form. I’d never shifted back and forth so much in a short time. It was making me tired, sick to my stomach, and achy. I’m going to come find you. She told me to run south.

  15

  Britt

  I closed my eyes when Ezra was out of sight. I hadn’t wanted to cry in front of him, and it was bad enough he saw me shed a few tears. Now that he was gone and no one else was around yet, I let the tears flow.

  The pain was intense. Not just from my foot, which had to be broken, but from whatever the poison was. I could feel it seeping into my body with each second that passed. I felt heavy all over, my muscles burning. If they didn’t get there soon, I’d die. Even when they did get there, I didn’t know what good it would do. I couldn’t run in my condition. Even if there hadn’t been poison involved, the trap had done too much physical damage. I’d say, depending on how crushed the bones were, I might even be permanently injured. I tried not to think about what that meant. If it would affect my shifting, if it would stop me from running or hunting. That wasn’t the time for ‘what ifs.’

  I just hoped he was fast. My body was in an awkward position and I was naked. I couldn’t decide if it was better to stay human or be a panther, but Ezra had said human. My mind was foggy and I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t like being trapped there, naked and defenseless. All it would take was one slimy man to come upon me.

  I decided to change back; I needed my panther senses anyhow. I set my head down; it was becoming too heavy. It was easier to shift to panther than it’d been to shift to human. Deep inside, my core was more animalistic when under duress, so the animal side usually won.

  When I shifted back, though, I realized I’d made one mistake: my human calf was thinner than my panther leg. When I’d become human, the trap had closed a tiny bit more. Shifting back, I’d forced the muscles of my leg further into the teeth of the trap. It was even tighter, sending waves of hot pain through me that were so intense, I passed out. I’d never experienced pain like that in my life. The trap was bad enough, but the poison felt as if someone had injected acid into my muscles.

  I had to keep spitting, too. I was starting to think I was wrong. I couldn’t recall what the plant had been that Gramma made her poisons from, but the symptoms weren’t matching up. Could I have rabies? That would mean certain death. But no, that wasn’t right. Rabies wasn’t that fast-acting. I knew better, but my brain wasn’t pulling its weight.

  I tried to keep my attention focused on the world around me, listening and sniffing like always, on alert for any hint of a predator or, in that case, help. But the pain blocked me. My mind was sludge. I put my head down again and closed my eyes, but I didn’t want to drift off. Without knowing what the poison was, that could make everything worse. But I just couldn’t keep my head up or my attention focused.

  I must’ve dozed off anyway, because I felt the sudden jolt into consciousness. A noise had woken me. I sniffed first, mostly because I didn’t want to pick my head up to hear better. It wasn’t Ezra or any of his clan members. My heart raced and I forced myself to pick up my head to look in the direction of the sound.

  Footsteps. Two men are coming toward me.

  I was so very grateful that I’d shifted back to panther and wasn’t lying there naked as these men approached. Their sent was vaguely familiar. As I drew in a few long breaths, I realized that their scents were on the trap, too. It wasn’t just the killer who’d set it up; those men must have been working with him.

  One of them began to laugh, then they stepped into view. They looked like the local scum that ran around being assholes and starting trouble. Thick boots, dirty overalls, greasy hair, too long and scraggly, with beards that hadn’t been trimmed in months.

  I was in a terrible position to fight back. With one leg down the hole, I couldn’t stand. I could use my front paws and maybe my one free back paw. I had my teeth, but could only use them if they got close enough.

  I kept my eyes on their every move and tweaked my ear every so often in the direction Ezra had gone, listening for his return. I wanted to let out a loud howl to alert him if he was close enough to hear. I didn’t think I had the strength, though. My mouth was full of saliva. I couldn’t spit with my panther mouth, so the excess ran over, my drool puddling under me on the ground.

  I’d seen these men before around Shady’s and around town in general. Those fuckers were always up to no good. They were humans, and most likely, not the type who’d know about shifters. The only humans allowed in on our secret were mates of shifters and family members who could be trusted with our secret.

  But not these two. I had to stay panther at all costs. It would be easier to stay in my condition, but I didn’t like being forced into it.

  “Well, looky here, Chuck. Got us a real nice panther indeed.”

  Chuck, I assumed, nudged his elbow into the other man. “That makes three! At this rate, we’ll have the Glades pantherless by the end of the month.” He then curled his lips back and muttered, “Damn vermin.”

  I let out a low growl. I wanted them to know I knew. I wanted them to be afraid. I wasn’t used to humans walking up to me while in my animal form and being so calm.

  I searched through the fog in my mind for the bit of information that kept trying to break free, and when it did, I sucked in a breath. Now I remembered. These men had been seen with some of the croc shifters in town, so maybe they were keen on our secret after all. The crocs themselves were a sketchy bunch. Always causing trouble. Always scheming.

  “Aww, nice kitty,” Chuck said.

  The other one came over and petted me like I was his house cat. I
snarled and snipped at his hand. He pulled it back before I sank my teeth into it.

  “Mean kitty,” Not Chuck said.

  “Well, that’s alright.” Chuck set his shotgun on his shoulder and aimed. “Dead kitty, soon.”

  I pleaded with my eyes for them not to kill me. I begged the heavens for Ezra to show up; for anything, anyone, to stop this.

  Then my prayers were answered. Almost.

  A third man walked up. “I told you fools to wait.”

  He smacked Chuck on the back of the head, and Chuck lowered the gun. “Ain’t no one around, Jimmy Bob.”

  “How would you know? Do you even know what she is? No, you don’t.” He shook his head.

  The new guy, Jimmy Bob, looked a lot like the others, as far as his levels of cleanliness and tidiness went. He was younger, though, with blonde hair. But something didn’t make sense. When his scent reached me, the resulting growl was automatic. He was indeed the killer, but something was off. The killer hadn’t been a shifter like that croc was; I knew that. Even right then, he didn’t smell like a shifter.

  Jimmy Bob walked over to me and crouched down, smiling right at me. He put a hand to the side of my face, then slapped me.

  “No boys, this here is not just any old panther. This girl’s a real, live panther shifter.”

  Their eyes widened. Not Chuck got a creepy grin as he continued to chew a wad of tobacco. “Huh. She a female?”

  The croc nodded. Not Chuck rubbed his hands together, and my stomach turned.

  When he was that close, his croc odor became an overwhelming stench. As I sorted through the details of it, I figured it out. The croc smell was there; I was also able to smell the shifter in him with no problem in that moment. But I picked up on something else that wasn’t his natural scent: some kind of neutralizer or scent cover that blocked it.

  It was nothing I recognized, like deer piss, but he had something on, and it had worked. It’d thrown us all off so we’d thought the killer was human. I wondered if they had been chasing after the wrong guy the whole time. Good chance of it. Well, now I’d found him—or, more accurately, he’d found me.