The bear shifted away at their approach, blinking in the light in his face, then turning, slow and deliberate, wandering back into the forest. He cast one look around at us, then shuffled on, melting into the trees.
Jed bounded forward, ripping out of my arms as I tried to hang on.
“Jed, no! Leave him alone!”
Others trotted in as well.
They didn’t tempt fate by going after the grizzly. They swarmed the spot where he’d stood. All besides Andrew, who took over Jed’s place.
I snatched the wool ball and stuffed it into my backpack before Andrew could get it. He draped himself across my lap like a toy poodle and pawed at the brush—clumped with dark fur.
I pulled out the fur chunks and absently brushed over his ribs as I watched the others. Jed did start down the bear’s trail, but turned, only pacing and taking in more scent.
It was hard to explain, but there seemed to be a … discussion going on between the five of them. Back and forth, glancing to one another and after the vanished bear, flicking ears, snuffling, panting.
“There aren’t supposed to be grizzlies here,” I said to Andrew, my focus still on the rest of them. “You don’t suppose…?”
Andrew rolled on his back across my lap, head and most of his body in the grass, shoulders on my thighs. I brushed his white chest, but wanted to tell him to go. His short coat and lack of body fat made him awfully sharp.
Was that why he wouldn’t carry the Malamute sack? Did it hurt him? No … how would he know? He’d never had a turn.
“You know.” I glanced down at him. “You need to carry your weight around here. You and Jason get the sacks tomorrow. If you don’t want to wear that, stay in skin and take the backpack. Or take mine.” I rubbed my shoulder with my free hand. “I knew I was out of shape but…” I blew out my cheeks. “Blame it on the thin air.”
Andrew flattened his upside down head on the ground up to his pointed nose and I brushed his throat, then paused to pull more fur out of the bristles. He was shedding as much as the others in the hot sun, even if it was shorter.
“We should get moving again. Maybe they’d like to follow that bear at a distance. Definitely something about it that has their interest.” And mine. My pulse was still speeding as I looked up to Zar, then Isaac, returning to us.
Zar gave the basking Andrew a quick, hard glance, then looked pointedly away, not making anything of it. I owed Zar a brushing.
“Well?” I asked him, also glancing to Isaac, who was looking back to the forest. “Just a bear, right? But what’s it doing here?”
Isaac looked at me and cocked his head. He exchanged a glance with Zar.
“Someone’s going to have to change. No—not you, Zar. You just did change. Spend the rest of the evening like this so you can move around.”
Kage and Jason were padding back, only Jed remaining to pace and sample the ground. He lifted his leg on a tree trunk, then thoughtfully scratched up the dry earth with all four paws before returning to his investigation. His fur still bristled. The others appeared agitated as well—puffed fur, glancing around a lot, Zar’s ears back.
Kage was the one who changed. I looked away, wishing I couldn’t hear the sounds like snapping bones and tearing flesh. I also wished I could toss Kage’s things to him from the relevant Malamute sack, but it was out of reach while the red wolf was still enjoying his spa day across my lap.
Kage, it turned out, wasn’t bothered by such triflings.
When I looked around at him, he was on his knees, apparently dazed. He held his head, one hand out to the earth, and slumped forward to lie on his side on the prickly dry grasses and dirt. And spiders.
Jason stood by him, watching with his head cocked.
“Bugger,” Kage said thickly. He sounded drunk. “You should change, princess. Been too long. Years since I spent that much time in fur at a go.”
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Want a water bottle?”
“Sure…” He nodded, eyes shut. “We’re fine. Disorienting when you’ve done a couple days in fur straight, that’s all. Hard to get your balance.”
While Jason also changed, I pulled the bottle from my backpack’s side pouch. Andrew did not stir his carcass to help me maneuver, but lay there stretched out like an eel on his back.
Once Jason had also slumped onto the ground by Kage I tossed them the water.
Jed was padding over to us by then. He glared at Kage and Jason—on principle—then spotted Andrew and growled softly.
Andrew, who I was back to brushing, twitched his tail. Only a tiny bit, like he was trying to suppress a chuckle.
“Jed, stop. This brush isn’t your property. And Andrew, get up. You’re crushing my legs.”
He drew his nose up so he could look at me, back of his head on the ground instead of the top of it.
“You are. You feel like an alligator. Move. And I’ll get Kage and Jason’s clothes.”
“It’s all right,” Kage murmured.
“You’re not going to hit the trail naked. Sorry, but that’s the price you pay for skin when you’re hiking on public trails.”
“We’re off the trails.”
“Or with me. Doesn’t it hurt to lie on that stuff?”
Andrew was slowly rolling to his side to haul himself up.
“You don’t mind him,” Kage said, opening his eyes to see me. “He’s naked and you’ve got your paws all over him.”
“No, he’s in a fur suit. He’s … you all … to me it’s a distinction.”
“Still bloody naked. If Isaac’s in skin would you say he’s dressed because he has a beard?”
“That’s not even—”
Andrew licked my face—right across nose and mouth, like a big, sloppy slap.
“Andrew!” I sputtered, shoving him away.
Jed was growling again.
“That’s enough,” I snapped at him. “Both of you. Moonlight reaches all. Count to ten. Here.” I unearthed the wool ball as Andrew sat down beside me. I tossed this to Jed, who caught it, then pointed Andrew to the farthest Malamute sack. “Will you please get that? It has their things.”
Andrew gazed meditatively at it, as if wondering if it was worth the trouble.
Zar fetched it. Grabbing one side of the pack, he dragged it over with his teeth and sat down on my other side.
“Thank you.” I checked it had their clothes and shoes, then threw the bag to Kage, who was pouring water into his mouth. He passed the bottle to Jason, then grabbed the sack, but only to use as a pillow.
Zar rested his chin on my shoulder.
“Later, okay? We’ve got at least a couple more hours of light so let’s go. But tell me what’s up. Was that a normal grizzly bear? Because they shouldn’t even live here. I thought only black bears were in these mountains now.”
“Don’t know,” Kage said, propping his head on the sack to look at me.
It was weird: him and Jason lying their naked in the sun and the two wolves against each side of me, and Jed standing there moodily mouthing his pacifier while Isaac just looked at Kage, sometimes me, as if tapping his toe, waiting for someone to explain the bear to me. Again, I thought of someone catching us on film…
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“Never smelled one,” Kage said. “It smells … thick.”
“Proper musky and wild,” Jason said. “A cloud, you know?” He lay on his back beside Kage, one hand below his head, handing the bottle back to him, eyes shut.
“No … not really.”
“Well…” Jason rubbed his eyes and yawned. “A scent cloud. Different things make different scents. Sometimes there’s a strip, or a patch, or a flicker, a glow, a whiff, a puff, a sharp edge, or a smooth river. The bears are a cloud. We followed a black bear trail this morning. We didn’t see it, but I’m sure that’s what it was. We found droppings and fresh scratches on a tree that it clawed and rubbed. It had some of that musky cloud to it—this brown one now. But it’s not the same animal. Is it t
otal? I don’t know. I don’t think any of us know.” He shielded his eyes with a hand and squinted around at the others, who looked to him or me.
“So,” I said. “You think it’s possible that animal was a shifter? But you can’t tell?”
“It seems unlikely,” Jason said slowly. “Unless he spends an awful lot of time in fur.”
“There aren’t supposed to be grizzlies here,” I said. “Besides that, any shifters living in the Rockies we can assume might spend a ton of time in fur. Why not? If that’s their lifestyle. Could be a bunch of bear strangers out here for all we know.”
“Yeah,” Kage said. “That’s the thing. Jay’s got a better nose than me, but I wondered too. Only…”
“What do we do?” I said. “If he’s not a shifter, we all go our separate ways, no harm done. If he is, he probably knows what you are just from seeing us, smell or not. But he’ll have smelled other wolf shifters in his life. He’ll know you from that also. So, if he does know those things, and he walked away, there’s a reason.”
“Right,” Kage said. “Could have said hello if he was chuffed to see us.”
“But he wasn’t,” Jason said. “He scarpered.”
“Would you be able to figure it out? If we track him right now, spend the rest of daylight after him, maybe got to watch his behavior from a distance…?”
“Wouldn’t try it,” Kage said. Eyes again closed, he vaguely tossed the water bottle back to me and it hit Zar in the forepaws, making him jump and growl.
“A bear who doesn’t want a visit, shifter or total, doesn’t seem like something to go poking after,” I said. “If we don’t, though, how will we know? There’s plenty to be suspicious about. A bear like that being here at all, coming to see us, you all not being sure of the scent. Plus, what about the size? Grizzlies get over a thousand pounds, but that thing … that made the black bears I used to see in New Mexico look like puppies. You all are larger than typical total wolves. What do you think? Just on a … gut level? Do you think it’s a shifter? Or total bear?”
“Think it’s an arsehole,” Kage said.
“What?”
“It did smell like a prat,” Jason said.
I stared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Smelled … irritable, you know?” Jason said again, like I should follow the joke.
“Some people are right sods and it’s all over them,” Kage said. “That one’s a sod. Smelled like Jed in a bear suit.”
“Does that suggest to you it’s a shifter? Getting a strong emotional or personal message like that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Jason said. “Many total animals have a stronger emotional profile than humans do. Shifter or total, that sort of thing won’t be a giveaway. Horses and dogs are the worst.”
“Horses and dogs are the most emotional animals?” I frowned at him.
Jason, eyes shut, yawned again. “No idea. But they are of the normal wild and domestic ones you’ll find around Sussex. I bet elephants are really something.”
“Bloody hell, I’d like to sniff an elephant,” Kage said.
“Well, the way this investigation is going maybe we’ll hop on a plane to Africa next and you’ll get a good whiff,” I said.
“Blimey,” Jason said.
The others also seemed to be contemplating that.
“Reckon we’d get a go at a lion?” Kage asked.
I sighed. “I don’t know what’s happened to this conversation, but that was sarcasm. Let’s get going. One way or another. And maybe a few of you should trail the bear, just for a while. See if you learn anything else. Don’t get close. And stay together.”
Silence. No one moved.
I was just about to ask what was up when Jason said, tentatively, “Are you sure, Cassia?”
I rubbed my temples. “Let’s try again. Kage, Jason, based on your bear observations, and our whole mission out here, what do you think would be a good next course of action?”
“Wait,” Jason said without hesitation.
“Excuse me?”
“See if the big sod comes back,” Kage said.
“Comes … back?”
“See, if he was just a bear, he was poking around and saw something odd, sniff of a wolf pack, didn’t know what to make of it, and ambled away,” Jason said. “If he was a shifter he’ll have known what we were, just like you said, and he’ll be ambling his way right now to tell his family and decide what to do about us. If they don’t want contact, we won’t catch scent of them again out here. If they do want contact, they’ll come back for a look. And, if they don’t, it’s just how you said. No point snapping at the heels of that thing. It’s a lost hunt if he doesn’t come back on his own.”
“I see. So you want to go ahead and make camp here?” An unwilling flood of relief washed over me. I’d been avoiding thinking about my back or the blisters or the fact that I hadn’t slept last night. The truth was, though, I had no business continuing to go anywhere this evening.
“Best chance if we want to give Ursa Major the opportunity to show local hospitality,” Kage said.
“And if he’s gone to get the family in order to drive us out of their territory?” I asked. “Any idea of they’ll be friendly or not? I was rather hoping we’d find coyote shifters and skip the bears.”
“We can take them,” Kage scoffed. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Umm…”
“What he means is we can run faster and your magic will scare them off,” Jason said. “We’ll be all right, and we’ll look after you. It’s true they might not be friendly. But it’s even more true they might not be shifters at all—might not be a ‘they’ to be worried about. We’ll have to wait and see. Maybe trail him a little bit. We’ll range again tonight, one way or another. Smell what we can find.”
“They will,” Kage said, waving a hand. “Have to have a few wolves here all night keeping watch.”
“It’s not going to be you two staying in,” I said.
They both looked at me, opening their eyes and turning their heads.
“You were the only ones who actually did get any sleep last night. Don’t look at me like that. What did you think? You were going to play all day, then go to sleep while everyone else stayed up round the clock? I know Jed and Zar were up working all night, and I’m sure Isaac and Andrew covered a lot of ground as well. You guys take a skin break and a nap now if you want to, but you’re not staying in the tent again. I’d be out tonight myself if I was any use to us. This isn’t a beach holiday. We knew it would be grueling.”
They stared at me, then Kage turned onto his back, head still pillowed, muttering, “Bloody Mayo.”
Jason slithered across the grass to crawl on top of him. “How long do we get for the nap?”
“How about until sunset?”
“No deep prints, eh?” Jason said to Kage as he settled with his head turned sideways on Kage’s chest.
“Take that bleeding thing off,” Kage said as the steel of Jason’s collar dug into his skin.
“You do it.” Jason yawned.
Kage pried open the prongs and threw the collar away into the grass. Andrew’s head snapped around, ears pricking to the motion. He instantly relaxed back against my shoulder as if he’d noticed nothing. I wondered if Jason would ever see his precious collar again. Maybe find it by scent.
“So…” I looked to the others. “Why don’t a few of you go a little way out after the trail? If you think you could learn more? Stay together and don’t push your luck. I’ll set up camp, then hopefully you all can take some shifts with the sleeping and roaming. I’d feel better if you stay in pairs of at least two. I don’t know what that thing was, but there being grizzlies of any sort out here makes me nervous. Come back before dusk.”
Isaac trotted out to the bear spot at the forest without a backward glance. Jed hesitated, then followed. Zar and Andrew didn’t budge. Andrew had melted against me once more as if turned to honey.
Zar, very delicately, with
only the tip of his tongue, licked my ear. Like a kiss.
I smiled and turned where I sat to hold his face and look into his eyes. It was weird how little I’d seen Zar in fur. His face mask was distinct but soft with whites, creams, French grays and tawny and umber shades, accented by a black nose, pale eyebrow dots, and brown and gold eyes.
I stroked his cheeks with both thumbs, then over his head, between his eyes while Zar gazed back, then shut them as my hand passed over his face.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him softly. “But I think you need a break tonight. So why don’t you go with Jed and Isaac now, then come back to keep me company? You’ll need to stay in fur. We only have the one sleeping bag and it was bitter cold last night, as you may have noticed. I’ll brush you later, okay?”
Zar touched his nose to mine, again, very gentle. No obnoxious licking or pushing. It was also strangely thrilling, personal. Not an erotic thing, in the form he was in, but very intimate.
“I love you too.” I only mouthed the words. Then aloud, “See you soon. Be careful.”
Zar followed Isaac. Jed returned to leave his ball with me, which I added to my backpack, then I turned to the task of setting up my tent while Andrew slunk away with Jason’s prong collar in his teeth. Someone was having all together too much fun on this trip.
Chapter 14
My grandmother was a feminist. I am not. I’m sorry, but when one lady is out hiking with six guys I think it’s decent, perfectly reasonable, even right, to expect the guys will put up the tent. I’m not helpless. I’m not sitting with my delicate hands crossed on my also crossed knees. We are all people: all equal. Okay. But I still want a guy to pay for dinner on a first date—at the very least—and to put up the tent. Sorry, Nana. Sexist witch here.
So my relief at staying here in this sunny, open patch of valley was tempered by annoyance as I selected a space, pitched camp, put up the tent, prepared my cold, freeze-dried dinner, then sat down on my jacket in front of the tent to eat it—all alone.
Andrew came trotting back into the meadow as I settled with my meal pouch. Kage and Jason, on the other hand, remained exactly where they’d ended up after our bear discussion. Kage on his back, head on the Malamute sack, Jason on top of him, head on Kage’s chest, both out as if drugged. Jason hadn’t even twitched when Andrew had carried off the collar. No amount of my banging about with the backpacks and tent had produced the slightest blink.
Moonlight Journey: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 6) Page 10
