Margaret, who had already shifted into her bear shape, huffed softly.
"Shh," said Mary Jacobsen, who was crouched next to him.
According to the plan that they had hastily cobbled together on the way to the airport, she and Bill Jacobsen were supposed to remain in human shape and serve as the arresting officers…if any of the kidnappers survived this incident.
With Patrick involved, Evan wasn't sure that this day wouldn't end with pools of blood on the tarmac.
The three of them had arrived at the airport a short time ago. Evan and Mary had masqueraded as a young couple wishing to view a plane for sale inside the hangar. Margaret had played the part of the seller, a harmless-looking older woman.
They had walked right by a sleek white Gulfstream jet parked on the edge of the tarmac near the hangar, at the end of a line of Cessnas, Beechcraft, and Piper Cub single-engine airplanes.
Now, all three of them were hidden behind the hangar's rolling metal door and peering through the gap between the door and frame.
The Bearpaw Ridge Airport had a very basic layout, consisting of a long metal hangar building for single-engine aircraft, plus a one-story building that housed various aviation-related offices and the departures/arrivals lounge. The buildings were located on the border of the paved tarmac, and the airport's single runway was meant for small aircraft.
The jet bore no logos, but thanks to Sheriff Jacobsen's information, Evan knew it belonged to Eucheuma Biosciences.
They have our mate, his bear rumbled. Evan's skin tingled in anticipation of his shift, and he hastily began to strip.
Mary might have booted him from her bed, but she still watched him appreciatively as he removed his T-shirt and jeans.
"Congrats on the engagement, by the way," she whispered. "So, have you told Steffi yet that you're a shifter?"
He nodded and let the shift overtake him.
Once he was in bear shape, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Margaret, waiting for Mary's cue.
His senses enhanced now that his bear half was dominant, Evan could smell traces of Steffi's scent in the air, mingled with the smells of dust, oil, and aviation fuel.
She was in that jet. And she was still alive.
As the three of them watched anxiously through the narrow gap, Patrick emerged from Bill Jacobsen's red Toyota Tacoma pickup, which had pulled up about 50 yards from the Gulfstream.
The big, bearded man was carrying a doll wrapped in blankets as a decoy.
Even from this distance, Evan could see the murderous expression on his cousin's face. He hoped Patrick would stick to the plan.
Sheriff Jacobsen stayed by the truck, arms crossed, leaning against the door with deceptive casualness. Evan knew that there was a rifle inside the truck's cab and that the sheriff was an extremely good marksman.
As they had hoped, Patrick's approach drew the kidnappers out of the jet.
Evan tensed as the jet's door swung open and out and transformed into a set of stairs located just behind the cockpit and in front of the wing.
Jessica emerged first. She looked disheveled and furious but uninjured as she marched down the stairs.
Elizabeth Pearce was right behind her, and the angle of her arm suggested that she was pressing a gun into Jessica's back.
The next person to emerge was Steffi. Evan couldn't suppress a huff of relief when he saw his mate.
Then he spotted a big red mark on the side of her face, and his lips wrinkled back from his teeth in a silent snarl.
Someone had hit his mate. Evan and his bear would make them pay for that.
For the first time, he understood completely how gentle Patrick had been able to kill every single one of the Ordinaries who had threatened Jessica.
The last person to emerge from the plane was a stocky man, somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, with a military-looking buzz cut. He was holding a gun trained on Steffi's head.
Evan caught his scent and had to work hard to suppress a growl.
He recognized this man both by his appearance and his scent. His scent revealed that he had been present at the river trail abduction just now. But his appearance clued Evan that Buzz Cut was also one of the people had tried to snatch Steffi and Olivia on the night of the hotel fire.
Royce had bitten this man in the leg, Evan recalled.
And suddenly, Evan knew exactly who had shot Steffi's dog on the river trail.
"Okay, get ready," whispered Mary, as Patrick neared the small group now standing in front of the Gulfstream.
"Three…two…one…" Mary counted under her breath.
And then her fellow officer Roy Bagweshi, a bald eagle shifter who had been circling far overhead, made his move.
Roy folded back his wings and dove through the air with his powerful feet extended. Long curved black talons raked across Pearce's head and face, drawing blood.
She screamed and flung herself down on the tarmac, trying to cover her head and face with her arms. Evan saw the gun fly from her hand.
"Now," shouted Mary, pulling open the hangar door with all of her considerable strength.
Evan and Margaret charged through and headed for the jet at a ground-eating gallop. Grizzlies were fast—much faster than humans, and faster than most prey animals.
Roy made another pass, this time aiming at Buzz Cut.
Buzz Cut ducked, and Roy's talons left a long tear on the sleeve of his shirt. Buzz Cut recovered quickly, though, and Evan saw him raise his gun and aim for the eagle, who was circling for another pass.
Before he could pull the trigger, Evan was on him. He roared with rage and lashed out at Buzz Cut with his paw.
The blow sent Buzz Cut flying backwards, his shirt in shreds now and long bloody rows gouged across his chest. He hit the jet's fuselage with a loud thump, and the gun, jarred from his hand, went spinning across the tarmac.
Buzz Cut tried to scramble after it, but Evan was faster. He swatted Buzz Cut down with another blow from his paw, then pinned the man to the ground.
He could smell the man's fear now. It was intoxicating…the smell of prey.
Evan shook his head, trying to clear it of bloodlust. He had Buzz Cut where he wanted him. As much as he wanted to kill the man for what he'd done to Steffi and Royce, he knew he couldn't.
Keeping his prisoner firmly squashed against the ground, Evan swung his head around and looked for his mate.
He saw Jessica in Patrick's arms and breathed a sigh of relief. Their mission had succeeded.
An instant later, he found himself surrounded by Steffi's familiar fragrance as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, burying her face in his thick fur.
"I knew you'd come for me!" she said, her voice muffled. "Oh God, Evan, I was so scared. I knew none of you would ever give up Olivia, and I didn't want you to, but I thought they were going to kill us!"
Evan growled softly and felt his claws dig into Buzz Cut's back. His prey gave a muffled cry of pain.
Meanwhile, Margaret had reached Elizabeth Pearce. She sank her teeth into the back of Pearce's jacket, then lifted her.
Pearce screamed again, a high sound of terror as Margaret growled.
"Margaret! Evan! Don't kill them!" Mary shouted as she ran toward the plane. "We need them alive to question!"
Margaret growled again and shook her prey violently before dropping her to the ground. Pearce sprawled limply for a moment, then moaned and curled into a fetal position.
Mary reached them and knelt at Pearce's side.
"Good job, all of you," she said, looking at around at the shifters.
Above them, Roy gave a harsh, triumphant cry, then veered off, presumably to land wherever he'd stashed his clothes and shift back to man shape.
Mary had to push Margaret aside with visible effort before she could draw Pearce's arms behind her back and cuff her.
She rolled Pearce over, and Evan saw that the woman's face was a mask of smeared blood from the gashes on her scalp and face.
&
nbsp; Pearce eyed the two grizzlies fearfully, then turned back to Mary, who had begun to read the prisoner her rights.
"There are more shapeshifters?" she said in a disbelieving tone. "Patrick Swanson wasn't some unique genetic freak?"
Mary raised her brows and looked around with theatrical exaggeration.
"Shifters, Dr. Pearce? I don't know what you're talking about," she said blandly and resumed her recitation.
"You don't see them? But they're right here! There's a bear sitting right next to you!" Pearce's voice rose, until it cracked on the last word.
"You know what I see?" Mary asked sharply. "Two women that you and your associate over there abducted at gunpoint. I also know that there's a warrant out for your arrest in California—I spoke to someone at the Cupertino Police Department a short while ago and put a name to the photo they had of you."
Sheriff Jacobsen arrived and proceeded to arrest Buzz Cut, whose name turned out to be Roger Davis. Like Pearce, Davis was bleeding copiously.
"Do we need to take them to the ER?" the sheriff asked Jessica once Davis had been cuffed and read his rights.
She gave Pearce's and Davis's wounds a cursory examination and shook her head.
"If you have a first aid kit handy, those should probably be disinfected and bandaged, though," she said coolly. "I'll do it as soon as my hands stop shaking."
"Dr. Tristan, you're a better person than I am. If someone targeted one of my kids, I'd stand by without a qualm and watch them bleed out," Jacobsen said to her.
Both Pearce and Davis flinched at the sheriff's words.
"Lucky for Dr. Pearce and Mr. Davis," Patrick said with soft menace, "they never actually laid hands on my daughter. I should kill them for taking Jessica, but I'm going to let them live so that they can rot in jail."
"When I first arrived in Bearpaw Ridge, Annabeth told me that the Swansons take care of their own," Steffi said, her hand resting lightly on Evan's head. "She was right."
Epilogue
Four weeks later
"I do," said Steffi.
Outside, rain was coming down in torrents. But that didn't matter—this was her wedding day and the best day of her life.
Due to the inclement weather, the outdoor wedding and reception that she and Evan had planned had hurriedly been relocated to Evan's huge cabin on the ranch.
Steffi and Evan were still living in the apartment over the bakery and had just signed a one-year lease with Annabeth, so nothing had been done to the cabin in the month since she had first toured it.
Evan's brothers had come by early that morning and moved all of the old shabby furniture from the great room out to one of the barns to make space for the ceremony and for the party that would follow.
Elle and Margaret had directed an army of volunteers to put up decorations and set up chairs rented from a party service. In the midst of all this cheerful chaos, Annabeth had somehow managed to deliver her wedding present intact despite the wind and rain: a large, three-tiered cake decorated with fresh flowers.
Now, as the marriage ceremony drew to a close, Steffi reflected on how lucky she was.
All of their loved ones were here: Mom and Dad were sitting in the front row, along with Elle, Patrick and Jessica, and all of Evan's brothers, including Thor, who had come from Denver for the wedding.
Although her parents had been concerned about the speed of Evan's courtship and proposal, their worry had lessened once they actually met him. Mom had taken an instant liking to her future son-in-law, and that made Dad soften towards him as well.
To her pleasure, Steffi's boss Rajesh and other members of the Copper Shark Systems Product Marketing team had come out to Idaho for the wedding. Rajesh's wife Ratika was resplendent in a gorgeous peacock blue-and-gold sari, while Rajesh was dressed in an embroidered Indian vest over a long shirt and loose trousers.
He had agreed to let Steffi continue working for Copper Shark Systems as a remote employee, on condition that she come to headquarters to attend the quarterly company meetings. And Ash had enlisted her help in marketing his new game release, so she had plenty of work to keep her busy.
Eucheuma Biosciences' stock had plunged dramatically after Caitlyn Morgan's investigative report detailed Pearce's plot to abduct a nine-month-old baby girl to use as an experimental subject. Caitlyn had managed to write the story without once mentioning shifters or naming anyone in the Swanson family.
News services all over the world had picked up the story, and the resulting uproar had taken down EB's board of directors and triggered a major investigation by the FDA. The company would be lucky if it survived the scandal.
Dr. Marcus Harmon had been arrested shortly thereafter for conspiracy to kidnap after Pearce implicated him. The authorities seized his phone and computer and found damning emails and text messages exchanged with Pearce.
And the Swansons had breathed a collective sigh of relief at the news that the threat had been neutralized.
Evan and Steffi had moved full speed ahead with their wedding plans, and barely a month later, here they were, standing in front of the big central fireplace, which was lit and crackling with a cheery flames to combat the gloomy weather outside.
At Evan's request, Margaret was acting as their officiant and reading the simple vows that Steffi and Evan had written.
During the ceremony, their ring bearer Royce sat on the floor between them, the rings pinned to a small satin cushion fastened to his collar.
Jessica, as Steffi's Matron of Honor, had ordered a cute doggie tuxedo for Royce from an Internet site. She had been so excited about it.
But Royce being Royce, he had eagerly ripped it off and torn it to pieces when they put it on him this morning for the wedding portraits. So this afternoon he was performing his ring bearer duties au naturel, a pucker of stitches along his side marking where Dr. Lee had successfully extracted the bullet.
After Steffi's "I do," Evan bent to free the rings while having his hands vigorously licked. Royce's tail beat a loud tattoo on the floorboards, and a ripple of laughter moved through the assembled guests.
When Evan straightened up again, Steffi felt cool metal slip over her knuckle and come to rest beside the antique pearl ring. Then it was her turn to lift Evan's big hand and put his ring on.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife," Margaret declared. She was wearing a vibrant purple dress and had matching purple flowers in her hair. "You may kiss the bride, Evan."
All of the assembled guests broke into cheers and applause as Evan dipped Steffi low and kissed her. Some of the white roses pinned to her hair came free and tumbled to the floor, but she didn't mind.
When he let her up again, her cheeks were hot, and her breath was coming fast.
Margaret took them each by the hand, turned them to face the guests, and said, "Family and friends, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Swanson?"
A roar of applause and loud whoops shook the rafters of the great room. Overcome with joy, Steffi looked at her new husband and knew that this was the beginning of her happily ever after.
The End
Thank you so much for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you liked it, would you please leave me a review?
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Also by Ophelia Sexton
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Heat (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 1)
Smolder (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 2)
Ignite (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 3)
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