Ranger Drew (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 4)

by Meg Ripley

  Drew said he had went out earlier and picked up some clothes for me to change into since I didn’t have any at his place. He figured that since he lived on park grounds, driving back to my hotel just to have me change clothes would be a little much. It was such a nice gesture, but a little odd.

  “You bought me undergarments?” I laughed.

  “Okay, I lied. I actually sent that girl Sophia I told you about, our medic and search and rescue specialist. She picked out the outfit and gave me an earful of teasing, so be prepared today.”

  I shook my head and headed back up to the bedroom to change, and I arrived just in time to catch my phone ringing. I checked it and saw that I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered the call anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “How’s the project going?”

  Oh boy. This clown again.

  “I’m going to the park today to meet the staff.”

  “Why didn’t you go yesterday?”

  “I got two flat tires on my way there. Someone stopped to help me, but I had to go to the mechanic to make sure the spares were on securely. Took all day.”

  “And the secretary of the hotel informed me that you did not sleep at the hotel last night. Where were you?”

  What? You’ve got to be kidding me. Nancy was a snitch!

  “That’s none of your business, frankly. As long as I get the job done, you have no say in what else I do.”

  “We know where you are. You shouldn’t get too close to those people.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll learn…” And the line went dead. Could he be any more ominous? It wasn’t like Acadia was going to blow up any time soon. And what the hell did he mean by ‘those people’? What was wrong with people in Maine?

  “Something wrong?” Drew arrived at the top of the stairs wearing only jeans. “I came up to get a shirt. Did you not like the clothes?”

  “Oh, it’s not that; I haven’t even had the chance to look at them yet. I just got a phone call from Mrs. Q.”

  Did he hear me?

  “Mrs. Q?” He looked confused but went over to his closet and pulled out a red tee shirt.

  “Yeah, the old lady who let me take her vacation. She has a really weird name, so she lets me call her Mrs. Q.”

  Damn, is this lie getting elaborate.

  “Oh, okay. Well, I’ll be downstairs whenever you’re ready to head out.” He kissed my forehead and left the room, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  I hated lying to him. He seemed like such a nice guy and I just knew this was going to end up biting me in the ass; I just didn’t know how else to go about the situation. It’s not like I could tell him I was a hacker who got in trouble with the government and was now working for them as an informant. Lying to him was better than being killed in front of him, which, according to Hanson, would happen in a heartbeat if I decided to tell anyone anything.

  I opened the bag Drew had given me. Sophia had picked out an orange tank top, a pair of jean shorts and a pair of combat boots—along with a lacey bralette and matching thong. I rolled my eyes at the undergarments; I could see what Drew meant about her being a jokester. Regardless, surely, he’d be enjoying the looks of them later.

  I got dressed quickly and headed downstairs. We arrived at the park in minutes and a man waiting at the gate gave us a friendly wave, so we parked and walked over to meet him.

  “Hey, Boss,” Drew greeted the man. “This is Kathleen. I’m here to have her meet everyone and then I’m going to show her around.”

  “Nice to meet you, Kathleen. I’m Knox, the Head Ranger here at Acadia. Drew knows his way around, but if you have any questions he can’t answer, feel free to ask.” Knox was likeable and handsome, but not really my type. He had a military style cut, happy eyes, and a fit physique. He sounded genuine and I couldn’t pick up on anything sketchy about him. I made a mental note to jot down everything I observed about each Ranger so I could report back to Hanson later.

  There was nothing to report, though. When the day ended, I had met everyone, and I had nothing ill to say about a single one of them.

  Drew had taken me to the holding lodge to meet Trent Bailey, the Law Enforcement Ranger of the park. He was kind of a hard ass, but still playful, and I could see why he and Drew got along so well. He had short hair and it seemed that all the men in Acadia were muscular. And then there was Ramon. Ramon had been a sweetheart and told me how beautiful I was when he knelt to kiss my hand. He had cropped black hair and was quite handsome; his Spanish accent was thick and I liked it. I felt like my Irish one had mostly disappeared, but at times—or if I’d been drinking—people said they could hear it in certain words.

  I got to meet Sophia, who definitely was suggestive, to say the least. I remember her mentioning something about marriage and children, but I laughed off most of that conversation. She was gorgeous, though, with her flawless caramel skin, a long deep brown ponytail, and hazel eyes with a fit body. I guessed that all park Rangers had to stay in shape. Maybe it was part of the job description, or you just got fit from all the hiking.

  I got to meet Hannah, Knox’s fiancé; Blanca, Trent’s fiancé; and Min, Ramon’s fiancé, completely by chance. They were having a picnic by Eagle Lake when Drew was showing it to me, discussing their upcoming triple wedding. They were all gorgeous women and I felt a bit intimidated by meeting them all at the same time.

  “Maybe you’ll be one of us soon.” Hannah had winked at me.

  That was a nice thought. The park was lovely, and I enjoyed being shown around. I took lots of pictures to support my Mrs. Q lie, and next thing I knew, Drew was dropping me off at the inn.

  “I hope you enjoyed our day at the park. I’ll have to go back to work tomorrow along with everyone else, but maybe we can have dinner afterward?”

  “I had a great time and I would love to.” I gave him a soft kiss and smile.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Oh, could I possibly get your number? I realized the other night that I didn’t have it.”

  “Sure!” He handed me his phone and I added myself as a contact before I headed to my room.

  I glared at Nancy as I walked past the reception desk and she seemed to cower slightly.

  Yeah, bitch. You’d better be afraid. I don’t need a fucking babysitter.

  When I got to my room, I decided to call Hanson immediately to get the conversation over with. He had provided his number on the first page of the profiles he had sent me, and I punched it onto the screen.

  “Hanson.”

  “It’s Kathleen.”

  “Did you go to the park and meet everyone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anything out of the ordinary? Anyone seem suspicious? Like they were hiding something?”

  “Honestly, I get more of that impression from you. I didn’t notice anything at all that was off about them. They seem like genuinely nice people.”

  “Well, they’re not.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “On your laptop is two videos. I had my team download them and place them on an encrypted file on your desktop. The password is b-e-a-r, although I’m sure you could’ve figured it out eventually. Doesn’t look like you’ve had much time to look at your computer, though. You’ll wish you had seen them sooner.”

  Seriously? Nice secure password, douchebag. And only four letters? Pfft.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I was so confused by everything he was saying, and his tone was so hateful towards these people that were nothing but pleasant to me. I didn’t like it one bit.

  “Just watch the videos.” And with that, he hung up.

  I threw my phone down in frustration and grabbed my backpack, pulling out my laptop. My usually blue password screen came up, and when I got in, I scoured the desktop screen for the encrypted folder and found one titled ‘Evidence’ that hadn’t been there before.

  Evidence of what?

  I opened the folder with the lame password Hanson had provided and n
oticed there were two videos in the folder. After a few minutes into the first one, I gasped in shock, covering my mouth in horror. There was a bear on the screen, slashing through a woman’s body while she was fighting against it until her body went limp. The bear licked the woman once and I thought it was going to eat her, but it didn’t. Instead, there was a sound in the distance. The bear growled and followed it. At the end, there was a note stating it was footage of Danielle Peterson’s death, who was the host of Danielle’s Destinations. I recognized the name from the Travel Channel which one of my hosts watched avidly. But I felt like I recalled them proclaiming it as a murder and that they found the guy who did it, but that he died somehow. I was very confused, and I didn’t understand. I recognized the clearing from the rocky beach Drew had shown me that day.

  So, what? There’s bears in Acadia? I’m not surprised. It’s not like the staff had anything to do with her death.

  I clicked the second video hesitantly, hoping I wouldn’t have to watch anyone else’s brutal death. What I saw was a group of people standing around under the moonlight, staring up at the night sky. It had a really eerie feeling and I didn’t really understand it. Then, the people started to change.

  Into bears.

  What?! How is this possible?

  I played the video again from the beginning, but nothing was different. They were really shifting into bears.

  Wait. That’s it. Shifting. Shifters! That’s what it meant on the profiles. Wait, so is Hanson saying that one of these people killed Danielle? Wait, so everyone in the profiles he sent are…shifters?

  I got out my folder and looked through all the sheets and it was true. Knox, Ramon, Trent, and…

  No.

  There was no way it was possible. I replayed the video once again, zooming in closer to see their faces, and that’s when I saw him.

  I watched Drew turn into a bear.

  Chapter 5 – Drew

  I need everyone to report to the gate immediately. Stop whatever you’re doing and don’t ask any questions. I expect everyone here in ten minutes.

  I heard Knox’s voice echo in my head and I immediately pulled over. What could possibly be happening? He hardly ever called a surprise meeting for the clan, and based on the weak connection I was sensing, he was reaching out to all of us.

  I sighed and made my way to the gate, wondering all the while what news waited there.

  When I arrived, it seemed that most of the clan was already there. I had been on the opposite end of the park, so it took me a good ten minutes to get to our meeting spot. The clan had formed a semi-circle around the gate and I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to get to the front so I could see what was going on. I spotted Knox first and he was trying to quiet the chatter of the crowd; everyone was staring, and I finally saw why.

  Kathleen was standing in the middle of the semi-circle, trembling. She was wearing the same outfit she wore on our first date and my eyes widened as I watched her scan the crowd. Her gaze met mine and she immediately looked away; all I could see in her eyes was fear. I could almost hear her heart beating from where I stood and I wanted to reach out to her, but that seemed like the last thing she wanted.

  What is she doing here? Why does she look so scared? My eyes never left her, and Knox finally got everyone to be silent.

  “This woman is here on behalf of a certain faction of the government and says she has an urgent message to deliver from them. I’d like you to listen carefully.” Knox nodded toward the clan and then joined the semi-circle, turning his attention to Kathleen. It seemed even he didn’t know what the message was yet.

  I watched her eyes flit around the crowd in panic and my heart twinged. All I wanted to do was hold her.

  “I was sent by the National Center for Preparedness, Detection and Control of Infectious Diseases. They are a sub department of the Centers for Disease Control and have asked me to deliver a message to you all.” She seemed to gain her bearings the more she spoke. “The NCPD-CID knows your secret. They know about…bear shifters. They’ve been watching you all since the Danielle Peterson incident via satellite and they witnessed you all change during the full moon.”

  Gasps and whispers erupted in the crowd, and some of the men began to shout in anger.

  Knox turned towards them to quiet them down. “Let her finish!” he yelled. Everyone quieted as his Alpha authority rang over us. I was in too much shock to say or do anything. I also wanted to hear what else Kathleen had to say.

  “They have a proposition. They want you all to turn yourselves into the government where you will be housed in cells for testing and observation.”

  “What the fuck?” Trent shouted. “Hell no! We’re not going to become anyone’s lab rats!”

  The clan murmured in agreement and Knox held up one hand in an attempt to silence everyone once again. I could tell he was irritated and angry, but he was trying extremely hard to contain it. His lips were tightly pressed together, and his muscles were tense.

  “What is our other option?” was all he asked.

  “They said if you do not turn yourselves in, in one week, they will set Acadia ablaze and destroy your home. And all of you along with it.”

  “WHAT?!” Trent exploded, heading toward a trembling Kathleen. Knox had to grab him, but I could see Knox’s grip was shaky as well. They were fighting their anger to prevent provoking a shift.

  Kathleen looked like she was ready to bolt in the opposite direction. The crowd now resembled an angry mob and I just stood there, stunned.

  She lied to me…She said she was here as a tourist, and all along, she knew. She was scoping out the area. I can’t believe this! Anger began to surge through my veins.

  Knox raised his arm again to silence us, taking a few moments to formulate his thoughts.

  “I speak on behalf of my entire clan and I am sure we are unanimous in this decision. We refuse to turn ourselves in for testing. If the government wishes to eradicate us, they will just have to try.”

  Shouts of approval resounded through the crowd and I just stared at Kathleen. I wanted her to look at me and see the betrayal, hurt and anger I was feeling. But she didn’t; she seemed too preoccupied with the crowd of angry bear shifters glaring at her. I turned to Knox and caught him nodding to Trent, who started to head toward Kathleen. I instinctively moved to stop him, but Knox gave me a stern look. Kathleen’s eyes widened, and she stumbled backwards, but Trent caught her, placing her hands behind her back.

  “What are you doing? Let go of me!” Kathleen struggled against Trent and I could see the panic on her face.

  Despite all the negative feelings I felt towards her in that moment, my body seemed to want to move on its own volition. My gaze shifted to Knox again, and his eyes had moved to me. He had noticed my slight advances towards her and was glaring me down. I sighed and held myself in position, looking on with a mix of feelings.

  “Don’t kill the messenger!” Kathleen yelled.

  “On the contrary, we aren’t going to kill you. But if you think we’re just going to let you go back to them, you have it all wrong.” Knox’s tone was stern; he meant what he said. He would hold her hostage, but I didn’t understand what good it would do. Was he hoping that holding her captive would stall the fire?

  The crowd didn’t seem to follow my mind’s path. They erupted into cheers as Kathleen was carried away by Trent to what I imagined would be the holding lodge. Was he just doing this to appease the clan’s bloodthirst? I’m sure if he had asked for her punishment, people would have wanted her killed, but Knox was a fair leader. All she had done was deliver a message from people who wanted to kill us. She had made no moves to harm us in any way and Knox wouldn’t just take someone out for no good reason.

  “She is a traitor. Whatever feelings you had for her, bury them. We trusted her in our park and among our staff, and she was an enemy all along.” My eyes left Kathleen and Trent and turned to Knox, who was now standing before me.

  “I’m not so sure she�
�s the enemy—”

  “She’s working for a faction of the government that wants to kill us all. How does that not make her the enemy?”

  “There could be more to the story. I just…I don’t know…” I sighed. I wanted so badly for this to all be just a bad dream.

  “I need you to pull it together. They’re sending fire and I need you to set up the safety plan. I want Acadia fire proof by next Monday. You can have as many workers and other resources as you need, but you have to make it happen.”

  By next Monday? That was going to be a stretch, even if I had the entire clan working with me and all the money in the world, but I knew better than to say that to Knox. He was obviously counting on me and I wasn’t about to let him down—I couldn’t. The whole clan and the entire park were on the line. I had so many lives in my hands and I had to try my hardest to get the park secure.

  “I can get it done,” was all I said, and Knox nodded. His eyes lingered on me for a moment. “I’ll be fine. Seriously.”

  “You don’t have much of a choice.” With that, Knox walked away. Most of the clan had already dispersed and Kathleen’s shouts for freedom were long gone. I stood there, alone, forcing down the feelings for someone I felt that I no longer knew. Who was Kathleen, really? How much of what she told me was actually true?

  I had no answers for those questions, but there were more pressing issues to contend with. I had to figure out how to get fifty thousand acres of land fire-safe in one week.

  ****

  The execution of my safety plan began immediately. I got all the financials approved for securing enough sand bags to cover the entire perimeter of the park and had planned on sectioning off each area. I was sure to get enough extras to disperse randomly as well. I also lined up extra digging supplies, since the park’s tool shed only had enough for three workers. The last items on my list were water tanks. I was able to acquire enough two hundred seventy-five-gallon water tanks to disperse throughout the park, one for each area. I made sure each tank had three openings for hoses and obtained enough hoses to attach to them all.