by W. H. Vega
Michael sat down at his desk, looking weary. “Just do it,” he said, waving his hand. “I know it’s not the right way to deal with things, but it will get rid of this problem so we can focus on the cubs. We don’t need any more reasons for the other clans to be on our lands.”
Zane went to argue, but he snapped his mouth shut. Michael hadn’t given a direct order in his alpha timbre. If Zane pushed it, Michael would give a direct order, and it would be one that he would have to obey.
Zane thought Gabby was annoying, but she wasn’t annoying enough to kill. Michael was overwhelmed and worried about the cub situation, understandably so…the last cub killed was his nephew.
Zane quickly left the room, carefully focusing his thoughts so Michael wouldn’t be able to hear them. Though Michael seemed much too distracted right now to be concerned with Zane’s thoughts.
Zane would take Gabby back to her car and tell her to stay the hell off the parklands. Of course, she didn’t seem like the kind of girl who would listen, so he would have to cook up something really good to tell her. And he would need to be quick.
He burst into the room where Gabby was waiting, and he saw her jump up, startled. She looked like she had fallen asleep.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “Can I go now?”
“Yes,” he said tersely. “We need to go. Now.”
He grabbed for her elbow and she yanked back. “Excuse you!”
“Excuse me, what?” He didn’t have time for this.
“You don’t just reach out and touch someone!” she huffed.
What the fuck? Here he was trying to save her damn life and the least she could do was be a little appreciative.
Of course, Gabby had no idea that a werebear alpha had just given the order to kill her.
“I was only trying to help,” he said, annoyed. “We need to hurry, though.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”
“Because I’m busy, and I have a lot to do.”
Gabby opened her mouth to say something, but then wisely closed it. Zane was in no mood for her sassy attitude.
He moved down the hallway towards the front doors, and Gabby hurried to keep up with him. Just as they approached the doors, a loud beeping rang out.
Gabby jumped with surprise, and Zane cursed loudly.
“What is that?” Gabby cried, covering her hands with her ears and looking wildly around the building. Alarms were screaming shrilly and flashing red lights were going off.
Before Zane could respond, Michael burst out of his office, racing down the hall.
“Fuck,” Zane breathed. Michael’s bear was nearly at the surface and Zane swore he could see the color of his skin getting darker, due to the sprouting hair.
“Put her somewhere safe!” Michael roared, and before Gabby could protest, Zane grabbed her by the arm and yanked her toward one of their safe rooms.
“What the hell?” she cried out, but she didn’t fight Zane.
“Wild bears,” Zane yelled, “we need to get you to safety!”
Gabby’s eyes widened with fear at the mention of bears, and she allowed Zane to push her into a tiny room.
“I’ll be back,” he said quickly.
“Wait!” Her voice was higher than normal, and he could feel the panic rolling off her. “What about you? Where will you go?”
“I’m the ranger. I need to investigate.” And before she could ask another question, he pulled the door shut and locked it.
“You’ll be safe in here!” He promised.
Chapter Six
Fear washed over Gabby, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the panic consume her.
Bears, bears, bears.
More damn bears.
And now she was alone.
Her eyes flew open and she looked around the room Zane had locked her in.
What the hell?
It seemed to be some kind of safe room.
There were no windows and Gabby tried to swallow the overwhelming nausea of claustrophobia. The room was no more than ten feet by ten feet, and there were two small lights attached to the ceiling.
Other than that, the room was sparse, with a small couch and a cupboard. Gabby pulled the cupboard open and found a pack of waters along with some other non-perishable goods.
She gulped.
She did not want to be stuck in this room long enough to need food.
She felt the walls closing in on her again and she went back to the door, listening for any sounds from the other side.
Silence.
She pressed her ear to the door, and it suddenly occurred to her that the room might be soundproof too.
Holy hell, she was going to lose her mind.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” she said to herself, taking deep breaths. “You’re here for your safety.”
She slowly began to pace the room, repeating her calming mantra and wondering if it was better to be locked in this awful room or to be on the other side with wild bears roaming the grounds.
What was going on with the bears? She couldn’t help but think of her father and all he had warned her about.
She was ready to climb the walls, so she climbed onto the couch and curled her feet up underneath her.
At least she was dressed in comfortable clothes.
She buried her head between her knees so she wouldn’t have to look at the stifling walls. Instead of thinking about her current situation, she focused on Lucy and her mother. She concentrated hard on her family, wondering why Lucy was struggling so much and why her mother was such a screw up.
When her thoughts drifted to bears again, she quickly thought of anything else—her job, her beat up truck, her idiotic decision to leave her cell phone in her car. She wasn’t wearing a watch, so she had no idea of what time it was or how long she had been in the room.
She decided to focus on how she was going to give Zane a piece of her mind when he finally came to let her out. And then, sexy or not, she never wanted to see him again.
Chapter Seven
“What the hell?” Michael bellowed as he and Zane raced toward the front doors. The alarms had only gone off once before, when Zane had just started helping Michael at the park. He barely remembered it; the day had been such a blur.
Zane knew that multiple bears had to be on the property to trip the alarms, and he also knew that many of the Virtus clan members had to be on their way. Hopefully, there weren’t too many people out in the park, or else they would see the multiple bears that would be roaming the land.
As Zane burst through the doors behind Michael, he let his inner bear out, roaring ferociously as he shifted. He felt his clothes rip and shred, but he couldn’t be bothered with clothes at the moment—there was too much urgency. It was too coincidental that there had been trespassers on their land and now the alarms were going off. Even when cubs had been killed, the alarms had not been set off, meaning that there must be several trespassers this time.
Zane felt his teeth sharpen and lengthen, and he could feel his animal senses become acute. Hair sprouted across his body in a slow wave, and he felt his nails sharpen into claws. His paws pounded onto the soft earth, and the transformation was complete.
He saw Michael ahead of him, larger and broader than he, and he raced to catch up. There were no more thoughts of Gabby now, just his bear taking over and reacting to the alarms. He ran to Michael’s right, taking up position as his second. While there was no official title to his position, Zane knew that for all intents and purposes, he was Michael’s second.
Quickly, four other bears joined Michael and Zane, and they ran in a diamond formation towards the forest. Zane didn’t have to guess who was running with them—he knew the four bears that also took up ranks in the clan—Quentin, Sam, Tommy, and Grayson. Zane was also certain that there were other bears from the clan out in the forest, patrolling and guarding.
Michael growled and seconds later Zane discovered why; the scent had taken longer to reach his nose. Zane growled too,
his nostrils filling with the scent of strangers. From what Zane could tell, the scent was also Cruentus, but the scent was so strong, he couldn’t be sure there weren’t also Atrocitas among the trespassers.
He heard the bears roar behind him as well, and Zane tensed, ready for a fight. They came to a small clearing, one that Zane knew well, and that was when the large, black bears came out of the shadows. Michael, Zane and the others skidded to a stop, and Zane felt his instinct to fight grow stronger. He was ready for a fight. In fact, he wanted a fight.
This needed to stop, once and for all.
It seemed the others from the Virtus clan felt the same way.
The bears from the Cruentus clan slowly stepped out, keeping close to the perimeter. Zane scanned them with his beady eyes, noting that all the bears were black as night; there were no members from the Atrocitas tribe present.
Michael growled deep in his throat and slowly advanced forward. Zane and the other bears followed suit, keeping their formation tight. The Cruentus tribe continued to move along the perimeter, but Zane noticed them tense up. He had been prepared for a fight, but for some reason it now seemed that a fight wasn’t going to happen.
The other bears warily watched as Zane and the others moved in, but Zane couldn’t figure out what was going on. There was something else happening, and he wished that he could read the other bears’ minds.
Michael seemed to have the same idea as Zane, and he paced back and forth, watching the trespassers as they seemed to split up. He nodded his head at Zane and the others, and each bear began to move towards a trespasser. The trespassing bears moved towards them and Zane growled a low warning for a second time.
Without warning, one of the black bears took off around the perimeter of the clearing and Quentin, the bear closest to the runner, took off after him. Michael stood up on his hind legs, trying to be clear about his intent to protect his lands.
Without realizing it, the bears had dispersed, and now Zane and the others were each guarding one or two bears. While there were six from the Virtus tribe, there seemed to be about eight from the Cruentus tribe.
What could they possibly want?
Knowing Michael, he probably wanted to change into human form so there could be a real dialogue, but with this many bears it was far too unsafe.
A bear was entirely too close to Zane, and he couldn’t help himself as he snapped at the bear, warning him to back up. The bear growled, but continued to advance, and Zane backed up protectively.
A loud growling from the distance greeted their ears, and then the other bear that had run off in the direction of the office was now coming back, with Quentin on his heels.
Zane could smell blood, though there wasn’t a lot of it. The Cruentus bears continued to push forward, and Zane waited for the signal from Michael. At last, Michael gave in and Zane roared his approval as he swiped at the black bear he was essentially guarding.
The bear cried out, angry, and growled at Zane. Zane prepared for a fight, but instead the bear ran around him, heading further onto Virtus lands and toward the park office.
Angry, Zane pounded after him, jumping in front of him and blocking the bear with his body. He hadn’t noticed that the other bears were running in the same direction, too. The Cruentus bears didn’t seem interested in fighting, but instead they tried to get closer to the office.
The Virtus clan protected the building, unsure of what was going on, and the Cruentus clan tried hard to break through their barrier. Zane swiftly moved from side to side, trying to stop the other bears from reaching the office.
Was something in the office? Did Michael have something hidden?
It was hard for Zane to think in bear form, and he gave up, needing to focus only on the task at hand.
With shock, he looked over and saw Michael shifting back to human form. Zane was torn between guarding the bear and protecting his alpha.
Michael held his hands up in a sign of peace and the other bears froze. Michael cleared his throat and began speaking in his Alpha voice. “Fellow bears,” he addressed the group in his deep baritone. “You are trespassing on our land,”—Quentin growled low in his throat—“we have been more than understanding by not harming you, but you are pressing our patient and kind disposition. One of your number was on our land this morning, chasing a human girl, and now many of you have shown up on our lands, forcing our clan to defend ourselves.”
He looked around, starting hard at the black bears. “We do not want violence, but please do not test us. We will fight if pushed. This is your final warning. Leave our lands immediately and do not return.”
One of the black bears protested, but another quickly shushed him.
Zane rocked back and forth on his paws, anxious for Michael to shift back.
“This is your final warning,” Michael said. “We will kill any of you if you trespass on our lands again.”
With that, Michael took a step back onto the cement patio of the park office and Zane instinctively backed up to protect him. The others also backed up toward Michael, creating a protective circle around him.
The bears of the Cruentus tribe appeared to be weighing their options. They obviously wanted to get closer, but they could see that it was a lost cause. One of the bears made a loud sound, and the other bears responded instantly, watching his move.
The bear that growled moved away, receding into the tree line, and the other bears seemed to have no choice but to follow suit. Zane watched as the black bears disappeared into the forest. Even when he could no longer see them, he continued to stare at where they had vanished.
Michael breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes closed. “They’re gone.” He opened his eyes and looked around at his clan. “Shift back to your human form. Come inside and get dressed, and then we must speak briefly.”
He didn’t wait and disappeared into the building.
Zane rolled his massive neck from side to side and then forced himself to shift back. Shifting into human form was always more painful than shifting into bear form. Everything had to snap and shrink, and he often felt like his massive bear was trying to squeeze into a tiny human.
Once the transformation was complete, he strode into the park office, not at all bothered by his nudity. It was a simple fact of shifter life. The others followed him inside, and Michael was already dressed, and had laid out a pile of extra clothes in the park lobby.
“Get dressed and come into the board room,” he ordered, before disappearing down the hall.
Zane thought quickly of Gabby, and hoped the meeting would be brief. He was pretty sure that she would be none too happy to have been locked up for so long. Zane grabbed an extra park ranger uniform, and the others pulled on random pants and t-shirts from the pile.
Zane hurried into the boardroom first, taking the seat to Michael’s right.
“What the fuck was that?” Michael asked softly, his voice filled with anger.
“I have no idea.”
The others filed into the room and took seats. There was Quentin, Zane’s neighbor and one of the werebears who had the least diluted blood in the clan. He was also one of the wisest members of the clan. Also seated around the table were Tommy and Sam, Michael’s younger twin brothers, who were brawny and brave, though not always the smartest. The final member around the table was Grayson, an asshole in Zane’s opinion, but without question a warrior, and always thinking one step ahead.
“Thank you for coming to our aide,” Michael began. “You all did exceedingly well by responding to the alarm and seamlessly following Zane and I.”
Zane felt his chest puff just a bit; he was proud to be included with Michael. But he didn’t miss Grayson rolling his eyes. Grayson had always thought that he should be Michael’s second, not Zane. Of course he had other ways of sticking it to Zane, such as running off with Zane’s fiancé.
Zane tried not to think of Alicia—it made his bear roar angrily inside him. He needed to be calm and focused.
“There were no c
ubs on the land, and I have a feeling that it’s the Atrocitas clan slaughtering cubs. That being said, I have no fucking idea why the Cruentus tribe is on our land. We had one of them on our land today, chasing a female human.” There were looks exchanged around the table. “Zane was able to rescue the human and the bear left our territory. Yet, that doesn’t explain why more of them trespassed on our lands just now.”
The men were quiet around the table, and Tommy and Sam exchanged looks. Zane doubted they would have any ideas to suggest, but he knew they would be up for a fight.
Quentin steepled his fingers together, thinking. “There has to be a reason that they are on our lands. What could be here that they want?”
“Nothing,” Michael scoffed. “There’s nothing here of value to them.”
Grayson shook his head. “Are you sure there is nothing here in this building? They certainly seemed intent on approaching it.”
Zane was listening closely, mulling the facts over. It was clear—the other clan seemed to be seeking something.
“There has to be something else,” Grayson continued. “Do we know for sure that the one bear was after the girl earlier?”
“Yes,” Zane spoke up. “It seemed that way. The bear was flat out chasing her.”
“But why?” Michael interrupted. “A new game? We all know the rules about humans.”
The rules. Zane had disobeyed Michael. Sort of. It hadn’t been a direct order.
“The girl,” Zane whispered.
“What?” Michael asked sharply. “What about the girl?” he narrowed his eyes at Zane.
“She’s here.”
“I know. You put her in the lockdown room.”
Zane nodded. “Yes, but what if that’s why the bears were here?”
“The female human?” Quentin spoke up.
Tommy and Sam seemed to be struggling to keep up.
“Yes. What if that was the reason why the bear was on our lands to begin with? What if he wanted the human? That could explain why the other bears all came later.”
“That makes no sense,” Michael scoffed, but Zane could see that he was considering it.