Shifter Nation- East Coast Bears Collection

by Meg Ripley

  “I’ll be there to relieve you in the morning and then you guys can go rest while I conduct the interrogation. Make sure you take shifts during the night.”

  “Sophia, why don’t you drive Ms. Gianni to her hotel? I’ll take the guys over to the holding area and relieve Trent for the night.”

  Sophia nodded and smiled at me. Knox motioned for my agents to follow him and they did.

  “Come on, Blanca, my Jeep is back at Hunters Beach.”

  I followed her as we walked back to where Danielle’s body was found. Sophia seemed friendly and good at her job. After some thought, I decided that I trusted her after all. She was very thorough in her reports to me and I saw a bit of myself in her work ethic.

  “Hey, so what’s the story behind this Trent guy? Does he usually have problems with authority?” I asked jokingly to test the waters with the woman. It helped that I also wanted the scoop on the guy and she seemed like the best person to ask.

  “Not necessarily. He just doesn’t like people messing with his job. He’s pretty serious about it.” Sophia shrugged.

  “He just seems so edgy around me,” I said, moving branches out of my way while we walked through the trees, the forest thick and lush all around us.

  “Oh, he’s edgy around everyone. Don’t take it personally,” Sophia laughed. “He doesn’t like to get close to people; he had a rough childhood. It took me a year and half to even get him to have a normal conversation with me. But, once he gets to know you, he can be a really sweet guy.”

  Sophia talked about Trent like they were close. “Are you two…a couple?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  “Me and Trent? No way! More like brother and sister!” Sophia was laughing again, and I felt at ease. She was surprisingly calming to talk to, which was certainly refreshing after the long day we had.

  “So, what happened to him? Trent, I mean.” I asked curiously. Part of my question was just small talk, but the other part wanted to know more about him. He was so reserved and seemed so angry all the time—or at least around me. He was like a puzzle that I wanted to solve and tuck away so I would never have to think of it again.

  “His dad abandoned him and his mom when he was a kid. When they moved, there was a police officer who was very friendly towards him and seemed to be getting close to his mother very quickly. He basically adopted the kid, but without the paperwork. Trent really liked the guy and wanted to be just like him when he grew up. One day, the officer got gunned down in the line of duty. When Trent and his mother found out, they were devastated. Trent doesn’t seem to have ever gotten over it.” Sophia sounded sad, her voice dropped and she wasn’t smiling anymore. Her pace had slowed as well.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” I touched her arm and she looked up at me and smiled.

  “It’s okay. I just worry about him sometimes…Oh, look! The Jeep is just beyond these trees here.”

  Sophia started sprinting toward her vehicle and I followed, sorting out my thoughts at this new revelation.

  Maybe I had been a little too hard on Trent. He was obviously good enough at his job that he found the murderer when I didn’t have a clue what to do next. I decided that when I saw him in the morning, I would be a little nicer to him.

  Maybe.

  If he lost the attitude.

  “You getting in?” Sophia called from the driver side.

  I didn’t realize I had stopped walking. “Oh yeah, sorry!” I hopped in the Jeep, just a little more prepared for the next day than I had been earlier.

  6

  Trent

  Can you just wake up already?

  I was sitting in front of the cell housing our new suspect with my arms crossed, waiting for him to wake up. He was still unconscious, just lying on the floor.

  I know I didn’t beat him up that badly, I thought, rolling my eyes and sighing. It was going to be a long night if he didn’t wake up.

  It appeared I spoke too soon, because at that moment, he started to twitch. He was lying on his side, facing the back of the cell. As he slowly sat up, I could see his head turning from side to side, noticing walls in each direction. Then, he rotated his body towards me.

  I could see the confusion working its way through his facial expression. His brow furrowed as he studied me and the office around us. Something told me he didn’t like what he saw because that confusion quickly shifted to anger as he bared his teeth.

  “Whoa! Hold on there, sir!” I said calmly, raising my hands up in surrender. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to hurt him—not because I didn’t want to, but because I wasn’t allowed to.

  The shifter’s expression didn’t change.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, seeing if I could get him talking, but he just growled and glared at me angrily, as if I was threatening him in some way. “You’re detained because you were found covered in blood after three bodies were discovered. You are being held as the primary suspect in these murders and I would appreciate your cooperat—”

  The shifter unleashed a mighty roar and slammed his fists against the bars. His eyes were crazed, bloodshot, and his pupils had almost dilated completely, giving the appearance of sclera lens.

  My eyes widened in horror. What the fuck is this guy’s problem?

  I stood and walked over to my desk, my eyes glued to the detainee. I’d never seen a shifter behave like that before; it was almost like the bear’s mind had taken over completely and it no longer mattered what form he took.

  No, it was more than that. Bears weren’t notorious for being angry creatures, especially within the shifter community. Our inner bears tended to react to our human emotions; our minds and bodies have been one and the same. What one felt, the other felt.

  This one, however, seemed to have no connection with his human conscious. The bear mind was ravenous and enraged like it was in constant fight mode.

  And what’s wrong with his eyes? They’re only supposed to get like that during the full moon. I was completely clueless; the full moon was weeks away.

  Just then, I swore I saw something. The banging had stopped, and the shifter was just holding onto the bars of the cell with the same angry expression—only I could have sworn I saw paws holding the bars, not human hands.

  Oh, come on, man. He couldn’t have shifted that quickly without you noticing!

  I brushed off the thought with a shake of my head. It had been a long day, and surely, I was just getting tired. I slapped myself a bit to wake up; I had to watch the guy all night and I didn’t want to doze off, so I decided to keep trying to engage him.

  As I walked back over to the chair in front of the shifter’s cell, his eyes followed my every move with a look of menace, like he would leap on me at any moment if he got the chance to.

  I lowered myself into the seat slowly, keeping my eyes in contact with his the entire time. “Let’s try this again, huh? Are you ready to tell me your name?” I raised an eyebrow at him and rested my elbows on my knees. I wasn’t afraid of the guy and I wanted him to know that.

  Then, it happened. It was only for a brief second, but this time, I was sure. I wasn’t just tired, and I wasn’t seeing things.

  The shifter’s snarl had briefly morphed into a bear snout right before my eyes. It was quick, gone again when I blinked, but I saw his nose elongate as it shifted, and when I had opened my eyes again, it was back to a human nose.

  I stared at him in complete, wide-eyed wonder. My brain couldn’t register this partial shift; I’d never seen anything like it. Was this of his own volition?

  “And here’s Trent’s office, which is also where the holding cells are located.” I jumped out of my seat, startled by Knox’s voice as he entered the room with Alex and Gerard following him. Knox gave me a look of concern when he saw me; he must have sensed that I was surprised by their entrance.

  “Agent Gianni requested that her men be the ones to guard the suspect overnight and I accepted. I am here to relieve you for the night—”

&nbs
p; “They can’t!” I shook my head wildly, starting to panic. After what I just saw, there was no way I was letting the agents near the cell.

  “Now is no time to be possessive over your office, Trent. You’ve been on duty since 8am and you could use the rest.” Knox motioned for me to follow him outside. I looked from the agents to the cell frantically. There was nothing I could say in that moment as an excuse for why I didn’t want them guarding the cell that wouldn’t completely give our kind away, so I reached out to Knox with my mind.

  I’ll go outside with you, but we need to talk.

  Knox nodded, and I quickly walked out the door, hoping that after I told him what I saw, he would be able to come up with an excuse as to why the agents couldn’t guard the cell.

  As soon as we got outside, I told Knox everything I had seen and heard: the dilated pupils, the roars, the growls, the bear paws and the snout. My arms were gesturing wildly, and I could feel myself talking a mile a minute, but I couldn’t slow down. I had to get those agents out of there. And Knox had to help me.

  “Okay, Trent. I need you to calm the fuck down.” Knox grabbed my shoulders and shook me once—hard. I hadn’t realized I was almost hyperventilating from the panic I felt at the thought of the agents seeing a fraction of what I just saw. We had to get back in there.

  “Now you see why I can’t just leave them in there! We have to go back!” I struggled to try and release myself from Knox’s grip, but he had always been stronger than me. It was why he was Alpha, and I was his Beta.

  “I’m not letting you go until you calm down. Take a deep breath.”

  I drew in a deep gulp of air, holding it in for a couple of seconds and then released it, channeling all my panic and thoughts.

  “Good. Now, this is very alarming. I don’t want you to think I’m not taking you seriously; I am. But there is no way I can ask those gentlemen to leave. I already accepted the request to have them guard the suspect for the night and we must allow them to do that. I don’t want us both under investigation for not honoring her request.”

  I opened my mouth to interject, but Knox raised a hand to stop me.

  “Those agents are very tired. And I imagine when I bring them coffee lightly tainted with sleeping meds, the only things they’ll be seeing are the backs of their eyelids.”

  I nodded slowly. Knox made sense, but I was still concerned.

  “So, what are we going to do about the shifter? We can’t just hand him off anymore.”

  Knox nodded and looked deep in thought for a few moments.

  “Okay. What I need you to do is contact Ramon. Sneak him in with some excuse and get him to test the shifter’s blood. We need to find out what’s wrong with him.”

  Ramon Marquez was our Resource Manager who came to us from Cabo Pulma National Park in Mexico. He oversaw biology, botany, aquatics, soil science and geology for the park as well as for the clan—specifically when it came to biology. He was working on genetic research that would create stronger traits in our clan, which was why he was brought to Acadia.

  I agreed with Knox: he was the best person to help figure out what was going on.

  “Alright, I’ll wait here for him.”

  “Good. I’m going to go get those fellows their coffees and head back to the lodge with Hannah. She’s been blowing up my phone all day. As soon as you and Ramon learn anything, reach out to me immediately. And don’t take anything into your own hands.” Knox gave me a very serious look and I nodded.

  “I’ve got this. Go to Hannah before she decides to come looking for you.” I smiled a little, still concerned about the situation, but I didn’t want Knox to see that.

  His phone rang, and he sighed as he answered the call.

  “Yes, babe? I’m coming home right now. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up earlier; you won’t believe the day I’ve had….” Knox’s voice trailed off as he headed back to the detainment area.

  I watched him close the door behind him and then found a good place to hide: a crowd of trees close to the holding lodge. I didn’t want Alex or Gerard to come out for fresh air or something and see me watching them. Once I felt secure in my surroundings, I reached out to Ramon.

  Aye, Trent. My man. What’s up, amigo? I could tell Ramon was happy to hear from me. Once I thought about it, I hadn’t talked to him in almost a week. I was glad to hear his voice too, but there wasn’t much time to catch up.

  Hey man, we’ve got a problem. I need you to come to the holding lodge with a testing kit as soon as possible.

  What am I going to be testing? I could hear the interest in Ramon’s voice.

  Blood, I believe. You might need to get some hair samples, too.

  I’ll be right there. Ramon’s voice was serious, and I could tell he’d be ready when he arrived.

  All I had to do was wait and hope nothing freakish happened until he came.

  7

  Trent

  I spotted Ramon approaching the door of the lodging area.

  “Pssstttttt…” I whispered with my hands cupped over my mouth. Ramon whipped his head around quickly, trying to find the source of the sound. I threw a stone in his direction. “Over here!”

  He finally saw me and walked over to the trees with a confused expression.

  “What the hell you are you doing over here, man?” Ramon looked through the trees at me, brushing some branches out of the way and crouched down beside me.

  “I figured I’d just explain things when you got here, because it’s kind of a long story.”

  I told him about finding Danielle’s body, the two camera guys and the shifter who we knew was responsible for it all. When I started describing the odd things I witnessed when observing the shifter in his cell, Ramon’s eyes went wide, and his gaze panned from me to the holding lodge repeatedly.

  “Diablo, man. That’s crazy!” I nodded, and Ramon shook his head. He knew this wasn’t good. “So how are you getting me in there?”

  “I have a plan,” I said, motioning for him to follow me as I stood up and walked through the doors of the holding lodge.

  Alex and Gerard were reading some papers and taking the first few sips of their coffees when we entered. They looked up when they saw me walk in and seemed confused by my presence.

  “What brings you back?” Alex asked, putting down his magazine and sizing up Ramon who was standing beside me.

  “Yeah, weren’t you relieved for the night? We can handle this.” Gerard appeared a little agitated.

  “I’m here to help Agent Gianni. I figured it would save her a lot of work in the morning if I brought someone in to test the dried blood on the suspect’s body—you know, to see if it matches the victims’.” I held my hands up, showing I meant no harm.

  Alex kept his eyes on me for a long time and finally decided I must be telling the truth, so he nodded at Gerard to step aside and let us through.

  “We were due for a smoke break anyway, right Alex?” Gerard pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds and I scrunched my face, slightly disgusted. I never liked cigarettes, and was glad they were stepping outside to smoke. I would not have been happy to smell the cancerous stench in my office in the morning.

  Ramon and I watched them leave, and once we heard the door close behind them, we headed straight for the cell. The shifter took one look at us and jumped toward the bars with the same pitch-black eyes that I saw before.

  “Mierda!” Ramon exclaimed, taking a step back from the cell as the shifter tried to push his mouth between the bars, gnashing and gnawing at the air. Ramon looked mostly surprised, but I could sense a hint of fear as well.

  “I told you something was wrong with him. We don’t have much time to do this, so I’ll go in there and restrain him. You grab the blood and hair samples, and then we’ll run back out and test it. Make sure to grab some dried blood samples, too, so we have something to show the agent in the morning. Got it?”

  Ramon’s eyes moved from me to the shifter and back. His expression reflected his worry, but he finally
nodded and started to fumble through his kit for his armamentarium.

  I grabbed the keys to the cell, “Just let me know when you’re good.” I glanced back at him, key at the ready. Ramon held up a few vials, a knife, a needle and a tourniquet.

  “Ready.”

  With that, I took a deep breath and shoved the shifter’s face back through the bars and opened the cell door with my other hand. I pounced on him, grabbing both his arms, pinning them to his back with one hand and held his face down with the other. Ramon was just staring at us as I fought to keep the bastard still.

  “Hurry up, man! What are you standing there for?” I yelled through gritted teeth. I was using almost all my strength to keep this guy held down and I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to do it.

  My voice seemed to have snapped Ramon out of whatever shock he was experiencing. It wasn’t hard for him to find a vein; as he stuck the needle into the shifter’s arm, our eyes widened a bit as we watched his blood flow into the vial.

  “Isn’t it—”

  “Blacker than it should be? Yes.” Ramon’s voice was serious now. His brow furrowed as he studied the ebony liquid filling the tube in his hands. “I’m going to need more than one. How much longer can you hold him?”

  “A minute. Tops.” The suspect was kicking his legs wildly and I didn’t have enough hands to hold those down, too.

  Ramon filled the next two vials in seconds. “That’s all I’ll need.” Grabbing his knife, he cut a piece of the shifter’s hair, placed it in a separate vial and hauled ass out of the cell. “Okay, but now how are you getting out of there?”

  “I’m going to count to three. On three, I want you to close the cell door and turn the key.”

  “What? ¿Estás loco? I’m not leaving you in there with Chupacabra!”

  “Just do it! Trust me! There’s no more time!” I yelled. Ramon nodded, and I started counting. “One…Two…”

  “Three!” I used the last of my energy to push my strength to its limit, allowing me to exit the cell in one second, slamming the door behind me. I heard the lock click as I knelt down and caught my breath. I was breathing heavily and looked up to see Alex and Gerard returning to their post.