Sawyer's Mate (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Big Bend)

by Meg Ripley

  Now, I had to figure out how to dismantle it without anyone noticing.

  “What in the world?”

  I jumped at the sudden sound of Julian’s voice. I’d been so deep in thought, I hadn’t noticed he’d come toward me to see what I was seeing.

  “I think it’s another case of two animals together,” I lied.

  “Uh, I don’t think so. This thing looks like… It looks a bear becoming human. Some real-life fairytale stuff.”

  “No. It’s got to be just a bear and a person who died near each other. Maybe they were fighting and the bear bit him in half.”

  Julian raised an eyebrow at me. “Then where would their other halves be? I don’t believe bears have that capability, anyway.”

  “Maybe ancient ones did. And who knows? Maybe other animals dragged the other halves away and ate them.”

  “We have to report this right away,” he insisted.

  “Didn’t you learn anything the first time?”

  He shook his head. “But this is uncovered enough to see what it is. I think we’re done, actually.”

  I blinked up at the bright lights shining over the fossil. Sawyer had set them up when it was clear that we needed to keep working after it’d started to get dark. My evening of writing had been put on hold, but this was the one distraction that was more than welcome—it was necessary.

  “I want to wait. Please,” I begged, my knees feeling weak at the thought of the media being all over this. “It’s late, and I want to get a good night’s rest so I can come back and look at it with a clear mind.”

  “Let’s get it on the news tonight,” Julian said. “We can confirm the details tomorrow.”

  “No!” In my panic, I’d lost my usual ability to ignore him or be nice. “Listen to me. This is my find. I am not calling the media. I am waiting until tomorrow, do you understand?”

  He laughed once. “Maddy, can I get you something?”

  “What?”

  “I mean, you seem really emotional. Is it…you know…”

  “What are you getting at?” I snapped again.

  “That time of the month?” he asked delicately.

  He was lucky I didn’t slap him. I steeled my jaw narrowed my eyes. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but no, it’s not, asshole. This is my find, and I’m in charge of it. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Fine. Well, you have a good night, then. I’m getting out of here.”

  I was so worried that he might come back with the media that I didn’t move the bones just yet. I had to be positive that no one was around and no one would see. The only way to be safe was to sneak off in the middle of the night and take care of it.

  I had to protect the shifter secret. It was too important to let someone like Julian anywhere near it. I might have been able to lie enough to make the fossil seem like something else if it was seen, but I couldn’t risk it.

  The only choice was to destroy it and hide the evidence.

  14

  Madelyn

  I had set the alarm on my phone in case I fell asleep, but there had been no real danger of that. I was wide awake and wired, waiting for 2 a.m., which was the time I thought best to go and do my deed. It seemed late enough that no one would be at the park or awake, but still early enough that I could claim to be just coming back late if anyone stopped me.

  When I pulled into the park, I drove very slowly, and as I neared the dig site, I turned off the car’s headlights. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but the starlight was bright, and it looked like all the lights were still on at the dig. Oh no. My stomach sank. Was someone out there? I parked a few hundred feet away and snuck up to the site on foot.

  I kept my eyes and ears open, but saw and heard nothing, so I approached the bones and inspected them again. It was more obvious than ever that it was a bear shifter. I hoped Julian didn’t take it seriously. As long as he believed it was a fairytale, everything would be fine. Nothing seemed to have been tampered with.

  I looked at the bones for a long moment, deciding. In the end, there was more bear than human and I figured no one would order forensics on bear remains. The human bones—and any deformed enough that they might give something away—would have to go.

  I knelt down and plunged my shovel beside the first bone, removing enough dirt until I could get the bone loose. After I had the first one, I went on to another.

  “You there! Freeze!”

  My shovel fell from my hand. I didn’t move, and I couldn’t have if I’d tried. My heart thudded in my ears, knowing I was caught. In a rush of panic, everything that could go wrong came to mind. I could get kicked off the dig or kicked out of school. I could be arrested and fined. I could go to jail, even.

  And I would lose Sawyer and my whole future.

  “Stand up slowly with your hands up,” the voice said.

  I stood slowly, shakily, and raised my hands. They, too, shook terribly.

  “Turn around slowly.”

  I did as he said and squinted in the light he shined in my eyes.

  “What are you doing here at this hour?”

  I had to think fast. Maybe I could still get out of this. “I’m a paleontology student on the dig here. I made this discovery, and I was just coming to check on it.” I forced a chuckle. “I guess it’s a little geeky, but I was so excited about it, I couldn’t sleep.”

  “You care to explain, then, why you removed two of the bones?”

  Oh no. “I… Uh…”

  “There are cameras, miss. Don’t try to deny it. I saw the whole thing.”

  Cameras? I didn’t look around, but I didn’t know where they could be. Unless…they were mounted on the trailer?

  “Um, is it possible to talk to Sawyer? Montgomery? I…know him and he’s been working with us. I’m sure he can help us get this all straightened out.”

  “Sawyer?” He lowered the light and squinted at me. “You said you’re one of the students. Are you Madelyn?”

  “Yes?”

  “Officer Wyatt Montgomery. Sawyer’s brother.”

  “Oh! Right, yes. He’s told me about you. Can you call him?”

  He shook his head. “No, we’ll get this sorted out, just you and me.” He took his hat off and tucked it under his arm. “Tell me what’s really going on. Why are you out here messing with the bones?”

  “I just…I didn’t want it to look like something it wasn’t.”

  He gave me a confused look and shined his light again, but this time, over the bones. I could see his expression change in the dim light. He squinted, trying to figure out what it was. Realization hit him, and he went pale.

  “I see,” he said. “And what did someone think it might be?”

  “Some kind of fairytale creature. I don’t know, but with my dig partner, you never know what he’ll do. He was the one who thought he found a dinosaur and told the news right before finding out it was two deer.”

  He nodded slowly. “I’m going to trust, here, that you wouldn’t do anything to sabotage this dig or your find. I’d assume you’d be the one protecting it the most, is that right?”

  “Absolutely. This find is very important research for my thesis.”

  “I know. I’d ask that you just leave it be for now and keep the press away until we Rangers assess the situation more.” He shifted his weight and turned the light off again. “Look, I want to tell you one thing before you go back to wherever you’re staying. He talks to me, you know. My brother tells me things; in fact, he talks about you a lot. And here’s what I know. My brother is about the most decent guy around; more decent than me, by far. And he’s waited a long time to find the right woman. He thinks you’re her. Now, he also tells me that you’re planning to leave in about a month.”

  I sucked in a breath as the reminder sent fresh anguish through me.

  “Sawyer is in that place in his life where he wants to settle down. He wants to start a family of his own, put down roots, all that. Now, if you’re up for that with him, th
en I’m all for it and will welcome you as the sister you’d be. But if you’re going to leave, don’t drag it out. Don’t make it worse than it has to be. You’ll leave, and who do you think will be here to put him back together? Me. So please, don’t lead him on. Okay?”

  I nodded and a tear trailed down my cheek. “I never wanted to hurt him. But I was honest from the start. I told him I couldn’t be in a relationship and was going home.”

  “Yet, then you kept going out with him. What do you reckon that does to a man?”

  My face was hot and sweat broke out on my forehead. “I’m sorry; I never meant to hurt him. It’s not easy for me, either. I don’t want things to end, but I can’t stay here. I have to finish school and I have a family; I want to be near them.”

  “Then, even more reason you should start backing off now. No point in adding another month of heartache.”

  “But it’s the only time we have together.”

  “And every second you spend with him is not only going to make it that much harder, but if you’re not the one for him, you’re also taking up time from the woman who is. If you’re not going to stay, I ask you again to kindly end things now. Please don’t make it harder for any of us. Let the woman who is meant for him find him.”

  I swallowed hard. I’d never thought of it like that. But he was right. If I wasn’t his Mrs. Right, then I shouldn’t be keeping him from the woman who was. Instantly, I felt jealous of this mystery woman. I had once thought whoever found him would be the luckiest woman on the planet. But my thoughts had changed. I wanted this woman, whoever she was, to stay away from Sawyer. I wanted him to be mine forever and I wanted to be his. But I couldn’t be.

  I fought back tears as I nodded. “I will,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.” The tears ran down my face.

  He wore a guilty expression and I’d bet he didn’t often make women cry. It looked like it bothered him that he had.

  “Get on now,” he said softly. “Be safe.”

  “Thank you.”

  I bent down, replaced the bones the best I could, and then turned from him to walk toward my car.

  “Madelyn?”

  I paused and turned back.

  “Pleasure to meet you.” He dipped his head and lifted his hat.

  “You, too. Though I never imagined that meeting his family would go like this.”

  He pressed his lips together, and I turned back toward my car. The walk seemed to take forever. Maybe it was just that my heart was so heavy, it weighed my feet down.

  Everything Wyatt said had been true. I couldn’t argue any point; the best thing for Sawyer would be to end things now. If I really loved him, that’s what I would do. I gasped out loud in the dark. I’d never said the words or consciously thought them before, but there they were. I loved him.

  Pain rushed over me in the next instant, refreshing my tears. Now, I figure this out. Now, when it’s too late. What was I going to do? In my mind, I compared the pain of ending things with him with the pain of missing my family. I saw Ally’s face and Leigh’s, my parents, my childhood home, the town I knew so well and all my friends. How could I leave my whole world behind?

  I knew this, too. As good as love felt, it would fade. My heart had led me astray in the past, but it did heal. Ending things with Sawyer was going to hurt, but not forever. It would eventually get better. For us both. And I couldn’t deny the fact that it was the best thing for Sawyer.

  I reached the car and got inside, driving back slowly to the main road. There was only one thing I could do. I had to end it.

  And somehow, I’d have to figure out how to keep the shifter bones under wraps.

  15

  Sawyer

  The ringing of my phone in the middle of the night startled me.

  “You ain’t gonna believe what just happened,” Wyatt said when I answered.

  “What?” I rubbed my eyes and yawned as I looked at my alarm clock. 3:04.

  “I just reprimanded your girlfriend.”

  “You what?”

  “Madelyn went to the dig site and was pulling out some of the bones.”

  “Now why would she do that?” He wasn’t making any sense.

  “Did you see what she found? Sawyer, they’re the bones of a bear shifter in mid-shift. She removed two humans bones, and when I questioned her, she said she didn’t want the bones to be misunderstood for something they weren’t.”

  “What did she think they were?”

  “She said it was a fairytale. Do you reckon she knows?”

  “I’ve been trying to figure that out myself,” I admitted. “There are a few things I’ve picked up on that made me suspicious, but she doesn’t smell like a shifter. Maybe she’s got some in her family?”

  “Maybe. I’d reckon if she was a shifter and knew we were, then there would be nothing to hide. We’d all work together to hide the bones.”

  “Hide them? Is that what she was doing?”

  “She was trying to make it look like a plain old bear.”

  “That’s probably what we should do. If she was up there doing that, then I don’t feel so bad about destroying something she’s worked so hard to find.”

  “I’d say she wants it ruined. And it just so happens, I already fixed it.”

  “How?” I asked, skeptical.

  “I removed the bones that were obviously human and any others that looked suspicious. Then I grabbed a few bear bones and dug around with my paws. On the video, it’ll show it was an animal who had tampered with the site, and that’ll be the end of it.”

  “What did you do with the bones?”

  “They’re in my truck,” he confirmed.

  “Kept them well hidden until I figure out what to do with them.”

  “I figure we just bury them. Maybe have a ceremony at the next clan meeting. Oh hey, that girl of yours?” He let out a low whistle. “She’s a looker.”

  I chuckled. “That’s mighty kind of you.”

  “Better find a way to nail her down and keep her here.”

  “Don’t reckon that’s going to happen.”

  “We’ll see. Maybe she’ll come around after meeting her handsome future brother-in-law.”

  “I’m sure that’s what will keep her here. Anyhow, I should get some shut eye, but that was a good plan, Wyatt.”

  “Anytime.”

  We hung up and I stumbled back to bed.

  I was fixin’ to ask Madelyn about the bones when I saw her, but at the last minute, I figured I’d see how she would bring it up. Surely, she’d mention meeting my brother. But as we drove to the dig site, she didn’t say anything about it. She seemed tired, which was understandable. We’d both had our sleep interrupted. But she also seemed distant, and I didn’t like that.

  When we pulled up, she hopped out and headed over to her find, then whirled around and shot me an accusing look.

  “What’s going on?” I asked

  “Look at the bones,” she hissed.

  I saw Wyatt’s work. He’d done a decent job. Under my breath, I muttered, “Did he do a good job?”

  “Who?”

  “My brother.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, you know about that?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “He’s my brother and I’m the manager of the station. It’s his duty as both my employee and blood to tell me these things. He woke me in the middle of the night to tell me.”

  “Why would he do that?” she hissed again.

  “Morning!” Julian strode over to join us and looked down at the bones. “What the hell! What happened?”

  “We were just trying to figure that out,” I said quickly. “Something disturbed the site.”

  “Obviously, Einstein.” Julian glared at Madelyn. “What did you do? Was this why you didn’t want the media here? So you could deface the fossil?”

  “I didn’t,” she said.

  “We do have cameras,” I informed him.

  “We do?” Julian looked hopeful. “Then let’s see what happened.”
<
br />   “I’ve already reviewed the footage.” I had come in early and watched it with Wyatt before he went home. “Come on into the trailer and see for yourself.”

  He marched off toward the trailer and Madelyn shot me a horrified look. I smiled, trying to put her at ease.

  I hit play on the ancient VCR I’d brought with me from the station. On the screen, the dark, grainy image of the site appeared. Nothing happened at first and everything was in perfect order. Then, a black bear wandered into the frame and sniffed around. With his claws, he began digging up the bones, then grabbed one with his jaws to pull it free. He ran out of view, but came back minutes later to get another.

  Julian watched in shock. “This is absurd! How could this happen?”

  “I’ve seen it before,” I said. “Animals will recognize smells on the bones and come to claim their ancestors. It’s not often, but it does happen.”

  “Then what the hell was the point of having cameras if no one was going to watch and stop something like this from happening?”

  “You want us to stop a bear? Unless a bear attacks a person, he can’t be killed.”

  “This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to work in these conditions? Worrying about our finds being taken away by wild animals? I demand for something to be done about this!” He stormed out of the trailer, letting the door slam hard behind him.

  Through the window, I saw him take out his cell phone and try to make a call. Good luck, I thought. And sure enough, he was tapping at the screen and yelling at his phone.

  “At least he won’t call the media now,” I said.

  “Right.” She looked out the window, but wasn’t watching Julian.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m just tired.”

  I nodded. “Okay. So, I know you want to work on your thesis this week, but what about this weekend? Could we spend a few hours doing something?”