“Do you want me to call the healer?” Garrett confirmed.
“Yes!” Gunnar yelled, his face beginning to shift again. His nose elongated, and his canines grew thick in his mouth as fur began to form on his human skin. “Get Ransom to the pride, because it’s too dangerous here.”
Gunnar shifted again, and he ran in the direction his brother had passed only a moment before. Garrett closed his eyes and listened for Ransom, praying to the gods to give him the answers he needed.
A growl interrupted his prayer, and he looked up to see Luca and Rex barreling toward him. He quickly told them what Gunnar had said before he felt a shiver roll over his skin. The gods were angry.
“Where’s Ransom?” Luca begged. “Where’s my brother?”
“He’s somewhere around here,” Garrett said. “He’s been shot, and I need to get him to the healer.”
“Fuck,” Rex barked as he spun around in a circle, lifting his partially shifted nose to the sky.
“If we can find him, I can transport him to the pride,” Garrett promised, taking his phone from his pocket to place the call to Harold.
“Sheriff?” Harold answered. “What can I do for you?”
“Bears,” Garrett panted as he ran. “Can you operate on them?”
“What’s going on?” Harold asked, his voice changing to that of his calling. “Where are they?”
“Human hunters came early, and Ransom has been shot. He’s somewhere in the woods behind their home. I’m searching for him now, and once I find him, I will zap him over to you.”
“I’ll be ready,” Harold promised.
Luca called out for his brother, but there was no answer. Rex shifted to his bear form to use his heightened sense of smell. When the bear locked onto the scent, he turned to the south and ran down a pathway already cut into the wooded lot.
Luca’s shout indicated they’d found the male, and when Garrett arrived, he found Ransom in his human form, naked and covered in his own blood. Beside him were the bodies of four males, all different ages.
“Leave the bodies,” Garrett ordered. “I’ll get him help and come back to take care of that.”
Ransom moaned as he was lifted. There was no fight left in the male as Garrett called upon his heavenly senses and transported them to the front porch of the healer’s home.
“He’s not going to make it,” Garrett cursed as the panther’s healer jerked the door open wide. “Can you do something? Anything?”
“Take him in here,” Harold said as he headed toward the back of his home. The small operating room was for his shifters. They usually didn’t require much more than a few stitches, but the room was there, sanitized for emergencies.
The panther’s healer had converted his old home into a medical facility many years before. He worked on the panthers and assisted in the births of the cubs all in that little room, but he had every tool imaginable to do the necessary work.
“If you’re going to stay here, then move out of my way,” Harold ordered.
“I have to help the Morgans find who did this,” Garrett said, giving Harold a nod. “I’ll be back.”
“Be safe,” the healer said as Garrett disappeared.
Once he arrived back at his first location, he stood over the bodies of the human males. The grizzlies hadn’t been easy on them, and they’d had every right to do what they needed to get them away from their homes and mates.
With his hand held out in front of him, he closed his eyes and felt the power come through him. Heat developed in his hand much like Gaia did with her flames. Only his heat was more of a transfer of power from the gods. With a soft prayer, he waved his hand in a circle and waited for the brightness to die down. When he opened his eyes again, all the males and the evidence of their deaths was erased from the ground.
He hurried out of the woods and came upon the house where Gaia’s white car was pulling into the drive. Anger built deep in his chest, and his eyes flashed white again. A wave of protectiveness came over the sheriff at seeing the female right in the heart of a war.
She glared at him as she exited. “Where are they?” Her voice wasn’t kind. The female was beyond angry. Well, so was Garrett.
“I told you not to come here,” he barked.
“I’ve never let a male tell me how to live my life, and I sure as hell am not going to start now.”
“You are so damn stubborn!” he roared.
“Where is everyone?” Gaia ignored him and approached, never casting her swirling eyes away from his white ones. “We can do this the easy way or the hard one, Garrett.”
“The females are inside, and Drake and Gunnar are on foot,” he informed her with a heavy sigh. “Ransom is at the pride’s healer having surgery to save his life.”
He raised a brow when she cursed.
“You’re in my way, sheriff,” she observed, her eyes swirling faster.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he repeated.
“It’s not your choice whether I come here or not. You don’t have any rights to them!” she snarled, her hands glowing at her sides. The thunder rumbling around them became louder; lightning striking off in the distance. Rain rushed out of the clouds building above their heads, and he was powerless to stop her from causing so much destruction.
But he tried.
“Gaia, stop!” he yelled over the next clap of thunder. The two of them were almost nose to nose. Her eyes were swirling, and he was certain anything he said to her was going to be ignored. “You have to stop!”
“Get away from my bears!” she said as she shoved her hands forward. The balls of fire she’d produced smacked him in the chest, knocking the sheriff on his ass. He gasped for air to call out to her, but she stomped off toward the back of the house.
As he began to stand, a tingling of awareness registered in the back of his mind. The world around him faded as images rushed through his mind. The messages were like a film tripled in speed. The bears…a death…females crying…and humans parading the corpses of the grizzly shifters through the streets.
Anna Claire watched Tessa scrolling through the chat rooms, looking for any information on the hacker. She steadily wiped the tears from her eyes, worrying over her cousin. It was too dangerous to leave the house and head to the panther’s land to be with Ransom. She had to trust in the healer’s abilities to keep him alive.
“He’s in great hands,” Ada promised as she wrapped her arm around Anna Claire’s shoulders. “All we can do now is wait and help find this hacker.”
“I know,” Anna Claire sniffled. “He’s my blood. I can’t lose another person in my life…I just can’t.” She thought of her mother and the tragic end to her life.
Anna Claire wanted to scream and throw things, but she knew it wouldn’t help the fact that, yet again, someone had harmed a person she loved. Gunnar was out searching for more of the hunters, and fresh tears fell from her eyes when she thought of what could happen.
“Here, look!” Tessa set the phone down on the small table and pointed to a link she’d found in the hacker’s profile. Clicking on it, the page was redirected to a website for a blogger. The blog was nothing more than an overabundance of conspiracy theories regarding the shifters, retail businesses, and one on a local government issue in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Tessa clicked it, and the hacker detailed several things only a person living there would know. The article was more a rant than anything, but at the end…they found something.
“He refers to the mayor’s office as if he works there,” Ada hummed.
“This guy works for the mayor, or is the mayor,” Tessa corrected. “Holy shit.”
“Does the sheriff know any of this?” Anna Claire asked, thankful they’d possibly found something.
“I don’t know,” Tessa shrugged. “I’m saving this information to give to Garrett.”
A knock registered on the outer door and all three of them froze. Tessa reached for the shotgun Gunnar had left by their door and took a step back, pressing
the stock of the weapon against her shoulder as if she’d done it a million times before.
Ada held her finger up to her lips, and Anna Claire prayed the cubs wouldn’t wake from their naps. If the person on the other side of the door was human, the noise from a crying cub would alert them.
Anna Claire breathed slowly, coming to stand at Tessa’s left side. Ada came to her right. Together, they would take out anyone who tried to come through the door. Her beast pushed at her skin, and for once, she let the grizzly partially shift with the anger she was feeling at being ambushed in her own home.
“Anna Claire!” the sheriff yelled from the other side of the door. “Are you in there?”
“Ada!” Rex hollered. “Open the door. It’s okay.”
Anna Claire knew the sheriff was on their side despite her mate’s opinion of the male. Tapping Tessa on the shoulder, she waited for the female to lower the gun and reached for the metal bar across the door.
“Keep that shotgun handy.” Anna Claire mumbled as she unlocked the first deadbolt.
The sheriff’s eyes were as wide as saucers, but there was no color to them; only a ghostly white. Behind him, Gaia stood with her eyes swirling. “Gaia?”
“Where are the other males?” Sheriff Lynch growled.
“They’re hunting the last two,” Rex replied and walked over to his mate, leaning down to kiss his cub’s tiny head to keep the male from being upset. He settled down once his father placed his large hand on his back and began rubbing him softly.
“I have to find them,” Sheriff Lynch began, cutting off Rex when he started to protest. “This is now my fight. I’ve had another vision.”
A round of curses lit up the room, and Anna Claire felt fear race up her spine at the thought of what the angel had seen. “What have you seen?”
“I must go,” the sheriff hedged. There was something he wasn’t telling them, and Anna Claire knew it. She could scent it on him, and the smell burned her nose.
“We are okay here,” Rex promised. “The house is secured, and we have guns.” He nodded toward Tessa’s weapon.
“I’ll be back,” the sheriff said, but his eyes fell on Gaia. “Stay here and don’t leave. Once we find these assholes, I pray that it’ll be over for this area.”
“Stay safe,” Rex said as he and the sheriff turned for the door.
“We have to help all of them,” Ada gasped, but waved her hands in the air to stop the males from leaving. “We think we found who the hacker is.”
“It’s going to have to wait,” he replied, walking away from the door. He stopped halfway up the hallway and called out over his shoulder. “Gaia, get inside and lock the door with the females. I’ll get the information from you later…after this is all over.”
“But…” Anna Claire called out, but it was too late. The sheriff disappeared into nothingness.
“Lock the door and let’s wait it out,” Tessa suggested, using her foot to close the reinforced door to Anna Claire’s quarters.
Tessa picked up her shotgun and took a seat on the couch; her eyes trained on the door. All the females were partially shifted, using their heightened senses to listen and scent for trouble before it came to their door.
“I need to check on Ransom, but I don’t want to call the healer’s phone,” Anna Claire fretted.
“He could still be in surgery,” Ada reminded her.
“All we can do is wait,” Tessa growled. They all knew they had to stay safe for their cubs, but it was killing Anna Claire not knowing what was going on outside their home.
Chapter 14
Gunnar’s beast kept his nose to the ground as he tracked the two human males through their land. He was out for blood, and nothing was going to stop him from killing them. They’d crossed a line. That line gave him the right to end their lives.
At that point, he didn’t care if it was done on his land or in the public square. Ransom was fighting for his life because of a bullet that had to have come too close to his heart. Shifters were great healers when injured, but they couldn’t heal from a shot to the heart or head.
His mate was hiding, most likely in fear, in their quarters with the other females of his clan. The cubs were as safe as possible, but if there were more humans coming for them in two days, he didn’t know if their home could hold off an attack.
Drake growled as they reached a road past the back of their property. The scent of the males was easy to track to the next spot of land. The sounds of the river reached his ears, but it didn’t cover the sound of the two humans running through the brush.
They darted across the road and over a felled tree. Gunnar’s beast pushed at his human mind, wanting to let his true nature lead, but he fought the animal. It was just Drake and Gunnar on the hunt. Luca and Rex had stayed back to dispose of the bodies, and they didn’t know how much ammunition the two remaining humans had on them. If they weren’t careful, Drake and Gunnar could end up like Ransom and no one would know where to find them.
His only hope was the sheriff and his damn visions. If that angel had seen something, he would surely come for them, wouldn’t he? The Morgans never relied on anyone but themselves, but this was something where they might actually need assistance. Yet again, outside forces had disrupted their way of life, and Gunnar felt the anxiety of it all.
Drake and Gunnar ducked when a shotgun blasted from up ahead. They’d obviously been seen, but they were bears. It wasn’t like they could hide all that well with their sizes. The only thing they had going for them was how quiet they could move and how vicious they were when threatened.
Gunnar dropped to his belly and forced the shift, ducking for cover when he came back to his human self. His brother’s bear belly-crawled next to him, and they hid behind a clump of vines. Luckily, they were approaching summer and the forest was green and thick, giving them a chance to hide until they made a plan.
“They’re a hundred yards upriver,” Gunnar whispered so quietly only a shifter could hear his words. “I’m going around to head them off. Slow them down, but keep them on their toes. We don’t want them to think we gave up on finding them just yet.”
Drake’s bear huffed his approval and narrowed his eyes in the humans’ direction. They both knew they needed to eradicate the threat, because if they returned to the clan before Drake or Gunnar arrived, their mates and cubs could be at risk.
He took his human steps as carefully as he could. He might’ve been bigger in his beastly form, but being human, he could amble through the brush more carefully. Being an apex predator gave him that ability. His human feet were not covered, but the cuts and scrapes he was getting would heal within a minute or two while he made a huge arc around the humans.
He was aware it would take him a while to come out ahead of them, and he knew just the location to go. If he could make it toward the panther’s lands, he could come close to their fence line and use that as a guide to the river. He would never cross their lands, because he’d heard they had that place on lockdown with cameras that covered every inch of their property. Gunnar was certain they’d see him if he got too close. He just hoped they were as friendly to him when he was outside their gates as they were when their healer was caring for his mate.
He ducked low and headed toward the southwest, keeping his body shielded behind large trees and growth on the forest floor. The sounds of the males eventually quieted as he got further away. A rabbit scurried under a rotting tree, and birds flew away as he moved. His human mind wandered to Anna Claire, but he had to stop daydreaming about his mate. Not paying attention could get him killed.
He saw the fence to the panther’s land and skirted around the edges, noting the cameras placed at certain intervals. They would see him in all his glory, but he didn’t have time to stop should one of them come to investigate. They could get the information from the sheriff.
Moving toward the river, he climbed over downed trees as quietly as he could. It took another ten minutes to come out ahead of them. With his partially
shifted nose, he raised his head to the sky, relying on the wind to bring their scent in his direction. The bear inside him pushed for release, and Gunnar dropped to his knees to allow the animal to be free.
He waited for another minute before scanning the area close to the river. Their footsteps were making all kinds of noise as they approached. Gunnar laughed inside the bear’s mind as he heard them talking amongst themselves.
“They’re going to kill us, Pops,” a male said, cursing when his leg got caught up in some vines. “Those bears just ripped the others to shreds.”
“That’s why we are getting the hell out of here, Don,” the other male replied.
“What if we see one?” Don, who was obviously the son, asked. They were getting closer, and Gunnar caught the scent of his brother who wasn’t far behind them.
“Then we kill those abominations and take their bodies to the media,” the father replied. “The money will be good.”
“At least we don’t have to split it with the others now,” Don snickered as they fell quiet.
Gunnar waited up ahead, allowing the males to get closer. As it was, they were still too far away to ambush them. His heart froze in his chest as they came into view and the older male lifted a phone to his ear.
“Yeah?” he answered, looking toward the sky. “They killed the others. Yep. Their home is easily accessible from the woods if you want to go in and start picking them off tomorrow. I don’t know. We shot one pretty close to his heart. I’m betting he’s dead, but there were too many of them for us to grab the body. Sure, let me know when you arrive.”
They were bringing reinforcements.
Fuck!
Gunnar didn’t know how many were coming, but he knew they were going to need help. It was time to kill those two human males so he could return home and get the females to safety. The game had just changed, and despite all their precautions, the first of the month was going to be a deadly one.
Mating Fever (Morgan Clan Bears, Book 3) Page 11