Page 15 of Bear Facts

The resort was unnervingly normal. People moved to and from the lodge, some with anticipation of fun on the slopes, others ready to finish the sporty stuff and relax with a steaming latte or hot chocolate.

Kids on small skis took lessons in the practice area from patient instructors. The children were bundled up in tiny puffy jackets and adorable knit hats, and for a moment, Freya paused to smile at them. They were much more clumsy than Shifter cubs would be as they tried to balance on the skis, but they sure were cute.

A pang laced Freya’s heart. When she’d run from the mate-claim, she’d given up her chance for her own cubs. A difficult choice. Then again, considering who her cubs’ father would have been, it had been the right decision.

Still, watching these little ones made Freya realize what she’d missed. In her wanderings, she’d made friends with women who had children, and she’d enjoyed spoiling their kids, but it wasn’t the same. In Shifter packs, cubs were everywhere, taken care of by the entire group. There was protectiveness and love in a wolf pack, even in Graham’s, that she’d never found elsewhere.

But there also could be restrictive rules and a stifling atmosphere, especially when one was in the pack but outside it at the same time.

A couple of little girls waved at Freya, responding to her smile, and she waved back. Before parents could begin to wonder at her interest in their children, Freya strode on toward the large wooden lodge.

Her meeting wasn’t inside it—Freya continued past the buildings and around to the back. Here, at the far end of a huge, mostly empty parking lot, several black SUVs waited. Tall trees loomed behind the vehicles, marking the edge of the resort and the beginning of deeper woods.

As Freya approached, one of the SUVs’ front passenger doors opened and a woman of medium height stepped out. She had dark hair cut short, the style like a sleek cap on her head. She wore black pants, flat-soled boots good for the slushy parking lot, and a thick dark blue jacket.

She’d donned black-rimmed sunglasses against the snowy glare, which was a little disquieting. Freya didn’t like not being able to see a person’s eyes.

The woman, presumably Althea Webster, nodded to two men who’d descended with her, they also in winter-appropriate clothes and sunglasses. The men wore earpieces, though Althea did not. All three waited silently for Freya to approach.

Freya did so, with caution. As much as she wanted to hear what Althea had to say, she agreed with Shane that she should be careful. That was why she’d agreed on this place to meet. Plenty of exits. No human in an SUV could catch a wolf on the run in dense woods.

Before Freya could come within claw-striking distance of the woman, the two men stepped forward. Not to block Althea entirely, but if Freya attacked, she’d have to go through them first.

“State your first and last name, please,” the woman said. Her voice was smooth, cultured, and utterly calm.

Most human women had to fight for any kind of superiority in their male-dominated world, but Althea seemed to have achieved it. She exuded confidence, a knowledge that she ruled her own kingdom.

“Freya McHugh,” Freya said. “Am I addressing Althea Webster?”

“First error.” Althea’s sunglasses glinted. “Never give a person a name and ask them to agree to it. Very easy for that person to say she is the trusted ally you are to meet, when she is in fact, your enemy.”

“Good point,” Freya said. She’d spent much of her life trying to hide her true identity. “Do you have some ID?”

A smile flickered across Althea’s mouth. “Do you?”

“A human driver’s license,” Freya said. “But it’s fake.” Someone like Althea would probably figure that out the minute she looked at it, if she didn’t know already.

“I appreciate your candor.” Althea nodded once, which made sunlight dance on her glossy hair. “I am, in fact, Althea Webster, though now you’ll have to take my word for it.”

Freya shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant. “I could ask around about you if I’m worried.”

“You could. You would not learn much. Tell me, Ms. McHugh, why do you want to work with me?”

Freya had obtained this interview with the pretense that she might be looking for employment with Althea’s private security company. Freya’s contact had assured her that the woman was currently recruiting. Freya had feared that if she asked about Rolf without seeing Althea face-to-face, she wouldn’t get an answer.

“I don’t, actually,” Freya said. “But my brother did.”

Silence. Althea fixed her attention on Freya, her expression betraying nothing.

Freya was well beyond the reach of the two guards, who carried tasers prominently in their belts. Freya had to wonder what other weapons their thick jackets concealed.

Her skin prickled, the cold seeping through her coat and Iona’s warm sweatshirt. She’d scented Feline on the clothes, as Shane had told her she would, but now that scent grew stronger.

Freya doubted Iona’s sweatshirt was coming alive. Her gaze shot to the closed back doors of one of the SUVs, its tinted window preventing her from seeing through it. Her hackles rose.

“You have a Shifter in there,” she announced.

Not Rolf. The Shifter wasn’t Lupine. This was proof that Althea either hired them, or captured them.

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