Page 53 of Bear Facts

Dougal maintained a rapid pace until he reached a small clearing. Stumps showed where someone had cut a firebreak, the undergrowth cleared out here as well.

“This is where I found it.” Dougal halted at the edge of the clearing, the others stopping beside him.

Shane wrinkled his nose, already smelling what the younger man had. “Rank.”

Neal let out a soft wolf snarl, Brody’s bear one echoing it.

Reid didn’t have a Shifter’s sense of smell, but he also made a face. “What the hell is that?”

“Shifter, but not right,” Shane said. Brody and Neal nodded their agreement.

“It isn’t Leo,” Dougal said with confidence. “I grew up with him—I’d recognize his scent. But I think Leo fought with whatever this is.”

Finished speaking, Dougal moved out across the clearing, scanning the ground as he went. He moved like a wolf, as though he’d forgotten he hadn’t shifted.

“Here.” Dougal straightened, his body rigid. He pointed to a hollow depression in a cushion of pine needles and dead leaves.

Shane joined him, the other three following cautiously.

Shane smelled the blood before he spied it on the leaf detritus. He also saw bits of dark gray-and-white fur that littered the hollow, plus small shreds of cloth that he identified as blue denim. Someone had shifted, ripping through their clothes as Shane had yesterday morning.

“This smells of Leo.” Dougal gestured at the spot. “He was here. He fought something.”

“What?” Brody asked. “Another Shifter?”

“Good question.” Shane grew quiet as he contemplated the evidence. “Did you find a trail?” he asked Dougal.

“Possibly.” Dougal gestured deeper into the woods. “But I wanted backup.”

“Wise.” Shane knew Dougal must have been truly spooked to call Graham and ask for help.

Shane unlaced the hiking boots he’d donned for the trek, preparing himself to shift. They could track much better in their animal forms.

This had nothing to do with Althea’s mercenaries, Shane suspected. Ewan’s scent hadn’t been like this. He was Feline and obnoxious, but a fairly ordinary Shifter.

Shane finished undressing, hiding away his clothes as Brody was doing, and shifted.

His bear form came a little more quickly today, the animal in him bracing for their unnerving errand. The stench was now thick to his grizzly nose, far stronger than it had been in his human form.

Shane recognized the smell from experience—not the specific Shifter in question, but the general sense.

Feral.

Shane’s body language and fierce growl expressed the word.

Yep, was Brody’s reply.

Neal had remained human, but Shane could tell his wolf hackles were up. The hilt of his sword let out a faint ting.

Only Reid was safe from the onslaught of scent, but his dark eyes glittered as he surveyed the woods around them. One hand brushed back his winter jacket to reveal both a taser and a Glock. Good thinking, to bring both.

Dougal, who’d finally become wolf, started off with Lupine speediness, expecting the others to follow.

Shane had been told that bears lumbered, mostly by Felines who could hit the ground sprinting. Bears strolled, he’d corrected them. Why waste all the energy only to end up in the same place as the racing Felines? Bears saw interesting things along the way when they took their time.

What Shane rarely explained was that bears could charge when they wanted to, faster than a wildcat or wolf could comprehend. Bears put power behind that run, and whoever they hurtled themselves at was in deep shit.

Dougal’s wolf paws flashed, his tail flicking as he ran. Shane moved unwaveringly, and he heard Brody coming behind him in a similar gait.

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