Page 59 of Bear Facts

Unease flashed over the face of the man who must be Xav when Cassidy mentioned Lindsay. Freya felt a flicker of curiosity about that.

She took the offered seat next to Iona, though she would rather be with Shane, who’d parked himself at the front window. Shane was half turned away from the room, gazing out at the street like a guard. Which he was, Freya realized. A tracker, still on duty.

Nell and Cormac entered through the kitchen, as did Brody, who joined Shane. With them was Reid, who stationed himself at a side window. Graham was absent, but Leo was at Graham’s, so he’d have stayed there to help him.

Even without Graham, the living room was full, but Eric, lounging on the sofa with his feet up, did not suggest they move into the yard where they could spread out. Freya guessed he wanted as few Shifters to overhear as possible. Peigi and Lindsay might be watching over the cubs, but Freya would bet that they’d also been recruited to keep inquisitive Shifters away.

“Xav has a report,” Eric said. He gestured for Xav, the attractive man who much resembled Diego, to begin.

“I’ve found out a lot about Althea Webster and her band of merry men,” Xav said. He gave them a quick summary of how she’d inherited the business from her father and was determined to make it into a thriving concern. She didn’t take jobs that hurt innocents, from what Xav could determine, and some that even helped the downtrodden.

“She finds clients through word of mouth,” Xav continued. “Someone will mention something in a bar, and one of her agents stationed there will call a number. If that agent is given the go-ahead, he or she hands the interested person the black business card with nothing but a phone number on it. That phone number leads to another agent, and so on. Althea also has internet searches monitored, not only for ones on her business but for those looking for her kind of services. I was also able to get a bead on what she does internet searches for.” Xav held up the electronic tablet he clutched, though Freya couldn’t read what was on it from across the room.

“Yeah, this is interesting,” Diego said. His tone held warning.

“Shifters,” Xav said grimly. “Specifically, experiments done on Shifters in the past.”

Iona’s hand had been resting on Eric’s thigh and now she laid the other one on his shoulder. Calming him, Freya realized. Eric’s ripple of unease through the couch was palpable.

Shane glanced sharply at Eric then slid his gaze to Freya. The connection between them when their eyes met was startling. Freya drew in a quick breath, the fire in her heart flaring.

Mating frenzy? Or something else?

She forced her attention from Shane and back to the conversation, noting that everyone in the room, Diego included, had tensed mightily.

“Why is she so interested?” Iona demanded. Her blue eyes had gone hard with fury, a Shifter woman ready to defend her mate.

“A question I can’t answer,” Xav said. “Althea’s done research on the kind of chips that were put into Eric and also various drugs that were pumped through Shifters, and their reactions to them.”

Even Freya had heard of the experiments performed on Shifters when humans first realized that supernatural creatures walked among them. Shifter Bureau had tested Collars to get the shock reaction just right, had pumped Shifters with adrenaline to see how much they could take before passing out, and how much made them shift. There were other things, but Rolf had kept those from Freya, telling her she didn’t want to know.

The experiments had stopped when anti-cruelty groups had begun to protest, but a lot of damage had already been done.

Xav’s voice quieted as he continued, “She’s especially interested in the experiments that made Shifters go feral.”

No one spoke. One of a Shifter’s greatest fears was entering the feral state, which meant loss of control over their mind, their instincts, and sometimes their bodies. They could switch to animal form and never return, losing themselves to their beasts forever.

Or they might simply go insane, attacking anyone and everyone, including those they loved. Mates, cubs, sisters, brothers, parents—family ties and even mate bonds ceased to have meaning when a Shifter went feral.

All Shifters hovered on the edge of this state, a fun gift leftover from the High Fae who’d created them centuries ago. Feral Shifters could fight without any fear whatsoever, a tactical advantage to those Fae chieftains who’d used them as Battle Beasts in their brutal wars.

Of course, feral Shifters couldn’t always remember who they were supposed to be fighting. They’d slay their enemies and then turn around and go after the Fae who’d put them on the battlefield. It had only been a matter of time before Shifters organized and battled their way free of their Fae masters, ending up in the human world, and closing the gates to Faerie behind them.

Rolf had enjoyed historical research, learning all he could about both Shifter and human societies. That is, when he wasn’t kicking back in pubs with the friends he attracted with his charm, and laughing hard with Freya over absolutely nothing.

Her breath caught on the pain in her heart.

As though he knew her thoughts, or at least their direction, Eric said quietly, “Freya, you have a missing brother who contacted Althea, and there’s a feral running loose on the mountain…”

All eyes in the room turned to Freya, making her flush. “My brother was not the feral in the woods,” she said quickly. “I know his scent, and that wasn’t it.”

“Are you sure, honey?” Nell asked, voice gentle. “Once we’ve gone wild, it’s different.”

Freya shook her head. “It can’t be that different. Shane would always know Brody, wouldn’t he? Even if Brody went feral?”

“She has a point,” Shane rumbled. “He’d be as much a pain-in-the ass as he ever was.”

“Hey.” Brody gave his brother a pretend punch on the shoulder.

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