Page 67 of Bear Facts

Althea opened her mouth to explain that her information was confidential, proprietary—no one could be allowed to look at it. But she realized she was not going to prevail.

Sean sent her a look of quiet understanding. Althea was struck by what a handsome man he was. She’d long ago decided that it wasn’t worth it for her to be attracted or attached to any man, but she could see why she might be tempted to make an exception for Sean.

She knew something of the Morrissey family who ruled the Shiftertown in Austin. Sean had a wife—a mate, as Shifters called them. Althea had no intention of getting involved with a Shifter, but she acknowledged that Sean’s mate was a very lucky woman.

Dylan rose, backing away from the desk to let Sean sit down where his father had been. Sean’s broad hands went to the keyboard, his fingers proving skilled as they danced across the keys.

Althea could only watch as her data was sifted through—every file, every spreadsheet, every bit of information she’d collected through her years of running this agency. Her father had collected much before her. Now all opened to Sean.

Althea looked away from Sean to find Tiger studying her intently. In all her research, she’d never heard mention of him.

“It’s all right,” Tiger said reassuringly. “Sean will take good care of everything.”

He said it with such comfort and conviction that Althea believed him. She found herself relaxing, though she wasn’t certain why, while the Morrissey father and son competently robbed her agency of all its knowledge.

After a restless night, Freya found herself sitting next to Shane in another pickup, heading back up Mount Charleston. Close to her other side on the front bench seat was Brody, the two bears sandwiching her between them. They rode in Cormac’s large F450, but with Shane and Brody the size they were, there was very little room left for her.

The smaller back seat held Reid and Neal Ingram. The sheathed Sword of the Guardian hummed, not as loudly as it had when Zander had healed Leo, but it was there on the edge of Freya’s hearing. She was surprised none of the others seemed to notice the faint noise, but maybe they were simply used to it.

Dougal rode behind them on his motorcycle, having flatly refused to ride in a vehicle with so many bears.

Zander and Rae had disappeared deeper into Graham’s house after Leo’s healing, to rest and recover. Leo had remained in bed. When Freya had looked in on him before she’d left the house, she’d found him wan. Weak.

Leo had acknowledged her with a nod of his head, but his arrogance had dimmed, and he’d made no mention of the Challenge he’d leveled at Shane. Freya wasn’t certain he’d forget about it, but all the bluster had been taken from him.

Shane had avoided Freya for the rest of the evening. He’d gone to speak with Neal and Reid, going over plans for today, and only returned once the meal Cormac and Nell had put together was well in progress.

Freya had slept by herself that night, which had been lonely, but the arrangement had been better for her and Shane both. Mating frenzy might have goaded her into not resisting Shane, and she needed to resist. She had to find Rolf, who was out there somewhere, and until she knew what had happened to him, she couldn’t think about Shane and a mate-claim that would confine her to a Shiftertown. Rolf had been her only family, the two of them their own tiny wolf pack for many years. She couldn’t shove worrying thoughts of him out of the way to bask in ones of Shane.

At least that’s what Freya told herself as she hugged the pillow, missing Shane’s warmth. She knew full well that if she and Shane let themselves be alone, they’d succumb to frenzy and might never come out of it.

As Shane navigated their way up the mountain, he told them what Eric had relayed to him early this morning. Dylan Morrissey, of the Austin Shiftertown, had met with Althea and learned that someone, not her, was creating feral Shifters to fight for them.

The Shifters and Reid listened to this grimly. Freya continued to believe that the feral running around in the mountains wasn’t Rolf, but her concern for him grew. Was this what had happened to him?

Shane drove them up the unpaved road close to where they’d found Leo, Dougal bumping slowly behind them.

It had snowed in the night, and the road was covered with a film of ice. The truck sliced through it, splashing mud and slush into the morning air.

Shane stopped at the end of the track. Brody, Neal, and Reid piled out in silence, Neal shouldering his sword. Dougal cut his engine, and a hush fell over the woods.

Any other time, Freya would find the quiet peaceful. The trees sighed in the breeze, and sunlight filtered through pine needles and the stark, empty branches of deciduous trees. Shane’s warmth at her side stirred dark need within her.

“I know.” Shane rested his gaze on her, the same longing in it that Freya felt. He drew a long breath. “Let’s get this done.”

Freya nodded. She started to slide across the seat to follow Brody out, but Shane briefly pulled her back to him, his arm going around her, and kissed her.

Freya’s desires flared to life, blotting out the woods, the other Shifters, and their quest. Shane’s mouth was firm, no longer polite. He opened her, tasted, and Freya hung on and tasted him back.

He conveyed he wanted so much more than kissing, and Freya wanted it too. Soon she’d not be able to fight anymore. Mating frenzy would consume her, and Freya would let it.

Her wolf gave a satisfied growl. About time you caught on.

Something thumped the front of the pickup. Freya jumped but Shane took his time ending the kiss.

“He’s not going to give us any peace,” Shane murmured as he brushed back Freya’s hair, his touch full of heat.

Brody leaned on the hood of the pickup, unabashedly staring at them through the window. “Any time you two are ready.”

---