Page 87 of Bear Facts

Shane’s eyes went flinty. “She’s my mate, Eric. Deal with it.”

Eric dissolved into laughter. “I’m teasing you, my friend. Of course, you’ll be with Freya. I’m counting on you to keep her safe.”

Keira felt safer once she was returning to the bear’s house, escorted by Rae and Freya.

Ironic—there were Lupines in this Shiftertown, good ones, even Shane admitted that grudgingly—but she preferred to stay with the bears.

Keira should want to go to Graham, the Lupine leader, but she wasn’t ready to face him yet. She’d hurt one of his wolves, and she didn’t know what payment he’d exact for that.

For now, she wanted to hole up and hide. Nell had told her she could stay as long as she liked, and that act of kindness had left Keira near tears.

The Shifter who unnerved her most was Neal, the Guardian.

When she’d seen his sword coming at her out in the woods, she’d experienced an overwhelming sense of terror. She wasn’t certain why, because he hadn’t been trying to kill her or send her to the afterlife. He’d simply touched her, and the feral in her had gone wild.

Neal was behind them now as Keira walked the short distance from Eric’s home to Nell’s. Tall and quiet, he had a hard face and gray eyes that took in everything, assessing in silence.

“Eric could use your help,” Neal said to her.

Keira jumped, but Freya answered before she could. “You mean tracking down this Heaney guy? A little too traumatic, I think.”

“She might remember more when she gets nearer where he held her,” Neal said. “Scents, sights.”

“Like I said, traumatic.” Freya was being very protective of Keira, which gave her a warm feeling.

“No, he’s right,” Keira heard herself say. “I could tell him if he’s in the right area.”

The wolf cub, Matt, who’d trotted out with his brother after Keira, ran in front of her. “You stay home, Keira. We’ll get the bad guys for you.”

Shane, who waited for them on the porch, heard. “You two aren’t going anywhere. The last thing we need is to search for you after you run off.”

“We won’t run off,” Kyle proclaimed. “We’ll be good.”

“Anyway, shouldn’t you be going home by now?” Shane rumbled. “Misty worries about you.”

“We want to stay with Keira,” Matt said. He and Kyle pressed themselves to either side of her.

Keira did feel better with the two cubs around. She didn’t know why, because they were so tiny, like two small balls of ferocity. Maybe it was their blazing self-assurance, the cubs too young for the world to have crushed out their confidence.

“You can’t both go with us and protect Keira,” Shane pointed out.

“Yes, we can,” Matt declared. “I’ll go, and Kyle will stay. That way, we both go and stay.”

Keira wanted to hug the two little guys. “I’ll be all right, Matt, I promise.”

Matt shook his head, his lip protruding in seriousness. “This will work.”

Keira stopped arguing. She was very lucky Shane and Freya had rescued her, and she knew it. What the rest of her life would be, she didn’t know yet, but she’d found respite here, if only briefly.

When she looked back at Neal again, he was still watching her, his gray eyes enigmatic. Keira shivered, grasped the two cubs by the hands, and let them lead her to her safe haven.

Shane kept his eye on Freya as they arrived at the dirt-packed airstrip the next morning ready to begin the search. Eric was splitting them into teams for this mission, but they all had to start in the same place—at the remote airstrip and Marlo’s plane.

In his younger years, the lanky pilot, Marlo, with his scruffy fringe of hair and scraggly beard, had run illegal substances into the country. “Pot mostly,” he’d say. “None of the bad shit that people do now. Not my style.”

These days, Marlo was happy to transport Shifters where they needed to go in his converted DC3 that looked rundown but easily flew all over the country. He knew how to keep well out of the way of Shifter Bureau and the police alike.

Other vehicles arrived behind Shane’s, disgorging Shifters and humans.

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