Page 88 of Bear Facts

Shane’s team would be Freya, Reid, Xav … and Matt. Graham had roared when he’d heard that.

“No way in hell,” Graham had shouted at Matt, when he’d met up with Eric and Shane to discuss the mission. “I’m supposed to keep you two safe and out of trouble.”

Matt, who’d become a wolf again, only gave Graham an innocent cub stare.

Misty had assured Graham that she’d keep Matt and Kyle home with her. But as soon as Shane had driven out of Shiftertown, a wolf cub had popped out from under his pickup’s front seat and squirmed onto Freya’s lap. Matt had then stuck his head out the half-open window and sniffed, sniffed, sniffed all the many scents.

“I’ll watch out for him,” Freya had said when Shane had jammed on his brakes. “It’s too late to turn around, and he’d just stow away again if we went back.”

Now, Graham caught sight of Matt and looked murderous.

“He wants to help,” Freya had said quickly. “I really think he can.”

Graham balled his fists and waved his arms around, as he liked to do, but in the end, Matt had his way. The wolf cubs generally did.

Althea would join the search, but she had her own plane, which took off from the Las Vegas airport, with a legitimate flight plan and everything. She’d agreed to pick up Dylan in Austin—somehow—and then join them for the search.

Shane, Xav, and Freya had studied satellite maps with Eric most of the night, both those freely accessible on the internet and the more covert ones Xav had access to. Shane and Xav narrowed it down to three areas where a camp converting Shifters could hide itself—in an area near Mount Shasta, in northern California; in a strip of land east of the Redwoods State and National Park; and in an area in coastal Oregon, just north of the California border.

All were remote enough that a camp could operate under the radar yet be close to redwood forests. Freya had showed them where she and Rolf used to go, but after that, she’d been quiet while they pored over the maps. She’d studied them intently, though, brushing her finger along the Oregon border.

Eric had started to assign Shane and Freya to the Mount Shasta site, but Freya had kept her finger on the border area and said, “I’d rather search here.”

Eric had opened his mouth to argue, but Shane broke in. “If she says there, then there. I’m guessing you have some connection to Rolf, right?”

Twins were reputed to have that ability, and with Shifters, even non-twin Shifter siblings shared a bond. Matt and Kyle certainly did, seeming to read each other’s minds.

Freya had nodded without taking her eyes from the map, as though she could sense her brother within the drawn lines. Eric had shrugged, as though it made no difference to him, and agreed.

“Welcome aboard,” Marlo told them cheerfully now. “Marlo Air jetting you to the middle of nowhere. Sit back, relax, and take turns looking out the window. No other entertainment, folks. There’s a box of snacks in the back if you get hungry.”

Matt heard the word “snack” and sprang up the stairs into the plane, his small paws scrabbling on the metal.

Freya, who’d gazed hesitantly at the old aircraft, abruptly hurried in to look after Matt, Shane right behind her. The others—Graham, Brody, Reid, Neal, Diego, Xav, and Graham’s nephew Dougal—arranged themselves on the seats behind the pilot’s chair or the ones along the walls farther in the back.

Since Matt had already charged to the rear of the plane to find the box filled with bags of chips, cookies, and crackers, Freya and Shane sat together there on a seat against the fuselage.

The plane shuddered as Marlo fired up the engines. He trundled to the end of the short runway and soon had them hurtling into the air. The plane lurched, and Freya clutched Shane.

“Good thing I don’t get airsick,” Freya said over the roar. “At least I don’t on regular planes.”

They bounced and slid as Marlo climbed through the clouds. Matt, his nose buried in a large bag of corn chips he’d opened with his teeth, didn’t notice. His tail stirred a breeze.

Freya nestled into Shane’s side, and he pulled her close.

When they found her brother—and Shane determined they would—everything might change. Freya had lived free most of her life, she and her brother being each other’s support team. She didn’t necessarily need a mate and a family of unruly bears living in a tiny house in Shiftertown.

What Shane was trying to tell himself was that Freya didn’t need him.

He needed her, though. If she decided to go, she’d leave a gaping hole in his life that no one and nothing would ever fill.

He held Freya more tightly, and she turned a sweet smile\ to him. Shane kissed her, wondering if today’s kisses would be the last they shared.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Freya’s wolf senses heightened as she exited the plane that afternoon on a flat area near the Oregon-California border. They were the last to be dropped off, and Marlo climbed down once Freya, Shane, Matt, Xav, and Reid were on the ground.

Xav, who had paper maps for this remote area, unrolled one on the ground. They were terrain maps, with ridges marked in undulating lines.

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