Rex knew not to touch the females or takeanything from their hands. Tessa, Ada, and Anna Claire pulled theirphones from their pockets and slid them to the middle of the table.Rex took each one and programed in the numbers. His long hair fellforward as he worked, and Gunnar could see the tight set to hisshoulders. The male was as concerned as everyone else.
“If there is a problem, everyone goes totheir quarters and locks the doors. Call the sheriff and wait,” Rexordered, handing his mate’s phone over and setting the other two inthe middle of the table where they had been placed before.
Anna Claire took her phone and found theentry, nodding when she agreed to do as Gunnar’s brother hadordered. Tessa did the same and the house fell silent as theyfinished their meal. Once Rex and Drake cleaned everything up,Gunnar stood from his seat.
“We won’t be gone long,” he promised andleaned over to kiss his mate. He inhaled her scent and took thatwith him as he and Drake stepped out onto the back porch to seeRansom arriving in his already shifted form.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw hismate standing there, biting her bottom lip. It was another one ofher nervous tics, and he made a motion to shoo her away from thedoor. She knew he wanted the blinds closed and did so with nohesitation.
“Shift and let’s hunt,” Drake said, removinghis shirt.
Gunnar did the same and let his animal free.The change was over in a few seconds, and his beast stepped off theporch, ready to hunt for the humans and protect his clan.
Rex exited the house and used his key tolock the deadbolt. He nodded toward the bears and took off on footto the barn. Gunnar, Drake, and Ransom followed him to ensure hissafe arrival. The bears nervously looked over their left shouldersat the road in front of their land, expecting to hear a shot ringout into the night, but it never came.
As their animals relaxed, the human part oftheir mind was on alert. The bears were deadly, but they were alsoruled by their nature. Killing anything that moved was an easy taskwhen you let the wild part of your animal loose. In the old days,they would let their beasts rule, but now, with the humans knowingabout them, Gunnar had to keep his animal on a leash. They couldn’tdole out punishment like they’d done with the others. The sheriffwould get involved if they came back.
The beast growled low in his throat at thethought of not having an enemy’s blood on his tongue. Easynow.
The animals knew the lands well. They’d evenmarked trees by scratching them with their claws during some oftheir runs. It was part of marking their territory, and it was asign to other males in the area that there were mated femalesclose. If they were smart, they’d turn around and leaveimmediately.
The night was warmer than it’d been thatspring. Gunnar’s bear scented the ground and was pleased to findonly those of his clan had passed over the road leading to the newcabins. Drake’s beast wandered over to the elder’s homes, whileGunnar checked for foreign scents around Ransom and Luca’s place.He was sure they’d already done that, but he wanted to makesure.
Once the homes were cleared, Drake’s bearhuffed and tossed its head toward the woods and the opening of thetrail they used to access the wooded area of their land. Gunnarfollowed beside his brother and let the bear have full rein for awhile. It was time to hunt, and with one last push to his beast,Gunnar let the animal roam, hoping he didn’t find anything in hissearch
Chapter 12
Gaia sat at her kitchen table, picking atthe food she’d made with fresh ingredients from her littlegreenhouse in the backyard. Something wasn’t right, and she wasworried for her bears. The last thing she’d heard from them was tolay low and let them find those hunters.
The sheriff had a patrol car come by once ortwice every hour to check on her home. The persons responsible forshooting up her diner hadn’t been found, and that worried her. Ifthey knew she was involved with the bears, would she be able tostay?
As much as she wanted to protect them,protecting herself from a human death was at the top of herpriority list. If she died, all of them would follow. She was theair they breathed and the soil in which they grew their food. Gaiaprovided them with the water they needed to keep their bodiesalive, too.
There was so much she was involved in tokeep the human population alive, but without her, they would havenothing. She’d never wanted for herself, knowing she was the oneresponsible to keep the circle of life going.
In her millions of years, she’d seen whatthe gods had done. It was Gaia who’d caused the floods and droughtsover the course of time. The Ice Age was a disaster, and the godshad angered her when they had made the dinosaurs. She originallylet them do their thing, but after a while, the path of thedinosaurs came to a point where those animals had to go. They werenothing but a design flaw, and to be honest, they were too damndestructive. She’d brought forth the volcanic eruptions after a fewasteroids hit the earth, and in a matter of time, they were allgone.
The beginning of modern times came with itthe need to live off the land. Once humans were put on earth,things changed for the better. She was able to give them the toolsto live, and in the beginning, they thrived, growing to massivenumbers.
The shifters were made by the gods, andwhile she didn’t disagree with their creation, she did hate thatthey were placed here amongst the humans who lived in fear ofanything that could kill them.
Now, they were known, and with thatinformation, some of the humans had come out
