“Luca, what’s going on?” she asked, seeinghis eyes were golden and his canines extended.
“Drake and Gunnar are on their way back fromthe pride,” he announced, and she felt her heart soar. They’d askedfor help, and she was certain the Shaw pride wouldn’t leave themalone in this war. “Talon Shaw will send some of his Guardians tohelp us, but the sheriff has seen things.”
“What did he see in his vision?”
“There will be more coming,” he admitted,taking her into his arms for a tight, brotherly hug. “The angel’svision stops after their arrival, but he feels some sense of doom.It all depends on the path we choose.”
“I understand,” she replied. The sheriff wasdifferent, but the gods gave him the visions to protect thepanthers, and she assumed them as well. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan is,” he began, taking her by theshoulders so he could look deep into her eyes, “for you to stayput. There will be no gathering of the females, either. We want youspread out.”
“What about the elders?” she remindedhim.
“They’ve chosen to stay in their shelters,”he replied. “I’ve given Alfred and Doug extra weapons andammunition should it be needed.”
“Where’s Gunnar?” she asked, feeling onedge.
“He should be here soon,” Luca promised, butgave her a little shake. “Do you understand me, cousin? We want themates protected, and to do that, you have to stay inside this roomuntil one of us comes for you.”
“I get it,” she huffed, feeling the weightof the impending doom on her shoulders.
Anna Claire walked back over to the couchand sat down after Luca had left. She didn’t bar the door againbecause she knew Gunnar would be arriving at any moment.
It wasn’t a few minutes before her matewalked through the door. It might’ve been only a few hours sinceshe’d seen him, but it felt like days…weeks even. He stopped in thethreshold and stared at her. His head tilted to the side inquestion, but he didn’t speak.
Anna Claire, once again, climbed to herfeet, but this time, she ran toward her mate and climbed into hisarms. His deep inhale of her scent calmed her as much as hers didfor him. Together they were stronger, happier. Knowing the hunterswere coming soon scared her to death.
“I’m scared, Gunnar,” she admitted againsthis neck. She placed a kiss to the mating mark she’d left on himthe night they officially mated, and he shivered.
“I’m not,” he replied, his voice deep andsecure. “We have made friends with the Shaw pride, and the panthersare going to assist us when these hunters arrive. I promise you, itwill all be over in a matter of minutes.”
“Then we can live in peace?”
“Yes, honey,” he promised, using thenickname he’d given her so long ago. “We will be safe, and you andour cub can live without fear.”
The stood there in their living quarters forthe longest time just holding onto each other. She knew she neededto rest for the sake of her unborn cub, but she just couldn’t bringherself to close her eyes for fear of waking up to news of her matebeing hurt by the hunters. The last thing she wanted to do wasimagine him being in Ransom’s shoes.
“When are they coming?”
“Tomorrow at dusk,” he answered, which wastechnically that night. He was thankful the alpha had agreed to themeeting after midnight, because without the help of the pride, theclan would be destroyed in less than twenty-four hours. “We need torest before then. I’m going to need to be alert.”
“Let’s sleep,” she offered and took hishand. Gunnar was right. He needed to rest, and so did she, but AnnaClaire knew she wasn’t going to get any sleep.
No sooner than his head hit the pillow,Gunnar was fast asleep. Anna Claire waited another ten minutesbefore sliding quietly out of the bed, then the room. Once the doorwas closed, she looked at the clock and groaned that it was only acouple of hours before sunrise. Her worry wouldn’t let hersleep.
The phone they’d been using was hidden inthe upper cabinet over the fridge. Anna Claire quietly pulled achair from the small dining table over and climbed up to reach forthe phone. She returned the chair and powered up the phone.
Wanting to know what was going on, she foundthe message boards and got to work, scanning all of the comments ina post that had been made at midnight.
D-Day – Post photos and results withlocations here.
She paused before she clicked on thecomments. There would be things in there she probably didn’t wantto see. The hunters were on a mission to kill the werebears, andshe knew they’d be posting their images like a chartered trophyhunt. Could she really look at the photos?
Shaking her head, Anna Claire told herselfthat being informed was more important, because not havinginformation could be deadly. She hoped she could find out where thenew batch of hunters coming for them were staying or any clues asto when exactly they’d arrive. The sheriff said dusk, but shewanted to be sure.
Covering her mouth to hold in a cry ofshock, she scanned the first image. A family of grizzlies lay in arow. A large male bear was lifeless next to a woman and two teenagecubs. All of them had been shot.
Tears poured out of her eyes as she read thelocation.
Price, Utah – Family of 4
The next comment stopped her. There wasn’tan image. The hunter had posted there had been a tornado comethrough and destroyed their trucks. The location pinned themoutside of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The next comment was more of the same.Terrible destruction due to the weather in Rolla, Missouri;Lincoln, Illinois; Janesville, Wisconsin…and the list continued.Storm after storm hit every one of them. So much so, the humanhunters started arguing about the reasoning behind it. Some said itwas a coincidence, others said it was the hand of God.
Anna Claire knew it was the work ofGaia.
They were running. Gaia’s plan ofdestruction was working.
With her tears drying, she scanned more andmore posts of wind, tornados, hail, and severe thunderstormspreventing the hunters from achieving what they’d set out to do.One post stood out from the rest.
We are set to attack in
