“Daniel, come in,” Damon said. “I’d like you to meet someone.”
Striding inside, he closed the door behind him and approached his boss.
“Daniel, this is Dr. Cameron Spenser, our newest recruit,” Damon introduced. “Cam, this is Daniel Rogers.”
The man sitting in front of Damon’s desk turned and stood up. He was an inch or two taller than him, his white-blond hair tied back in a ponytail. Iridescent blue-purple eyes behind a pair of gold-rimmed eyeglasses regarded him coolly. “How do you do?” His accent sounded British, and his voice cold and pure, like cut ice.
“Hey, Doc.” Daniel offered a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Dr. Spenser looked at his hand like he was offering him poison, but when he didn’t pull it back, the other man took it. “Nice to meet you. And it’s Dr. Spenser, not Doc.” His nose wrinkled. “Or Cam, if you prefer.”
“Cam it is.” His grip was strong, but Daniel didn’t back down, returning it with a firm squeeze of his own. He could sense the other man’s animal right away and smell the scent of fur. Bear, definitely. But it wasn’t a grizzly like him or a Kodiak like Damon.
Damon cleared his throat, and both men released each other’s hands at the same time. “Cam is coming in to replace Gabriel, at least until the new trainees come up to speed in the next year,” he said. “I’d like you to show him the ropes until he gets his bearings.”
“No prob. So, you’re a doctor?” Daniel asked Cam. “And you came here to be a ranger?”
“I have my PhD in ecology, and conservation from the University of Basel,” he said. “And my undergrad in botany, and zoology from Oxford.”
“Nice,” he said. “I studied forestry and wildlife conservation from Colorado State myself.”
“Aside from doing ranger duties, Cam will be conducting some research on the wildlife here as well,” Damon explained.
“It’s part of our agreement,” Cam continued. “Although ranger duties don’t seem that hard. I doubt it will get in the way of my scientific pursuits.”
Daniel could see why the chief chose him to give Dr. Uptight his orientation. That snooty, upper crust attitude would probably get him decked in no time by the other guys around here. “All right,” he said. “Why don’t we start with a tour of HQ, and then maybe you can join me on some trails?”
Damon looked relieved. “Thank you, Daniel.”
“Let’s go, Doc—I mean, Cam.”
“Much obliged.”
Daniel took him around HQ, giving him an extensive tour that took up most of the morning. Aside from the main building, the entire complex also including a garage for their vehicles, a storage area, holding areas, a dorm for trainees, and several empty cabins they used for different purposes depending on the time of the year. Afterwards, Daniel took him to the nearby trails.
“How about lunch?” he asked Cam as they were headed back. “Cafeteria’s open, and the views are great.”
“I’ve brought my own food,” Cam replied. “And besides, I’m eager to set up my office and lab.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “All right then, suit yourself. Just holler if you need me.” And don’t forget to get rid of that stick up your ass.
“Thank you.” Cam gave him a curt nod and spun on his heels.
Glad that’s over. Daniel mentally shook his head. A guy like that wasn’t going to last around here, unless he wanted to spend all his time alone.
Seeing as he had time for lunch before he went on patrol, he made a beeline for the cafeteria. He ate alone, seeing as Gabe wasn’t around anymore and Anders was back on night shift. Grabbing his phone, he meant to text Sarah, but remembered he didn’t have her number on him. Well, gotta take care of that tonight. Maybe he could even convince her to take some selfies with him, so he could at least have pictures of her to look at and put on his phone as his wallpaper.
He glanced around, as if someone might accidentally look over his shoulder, and tapped on the browser icon on his screen. He searched for his name and pulled up the initial news story about their marriage. There were several pictures of him and Sarah coming out of HQ, including one with his arm around her, and her gorgeous face clearly seen. He zoomed and took a screenshot. I’m one lucky bastard.
He could stare at her the whole day, but he had a job to do. Reluctantly, he put the phone away, returned his lunch tray, and headed out the door.
According to the schedule board, his patrol would start in sector 8-F, which was a little farther up the mountain, but would allow him to hike up to the next ranger station in 10-G where he could catch a ride back to HQ when he was done. Transport picked him up and dropped him off at the southeast corner of 8-F.
He traversed the trails, checking in with HQ via radio every now and then as he kept his eyes and ears open for any signs of trouble. His main job as a Blackstone Ranger was to help out visitors—both human and shifter. Aside from being a private forest reserve, the mountains served as a sanctuary for the shifters who lived in town. Anyone was welcome to come up here and shift into their animal forms, as long as they stayed away from visitors and didn’t cause harm to anyone. There was more than enough space for humans and shifters alike, and the public trails and campsites were only a small part of the vast area the mountains occupied. The shifters knew which places were just for them, as the rangers marked them with special paint that only they could see, carved symbols on the tree trunks, or sprayed a signature scent that could only be detected by their keen noses.
As he got farther up, he knew there would be less people and
