Page 22 of Bear Facts

Freya couldn’t deny that. She hadn’t wanted to climb into one of Althea’s SUVs, especially not the vehicle containing Ewan, maybe to never be seen again. Freya had the feeling that if Althea considered her a threat, she wouldn’t be allowed to simply stroll away, no matter what the woman did or didn’t know about Rolf.

“Althea didn’t look happy when you dragged me off,” Freya observed.

“Nope.” Shane took another corner with death-defying bravery and spun them out onto Highway 157 that led back to town. “Plus, she’s not thrilled that I now know about her and her band of thugs.”

“She might have tried to hire you.” Freya glanced back at the SUV that was easily keeping pace with them. The other danced behind it.

“I doubt it. I think she figures a Collared Shifter is useless to her, unless she wants a bunch of boxes carried.” Shane took his gaze momentarily from the road to shoot Freya a wink. “Lots of people ask me to help them move.”

The way he phrased it: She figures a Collared Shifter is useless to her told Freya that Shane knew Althea’s conclusion to be wrong. She thought about her own tussle with him earlier, and how his Collar had remained silent, no reaction to his violence.

“Why didn’t you agree to fight Ewan?” Freya asked. “It wasn’t because you thought you’d lose.”

Shane shrugged. “He can probably give good battle, or he wouldn’t be working for Althea. But I’ve already had to fight a bunch of rowdy wolves today—besides you, I mean—when I really just wanted some time to myself.”

Freya knew bullshit when she heard it. “You didn’t want to do a round with Ewan, because Althea would wonder why your Collar didn’t go off.”

Shane flashed her a glance. “Oh, the cute Lupine is observant,” he said to the air.

“Why doesn’t it work?” Freya asked. “Is it defective, and you hope Shifter Bureau won’t notice?”

“It’s a long, long story, sweetheart.” He checked the rearview again. “Right now, I need to ditch these guys. We’ll talk later.”

He wouldn’t get the chance to tell her the story, though, because Freya was leaving as soon as Shane found a safe place to stop. Even if he reneged on his promise to drop her off wherever she wished, she could simply jump out at any intersection once they were in the city. Traffic could snarl badly there, providing her plenty of opportunity to get away.

The highway leveled out, the curved road straightening. The pines ended abruptly, bushier trees taking their place. In another minute, all the trees and the snow had completely vanished, to be replaced by desert scrub in pale sandy soil.

Shane increased his speed. Traffic had picked up, this road being the main drag between Mount Charleston and Las Vegas. The lead SUV remained right behind Shane, but the driver still didn’t pass or try to force them onto the side of the road.

Althea was picking her moment, Freya decided.

While Shane was driving faster, he wasn’t flooring it. His speedometer read a steady pace, well within the speed limit. A highway patrol car passed them going the other way, not even glancing at the pickup and its companion SUVs.

“If you speed up and a cop pulls us over, Althea will have to abandon the chase,” Freya suggested.

“If cops pull us over, they’ll wonder why a Collared Shifter in shredded clothes is running around Mount Charleston, far from his Shiftertown. Then they’ll wonder who you are and why you’re with me. Wanna risk it?”

“If you didn’t live in a Shiftertown, it wouldn’t be a big deal,” Freya countered in exasperation.

“If I wasn’t from this Shiftertown, I wouldn’t have been on the mountain this morning to help you,” Shane said in a reasonable tone. “As it is, I really don’t want to deal with Shifter Bureau on top of the day I’m already having.”

Freya had to concede the point. Hopefully Althea’s guys would attract the attention of the highway patrol or the Clark County sheriff, which would solve the problem. Sleek black SUVs full of men in sunglasses were more suspicious than a man and woman in a small pickup, even with Shane’s torn shirt.

“What are you going to do then?” Freya asked.

“Try to lose them when I hit the freeway.”

Freya hoped he could. She sat back, a little less tense now that the mountain grades were done, but her heart was still pounding.

Once Shane shook off Althea, Freya would have to decide what she’d do next. She had no other lead on her brother’s disappearance. Filing a missing person report wasn’t an option, in case the police figured out Rolf was a Shifter and sent the case to Shifter Bureau. Rolf wouldn’t be a missing person then—he’d be a fugitive Shifter. Fugitives could be shot and killed without redress.

Shane had said he knew people who could help her. He’d said people. Didn’t mean they necessarily were Shifters.

No. Freya cut off the thought. She needed to stay away even from humans who were friends with Shifters. She’d thank Shane for his help and walk away. When she got back to her job and could sort herself out again, she’d send Iona’s clothes to her or else money for her to buy new ones.

Freya would find a way to survive. She’d been doing that for the last twenty-five years.

They neared the freeway. Trucks whizzed along in both directions amid the glitter of many cars. Clouds had gathered above the desert floor, gray and threatening. Winter in southern Nevada could bring torrents of rain in the lowlands, which would become snow for the slopes on the mountains.

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