Page 36 of Bear Facts

Freya took a breath, throwing off her memories, and continued. “He’d moved to a new apartment there—Mountain View is south of San Francisco, near Palo Alto, and I’ve been living in Golden Gate Heights. I like the park nearby.” Freya paused with a wistful smile. She’d also been close to the recreational area on the coast, where she’d been able to go wolf and run at night. “We always do something together on the weekends, but that weekend we hadn’t. I thought maybe Rolf had met someone—he didn’t say that, but he dropped hints that his life was going to change. I was excited for him and kept expecting him to call and tell me about it. He never did.” Freya’s heart felt hollow. She had no sense that Rolf was dead and gone but on the other hand, he simply wasn’t there anymore. It was as though part of herself had vanished, and she wasn’t certain she could breathe without it. “Do you think Shifter Bureau found him?” She voiced one of her greatest fears.

“No,” Graham said without hesitation. “I’d have been notified if they had—and probably interrogated. Or the information would have showed up in the Guardian Network. That means Neal—the Guardian here—would have known about it, and he’d have told me.”

“The Guardian Network?” Freya asked.

Shane answered before Graham could. “A mojo-magic database that all Guardians can access. It has information on every Shifter everywhere and knows more about us than Shifter Bureau ever could. It’s kinda creepy.”

Graham nodded in agreement. “The Guardians know that you and Rolf were once in my custody. If Rolf had been taken by Shifter Bureau, Neal would find out.”

Guardians—the Shifters whose swords ushered Shifter souls into the afterlife—could be cryptic and enigmatic. Some were downright odd. But also, they could be very kind. The Guardian of Graham’s pack had been three hundred years old and hadn’t minded two new cubs crawling over him and asking him questions. He’d finally died before she and Rolf had gone, but she didn’t know who the next Guardian had been.

Shane was behind her again, keeping the cold breeze at bay, like a bastion against everything bad.

Dangerous to think of him that way. Freya couldn’t stay in this Shiftertown—even if she didn’t fear discovery by Shifter Bureau, she wanted to continue her search for Rolf. The thought of leaving Shane behind, though, of never seeing him again, sliced sudden pain through her heart.

She turned from Graham to find Shane’s dark eyes on her, something questioning in their depths.

Shane bulked larger than Graham, who’d always been a tower of might to Freya as a cub. Graham was an alpha—an in-your-face, never-forget-I’m-dominant alpha. But now, with Shane holding Freya’s gaze, Graham faded into the background.

The corners of Shane’s mouth twitched, as though he guessed the direction of her thoughts.

Freya forced her attention back to Graham. “I need to find my brother.”

“I agree,” Graham said. “We’ll put our best trackers on it. We’ll find out what happened, don’t worry.”

His reassurance didn’t put Freya’s mind at ease. Graham had always declared he’d fix everything, and as a cub Freya had believed him.

After she’d passed her Transition, becoming an adult in Shifter terms, she’d realized that while Graham could often solve a problem by threatening it, sometimes he couldn’t. Freya’s naivety had fallen once Shiftertowns had loomed, plus her life with humans had taught her much about reality. Sometimes bad things couldn’t be banished.

“He means all the trackers,” Shane told her. “His, Eric’s, Mom’s. Your brother won’t stay lost for long.”

Freya wanted to let them ease her fears, but she was too wise to real life. Her only comfort from the beginning was that if Rolf had been in an accident or hurt somehow, the police or a hospital would have called her. They’d both listed each other as their emergency contact. But she’d heard nothing. The void was very hard to take.

“I’m just glad I found you, little cub,” Graham said, voice softening. “Or, you found me.”

The super-strong Graham, who’d guarded her and Rolf from the outside world as well as his own Lupines, now looked haggard. Leadership of half-feral Shifters had taken its toll. Graham had worked hard to keep his wolves safe, and even now, he couldn’t rest.

Freya went to him, unable to stop herself. He was the only father she’d truly known, and she wanted to comfort him. Graham gathered her into his strong embrace.

He’d been like this when she was a cub—a barrier between her and the night. Graham had been frightening, but he’d scared off all the bad things from Freya and Rolf too.

Freya sensed Shane step close to them, his protective watchfulness coming in waves.

Graham simply held Freya in a fatherly hug. The wolf cub in her felt his paternal relief that she was all right. Maybe the passing years and having a mate had softened Graham, or maybe he’d always been this caring, and Freya had been too young to understand that.

Shane was even closer to them by the time Graham released her. He pretended to ignore Shane as he squeezed Freya’s shoulders.

“Come on, little cub.” Graham’s voice was gruff with emotion. “Let’s go home.”

It’s not my home, Freya wanted to say, but she’d fight that battle when had to.

Graham kept his hand on Freya’s shoulder to lead her back along the line of houses. Shane walked tight against Freya’s other side.

A crowd of Lupines had gathered near Shane’s house, with Nell, Cormac, and Brody holding them at bay. Misty was talking to the wolves, gesticulating as though trying to reassure them.

Eric stood on the edge of the group, hands resting on his narrow hips, like a referee waiting to break up any ensuing fight.

Graham peeled himself from Freya and strode forward, his voice already ringing. “What the hell?”

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