Page 49 of Bear Facts

“My sons are fine with it now,” Nell went on. “More accepting, at least. Brody works for Eric as his tracker. Shane works for me, as my second, but I lend him to Eric a lot. And Graham sometimes. Trackers are our eyes and ears, our fighters when we need someone to fight for us. Leaders can’t always engage, which I don’t like, but makes sense. We’d be battling for our places every day. Trackers help keep the peace.”

“Your own little army,” Freya said. “Like Althea’s.”

“A bit.” Nell shrugged. “But trackers don’t get paid. They work for us because they love us.”

Freya looked for humor in Nell’s eyes and found none. She was serious.

“What about Cormac?”

Nell’s face softened. “Cormac is a big sweetie.”

“Is he a tracker?”

“He’s more of a negotiator,” Nell said. “You might have noticed that everyone relaxes when Cormac’s around.”

Freya had seen that. “You’re lucky,” she said with conviction.

“I know, honey. It wasn’t as easy with Cormac as you might think. There were issues we had to work through, but yes, I am lucky.” Nell’s little smile told Freya more than words how much she adored him.

Some humans believed that mating for Shifters was only a sexual pull—the mating frenzy—but Freya had seen true bonds form even between Graham’s wildest wolves. That mate bond was love and something beyond it—something worth striving for.

“Shane at one point thought he wanted to take Cassidy Warden as his mate,” Nell startled Freya by saying. “I’m telling you this bluntly, because it’s only fair you know where things stand.”

Freya tried to suppress the pang Nell’s announcement sent through her. Of course, Shane would have had past relationships, and Cassidy, who Freya had glimpsed in Eric’s yard yesterday, was beautiful. It was no surprise that Shane, or any Shifter, would want to pursue her.

Freya’s head told her that while her heart burned in response. The wolf inside her lifted its hackles and growled.

“What happened between them?” Freya asked in a casual tone, hoping the wolf’s fury didn’t show.

The twinkle in Nell’s eyes told Freya she wasn’t fooled. “Shane never made a mate-claim with Cassidy. Cass took another Shifter, called Donovan, as mate, who was then killed. A great tragedy.” Nell’s amusement fled. “We feared Cassidy would die herself, she went through so much grief. But then she met Diego. Shane knew it was never meant to be between him and Cassidy. He’s been over it for a while now, and he and Diego are good friends. But you need to know.”

“I don’t expect to form the mate bond with him,” Freya said quickly. “In fact, I won’t stay here long enough for any sort of bond to form. I appreciate you taking care of me, and I’ll repay you somehow, but I’ll be leaving soon. I want to resolve things with Graham, then I have a brother to find.”

Nell regarded her with something like pity. “You’re young, Freya. Resolution takes a long time—sometimes it never comes.”

Freya worked to suppress her dismay, but she knew Nell was right. Her ideal scenario was that she and Graham would talk again, Leo would figure out he needed to back way off, and she’d take Graham’s promised help and find out what had happened to Rolf. Once he was located, she and Rolf would go back to San Francisco and resume their lives.

She’d have to reject Shane’s mate-claim before she went. But Shane had made the claim only to expedite the situation, hadn’t he? Shane wouldn’t care one way or the other what Freya did once she was gone. He might even be relieved he wouldn’t have to go through with an actual mating ceremony with her.

Freya thought of the power in Shane’s hard kisses last night, awakening a longing she hadn’t known she’d possessed, and confusion swirled through her.

If she rejected the claim and went back to her old life, she’d never find out what she could have had with Shane. Even the thought of hugging him in farewell and walking away made her hollow inside.

Nell was watching her closely, but before Freya could form a response, the dark-haired Reid came out of a house down the row and sprinted toward them.

Nell watched him come in surprise. “What’s he running for? He usually teleports when he wants to get anywhere in a hurry. Or maybe he doesn’t want to scare you.”

Reid slowed as he neared them. He’d been going full out, but he wasn’t even breathing hard when he stopped in front of Nell.

“Graham’s sending me out.” He flicked his midnight gaze to Freya, his eyes unreadable. “Leo has disappeared,” he said flatly. “He vanished in the night and hasn’t returned.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Couldn’t you have put a tracker on the asshole?” Shane demanded of Graham in irritation.

Ten minutes ago, he’d sat up with a start when Brody had barged into his bedroom, his brother not surprised to find Shane there. Without explanation, Brody had dragged him out the front door to meet Graham, barely giving him time to pull on a pair of jeans.

Shane had been warm and happy wrapped around Freya, not really minding when she’d slipped off to talk to his mother. He’d see her at breakfast, enjoy watching her lift a blackberry to her lips, curling her tongue around it …

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