Page 98 of Bear Facts

Freya sat down on her haunches. Matt slid from her back and moved to crouch between her front paws.

I’m fine, Freya responded. She sounded both angry and worried.

“What the hell happened here?” Shane asked Rolf. “We came to rescue you, but you look fine to me. Feral, sure, but fine.”

Rolf huffed a laugh. “They captured me, Mr. Heaney and his humans. Caged me, tortured me until I went crazy. Just like they did to all the Shifters in this room.” He sent the human guards a pointed stare. “I let these guys live because they never did anything to us, only followed orders. They’re very good at following orders.”

Both guards stood rigidly, though one looked a bit wan. They were glad to be alive but not happy to be here.

“What about Althea?” Shane asked. He saw no need to be subtle. “Freya found her card in your apartment.”

Rolf shot Freya a glance that held a touch of remorse, but he shrugged. “I hated hiding my Shifter self. Freya and I were good at it, but it wears you down, and I was trying to find a better way for us both to exist. I heard about Althea’s organization and thought I’d reach out. I’d check her out, and if she offered good terms, I could bring Freya in as well. I couldn’t tell you, sis, because I had to swear myself to secrecy, or I wouldn’t get a meet. I guess this guy Heaney had an ear out for Shifters who wanted to join her—I gather he used to work for her. His thugs got me the minute I stepped off the bus in the middle of nowhere for my meeting with one of her agents. Tranqued me from the side of the road.”

Fury entered his eyes, which for a moment, pushed out any shred of sanity in them. Rolf blinked, fighting to master himself.

Freya regarded her brother with sadness in her gray-gold eyes. Whatever joy she’d experienced when finding him was now buried behind wariness. She wasn’t foolish enough to pretend everything was fine and okay, when it wasn’t.

Shane loved her.

“How’d you get free of Heaney?” Shane asked Rolf.

“He was careful.” Rolf smiled, his wolf self very much evident. “Had guards all over, with tranq rifles and tasers, plus Heaney was good at brainwashing. Telling us we were better off without Collars—he blamed them for sending Shifters over the edge into feral. But, hey, I’d never had a Collar. My conversion exposed the truth—that he was using lots of drugs and torture to make us insane. Had nothing to do with the effing Collars. The Shifters getting killed on that island jungle pushed things over the top. I got the rest of the Shifters to join me, and we took over.”

“Did you kill Heaney?” Shane kept the question casual. He understood Rolf’s rage and agreed that Heaney needed to be stopped, but Shifters murdering him wouldn’t help their cause.

Rolf’s expression was chilling. “Everyone is still alive. More or less. Heavily tranqued, after we had a little fun.”

Didn’t sound good. If the humans recovered, they could testify that Shifters had hurt them. Shane wasn’t optimistic about the humans’ chances.

“So, what’s your plan?” Shane asked. “Live out the rest of your life in this bunker? Fun for a while, but I’d get bored. You get any reception in here? I’d want to watch the games.”

He glanced up as he spoke, as though he could spy radio waves coming through the walls. Shane noted that there were cameras positioned around the room, but most had severed wires dangling from them. Shifters probably had disabled them not only to prevent Heaney from calling for help but to keep them from recording what the Shifters did in here.

“Cell phones don’t work, no.” Rolf looked amused. “No internet provider either. But we manage.”

Satellite phones then, maybe a dish hidden somewhere to get TV signals. Probably a two-way radio somewhere as well.

Shifters in Shiftertowns weren’t allowed state-of-the-art electronics, so they’d become very good at repair and modification of what they had. A radio would be useful to the Shifters for keeping tabs on the outside world, and it would be useful for Shane to call for help. He knew a few amateur radio operators in Las Vegas, friends of Diego’s he could trust.

“You sing songs and tell stories?” Shane asked. “Sounds like fun.”

“You’d be surprised.” The corners of Rolf’s eyes crinkled. He was more frightening when he pretended to be sane, Shane decided. “We’re fine, trust me. Thank you for taking care of Freya and bringing her to me.”

“I didn’t bring her to you, friend,” Shane said. “We’re here to take you home. We’ll have to figure out how to keep you out of Shifter Bureau’s clutches, but I know people.”

Rolf chuckled, an unnerving sound. The Shifters surrounding them had their gazes almost fanatically fixed on him, and the human guards had become statues.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rolf declared. “I’ve hidden my true nature all my life, but no longer. More Shifters will journey here to be freed and join us. Heaney had the right idea, but the wrong goal. He wanted Shifters to form an army, enslaved by him, to fight in his petty little wars.” Rolf lost his smile. “The Shifters will form an army, yes, but of their own volition, to fight for me. For all Shifters. To get us free of the humans for once and for all.”

The wild gleam returned to Rolf’s eyes. “How about it, Shane. You with me?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Freya kept herself protectively over Matt, who wisely remained beneath her, while her heart broke. The Lupine Shifter asking Shane to join him had the shape, voice, and eyes of her brother, but the Rolf she knew wasn’t in there anymore.

Her twin brother, the other half of herself, who’d make her laugh when she was down, who loved the deepest dish cheesiest pizza one day and dove with enthusiasm into Indonesian food the next, was gone. The spark had gone from his eyes, along with the incurable optimism that had kept them going day after day while they struggled to live in human society.

In his place stood a ruthless stranger, one she didn’t know. One she didn’t trust.

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