Page 81 of Mitchell's Untamed Mate

Jayden studied the ground.“This is crazy!There aren’t any tracks.It’s as if whoever killed them was a ghost and the bodies just disappeared.What kind of shifter could do something like this?”

Tracy looked at the snowy landscape and shook her head.“None that I’ve ever met,” she admitted.

Jayden scowled at her.“You’re not making me feel good about this.If you’ve gotOthersthat can do this, how do we know you guys won’t just pick our bones clean?”

Tracy glared back at Jayden.“I don’t eat meat,” she snapped.

“Well, someone… or should I say somethingdoes!”Jayden scoffed.

Tracy ignored the taunt and returned her attention to the area.“Let’s do one more sweep and head back.My brother and the team should be arriving to evac everyone any moment.I’ll turn this over to my aunt and let her deal with it.She’s got people who figure this stuff out on the payroll.”

Jayden nodded, glancing around them again.“Sounds good.”

Tracy didn’t want to admit that she wanted to get back to the cave and get the hell out of there.She had a sense they were being watched.By what, she didn’t know, and after seeing what they had found, she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

“Fuck this.Climb on my back,” she ordered, looking over her shoulder at Jayden.

Jayden stepped back and looked at her in confusion.“Why?”

“Because I can move a hell of a lot faster than you in the snow and it feels like we are being watched.I want to get the hell out of here before whoever did this comes back,” she snapped.

Jayden twirled in a tight circle and slowly backed up until she bumped into her.Tracy tried not to wince when Jayden pulled on her fur as she scrambled onto her back and dug her heels into her side.Releasing a puff of air that sent a fog of frigid air rolling out in front of her, she rolled her shoulders.

“Hang on,” she ordered.

Tracy set a steady pace for the first few hundred feet to allow Jayden time to adjust her grip.She weaved in between thick trees and plowed through snow drifts as if they weren’t there before she picked up her pace as a sense of urgency filled her that they were being followed.

She didn’t want to risk looking over her shoulder as they sped through the forest as if the shifters from hell were on their heels.Jayden leaned forward as she swerved under a fallen tree that was wedged between two others.

Tracy dug her long claws into the snow.The faint but familiar thump, thump, thump, thump of helicopter blades overhead spurred her onward over low brambles, fallen trees, and around boulders.Her breaths came in pants and she pulled in the frigid air through her nose into her starving lungs and released it through her mouth in a steaming fog of mist.

They cleared the forest and began their climb at the same time as a helicopter hovered near the entrance to the cave.Six men, dressed in black SBSI tactical gear slid down long ropes to the ground.Tracy huffed and puffed as she climbed.Jayden’s hands tightened on her sides, and her knees and heels anchored her to her back.

“Who are they?”Jayden yelled above the noise of the helicopter.

“Rainbows and unicorns as far as I’m concerned,” Tracy shouted back.

Tracy bowed her head to the side against the ice crystals biting into her as the second helicopter deposited more men along with the first group.She slowed her pace as the helicopter lifted to a safe distance.

Relief struck her when she saw her brother remove his helmet.With a cry of relief, she threw herself at him, forgetting she was still in her bear form.Ty grunted at the impact and fell onto his back in the snow.Tracy held him down and licked his face over and over until he muttered a curse.

“Jeez, Tracy.Get ahold of your bear.You’re embarrassing me in front of all the guys,” Ty grumbled.

“Thank Goddess that isn’t your blood.It isn’t, is it?”Van demanded, reaching down to help Ty up when she stepped to the side.

“No.There is more in the forest.I don’t know who it belongs to,” she said.

“Steady now.”

“Keep your paws off me, beast,” Jayden snapped.

Tracy looked over her shoulder.Jayden was slapping Peterson’s hand away from her.She shook her head when Jayden backed up and swung her spear menacingly at Peterson and the other shifters who had arrived.

“Give me a minute.I need to shift and let Mitchell and the others know it is safe,” she instructed.

“We’ll wait,” Ty promised.

“Jayden, I’ll need my clothes,” she said, walking toward the cave entrance.

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