Page 23 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 1
The Hunt.
It had been a long-standing tradition with shifters until the moral-minded Shifter Council had put an end to it. It was against shifter law and punishable by death if committed.
And here Price and his pack had been continuing the ritual every single damn year. That was why they were in the Alaskan wilderness. It made sense. Price thought they were safe and could hide from the system. And he might have succeeded, too, if I had never become a part of General Taggert’s team of special operatives.
I was in a tough spot. By shifter law, I could punish the wolves by killing them and sending their heads home as a warning to the rest of Price’s pack. Technically, his pack couldn’t retaliate, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.
And Josh’s pack was large. He had family all across the Midwest, and I knew if I spilled one drop of wolf blood, they’d all come running. Wolves were loyal to their pack members. They’d go on and on about revenge and serving out judgment. It gave other shifter breeds headaches just listening to wolf-shifters bellyache about past slights.
I didn’t even want to think about what Price’s untimely death would bring out of the woodwork. All shifters were a bit on the crazy side, but wolf-shifters were the true psychos of the shifter breed.
I called another number and waited for it to be answered. The minute it did, the sounds on the other end brought a grin to my face, warming my spirit.
“Fergus? Why are you calling? Is everything all right?” my aunt Kristine asked.
The woman might be nearly three hundred years old, but she still sounded young. She was the caretaker for the young bear-shifters when their parents were away on clan business. She told stories to keep our heritage alive in the younger generations, making us remember where we’d come from.
I shuddered because I wouldn’t know what to do if I ever lost her, especially if we began a war with the wolf-shifters.
Pushing the dark thought aside, I responded, “Can you put Logan on the phone?”
“I haven’t seen Logan in a week.”
I frowned. Logan should have been home by now. He was one of my newest enforcers and eager to prove himself to the clan, so I’d sent him to Price’s territory to do surveillance. All shifters spied on one another. It wasn’t a secret. It was how we kept one another in check.
“Has there been any news of wolf-shifters on the move?” I asked.
“Wolves, eh? Not that I’m aware of…” She paused. “Wait, why are you asking about wolves, Fergus? And don’t lie to me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, but I can’t get into details.”
“Hmm, well, I have heard more grumbling about that unruly Price pack. They found some more mutilated animal bodies a couple of states over, and I hear humans are now getting very suspicious.”
Shit.I ran my fingers through my hair. “Have you heard about anything strange happening in his territory?”
Screaming children in the background had my aunt yelling, “If you don’t settle down, there will be no honeycomb cookies for dessert!”
Then there was utter silence.
“No. Nothing like that, Fergus.” She sighed into the phone before asking, “What’s troubling you? You sound upset by something.”
I leaned against a nearby tree as a few gentle snowflakes fell around me. They landed on my warm skin and melted instantly.
“The Hunt,” I whispered, as if afraid someone would overhear me. For a second, I felt like a damn little kid asking why curse words were bad and then being smacked on the knuckles for uttering them all out loud.
And my aunt’s reaction was just the same. I heard a sharp intake of breath and then the sound of a door slamming shut.
“Why do you speak about such dreadful things?”
“Because I believe it’s still going on, Aunt Kristine. And I think I just found their next victim.”
Chapter 17
Trinity
I was stillin shock when Boyle and Josh changed back into men. The rest stayed as they were, dragging the dead elk between them.
Josh untied me and then shoved me ahead of him as we headed back to camp.
