Page 19 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 2
I caught Taggert up on the difficulties of the situation. I contemplated leaving out the details of the Hunt, but with the number of bodies Taggert’s men had been turning up, the general needed to know everything. The conversation was mostly one-sided as I told him about the rules of the Hunt, how it was outlawed long ago, and how Price and his pack were obviously still practicing it.
“They brought Trinity up here to hunt her, but it might be more complex than that.”
“But she doesn’t know why they picked her?” Taggert asked.
“No. I need you to do something for me, sir.”
“Right now, if it’ll bring this bastard in, I’ll do whatever you need, Sheenan.”
“Trinity Holiday is an orphan. I need you to dig up any information you can on who her parents might have been.”
Taggert relayed the information to a tech. “I’ll get back to you as fast as I can, Sheenan. Are you sure she’s not involved?”
“She’s not helping them. She’s definitely a victim here. I just need to know why.”
“All right. I’ll be in touch. Stay safe, Sheenan. And later you’ll fill me in on this Hunt business.”
I hung up, hoping I wouldn’t regret telling Taggert all that. But I needed information on Trinity, needed to know who she was.
If she was the daughter of Protectors, why would they have given her up at birth?
Usually they’d raise their children in the family business. I’d never heard of Protectors giving up their children. But it might have something to do with whoever was awaiting Trinity back at Price’s home.
An old grudge, maybe?
Maybe Trinity’s parents had killed a prominent member of the pack, and Trinity was their way of exacting revenge.
And Price had brought her all the way up here to provoke me into starting a war, which meant Price wasn’t about to give up easily.
Trinity was in trouble. Price might not wait until nightfall to attack. And I’d let her wander off into the wilderness with only two bears to protect her against a group of seven ferocious wolves.
I cursed and then took off into the trees, racing to find Trinity and the others, hoping I wasn’t too late to warn them about Price’s plan.
Chapter 17
Trinity
I had stopped runningwhen the snow started falling again. It was going to get colder and colder, and the snow was just going to keep coming down. There was no use in depleting all my energy now. I sensed nothing wrong, so I figured a slow, steady pace would get me where I needed to go well enough.
The path I took led into a small valley. For a second, I wondered if I should go around. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I felt my gut clench.
Something wasn’t right.
The sun was still up, but the valley was dark, and the storm rolling in was only making it worse. If I went in there, I wouldn’t be able to see very well. I rubbed the spot on my arm again and turned back when something growled loudly behind me.
My blood ran cold. I turned slowly in the snow, trying to keep my balance.
Three wolves, heads easily reaching my shoulders, stood a respectful distance behind me. They snarled and flashed their large white canines at me. Spittle dripped from their mouths, and as one force, they unhurriedly started making their way through the snow toward me.
I had no weapons, nothing to fight them off with.
Dammit, I should have stayed with the big, bad, sexy Fergus.
I walked backward, one step at a time, with my eyes glued to the wolves.
Why aren’t they attacking?
I should have been on my back by now, fighting them off and screaming for my life.
