Page 8 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 2
Fergus
I smelled blood,and my bear snarled.
It wasn’t mine, and it wasn’t from the other shifters.
It was the woman. I’d know that scent anywhere.
I knew she was nearby, but other footsteps were approaching. Grant and Cutter reported their findings from the night. I shifted with a loud roar and walked to where I’d buried some supplies. We had many stashes like this all over our territory. Grant and Cutter shifted as well and then came to greet me.
“The wolves are all back at the campsite, but it looks like they’re packing up,” Cutter remarked.
“Fine. We’ll just have to monitor them and then draw them out more,” I replied.
“Why not just take them now?” Grant asked, checking his Glock to make sure it was loaded. “It’s daylight. We can see them. We know where they are, and we know they don’t have the woman.”
I growled, trying to hold in my temper. “Because we’re tryingnotto start a war.”
“Why bother trying?” Cutter asked. “They obviously want one.”
“Do you want to explain a war to Taggert? Or why it’d be worse than anything he thinks he knows about? No, we stick to the plan to draw them out, get Price, and go home.” I took a whiff of the wind and blew air out my nose. “Blood.” A sharp pain pinged around in my head. “The woman’s hurt,” I hissed.
Grant and Cutter smirked at each other.
“Her name’s Trinity Holiday. That’s what I heard the wolves calling her,” Grant stated.
Trinity Holiday,my beast repeated in reverence.
“You know,” Cutter interjected, “she’s pretty damn resilient for a human. She’s not just some pathetic pushover.”
My eye twitched. “And?”
“And we know you have this tough exterior…” Cutter went on. “But the clan would love for you to find your mate.”
My nostrils flared. “We’re not discussing this again.”
“Someone has to,” Grant muttered under his breath.
I turned with a growl.
“Just pointing out the obvious. Your bear likes her. We can sense it as much as you can. Maybe she’s your fated mate.” He held up his hands in surrender when I took a menacing step toward him.
Grant backed away and tapped Cutter’s arm. “Never mind. Let’s go, Cutter, and monitor Price and his pack.”
The two of them stalked off through the trees, still mumbling about Trinity being my fated mate.
“I can still hear you,” I fumed.
Cutter turned and saluted me, and then he and Grant shifted and lumbered into the woods. Grant nearly disappeared, his white fur blending into the snowdrifts. Cutter stuck out until he was within the trees, and then his dark brown fur hid him well enough.
I sighed, watching them. I knew they wanted me to be happy, to find my fated mate—the one woman I was born to love and protect—and have a lot of cubs.
But with a human?
I wasn’t even sure if the rest of the clan would accept that. Over the years, mixed couples of bear-shifters and witches or tigress-shifters were part of our clan, but never a mating between an alpha and a human.
It didn’t help that I’d never exactly been the relationship type.
Too many times, I’d tried to settle down with a female bear, thinking all was well. Then Taggert would call me away on a secret mission, and I’d leave, not knowing when I’d be back or if I’d come back alive.
