Page 7 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“I’m going to head to town,” she said. “I’ll be back in a few hours with milk. Then I’ll whip some up and we can share.”

“A few hours to get milk?” Town was only a ten-minute drive.

She looked at me sharply. “I may run a few other errands while I’m out.”

The landline phone rang at the small desk-like station just inside the kitchen door.

Toby entered the room, his short dark hair wet from a shower. He snagged the receiver off the hook by the second ring and put it to his ear. “Evergreen Resort and Retreat Center. This is Toby Fitzpatrick.”

Melanie closed the refrigerator door, walked to where he was standing, and grabbed one of two sets of Jeep keys that were left on the hooks.

“Thanks for the warning,” Toby said.

Melanie froze and looked at her brother.

My gut twisted. The caller could have been calling about anything, but I couldn’t help thinking it was about Reese.

“Got it,” Toby said. “Appreciate the heads-up.” He disconnected.

“Who was that?” I moved to stand beside Melanie.

“That was the Ranger Station on 146. Apparently there’s been another mountain lion sighting.”

“Reese,” I said, and fear rippled through me.

“Or an actual animal,” Melanie said. “Did they say anything about how big it was?”

That was a good question. While both the shifters and the North American mountain lions were a good eight feet long from nose to tail, the shifters were two feet taller. A forest ranger would notice the difference, not to mention something unnatural about it.

Toby tipped his head to the side. “It was sticking to the shadows, but she got a good enough look at its size to know it was male.”

“So…big, then?” I asked.

“Big,” Toby confirmed. “Thoughhowbig, I don’t know, and it’s very doubtful Reese would let himself be spotted.”

“Well, I’m going to drive up 146 and look.” Reese’s absence had gone on long enough, and I was worried. I reached up to grab the only other set of keys—the ones to the oldest model Jeep that was always left for last.

“No,” Toby said, stilling my hand against the key hook. “Just be patient. He’ll come back on his own.”

“You said that days ago. I’m going to at least drive up there and see for myself.”

Toby exchanged a glance with Melanie.

“It’ll be fine,” she said. “She’s not exactly the reckless type.”

Toby reluctantly took his hand off mine, and I removed the keys from the hook.

“Why would this be reckless?” I asked.

“Based on what Reese shared a few days before he left…” Toby paused and his eyes narrowed on me. “He said you have an uncanny ability to run into him accidentally.”

“So you think Ishouldgo look. You think I stand a good chance of finding him.” Hope bloomed in my chest. It was true mine and Reese’s paths had unintentionally crossed a couple of times when Reese was in animal form. But maybe I could get lucky again—this time on purpose.

Toby put his hands in his pockets. “My gut tells me that if Reese wanted to be found, he’d be home already. But if I’m wrong and you find him…” He exchanged another glance with Melanie. “Just be careful. His reaction could be unpredictable.”

“You don’t think he’dhurtme, do you?” The thought had never occurred to me. There’d always been an edge to Reese—like the vibration of restrained violence—but he’d always been gentle. An image of our encounter in the barn rose from my memory, the tenderness with which he’d pulled a piece of straw from my hair…

Of course there’d also been that incident after Charlie Horn slapped my ass.

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