Page 15 of Dragon's Rejected Mate

“Grrr. You’re impossible.”

The afternoon was slow, so Jamie asked Clara if she could take off early.

“Go for it,” Clara said.

Jamie had her snow shoes packed in her car so she locked in her all wheel drive and headed up the mountain. She needed some fresh air and time to think. She really wanted to shift and ramble through the forest, but she didn’t feel like driving the hour or so to some place where it would be safe. Dillon, Ethan, and several other shifters were trying to come up with some kind of solution that would make it safer for shifters in the area, but short of taking out the Faisons, no one had come up with a viable solution.

After strapping on her snow shoes, she headed up through the trees to one of her favorite places to shift. She knew that it was extremely dangerous, but the aching need to recharge her batteries was overwhelming.

She told herself that she wouldn’t shift. She would just look around and then get some more snowshoeing in.

Jamie was startled to see that the area was covered in boot prints and snow shoe prints. Some of the prints were covered in a light dusting of snow, so people had been up there on different days.

Curious, Jamie made her way over to another spot that had been popular for shifters to hide their clothes and transform. It, too, was covered in tracks.

Have all of the shifters’ favorite places to shift been discovered? It’s not like they were in easy to find places. They were way off the normal trails. Someone would have to know that they were there in order to find them. Is there a traitor who is feeding the Faisons and their hunters information?

The next morning, after the coffee rush was over, Jamie walked over to the general store next door. Dillon greeted her cheerfully, especially when he saw that she brought coffee for him and Ethan, who helped run the store.

“Thanks,” Dillon said, gratefully accepting the coffee. “However, I suspect that this isn’t a social call.”

“You’re right. I was up on the mountain and visited a couple of places where I used to like to shift. They both were covered in human prints. It could be shifters who went up there to use the area to shift, but I don’t think so. There were no animal prints,” Jamie said. “It made me wonder whether there is a shifter who is spilling some secrets.”

“I’m pretty sure that they have at least one source of information who is giving them tidbits of intel, but not enough to hurt anyone – yet. I could just be being paranoid and the hunters are simply being diligent, or more than likely, it is both,” Dillon said.

“Do you have any idea who it might be?”

Dillon shook his head and said, “I don’t. I wish I did. For now, the shifters will have to make the drive to some place safe to shift.”

“That stinks. That is a long drive, especially in some of the weather that we’ve been getting.”

“I agree, but I don’t think that we have any other options,” Dillon said.

Jamie nodded and headed back over to the café.

Zeke, Clara’s son, had the day off from school, so he and Reno, Zeke’s chihuahua, were hanging out at the café.

The little boy lit up as soon as Jamie walked into the café.

“Dillon put up a tree. Mama said that I could decorate it. Will you help me?” he asked excitedly.

“Of course. I would love to,” Jamie said.

Clara had an incredible amount of ornaments for them to choose from. Jamie and Zeke laughed and had a great time as they decided which of the decorations should go on the tree next. Reno cuddled up in the corner, watching them with a careful eye. When the tree was decorated, the icicles were on, and Jamie turned the lights on, Reno barked his approval.

“See, even Reno thinks that it is awesome.”

“The dog has good taste,” Jamie said, hugging Zeke.

The little boy and his dog went back to the section of the café that was set aside just for them to hang out. Jamie watched them for a few minutes. She had always wanted a family and thought that it would be great if she had a little boy or girl of her own.

Slow down there, girl. You need a good man in your life first. Although there are a lot of single mothers out there who do an incredible job, I don’t want to be one of them.

Luke’s image flashed in her mind, but she quickly pushed it away. It was way too soon to even think about that possibility. But that didn’t make the wish go away.

6

Luke

---