ASHER
“You’re going to do what?”
I glanced up from sharpening my knife to find Anita, the Alpha’s daughter, staring at me. Our pack tended to stay away from towns and any other place where humans congregated.
“I’m going to Bramble Woods.” I tested the blade’s edge against my thumb. Good, it was sharp enough. “There’s a human scientist nosing around and asking questions about the polar bear den up north.”
“And that’s your business how?” She crossed her arms. Anita had inherited her father’s direct manner of speaking. “You haven’t been near the den since you were a cub.” She leaned closer and waggled a finger. “Your stepfather tried to kill you.”
I took a deep breath because it was hard to explain that I still felt some loyalty to a den I hadn’t been a part of since I was a child. And yes, an attempt on my life was the reason my contact with the den had been severed.
“It doesn’t matter.” It did because I never intended to meet my stepfather again. But I couldn’t dismiss the instinct that insisted I look for my den mates. I slid the knife back into its sheath. “They’re still my kind, and humans mean trouble.”
The pack taught me that humans were unpredictable and dangerous but not with claws and teeth. They carried guns and cameras, and when one of their kind arrived, more followed like a swarm of ants. If the scientists started poking around the den, they could discover “abnormalities,” leading to the discovery of shifters.
“They never came looking for you, so how can you care what happens to them?”
There was a defensive tone in her voice, and I got it. The pack rescued me and raised me. Anita thought my loyalty should be to the pack.
It was my father’s mate who wanted me dead, not the den or Father.
“In all ways that matter, I am pack. This is where my heart is, but I can’t deny that I am not a wolf but a polar bear, and if someone threatens my den, I will protect them.”
She nodded but muttered that I didn’t owe them anything. She thought by having anything to do with the den, even if I never went near them, that I’d leave and renounce my affinity to the pack.
“This is where I belong.”
But instinct didn’t care about logic or debts, and my bear was urging me to protect our kin. We couldn’t allow humans towander into bear territory with tags and tracking collars and make the den members their slaves.
Besides, there were also wild polar bears in the area. They needed protecting too.
“I’ll be back in a few days. Don’t worry.”
She sighed but ended the argument. She understood I’d probably win, as I’d beaten her in debates at the pack school.
I’d heard the scientist was staying in Bramble Woods, but the place hardly deserved the title of town. It was a handful of buildings clustered around a main street, hemmed in by forest. There was one tiny family-owned restaurant, a general store, town hall, and a B&B that was just a large house where the owner rented out rooms.
It was a place that people passed through on the way to somewhere else.
I parked my car at the edge of town, not wanting to draw attention, and wandered along the main street. My bear complained about wood smoke and motor oil, underlaid by the scent of humans.
The B&B was an imposing house of three stories and painted yellow. It was on a corner lot, giving the occupants an excellent view of everything happening in town. Maybe it should be named Gossip Central because the town thrived on it.
I shaded my eyes against the weak sun and studied the workers on the roof. They were hammering and talking to one another, and judging by the scent that wafted down on the breeze, they were both human.
A bell above the door jingled as I opened it, and I staggered over the entryway. Leaning against a wall, I was thankful there was no one at the small reception desk. I grabbed the doorframe as my bear was close to the surface, determined to shift.
Our mate is here.
My bear had no qualms about announcing we’d found our mate or were close to discovering him. Every breath he took inside me was too great a distance from our one and only, and he was determined to find the one person meant for us.
I was a tad more wary because humans both owned this place and stayed here, but instinct overtook my concerns, and like my bear, I needed to search every inch of this house until I found the guy.
“Are you all right, son?”
An elderly man stood behind the desk, and his brows were drawn together as he studied me.
“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat. “It’s cold outside, and I just need to warm up.” I rubbed my hands together.
