“Or someone skilled enough to work without being detected.”
The implications hung between us.
I wrote down the theories in my notebook, numbering them. Passive degradation from lack of maintenance. Active sabotage after his father’s death. Sabotage during his father’s lifetime with delayed effects.
“We need more data,” I said. “Soil samples from multiple seal sites to compare composition. A timeline of Bastian’s territorial movements over the past decade.”
“You believe Bastian could be involved.”
“I think the timing is suspicious.” I pulled out my notes from the creek visit, flipping back to the entry from the day of the bear. “There’s something else I’ve been thinking about.”
My notation had been clinical at the time, the way I always documented observations. No emotional content, just the facts.
I read it aloud. “Subject emerged from northeast quadrant at estimated distance of thirty paces. Approached at high speed, seemingly aggressive posture. Responded to alpha presence withimmediate retreat, trajectory suggesting purposeful redirection rather than random flight.”
Feral listened without interrupting, his attention fixed on my notes.
“The problem is the retreat pattern,” I said. “It doesn’t fit expected behavior for the species. A wild bear facing a wolf your size would circle, test, possibly bluster. They don’t run unless injured or protecting young, and this one showed no signs of either. They turned and fled into the forest.”
I pulled over my duskburst location diagram and mapped the bear’s emergence point against it, marking it with a small notation in the margin.
“Huh.” I frowned at the drawing. “The bear came from the direction of the most recently placed duskburst specimen. Within twenty paces of the location.” I tapped the notation with my pen. “The proximity is noteworthy.”
Feral stared at the maps, his shoulders tightening.
“I’m not saying it was deliberate. I’m saying the data doesn’t support coincidence.”
Feral grunted.
The office felt smaller. The morning warmth had shifted into something heavier.
“A bear shifter lives with Bastian’s pack,” he said.
It could mean nothing. Bears ranged widely. Bastian’s territory bordered this one. There could be other explanations.
But I’d learned to pay attention when the data stopped cooperating with coincidence.
Acorn perked up in his bed, looking our way.Bears who walk like male with purpose true, know forests well and where they’re due.
I set down my pen. “We need to go to Bastian’s territory.”
“Yes.”
“Treaty follow-up would make a great cover. You’re the king. You have every right to check on regional stability following your last meeting.”
“That’s the excuse.” Feral straightened away from the desk. “While there, we can gather information without revealing what we know.”
I nodded. This was just another investigation requiring field work. Data collection in a potentially hostile environment, but I’d done riskier things.
His jaw had tightened in the way it did when he’d already reached a conclusion he hadn’t decided to share yet. Taking me into possible enemy territory, probably.
“I’ll be fine,” I said before he could figure out how to phrase his concern without sounding like he was forbidding me from going.
“You’ll remain close to me at all times.”
“I always do when it matters.”
His expression shifted, warmth breaking through the worry.
