Becca looked up, searching for Carl. She couldn’t see him and had no idea what that meant. He could have been knocked unconscious by who knew how many shots. Or he could be happily feasting on dead hunter.
“I don’t hear him,” she said into the phone. Though there was a mechanical noise. “I can’t see?—”
Then she did see. Three guys with hoodies on motorcycles heading straight for her. Their headlights flashed across her vision, temporarily blinding her, but she’d seen enough. They came from different directions, though generally south of her position. And they’d seemed to boil out of the trees fast enough that she choked on her fear. They were a ways off, but at that speed, they’d be on her in under a minute.
“Becca!” the voice said. “What’s happening?”
“Three motorcycles,” she gasped as she leaped to her feet. She had to get Justin out of the way. If she dragged him far enough to the side, maybe the bastards would roar right past. She fumbled with the boy’s arm, dropping the phone in the process, and heaved with all her might.
A foot’s progress. Then another.
That was all she got when she saw one of the riders point at her. She had time to recognize moonlight on a gun and know that she was about to die. The very idea froze her up like a Popsicle, and she just stared. Nowhere to run with the bastards only a few dozen feet away from her and closing fast.
Then she heard that roar again. Carl in full grizzly tearing through the trees nearest her. Forty feet away at most, but the sound was loud enough that everyone flinched, including the guy with the gun.
Bang.
Not a tranquilizer this time. She prayed it missed. Couldn’t be easy to aim from a motorcycle on rough terrain, right? Since she wasn’t screaming in pain, she assumed she was okay. But now what? She couldn’t abandon Justin, and she couldn’t just stand here and die.
She crouched down, adrenaline pouring through her body. If she could get that bastard’s gun, she could shoot at them. Ridiculous thought to jump at a guy on a motorcycle as he sped past, but what else could she do? Distantly, she heard the wail of sirens. Thank God. She’d just have to hold out for a minute or two.
Then there was Carl, all bear as he tore into the dirt right in front of her. The nearest motorcycle swerved when the bear swiped, skidding dirt as he flew past. She had a moment to register long, sharp claws, but then there was only grizzly as Carl backed up until he was practically on top of her and Justin. He was protecting her, she realized. And thank God, because now she saw the net.
It was a dark blob stretched between the two remaining motorcycles. Were they trying to catch Carl? They’d need a net the size of a Mack truck. Except Carl wasn’t looking too steady. He tried to rear up onto his hind legs only to flop forward again. Which is when she saw four little red blobs on his body. Tranquilizer darts. Shit.
Where the hell were the police?
The guys with the net swerved around, clearly regrouping. The third one was out there somewhere, too, and she spun around, looking for him.
There! With another gun, this one longer and thinner. The tranquilizer gun, and it was aimed at Carl.
“Oh, no you don’t!” she bellowed. Then she did the stupidest thing her terrified brain had ever imagined. She leaped up to protect a grizzly bear. After all, if they took down Carl, she was helpless. So she leaped. And by some miracle of luck and adrenaline, she’d guessed right. She felt the dart hit, the impact like a baseball against her ribs. Pain bit—sharp—and she fell backward from the power of it.
She hit Carl’s butt, bouncing harmlessly off his fur. She felt him spin around, his claws flashing in the moonlight. Another roar and the sirens and the smear of starlight as her head bounced crazily on the ground.
And then…
Nothing.
CHAPTER 7
Becca woke to the sound of muted voices—one male and one female—arguing in heated whispers nearby. Her first thought was that neither one of them was Theo or Carl. The second was that they were arguing over her. Something about it not making sense.
Thank you Ms. Obvious. Nothing about her last twenty-four hours made sense. As she scrolled through her memory, she ticked off all the ridiculously impossible things.
Theo disappearing—possible, but improbable. He was not a boy to run away, not when he knew how freaked she’d get.
Grizzly bear shifters—impossible. No explanation needed.
Theo returning to Gladwin State Park like a salmon swimming upstream—impossible. His home was in Kalamazoo and always had been.
Kissing Carl—completely and totally impossible, except that statistically speaking… nope. Still impossible. She did not fool around with people in Theo’s life. It was just too awkward and Mr. Max was firmly in Theo’s life. And yet of all the impossible things in her brain, that was the one that made her heart race and her stomach clench. Why did she pick now of all times to suddenly discover her hormones? Idiotic!
People on motorcycles shooting at her—impossible. She just wasn’t a person people shot at. She made castle cakes for little girls’ birthday parties. She lived in central Michigan, where nothing happened to anybody except maybe frostbite.
So there it was. Everything was impossible, and yet she remembered every gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, erotic moment. So either she was impossible or the rest of the world was. End of discussion.
She sat up, belatedly realizing that she should have opened her eyes and oriented herself a bit first. Especially since the world began to spin the moment she moved her head. She slammed her eyes shut. It was the only thing to do when Carl’s man-cabin living room spun like a theme park ride. Fortunately, it was enough to tell her where she was, if not why.
