The side of his lips lift and it’s obvious he doesn’t smile a lot. He’s a good looking stranger—or would be if he gave his hair a little trim and had himself a good shave. I wonder if I’m delirious and imagining him as I drift back into sleep.
Ray
The woman is dehydrated but mostly she’s about passed out from the cold. Whoever it is she came up the mountain with – I’m assuming Arney is his name – left her for dead. As I sit and watch the human woman sleep, I wonder if she realizes that. She’s pretty and brings a possessive side out of me that makes me want to forget everything else, the New Law, everything. I brush a piece of hair from her face, and she smiles, pushing her cheek into my hand as if she’s snuggling it. I sit there, just like that, not wanting to move and wake her. Even though it’s cold, her skin is warm to the touch, and I want to stay right here, just looking at her.
If she wasn’t already at risk of nerve damage from exposure to the cold, I would’ve carried her to my truck. I’m a fuckin’ bear shifter, it isn’t like the cold, even a blizzard, is too much for me.
I know I’ll be carrying her regardless because her ankle is wrapped and when I checked it out it was bruising pretty badly. The only favor the cold did for the woman was keep the swelling down in her ankle.
She’s not a slight woman, but still she brings out the protective instinct in me, and I can’t help wanting to know who it was that left her in such harsh elements to die. And who is he to her? Surely it’s not someone she loves. Surely this isn’t some kind of lovers’ spat and she’ll forgive him after this. I may not know her well, but already I can tell she’s not the kind of woman to put up with shit like this.
I force myself to leave her, because sitting here staring at her is making my bear go wild, and he’s clawing at my insides to get out. I step out of the cave and shift into my bear. It’s easier to hunt this way even though there is very little to hunt during the winter season.
I don’t get far before I’m trailing a wolf. As soon as he spots me, he stops and turns, circling me. He’s no match for me, I know I can take him, but there’s no reason to fight until I know if he is friend or foe.
Going on instinct, trusting my gut that this wolf is not an enemy of mine, I shift into my human form. Halfway through shifting, the wolf does the same.
I recognize him immediately “You are Raptor, from the Last Omens?” I ask him, recognizing him from the wolf shifter MC that was pushed to the Oregon side.
He nods his head, agreeing with me.
“You’re trespassing on New Law territory,” I tell him.
He bucks his chin up at me defiantly. He’s a younger recruit for the Last Omens. In the past, we would have run him off and threatened him to never come back. But ever since we’ve welcomed Mona, a wolf shifter, into our club, the level of rivalry has lessened. He seems harmless enough. “Have you heard of the missing girl?”
He nods once, looking around the forest as if I’m hiding her behind my back.
“I need you to go and see New Law, tell them that Ray has found the girl and to cancel the search parties. I’ll have her down when the blizzard clears.”
I expect him to argue with me, but he doesn’t. His chest puffs out actually, as if he’s thankful to be given something important to do. “Okay, I will go and tell them. Do you have food?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “No, I’m out hunting now. To take food back for me and girl.”
He reaches under a tree bush and pulls out a dead deer. “Here, I will split it with you.”
He says it proudly, and I know there is no way that I will tell him no. He gives me part of the deer and after I thank him, he shifts quickly and runs off.
I can’t help but laugh a little at the younger man’s desire to please. I drag the deer back to where I had shed my clothes and dress before going back to the cave. Luckily, the woman is still asleep. I strip away the hide of the deer and cook the meat over the fire.
Chapter 4
Keri
The smell of food pulls me from sleep this time. I’ve never been much for meat, but after nothing to eat for what feels like a gazillion days, it smells delicious.