Shifters' Storm (23 page)

Even without looking into the cave, Songan knew what he’d find.
“They died together.”

“Not died; killed. Shot and gutted.”

The mind conversation with Ber was straining his ability to think, and his headache was returning.

“Maybe that’s the other thing we’re smelling,”
he told the bear who’d become his companion.
“The lingering stench of whoever killed them.”

“No, it isn’t old enough.”

The scents were so faint Songan had to clear his mind before he could concentrate. Experience and instinct told him Ber was right.

“Three humans,”
Ber explained when they stood only a few feet apart with falling snow a gauzy curtain between them.
“Two men. And a woman.”

Now that Ber had pointed that out to him, Songan set himself to learning even more. One of the men’s smell was similar if not identical to the stench of the one he’d attacked. Eyes closed so he could better concentrate, he struggled to make sense of what of herself the woman had left behind. The men-scent was a mix of sweat and other bodily aromas. In contrast, one thing dominated the woman’s.

Blood.

Fully alert, he circled the area until he came to the spot where the blood scent was strongest. After waiting for Ber to join him, he touched his nose to the ground and inhaled.

“Jacki,”
he told Ber
.

“No doubt?”

Not breathing, Songan stared into bear eyes.
“None.”

Feeling too large for his bruin body, Ber retraced his steps. Most of the time, the massive elk walked beside him, but when the trail became too narrow, the elk slowed so he could go first.

Ber’s mind pulsed as he struggled to process everything, but no matter how many times he came close to acknowledging what the various smells had told him, images of the three murdered and mutilated bears rushed to the forefront.

Revenge meant nothing to bears, but he was more than an animal, and the human in him wanted only one thing.

“What happened to the second man,”
he asked Songan.
“Did you find him? Kill him?”

Songan didn’t reply, prompting Ber to stop and look over his shoulder. Something had changed about the elk, a dullness in his eyes that hadn’t been there when they were near the cave and examining the telling scents.

“What is it?”
he demanded.
“What are you thinking?”

Head tilted to the side a little, Songan returned his gaze, but there was no comprehension.

“Songan, it’s me, Ber. Do you know what I’m saying?”

Nothing. No hint the elk understood a word.

“What about Rane,”
Ber pressed.
“Do you remember her? You fucked her today. So did I.”

Something briefly flashed in Songan’s eyes. Studying the elk with the largest rack he’d ever seen, he accepted the undeniable. When they were standing where Rane’s mother had shed her blood, Songan’s intelligence had equaled his. The effort must have taxed what little of Songan’s human mind remained. He no longer thought. He’d again become pure animal.

In a way, Ber envied the other shifter.

Following the scents leading away from where he was certain Jacki had been killed should have settled him. Always before, he’d found a sense of peace in instinctive acts, but everything had changed. He didn’t fully understand the rage that threatened to strip caution from him and could barely control it. Some of his fury came from the carnage inside the cave; the rest revolved around what he’d have to tell Rane.

Slowing, he struggled to form the necessary words to tell Rane what he and Songan had discovered. One thing he knew. He couldn’t simply lay out the details. Rane deserved more.

So did the dead mother bear and her children.

Ber picked up his pace. Behind him, Songan did the same. Even with everything he was trying to process, he almost laughed at the thought of how they looked. A bear and an elk, no longer wary adversaries or enemies but united.

By the woman they shared.

Memories of how Rane’s body felt against him lifted his cock. Instead of assuring himself that he was still following the faint blood trail, he drew one image after another from deep inside.

Rane, standing naked between Songan and him. Rane on her back on the too-small bed with her legs open and heat welcoming him. Rane taking his length and breadth into her core. Screaming her climax.

Something squeezed his heart. Forcefully casting aside what had given him his erection, he again dragged his nose over the snow dusting until the scents spoke to him. Once more single-minded and with his erection dying, he picked up his pace. The snow flattened under his paws. Behind him, the elk shifter’s sharp hooves did even more damage.

He knew one thing. Several weeks ago, two men had taken turns dragging and sometimes carrying Jacki’s body toward Wolverine. Only one reason for the effort made sense. The killers hadn’t wanted her to be found near the cave.

Chapter Twenty-One

The camouflaged man trudged with his rifle slung over one stooped shoulder. His head was so low it looked as if his chin might strike his chest, and Ber concluded that his legs were in danger of giving out. When he’d followed him earlier, the man had moved at an impressive pace. No longer.

What did he care! This
creature
had savagely murdered three innocent bears.

That wasn’t the only thing the bastard had done.

Despite his winter jacket, the storm that meant nothing to the shifters attacked the killer. Snow covered his shoulders and the top of his head, and Ber detected a shiver. Fighting the rage that showed no sign of abating, Ber pondered why the man was heading down-mountain. He and his companion had tried to kill Rane, Songan and him. Not only hadn’t he fulfilled his mission, he apparently cared nothing for his companion’s life.

A coward. Running away.

The babies, still and dead, cuddled against their equally dead mother’s body. All three destroyed to feed a monster’s or monsters’ greed.

Rane’s mother. Murdered maybe because she’d discovered the carnage. Deliberately silenced. Her body dragged away from the cave and then discarded.

Leaving Rane to mourn.

Blood pulsed in Ber’s forehead. His world turned red. He heard only one word.

Revenge.

Rising onto his hind legs, he roared.

Silent and open-mouthed, the man whirled toward the animal sound. Yanking his rifle off his shoulder, he fired without first taking aim.

“Stop him!”

Propelled by Songan’s command, Ber dropped onto four legs and charged. He struck the man in the chest, knocking him off his feet and landing on top of him. Looking down, Ber found himself face to face with terror-filled eyes.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God!” the man babbled.

The stench of loosened bowels filled the air. Instead of closing his jaws around the man’s head as instinct commanded, however, Ber studied his captive. The collision had knocked the rifle out of his hands and sent it skidding across the snow. Out of the corner of his eye, Ber saw Songan step on the rifle.

“Oh God, please God!”

Maybe, in their own way, the mother bear and her babies had begged to be allowed to live. If they had, their pleas hadn’t been heeded. The same might have happened to Jacki.

“Kill him. Make him pay.”

Ber sensed the effort behind Songan’s command, and when he again studied the elk, he saw the strain in the large expressive eyes. For the first time, he noticed that a prong on Songan’s right antler was missing and the stub looked jagged.

“The other man did that to you?”
he asked.

Songan nodded.

“I know who you are,” the man blubbered. “A shifter.” He struggled weakly, trying to crawl out from under Ber’s weight. “First those damn elk. Now this.”

Hearing the helpless fear behind his captive’s words, Ber lost some of his rage. He still hated the man and everything he stood for, the horrible things he believed he had a right to do. However, Ber was no longer sure he wanted him to die at his hands.

Claws, he reminded himself. Today he was all claws and teeth.

A grizzly who would soon have to face Rane and tell her everything he’d done.

A muffled thud and crunching sound tore his attention to where Songan was. Lifting a front leg, Songan struck the already ruined rifle.

“Do it,”
Ber encouraged.

Gathering himself, the elk reared and came down. What was left of the rifle sank into snow and soil.

“Do it!” The man clawed at Ber’s fur. “Get it the hell over with.”

Propelled by the defeated plea for a quick death, Ber opened his mouth. It would be so easy to close his jaws around the man’s shoulder, sink his massive teeth into helpless flesh and listen to bones breaking. He’d taste blood, feel—what?

Sensing something new from Songan, he once more looked at the elk.

“Don’t
.
”

You don’t want me to kill him?

There it was again, Songan’s struggle to reason. Paying little attention to the puny hands pulling on his hair, Ber waited for Songan to say more. The waiting stretched out. Then:
“Let the forest have him.”

Standing with her legs pressed against the bed for support, Rane watched Ber and Songan get dressed. They might think she was simply gawking, but her response went much deeper. Only by studying their potent bodies and serious expressions could she wrap her mind around reality and relief. They were safe! The horrid time she’d spent alone in this too-small space not knowing whether they were dead or alive was behind her.

Her lovers had returned.

Songan had a lump on his forehead, but as far as she’d been able to tell, that was their only injury. They’d said little when they entered, only took turns letting her grasp their naked bodies against her with all her strength. They’d come inside almost immediately after switching back into human form and yet that had been long enough for their skin to turn cold. However, instead of warming themselves by the woodstove, once they’d put on their jeans and shirts, they walked as one over to where she stood.

Taking her hand, Ber indicated he wanted her to sit on the bed.

“What is it?” she asked, her mouth dry. “Something’s wrong.”

The way Ber’s jaw clenched and his eyes burned, she dreaded what might come next.

“You’re safe,” Songan said, while Ber only studied her as she scooted onto the mattress. “The shooters won’t be back.”

About to point out that the bullets had been intended for them as much as her, she decided to wait them out. Ber was still holding her hand, compelling her to squeeze his big, competent fingers. She wondered if she’d ever get used to his size and the magnificent beast he was capable of becoming.

The same held true for Songan.

“Are they dead?” she asked when the silence weighed on her.

“No,” Songan said.

Too much. She couldn’t absorb any more than that, and yet she sensed she’d soon have to.

Maybe understanding her turmoil, Songan lowered himself to his knees. Taking the hand Ber wasn’t holding, he brought it to his mouth and breathed warm moisture onto her fingers. Her pussy tingled.

“We found both of them,” Songan continued, looking over at Ber. “I went after the second shooter, the one who fired after Ber took off. He hit me.” He touched the lump on his forehead. “I charged.”

“Oh.” What a stupid thing to say. “Of course you did. It was his life or yours. Thank God he wasn’t a better shot.”

“I didn’t give him time.”

Much as she needed to know the details, she first had to get the bigger picture. “Ber? Let me get this straight. As soon as you shifted, you headed after the man who shot out the window.”

“Yes.”

Was his short response as simple as Ber being the strong, silent type? Much as she needed to believe he’d acted on instinct, his expression said it went deeper than that. She thought about standing so she could wrap her arms around him and offer him comfort and her body, but not only might the gesture turn into more than comfort, Songan had hold of her other hand. She settled for leaning forward and running her lips over Ber’s forearm.

She started to straighten when he too knelt. Barely believing what had just happened, she acknowledged that the two most macho men she would ever know were on their knees inches from her legs.

Thank God they were alive and safe.

“Songan, you charged the one man. Did you injure him?”

“I don’t know. He no longer mattered.”

“Just like that?”

Releasing her fingers, Songan bracketed her left knee with both of his hands. “I was an elk then. I did what instinct demanded.”

“What—about his weapon?”

“Destroyed.”

Was this really happening? Unlike the vivid erotic dreams she’d been having recently, this was reality. Songan and Ber had come face to face with evil and conquered it. Left the vanquished in no condition to cause any more trouble. More than that, the shifters had touched her in ways she’d never been touched. Had sex with her. Remembering those electric moments, her core swelled, loosened, let go.

As one, the men’s gazes ran from her face to the join between her legs. She knew they’d smelled her response.

“I’m not going to apologize. It’s beyond my control.”

Ber’s hold on her hand tightened. Much as she didn’t want to call attention to the fact that he was hurting her, she tried to pull free. He briefly held on, then relaxed. Despite his growing bulge, his eyes still looked haunted.

“What is it?” She ran her tingling fingers over his cheek. “Please tell me.”

He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You get turned on, it does the same to me.”

“Me too.”

Much as Songan’s admission needed to be acknowledged, Rane kept her attention on Ber. She’d seen the same expression looking back at her in the mirror after learning her mother was dead. “What did you see?” she asked. “What happened?”

Ber started to pull back. Scared and determined, she clamped her hand over the back of his neck in an attempt to hold him in place.