Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1)(24)

I had little choice in how to proceed. If I killed him, it would break something within Lucy. She would probably never forgive me. On the other hand, she was fragile and human. She would not be able to defend herself against the Ulfhednar, the ancient pack of werewolves that Odin kept in his halls in Asgard. With her nearly crippled leg, she would barely be able to run.

Wolves do not run with bears.

Frigg had been right about one thing. If Lucy were attacked and transformed into a werewolf, she would never be able to escape. She wouldn’t be able to stand living a solitary life in the mountains. She would always feel a pull toward her pack, would feel the urge to mate with her Alpha. She would never be able to stand a life with me.

I set my jaw, digging my human fingers into the side of the embankment, hauling myself back toward the top. Back to Lucy, back toward the only thing that made any goddamned sense in my life. Slowly, I began to formulate a plan on how to proceed.

Frigg’s threats still rang in my ears. I couldn’t leave her in a cabin alone, an easy target for werewolves. I’d take her along with me on the hunt for her brother. We’d travel slowly. I’d use my spirit to range out during the night and if I located him before the full moon, I’d track him down quietly and slit his throat.

I wouldn’t risk her life, even if she hated me for it. I’d do what had to be done.





Chapter Nine


Lucy


Chance had returned to the Firebird bare-assed and even more stoic than usual. He remained silent the rest of the way to the Blue Ridge Mountain range after giving me the briefest of explanations on why he’d suddenly transformed into a massive grizzly bear and thrown himself off down a steep embankment.

I didn’t for one second believe it was just a bear thing, as he’d claimed. I hadn’t known Chance for long, but I did know a few things. I knew that if what had happened was a normal occurrence, he wouldn’t have risked driving down the freeway impaired. He was something approaching a policeman in were-bear society, or so I’d gathered. There was no way he would have put that many lives in jeopardy if he was in danger of spazzing out on the drive over.

I was staring out the window most of the drive. I needed to puzzle his odd behavior out and I couldn’t do it while I stared at his bare chest. The more I stared at him, the more I convinced myself that his reasons didn’t matter and that I was just happy he had returned safe and whole.

We’d passed so many street signs on the journey that it took me a few minutes to realize that we’d breezed right past the exit for the lodge he’d intended to drop me at.

“Chance, you missed the turn.”

“We’re not stopping,” he muttered, taking us up a winding mountain road. The sign ahead announced we were nearing a trailhead. I turned to stare at him, in all of his semi-nude glory. He didn’t turn his head and I had a hard time reading his expression from his profile alone.

“So you’re saying that I’m allowed to go with you?” I ventured, wondering if I was hearing right. I’d been prepared to stowaway in his trunk if I needed to.

“Yes.”

We reached the trailhead in another half mile and Chance pulled into the small space allotted for parking. There were three other vehicles parked in the space, and several men and one woman seated around a picnic table, apparently playing cards.

Chance climbed out as soon as he cut the engine and I scrambled out of the car. I had no clue what had prompted this sudden change, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. He handed me the keys and made his way toward the picnic table, calling over his shoulder as he went.

“Go ahead and unload. I’m going to talk with Darren Oberlander. He’s the lead enforcer in this area.”

I figured that it would be better to not mess with whatever good fortune had led Chance to bring me along. So I opened the trunk and began to unload the gear. I was struggling with the camp stove when I heard raised voices.

“You can’t bring her out here,” the man, presumably Darren, shouted. He tried to loom over Chance, though it was a difficult prospect, considering that Chance was a head taller than any of the were-bears present.

“She’s coming with,” Chance argued, folding his arms over his bare chest. I was glad we’d been able to scavenge more jeans from his suitcase in the back. I’m not sure if I’d have been able to keep my hands off of him if he’d been completely nude during the whole Alpha shtick.

“She’s human. We offered your branch this mission out of courtesy but if you’re just going to make this more difficult-”



scoffed. “I’m one of the best at long range tracking in my spirit form, and you know it. That’s why you extended the invitation. If you want to see how difficult this mission will be without my assistance, I’ll turn around and go back to Mississippi. It’s no fur off my back.”

I paused, setting the camp stove on the ground carefully. It may not trouble Chance to leave, but I couldn’t just abandon Luke. I debated running into the woods, forcing their hand. I scrapped that idea quickly. My leg made it difficult to walk, and damn near impossible to run. It would only take one were-bear to chase me down and drag me back, and there were a half dozen of them.

As if he’d sensed my intention, the youngest man at the table stood, and strode past the bickering males toward me. He couldn’t have been much over eighteen. He was clearly afflicted with a bad case of baby face, and the dimples that appeared when he smiled at me didn’t help matters. His bright red hair gave me a momentary pang for Millie, back home. What was she up to now? Surely, my car had been towed by now. Was she worried about me? Where did she think I’d disappeared to?