Alpha's Rescue (Shifter Ops 5)

Everest is a mountain of a man with tan skin and a full beard that rivals Teddy’s. He gives me a solemn nod and raises a hand, and I immediately see the resemblance to the huge polar bear who waved shyly at me from behind the beehives.

The angry buzz of an engine sends a flock of birds fluttering from the trees. A black dirt bike zooms up to us and brakes hard. A spray of dirt showers against the cabin’s side. The rider pulls off his helmet and spends a second shaping his black hair into a mohawk before loping over to the picnic tables.

“And this is Axel,” Matthias introduces me to the last of the Bad Bear brothers. “I think you’ve also met him in bear form.”

“He was the black bear in the kitchen,” Hutch murmurs.

“Oh,” I say and straighten. “Hello. I’m Lana.”

Axel tugs off his leather jacket, revealing two full sleeves of tattoos. He’s tall as the teens but more filled out. With his high forehead and full lips, he looks like a slouchy James Dean, if the rebel without a cause was played by Daniel Henney. “Hey.” He jerks up his chin in greeting and starts to take the spot next to me.

“No, dude. That’s Teddy’s seat,” Hutch says. Canyon throws his arms out to block Axel from sitting.

“Lana’s Teddy’s girl,” Bern explains.

“Oh yeah?” Axel regards me sleepily and prowls to the other end of the table to take a seat near Everest. “Another human?”

Did he say…another human?

Silence falls on the table. My mouthful of salmon turns dry. Is dating a human taboo?

“What do you mean another?” I ask, but no one answers.

“The best human,” Hutch defends.

“Don’t be rude,” Matthias murmurs to Axel, who shrugs. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I am human.” I give a little shrug.

“It’s cool. You can’t help it,” Bern says, which doesn’t make me feel better.

“She has ideas about how to save the mountain,” Hutch pipes up.

“Oh?” Matthias looks over the top of his glasses at me.

I swallow my bite of salmon quickly. “Um, I have a few, but I’m still working on them.”

“It’ll be a surprise,” Canyon saves me. “Me and Hutch are going to help present it.”

“That’s good,” Matthias encourages.

I look down at my plate. I hope so. I don’t want to let anybody down.

Other than the clattering of dishes and a few murmurs of pass the salt, the next few minutes are quiet as the Bad Bear brothers fall into their food. Salmon and salad and whole loaves of bread disappear as fast as Hutch and Canyon can replenish them. I pick at my food. Axel’s comment reminds me how little I know about shifter culture. Being a shifter is a closely guarded secret. Teddy and Matthias made that clear. It makes sense that shifter-human relationships are rare. When Matthias told me about some shifters having human mates, it gave me hope, but I might have gotten excited too soon.

What if I’m not Teddy’s mate? What if there’s a shifter out there for him?

And if I am Teddy’s mate, can we make it work? Or will me being human be a rift that grows and keeps us apart?

I really, really want Teddy here, now. When I’m with him, I don’t think. I don’t stress. I just feel. I can be myself, and I am enough.

Teddy’s scent hits me before I hear his voice. “There’s my girl.”

Teddy. I turn in relief and close my eyes as he kisses my forehead.

“Are these bad bears treating you right?”

“Yes.” I push up to give him a proper kiss.

“You’re late.” Hutch skewers a salmon steak, slaps two pieces of bread around it, and hands it to Teddy. “Eat up. We’ve got to go if we're going to get to the town meeting in time.”

Teddy tears into his salmon sandwich. “You look nice,” he tells me between bites.

“Thank you,” I preen. I lean back to show him my new jean skirt and the t-shirt of Teddy’s that I altered, so the collar dips off one shoulder.

“She wanted a new outfit to go to the meeting,” Hutch says.

Teddy chokes. “Baby, no,” he says. “It's not safe.”

“Why not?” Canyon demands. “The assassin is lying dead at the bottom of a ravine. If he comes back to life as a zombie, we’ll just take him out again.” He punches the air. Bern dodges his brother’s fist to grab the last of the bread.

At the far end of the table, Everest raises his hands and cracks the knuckles of his huge fist. The sound is like distant gunshots.

“See?” Canyon points to the largest of the Bad Bear brothers. “Everest would love another round with an assassin. He’s ready.”

“What did the Black Wolf Pack say about the situation?” Matthias asks.

“They’re cracking the assassin’s comm codes, so they can get a message to Lana’s stepbrother,” Teddy says. “The one who called the hit. See if they can flush him out.”