At least it would give him time to think about how to get back on her good side, if he’d ever been on that woman’s good side. She was a tricky one, and Chance had never exactly been great with relationships with women. Sure, one night stands, he’d been fine with those. Even before shifters had come out and the groupies started popping up, Chance had had luck with the ladies.
But getting laid for one night was a far cry from sustaining a relationship with a headstrong, intelligent, educated woman like Summer. He had no clue how to win her heart. He’d never tried to win a woman’s heart before, let alone a woman like Summer. He was at a total loss.
Maybe Wyatt McCloud would have some tips for him. He’d married a human. Chance had been at their wedding. Wyatt had been a good friend for a long time. Even though they were in totally different districts, the Montana game wardens were a close-knit community. Almost every warden in the state was a grizzly shifter, and it had been that way for years. The Montana game warden logo was even a sheriff's star with a grizzly emblazoned in the center.
He told himself he’d give Wyatt a call or go by his house soon. He needed the moral support. Finding one’s mate was a once in a life time occurrence. It wasn’t the kind of thing that a shifter just let slip through his fingers. But fate had seen to it that Chance’s mate happened to be the most headstrong woman he’d ever met. He had no idea how to make her his.
Chance made his rounds and was near the border of Wyatt’s territory as the sun began to set. Since he wouldn’t make it home until late in the night, he decided to see his old friend and ask him about Summer. Taking the highway into Wyatt’s territory, he got a call on his cell.
“Hi, Summer,” he said warmly. “What’s up?”
“Have you been listening to the news?”
“No. I’ve been on my rounds all day.”
“Oh. How did that go?”
“I had to give out a major fine for hunting without a license. Some idiot shot a doe with a fawn.”
“God. That’s horrible!”
“This is the reason I do my job. I had to pass the baby off to some Forest Service folks out this way. How are you today?”
“I’m fine. Anyway, the news about shifters is blowing up all over the internet and TV. It looks like some major celebrities and prominent politicians are shifters.”
“Really? Anyone I’d know of?”
“Tons of people. I’ll talk to you later when you aren’t driving.”
“Sounds good. I’ll pick you up at the hotel at about noon tomorrow. We can talk then.”
“Sure,” she said, before saying good-bye and hanging up.
Chance sighed as he pressed the red button on his cell phone. He wanted to be driving home to her, cooking her dinner, and spending the night in her soft arms. Instead, he quickly dialed Wyatt and made sure it was okay that he stopped by.
With that settled, Chance made the fifty-mile drive to his old friend’s house and pulled up into his driveway in the darkness. Wyatt’s wife, Candice, flung open the front door and gave him a big warm hug before he even crossed the threshold.
“Chance! It’s so good to see you. Come in!”
She led him into Wyatt’s comfortable house and showed him to the kitchen, where she gave him a beer and offered him a seat at the kitchen table. Wyatt was stirring soup on the stove and scooped up a bowl for Chance.
“I just finished this fish stew. Want a bowl?”
“You know it,” Chance said, accepting the bowl Wyatt sat in front of him.
Candice and Wyatt sat down at the big, polished wood table with their bowls and everyone feasted on the delicious stew. “This is great. I forgot how good your cooking is,” Chance said.
“Thanks,” Wyatt said, smiling.
“Oh, by the way,” Candice said, “Those huckleberries you gave us for our wedding gift are doing wonderfully. We’ve gotten so much fruit off them, I’ve had to make it into jam.”
“It’s true. We can’t even eat it all in bear form,” Wyatt said.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Chance said. Nothing was more satisfying than knowing people were enjoying his plants. “I wanted to ask your advice about something.”
“What is it?” Wyatt asked, before taking a swig of beer.
“I met my mate,” Chance said.
“Really! That’s wonderful.” Candice was so happy living with Wyatt in the forest. Before she’d married Wyatt, she’d had an unfulfilling job in Seattle. Now she got to paint every day from his back porch or go on hikes in the woods. Everything had worked out for her and Wyatt. But Chance had a hard time seeing it working out as well for him and Summer.
“Her name is Summer Madison, and she’s an environmental biologist from the city. She does research at the University of Montana.”
“How did you two meet?” Wyatt asked.
“We both came across a dead shifter in the woods, poisoned.”
“Wow. That’s almost how we met,” Candice said.
“I know. Now we’re trying to find the reason he was poisoned. Some other shifters came up sick from the same kind of poison. Arsenic.”
“That’s terrible. Do you have any leads?” Candice asked.
“Summer thinks it’s the mine’s runoff wastewater. She believes they’re polluting the land. I’m not so sure.”
“What do you think it is?” Wyatt asked.
“I think it’s deliberate. There are shifter hate groups already popping up in my territory. I get the feeling it has something to do with them.”
“What makes Summer believe it’s the mine?” Candice asked.
“Arsenic is used in copper smelting. And historically, copper mines have polluted the waterways. The mine has been laying off shifters. If there is a connection, I still don’t know what it is.”
“Do you think that the mine could be deliberately killing shifters?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure how.”
“Have you told Summer she’s your mate yet?” Candice asked.
“I haven’t told her she’s my mate. No. But she knows I’m a shifter and doesn’t mind that fact. I think she actually likes that. It’s the man she doesn’t like.”
“What?” Candice protested. “What girl wouldn’t like you?” Candice was sweet. It made him feel slightly better.
“Summer is a scientist. She’s also a liberal, hippie type who has preconceived ideas about men who live in the country. I guess. She thinks I’m a narrow-minded hick.”
“You graduated with honors from the University of Montana and served in the Special Forces in Iraq. You’ve been around the world. You are definitely not a narrow-minded hick,” Wyatt said, laughing.
“True, but I can’t seem to get her to see me for who I am. She’s kind of set in her ways.”
“Just give her time,” Candice said sweetly. “She’s probably kind of freaked out about the death of the shifter, and she’s out of her element.”
“My advice,” Wyatt said, leaning forward. “Spend some time with her. Show her the man you really are. She’ll come around. She has to. She’s your mate.”
Chance sighed, frowning. Wyatt was so sure Summer would come around. But Chance wasn’t so sure. Mates usually found each other, but it didn’t always work out in the end. He and Summer could spend the rest of their lives apart. It had happened before. It could happen again.
“You’re welcome to spend the night here,” Wyatt offered.
“Actually, I was hoping to spend the night in the woods. I need to clear my head. Mind if I use your place as a base to park my truck and leave my clothes?”
“Of course. My house is your house,” Wyatt said, standing to pat his friend on the back. “Everything will work out.”
Chance stood, and his old friend enveloped him in a bear hug. Usually, men didn’t show that kind of affection with each other, but it was different in the shifter community. There was a different kind of code. Friendship and affection were a big part of who they were.
“Thanks, you two.
I’ll get out of your hair now,” he said, giving Candice a warm hug as well.
He hurried out to the back porch and stripped his clothes off as the lights of the house behind him began to switch off. Stripping to his bare skin, he stepped down to the cool grass below the porch.
Wyatt’s land sloped down into a dense forest below. It was a wonderful place to run and clear the mind. With a surge of energy, he shifted into his giant grizzly form. Roaring, he charged down the slope into the woods. The moon was waning from its fullness, but cast a blue glow over the land.
It illuminated the forest enough for Chance to see. The sounds and scents of the forest filled his elevated senses. A clutch of rabbits in their den, an owl hooting into the wind, the beat of a deer’s heart in the thicket. The smell of moss and the loamy scent of damp earth. Drops of fresh blood from a fox’s kill.
Wind blew lightly over his fur as he charged through the forest. Smaller creatures shrunk away from the massive, apex predator claiming the forest night. He panted, tasting the air with his tongue. There was a small stream downwind where he could smell the scent of trout.
He growled and made his way down to the water. Sensing the movement of the fish under the surface, he lunged forward and caught a fish, crunching its bones between his teeth. The taste spread over his tongue, filling him with vigor. He loved to hunt in his animal form. Being his bear, Chance felt more alive, more himself.
The thoughts of Summer seemed calmer. His bear stressed less. Everything was black and white. Right and wrong. This way or that. Summer was his mate, so she would be his. The bear wanted to drive back to her and sink inside her once again. But for now, he was content to catch fish in the night forest and taste its blood spread over his teeth.
When he was done eating, he found a comfortable patch of pine needles between two tree trunks. He dug himself in and curled up, closing his eyes. The sounds of the forest creatures in his ears were a lullaby as he fell softly to sleep.
At dawn, Chance walked back to Wyatt’s porch and threw his clothes on. Wyatt opened the sliding door as Chance fastened his belt. “I bet you could use some coffee,” Wyatt said, holding out a cup. The steam wafted into the air, and the smell invigorated Chance’s chilled blood.
He wrapped his hands around the cup and took a sip, walking into the house. Candice was nowhere to be seen, but Wyatt was cooking eggs in a cast iron pan on the stove. He shoveled a heaping helping onto a plate for Chance and poured his friend another cup of coffee.
“You going to go get your girl today?” Wyatt asked him.
“My bear has some definite ideas, but I don’t know how well those would go over with Summer.”
The men looked at each other and laughed, knowing full well what the bear inside’s ideas were. “What’s so funny?” Candice said, walking into the kitchen in a pink bathrobe and bunny slippers.
“Chance was just telling me about his bear’s ideas about how to woo his mate,” Wyatt said. Candice looked from one man to the other and shook her head. She’d been turned and knew exactly what they were talking about. The animal inside had pretty primal ideas about courtship.
“No. I don’t think that will work unless you get her in the right mood first,” Candice said, holding back a giggle.
“It’s too bad,” Chance said. “So much more straight forward.”
“Just let her see the real you, Chance. I’m sure she’ll come around,” Candice said. Chance gave her a kiss on the cheek and gave Wyatt a pat on the back before he said his goodbyes.
“Let us know if you need anything,” Wyatt said from the porch as Chance got into his truck to leave. “We should have a bear warden get together with Brody and Emerson soon. Candice and I are almost out of the honey Brody gave us for our wedding gift.”
“Mmmm, honey. We should definitely do that,” Chance said, waving goodbye to his friends.
Wyatt and Candice were such a happy couple. Chance wanted more than anything to have the same thing with Summer, but as he drove off, he still didn’t fully believe she’d ever be his.
Chapter 9
Summer heard a knock at her hotel room door right at noon. She opened it to find Chance standing there before her. He looked like a vision of masculinity. Her body responded immediately, instinctively remembering the night they’d spent together. That part of her, the part that let go, wanted to fall into his arms and press her lips against his.
The part of her that was a professional with a job to do, the part of her that kept her instincts in line, held her back. They had to work together to solve this murder. She wouldn’t let her animal attraction for a man who was totally wrong for her keep her from bringing down an environmental hazard like the copper mine. This was one of the most important things she’d done in her life. It was her purpose. She couldn’t fail.
“Hi,” she said, grabbing her purse from the table by the door.
“Ready?” he asked her.
“Let’s go.”
They went out to his truck, and he opened the door for her. Summer climbed inside, looking up at the sky. It was overcast and gray today, and she’d only worn a light t-shirt and jeans. Maybe she should go get a sweater. As Chance got in, she decided against it, not wanting to make him wait.
“I went over to the mine yesterday,” he said, starting the truck. “I wanted to know more about those shifter layoffs.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Not yet.”
“Do you think that the poisonings are intentional?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have any evidence of anything yet.”
“If these poisonings are intentional, the owners of the mine are sicker than I’d originally thought.”
“Well, don’t go jumping to conclusions,” he said.
She looked over at him with a frown. Did he think she believed anything without proof? It irritated her. She was a scientist, not an idiot. Past scientific evidence proved that copper mines polluted water. She had good reason to believe the mine was involved. It was Chance who’d suggested there might be intention behind the poisonings. “Well, connecting layoffs to the deaths suggests malicious intention. That was your idea, not mine.”
“We don’t know anything yet. Let’s just wait until we find out about the mine’s environmental checks. I’m waiting to hear back from the manager of the mine about the layoffs. Any lead is a lead. There are shifter protesters around the mine. Those people are dangerous. It wouldn’t be the first time that they’d killed a shifter. We have to keep our eyes open.”
“You’re right. Finding out who and what killed Balor Von and poisoned the Owenses is the most important thing. When is the environmental oversight report coming back?”
“In the next couple of days. Now, what did you want to tell me about the news?” he asked, pulling into a diner.
“Are we going out to lunch?” she asked.
“I thought it would be a good place to talk.”
“We could always just go back to your office or something more… official.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I guess. Fine. Let’s just go.”
The café was full of locals, and the pert waitress quickly showed them to a table covered in a red plaid, plastic tablecloth. After they ordered drinks, Summer gazed out the window.
It was an overcast day outside. The big sky of Montana was covered by storm clouds, and a heavy rain drop splatted on the sidewalk outside. She frowned and looked back at her menu as the waitress set the glasses of water in front of them and then walked away.
“I think I’ll have a veggie burger,” she said.
“Same,” Chance grumbled. “So tell me about all this news you have.”
“Oh, right. Anyway. I was watching TV last night and found out that there are a whole bunch of notable people who came out as shifters. Famous actors like Brad Pitt and even some politicians and billionaires. They are creating a shifter protection agency and pressing a new bill through Congress called the Shifter Protection Act
. It would ensure all shifters have equal rights.”
“That’s good. How is it looking?”
“Since there are so many influential people who are shifters, there’s plenty of money and media attention to get the bill passed. It looks like it’s going to be a landslide.”
“When’s the final vote?” he asked as the waitress came to their table. She smiled down at Chance in a way that made Summer’s skin crawl. She wanted to gouge the woman’s eyes out. Summer growled at herself inwardly. Why did she care if the waitress flirted with Chance?
“I’ll have a veggie burger with fries,” he said.
“I’ll have the same,” Summer told her, wanting her to go the hell away and quickly. The waitress was dyed bleach blonde, skinny, and had disproportionately big boobs. Exactly the type of woman who drove Summer crazy. She noticed Chance’s eyes flick over the woman’s behind, and she rolled her eyes, looking back out the window. The rain was coming down pretty hard now.
“The final vote in the Senate is tomorrow,” she said. “By the way, I talked to Tim earlier today. The family is feeling better. Any news about the environmental oversight report from the mine?”
“It’s coming out tomorrow. We’ll have a better idea what we are dealing with then,” Chance said.
“I happen to know that corporations can pay to pass those inspections.”
“Summer, we have to take this one step at a time. When we get the report, we’ll be one step further along.”
“I guess that’s all we can do, for now,” she agreed.
When they were done, Chance insisted on paying, which kind of irritated her on one hand, but on the other hand, made her a little giddy. She hated that she was so split when it came to Chance. She’d never needed anyone to take care of her, and she’d never wanted anyone to do it, either. But something about Chance doing that kind of thing for her felt lovely.