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Then, at the far end, Charlie saw the cage. She curled her hand around the key in her pocket and walked forward, her heart thumping so hard she was afraid that whatever was inside might hear her.
As she approached, the grizzly looked up. Charlie stopped ten feet away, suddenly uncertain about this plan. After all, she was about to free a feral shifter.
She swallowed.
“Olivia?” she said softly.
The bear stood, looking intently at Charlie.
Charlie took another few steps forward, but she could see the bear’s hackles rise, and she stopped again.
“Your brother Kade has been looking for you,” she said softly.
The bear just looked at her, its expression unreadable.
Of course it’s unreadable, she’s a bear, Charlie thought.
She took another step forward, and the bear didn’t do anything. Charlie got the key out of her pocket and showed the bear.
“Trevor gave me this,” she said. “I think he wants me to let you go.”
Charlie could hear the blood rushing through her ears.
“If I let you out, is that okay?” she asked.
Olivia grunted. Charlie took another step forward. Now she was within arm’s reach of the cage, and she reached one hand out to the bars.
Olivia looked at it, but didn’t do anything.
Charlie took another step forward. Now her hand was through the bars, and she was shaking.
Is Kade’s sister even still in there? She wondered. Am I just taunting a grizzly bear?
Then Olivia nudged her nose right under Charlie’s fingers, before Charlie could move her hand away, and nuzzled the girl.
The fur on top of her nose was soft, spiky but velvety, and Charlie found herself petting it. Olivia’s eyes closed in satisfaction as she did, and Charlie got brave enough to move her hand to her ears.
I’m petting someone’s sister, she thought. This is a little weird.
“I’m going to unlock this, okay?” she asked the bear.
The lock wasn’t anything fancy, just a padlock with a chain wrapped around the door. The key fit perfectly, and Charlie unlocked it, then started moving the chains from around the cage.
Olivia’s head jerked up, and Charlie whirled around.
A light was on in the farmhouse.
“Shit,” Charlie muttered, still unwrapping the chains from the cage. “Shit, shit, come on.”
Her hands started shaking again, from fear, blood loss, or both, and as Charlie undid the last loop, she could hear someone approach the barn door.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to open the cage door.
Please don’t eat me,she thought. Please don’t eat me.
Buck stepped into the barn just as the cage opened silently.
Olivia padded out as Buck stood inside, blinking in the darkness.
