“But what if someone shoots him? Afraid for their lives? He’s a grizzly bear, so it’s illegal to hunt them, but in a case like this, where people fear he will hurt someone, he could very easily be shot,” Grayson said.
“Like us too?”
“We’ll find him and stop him from doing this ever again. While he gets away with it, he thinks he’ll never get caught.”
They both removed their clothes, shifted, stepped outside, and ran toward the home where the bear had stolen the homeowner's dinner.
Woods surrounded all the homes, which was a good thing. They saw a man walking his German shepherd, and they hid in the woods, though the dog sensed something was wrong and kept trying to find them.
“Come on, Thor. Do your business, and we can go home, then I’ll feed you.”
But the dog was so distracted, Grayson didn’t think his owner would ever get him to leave the area and do what he was supposed to do. Then the man pulled a treat out of his pocket, and the dog finally went with him to get his liver treat.
Saved by the doggy treat.
Then Thor finally did what he was supposed to do, and the two of them headed back the way they had come. But the dog started sniffing the same area again.
“Come on, Thor. Enough.” But the owner didn’t move either. Then he frowned. “There’s not a dead body in there, is there?”
Hell. Grayson nudged Kendra to move through the woods. The dog might still try to follow them, but if they were farther away, the owner could get his dog under control and go home. If he took the dog into the woods where the dog had indicated something was there, he wouldn’t find any dead body, at least.
Then the man and his dog walked into the woods where Grayson and Kendra had been. They continued to move off, hoping the dog didn’t pull his owner in pursuit of them. They didn’t want to scare the owner into calling someone to deal with the grizzly threat.
“It was probably a deer or rabbit or something. No dead body. Come on, Thor.” Then the owner dragged him out of the woods because the dog was stubbornly determined to find the bears.
The man and his dog finally reached their home and went inside. That was the end of that threat. Grayson and Kendra continued to move past the wooded homes until they smelled the scent of a bear. Grayson glanced at Kendra since she knew the guy. She nodded.
Okay, they were on the right track and ready to have some fun, and make a point that he hoped would deter the shifter from doing this further.
What he didn’t expect was to run into four gray wolves. He paused with Kendra. She shifted to his surprise. “Hey, Paul Cunningham and his mate, Lori, and Allan Rappaport and his mate, Debbie. This is Grayson, another grizzly bear shifter. He’s also a bounty hunter. We’re looking for a bear shifter who is stealing delivered meals to residences.” Then she shifted back, and Paul shifted.
He motioned to the east. “Back that way, we saw a grizzly bear. We figured he wasn’t wild since he didn’t act threatening in any way, and he smelled like fried chicken and french fries.”
Yeah, someone’s stolen dinner. Kendra and Grayson inclined their heads. Paul shifted, and the wolves continued on their way while the bears took off for their prey. Grayson hoped that when he confronted the guy, he wouldn’t decide to fight him. He’d had enough fighting for now, but he had to stop the bear from stealing meals before he got all the other shifters in trouble.
Grayson was curious about the gray wolves though. Did they live at the lake also?
Dogs started barking in someone’s fenced-in backyard. Like the other dog, Thor, they smelled bears that threatened their territory.
A woman came out to see what the problem was, but she didn’t see the grizzly shifters in the dark woods. “Come on, puppies, let’s go.”
They went back into the house while Grayson and Kendra continued following the scent of the shifter.
Grayson wondered if the guy lived around here, too. He must, or he wouldn’t be so close to the homes on the lake to steal the meals. Unless his vehicle was out there also. And then Kendra paused at a pickup truck, and Grayson joined her, smelled the driver’s door handle, and was certain this was the shifter’s truck.
Then Grayson had a thought. Rather than confronting the shifter, he slashed at his truck, leaving wicked cuts through the paint to the metal. Kendra slashed at one of his tires. Grayson bit into another, making the truck tilt towards the left while the tires sank against the pavement. They moved around the other side of the truck and tore up the shifter’s other tires.
Kendra decorated the other side of Ivan’s truck with her long claws.
The shifter would smell their scents and know that Kendra was one. He would know that she wouldn’t be running with a wild bear and now know Grayson’s scent. And since they had come from Kendra’s house, he could track them back there.
Grayson felt they had made their point, but what if he didn’t get it? Well, if he came to Kendra’s house, Grayson would speak to him and make it clear to him.
Kendra must have thought the same thing, and she bumped into him with her head, indicating that she wanted to return home.
He just hoped the guy didn’t try to damage her home.
Then they moved into the woods again and hurried to Kendra’s home. He didn’t feel bad about tearing up the guy’s truck because he was going to cause trouble for all bear shifters.
