Page 25 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Bear

“I could come by sometime and look after her for you if you’d like,” she offered suddenly. Truthfully, as much as she preferred working as a vet, she missed walking Leto.

Not to mention the big dog could use a bit of looking after, judging from the sight of her.

Dale shook his head. “There’s no need for that,” he said without looking back at her.

Without another word, he let himself into his house, Leto entering behind him, and slammed the door shut. Melissa stared at the door for a moment, frowning.

“Well, that was weird,” she murmured.

Twenty minutes later, she arrived at the sanctuary. Cal and Bryon were waiting for her when she entered the clinic, Cal holding a twitching rabbit. To her relief, Melissa couldn’t see any blood. Still, the rabbit was clearly in discomfort.

“Morning,” she said, frowning. “What’s the matter with this one?”

“Broken limb,” Bryon replied before Cal could. “I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the attacks, but it could still use some seeing to.”

“Of course. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Cal said.

He smiled at her, and Melissa felt a gentle flutter in her chest. They hadn’t spoken much since the evening at Rubicon Valley, but so far, he’d been somewhat less standoffish toward her.

“Well, I’m glad to be here,” she told him, feeling a blush creep into her cheeks. She stared at the rabbit’s twitching foot, and a thought occurred to her. “Hey, Cal, do you think we could head into the woods later today? I’d like to take a look at a couple of the sites where you found these animals.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Humor me.”

Cal nodded. “Alright, then. I’ll send you a text once I’ve completed my rounds here.”

***

Twenty minutes into their trip through Paradise Woods, Melissa began to wonder whether it had been a mistake asking Cal to come with her.

It certainly didn’t hurt to have someone like him next to her in the woods, especially in these times, but the tension in the air between them was impossible to miss. She’d sensed the tension more over since she began working at the sanctuary, but then again, she hadn’t exactly been alone in the woods with her ex-fiancé in that time—and certainly not for this long. There was usually someone else around—Bryon or Henry. Why hadn’t she asked one of them to come along?

Letting herself be alone with Cal was a bad idea. In his presence, her thoughts tended to run wild, and her body responded accordingly, which wasn’t ideal when she was trying to investigate a crime scene.

If we can call them that, she thought, brushing aside a low-hanging branch in front of her. There weren’t any humans involved, after all. For a while, she’d figured that with all the bloodshed, the town’s police department would be more concerned with the matter, but the animal rescuers seemed to be alone in their attempts to secure Paradise Woods.

“You mind telling me exactly what you’re looking for?” Cal asked as they walked.

Melissa stared ahead, scanning the woods as they trudged forward. Rays of sunlight broke through the treetops, casting a bright glow onto the forest floor. “Animal prints. I figured we could try identifying the prints to see what kind of killer we’re dealing with. What kind of animals live in these woods?”

He took a right turn, and she followed closely. “Mostly deer, rabbits...a few wolves and bears.”

“Or wolf and bear shifters?”

She immediately knew from the way his shoulders stiffened that she’d struck a nerve. Cal slowed his steps, but didn’t stop moving. “I already told you: Shifters don’t kill mindlessly. Not like this.”

“You sound too confident about that,” she said, stepping into a glade after him. “What if you’re wrong?”

This time, he did stop, turning to face her. “I’m not. There have been instances of shifters killing, but usually that happens within clans—battles for dominance or acts of revenge. Even then, those are rare. Besides, if there was a shifter out there with a grudge, I’m pretty sure he’d be going after humans and other supernaturals, not innocent animals.”

He did sound quite certain about that, and for a moment, Melissa was almost inclined to believe him. But she couldn’t just dismiss her own concerns. As far as she knew, shifters were dangerous, more dangerous than humans or even wild animals. The chances that one of Cal’s kind was responsible for this chaos seemed pretty high.

Then again, what if she were just projecting her fear onto Cal and his kind? Despite everything he’d told her about shifters and supernaturals in general, she didn’t understand them. She certainly didn’t trust them. They were more powerful than humans, sure. But that didn’t necessarily make them evil, did it?

“Right,” she said. “Maybe—just maybe—it’s not a shifter.”