Page 61 of Shifter Situations

Briggs snatched his jeans from my hand. “Later. Talk shit later. We need to get dressed, and then we need to find Charlie. There’s a bear somewhere that Katie is after. She’s definitely behind the drug movement here. We gotta go.”

“Woah. Take a chill pill.” Palmer patted the air with his left hand as he massaged his temples with his right. “Start at the beginning. But for the love of the gods, whisper it, would ye?”

I wiggled into a pair of black tights and pulled on a white t-shirt. Briggs struggled through getting his pants up as I skimmed the surface of yet another issue.

“Katie and one of the guys that came to the house asking questions about Novak. He told her that they—we don’t know who they are—lost a bear, and she was pissed about it. Whoever the bear is, he’s in trouble.”

Dad barged in before we could get into any of the details; not that we had many. He had his phone in his hand as a woman hyperventilated on the other end.

He muted the call as he grimaced at me, rushing through his words.

“This is that help I was asking for, Pretty Lady. I think it has to do with the missing shifters. This is the second call I’ve received from Cooper and Darcy; the first one was right before I went to the Underworld. I had a similar call come through before that, and I didn’t respond quickly enough.

“I wanted you to go with me, but I think it’d be best if I stayed here and waited for you guys to bring them to the lodge. I’ll get everything set up for Cooper and his family, but they need a safe way to travel. Bring them through the Void or drive them; just don’t leave them alone.”

Briggs and I glanced at each other. “Of course, Dad. Whatever they need, it’s theirs. We’ll go get them, but is Cooper, by chance… a bear?”

“He is. He’s also been one of my officers for decades. You’ve met him several times, Sloane.”

Novak furrowed his brows as the woman’s breathing grew heavier over the speakerphone. “I just reached out and asked Blaire to head to the store. She and Grim are going to pick up some things for them.”

“Great, great,” Dad repeated several times, seeming lost as he stared at his phone. “Thank you.”

He unmuted his phone and began talking again. “Listen to me, Darcy. I’m going to send Sloane and her mates. They’ll help Cooper and make sure you two and the cubs are safe. They’re going to bring you guys to me.”

“Please, don’t let anything happen to him. I’m so scared, Alpha. We’re all scared, and Coop is out there by himself.”

The woman screamed, and I could faintly make out the sound of windows being busted.

“Darcy, listen to my voice. I need you to breathe. I know you’re scared and worried, but you need to stay calm for your cubs. They’ll be there in four minutes or less.”

“O-okay. We’re in the small cubby inside the closet of the back bedroom.”

“Don’t worry about packing clothes or anything. We’ll get that stuff when you get here. I’ll stay on the phone with you, but don’t come out until you hear Sloane.”

I pulled my hair up as I began picking through my dad’s mind. Everything else would have to wait.

“Show me what the place looks like. I’ll call you when we get there.”

13

Sloane

Friday, June 5th

Early Morning

We were doing an awful lot of traveling through the Void, but it was the quickest way to get to Cooper and Darcy.

The moment we stepped out of frigid winds of the Void and into the humid darkness surrounding the small home, growling and fighting filled the air.

“Fuck,” I mumbled. “We need to separate the bears. One of them is Cooper.”

There were six other shifters prowling around him in a semi-circle as he guarded the front of his house. His mate and his cubs were inside, so we needed to tread carefully until he knew we were here to help him.

“I’ll make sure no one is inside,” Briggs muttered.

“I’ll go with you and take the bear’s family to Charlie,” Palmer said, and I nodded my head.