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“The other girl is Maeve. She got here first. We haven’t questioned Beth yet, just made sure the immediate area was clear, then got her treated. We asked her to wait to shift until we talked to her, looked around.”
“Have you told Cash?”
Clive rubbed a hand over spiky hair. “That was the plan. He’s apparently at the cataracts preparing the site for the initiation.”
“I’d like to talk to her,” Connor said.
Clive looked at Connor, back at the girl, debating whether Connor was an acceptable substitute. “That works for me. Let me just give them a heads-up.” He walked toward the women, talked to them as he gestured back at us.
“Cash?” I whispered.
“One of the clan elders,” Connor said quietly.
Clive gestured us over. Connor moved to the women, while Alexei and I stayed a few steps behind. “Beth, I’m Connor. We’re in town for Will’s initiation—me and Elisa and Alexei.”
She nodded.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was getting some firewood,” she said, and gestured to the woodpile.
“Do you do that often?”
“Often?” she asked.
“Is it part of your routine?”
“Oh,” she said. “No. We wanted a firepit, and the box near the pit hadn’t been refilled, so I volunteered. I grabbed two pieces, heard something in the woods. Got a little excited, because I thought it might be a rabbit or a deer, and I could use a good run.”
She looked up at Connor for confirmation, and he nodded. “Go on.”
“I put down the wood again, very quiet in case I needed to bolt, then walked really quiet toward the edge of the woods. I saw something—a flash of fur, I think—and then something hit me from the other side.” She touched fingers gingerly to the left side of her head, where the skin had started to purple.
“Hit you with something?” Connor asked.
“No, I think it was an arm or paw. It wasn’t rough or hard on the outside, like a log or pipe or something. But it had force behind it. Anyway, that hit me, and then it moved again. It was fast, and it was big. Huge claws,” she said, and pointed to her cheek.
“An animal?” Connor asked.
“Some kind of animal. I don’t know what specifically. It was really close—and really big. The only thing I saw was fur. I hit it back, made contact. There was strength beneath the fur, but not much muscle, if you know what I mean? Kind of... stringy strength.”
“I understand,” Connor said.
“There was a howl,” Alexei asked. “My cabin’s on this side of the resort. Was that you?”
She shook her head.
“It was me,” said Maeve, the third shifter. Early twenties, withtan skin and brown hair that fell straight to her shoulders, bangs long enough to partially hide her dark brown eyes.
“I was heading out for a trail run,” she said, gesturing to her shorts and tank. “I smelled blood and called out. I found her on the ground. I yelled for help.”
That explained the scream.
“Something was crashing in the trees,” she continued. “Moving away from us. I thought it might have been a bear or something. They’re active right now, trying to eat up before hibernation season. And there was a bear attack a few weeks ago near Boyd.”
Connor shifted his gaze to Beth. “Did it look like a bear?”
“Not really,” she said, and looked guilty at the admission, as if she was letting Maeve down.
