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She shrugs. “Let him get eaten?”
I narrow my gaze. “Seriously.”
“Call the Alaskan, I guess. I’ll fire off a warning. Maybe it’ll scare both of them off.”
She stands to grab my gun by the front door as I dial Hudson’s number, because it turns out instinct is back at it again.
Chapter Eight
Hudson
“Where the hell have you been?” My father coughs through his sentence. He’s definitely not feeling great, which is only going to add to his attitude. “I’ve been calling you. The boys have been calling you. We went out on a hunt yesterday and the maps were wrong.”
“The maps can’t be wrong. They’re maps. You must have followed the wrong trail. What happened?”
“You’d know if you were there. You get all the fucking out of your system so you can work? Maybe now you’ll think straight.” Whatever he’s got isn’t doing him any favors.
“Okay, so you’re not going to tell me how the hunt went?”
“Don’t have a bear strung up outside, so the hunt didn’t go well. You’re our tracker, Hud. The best one I have. You boys are all good at something, but you… you track the best and I need you out there fucking tracking!” He grumbles something under his breath and turns away from me. “Get your shit together. We’re going back out in the morning, and I don’t want any more problems.”
I drag in a deep breath and leave the room, closing the door behind me. The man has been impossible to talk to my entire life. I don’t expect anything to change.
“Hey.” Atlas is standing in the hallway outside of the room. “He’s getting worse.”
“I see that. What the hell is going on? Should we call a doctor?”
“I called someone to come out yesterday, but he refused treatment. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
The man is no spring chicken, though he works and hunts with the best of us. That said, it’s not a new thing for him to refuse treatment. He had a gash in his leg last year that should’ve required stitches. Instead, he insisted on duct tape and whiskey. In his defense, they did the job, but I’m not sure whatever’s going on now is the same thing.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and my heart stops as I pull the screen from my jeans.
Ruby: The bear is here.
I dial her number but there’s no answer. So, I dial again.
“What’s wrong?” Atlas stands with a wide stance in front of me. “Something wrong with that girl you’ve been seeing?”
“Not sure. She says the bear is on her property.”
He grins. “So, you have been seeing a girl.”
“Not now! She’s up near the river bend. I don’t think we’ll make it in time to corner him.” I knew I shouldn’t have left.
My phone rings. It’s Ruby calling back. I pick up right away.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah… we’re fine. I, ugh, Dave was snooping around, and the bear went after him.”
“He alright?”
“I guess. I don’t know. Peyton fired a warning shot, and the bear took off. Dave ran in the opposite direction.”
“So, you’re all good now?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m good. I just thought you’d want to know that the bear was here is all.”
