ALPHA’S PREY

Sometimes I forget that. Research on climate change is about providing scientific analysis to the naysayers. Working on the ground level to create more consciousness about the situation. It’s not about me getting a tenured position at the university. It’s not about whose name goes first on a research paper, although it is about making sure that research gets published.

But also, it’s about balance. Taking time to breathe and enjoy the incredible nature we still have on this beautiful planet.

And why does that make me wish I had someone to enjoy it with? Someone human. And male. And sexy as hell in jeans and tattoos.

Caleb.

I sigh.

I sort of hate the way things ended.

Maybe I’ll drive back to his cabin to properly thank him before I leave the mountain.

Yes. That thought cheers me. Maybe I’ll bake him cookies as a thank you. Or blueberry muffins.

Bear gallops past me, tail wagging.

I pack a snowball, tossing it for him. He races and catches it, but of course, it falls apart in his mouth. I laugh, ignoring the errant wish that Caleb was here to have a snowball fight with.

I have the forest. I have Bear.

And I’m going to make Caleb blueberry muffins. And then I’ll have to figure out how to fill the new gap he made in my life.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

But I can do it. I’m good at giving my brain a chew toy. A problem to work out while I take the rests of my samples.

I go inside and change my clothes. And then there’s nothing else to do but get back outside and finish gathering my tree ring samples.

TEST SUBJECT 849

HUMAN FEMALE.

She’s back. I saw her pass in the truck owned by the bear. Saw him leaving alone.

That means she’s alone. Alone with the canine. I should’ve killed that dog when he caught my scent in the woods. I won’t make that mistake again.

Today I’ll pick her up. Maybe she’s been impregnated by the bear.

That would give me immense opportunities for research.

Shifter-human genetic mix. I should get the bear to perform mating studies like they did with those lions.

No, too dangerous.

The bear could arrest my research like the lion did.

Like the lion did when he let everyone out.

Let me out.

Let me out to suffer.

That lion should be stopped. What was his name?

Nash. Nash the lion.

He’s a lion like I was supposed to be a bear.

But something went wrong.

Terribly wrong.

And now I’m nothing. Not human. Not bear.

The research must continue. I must find the cure.

Caleb

IF THERE WERE a pill for slipping back into hibernation-real bear hibernation, not just shifter low gear-I’d take it right now.

Forget everything that happened over the past fifty-six hours and sleep it off.

No, that’s not true.

My body feels great. The bear feels great. Alert. Alive. Ready to romp. It’s just the human side of me that wants to crawl back in a hole and cover my head.

And that’s because of the heaviness in the pit of my stomach over leaving Miranda at that cabin. The guilt over not wanting to leave her and the overriding protectiveness that makes me think she’s unsafe there by herself.

If I could sort out this tangled ball of emotion, I’d say it’s one part guilt over cheating on the memory of Jen, and one part missing the quirky scientist who just fearlessly surrendered the use of her body to me and then walked away. And two parts worry for her safety.

I’m back to where I started when I saw her drive up. Needing to make sure no other female goes missing from my woods. Especially not that one.

I will fucking tear this forest apart if anything happens to that one.

I would never recover.

The metallic taste of fear fills my mouth.

It’s not real. The threat isn’t real. You’re overreacting because of what happened to Jen and Gretchen.

But the threat is real.

Three human women gone. Their bodies still unrecovered.

A snarl fills my pickup and my vision sharpens like I’m about to shift.

Well, maybe a run in bear form would take the edge off.

I could sniff around and make sure there’s nothing evil lurking out there. Patrol the area where Miranda will be working. I could easily guard her in bear form. My fur is warm and my energy is abundant now that I’m fully wakened.

I park my pickup at my cabin and go inside to strip off my clothes. My skin prickles, flesh turns hot in anticipation of the shift. My bear’s raring to go.

Then go. Let’s go.

I can’t wait, either.

I need to get back to Miranda. Get close enough to smell her. Know she’s safe. I step out onto my porch in my bare feet and pull the door closed. In a flash I’m on all fours, loping through the trees. Over the crest of the mountain and around to the river.

I need to find Miranda.

I find the area she’d told me she was collecting samples in. Recognize her footprints and her scent, along with her dog’s.

And then I catch a scent that sends a cattle-prod-like shock through me.

Evil.

The scent of evil. An unnatural animal musk. Strange and somehow wrong.

Exactly the same scent I caught around Jen and Gretchen’s bodies.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

I’ve been searching for this scent for three years, but now that I’ve found it, I’m paralyzed by fear. Because it’s near Miranda. I bound through the trees at top speed. Bears can run faster than a race horse for short distances, and I probably move at forty miles per hour.

I skid to a stop when I catch Miranda’s scent, but not the scent of evil.

Which one do I follow? Charging at Miranda as my full, nine-foot-bear self will scare the piss out of her. But at least I would know she’s safe. On the other hand, if I find the source of the evil, I can stop it forever. I won’t have to play guardian to every female who enters these woods.