Unbearable: Russet Falls Series (6 page)

“What the hell?” Michael bellowed as he and Zane raced
toward the front doors. The alarms had only gone off once before, when Zane had
just started helping Michael at the park. He barely remembered it; the day had
been such a blur.

Zane knew that multiple bears had to be on the property to
trip the alarms, and he also knew that many of the Virtus clan members had to
be on their way. Hopefully, there weren’t too many people out in the park, or
else they would see the multiple bears that would be roaming the land.

As Zane burst through the doors behind Michael, he let his
inner bear out, roaring ferociously as he shifted. He felt his clothes rip and
shred, but he couldn’t be bothered with clothes at the moment—there was too
much urgency. It was too coincidental that there had been trespassers on their
land and now the alarms were going off. Even when cubs had been killed, the
alarms had not been set off, meaning that there must be several trespassers
this time.

Zane felt his teeth sharpen and lengthen, and he could feel
his animal senses become acute. Hair sprouted across his body in a slow wave,
and he felt his nails sharpen into claws. His paws pounded onto the soft earth,
and the transformation was complete.

He saw Michael ahead of him, larger and broader than he, and
he raced to catch up. There were no more thoughts of Gabby now, just his bear
taking over and reacting to the alarms. He ran to Michael’s right, taking up
position as his second. While there was no official title to his position, Zane
knew that for all intents and purposes, he was Michael’s second.

Quickly, four other bears joined Michael and Zane, and they
ran in a diamond formation towards the forest. Zane didn’t have to guess who
was running with them—he knew the four bears that also took up ranks in the
clan—Quentin, Sam, Tommy, and Grayson. Zane was also certain that there were
other bears from the clan out in the forest, patrolling and guarding.

Michael growled and seconds later Zane discovered why; the
scent had taken longer to reach his nose. Zane growled too, his nostrils
filling with the scent of strangers. From what Zane could tell, the scent was
also Cruentus, but the scent was so strong, he couldn’t be sure there weren’t
also Atrocitas among the trespassers.

He heard the bears roar behind him as well, and Zane tensed,
ready for a fight. They came to a small clearing, one that Zane knew well, and
that was when the large, black bears came out of the shadows. Michael, Zane and
the others skidded to a stop, and Zane felt his instinct to fight grow
stronger. He was ready for a fight. In fact, he
wanted
a fight.

This needed to stop, once and for all.

It seemed the others from the Virtus clan felt the same way.

The bears from the Cruentus clan slowly stepped out, keeping
close to the perimeter. Zane scanned them with his beady eyes, noting that all
the bears were black as night; there were no members from the Atrocitas tribe
present.

Michael growled deep in his throat and slowly advanced
forward. Zane and the other bears followed suit, keeping their formation tight.
The Cruentus tribe continued to move along the perimeter, but Zane noticed them
tense up. He had been prepared for a fight, but for some reason it now seemed
that a fight wasn’t going to happen.

The other bears warily watched as Zane and the others moved
in, but Zane couldn’t figure out what was going on. There was something else
happening, and he wished that he could read the other bears’ minds.

Michael seemed to have the same idea as Zane, and he paced
back and forth, watching the trespassers as they seemed to split up. He nodded
his head at Zane and the others, and each bear began to move towards a
trespasser. The trespassing bears moved towards them and Zane growled a low
warning for a second time.

Without warning, one of the black bears took off around the
perimeter of the clearing and Quentin, the bear closest to the runner, took off
after him. Michael stood up on his hind legs, trying to be clear about his
intent to protect his lands.

Without realizing it, the bears had dispersed, and now Zane
and the others were each guarding one or two bears. While there were six from
the Virtus tribe, there seemed to be about eight from the Cruentus tribe.

What could they possibly want?

Knowing Michael, he probably wanted to change into human
form so there could be a real dialogue, but with this many bears it was far too
unsafe.

A bear was entirely too close to Zane, and he couldn’t help
himself as he snapped at the bear, warning him to back up. The bear growled,
but continued to advance, and Zane backed up protectively.

A loud growling from the distance greeted their ears, and
then the other bear that had run off in the direction of the office was now
coming back, with Quentin on his heels.

Zane could smell blood, though there wasn’t a lot of it. The
Cruentus bears continued to push forward, and Zane waited for the signal from
Michael. At last, Michael gave in and Zane roared his approval as he swiped at
the black bear he was essentially guarding.

The bear cried out, angry, and growled at Zane. Zane
prepared for a fight, but instead the bear ran around him, heading further onto
Virtus lands and toward the park office.

Angry, Zane pounded after him, jumping in front of him and
blocking the bear with his body. He hadn’t noticed that the other bears were
running in the same direction, too. The Cruentus bears didn’t seem interested
in fighting, but instead they tried to get closer to the office.

The Virtus clan protected the building, unsure of what was
going on, and the Cruentus clan tried hard to break through their barrier. Zane
swiftly moved from side to side, trying to stop the other bears from reaching
the office.

Was something in the office? Did Michael have something
hidden?

It was hard for Zane to think in bear form, and he gave up,
needing to focus only on the task at hand.

With shock, he looked over and saw Michael shifting back to
human form. Zane was torn between guarding the bear and protecting his alpha.

Michael held his hands up in a sign of peace and the other
bears froze. Michael cleared his throat and began speaking in his Alpha voice.
“Fellow bears,” he addressed the group in his deep baritone. “You are
trespassing on our land,”—Quentin growled low in his throat—“we have been more
than understanding by not harming you, but you are pressing our patient and
kind disposition. One of your number was on our land this morning, chasing a
human girl, and now many of you have shown up on our lands, forcing our clan to
defend ourselves.”

He looked around, starting hard at the black bears. “We do
not want violence, but please do not test us. We will fight if pushed. This is
your final warning. Leave our lands immediately and do not return.”

One of the black bears protested, but another quickly
shushed him.

Zane rocked back and forth on his paws, anxious for Michael
to shift back.

“This
is
your final warning,” Michael said. “We will
kill any of you if you trespass on our lands again.”

With that, Michael took a step back onto the cement patio of
the park office and Zane instinctively backed up to protect him. The others
also backed up toward Michael, creating a protective circle around him.

The bears of the Cruentus tribe appeared to be weighing
their options. They obviously wanted to get closer, but they could see that it
was a lost cause. One of the bears made a loud sound, and the other bears
responded instantly, watching his move.

The bear that growled moved away, receding into the tree line,
and the other bears seemed to have no choice but to follow suit. Zane watched
as the black bears disappeared into the forest. Even when he could no longer
see them, he continued to stare at where they had vanished.

Michael breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes closed. “They’re
gone.” He opened his eyes and looked around at his clan. “Shift back to your
human form. Come inside and get dressed, and then we must speak briefly.”

He didn’t wait and disappeared into the building.

Zane rolled his massive neck from side to side and then
forced himself to shift back. Shifting into human form was always more painful
than shifting into bear form. Everything had to snap and shrink, and he often
felt like his massive bear was trying to squeeze into a tiny human.

Once the transformation was complete, he strode into the
park office, not at all bothered by his nudity. It was a simple fact of shifter
life. The others followed him inside, and Michael was already dressed, and had
laid out a pile of extra clothes in the park lobby.

“Get dressed and come into the board room,” he ordered,
before disappearing down the hall.

Zane thought quickly of Gabby, and hoped the meeting would
be brief. He was pretty sure that she would be none too happy to have been
locked up for so long. Zane grabbed an extra park ranger uniform, and the
others pulled on random pants and t-shirts from the pile.

Zane hurried into the boardroom first, taking the seat to
Michael’s right.

“What the fuck was that?” Michael asked softly, his voice
filled with anger.

“I have no idea.”

The others filed into the room and took seats. There was
Quentin, Zane’s neighbor and one of the werebears who had the least diluted
blood in the clan. He was also one of the wisest members of the clan. Also
seated around the table were Tommy and Sam, Michael’s younger twin brothers,
who were brawny and brave, though not always the smartest. The final member
around the table was Grayson, an asshole in Zane’s opinion, but without
question a warrior, and always thinking one step ahead.

“Thank you for coming to our aide,” Michael began. “You all
did exceedingly well by responding to the alarm and seamlessly following Zane
and I.”

Zane felt his chest puff just a bit; he was proud to be
included with Michael. But he didn’t miss Grayson rolling his eyes. Grayson had
always thought that he should be Michael’s second, not Zane. Of course he had
other ways of sticking it to Zane, such as running off with Zane’s fiancé.

Zane tried not to think of Alicia—it made his bear roar
angrily inside him. He needed to be calm and focused.

“There were no cubs on the land, and I have a feeling that
it’s the Atrocitas clan slaughtering cubs. That being said, I have no fucking
idea why the Cruentus tribe is on our land. We had one of them on our land
today, chasing a female human.” There were looks exchanged around the table.
“Zane was able to rescue the human and the bear left our territory. Yet, that
doesn’t explain why more of them trespassed on our lands just now.”

The men were quiet around the table, and Tommy and Sam
exchanged looks. Zane doubted they would have any ideas to suggest, but he knew
they would be up for a fight.

Quentin steepled his fingers together, thinking. “There has
to be a reason that they are on our lands. What could be here that they want?”

“Nothing,” Michael scoffed. “There’s nothing here of value
to them.”

Grayson shook his head. “Are you sure there is nothing here
in this building? They certainly seemed intent on approaching it.”

Zane was listening closely, mulling the facts over. It was
clear—the other clan seemed to be seeking something.

“There has to be something else,” Grayson continued. “Do we
know for sure that the one bear was after the girl earlier?”

“Yes,” Zane spoke up. “It seemed that way. The bear was flat
out chasing her.”

“But why?” Michael interrupted. “A new game? We all know the
rules about humans.”

The rules. Zane had disobeyed Michael. Sort of. It hadn’t
been a direct order.

“The girl,” Zane whispered.

“What?” Michael asked sharply. “What about the girl?” he
narrowed his eyes at Zane.

 “She’s here.”

“I know. You put her in the lockdown room.”

Zane nodded. “Yes, but what if that’s why the bears were
here?”

“The female human?” Quentin spoke up.

Tommy and Sam seemed to be struggling to keep up.

“Yes. What if that was the reason why the bear was on our lands
to begin with? What if he wanted the human? That could explain why the other
bears all came later.”

“That makes no sense,” Michael scoffed, but Zane could see
that he was considering it.

“There must be another reason,” Grayson said arrogantly.
“There’s no way that a clan would be interested in a human.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Quentin agreed.

Michael closed his eyes, and Zane knew he was trying to
figure out what was going on. “I need more time to think,” he finally said. “I
agree that it doesn’t make sense, I just can’t imagine that the girl would have
any connection.”

Zane felt that there was a connection, but he could see that
Michael wasn’t buying it.