Page 2 of Big Top Bear Raid (Wolves of Stone Ridge #64)

“HEY, MAN. SHIFT.”

Zion lifted his large head and eyed his fellow bear shifter.

Eurik arched a dark brow and slapped him on the rump.

“Come on, Zion. Shift,”

he demanded again.

Curling a lip, Zion growled in irritation. He was enjoying his afternoon siesta and didn’t want to be disturbed. Zion thought the afternoon sun felt perfect on his brown bear’s fur.

Rolling his eyes, Eurik grumbled.

“If it was up to me, you could sleep all afternoon, but Congo sent me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared into Zion’s bear’s eyes.

“Did you forget we have that barbeque to go to?”

Zion huffed in annoyance because, yup, he’d forgotten.

“We were invited specifically by Alpha Declan,”

Eurik reminded him. Then he waggled his eyebrows.

“There’ll be steak...and lobster.”

Eurik licked his lips, his dark eyes going a little vacant.

“Maybe they’ll have crawfish. I miss the crawfish boils we had in Louisiana.”

At the mention of steaks, Zion began to shift. His change from bear to man flowed through him. His fur receded, his muscles and bones realigned, and his body reformed. After about thirty seconds, Zion lay panting on the ground.

“Shifting back still bothering you?”

Eurik asked quietly.

With a groan, Zion rolled over and sprawled on his back.

“Only when I’m hungry,”

he admitted, just as his stomach growled, betraying him. Zion sighed as he stared up at the cloudless blue sky.

“Should have had a bigger lunch, I guess.”

Eurik nodded.

“I understand.”

He crouched beside Zion.

As shifters, they didn’t care much about their nudity.

Besides, after going through so much together, the members of their bear sleuth acted more like brothers than friends. Patting Zion’s shoulder, Eurik admitted.

“I have the same problem.”

Dropping back on his ass, he rested his forearms on his upturned knees.

“After being caged and bespelled for so long, barely getting to eat and almost always small meals, our stomachs shrank.”

He blew out a harsh breath as he cut a wry look Zion’s way as he patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s better than it used to be, and we’ll get our systems back to normal eventually.”

Zion jerked a nod. “Yup.”

Then he levered to a sitting position. He looked at his friend and gave him a reassuring smile.

“We’re getting there.”

“Slow and steady,”

Eurik agreed before pushing to his feet. He held out his hand.

“Come on, man. You need to get dressed so we can go grab some chow.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

Zion reached up and grabbed Eurik’s forearm, allowing him to haul him to his feet.

“Tell Congo that I’ll be ready in less than five.”

Then Zion ignored the rumbling of his stomach and began trotting toward the A-frame home.

After Alpha Kontra and his people had left, the bear sleuth had spread out between the two homes—some of them moving to the farmhouse.

Zion and Eurik, as the only unmated ones left, had chosen to share the A-frame.

Alpha Congo and his giant panda shifter mate, Zhaul, took over the large master suite of the farmhouse.

Madagascar and his wolf shifter mate, Ishmael, took up most of the space on the top floor.

Valentine and his human mate, Percy—known as Stone to everyone—spent their time between the rooms on the bottom floor of the farmhouse and Stone’s small cabin.

The pair were also in the process of setting up a room for Stone’s infant daughter, Leticia, or Letty for short.

Just a month before, Stone had been served with papers demanding court-ordered child-support payments.

To say that it had been a shock to the man would’ve been an understatement.

Stone was utilizing the Stone Ridge wolf pack’s resources to attempt to gain custody.

Maybe that’s why Alpha Declan invited the sleuth to the barbeque.

Maybe he has news.

Zion could only hope.

He’d heard that the uniform groupie who’d borne the child was in rehab.

It was a homophobic general who’d illegally used his military connections to discover Stone’s identity who was currently caring for the infant girl.

Well, General Terence Smithson is paying a nanny to do it, anyway.

While Zion had never imagined he would have kids, he sort of looked forward to helping to raise the wee one.

Once Stone had custody, he and Valentine intended to get married.

Then Valentine would adopt Letty, adding a layer of protection to her custody.

Finished dressing in jeans, a t-shirt, and biker boots, Zion headed out of the house.

He strode swiftly toward the farmhouse.

Hearing voices carried on the mild afternoon breeze, after climbing onto the wraparound porch, Zion headed left around the house.

Zion reached the front and spotted everyone standing around their motorcycles, clearly ready to go.

Slinging his leather jacket around his shoulders, he joined the group.

He grinned and exchanged fist-bumps and greetings with the others.

“So glad you could join us,”

Madagascar teased with a wink.

“Did you enjoy your afternoon siesta?”

“I did,”

Zion replied with a chuckle. He appreciated that his medium-brown skin hid the beginnings of his blush.

“Sorry, I forgot about the barbeque.”

Congo shrugged before slinging a leg over his Harley.

“It happens.”

Then he glanced around and patted his stomach.

“Let’s go, guys,”

Congo ordered with a grin.

“I’m ready for burgers and brats.”

More than on board with that, Zion obeyed. He noticed he wasn’t the only one who’d followed suit. Over half a dozen engines roared to life, and a few seconds later, they were on their way.

Zion enjoyed the wind on his face as he guided his motorcycle along the windy mountain roads.

Falling near the back of the group by habit, he roved his attention left and right.

His instincts always seemed to be on alert whenever they left their secluded mountain home.

I wonder if I’ll always be hyper-vigilant after being held for so long.

While no one in their sleuth had any official titles beyond the fact that Congo was their alpha, Zion had once been an enforcer.

He knew that it wasn’t a failure on his part that their sleuth had been taken hostage by witches.

They’d had no defense against their magicks.

Still, Zion knew he wasn’t the only one who felt as if they’d failed that day.

And then I lost my cousin to the damn witches.

That was another event that Zion knew he’d had no control over.

Their bear sleuth had never been very large.

When the witches had attacked, there’d been sixteen of them.

Seven had died in the battle.

The remaining nine had been tortured, enslaved, and bespelled.

The witches had forced them to remain in their bear form and fight or do other tasks on their command.

Over the course of those battles, they’d lost three more sleuth-members—Acadia being one of them.

I miss you, cuz. You would’ve loved these mountains.

Forcing away thoughts of his cousin, Acadia, Zion did his best to enjoy the ride. He followed the others, spotting the occasional wildlife amidst the trees. The scent of water from a river called to his bear, and he smiled.

Yeah, a swim would be a lot of fun.

Plus, there was the possibility of fish if he found the right spot.

Several of the wolf shifters were park rangers. They would know if there were any good locations near where they were staying. He made a mental note to ask them while at the barbeque.

Soon, Zion promised his animal.

A few minutes later, Zion slowed with the rest of the guys.

They turned their motorcycles into the driveway owned by Alpha Declan McIntire.

The big, black wolf shifter led the expansive wolf pack with a firm yet understanding hand, garnering him plenty of respect from those under him.

Through the grapevine, Zion had heard his ways had also earned him a bit of animosity from other alphas.

Or that could’ve been because he was an openly gay alpha who led the rally to remove bigotry and corruption within the Shifter Council.

As a side effect, the council was now implementing action to regulate an alpha’s power over the members of their own pack, ceasing certain barbaric and restrictive actions over their people.

Alphas weren’t very good at giving up control...even to the council.

Sucks to be them.

Regardless, Zion held a wealth of respect for Alpha Declan.

The man had allowed them sanctuary on his pack lands while they recuperated.

Plus, he threw a fantastic barbeque.

As Zion parked his Harley next to Eurik’s, his stomach grumbled once more.

The delicious fragrances of cooking meats tantalized his taste buds.

His mouth watered in anticipation, and he licked his lips and swallowed.

“Damn, that does smell amazing,”

Eurik stated from beside him, expressing what Zion was thinking. Resting his helmet on a handlebar, his buddy hummed.

“Can’t wait to get a plateful of whatever that smell is.”

“No doubt.”

Zion couldn’t stop his pleased rumble of anticipation. Glancing between the others, he saw that he wasn’t the only one with an expression of hunger.

“Think we can grab food first, Congo?”

Congo hesitated even as he licked his own lips. “Well,”

he began slowly, clearly wanting to say yes.

“Heard at these shindigs that the alpha usually does the grillin’.”

Curving his lips into a wide grin, Congo claimed.

“I suppose that’d be the best place to look for him. Right?”

“Hell, yeah,”

Madagascar cried with a fist-pump. Then he slung his arm around Ishmael and began leading the way to the right and around the large, lodge-style building.

“Let’s check it out.”

Congo chuckled, but he didn’t counter his younger brother. Instead, he rested his palm on Zhaul’s lower back and began guiding the large panda shifter after the other men. A second later, Valentine did the same with Stone.

With a chuckle, Eurik side-eyed Zion and crooked his elbow.

“Shall we?”

he teased, as if offering Zion his arm.

Zion rolled his eyes and shoved Eurik’s shoulder.

“Fuck off, man,”

he responded good-naturedly before hurrying after the others.

Eurik laughed as he trotted forward and fell into step beside him.

Smirking, Zion shook his head at his friend’s silly antics.

Focusing on the scents, Zion inhaled deeply.

“Wonder if they have fish.”

As a bear shifter, he loved fish, and for some reason, his bear was really riding him hard to find some.

“Don’t recall that being mentioned by Congo,”

Eurik told him.

“And it’s not like that’s a normal barbeque item for a bunch of wolves.”

Disappointment surged through Zion for a few seconds, and he pushed it away.

He knew he should just be grateful for what was being provided for him.

After all, there would be all he could eat steak and brats. That was definitely not something he should be disappointed about.

“We’ll have to have our own fish fry and crawfish boil soon,”

Zion stated instead. On a whim, he added.

“Maybe some of the wolves would like to try it.”

A memory zipped through his brain, and Zion commented.

“Hey, isn’t one of their enforcers Cajun? Manon something?”

“Yeah!”

Eurik exclaimed with excitement.

“I bet he has an epic crawfish recipe.”

Grinning, he began peering around as if the mentioned wolf shifter would suddenly appear.

“I’m totally going to ask him.”

A chuckle escaped Zion upon seeing his friend’s excitement. A whiff on the breeze quickly changed the noise to an appreciative hum. Inhaling deeply, Zion couldn’t help his grin.

“We just may be wrong about that fish,”

Zion stated, inhaling again. The faintest hint of fish—something similar to honeyed-salmon—tickled his nostrils along with a very pleasant earthy, masculine scent mixed with...salt and wolf.

“Or maybe not?”

Perhaps someone there had just been handling fish recently. Still, he couldn’t help but enjoy the aroma. In fact, as Zion inhaled once more, he would even label it a little intoxicating.

His blood began to heat, and arousal slowly began chugging through his veins.

Holy shit!

Zion couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt arousal. It’d definitely been before they’d been captured and bespelled. He’d seen the others respond to their mates...so did that mean?

Could it be?

A wealth of hope flared within Zion, and he peered around swiftly even as he breathed in again, trying to track the heady fragrance. He needed to know if his hunch was correct...so damn bad.

Could one of Alpha Declan’s wolves be my mate? My one and only?

Turning left, Zion followed the scent.

“Hey, Zion,”

Eurik called.

“Where ya goin’?”

“I need a minute,”

Zion murmured absently, his entire focus bent on finding the source. Everything else was forgotten. Hearing Congo call his name, Zion waved a hand absently.

“Just a sec.”

Just as Zion’s gaze fell on a handsome black-haired man, he felt a hand on his arm.

He glanced briefly to see that it was his alpha, staying his desire to brush the big shifter off a second time.

Zion opened his mouth, intending to explain, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a slender blond guy slide up beside the black-haired male.

The blond rested his forearm over the first man’s shoulder and practically draped over him as he pressed close.

The black-haired man’s jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed.

He attempted to step sideways, away from the blond, but the other shifter followed the movement.

That caused the black-haired shifter’s scent to intensify with his annoyance.

The wolf shifter’s irritation caused Zion’s bear to rumble angrily within him, and he was onboard with his animal.

He needed to extricate the handsome black-haired wolf, who smelled oh-so-delectable, from the clingy blond, and as swiftly as possible.

For the first time in his life, Zion pushed away Congo’s staying hand, then began stalking toward the pair.

“Back off, Stephan,”

the first ordered, his annoyance clear in his tone.

“Give me some space, man.”

“I can’t help it, Wraith,”

the blond—Stephan—practically purred.

“The way you fill out your jeans”—he hummed and lowered his eyelids to half-mast as he began sliding his hand southward—“just makes me—”

Zion couldn’t and wouldn’t stand by to listen to more. Even if the handsome, awesome-smelling wolf shifter didn’t turn out to be his mate, no meant no, damn it.

“Hey, back off, buddy,”

Zion snarled, grabbing Stephan’s wrist before it could make contact with Wraith’s ass—which really did look delectable. Tugging a clearly surprised Stephan away from Wraith—and hell, yeah, he’s my mate—Zion growled.

“No, means, no, asshole.”

After all this time, Fate has rewarded me with the greatest of gifts.

Zion would have turned to regard Wraith fully, but he needed to keep most of his attention on the angry blond.

“What the hell, man?”

Stephan snapped, yanking his wrist free of Zion’s grip—not that he’d been holding him very tightly. With a curl of his lip, he demanded.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Before Zion could respond, Wraith’s quiet tenor tones declared.

“He’s my mate.”

Zion smiled widely as he met Wraith’s gaze, needing to take in the wolf shifter’s expression.

“Yeah, I’m your mate.”

To Zion’s absolute delight, a huge grin lit up Wraith’s features, telling him that his wolf was just as happy with the discovery as Zion was.

Too bad Stephan had to totally ruin the moment by screaming, “No!”