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T he noise of automatic gunfire caused Jayden to drop to her hands and knees less than a hundred feet from the entrance to the cave. She wildly looked around, turning and scrambling across the snow to a nearby boulder. The unusual sound had come from behind her… and sounded close.

She stiffened when the noise suddenly stopped. Visions of the blood-soaked area she had just left sent her heart racing. Had her people escaped only to be murdered in the woods?

“No. There aren’t any other tracks but mine,” she hissed under her breath, trying to quell her fears.

She pushed back to her feet, but crouched and kept a low profile as she focused on reaching the cave. Her eyes swept the ground, searching for more footprints. If there had been a mass exit, the snow would have been trampled.

It wasn’t until she rounded the large boulders partially blocking the entrance that she heard Mitchell and Tracy’s voices.

She braced a gloved hand against the rock when relief made her knees weak.

She breathed in calming breaths as she listened to make sure everything was alright before she entered.

“Is it possible it is your people?” Mitchell asked.

It was obvious they knew that something was going on, but not the full extent. She stopped just outside of the entrance and removed her snowshoes. She held them against her side; once more searching the terrain behind her before she entered the cave.

“I don’t know. Unless something bad happened, I can’t imagine them shooting. You don’t think Jayden—?” Tracy’s voice faltered on her question.

“I had nothing to do with what’s going on,” Jayden said, looking behind her again before scanning the interior of the cave.

Mitchell turned to face her with a scowl of disapproval on his face. “Where have you been? Did you see anything?”

Swallowing hard, she couldn’t help but replay the vivid images in her mind before finally giving him a quick nod.

She shuddered as she related what she had discovered, unable to forget the sight of blood.

Mitchell and Tracy’s concerned expressions mirrored each other as they kept exchanging apprehensive glances.

“My brother and the evac team should be here within the hour,” Tracy said.

Jayden pursed her lips and shook her head.

As their conversation progressed, her anger simmered beneath the surface, steadily building.

The thought of Tracy and Mitchell’s presence posing a threat to the clan filled her with terror.

She and a few others probably stood a chance of escaping, but the young and old—her parents, grandparents…

little Timmy—they would be defenseless. It was unlikely whoever was out there would be kind enough to wait until Tracy’s people arrived.

A powerful sense of determination rose inside her. She would protect them, no matter what.

“We may not have an hour. If whoever is out there is this close, we need to stop them. Our priority is to protect the clan.”

She winced internally at the accusing edge in her tone. She didn’t miss the way Tracy looked down, shielding the hurt in her eyes at the animosity in her voice. Jayden sighed and tried to calm her desire to break something.

Now wasn’t the time to rehash the foolishness of bringing a shifter into their home.

After all, none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for her actions, she reminded herself for the hundredth time.

Lost in her self-recrimination, she started when Mitchell reached out to touch her arm.

She glanced at the entrance again. The longer they talked, the closer whoever was out there could get.

They needed a distraction. She turned back to Mitchell when he spoke.

“Jayden, I want you and Tracy to stay here. I will go.”

Jayden glanced back and forth as Tracy and Mitchell quietly argued about who should go and who should stay. After a minute, she released an impatient growl and threw her hands up in the air. They both fell silent and stared at her with a frown. She shot Mitchell a pointed look.

“I’m faster and quieter than you, Mitchell. I’m also already dressed for it. Tracy and I will go. The clan needs you here. You are a better fighter.”

She could see the conflict in his eyes before he reluctantly answered. “Go, but… you both better watch each other’s back and you better damn well come back in one piece.”

They were almost a mile from the cave entrance when they stumbled upon another gruesome scene, reminiscent of what they had encountered on the path leading to the cave. Jayden ground her teeth together, the sound filling her ears as she tried to suppress the chattering caused by fear.

They both recoiled when they saw the blood splattered across the pristine snow, staining it a light pink. Nausea rose in Jayden’s stomach as she noted the bloodied areas where more than one shifter had been. There was a massive amount of blood… and again no bodies.

Tracy’s grizzly snorted with distaste and horror.

Jayden looked up and caught the expression dancing across Tracy’s face.

Fear… there was no other way to express what she was seeing in a better word.

If there was anything that could convince her that a truce with their clan leader’s shifter-girlfriend was her best chance at survival, it was the expression on Tracy’s face at that moment.

Tracy violently shook her head back and forth as she backed away from a blood-soaked area.

The fur along on Tracy’s spine was raised.

She had never dreamed that anything could terrify a grizzly.

Not until she witnessed Tracy turning in a tight circle, as if afraid some ghostly army was about to attack.

Jayden was smart enough to know when a grizzly-shifter was scared, she should be too. She was currently questioning her sanity in volunteering to accompany the other woman on this crazy mission to find out who, or what, was behind their missing attackers.

Turning in a tight circle of her own, she warily peered about the forest. The crunch of snow under her feet made her wince. She kept Tracy in her peripheral view.

To hell with not liking or trusting shifters. If she keeps whoever did this from attacking, she’ll be my best friend for life, she thought with unease.

She glanced over her shoulder. The grizzly was creeping backwards toward her. They both flinched when a heavy pile of snow fell from a nearby tree onto the ground. Jayden swiveled on her heels and lifted the lance she was holding.

“What’s wrong? What do you smell?” she asked, her voice not quite steady.

Tracy shuddered and scanned the trees. “These were all apex predators. From the amount of blood, I would be shocked if any of them survived. I don’t know anything that could kill this many… and take the bodies.”

The tremble in Tracy’s voice struck a chord of choking fear inside Jayden. This was a woman who ventured into the proverbial human’s den to save them and she was scared shitless? That thought alone made Jayden want to bolt. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried to think like a hunter.

“This is crazy! There aren’t any tracks. It’s as though whoever killed them was a ghost and the bodies just disappeared. What kind of shifter could do something like this?” she asked.

“None that I’ve ever met,” Tracy confessed.

None that I’ve ever met.

Tracy suddenly released a strident curse. She didn’t argue when Tracy ordered her to climb onto her back. Jayden could sense they were being watched, and it scared the hell out of her.

She had barely climbed onto the grizzly bear when Tracy bolted forward in a burst of speed that nearly unseated her human passenger.

Visions of what they had discovered played in a loop over and over in her mind as they raced through the forest. For once, Jayden was thankful she was with a shifter as powerful as Tracy.

Adrenaline poured through her body and her heart pounded with fear as she gripped the fur on each side of Tracy’s neck.

Tracy raced across the thick ground cover of snow, leaving a trail of soft footprints behind.

As they moved forward, the eerie silence was broken only by the faint snap of frozen branches and their heavy breathing.

The sounds of their retreat were a stark contrast to the looming specter of death that surrounded them. The magnitude of what she and Tracy had discovered left no room for any other interpretation. Something deadly was in the forest. Something that could frighten even a grizzly bear.

Jayden leaned forward as Tracy passed under a partially fallen tree wedged against another. The fur of Tracy’s bear brushed against her cheek. It was surprisingly soft and warm.

Jayden ducked her chin and tried to look behind them. Snow flew out from Tracy’s back feet as she dug her long claws into the fresh layer. She tilted her head back when a new sound filled the air. Twin dark shadows passed overhead. Jayden watched as two massive machines flew past them.

Jayden tightened her knees when Tracy cleared the forest and began their climb. One flying machine circled around and the side opened. Coils of rope unraveled, falling to the ground a short distance from the entrance to the cavern where her people had taken refuge.

She gripped the long spear she held in her left hand and counted. Six men dressed in black slid down the long ropes to the ground. She leaned closer to Tracy’s ear.

“Who are they?” she yelled.

Tracy shook her massive brown head and grinned. “It’s rainbows and unicorns as far as I’m concerned.”

Jayden didn’t know what that meant, but she assumed from the relief in Tracy’s voice, that it was a good thing. Personally, she wasn’t so sure when she saw more men sliding down from the second flying machine. Surprise struck her when Tracy suddenly sped up.