Page 5

The crunch of compacting snow was replaced by a low humph and a chorus of laughter when Tracy’s bear rose and tackled a tall man who was turning in their direction.

Jayden recognized the man as Ty Bearclaw.

Tracy had him pinned to the ground and was giving his face a bath with her long, wide tongue much to Ty’s disgust.

She released her grip on Tracy’s fur and slid to the ground. It wasn’t an easy feat considering that Tracy was still giving her brother enthusiastic bear kisses while he was trying to push her away. She stumbled when her foot caught in a low spot in the snow.

“Jeez, Tracy. Get ahold of your bear. You’re embarrassing me in front of all the guys,” Ty mumbled.

“Thank Goddess that isn’t your blood. It isn’t, is it?” another man questioned.

Tracy snorted and rubbed her head against her brother before she responded. Jayden frowned when she heard the shifter speak. His voice— She shook her head. It was crazy, but there was something in the low rumble that made her curious.

“No. There is more in the forest. I don’t know who it belongs to,” Tracy was saying as she rose and stepped back from her brother.

Jayden desperately attempted to maneuver out of the way, but she found herself trapped in between Tracy and another shifter who had inched closer.

She twisted and tried to slip away from between Tracy and the shifter, feeling their bodies brush against her.

Tracy turned simultaneously, matching their movements perfectly.

In the midst of taking a step, she was abruptly jolted forward by the bear’s hairy hindquarters.

“Steady now.”

Her head jerked up at the low rumbling in the shifter’s voice. Her eyes locked with a pair of intense blue eyes. Awareness struck her at the same time as she recognized the shifter who was holding her. She had seen him before—every delectable inch of him.

“Keep your paws off me, beast.”

Her voice came out in a strangled hiss. Panic hit her at her reactions to the two shifters. She had thought she was past the insane emotions that had haunted her days and nights for weeks after she had seen the two in the forest with Ty and Ella.

She swung her lance around, using it to create a barrier between herself and the group of shifters who were watching her with a combination of wry amusement and wary caution.

The shifter with the auburn hair took a step toward her.

Her gaze flickered to the shifter beside him who removed his helmet.

Just as she suspected, it was the black-haired one.

Visions of them in their wolf forms rose in her mind, filling her with the desire to flee.

“Jayden, I’ll need my clothes.”

Jayden absently nodded when Tracy, oblivious to the emotions threatening to choke Jayden, called out. She followed Tracy, walking backwards with her spear still pointed at the men who watched in silence. The moment they were far enough inside, she thrust her soft leather bag at Tracy.

“Here’s your clothes. I’ll go let the others know we are here and it’s safe to come out,” she mumbled.

She cast a wary glance over her shoulder before she headed for the back of the cave.

She knew where everyone was hiding. Cautionary tales and hiding places were drilled into all of them from a young age.

If caught outside, become one with the Earth.

In some of their shelters like this cavern, they had discovered narrow passageways cut by ice, water, and time.

While not wide, they gave them a small measure of hope if they needed to hide.

Glancing over her shoulder once more, she slipped into the narrow tunnel at the back of the cave and wound along the increasingly narrow path.

She passed the first two openings, one on each side.

Those were used as a latrine. Several hundred feet in, the passage split again, this time in three different directions.

The first one only went back a few feet. The other two were more extensive.

“Hey, Tracy’s people are here. It is safe to come out,” she called.

Her voice echoed, repeating itself. She winced as her voice bounced off the walls. The sound of scraping alerted her that she had been heard.

“Tracy?” Mitchell asked, appearing out of the darkness.

“She’s fine. There’s a bunch of shifters out there, including her brother,” she replied.

“What did you find?”

She shook her head. “Blood. Lots of blood, but no bodies. We don’t know what in the hell happened. All I do know is whatever happened was enough to scare a grizzly.”

“Son-of-a?—”

Mitchell’s muttered curse surprised her. He pushed past her as Connell appeared. Connell lifted an eyebrow at her. She shrugged and waved a hand toward the cave.

“It’s safe,” she said.

Connell nodded. “I’ll let the others know.”

“’K.”

She retraced her steps. The passage was only large enough for one person at a time.

It would take a while for everyone to exit.

She stayed along the edge of the wall and worked her way back toward the entrance so she could see what was going on.

Mitchell was holding Tracy as though he would never let her go.

Instinctively, she sought for sight of the two shifters she had seen earlier.

The dark-haired one was engaged in a lively conversation with a group of people.

He looked up and locked eyes with her, but continued nodding to the man next to him, not breaking his polite facade.

She didn’t see the auburn-haired shifter.

“Jayden.”

Jayden pulled her attention away from the scene unfolding around them to look at Janna.

Jace’s sister was staring back at her with an expression of concern.

Unease rose inside her when Janna looked back over her shoulder toward the others who had spilled out from their hiding places.

She continued watching the group, searching for her parents. They weren’t among the crowd.

“Where are my parents?”

Janna laid her hand on Jayden’s arm. “They are with your grandparents. Thomas is with them. I thought you would want to know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s your grandfather. He’s-he’s not doing so good,” Janna replied.

“Thanks.”

The single word was all she could force out past the lump in her throat. She knew her grandfather had been feeling poorly lately. He wasn’t that old, barely sixty-five winters, but life as a human was often cut short.

Memories of her little brother rose in her mind. Robert hadn’t even lived to see his fourth celebration of life. It would take more than both of her hands to count the members of their clan who had perished because of accidents or illnesses.

She had tried to harden her heart. She was lucky. Both of her grandparents on her father’s side, and her parents, were still alive. That was more than most of her clan could say.

She strode across the cavern to the spot where her grandparents slept.

She and her father had set up the thin woven barrier to give them some privacy and to help keep the warmth in during the night when they filled the buckets with hot ashes from the fires.

Slowing to a stop, she paused on the other side of the curtain and listened as Thomas, the clan’s healer, spoke with her grandmother and parents.

“He has pneumonia. I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do,” Thomas was saying.

“What about the shifters? Do you think they would have medicine that could heal him?” her grandmother asked.

“It’s possible. I don’t know what type of medicines they have. I imagine it’s better than the few herbal ones we use,” Thomas said.

“Elaina, he’s not strong enough to hike out of here. Rand can ask if they can bring their doctor here,” her mother said.

Jayden pulled back the curtain. Her grandfather was lying on the pallet with his eyes closed. His breathing was labored and his coloring was pale. She swore she could see a tinge of blue around his lips.

“They have a flying machine. They could take him off the mountain in it,” she stated, looking at the group when they turned.

“What will they do with him? I don’t want them to take him away. What if I—?” her grandmother’s voice faltered before emotion overcame her and she looked away.

The fear in her grandmother’s eyes tore at Jayden. She walked forward, cupped her grandfather’s hand, and knelt next to the bed. He didn’t open his eyes.

“I won’t let you die,” she murmured, staring at his pale face.

Lifting his hand to her lips, she kissed the back of it. The sound of someone on the other side of the screen clearing their throat had her rising and turning. Thomas pulled back the curtain. A shifter stood on the other side with an apologetic expression on his face that changed when he saw Cyrus.

“Hello, my name is Conan. I’m a medic with the SBSI. I was told that someone might be having a medical emergency. I’d like to help… if you’ll allow me,” Conan said.

“Please, can you help him?” her grandmother begged.

Conan’s eyes softened with compassion at the tears glittering in her grandmother’s eyes. He smiled and nodded. Jayden reluctantly released her grandfather’s hand and stepped to the side when Conan stepped forward.

She watched as he examined her grandfather. Several minutes later, Conan murmured into a black box. Her mother and father held the curtain back as two other men in black came forward carrying a basket.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, watching as the men wrapped her grandfather up before placing him in the basket.

Conan smiled reassuringly at her. “Your grandfather needs to be transferred to a hospital. They can give him the care he needs that I can’t give him here. There are also doctors with more experience there.”

“I want to go. So does my grandmother. You will take us with him to this hospital,” she stated, lifting her chin.

Conan spoke into his mic. Jayden didn’t understand the words he was saying. It sounded like some type of coded language. Conan replied to whoever he was speaking to before he gave her and her grandmother another reassuring smile.

“Come on. The medic helicopter will be here any minute. They have room,” he said.

“Rand—” Elaina said, turning to her son.

“Go with him. Jayden will be there. Mallory and I will go with the others and help them settle in,” Rand said.

Elaina nodded. “I need my cloak. It will be cold if we are to fly like a bird through the sky,” she fretted.

Jayden helped her mother pack a light bag for her grandmother while her father helped Elaina with her cloak. She fingered the spear she was holding before she held it out to her father. Her father reached out and took the spear.

“I don’t think they will let me take this. Keep it safe for me,” she requested, fingering the woven rope near the end.

“Take care of your grandparents for your mom and me.”

She nodded and didn’t resist when he pulled her into his arms and gave her a brief hug. She stepped back so he could hug her grandmother. Taking the bag her mother held out, she stepped through the opening. Conan walked with them across the cavern to the entrance.

Jayden shielded her eyes from the wind and snow cast about by the flying machine.

Her heart hammered in her chest when she saw the basket holding her grandfather being lifted into the air.

A man in a bright red suit was leaning partially out of the flying machine and guiding the thin cable.

Less than a minute later, the basket was being lowered again.

“We’ll send your grandmother up first and then you,” Conan said in a loud voice.

Her grandmother’s eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and awe as Conan gently led her towards the basket. In a matter of seconds, her grandmother was effortlessly suspended in the air by a slender cable. Jayden hugged her grandmother’s bag to her chest as she watched with growing anxiety.

“You’re next,” Conan shouted.

Jayden tore her gaze away from the flying machine.

Her eyes locked on the two shifters standing a short distance away.

Her lips parted as she struggled to pull in a breath as the intensity in their eyes washed over her.

She felt like a rabbit who had just been discovered by wolves.

If it wasn’t for her grandparents, she would have given up on hiding and bolted.

“You ready?” Conan asked.

She nodded and moved forward when he guided her to the basket. It wasn’t until she was lying back that she tore her eyes away from the two shifters and stared up at the twirling blades of the flying machine. She wound her fingers in the wire of the basket as it lifted off the ground.

Why do I feel that my feet will never touch the ground again? she wondered as the man in red pulled the basket into the flying machine.