CHAPTER ONE
Trevor Williams, former Army Ranger and current high-level intelligence operative for the band of mercenaries that had gathered under Major Jesse Moore on his Wyoming mountaintop, was back in Grizzly Cove, Washington. He’d visited briefly a couple of weeks ago to talk with an Australian koala shifter—of all things—who had been held prisoner in the mountains of Oregon for months.
The hunt was still on for those who had been holding the koala-man and several other shifters in a private menagerie. Trevor’s unit had found evidence of medical experiments having been performed on the captive shifters, among other atrocities. The mercenary unit was still actively searching the mountains in and around Oregon for any sign of the bastards that had kidnapped and imprisoned so many. Trevor’s job was to liaise with the shifters who had settled in Grizzly Cove and, secondarily, try to get more intel on the mer shifters that had recently moved into the waters of the cove, using it as a sanctuary.
Major Moore—as well as their employer on this particular job, the billionaire lion Alpha, Samson Kinkaid—wanted as much information as possible on the threat in the ocean and any possible allies they might be able to claim. Trevor was an expert at gathering intelligence, and the bear shifters who had set up Grizzly Cove knew it. Trev was under no illusion that John Marshall, Alpha of this band of bears, didn’t know exactly why Trevor was there.
But he respected Big John and the men he’d gathered around him. They were all veterans of various branches of the Special Forces, and they had recently retired to civilian life. That they’d set up a town all their own was pretty remarkable. Then again, this unit of shifters had always been kind of remarkable.
Most of them were bears of one kind or other. Many were grizzlies, but there were a few black bears, even a polar bear, along with a few other, rarer bears. All were former soldiers, and they’d worked together for years, forming a tight family of men who trusted each other without question or comment.
Trevor had worked with them a time or two, but he’d been part of a different unit, and he was a bit younger than the core group that had settled Grizzly Cove. He respected them all, but they’d run in slightly different circles while in the military. Still, he liked what he’d seen of what they’d built here, on the rugged coast of Washington State, and he almost wished he’d been closer with them so he could claim one of the plots of land around the cove and build himself a place to settle down.
He liked Wyoming well enough, but something about the ocean had always drawn him. And the salmon in this part of the world were some of the juiciest, which appealed to his wilder half. His inner grizzly loved good sushi.
So, while his comrades were in full search mode in Oregon and beyond, Trevor had been assigned—with Big John’s permission—to liaise with Grizzly Cove and its inhabitants. The koala shifter who had been held prisoner was still here, now mated to a selkie shifter from Kinkaid’s Clan. Apparently, she’d been sent to gather information on the cove’s businesses and social order, and had been lucky enough to find her mate in the process.
For now, she was still part of the Kinkaid mega-corporation and hierarchy, but Trevor had been told she was also a woman on her honeymoon. Samson Kinkaid had given her a month off from work so she could enjoy her honeymoon with her new mate before getting back to business matters.
Which was where Trevor came in. Kinkaid had hired Trevor’s unit to hunt down those who were still missing from the menagerie, especially a lion shifter female who had last been seen injured badly in the woods of Oregon. They’d found her trail, but she was very good at hiding and had not yet been found.
Kinkaid wanted those who had held the shifters captive, and he had deep enough pockets to keep the search going for a very long time, indeed. Samson Kinkaid was a billionaire with business interests all over the world. He could afford to pay Trevor’s expenses, and he had asked that Trevor take over as Kinkaid’s eyes and ears in the cove.
He was happy enough to do it. Being in Grizzly Cove wasn’t a tough assignment—not by a long shot. Not one to sit around doing nothing all day, Trevor had agreed to pitch in and help with some of the construction work that was going on all over town. He worked a few days a week, making friends and renewing old ties, which helped him with his primary task of gathering intel. It was hard to learn things if you didn’t speak to people, and it was hard to make friends with people who were busy trying to keep up with a building boom.
The arrival of the mer in the cove had spurred a construction spike as new accommodations were designed and added to the town’s growing infrastructure. The new boathouse was already up and running, as an example. The complex structure had been built first because it was where water-based shifters could enter and leave the cove without being seen by anyone. There was a water entrance below the building, which was built half on a pier that extended over the cove. There were locker rooms and showers where the water shifters could clean up and dress or undress, as the case may be.
Trev had just finished work for the day and was heading down Main Street on his way to the half-finished hotel where he was currently bunking down. It wasn’t perfect, but his room was fully equipped and the rest of the building was coming along. He got a nice discount on his lodgings because he was bartering carpentry skills in the evenings, helping the proprietor put the finishing touches on all the guest rooms. Trevor was particularly good with plaster and drywall, but he had all-around carpentry training from when he’d been a youngster, working with his father’s small specialty plaster business. His dad had been a true artist, and he’d taught his son everything he knew.
The hotel was on the other end of town from the jobsite Trevor had been working on today, but the weather was cool and pleasant, and the sun was shining. It was a nice walk along the road that hugged the shore of the cove closest at this point.
He was thinking about where he might get dinner tonight when he heard a sound that immediately caught his attention. Looking for the source, he spotted a woman sitting on a rock down by the shore. And she was crying.
It was her muffled sobs he’d heard, carried to him on the fickle breeze.
The way she was sitting reminded him of the statue in Copenhagen he’d seen once. The little mermaid, he thought it was called, and it depicted a mermaid sitting on a rock, just the way this woman was sitting. Though she wore clothing and he could see legs in place of a tail, mer were so prevalent in Grizzly Cove right now that it was a pretty safe bet that she was a mermaid—wearing her human form at the moment.
Her soft crying got to him, though. He couldn’t just walk past and leave her in such a state. He wasn’t sure exactly what he could do to help her, but he would do his best to try. Squaring his shoulders, Trevor stepped off the sidewalk and headed down to the water’s edge.
Beth hated it here. Ever since they’d come to Grizzly Cove, her whole life had been turned upside down. She’d loved being part of the hunting party, but that was all over now. Three of the other girls had mated with bears, and the hunting party had just been dissolved.
Besides, the ocean wasn’t safe for hunting at the moment, anyway. Nobody was going out beyond the magical barrier that kept the leviathan and its minions out of the cove. The mer were settling in and making a new home here in the cove, and Beth truly felt like a fish out of water. She didn’t like it here. She didn’t like change, and she especially didn’t like the bears. They were scary, and her friends—or the women she’d thought were her friends—were turning their backs on her to be with their bear shifter mates.
Nansee, the leader of their pod, had just given Beth the news. Her hunting party was no more, and, in fact, nobody was going out hunting in the sea until the leviathan was dealt with once and for all. If she still wanted to serve, she could do so by patrolling the mouth of the cove, just on this side of the magical ward that kept the evil creature out.
But that was boring. Beth would do it, but it wasn’t like hunting with the others, where she’d been learning new skills—especially how to protect herself. She’d been the newest member of the team, with the most to learn, but she hadn’t minded. She liked learning about how to use the weapons of their trade. Especially the knives. Those skills would work on land or in the water, and it had helped her feel more confident about her personal safety.
The other girls wouldn’t teach her now. Not the mated ones, anyway. Maybe Janice and Marla might still be persuaded to show her a few things while they patrolled the ward, but the others were living on land with their new mates and only swam for fun, not for work.
The simple fact was…she missed them. She felt too vulnerable on land and didn’t want to be here, but the ocean wasn’t safe anymore. Her safe place had been overrun by evil creatures. Kind of like life on land, to her way of thinking.
She heard the crunch of footsteps on the rocky sand, and then, a shadow fell over her. Adrenaline poured through her system as she palmed one of the knives she was never without nowadays and looked up at the man who had snuck up on her.
“Mind if I join you?”
His voice was deep and melodic. It soothed her raw nerves just the tiniest bit, but she knew to be wary of men on land. The sun was behind him, so all she really got was the impression of massive shoulders on a tall, muscular frame. He must be one of the bears, then. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
She couldn’t speak, her heart still in her throat, so she couldn’t tell him to go away. He seemed to take her silence as agreement and lowered himself to the rocky beach a few feet away. He looked relaxed and comfortable, sitting facing the water with his elbows resting on his raised knees. He didn’t look directly at her again, which lowered her heart rate a bit more. Instead, he stared out at the waters of the cove and the ocean beyond.
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” he went on as if they were having a conversation. His voice was gentle, and her taut nerves slowly quieted.
She was ashamed to admit she’d frozen in place when he’d started talking. At least she’d armed herself, but if she couldn’t move due to fright, what good would her little knife do? Misery mixed with the fear still coursed through her blood.
“My name is Trevor. I’m new in town, but I’ve known the guys who run this place a while. We served around the same time, though I’m a slightly younger vintage than Big John and the others,” he went on.
Why was he talking to her? She wasn’t responding—that simple feat was still beyond her at the moment, overrun with nerves as she was. So why did he continue speaking?
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said, and she cringed. Of course. He was a bear with a sensitive nose. He could probably smell her fear. Great. “I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help. I heard you sniffle, and a fellow can’t just walk past when a beautiful girl is so upset that she’s staring out at the ocean, crying.” His voice dipped even lower. “Do you miss being out at sea that much?”
His words made her turn her head to look at him. He really was a handsome man, if you weren’t afraid of big, muscular guys with combat skills and a ferocious animal side.
“I don’t miss the ocean as much as I miss my hunting party,” she admitted, surprising herself by speaking the words. What had come over her? She didn’t want to get chummy with a bear.
“Ah. You’re a huntress. I think I understand. You want to be out there, fighting the leviathan instead of cowering behind the ward.” He was nodding as if he had uncovered some secret of the universe.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” she told him, wanting to bring him down a peg. “I miss my old life. The girls were teaching me so much, and now, my hunting party is gone because three of my so-called friends mated your kind.” She must be feeling stronger because, that time, even she heard the disdain in her words. Good. Let the bear know he wasn’t welcome. Maybe then he’d go away.
“So it seems everything isn’t as rosy as they paint it here in Grizzly Cove,” he said unexpectedly, making her look at him with suspicion. “I’d been told everyone was happy with the new arrangement.” He nodded toward the water. “The mer in the cove and the bears on the shore. I thought maybe it was all too good to be true.”
She eyed his work clothes and the sawdust that clung to his jeans. “But you’re one of them. You’ve obviously been building things.”
His eyebrows rose, and he looked down at his legs, brushing at the clinging bits of wood shavings. “Observant as well as pretty,” he said offhandedly, and somehow, his words made her blush. Silly human skin, showing every little emotion, no matter how out of place. “I’m not really one of them, as you put it. I’m based out of Wyoming at the moment, and I’m under contract to the Kinkaid Alpha to act as liaison with the folks here for a bit.”
“Kinkaid? But that Clan is full of lions and selkies,” she blurted, not censoring her thoughts at all. “I thought you were a bear. Are you a lion?” She hated the way her voice trembled with fear as she stared at him. The nerves were coming back in full force. Bears were bad enough, but lions? She didn’t think she could handle meeting a lion shifter.
“No, sweetheart. You were right. I’m a bear, not a cat. I’m just working on behalf of the lion Alpha because my commander thought I’d fit in better with the folks here. We have the beast in common, plus, like I said, I worked with most of the core group in the past.”
“Commander? Are you still in the military?” she asked, despite her desire to end this conversation as quickly as possible.
“No. I’ve gone private. I work for a group that helps other shifters—for a price—when they need specialists.”
His explanation seemed harmless enough until she remembered…
“The Wraiths?” Her voice rose in pitch as alarm filled her. “You’re one of the Wraiths?”
He surprised her by chuckling. “I never liked that nickname. We just call ourselves Moore’s men, because we all work for Major Moore and live on his mountain in Wyoming.”
“But…” She was shocked he’d admit to it so readily. “The Wraiths are said to walk like phantoms, and they punish shifters who cross them.”
He laughed harder this time. “The only people we punish are those who deserve it. And if we move quietly, that’s because we train hard to keep up our stealth skills. I’m glad to see our legend is growing though. Where did you hear all that?”
“Jonathan said—” She stopped herself from saying any more. She shouldn’t have even uttered his name. Doing that might conjure him up, and that was the last thing she wanted. Ever.
“Who’s Jonathan?” the bear asked, but she turned away. She had already said far too much.
She wanted to jump into the water and swim away, but she couldn’t. Even here, she had to use the boathouse’s secret entrance to the water to hide her true form and abilities. They couldn’t risk being seen, and while there wasn’t much traffic on the road through Grizzly Cove yet, it was still a public thoroughfare, open to humans. Everyone in town knew they had to shift with the utmost discretion. They couldn’t afford strange tales of mermaids or werebears getting around and drawing a crowd of curious humans to the town.
She stood abruptly, half-fearing the Wraith would follow, but he made no move to stand. It was small comfort though, since the Wraiths were said to have uncommon speed and deadly skill. He could probably kill her in the blink of an eye…or worse.
“I’ve got to go,” she whispered, hoping against hope that he would let her. The adrenaline pushed her to walk away, and she managed a few feet before breaking into a run.