I sat in a large meeting of Rangers. A gathering that size almost never happened. Usually, Rangers from just our immediate area of the park would come for our monthly meeting. But the moment Cooper was back at work after his honeymoon, he had called everyone available who worked anywhere in Glacier Bay.

Our meeting room was packed. I’d gotten there early, since it was in my building, and sat beside my best friend and fellow Search and Rescue Ranger, Gabby.

“I feel like I’ve hardly seen you this week,” Gabby said, sliding into place beside me.

“Sorry, I’ve just been so hurt and confused over this Jace thing.”

I swallowed hard as a stab of pain hit my chest. It won’t hurt so badly at some point. I wasn’t believing my own thoughts. How could it ever hurt less to know the years I had spent knowing Jace and the bond we had were now washed down the drain? How could it ever hurt less having him out of my life?

Even if losing Jace would always hurt, I did have other friends to rely on. I couldn’t forget that, and Gabby was one of those people I could always be real with.

Cooper walked by and touched my shoulder. “There’s a surprise coming for you.”

I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” He grinned and kept walking before taking his place at the front of the room.

Gabby turned to me with a raised, perfect eyebrow and I shrugged. “No idea.”

Cooper tapped on the microphone to test it before greeting the attendees. The reason for the meeting was the recent disappearances of female tourists. With a total of three women missing as of that morning, the case was getting media attention. Cooper ran through how to properly handle press inquiries, but the most important part of the meeting was the action plan. How would we recover these missing women and prevent this from happening again?

Cooper urged us to be “uber vigilant.” A section of the room didn’t know he meant anything more by that. But the shifters recognized “uber vigilant” as the code phrase it was. It meant that in every clan, in all areas around the disappearances, there should be shifter presence at all times. It meant long hours of patrol and being on heightened alert 24/7.

With having all four clans of Glacier Bay involved, representing such a diverse range of shifter species, we would surely get good coverage. The bald eagle clan would watch the skies, the otters would be scouring the water, and, of course, our bear clan—along with Gabby’s wolf clan—would be surveying the ground.

Cooper looked right at me and announced to the room, “I’ve called my cousin, Hunter, to come down from the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. He’s bringing a team down to assist in our search efforts. They’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, and they’ll be a great asset to us all.”

I couldn’t help but return Cooper’s smile. It was always good when Hunter visited, and lately, his visits had been scarcer as he became more involved with work and his clan up in the northwest. It helped that he didn’t have to buy a plane ticket. Hunter owned a small plane, which was nearly a requirement when you were a Ranger up in those parts. The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve was in such a remote area, there were no roads or commercial planes that flew there. In his little Cessna, it would still take him over eight hours and a refueling stop to cross the thousand miles between us. No matter how short his stay, it’d be good to see him.

Cooper projected a map onto the wall and pointed to the areas where the women were last seen. GPS signals from cell phones and other devices were great in helping to locate MPs, but they only worked if the devices stayed with the person. In all of these cases, the women’s belongings were found charred, having been burned, at various sites around the park. Those sites were also pointed out on the map. Many assignments were given out and questions were answered. The meeting lasted a full hour but felt short, like we hadn’t had enough time to discuss everything.

Gabby finished up her notes and sucked in a breath. “This is a fun case,” she uttered with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah. I wish I could do more.” How I wanted to be out there running, trying to find the guy responsible for this. I’d spend hours running until I picked something up.

“I’ve gotta run, but let’s do dinner tonight, okay?” Gabby suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. Be careful out there!” I called as she turned to leave. Having dinner with Gabby would surely help me sort out my thoughts about Jace. She’d be able to figure the whole thing out, I just knew it. I purposely didn’t look for him in the meeting, and I tried to keep my gaze down to avoid accidental eye contact with him. At least I had this huge, awful case to focus on and not be plagued by constant thoughts of Jace.

My ‘job’ was busier than usual with this big investigation affecting multiple departments. I had calls coming in frequently and it was all I could do to stay on top of those, the emails, do what needed to be done for our Rangers, and report it all. Who usually did this job? I didn’t even have time to wonder because the phone rang again.

When I had a free minute, it was only an hour and a half from my shift’s end. I checked my phone but hadn’t heard from Gabby. I texted her to see what the plan was for the night.

A half hour went by without a response. That wasn’t like her. I texted one more time before I called her. No answer. I texted her again.

When it was time for my shift to end and I still hadn’t heard from her, I grew even more worried. I grabbed the walkie, which she would have to answer since she was on duty. She might have left her phone behind, but she would not have left her walkie.

“Gabby! Gabby, come in.”

Nothing. I tried again, but still, no response.

Then I called Cooper.

“I haven’t heard from her in hours. Do you think that could mean something?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing. She’s probably just busy. Knee deep in water or something.”

I gritted my teeth and glared at the wall since I couldn’t glare at him directly. “I don’t appreciate your casual response with all that’s been going on.”

“Well, I’ll check it out. It’s time for the shifts to change, so maybe she turned off the walkie early. I’ll head over to her station, but I bet she’s fine.”

“Let me know, please. This isn’t like her, I’m telling you.”

“I will, Ky. It’ll be okay.”

The tension in my chest wanted to argue with him. I kept my phone in my line of sight at all times and cranked the volume on my ringer. If Gabby did text or call, I wanted to know immediately.