Chapter Three – Joshua
His shoulder burned as the bullet grated against his bone, but Joshua ignored it, focused on the man that was fleeing through the woods. Nobody took shots at him and got away with it. Certainly not cowards who turned and fled the scene the moment he realized that his rifle wasn't going to do the trick.
All of Joshua's instincts roared at him to tear apart the man that tried to kill him, but his good head prevailed. Best to know why the man shot at him and then hand him over to the human authorities.
For all Joshua knew, it could be the father of the baby in the woods, and he was trying to protect his child.
When he was within range, Joshua pushed his muscles hard for one final leap. With a swipe from his giant paws, he knocked the man's feet out from under him. The rifle went flying. Joshua ran over the man and grabbed the gun in his jaws, just in case. He crushed the metal barrel in his teeth and tossed it aside. The would-be assassin backed away from him, eyes wide. Joshua grunted and slapped the ground.
The man scrambled to his feet, but Joshua was on him again. The Bear grabbed him by the shoulder, careful not to so much as break skin, and firmly pushed him back down the ground. He backed up then and shifted, scowling fiercely.
"Who are you?" Joshua demanded.
Blood pumped from his shoulder, hot and sticky. He could feel his flesh knitting back around the foreign object and resisted the urge to punch the man. This had earned him a trip to the hospital. He didn't have time for this. There was so much he had to do…
His mind briefly flashed to Naomi. When she first said they were keeping the baby, his automatic reaction was to agree. It was insane, though. A baby would take up so much time, and to introduce a child this early in their relationship… He put those thoughts aside.
The man was still staring at him, and the Bear growled. He advanced. "I asked you a question. Who are you, and what exactly did you hope to accomplish by shooting me?"
The man shifted slightly, putting a hand to his ribs. The fear in his eyes was gradually turning to anger. "You Bears think that you are so mighty, so powerful."
An anti-shifter zealot?
"I am a freedom fighter, and I'm not the only one! We are going to take back the lands that you stole from us, and we will avenge our Alpha's honor, which you sullied by stealing his eldest daughter."
A wolf. Joshua's nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. Of course he was a wolf. If the Alpha hadn't been so concentrated on the fact he was bleeding, he would have known that already. The thick dog scent was all over him. Another step forward had the Wolf cringing.
Joshua shook his head, disgusted. "I did not steal Naomi. She volunteered to come with me. I want peace between us, but your Alpha is doing all he can to provoke us Bears into fighting."
"Don't think that I will believe your lies, Bear. We will bring down the hand of justice on you, and none of your beloved humans will stop us this time. We will rise again, to the power that we were always born to."
Joshua was silent, letting him monologue. He even clenched his hands and growled, as if Wolf's words were getting under his skin. The truth was it was the opposite. He knew that as long as he could keep the Wolf talking, he would find out more information than the Wolf meant to divulge.
"So," the Alpha said slowly, adding a thick measure of anger into his voice to make the Wolf think he was on the brink of losing his temper and took a few steps forward. "Tucker sent you to bring his daughter back to the Wolf pack? Well, that's too bad. I asked for her, and she agreed to be mine. She is my mate and I will not let you have her."
The Wolf snarled. Why didn't he transform to run away earlier? Joshua's mask of anger slipped. Was this a trap? Or had the Wolf merely wanted him to think the assassin was a human, to separate the Bears from potential allies?
"You are not her mate!" the Wolf pushed himself off the ground, hands clenched. Both were on his ribs now, one of them inching into his jacket. Had Joshua accidently bruised them or something? "The eldest daughter of April Tucker belongs to no Bear. One day she will be our Alpha, but by that day you will be dead."
"She agreed to be with me," Joshua reminded him. "Tucker has no right to steal her away from my pack."
"Whether the Alpha orders us after her or not, we will not abandon her here. But the Alpha will yet give you Bears what you deserve. Everything you deserve."
And he had hit on it at least. Joshua tensed. The Wolf tensed as well, seeing the façade drop from the Bear.
Tucker was planning on an attack. He wasn't just satisfied with trying to provoke the Bears into attacking the Wolves, to give him an excuse to wreck violence against them. Maybe he was using Naomi as a rallying cry, maybe he was telling the Wolves that they had a chance to 'take back' the land that the Bears occupied.
Everything you deserve? The Alpha was planning an all-out war. He had often said that what Bears deserved was to be completely eradicated. Had he stumbled on a plan that would allow him to do just that without facing the Human justice system?
"When is he coming?"
The Wolf spat at him. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun–Joshua leaped forward, fist clenched to punch the weapon right out of his hand.
But before he could get there, the Wolf had tucked the gun under his own chin and pulled the trigger.
***
Joshua called Matt and Luke. They met him at the edge of the forest with a basic first aid kit to patch up his shoulder, but he couldn’t take the time to go to the hospital. Not when he knew his town, his pack, might be in danger.
"Matt, I need you to send a patrol to all the rural Pack members and make sure their homes are fortified against attack. Brings as many as will come back to the town. Luke, check the safe houses to make sure they're still in good condition and that the stockpiles of food, water, and medical supplies are full and up to date. Get Desi's team out around the town to make sure everybody is familiar with emergency protocols, and that they're ready to evacuate or hide if need be."
"What about the man that shot you?"
"A Wolf. He killed himself. Get a team out there to document everything and move the body to the morgue. The human mediators are going to want to take a look at it."
His two seconds nodded as Joshua poured rubbing alcohol into his wound. It stung like a hot poker being stabbed into him, but it would clean out any dirt and help the wound heal faster. It would also make surgery to remove the bullet easier when the time came.
"What are you going to do?" Matt asked.
"There are systems in place with the humans to take care of situations like this," Joshua replied grimly. "Hopefully they'll actually help."
His two men were on their way shortly. Joshua finished dressing his wound then pulled his clothes back on, grunting as the bullet grated.
The more he thought about it, the more logical it seemed that the wolf that had shot him was trying to disturb relations between Bear and Human. What had seemed like a poor assassination attempt at the time now was obviously purposefully missing his vital organs. It was only meant to sever his connection with the Humans that could help him.
And it seemed that it wasn't the only trick that Tucker had up his sleeve.
When Joshua called the local human peacekeeping office, which according to the accords that all three parties had signed were supposed to act as a mediator to settle disputes between Bears and Wolves, he learned that a complaint had already been launched.
"James Tucker claims that you kidnapped one of his girls," the human said, and from the tone of her voice, Joshua could tell that she thought him the lowest scum on earth. "Until this investigation is wrapped up, I'm afraid we can't look into any claims you make against Mr. Tucker."
"I have read the accords, that is not how it works," Joshua snarled. "You are obligated to open up an investigation into every complaint made. While you're wasting time finding out that my mate left her father willingly, they are preparing for an all-out attack."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stewart, but your information is wrong. Goodbye."
Joshua ground his teeth as the woman hung up on him. Humans! They always believed the first story they were told, regardless of the facts. What the woman had just done was highly illegal. If he survived this, then he would be launching a formal complaint. He called back to report the assassination attempt, but there was no answer.
Great. So Tucker had already turned the humans against him. Would the Wolf wait until after the investigation before he attacked? Joshua didn't know.
In the meantime, he had to make sure the pack was ready, and he had to find out as much information as he could about the impending Wolf attack. And for that, he only had one source of potential information. Naomi had gone with him without hesitation.
Was this part of Tucker's plan all along? It hurt to think that his mate might have betrayed him, but they weren't mates yet. She was his enemy's daughter. He hadn't asked her why she had agreed to be his mate so readily.
Joshua set his jaw. Well, there was only one way to find out. He was going to have to find out exactly what Naomi know about this.