***
That evening he waited until the shadows had fallen and the tiny town of Cloud Lake had gone to sleep. The population of the town was no more than thirteen thousand and change, including the surrounding countryside, according to the latest census. The shifters and the women pushed that up, perhaps closer to fourteen thousand, but either way, there was very little in the way of midnight hustle and bustle. All but a few stores closed down, and even the ones that remained open had next to no activity, fueled only by international corporate greed and the demand for more profits.
With the mood right, including a thick cloud cover that had rolled in during the afternoon, Gray set out into the town, moving at a slow jog from the embassy to the south side of town. It wasn’t far, and even at his easy mile-eating lope he crossed the distance inside of ten minutes, taking the shortest route, cutting through several residential neighborhoods instead of sticking to the main streets.
By the time he arrived, night had well and truly fallen, and much of the area was dark. The buildings were on the outskirts of town, and to the south of them was forest, thick and impenetrable at this time of day. To a human perhaps, he thought, stepping over the theoretical boundary of the town and calling upon his bear.
Power surged through his limbs and concentrated in his core as he opened up the mental connection between him and his beast, letting it rush out from where he kept it contained to spread through his body. Bones split and enlarged, doubling and then tripling in size in the span of a heartbeat. Fur of a vivid auburn brown burst from his skin, covering his body in a thick protective coating. Mass appeared as if from nowhere, thickening his size over and over again until he weighed close to two tons, over twice the size of the average wild bear.
A snout protruded from his face as he fell onto all fours, the ground shaking slightly from the impact, the final piece of the change. To Gray it had felt like a handful of seconds had passed, when in reality he’d gone from human to two thousand pounds of bear in the span of less than two seconds. The speed of it all never ceased to marvel him.
Giving his massive head a shake, he focused on the mission at hand and began to test the air. Trying to identify an individual human scent this close to the packed ranks of units, each of which held an individual in it, would have been a pointless exercise. Gray would have no way of telling if one of them was his quarry or not. So instead, he didn’t look for anything human.
He looked for bear.
His beast ambled around the tall grasses at the edge of the forest and then into the trees themselves, patrolling, trying to pick up the scent. Nothing leapt out at him, no signs of someone who had perhaps set up shop nearby and was moving in and out of the forest to stalk the women nearby.
Gray had just come out of the forest when it happened. He happened to be looking up, his head swinging from left to right, just as a shape detached itself from one building and went darting across an open space toward another. The bear shifter froze, muscles quivering as he tried to chase after his prey.
That would have been a mistake, however. Even in his bear form, the other shifter—if it was indeed the mystery man he was seeking—would be able to outrun him and lose him There was just too much open ground for Gray to have to cover, and too many areas for the other shifter to lose himself.
Crouching low to the ground, he willed his bear back into his mind, returning his body to its human form with nothing more than a mental grumble from the beast. It knew better than to make an audible noise. There were no cars out here, and the forest, even though it was awake with the creatures of the night, wasn’t loud enough to cover something like a bear’s growl from the sensitive hearing of another shifter.
I’ve got you now, Gray thought as he slithered forward through the long grass, sneaking up on the stalker like a predator with its prey. His eyes were only on the meal now, getting as close to it as he could before he made his move. One chance was likely all he was going to get. If Gray screwed up and the mystery man made his escape, the odds were slim that he would come back once he knew the other shifters had found him.
The other shifter disappeared between two more buildings and Gray went after him, closing as quickly as he could. The night was young, and if he could apprehend the man now, he’d still be able to catch Kelly before she went to bed, and perhaps spend some more time with her.
That thought spurred him on some more, and Gray moved along between buildings. The back of each unit was the same: a pathway to one side coming from around the front, with a small grass area, separated by the path between buildings. Pausing at the corner of one building, he slowly poked his head around the corner.
He froze. His quarry was at the front of the unit, less than fifty feet away. Luckily his attention was focused forward, or else he would have seen Gray and the chase would have been on. Ducking back around the corner, Gray sucked in a silent breath and prepared to go after him. With the element of surprise Gray could easily be two or three steps around the corner before the other shifter had time to react.
That was all he would need.
Steeling himself, he stood.
The bedroom window on the unit across from him opened and light spilled out as the curtain was pulled back.
“Hey!” a woman yelled, looking at him. “You can’t be here! I’m calling the police! Stay right there!”
Gray cursed and ran around the corner. As he’d suspected, the other shifter had bolted at the first sign of noise. He was far more on edge than Gray, and knew he would be detained if caught.
So much for surprise.
He saw the other man sprinting down the little gravel roadway that wound around the front of all the units, and went in pursuit. The lead was great, however, and his quarry surprisingly fleet of foot. Gray was no slouch himself though, and his booted feet crunched down hard on the gravel as he went after his man.
“Stop!” he shouted once, not really expecting it to help.
It didn’t.
Helping the unknown shifter run faster was definitely not a help. Gray raced after him as fast as he could, but he was being forced to react, not act, and it paid off. Before they’d even made it halfway through the maze of buildings Gray had completely lost him.
“Shit,” he muttered, coming to a halt.
Droplets of rain were beginning to fall. Not hard, but enough that mixed with the hundreds of other scents, he couldn’t pick up his foe’s trail. Angry at himself for not identifying it earlier, he kicked at the ground, stones spraying up from the gravel.
“Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he cursed over and over again, furious at himself. Identifying a scent was the first damn thing he should have done!
Rain came down harder, and he knew it was washing away any hope of him picking it up.
Not willing to go back to the embassy and admit defeat, he looked around, taking stock of his location and pulling up a mental map of the place. A red dot pulsed in his brain, a “you are here” sort of thing. He noted his location in reference to Kelly’s, and headed off to her unit, letting the rain clear away his frustration. He wanted to be in a good mood when he arrived, so that she’d ask him to stay.
Who knew, maybe she’d even let him stay the night.