Ben looked up from behind the counter as he served one of the few customers that day just in time to see Samantha walk into the candy shop with a huge smile on her face.

“You’re never going to believe what I just found out,” she said, as the customer walked out.

“You seem happy. What is that?”

“I learned that Ambrose and my great-grandmother were in love. He wanted to marry her despite everything that stood in their way. I saw the letters myself.”

A tear formed in the corner of Samantha’s eye.

“That’s wonderful news, Samantha. I’m so glad that it turned out that way.”

“You won’t believe what else I found out. The original settlers of Fate Valley were shifters. A wolfpack. Their descendants still live here.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Benjamin asked, offering her a chocolate.

“I suspect they are the ones who stole the statue,” she said, taking a chocolate and popping it into her mouth. “It stands to reason that they would still have a grudge against the man who flooded their town.”

“It’s been almost ninety years,” Benjamin said. “You’d think they’d get over it by now.”

“They probably didn’t want to see him honored for what they considered an injustice. That’s my theory, anyway.”

“What do you want to do about it?”

“Well, I would call the police about it, but it doesn’t really seem like information worth reporting. I was thinking maybe we could go out there and look around.”

“You remember what happened when we visited Midwest Mayhem?”

“How could I forget? But it’s worth a shot, right? I’m a bear now too. I can defend myself.”

“But this isn’t a group of punk rockers. These are shifters.”

“I just want to snoop a little bit. Ask them a few questions and see what I can find.”

“Okay, Samantha. But if I say we need to leave, then we need to leave.”

“I got it.”

They went out to his SUV and started out of town. She gave him the address Alexander had written down for her, and he knew the area fairly well. It was deep in the forest, past the campground where the Midwest Mayhem group was staying. They both looked up the road to the campground as they passed.

“Are you sure you’re prepared for this?” he asked her.

“Of course I am,” she said with a grin.

He knew that she was in a good mood because of what she’d found out about her great-grandparents, but he was nervous about confronting the wolves. These shifters were not part of the Shifter Community Association. They didn’t follow the shifter bylaws. They were a rogue group that kept to themselves. They rarely came into town and had a bad attitude about outsiders.

The only thing anyone knew about them, was to leave them strictly alone. He couldn’t help but think they were walking into the lion’s den.

They came to the turnoff for their road and drove up the lane for several miles along a dirt road. Finally, at the end of the narrow gravel road, they came to a clearing in the forest that opened out into a large gravel driveway. They parked in front of a collection of a dozen small houses and mobile homes. A massive shop stood off to the corner and a barn could be seen beyond the houses.

Cattle grazed in a pasture, and several dogs came running out to bark at their car. Two men walked out and shushed the dogs, sending them back to lie at the men’s feet.

“The statue could be in that warehouse,” Samantha said, gripping the door handle.

She hopped out of the car, hot on the trail of the mystery. Ben slipped out of the car and walked with her up to the men in the driveway.

“What are you doing here?” the first one growled.

He had a thick black beard and piercing blue eyes. He stared intently at Ben and Samantha. The second one was slightly shorter, but stockier, with a shaggy mane of blond hair that came to his shoulders, sideburns and a goatee.

“I’m Samantha Cooper from the Historic Times. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the original settlement that existed before the flooding of the lake,” she said.

“Who told you that we knew anything about that?”

“Aren’t you the descendants of the original settlers?” she asked. “How do you feel about the raising of the statue in honor of Ambrose Morgan?”

The first one spat on the ground, barely missing Samantha’s shoe. She looked down at the wet mark on the gravel in disgust and then looked back at the man, wide-eyed with her mouth slightly open.

“I see,” she said. “Can I quote you on that?”

“Ambrose Morgan was a coward and a liar. The land he bought us was a fraction of our original hunting grounds. We are lucky we found our benefactor.”

“Benefactor?” she asked. “Who is that?”

“That ain’t none of your business.”

“So, your pack is still angry at Morgan over having to move almost ninety years ago?”

“He did our people a disservice. Moved us off our rightful land. He never should have been honored like that.”

“So, you wanted to get back at him?”

Ben was starting to get nervous. He could smell the anger radiating off the two men. The rest of the pack were gathering in the snow-covered yards outside of their homes. A woman with a pregnant belly shooed children indoors. A dozen men began to gather behind the others.

“Samantha,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to leave.”

“So what kind of operation are you running here?” she said. “What do you do with that shop over there?”

“I suggest you listen to your man and leave, lady.”

“Samantha, it’s time to go,” Ben said.

“Thanks for your time,” she said, following Ben to the car.

“I bet you anything the statue is in that shop,” she said, as Ben started the car and began to drive away.

“I bet you’re right,” he said, having sensed something very off about these shifters. “They’re hiding something.”

“The police won’t be able to do anything without a search warrant,” she said.

“Unless we prove it ourselves.”

“What are you suggesting?” she asked.

“We wait until they open the warehouse door and get some pictures of what’s inside.”

“Genius!” she said.

“We’ll have to stay downwind, so they don’t scent us. I’ll shift and keep you warm while we wait them out. They’ve got to open that door eventually.”

“What if they don’t?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Ben parked the vehicle down the road and shifted into bear form while Samantha gathered her gear. She’d dressed warmly in winter boots and her parka. As a newly turned shifter, she wasn’t as cold as she would have been as a human.

After confronting the wolves, they were both sure that the statue was in the warehouse. They just had to prove it, so the police could come out and find it.

They quietly plodded through the forest, careful to keep downwind and to remain hidden in the shadows. On the outskirts of the property, they ducked behind a thicket of underbrush and waited. Ben wrapped his body around Samantha as she focused her long lens on the warehouse door.

After a few hours of waiting, Ben was beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe this had been a fool’s errand. He sent her a message through their link, asking her if she wanted to leave. She gasped, and the camera clicked away.

“This is it,” she whispered. “It’s in there.”

She took a few dozen photos and began to fiddle with her phone. “I’m just going to email these photos to the police department,” she whispered.

Ben waited, looking up at her as he curled his body around her for warmth. “Crap. They won’t load,” she swore. “They’re closing the door. I’m going to call them anyway.”

Ben jumped up from where he’d been lying for the last two hours and sprinted through the woods.

“Ben!” she hissed. “What are you doing?”

He sent her a mental image of creating a diversion while she called the cops. He heard her speaking on the phone behind him as he ran out into the wolves’ yard. He wanted to lead them all away from the warehouse until the police came so they would see the open door.

He ran out into the yard, rolling around on his back and acting foolish. Every wolf in sight shifted and gave chase as he lumbered around the yard, staying one step ahead of them. He turned and growled, and they fell back, and then he ran again. He almost felt like he was playing tag with a group of children.

As he ran into the forest and doubled back towards the compound, he finally heard the police sirens approaching. The door to the warehouse was still open as the police gathered around. He heard a voice through a bullhorn, shouting for everyone to stop what they were doing.

The police piled out of their cars, yelling at the crowd. The wolves stopped chasing Ben and sprinted off into the woods, while the police swarmed over the compound, shouting for everyone to stay put. The women stayed hidden behind closed doors. He heard a baby’s sharp cry.

The wolves were forced to shift by the will of the alpha Sheriff Bear. Police handcuffed a group of wolves and covered them in blankets, putting them into the police cars as the officers read them their rights. Ben finally shifted, and Samantha threw a blanket over his shoulders.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, bundling him up and guiding him over to his SUV that she’d pulled around once the police had arrived. The warm air in the car felt like heaven on his chilled skin. “I had the pictures to prove everything.”

“It worked out, didn’t it?” he said with a smirk.

“It did work out,” she said, giving him a hug and climbing in beside him. “I was just so worried you’d get hurt.”

“I’m fine, babe. Those wolves couldn’t have hurt me anyway.”

The police swarmed the warehouse, finding the statue inside. Ben and Samantha smiled at each other with satisfaction from the backseat of his car.

“We did it,” she said, embracing him.

Out of nowhere, a black figure rose up from the roof of the warehouse. He gasped, and Samantha looked up from hugging him. She screamed. He couldn’t believe what his eyes were telling him.

“It’s a dragon,” Samantha screamed.

Shots were fired, but they all missed. The black dragon flew through the sky, screeching and breathing fire over the crowd. None of the fire touched down, but everyone in the ground fell to their knees to avoid the flames. The dragon screamed like an eagle and flew speedily away, over the winter forest.