The remaining two members of the Rottenheart Wolves biker gang rode through the national forest, gnashing their teeth in rage. Their gang hadn’t stood a chance. They’d come home in the early hours of the morning, and by the time they’d realized that the scent of humans was far stronger than usual, they were surrounded by a whole swarm of US federal agents, pointing automatic weapons at them. They were on the roofs of nearby buildings, and on the ground, covering their meth lab in a wide net. The two of them had only escaped because they’d been lagging behind chatting, and had watched the situation unfold from a distance. And now everything was gone. The lab and all the product they’d cooked up over the past six weeks. They had a glimmer of hope that the cash they’d stashed under the floorboards wouldn’t be discovered, but it was highly unlikely. They’d lost a lot of money, and all the hard work they’d done had gone to waste. It made no sense. They couldn’t figure out how their carefully concealed operations had been discovered, let alone breached. The security system protecting the lab was like Fort Knox. It had metal doors on both sides, heavily locked and bolted. Even the skylight had been sealed over with a thick sheet of metal. All they knew was that someone was going to pay.

They returned to their place hours later, after the cops had all departed with their truckloads of evidence, all bagged and tagged. Dressed plainly in T-shirts and jeans, with all biker insignia removed, they circled the property, looking for clues. There had to be a snitch. They’d driven away all the local businesses a long time ago, to limit the possibility of anyone noticing their comings and goings, but there must have been someone close by who’d seen something and decided to report it. After they’d checked out the property, they’d start knocking on doors, using a little of their trademark persuasive skills to get the truth out of those Hope Valley fools.

Then they picked up a scent that they knew all too well: bear. Or bear shifter, to be exact. Their wolves’ hackles rose and they bared their teeth and released spine-chilling growls. They’d never smelled the funk of bear around their property before, but there it was, at the exact same time that their operations had been ruined.

It was no coincidence; they were sure of it. So here they were, sniffing around bear territory in the national park, trying to pick out a single scent from a whole mélange of bear smells.

“I don’t know, dude. All bears smell the same to me,” Chunks said, as they came to a pause at the junction of a tangle of paths.

“You’d better change that attitude fast, doofus, if you don’t want me to rip your throat out and leave you to be mauled by the bears,” Razor spat.

“Hey, I wasn’t serious, bro. Of course I’d recognize that motherfucker if I picked up his stink again,” Chunks said, his voice tight.

“Good. That’s all I require of you right now. Just one thing. Identify the smell you’ve smelled before. That’s it. Do you think you’re capable of that?”

“Sure thing, boss,” Chunks snarled. “And when I find that bear, I’ll tear him apart.”

“That’s what I like to hear, Chunks. If there’s one thing I can rely on you for it’s to be the brawn of the operation.”

They rode around a bend in the forest track and Razor’s nose twitched.

“Now there’s a smell I recognize,” he said, a nasty grin curling the edges of his lips. His wolf’s ears pricked up.

“Is it the bear?” Chunks asked.

“Nope,” Razor said, as his wolf wagged the tip of its tail. “Even better than that. It’s the smell of pussy.”

“That’s great boss, but aren’t we on a mission right now? We can find us some pussy later tonight at the roadhouse, right?”

“It’s not any old pussy, dickweed. It’s the smell of the bitch who turned up at the lab a little while ago, eyeballing the window.”

“And?”

“And, there’s obviously a connection.”

“There is?” Chunks said. Razor sighed and stopped dead in the middle of the track.

“It’s a good job one of us has a brain in his head. The girl came sniffing around our place. Next thing I knew, that dickface real estate agent told us he wanted to sell the property. Of course, I told him straight up that wasn’t going to happen. Then the Feds start crawling all over our place, leaving behind a stink of bear. We come out here, and smell the girl again. She’s obviously shacked up with one of those bears.”

“Gee, Razor, you’re so smart,” Chunks said, his voice full of admiration.

“You can be smart too, Chunks. Tell me, what are we going to do now?”

“We’re going to find that girl.”

“Correct.”

“That sweet, fine honey scent is hers, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“Got it.”

“But are we gonna gun these hogs right up to her and scare seven shades of shit outta her?”

“No, sir. We’ve gonna park them here.”

“Damn straight.” Without another word, they parked their Harleys, stepped off the track and into the woods, and began to race between the trees, hot on the tail of her scent.

It didn’t take them long to catch up with her. She was in the garden of a big, rich-ass cabin. They paused and both drew in a breath at the sight of her. She was one sexy mama. Her glossy, dark hair swung around her shoulders, and she had a juicy, ripe figure. She was putting some laundry on a washing line, bending down to take things out of a basket and then stretching up to the washing line, which had the effect of displaying her figure to their hungry eyes.

“Baby clothes,” Chunks observed. “She have a kid?”

“How the hell do I know?” Chunks lifted his nose in the air and sniffed.

“She smells of milk. I think she’s still feeding it with her tits.”

“And?” Razor snapped.

“I don’t know. Just saying,” Chunks said meekly. He hated it when Razor got mad at him.

“So, where is it?” They took a few steps closer. “Sleeping, in a baby chair.”

“What are we going to do with her?”

“We’re going to take her to Jed’s barn, way up north and keep her there a little while. That bitch has to pay for sticking her damn nose in and ruining everything.”

They crept right over to the garden, and through the garden gate. Heavy set though they were in their human form, their wolves’ senses made them silent on their feet, and Lori didn’t hear them coming until they were right behind her.