“I’m just saying,” Damien murmured, staring at his vial of nearly-microscopic gold flakes. “I might skip college to be a gold miner.”

“A heart attack,” Thomas groused. “That’s what you’re trying to do to me. Give me a heart attack.”

“I’m probably rich,” Damien continued, but his poker face was slipping and his smile was peeking through.

Karis giggled and shook her head. “Maybe I don’t want to have kids after all,” she teased.

Colt snorted from his place by the fire. “With that attitude, we’re gonna have fourteen cubs. Kids. Fourteen kids.” He frowned at the fire, and Trig looked like he wanted to kick Colt’s boot. He’d been slipping up all night.

Karis scooted closer to him and rested her cheek on his shoulder to soothe him. Colt leaned back against the log behind him, draped his arm across her back, and rubbed his thumb along her shoulder. It was a silent thank you. He was really good with those.

“I wanted fourteen kids once,” Leonora said as she scraped the last of her hearty stew off her metal camp plate and onto the spoon.

“Yeah? And what happened to that plan?” Trig asked.

“I had Damien, and he traumatized me into being fine with one.”

“Ha!” Colt bellowed.

Everyone was laughing at that one, and Damien only shrugged his shoulders. “I won. No competition. And what she really meant was I was so awesome she knew she couldn’t have a better kid than me. Why mess with perfection?”

Leonora rolled her eyes, and Karis leaned back onto Colt’s arm, relaxing against the log behind them. Her stomach was full and happy, and the fire was keeping everyone nice and warm. They’d sat here for an hour just eating and talking. Life was good right now. No worries.

Sure, she still felt the edge of that storm. That instinct never left her, but that was the life she led. What mattered was their ability to appreciate the moments of peace in between the chaos. Those were the important ones that made a life great, but if a person never learned to appreciate them, they wouldn’t even know their existence was special. That’s what her step-dad had taught her when he first Turned her. He’d mentally prepared her for a shifter life. Colt hadn’t been so lucky with his dad and was self-taught on everything, but she had a feeling he was going to figure out a way to appreciate the peaceful moments someday, too. Right now, he had to be the Warmaker, but someday, she hoped he could find the Peacemaker in him again.

“What time is it?” Leanora asked to no one in particular.

Trig squinted up at the moon and murmured, “Looks like it’s about half past ten.”

“Whoa!” Damien exclaimed. “You can tell the time from the moon?”

Colt snorted. “That, and I just saw him check his phone a minute ago.”

Trig lashed his leg out and kicked Colt’s boot from his place on Colt’s other side. But when Trig did, he dislodged Ava, who had been resting her cheek on his knee as she stared into the fire.

“Boys,” she reprimanded them. “Quit it.”

“I’m gonna head in,” Thomas said. “I need two Advil for my sore saddle-butt and about ten hours of sleep.”

“We head out at six a.m.,” Trig enlightened him.

Thomas stood up and sighed, then shoved his cell phone in his back pocket. “Faaantastic. Next vacation, I get to pick. It’ll be on a beach somewhere, and I’m sleeping in every day.”

Leanora giggled and shook her head. “Deal, Grumpy.” She lifted up her phone and clicked a picture of him walking away.

“I heard that,” Thomas called over his shoulder.

“Just getting pictures of you having so much fun!”

“Take a picture of me and my riches,” Damien said, holding up his little vial.

While they were entertaining themselves, Trig and Colt got up, collected dishes, and took them to the river to wash. Karis and Ava made sure the animals were taken care of, and after Leonora and Damien disappeared into the little cattleman’s cabin for the night, they made their way back to the tents they’d set up earlier.

“It’s taking the boys a while,” Ava said, frowning into the dark just beyond the halo of firelight. “And I smell smoke.” She sniffed again, and her frown deepened.

“I bet Trig is giving Colt a talk to settle him down,” Karis guessed. “Or an order. And the smoke from the campfire will probably linger for a while. Nothing to worry about.” The boys had great night vision and didn’t have flashlights on them, so there was no way to tell where they were. And she didn’t hear the soft murmur of them talking either. Truth be told, Karis didn’t feel right about them being gone so long either.

Ava’s instincts were all kicked up from being a newly Turned shifter though, so that’s probably all this was. Paranoia. But instead of saying goodnight and disappearing into the tent, Ava just stood there, silver eyes aimed at the dark in the direction of the river.

“Do you want me to check on them?” Karis asked.

Ava nodded. “I’ll grab Colt’s old Peacemaker and watch the cabin. Keep the Ives safe. Ten minutes, Karis. If you aren’t back, I’m giving into the bear and coming after y’all. The animal has put an ache in my bones all day.”

Karis puffed out a breath and nodded. “Ten minutes. I’ll be back. Post up at the cabin.” Karis turned to the little squirrel, who had been quietly watching them talk from a branch right near the tents. “Come on, Genie. Let’s go check on the boys.”

But the little critter didn’t follow. Instead, she climbed somberly down the tree and disappeared into the tent where Karis and Colt’s sleeping bags were. Okay then.

“She’s fine.” But Ava’s tone sounded just as uncertain as Karis felt.

Karis made her way to the tree line, but as she stepped out of the firelight and into the shadows, she tried to summon her bear. The animal had been quiet. And not just normal sleeping quiet, but the kind where some moments, like right now, Karis felt human. That didn’t make any sense. Usually, she would be so irritated she would be asking for a Change. She had been earlier when Colt was close to his own, but now…there was nothing. She felt empty.

She blinked hard, focusing on not rolling an ankle on the uneven terrain illuminated by the dim, blue moonlight, that kept disappearing behind the clouds. Why was her night vision so horrid tonight? And now it was snowing. Great.

She didn’t even sense the solid-brick wall-of-a-man in front of her until she ran right into him. Rough hands gripped her shoulders as she went off-balance and lurched away. A scream clawed its way out of her throat, but a big, meaty, calloused hand clamped over her mouth, halting the sound.

“Dammit, Karis, it’s me. It’s Trig! Stop your screamin’, or you’ll have Colt’s grizzly charging up here in two seconds flat.”

“T-Trigger? What the hell!” she whisper-screamed, prying his hand from her mouth. She shoved him back. “Make a little noise and stop creeping around the woods in the dark scaring people!”

“I did make noise! I sounded like an elephant crashing through the brush, and I said your name twice.”

Karis frowned. “You did?”

“Yeah, how did you not hear me?”

She shook her head, utterly confused. “I…I don’t know.” Where was her bear? She felt all alone in this body. A wave of dizziness took her, and she swayed forward. Trig caught her and yanked her back to arm’s length. “Karis, are you okay?” he asked, his flashing gold eyes the only thing visible under the brim of his hat.

“Genie is sick,” she murmured. Maybe she was catching what Genie had. Some animal sickness that made her bear weak. Or maybe the crows put something in their food or water source. Colt had always worried about her being drugged when she went into town. But other than a quiet bear, she felt okay. Trig had enough to worry about without her panicking about a sleepy bear on him. Clearing her throat, she straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “I’m fine. It’s just so damn dark out here, and I wasn’t paying attention.”

Trig’s eyes narrowed, but after a few moments, he nodded and said, “Okay. Your man is by the river. Eyes up, Karis. He’s calling a meeting.”

“A meeting with who?” she asked as he passed her by.

Without turning around, her Alpha said, “With the crows.”