* * * *
Cameron slid to a stop as the bear’s bellow echoed across the hillside.
Fuck!
That wasn’t a bio-bear, either. That was an enraged shifter.
His own anger and rage demanded he stay on the trail and find the bitch who fucked up their plans.
Then self-preservation kicked in. He couldn’t shift. That was why his job had been to drive the car.
Yeah, he had a gun, but it was a .38 and wouldn’t be any good against a damn grizzly shifter. He might piss the fucking thing off before it ripped his entrails out.
Knowing they would likely send another group of shifters out to find the campsite, he made the decision to turn and run back the way he came.
Revenge would have to wait for another day.
* * * *
Mercedes felt relief when they reached the Firehole River. She turned and followed it down to the small footbridge that was part of the Old Faithful Geyser basin trail and led him back to the lodge area. Upon seeing the lodge, Jim let out a cry and dropped her pack before running toward the light.
Wally caught up with her as she was getting dressed. “You’re good people,” he said, holding out an enormous hand for a fist bump.
She smiled and bumped him back. “Thanks.”
“Come on. They’ll want to thank you.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“Seriously.” He draped an arm around her, apparently not caring he was now naked, and led her up to the lodge.
When they walked inside, everyone was gathered around Jim, hugging him, his mates both crying as they were reunited.
Daniel Blackestone turned and spotted her and walked over. He hugged her. “Thank you.”
“It’s okay. Look, I’m really worn out. I need to get to bed.”
“There’s one more of the fuckers out there,” Wally told Blackestone. “I know the way. Let’s get some shifters out there, maybe we can catch up with him.”
“Good idea.” He rushed off.
Wally turned to her with a grin. “It’s gonna be a party, I’m sure. You sure you don’t want to hang around?”
She held up her hands and slowly started backing toward the exit. “Really, I’m exhausted. I killed three of them, but I heard them talking about one more. Cameron, they said. I don’t know if there were more than that. He might have been the one on our trail.”
Frankly, what she really wanted to do was take a shower, pack, and get the fuck out of the park right then. Leave via the north entrance, drive straight through to Spokane, and catch the first flight back to Maine.
“All right.”
“Look, I’m going to be leaving early in the morning. If I miss them, tell them I’m glad this all worked out all right.”
“Will do.”
She ducked out the door while Blackstone was calling for volunteers to go back out, before she could draw anyone else’s attention.
Yeah, I think leaving sooner rather than later is a prudent option.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The next morning, Elain awoke a little around dawn. Despite her late night from all the excitement of Jim’s safe return, her body was still on Florida time and wouldn’t let her sleep in.
She’d heard a noise from next door in Mai’s room. Since they shared the same cabin, it wasn’t difficult.
After pulling on her clothes, she stepped outside. Wyatt, the alligator shifter, nodded to her from where he sat keeping watch outside the cabin. The group of shifters who’d gone back to find the cockatrice’s bodies didn’t find the fourth man, meaning he was still out there.
Meaning they’d keep guards standing watch until they all got out of Yellowstone.
“Mornin’,” he drawled.
“Morning.” She slipped on her denim jacket, breath puffing in the chilly air. As she walked around the cabin to Mai’s door, it opened.
“Oh.” Mai smiled. In her arms and wearing her pink halter, was puppy BettLynn. “Good morning.”
Elain opened and held the screen door for her. Mai was still in a bathrobe. “Everything okay?”
Mai shrugged. Elain felt that her friend was trying to put on a brave front. “I just fed her, and she shifted. I don’t want to wake up the guys.”
Elain held out her arms. “Let me take her.”
“Really?”
“I’m already dressed. I’ll meet you over at the main lodge for breakfast.”
Mai handed her over after kissing the top of the puppy’s head. “Hold on.” She disappeared inside and returned a moment later with a diaper bag. “Here. In case you need it.”
Elain shifted the puppy to one arm and slung the bag over the other shoulder.
Mai gave her a quick, one-armed hug. “Thanks. I kind of…you know, wanted some alone time with Jim and Micah anyway.”
“Hey, Auntie Elain will babysit anytime for you.” BettLynn reached up and licked Elain’s chin.
“Thanks.” Mai disappeared back inside.
Doug McDermott, a cougar shifter and friend of the Lyall men, walked up to relieve Wyatt at his post.
Wyatt held out his hand for the diaper bag. “I was goin’ over to the main lodge anyway. I need some coffee.”
Elain handed it over. “Thanks.”
They slowly started walking down the drive, toward the main lodge. When BettLynn squirmed and whined to get down, Elain let her after slipping her wrist through the loop on the leash.
The puppy made a beeline through the cabins, toward one Elain thought might be empty, but she wasn’t sure.
“What are you doing?” she asked the girl.
“She look like she on a mission,” Wyatt said.
“Yeah.”
At the cabin door, BettLynn charged up the steps and scratched and whined at the frame of the screen door. Elain scooped her up and hoped no one angrily stormed out of the room, upset about the wake-up.
But it was empty.
BettLynn continued whining and squirming in Elain’s arms, determined to get into the cabin.
Wyatt exchanged a puzzled look with Elain, but before she could stop him, he stepped up onto the stoop and knocked. After no response, he knocked again. “Hello?”
BettLynn let out a little yip.
“I don’t understand why she’s doing this,” Elain said.
“Maybe she scent on somethin’. Maybe the guys who took her daddy.”
“Mercedes told Wally she killed them.”
“Most of them.” He looked around, wary, on guard. Elain felt some comfort by having the alligator shifter there with her. “Don’t mean there ain’t more gonna come back, try to finish the job. Or, maybe she smellin’ from before they took him. Who knows?”
That was when Lina came charging around the corner, sliding to a halt when she spotted them standing there. It looked like she’d hurriedly pulled on sweats and a sweater. Her long, curly red hair stood out unbrushed, giving her a wild look.
“What’s wrong?” Elain asked, her instinctively holding the puppy closer to her.
“Why are you here?” Lina asked.
Elain felt a wee bit concerned about her friend. “Why are we in Yellowstone?”
“At this cabin. How did you get to this cabin?”
Gooseflesh crept up Elain’s spine as she cuddled BettLynn even closer to her. “BettLynn led us here. She pulled on her leash. What is it? What’s wrong?”
“This is the cabin where Bertholde was murdered. This exact room.”
BettLynn yipped and wagged her tail.
* * * *
Lina stopped by her cabin long enough to tame her hair with a brush and elastic band and to pull on a pair of jeans. Then she accompanied Elain and Wyatt to the lodge.
“How’d you know we were out there, anyway?” Elain asked.
“I felt it.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand it.”
“I think there’s a lot of stuff about this gig that none of us understand yet,” Elain said. “With Mai part of the equation, I’d be willing to
bet we see a bunch of stuff start to happen that we didn’t imagine before.”
“’Specially with y’all joining powers the way you did to rid Callie of the curse,” Wyatt said.
Both women looked at him and he shrugged. “Wally told me about it. Was it supposed to be a secret?”
“No, I guess not after the fact,” Elain said. “I don’t suppose you have any advice for us, do you?”
He stopped and turned, both women stopping with him. In Elain’s arms, BettLynn reached up and licked her chin.
“I’ll admit we don’t get a lot of stuff happening like y’all do. Before the cockatrice tried their shit with us last year, I felt pretty damn lucky we didn’t seem to have a lot of issues. But let me tell y’all something. From where I stand, it looks like the three of you are kick-ass women who are gonna make a huge difference in this world, even if the greater majority of people won’t ever know about it.” He gave them a curt nod. “I’m proud to be on your side.”
Lina hugged him. “I’m glad you’re on our side, too, mister.”
* * * *
They got coffee. Elain stared at Lina over the table. “Are you okay?”
Lina glared. “Oh, sure. I’m peachy. One of my sons’ future fathers-in-law was abducted by cockatrice and nearly killed yesterday. And, yeah, there is that. That Baba Bitchcunt took and joined our kids together.” Then her anger seemed to deflate, sadness taking over her features. “I wish you could have met Bertholde,” she softly said. “You would have liked her.”
Lina reached out and stroked BettLynn’s head. “What am I saying? You’re holding her.”
Elain arched an eyebrow at her. “You’re scaring me a little.”
Lina took a sip of coffee. “My brain’s fried. I’m still trying to process what Callie told us.”
“Isn’t it kind of sweet, in a way, that they’re together again?”
Wyatt reached out and stroked BettLynn’s head. She wagged her tail at him and licked his hand. “Not many people get a chance to live again like that, with the ones dey love.”
“I did,” Lina said. She leaned back. “Sometimes, I’m glad I can remember the past now. Sometimes I wish I couldn’t. I wonder how much she or the Beasts will remember.” She set her mug on the table and scrubbed at her face with her hands. “It’s too early in the morning for this crap,” she muttered. “Part of me wants to kill Baba Yaga and part of me wants to thank her.” She excused herself to the bathroom. When she returned, neither Elain nor Wyatt commented on Lina’s red eyes or puffy nose, like she’d been crying.
By the time breakfast was served, Mai and her men had appeared at the lodge. After breakfast, Micah and Jim took BettLynn so Lina, Elain, and Mai could go talk in private.
The three of them walked out to the benches overlooking Old Faithful. “I’m really starting to hate this damn place,” Lina snarked. “Murder, kidnappings. The next damn thing will probably be one of those supervolcano eruptions.”
“Only if I let Brodey have Mexican for dinner,” Elain retorted.
Mai finally smiled. “Good one.” Her smile faded. “We really did it, huh? Got rid of Callie’s curse?”
“Yep,” Elain said. “And we even kicked some cockatrice ass.”
“Well, that chick Mercedes gets the lion’s share of the credit for that.” Lina snorted. “Wolf’s share. Whatever. Thanks to her, three of the fuckers are dead. That’s three less cockatrice in the world.”
“Did she leave already?” Mai asked.
“Yeah, Blackie told me she was heading out first thing,” Elain said. “Can’t say as I blame her.”
“Oh. I really wanted to thank her in person for what she did.”
“Jocko said she was staying in Maine, doing some family research,” Elain said. “Maybe we can catch up with her again there.”
“I just want to go home,” Mai said. “I want to go home, to Florida, with everyone safe. And then stick my head under the covers and never come out.”
Lina hugged her. “I know this Seer gig is a lot to handle,” she gently said. “Believe me, I was a wreck at first.” She laughed again. “And as you can see, I’m still pretty wigged out, so imagine how bad I was in the beginning.” She tucked Mai’s hair behind her ears. “I promise, we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere. You’re one of us.”
“One of us, one of us,” Elain chanted behind them, finishing with a giggle.
“Okay, wolf lady,” Lina said, “that’s my line. Quit sniping my snarkage.” She smiled.
Elain sat on Mai’s other side and slipped her arm around her waist. “We’re the three Musketeers. Or Mouseketeers. Or Muskrats. Or Macaroons. Or…something.”
“The Three Broads You Absolutely Don’t Want to Piss Off,” Lina suggested. “I think that’s a great name, but it might not fit on our business cards.”
They fell silent for a moment. “Hey, guys?” Mai softly said.
“Yeah?” they responded.
“I had another dream about Mom and Dad last night.”
“The baby dream?” Elain asked.
“Yeah.”
Lina stood, offering her hands to the women. “Then I think we need to go hunt Lacey down and find Mom and have a cluckin’ confab.”
“A what?” Mai asked.
Elain smiled. “A hen fest.”
“Oh.”
* * * *
Mai went to Lacey’s cabin to get her, while Lina and Elain continued on to the lodge when they found Liam and Carla’s cabin empty. They found Carla and a very watchful Liam buying coffee from the little stand there.
“Can we borrow Mom for a few?” Elain asked.
He frowned. “Why?”
“To talk, Dad.”
“Where are ye all goin’?”
“Just to talk.” She pointed into the dining room area, which was mostly deserted. “In there, okay?”
“It’s safe, Dad,” Lina added. “Bad guys all dead.”
He hooked his thumbs into his belt loops. “Sorry, but ye can’t blame me for wantin’ to be cautious.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.” Elain leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. “We’ll be back in a few.”
Mai arrived with Lacey, and the five of them retreated to a far corner of the dining room, out of line of sight of the main lodge sitting room area.
“What’s this about?” Carla asked.
The other women all looked at Mai, who suddenly blushed. “I’ve been having dreams,” she mumbled.
Carla blanched. “That dream?”
She nodded.
“Lacey, will you please do the honors?” Elain asked.
The older woman smiled and held out her hand to Carla, who simply stared at her without moving.
“She won’t bite, Mom,” Lina snarked.
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
Elain reached out, took her mom’s hand, and placed it in Lacey’s.
Lacey closed her eyes, a smile immediately curving her lips. “Yes.”
Carla’s eyes widened. “No! Nonononono. No. Absolutely not.” She jerked her hand free.
“I don’t understand what the problem is, Mom,” Elain gently teased. “If I can get used to you looking like my older sister instead of my mother, you can get used to the idea of giving me a baby sister.” She glanced at Lacey, who shook her head.
“Brother?”
Lacey nodded.
Elain grinned. “Excellent.”
“No, this is not excellent!” Carla wailed. “I’m too old to be a mother!”
Lina snorted. “You’re already a mom, Mom. You’ve been one for twenty-nine—”
“Hey!” Elain protested.
“Fine. Twenty-eight years now.”
“Thank you,” Elain said. “Let’s not rush things.”
“What are you complaining about?” Lina said. “I’m thirty-three. I’m the eldest.”
Liam rushed into the dining room on full alert. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Elain stoo
d up and engulfed him in a hug. Then she pecked him on the cheek. “Nothing’s wrong, Dad.”
“Are ye feeling all right, Elain?”
Lina laughed. “He’s a guy. He doesn’t get it.” She slid her chair back and hooked her arm through Mai’s, bringing her with her. “We’ll leave you guys to talk with Lacey. You might be more comfortable with her—”
Lacey cleared her throat in an all too threatening way.
“Seniority,” Lina finished.
Lacey smiled.
“What in bloody hell are ye talkin’ about, Lina?” He walked around the table to kneel down next to Carla, who sat softly crying, her face buried in her hands.
Lina nodded to Lacey. “Let us know when the coast’s clear.”
“Will do, dear.”
They had no sooner made it back to the lodge’s main room, where a cheerfully crackling fire filled the large fireplace on one wall, and the opposite wall was comprised of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Old Faithful, when they heard Liam let out a happy howl that resonated throughout the lodge.
“Is she going to be okay?” Mai timidly asked.
With an arm around the younger woman’s shoulders, Elain hugged her close. “Once the shock wears off, I’m sure she will be. Remember how she was in Maine the morning…after?” Elain shrugged. “It’s just another shock, that’s all. I’ve had a few months’ head start on her of accepting the reality of shape-shifters. She’s spent my whole life denying it.”
Lina playfully punched Elain in the shoulder. “One down…one to go.”
“What about Callie and Gigi? Shouldn’t they be ahead of me in the motherhood line?”
“I don’t count them. They’re—”
“Watch how you reference my age,” Callie warned from behind them.
She hadn’t been there a second earlier.
They all turned, but their friend wore a playful smile that belied her tone.
“They heard the disturbance in the Force up in the meeting room. Sir sent me down to check things out. What’s up?”
This time, Elain got to break the news. Callie let out a happy whoop of her own. “That’s fantastic!”