Chapter 7

Rex watched Ada as she ate. He knew she was going to run by the look in her eyes. She was frightened by the knowledge the two werebears were in town looking for her. He wanted her safe, and he and Gunnar had a plan to do some hunting once the sun went down.

Drake was staying back with the women while they paid a little visit to The Deuce. The male werepanther who watched over the bar was already aware they would be stopping by to get more information on the two males who’d been there earlier in the day.

“Rex and I are going to the bar to check things out,” Gunnar announced. Ada’s fork stopped halfway to her lips as she narrowed her eyes. His baby brother shrugged at her. “We take care of our own, Ada.”

“Don’t hurt them,” she urged. “They’re good males.”

“They’re here on behalf of your old clan leader,” Rex reminded her. “We won’t hurt them unless they are here to harm you.”

“Be careful,” she sighed. “It’s not Luca or Ransom I’m worried about. It’s Robert.”

“The Guardians of the Shaw pride are there,” Drake said as he held Tessa’s hand at the table. “They’ll make sure no one gets hurt.”

“We will be back later,” Rex told her. He didn’t want to leave her there, but he had to destroy the threat to her safety. They wouldn’t take her away from him. Even if they were not mates, which he and his beast already knew she was, Ada was his, and he’d go to the ends of the earth to find her if she was taken away.

Once they left their land, Gunnar drove them over to the bar. When they stepped inside, the bartender, Cole, greeted them, and Dane, the werepanther, met them at their table in the back of the bar.

“I’m assuming Garrett got in touch with you?” Dane asked. The male ran his hand through his hair, exposing a mangled ear for a second before his wavy, blond hair settled in place, hiding his deformity.

“Yup,” Rex replied. “Tell me what you know about these bears.”

The blonde waitress, Olivia, stopped by the table to take their beer order, promising to return shortly. The Guardian watched her as she walked away before pulling out a chair to take a seat.

“They came in while it was slow and ordered a beer,” Dane explained. “They were quiet and didn’t stay long. I was late arriving today, and as soon as I walked in, I scented them. They looked nervous, watching Cole and Olivia closely. They obviously scented them, but tried to act normal. Cole said they weren’t here more than ten minutes, paid their bill, and left.”

“Did you get a description of their vehicle?” Rex asked. The men paused as Olivia returned with their beers, asking if they wanted anything to eat. She left with a promise to check on them when they refused any food.

“They drove an old, white Buick with Mississippi plates,” Dane answered. “They’re from Benton County.”

“That has to be them,” Rex growled. “That’s where the female we found said her clan lives.”

“I can talk to my alpha to see if he can loan you a few Guardians to help search for them,” Dane offered.

“Right now, I would rather find them on my own.” Rex paused. Ada was confident these males were not out to harm her. “If you see them in here again, I’d rather you call me right away.”

The males exchanged phone numbers. Dane left them at the table with another promise of help from the panthers. It wasn’t that they didn’t want their help. The bears were solitary animals, mostly, and they didn’t want anyone, friend or foe, sniffing around on their lands. It was better to let the Morgan clan deal with the threat on their own. It kept things quiet. The last thing they wanted was the human media to catch wind of the bears.

The panthers were already known to the humans after two of the Shaw pride’s cats were caught on film shifting a few years ago. Since then, they had been stalked by those who wanted to study them. His brother, Gunnar, had been captured by them, but he’d killed a guard at the warehouse north of town where he was taken after he had been captured. The scientist knocked him out and tossed his body at the dump. When he was found, he’d been rushed to the human’s hospital, but shifted when he woke and ran out of the emergency room. It was caught on the hospital’s camera, but the sheriff had made sure the video was destroyed before it fell into the wrong hands.

The bar began to fill up, and Rex watched every male who walked through the door. Olivia kept the two of them restocked with beer while they waited. It was nearing midnight when Rex shook his head and finally decided to give up. “We should head home.”

“I don’t think they’ll be back in here tonight, anyway,” Gunnar sighed. “We have a description of the car now. We can go out in the daytime and look for them if Drake will cover me in the fields tomorrow.”

“I should be out there working with you,” Rex replied, feeling a pang of guilt.

“You worry about Ada,” Gunnar ordered.

“I want her old clan to leave her alone, and I want to know who that male in Montana is who thinks it’s okay to buy a female mate.” Rex was puzzled over the idea there were males out there so desperate for a mate, they would purchase one as if she was nothing more than an online purchase sent to his home.

“If he’s doing it, then I wonder if there are others,” Gunnar said.

“There’s another younger female in the O’Kelly clan,” Rex informed him. “Ada says she doesn’t think Robert O’Kelly will sell the female, but I have a feeling he will.”

“There’re more females?” Gunnar barked, startling two women who sat at a table beside them.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Rex suggested, standing and dropping a bill on the table to tip Olivia. “I’ll explain more on the ride home.”

Rex filled Gunnar in on Anna Claire, and how she had recently matured and was of age to be mated. He was worried what Robert O’Kelly would do to the female now that she’d turned twenty; the age of maturity in their world.

“Why don’t we go in and get her?” Gunnar asked as they parked by the barn. Rex ran his hand down over his face in frustration.

“Drake won’t go for it,” Rex replied.

“He will if he knows there is a young female in trouble,” Gunnar retorted. “Plus, now would be the time to strike while two of their males are away from the clan. How many are in her clan anyway?”

“Seven males and three females,” Rex recalled. “Ada said two of the males are mated to two of the females. Anna Claire is the only unmated female in the clan. With Robert O’Kelly being in charge, that leaves four males.”

“And two of them are away from the clan,” Gunnar replied, doing the math. “I vote we get the assistance of the pride to help us take him down.”

“I need to talk to Ada about how loyal the mated couples are to the clan,” Rex said. “The last thing we need to do is show up on their land and discover we are outnumbered.”

“Talk to her,” Gunnar ordered, stepping out of the truck. He started to close the door, but paused to lean inside. “No female should be treated the way Ada and Anna Claire are being treated, Rex.”

Rex agreed, so he turned off the engine and headed inside to get answers from Ada. After that, he’d talk to Drake. Maybe the panthers would be of use to them after all.

“You want to put Robert down?” Ada gasped.

“It’s the only way to get him out of power,” Rex explained. “I need to know how loyal your clan is to Robert.”

“The mated couples are old and stay out of his business,” she began. “Martha and Peggy, along with their mates, Alfred and Doug, are not loyal to Robert. The two men he sent to find me, Luca and Ransom, are related to him, but from what I’ve experienced with those two, they hate him. The last two males, Dwayne and Arthur Knobs, are brothers who came to our clan about five years ago, and they would lay down their lives for Robert and whatever scheme he has going on. I always kept my distance from them because they gave me the creeps.”

“If Luca and Ransom are here,” Rex began, voicing his plan out loud. “Then all we have to worry about is getting through Dwayne and Arthur to get to Robert, correct?”

“That is correct,” Ada agreed. “I just want Anna Claire out of there and away from her father. He’s a scary man, and I need to make sure she is safe from him and the unmated males. I don’t know what they’ve done to her since I ran away, and I fear Robert may have sold her to the male in Montana in my place.”

“We will go after Robert and make sure the female is unharmed,” he promised. “Now, we all need our rest. Tomorrow, we will make a plan to take down the leader of your old clan.”

Ada climbed into Rex’s bed, replaying the words he’d just spoken in her mind. They were going to kill Robert. She couldn’t believe it was happening. For many years, she’d seen him as an unbeatable force. During her childhood, she daydreamed about the time when he would finally die and the clan would be free to do as they pleased, because none of the males had the balls to stand up to him. It was funny how the two older females and their mates were left alone. Even with Robert being so brutal and evil to everyone else, he never tried to rule them.

“No clan should have a ruler who puts fear into his people,” Rex said from the doorway. Ada propped herself up on her elbow so she could look at him as he stood in the doorway. “We don’t have a leader here. Hell, most bear clans don’t have alphas. We are solitary by nature.”

“See, I didn’t know that.” Ada frowned, there really wasn’t much she knew about things outside of the land she grew up on. If it wasn’t for her bear knowing by instinct what to do during the winter, she would’ve starved or froze to death.

“You have so much to learn about our kind,” he sobered. “Ada, I am so sorry you had to grow up in that environment.”

“I’m out of there now,” she sighed, holding back tears.

“How old are you?” Rex asked.

“Twenty-four, you?”

“I’m twenty-eight.”

Rex’s maturity made him come across as being a much older male. Ada was sad she’d missed out on so much from her youth, but at least she had a skill she could use. Martha made sure of that when the old woman took her under her wing and showed her how to live off the land.

“Get some rest, Ada,” Rex said, bringing her out of her thoughts. She yawned and turned off the lamp on the bedside table. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep, knowing peace would come to her clan once Robert O’Kelly was taken out of power.

Gaia sat cross-legged on her living room floor. Her eyes were closed as she meditated in the darkened room. She’d been there for hours, channeling the elements to give her the strength to build a storm system worthy of just enough destruction to keep the Morgan clan from going after the O’Kelly clan the next day.

Robert O’Kelly was expecting a shipment of illegal guns on the same day Rex and his brothers planned to go to Ada’s old clan. Gaia needed to keep them away for at least another three days. They wouldn’t be safe until the guns and ammo were picked up by the people who were coming to the O’Kelly’s land for the transfer.

Gaia couldn’t interfere by telling those Morgan boys the future. It was imperative they made their own fate, but she could easily control the weather to make sure they stayed inside during the day. The damage from the storm she cooked up would keep them busy for a few days, at most.

As soon as she felt the warm breeze through her soul, she knew it was done. A bad storm; one with a lot of hail and heavy rains with a few teeny, tiny tornados would be in the works for their town. It only took five more minutes before the weather radio sounded its first watches for the area, and Gaia smiled, knowing she was keeping her promise to the Morgan boys’ mother and her old friend.