Bear Trapped (Bear Creek Grizzlies #5)

31. Finn

FINN

H e hiked away from the cabin and Lauren, cursing Shotgun and every motherfucker who ever dealt drugs in the history of the world with every step he took. Finn carried the rifle, having left the shotgun with Lauren for her to use in case anything went really wrong and she needed to defend the cabin, but preferred to just locate the fuckers and then drop a GPS pin for Shotgun to deal with. At least this last favor gave him more leverage on getting Shotgun to get rid of her charges. The cop hadn’t minded corruption of every stripe in the past, so his reluctance to help Lauren got under Finn’s skin.

The bear didn’t like leaving her behind, not while knowing there were drug dealers and Shotgun’s cowboys in the vicinity. He didn’t know who he trusted less with her safety. Finn paused to listen to the forest around him, certain he’d heard something out of place, then glanced around to see whether the few snowflakes drifting on the breeze revealed anything useful. Nothing. The forest was too quiet, too still. It made his nerves twitch.

He pulled out his cell phone, debating for just a second before he sent a message to the rest of the bears. He could deal with the bullshit later if it turned out not to matter, but he wasn’t about to risk Lauren’s safety. Ran into trouble. Found my mate. She needs help. The old cabin. Come get her ASAP. Armed trouble in the trees. Be careful. Make sure she’s okay.

He made sure it went through and turned the damn thing off to he wouldn’t be distracted by or given away by any pings or dings. Plus he didn’t want to waste time explaining himself to Simon and Ethan and the rest of the mother hens at the Lodge. Finn put it out of his mind and instead focused on picking up the scent of the remaining drug runners. He headed toward where he’d hidden the bodies of the fuckers who’d crossed him the day or so before and figured the others would probably surface around the same part of the trail.

Finn adjusted his grip on the rifle and eased off the main trail to move through the trees with some concealment. The bear’s agitation increased as they got farther from Lauren with each step, until he almost couldn’t hear the world around him. The very distant sound of helicopter rotors distracted him for a heartbeat, and he searched the sky for a sign of whether it was trouble for him or someone else. Sometimes Shotgun called in airborne surveillance, but the trees and clouds made that a little unlikely, at least based on what Finn knew.

He retreated deeper into the trees and breathed deeply, hoping for any hints of those drug dealers so he could get the fuck out of Dodge.

When he finally caught the scent of unwashed men and the metallic undertones of the drugs they smuggled, it came from an unexpected direction: back toward the cabin, down the trail toward where the bear trap first injured him. Where he’d met Lauren the first time. Finn moved faster than was probably wise, given his still-sore leg, but he wasn’t going to risk those fuckers moving toward the cabin and eventually finding Lauren. The frigid air burned his lungs as he concentrated on breathing deeply so he arrived in better shape than the probably out-of-shape fuckers who’d been hiking around looking for trouble.

The bear growled in annoyance as they had to bypass the cabin by heading down the slope, trying to pick up the trail with certainty so he didn’t have to confront the drug runners before sending evidence to Shotgun for him to handle. Plus he needed to confirm they weren’t Shotgun’s cops after all.

Finn scowled fiercely as his boots slid in the snow and the steep incline of the hill dropping away from the trail. Those fuckers would leave him with wet socks and frozen toes, on top of dragging him away from a naked and willing woman. A very excitable, curvy, adorable woman who happened to have the other half of his soul, who responded to every single touch and kiss and word. And she practically melted and caught fire at the same time when he growled a little and playfully smacked her ass.

He needed to get the fuck back to the cabin to figure out exactly how much fun they could have with that.

Finn squinted against the glare of sun on the snow covering the trail headed down to the meadow where he’d stashed his pack before hitting the bear trap. Had it really only been three, four days? How the fuck had the world changed so much in less than a week? He shook his head and dragged his attention back to find out where the fucking drug runners hid. They had to be close; he smelled them. It grew stronger every time the breeze shifted or he moved around a tree. The whole world held its breath.

He gripped the rifle and took a GPS coordinate to send to Shotgun. Maybe a starting point was good enough. Not that Finn wanted to endanger getting Lauren’s charges magicked away by half-assing what Shotgun would actually want in order to put in the effort to clear her record. He started to climb the hill to the pristine white meadow, certain the drug runners worked their way down the trails to try and find their friends, and hoped Lauren stayed put in the cabin. He probably should have told her two hours instead of one.