Chapter 11 #2
The two bears shifted into human form and strolled closer, joining the group. They glanced around before pausing at Amber.
The more outgoing one she knew to be Surge smiled. “Welcome, Little wolf.”
She liked him already. “Thank you. Nice to meet you.”
“I understand you’ve been gifted with the ability to see intricate details at long distances,” Thorn said.
Amber nodded. “Yes. I promise to do my best to look away from anything inappropriate.”
Surge chuckled. “Luckily neither I nor Thorn have a mate. If we did, I’ll admit, we’d be a bit spooked. But that was already the case knowing Molly can hear everything we say.”
Molly held up a hand. “And you know I do not focus on anyone yapping in their homes regularly. I’d be so overwhelmed in ten minutes I’d faint.”
Surge nodded. “I know, Little one.”
“What’s going on with Drow?” Jayce asked.
Thorn sighed. “He’s being held and heavily guarded while our elders meet to discuss our options.
The problem is we’re not used to this sort of total abandonment of our basic tenets.
Dealing with Drow and Firat has been challenging for months.
It’s unheard of for a bear shifter to kill one of our own.
We don’t respond to violence with violence.
Eliminating him is not an option anyone would like to face. ”
“He escaped once before, though,” Brock pointed out.
Surge nodded. “Yes, he did. Our elders are not ignoring that fact.”
Arion rubbed his chin. “We understand your dilemma. Wolf shifters do not believe in eliminating our own, either. Our elders have not been faced with that possibility in centuries.”
Surge cleared his throat. “We have a theory. Keep in mind, it’s nothing but a supposition. We have zero evidence to back it up.”
Everyone nodded and focused on Surge. This was why the bears were here today.
They always came with new information. Like Molly had stated, there was no way she could pay constant attention to every conversation happening in every household for miles around.
She’d go mad. She mostly blocked out everyone entirely by remaining inside her insulated home to protect her sanity.
It was not hard to believe that the bears could have met many times with regard to Drow without any of the wolves being aware. The wolves had a lot of developing powers among them, but none that made them omniscient.
Surge continued, “No offense, but bears are a superior species compared to wolves. We’re larger, we’ve existed longer, and we have the ability to communicate telepathically.”
Amber felt Isaac nod as several others did. Surge was simply sharing facts.
“Moving into this area probably caused the few among us who don’t like the idea of coexisting in harmony with wolf shifters to snap.
Hopefully that doesn’t extend past Firat and Drow, which leaves just Drow.
If there are others among our ranks who also feel a need to break the peace between our species, we are not aware of it. ”
Rylee glanced at Amber as she responded. “I’m not fully aware of every aspect of my own gifts, but I think it’s safe to say that if any of your people meant us harm, I would scent it.”
Surge nodded. “I wish that were the strangest thing I’ve heard recently. I believe you, Little one.”
“So, what are you thinking?” Isaac prompted.
“I’m thinking that lions are walking among us. I’m concerned that they have abilities far superior to ours, and they’re masking, hiding in plain sight.”
There was a collective gasp.
Thorn continued, “The threat of a superior being in the area might be enough to cause unrest among our people. It doesn’t have to be tangible to affect us.
There’s a shimmer in the air. Something none of us can put our fingers on.
It’s growing, humming, building. It’s making us look over our shoulders.
We think it’s the presence of the lions. ”
Amber stiffened. This was huge.
Hayes growled. “You think they were testing us that night two months ago? Feeling out your people to see if they could be detected and then slinking over to do the same to our people?”
Surge nodded. “That’s my concern. I know your mate scented the lion outside, but how many lions were lurking that night? How many homes were being stalked? What if they were collecting data?”
Amber shuddered. “They might have gotten exactly what they’d come for,” she murmured.
Isaac gripped her shoulder. “You’re right, Little one.
They might have found out Rylee could scent them but no one else.
If they were watching every home, they gathered that Khloe knew they were out there, too.
They don’t know why or how she knew, but that’s not important.
What’s important is that they found out it was possible for them to be detected. ”
Damon spoke next. “They could be regrouping as we speak.”
Olivia stared blindly around the circle. “They could be hovering nearby, masking and laughing at our inadequacies.”
“I can’t see them or anyone else for miles,” Amber stated.
“I can’t hear them, either,” Molly said, “and Rylee can’t scent them. If they’re able to block us from those senses, maybe they’re able to block all the senses, including sight.”
Amber stared off into the distance. It was hard to imagine that even though she could see a squirrel nibbling away at an acorn miles away, she could not see a single hint of lions or their human counterparts.
She jerked her attention back to the group as she had a thought. “I can’t see their homes, either. It’s not just an entire species of shifters I’m not able to discern. It’s everything they own, too.”
Suzette sniffled and turned toward her mate, wrapping her arms around him.
Brock picked her up and held her closer, rubbing her back as she buried her face in his neck. “We haven’t had a chance to share another development with everyone yet.”
Amber swallowed. Could things get any stranger?
“We have no idea what it might mean, but Suzette seems to be developing an odd connection with nature. We noticed it yesterday when we were outside. She stopped to sit on a log near the house, but the moment she touched it with her hand, she went into her head. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’m not sure I would believe it.
Her experiences must be similar to what happens to Khloe when she has a vision. ”
“What did she sense?” Thorn asked.
“Not sense exactly. She described it as more like knowing who else had also touched that log. Flashes of others having sat there or brushed against it.”
There was a collective silence. Amber wasn’t the only one processing this new information.
Brock continued to comfort his mate, patting her shoulder.
“Like I said, we haven’t had a chance to examine the skill enough to know how it might be useful.
She touched several other things and had a similar experience with two other items. She doesn’t know when the flashes might have occurred, but she can see who was there before her. ”
“And…” Surge encouraged. “I assume she has visions of people she does not know.”
Brock nodded. “Exactly.”
Which meant lions might have been stalking around their property at some point and inadvertently left behind a remnant of their stay.