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  So, how could she leave Grizzly Cove looking for work? She was undocumented. She could take her chances as an undocumented person—or illegal alien, as it had been called in her day—but there were further complications. The most important being, that she was still being hunted by the Venifucus. Now that she was awake—out of the self-imposed coma state she had used to deny her captors any more of her power—she was a very valuable commodity to those who had imprisoned her for so long.

  There was no way in hell she was ever going back to that. She would sooner die than be chained again, and she’d vowed to herself that she would take a few of them with her if that was to be her fate. Laura had a lot of anger and rage bottled up from her years of confinement. Her inner wolf was ready—no, eager—to kill those who had kept her prisoner for so long.

  But these were thoughts for another day. Today, she was meeting Marilee for lunch at the picnic tables down by the water, in the heart of town. Marilee had said she would stop by the bakery and pick up sandwiches for them both, then meet Laura at what had become her favorite spot—the picnic table she had first walked to when she was finally able to stand on her own and walk out the back door of the clinic, which wasn’t too far away.

  She’d been in rough shape when she had been brought to town. She had been unconscious, with multiple injuries. The magic circle had gathered to find a way to free her from the self-imposed prison of unconsciousness. Marilee had managed it. She’d shifted into her white wolf and lay down on the altar with Laura at the center of a sacred circle of stones, where all those with magic had gathered to try to help Laura. It had been her daughter’s presence that had finally gotten through to Laura. She woke then shifted, for the first time in many years, into her two-legged, human form.

  She’d had a lot of wounds from the brutal treatment she’d received at the hands of her captors, so they had transported her directly to the clinic. The doctor, who was a polar bear shifter, had dressed her wounds and helped her heal. When she was able, he’d also understood her need to go outside and breathe fresh air. The fresh air of freedom.

  Laura had made her way slowly to the picnic table, and she had sat there for more than an hour, watching the water and enjoying the air. Gus, one of the magic circle members, had come over to talk to her, and she’d enjoyed their conversation. He was a shaman. Maybe that’s why he was so easy to talk to. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but they’d become friends, of a sort, after that first discussion.

  Laura saw Marilee crossing the street from the bakery, and she felt her spirit rise with joy. Her daughter had grown into such a lovely young woman. Laura was so proud of the way she’d overcome her rough start in life and had started to take charge of her own future. She worked at the bakery now, helping the three human sisters who owned the place keep it going. All three sisters were newly mated within the past year or two and had less time to spend on the business. Hiring Marilee to help had been a no-brainer.

  “I hope you like turkey and roast beef,” Marilee said as she sat down opposite Laura and placed two big bags on the picnic table. “I made them myself.”

  “They smell great,” Laura said, accepting the bag that Marilee pushed toward her. “But, sweetheart, I can’t keep letting you pay for everything.”

  “Mine’s free. Perk of working there,” Marilee explained. “So, I’m only paying for one. And I don’t mind at all. You know the prices here are very reasonable. It’s not even an hour’s worth of tips, honestly.”

  Laura looked down at the bag. “All the same, I will pay you back as soon as I can figure out how to make some money. I need a job, but I’m twenty years behind on things like computers and technology. I have to find something low-tech.”

  “I’m sure you could learn computer stuff if you wanted to,” Marilee said kindly. “The folks in this town are really great. They’ll teach you, if you need to know something.”

  “They’ve been uniformly wonderful, the ones I’ve met so far,” Laura agreed, opening the bag and taking out the sandwich, being sure to anchor the paper with her canned drink so nothing would fly away in the ocean breeze. “I just don’t know that there are any job openings.”

  “Where have you looked so far?” Marilee asked, then took a bite out of her sandwich.

  “I went in every shop from the bakery to the end of the main drag heading north. I haven’t done the south side, or this side of Main Street yet, but so far, nobody needs any help that I can provide.” Laura cringed, then consciously calmed her expression before taking a bite out of her own sandwich.

  “Did you work before I was born?” Marilee asked after a short lull while they both chewed and swallowed.

  “Not really. We lived very far north in an isolated community. Hard currency wasn’t as important there. We traded among ourselves and performed tasks for each other.” Laura shrugged. “It was a simpler way of life, modeled on the natives of the area, who lived nearby. We traded with them, too.”

  “What kinds of things did you trade?” Marilee seemed genuinely interested.

  “Things we could get from the land. Wild game, furs, even herbs we could find that they wanted. They traded similar things back, but they were also farmers to some extent, so that’s where we got our produce from, a lot of the time. Most of the fresh produce came from greenhouses the local tribe had constructed. Some of our men helped them build, as well. We had a few skilled carpenters. Winter never really left us way up there. A greenhouse was the only way to assure a constant yield to feed their people and have some left over for trade.”

  “That’s really interesting. I didn’t expect a native tribe would have been so modern in those days.”

  Laura laughed. “Honey, it was only twenty years ago. It wasn’t the Stone Age. Greenhouses have been around since Victorian times, after all.”

  Marilee blushed and ducked her head, eating more of her sandwich. Laura just shook her head. She’d been out of circulation for a while, but she wasn’t that old. Nothing like kids to make a woman feel her age.

  “The biggest problem is that I have no relevant experience working at any of the things the people in this town do,” Laura went on, pinpointing her problem. “I want to help out and earn my way, but I’m not sure what I can do. I thought about going up the coast a ways. Maybe there’s something I can do where the land is wilder and people aren’t so dependent on computers and machines I’ve never seen before.”

  “We’ll figure something out,” Marilee said quickly. “You need to stay here, where it’s safe. And I want you here, too. I only just got you back. I don’t want you to leave.”

  “I don’t want to leave you either,” Laura said, reaching across the table to place her hand over her daughter’s. “But, in this modern world, I need money and identity papers. Lots of things I don’t have.”

  “But you do have the most important thing. You have friends here, in Grizzly Cove,” Marilee insisted. “And family.” Marilee turned her hand over to grasp her mother’s. “You’ve got me and King. Ace, too, and Sabrina. And when their youngest brother gets here, Jack will help, too. You’ll see. You’ve got three strong bear shifter men, who are now part of our family. They’ll help. I know they will.”

  “I love that you’ve found your true mate, and I’m intrigued at how all these bear shifters get along so well. The few bears I knew before were very solitary,” Laura explained. “I just…” She looked away and retrieved her hand, moving it to hold her sandwich once more. “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

  “Never that,” Marilee said softly. “You’re my mother. My only blood relative. You could never be a burden. You’re just a little down right now. I’m sure things will start looking up shortly, and then, you will probably be the one helping me and King. It will all even out in the end. That’s the way it’s supposed to be with families. I’ve seen it. Even though I’ve never experienced it myself.”

  That broke Laura’s heart all over again. “I’m sorry, baby. Of course, I won’t leave. But
there is a problem, and we have to acknowledge that. I need to be able to pull my weight both in town and within our small family. It’ll make me feel better if I can contribute.”

  “I guess I can understand that,” Marilee allowed, “but give yourself a little more time. You’re only just healing up from your injuries and tasting freedom for the first time in years. Enjoy that a little before you get too far ahead of yourself, okay?”

  Laura shook her head, smiling. How had her little one gotten so wise?

  “Okay. You’ve got a point. I guess I’m just impatient to get on with my life,” she admitted.

  Marilee laughed. “You don’t have to live it all in one day. Take it easy, Mom. You can live on credit for a while yet. And the bears here in Grizzly Cove will probably never try to collect on that debt.”

  “I will repay it, nonetheless.” They ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet of the beachfront, the lapping of little waves not too far away. The sandwiches were top notch, too.

  Gus saw his quarry sitting at one of the picnic tables down by the water and changed direction. He walked slowly, wanting to give Marilee and Laura as much time together as he could. He knew Marilee would have to be getting back to work soon. It was clear the mother and daughter were enjoying an early lunch before the real rush at the bakery started, and Marilee would have to be inside, serving.

  Gus planned to be there when the women finished, so he could tackle his prey—figuratively, of course. Big John had set him a task—to spy on Laura—but it was more than that. Gus wanted to help her. She had been so vulnerable when she awoke from the self-imposed coma state. She’d been so hurt, both physically and emotionally.

  Her physical injuries had healed, mostly, but Gus knew, the mental trauma she had been through wouldn’t go away as easily. Since embarking on the shaman’s path, Gus had been drawn to help those in need of emotional or spiritual solace. He could no more ignore Laura’s situation than he could walk past a trapped bird and not try to help it get free. He had to help her. His instincts were screaming at him to offer whatever assistance he could to the beautiful white wolf.

  He saw his opportunity as Marilee stood and Laura gathered up the trash from their meal. Marilee took the bag of garbage, then kissed and hugged her mother, and jogged back across the road to the bakery. Laura, as Gus had hoped, stayed for a bit, sipping the drink she hadn’t yet finished. Now was his moment.

  “Hello,” he said, walking up behind her. He knew she had already seen him. She’d turned her head briefly when she first sensed him approach.

  “Hi, Gus,” she said, still contemplating the water. She’d turned to sit the opposite way on the picnic bench, using the table as a back support as she gazed out at the cove. “Fair warning. You may not want to be around me. I’m in a bit of a grouchy mood.”

  “Hm. A grouchy werewolf. I guess I can deal with that. We bears can get mighty grouchy ourselves, from time to time.” He sat down at the opposite end of the bench she was on, not crowding her, but also not very far apart, either.

  Shifters needed closeness. Wolves, even more than bears. He knew that and wanted to provide at least the illusion of solidarity, of caring, that often played a large role in Pack dynamics. Gus had known his share of wolves in his time, and he was more aware of their habits than most bears.

  “What rubbed your fur the wrong way today?” he asked, coming right out with his question. He figured she would appreciate the direct approach, and bears were known for their candor.

  She turned her head to look at him, leveling him with a sort of bleakness in her steady gaze. “I need to get a job.”

  He burst out laughing. He couldn’t help himself.

  “It’s not funny,” she insisted, turning her nose up as she looked back at the water.

  “I’m sorry. I just thought you were going to say something dire and all you need is a job? That’s not what I was expecting,” he explained, still chuckling.

  “It’s not as easy as you make it sound. I have no skills. No experience. I’ve been through half of the stores on Main Street, and nobody needs what little I have to offer.” She sounded miserable now, in addition to looking it. That would never do. Gus got serious. Here was a problem that he might be able to help her solve.

  “What does Marilee say? You’re family. I’m sure she’d be willing to help you—”

  She cut him off. “I don’t want to be a burden on her. Or anyone, for that matter. I want to pay my own way.” He heard the pride in her tone—and the desperation. Maybe this was something she had to do to prove she was no longer a prisoner, even if only in her own mind. “Everyone here has been so kind. Nobody’s mentioned how much I owe them, but I’m keeping track, and I’m going to pay them all back. From the girls at the bakery to the man who owns the hotel.”

  Gus could understand that. Nobody liked to feel like a charity case. He had to figure out some way to get Laura a job. It was clearly important to her, so it was now important to him, as well.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “What are you good at?” Gus asked.

  Laura was embarrassed by her background now that she was among these much more sophisticated shifters, but she had to be honest. Bears could sniff out lies, it was said.

  “Not much that is valued in this modern world,” she admitted, feeling glum. “I was only out of circulation for twenty years, but it might as well have been twenty centuries. I came from a much simpler culture. We didn’t use money much. We traded for most things. We lived like our neighbors, the Inuit. Only, we lived closer to the land because we stayed in our beast forms much of the time.”

  Gus’s eyes widened as he looked at her. “Where do you come from, exactly?”

  “Up around Ellesmere Island. We are Arctic wolves, after all,” she told him, feeling herself smile a little. “There are mountains and glaciers. Lots of snow and ice. That’s our natural habitat. White on white, you know?”

  “Somehow, I was picturing the more civilized parts of Canada, but clearly, I wasn’t thinking,” Gus said. “Sorry.” He shook his head. “So…Inuit. You have connections to the native people?”

  “Very close connections, actually. Those from our Pack who mated humans generally mated with our Inuit neighbors. My blonde hair and light skin is an anomaly. A gift of my fey ancestry.” She tilted her head as she smiled softly. “The majority of my home Pack was darker in human form and, of course, snow white in wolf form. The fey magic makes me even brighter. I never really fit in with the rest of the Pack, but they accepted me and my family. There were a few other blondes, like me, who were my siblings and cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Whoever was touched by the fey magic came out sort of…bleached, I guess you would call it. The elders said the magic of the other realms was too powerful for our mortal forms, and it took its toll over time. My hair was light brown when I was born, and I expect it’ll be snow white if I make it to old age. That’s not necessarily common for shifters. Usually, we keep our coloration throughout life, even into old age. But the magic acts in strange ways in my line.”

  “That’s interesting,” Gus said and she could tell from his tone that he meant it. “So, you’re part native, yourself?”

  “Definitely,” she admitted. “Only those that carried the fey blood were pale, like me. My mother was pale, but her father was a full-blooded Inuit. Son of a tribal elder. My father was a more regular Arctic wolf with Inuit on both sides of his family.”

  “How did the human mates of the Pack members deal with the climate and harsh conditions that far north?” Gus asked. He sounded genuinely interested, so she opened up a bit more.

  “There are mountains up there where people have never been. There are also hidden mountain valleys that have microclimates that make it a little easier to survive the harsh conditions. We would build in those places for our human Pack members and those who wished to live with them. Small settlements, here and there, always tucked away where planes and satellites couldn’t see them easily. Ther
e’s a bit of volcanic activity in some of those areas, and geothermal energy made winters a lot easier,” she confided.

  “It sounds like a whole other world up there,” Gus marveled, and she could tell by the look of wonder in his eyes that he was impressed. Finally, she didn’t feel like such a country bumpkin with no valuable skills. Gus, at least, recognized the ingenuity it took to live wild around the Arctic Circle.

  “It can be really beautiful. When the Lights come…” She breathed in a sigh, remembering Mother Nature’s light show.

  “I’ve seen the Northern Lights. When I was in Alaska,” he told her, and they shared a moment of understanding. “It was one of the moments that led me to my current path.”

  “That of the shaman?” she asked quietly.

  Gus nodded. “I was a soldier for many years. A Special Operator, like most of the men here in town. We all worked together in a special unit made up almost entirely of bear shifters, under the command of an Admiral who knew what we were and what we could do. He also understood why we fought. Not for a country or a political agenda, but for the side of Light. He knew when to send us in…and more importantly, when not to.”

  She could hardly imagine Gus, sweet, gentle soul that he was, as a soldier. Then, she remembered he was a bear, and she realized he probably had hidden depths, and an enormous strength concealed beneath his calm exterior.

  “That’s quite a change, from soldier to shaman,” she commented.

  “It certainly was,” he replied. “But it was my calling. I like helping people. I like helping my Clan, and I also help out on the Native American reservation just south of here.” He leaned back and looked at her. “Which is where I might be able to help you, too.”

  She had no idea what he was driving at, but he certainly seemed pleased with himself. Perhaps he had some solution to her problem. Whatever he was thinking, she would listen and make her own judgment.