Bearliest Catch Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t feel it anymore, but Andrew
seemed to stay tense until a few minutes later, when he reached
some point only he was aware of. They were within sight of the
coast now, which suited her purposes well, though she wouldn’t tell
him that, because she didn’t want him to know where her people were
gathering…just in case.
    “Did you feel that?” He was talking a little
louder now, not quite as tense as he had been.
    “Feel what?”
    He cut the engine and let the boat drift.
They were within sight of the shore, but not in danger of running
aground any time soon.
    “I told you about the permanent wards, right?
We just passed into the outer reaches of the ward. The leviathan
and its mini-me’s avoid this area.”
    She was fascinated by the idea of a permanent
ward, but she hadn’t been able to feel anything specific. Then
again, sensing such things was not her talent. She had good
instincts, but that’s as far as it went. Andrew, though… He seemed
to really be able to sense things much more deeply than she would
have imagined.
    No wonder her people had gravitated to a
nearby spot. It didn’t just seem safer to their instincts—if
Andrew was to be believed—it was safer. The bears of Grizzly
Cove had done that. They’d made a small safe zone that extended out
a short distance into the ocean. That went a long way toward
convincing Jetty that the bears were honest in their offer of safe
harbor. They seemed to care about the ocean beyond their land,
which meant a lot to her.
    Even before they knew about the mer colony
that lived out here, they’d expelled the creature from their cove,
but also did something to protect the shore and the waters just
beyond. Sure, it made their settlement safer, but it also indicated
a certain amount of concern for the deeps. Most land-dwellers never
thought about sea life, unless they were fishermen or
environmentalists of some kind. These bear shifters were like any
other group, but they seemed to really care for Mother Earth—and
all of Her bounty.
    “One of our new residents cast the wards, but
you should probably know that her sister is working on a better fix
for the waters. She’s been brewing potions of some kind for the
past few weeks, and when she’s ready, she’s going to attempt to
purify the waters and make it so that only creatures of good intent
can approach the cove from the ocean.”
    Jetty wasn’t sure what to make of that.
    “Do you intend to make it impossible for
anyone to swim into the cove without your knowledge?” If so, that
was a pretty rotten deal for the sea dwellers.
    “No. From what I understand, it doesn’t work
like that. The magic she intends to cast will be to keep evil out.
Like I said, as long as the intentions are good and the person or
creature isn’t a servant of evil, they’ll be welcome in the cove. I
don’t think any of us have any interest in monitoring every single
creature in the ocean on their way into and out of the cove.
Nobody’s got time for that. We all have a wild side, and we know
what it means to be able to roam free.”
    She heard the truth ringing in his words, but
she was still skeptical.
    “But what if your Alpha or town council
decides otherwise?” she challenged, just to see what he’d say.
    “Honey, I’m on the town council. And our
Alpha rules at our pleasure. Bears aren’t like other shifters in
that we follow the Alpha blindly. We chose John to be Alpha
because he’s our best strategist, but we don’t do every little
thing he says merely because he has the title. Bears are
independent thinkers. The core group that makes up the town council
is all ex-military too. We were all members of the same Spec Ops
unit, and John was our commanding officer. We’ve spent a lot of
years working together, and we’re like brothers. I know them like I
know myself, and none of us have any interest in shutting off sea
access to the cove. We’re more concerned about building a life here
and finding mates. We just