down a trail, keeping my eyes alert for any signs of bear activity. While they didn’t coexist exclusively, werebears in isolated packs like this one tended to intertwine with the regular bears, and finding the native population usually led me in the right direction for my hunt.
I would love to be able to say, at this point, that I came across some scratchings against the trees that gave me a solid lead. Hell, I’d settle for having to come back out several times over the week, until I finally spotted activity and snuck up on one of the bastards. But neither of these, nor any other reasonably believable circumstances of my job, actually happened that day.
Because the shifters knew I was coming. I’d somehow been careless, or perhaps one of them had spotted me in my brief time atop the hill. Even on my guard, I barely heard a branch snap behind me before my world went black as I fell crashing to the ground.
* * * *
It was hours before I regained consciousness. Ignoring the pounding in my head, I fought through the haze of grogginess and slowly opened my eyes. My vision was filled with a blinding, orange light, and I focused on the crackle of the roaring fire. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized that I was alone in a dimly-lit cave.
Well, not alone per se . I could barely make out several forms further up, towards the mouth of the small cavern. Their voices were trailing down towards me, and while I couldn’t distinguish the words, I knew that they were speaking animatedly.
Trying to move my arms, it dawned on me that I was tied up, slumped with my back against the wall. Thinking quickly, I started to maneuver myself against the wall, reaching down to try and withdraw the knife that was always concealed in one of my boots — sheathed and ready for moments like this.
Fuck! It’s gone!
“It looks like the little shifter traitor is awake now,” I heard. Struggling to maintain my composure, I glanced up angrily at my captors, who were now just on the other side of the fire. There were four of them — all rugged, shirtless, and gazing upon me with an odd spectrum of curiosity and tranquil fury.
“I’m not like you. I’m not like any of you!” I practically spat in a venomous rage. “Don’t you dare compare yourselves to me.”
“You can try to deny your true nature,” one of them spoke, stepping closer, “but you can never bury it. It will always loom in the darkness, waiting for you.”
“Shut up!” I growled. “You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about!”
“Do I not, Hunter?”
My lips went silent, and I glowered in fury.
“That’s right…we know exactly who you are.” This one was clearly the alpha among them, speaking for the rest. They nodded quietly behind him, their piercing green eyes all locked onto my own. “You are the most dangerous of the entire order, for you are the shifter who turned on the rest. The one who tracks and murders her own kind. We have known about you for a long time…and we prepared ourselves for the day that you would come, Lira.”
“You don’t have the right to speak that name. Let me go.”
“Why did you betray us all, Lira?” The alpha asked calmly, his animal side placated for now. “What drove you to dedicate your life to exterminating the rest of us?”
I stopped struggling against the bindings. The vines were strong, full of life even after their removal, and I had been stripped of any blades within grasp. Biding my time, I considered the options and quickly decided to play their little game.
“My parents,” I answered. “Murdered by shifters.”
“You know that isn’t true,” he answered. “Every shifter in North America knows of Erek…of his valiance, and his dedication to protecting his town. Your father was the greatest shifter among our entire kind, and what