Page 15 of Squirrel Hunt
Naked, he stumbled into his cabin, his legs barely carrying him, but it didn’t stop his cock from standing proud. Stupid thing. It was worse than being a hormonal teen, for fuck’s sake.
He slumped down on the couch with a groan, but before the sound had died away, his phone rang. Dragging himself up again, he went to find it. Farris.
“Yes?”
“Don.” He followed the word up with a chuckle, which made Konrad groan again, but he smiled in the dark.
“Farris. How’s it going?”
“Something weird is going on.”
Konrad straightened. He didn’t like the sound of that. “Weird how?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet. I don’t think we’re looking at war, but they’re…arranging something.”
“Arranging?”
“Yeah, I followed the group of drunks, and they met up with someone in a park. I couldn’t get close enough to hear the entire conversation, but the guy is working to acquire someone.”
“Species?”
“Bear, but I don’t know if he’s local. My gut says no, but I haven’t met the bears, so I could be wrong.”
“They’re looking into acquiring a bear?” Why would wolves care about a bear?
“Ah, no. The guy they met up with was a bear. I didn’t get the species of the person they’re going to kidnap.”
“Kidnap?” Konrad hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but they were talking abduction?
“It was how I read it, but as I said, I didn’t dare go near enough to hear the entire conversation. The guys I followed might have been drunk, but the bear wasn’t. I got the feeling he wasn’t impressed by them.”
“But he’d still do the job?”
Farris hummed in agreement. “The way they were talking had me believing he isn’t part of the local sleuth, more like they’re buying a service. He might be a loner. Looked mean enough. Since Varg also had a meeting with a bear, I’m thinking it’s either the same guy or it’s related.”
Konrad gritted his teeth. A mean-looking bear out to acquire someone, and Myka having a visitor who scared her and looked predatory. Konrad didn’t like where this was going. Though, did it fit the time frame? “Did they mention Doson?”
“Not that I heard, but as I said—”
“Yeah, you didn’t hear it all.”
Silence spread for a few seconds.
“Something wrong, Boss?”
“Myka, Roan’s mate, had a visit at the coffee shop today. A guy she described as predatory. He scared her. He didn’t do anything other than observe, but she felt uneasy, and said she was pretty sure he was a shifter and no one she recognized. And now, this evening, Roan and I were out running and came across the scent of a bear.”
“You think it’s some purity shit? The wolves here know he mated her since they met here in Ordbury.”
“I hope not.”
Farris hummed again. “Would they care if another pack wasn’t clean, though?”
Clean. Konrad grimaced at the word choice. “I don’t know. Does anyone in the Ordbury pack have a human mate? Or a mate from another shifter group?” Konrad tried to think back on how it had been when Gustav had been leading the pack. He believed Gustav, like him, cherished mates in whichever form they came. Did he wish no one in his pack had a human mate, heck yeah. Would he ever do anything to make Myka or Roan feel less than welcome, absolutely not. Hell, he had supported Gideon in mating a squirrel. A squirrel!
It had taken more than one stern talking to the pack to make them all agree not to hurt Jyran. Wolves hunted squirrels, and many were of the opinion that non-predatory shifters shouldn’t exist.
“I haven’t met any. I can look into it though. It’s a pretty safe topic to ask around about. Try to get a feel about interspecies mating.”