Free Bearing Up In Wolf Rock (A BBW Bear Shifter Romance) (Wolf Rock Shifters) by Carina Wilder

met the other day in the bar in town,” she continued. “Well, I didn’t think it was. I didn’t think he was capable of it. But now I know for sure that it wasn’t him.”
    “And how do you know this?” asked Tristan, listening intently.
    “Because I found him yesterday. And I was with him all night.”
    The quiet rumble of low voices began to rise in the cabin again. Why was she with him? Why had she not brought him immediately to the house?
    “Where is he now?” asked Tristan, putting up a hand to silence the others.
    “I don’t know. When I woke at dawn he was gone. I’m really sorry. He said he’d come with me and I trusted him. I let you all down.”
    “You should have brought him here as soon as you found him, Kyla,” said Dascha.
    Tristan glared at the young pack member.
    “You don’t know Kyla’s reasons for her actions,” he said. “And it’s not up to you to reprimand her.”
    “You’re right. Sorry, Ky.”
    “It’s okay. You’re probably right; I should have brought him in. I shouldn’t have trusted him the way I did.”
    “But you say that he wa sn’t responsible for the attack,” Tristan continued.
    “No. He couldn’t have been. I found him around six p.m. and I know h e was with me until three or so at least.”
    “How do you know this? Weren’t you sleeping?”
    “I…that is…we…”
    Tristan smiled slightly now. No one understood attraction, lust, pure animal desire like he did. He could see on Kyla’s face that something had happened.
    “No need to go further. I trust your word. The question now is, if he’s innocent, why did he run?”
    “I don’t know. But when we first met him he said he was here looking for someone, and I can only assume that’s still the case.”
    “Well, it would be good to know who it is and what he wants. As long as there are bears about we need to keep an eye on them to prevent further bloodshed. We can’t discount Maddox’s importance in all this, even if he’s innocent. But for now, thank you Kyla.
    “After last night’s discovery, it’s become all the more crucial that we kee p this under wraps. Obviously, we need to keep a vigilant eye out for more of his kind as well as for our shifter.
    “Kyla and Jay, I’d like you to head towards where you found Maddox yesterday and keep looking, for him, the other bear, hunters, anything. Any signs. The rest of us will split off into small groups and go on a run. Anyone who finds what we need, let out a howl. The rest will come running. But be careful; we don’t know what these hunters are after and there’s a real risk that it’s us.”
    Jay approached Kyla when the meeting was over.
    “You okay, sweetie?” he asked. “You look shaken up.”
    “I am. I’m angry, confused, sad, and even a little frightened. It’s a lot of emotion to deal with at once.”
    “Anything you want to talk about?”
    “Nah, not just now. Let’s get moving.”
    Each pack member equipped themselves with a bag which had been specially made to transport in wolf form, carrying food and clothing. They knew that of course, wherever they’d end up after loping through the woods, they’d wind up naked if they shifted. The continually frustrating disadvantage to being one of their kind was the inability to speak in wolf form, not that many hadn’t tried it. It simply came out as gnarled syllables and comical dog-speak, and aside from growling and howling, their voices were largely useless.
    However, they could run faster than most creatures on the planet. So when Jay and Kyla emerged from the meeting, they immediately shifted and began to sprint, Kyla leading the way through the woods.
    They came, after an hour or so, to the cave, and transformed into humans to talk. Kyla was always grateful when she was paired up with Jay, since she knew he didn’t look at her with sex on his mind. And Jay was just vain enough to enjoy standing around naked. Like the other men in the pack, he had a great body; toned,