Free True North (The Bears of Blackrock Book 4) by Michaela Wright, Alana Hart Page A

stairs and toward the nearby house. “Go inside. I gotta go down by the water. It will only take a minute. Go settle in with Aanak, alright?”
    “But why do you have -”
    “What the hell is going on out here?” A new voice called.
    Theron turned just in time to see another five faces appear near the greenhouse. Pearl was among them.
    “I told you it wasn’t going to hold,” she said, glaring at Darrell with disdain etched on her face.
    Theron turned back as Darrell opened his mouth to defend himself.
    Theron stepped forward. “We think they’ve lost power, Grandma Pearl. The fence is down.”
    The sudden change in the air startled him. Everyone within hearing distance coiled at these words like waiting snakes, and they moved toward him as though waiting for the gun shot at the beginning of a race.
    “Are you sure?” Pearl asked, pushing Buniq into the kitchen door behind her.
    There was only one other notion, and that was their captors had found the connection and severed it. He was praying that wasn’t the case. They were in the middle of nowhere and the winds were picking up with such force, the walls of the houses were rattling. Despite the slapdash connection Darrell created on the fence, the clamp was jammed tight between two rocks – if it came loose, it came loose by human interference.
    And Theron was sure no man who wasn’t a shifter would be out in this weather, voluntarily.
    “There’s only one way to find out,” Darrell said.
    Darrell and Theron were around the house in an instant, their heads down against the whipping snow. The winds were too loud to hear the tell-tale hum of the wire buried just underfoot, but Darrell knew the way and trudged forward, confidant even in the dark. They reached the fence and Theron moved closer to listen.
    The hum was gone.
    The clamp was still right where he’d found it.
    Their captors had lost power.
    “Ah, Jesus,” Darrell said under his breath. Voices were carrying over the wind. Their audience was following suit.
    Theron couldn’t blame them.
    Darrell marched closer to the fence, then he turned back toward Theron, meeting his gaze with nervous tension. “Let’s hope we’re right, eh?”
    With that, Darrell grabbed ahold of one of the wires. Nothing happened. Darrell grabbed it in both hands and yanked with all his strength. The wire groaned in response. Darrell gave it another quick yank and the wire broke loose of its anchor, the metallic song of it echoing down the shoreline.
    Everyone seemed to take the same excited breath.
    “They’re gonna know we’re here! They’ll see that we’re all together. Darrell Holden, stop this!”
    Pearl was hollering against the wind, trying her best to seethe, but her words came in shaky bursts. She wasn’t angry with Darrell, she was afraid.
    Theron glanced back at her, still watching Darrell as he yanked on the second wire.
    “They’ve lost power, Grandma Pearl. If they don’t have power, they can’t see the trackers. There’s nothing for them to send a signal to.”
    The crowd moved forward collectively as the second wire snapped loose.
    Theron stood there, his heart pounding in his chest as he considered just what they would do once the fence was open. They had no boats, had no cars nor roads to drive on if they did. The trek to freedom or civilization – especially civilization not policed by Baird Davenport – would be treacherous and long. And in this weather, there was no telling how rough the going would be. Still, from the looks of the people that gathered around him, the notion of freedom was worth all of that.
    “Are you sure?”
    The voice startled Theron, and he turned mid-stride to meet the source. “Sinead, what are you doing out here? You’ll freeze.”
    His panic suddenly doubled. It was no longer Darrell’s speed that concerned him – it was Sinead. She couldn’t make this journey. No matter how many of them might get through, she couldn’t go with them. She wasn’t a shifter,