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big shifters. I think one was actually a Bear. They would have put up a hell of a fight if they’d known there was a human around them, but there’s no sign of a struggle in the area, just running and the stink of terror. Also, the meat we found didn’t have any marks from the attacker. Shifters claw. Weapons or not, we claw. It’s instinctive. If these were challenge fights, there’d be tracks, there’d be no gun. That’s not it. My best guess is that what we have is some kind of a shifter-hunter. A sick one.”
    Dead shifters were hardly news, but Tate didn’t like the feeling he had in the pit of his gut, either. As if he’d just stepped in a big, steaming pile of shit. Right in the middle of a fucking minefield. Damn crazy Sibile. What the hell did she get us into?
    “I’ve got my men scouting the area around the next houses those last two travelers are supposed to land at,” Betha continued, eyes on the ground. “Given the time between the previous kills, odds are good that either the killer or the next victim is going to turn up any time now.”
    Tate nodded. “I’ll keep this one with me. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s no killer. All the same, clear the track for the houses these two were heading to and get a command out to reroute anyone heading into the state. And I want those next houses guarded. If that last stray shows up, hold him until I or the Alpha give the command. I’m bringing this stray in on foot.” The oracle’s other stipulation. The girl couldn’t be forced to safety. She had to come of her own accord. Sometimes he wondered if that crazy old bat just got her kicks making life difficult.
    “Still think you’re not just using her as bait?” The dangerous glint in Betha’s eyes was back.
    “Don’t get your fur in a knot, cub,” he grumbled. “I won’t let anything happen to her. It’s just the way it has to be.”
    Betha studied him broodingly, her hand toying with the sai on her right thigh. “I don’t like this, Tate. This whole assignment has a stink on it you can smell for miles. Raids and guttings, leaving strays out to get killed? It’s not like the Alpha to risk people this way.”
    No, it wasn’t. Pale didn’t risk people, period. Something he had to remind himself of as much as he did Betha. He reached out to touch her hair, flicking the tail of her braid between his fingers, offering reassurance the only way she’d accept. “He’s trusting us to find them and protect them. We’re going to find whoever is cutting up our people, cub. And when we do, that bastard’s going to find out how much like animals we can really be.”
    Betha stared at him for a long time before relief finally relaxed her features. “So what’s been happening at home?”
    He could only shake his head. Betha took mercurial to all new levels.
    “Has Jade figured out how to get furry yet?”
    He sighed, this question far less palatable. The Alpha’s mate transformed into a creepy, human-shaped body of semi-sentient light when her Sibile gifts got out of hand. Pure power, pure light, but not quite rational. At last count she’d taken down three redwoods, blown up a boulder bigger than his car and burned a three-foot-wide hole through the edge of a granite hillside. “Jade’s still having trouble controlling the shift.”
    “She’ll get it eventually. Who knows, we might even have some of the mountain left when she does.” Betha pounded her fist into his thigh. “Call if you need me. I’ll be in touch.” She backed away, giving him a crooked grin before running up the tree next to him and disappearing into the night with the faintest of rustles.
    Shaking his head, Tate turned, rubbing his neck. He didn’t get two steps before he realized something was wrong.
    The pallets were empty.
    Lia was gone.

Chapter Three
    Lia let her nose guide her through the brush, scenting being one of the few traits the scientists were never able to take away from her. She smelled water, a