Omega's Baby for the Lodge Bear: Sierra Nevada Shifters, #2

Chapter One

Hunter Pierce screeched to a stop at the rundown two pump gas station. The place looked like it hadn’t been updated in the last century, and it certainly wasn’t the kind of establishment that accepted credit cards. He pulled out his wallet and thumbed through the meager stack of fives and a single twenty-dollar bill. That should be enough for gas to get to the next town on his route.

While he waited to for his car to fill up, he examined his surroundings. So far he had passed through Bishop, Coleville, and a bunch of small one road towns. This one was just the latest in the series of small towns along U.S. Route 395 that he had passed through since he left Los Angeles late last night. The gas station, a post office, motel, and a sprinkling of rusted trailers along the desolate desert highway made up the entire town. There wasn’t even a stoplight.

Dry, hot wind blasted his face like a gust of hot air from opening an oven door. In the distance the wind blew the endless sand around him into tiny dancing dust devils.

He had another hour of driving before he reached South Lake Tahoe and his engine light turned on twenty miles ago. The timing could not be worse. Judging by the overpriced gas, this tiny town was the last place he wanted his car to break down.

When Hunter went inside to pay, the man behind the counter looked up at him with an unusual expression. He had a long, narrow face and cold, gray eyes that seemed to look past him into the distance. When he sniffed deeply and let out a snarl, Hunter knew the reason why his senses were tingling. Your kind don’t belong here. Go to the station in the next town. The clerk dug his nails into the counter like he was going to pounce. I won’t tell you again.

Hunter knew he was defenseless. He threw a twenty dollar bill onto the counter and backed away toward the door, keeping his eyes on the deranged man.

At the time he pulled up he had been so distracted by his car troubles that he missed the obvious signals that all shifters gave off. This station was run by a werewolf, and a glance at the garage next to the station told Hunter that there were more wolves inside. Hunter fumbled with the door and slipped into his car.

He waited until he was back on the highway and the station was in his rear view mirror before he let out the breath he’d been holding. That was a close call. Werewolves were incredibly territorial and clannish compared to other shifters and they were especially hostile towards bear shifters whom they regarded as their biggest enemies.

Even though Hunter couldn’t shift into a bear, he had bear shifter genes in his blood and those wolves must have smelled it on him. Both of his parents had been bear shifters as well as his ancestors going back many generations on both sides of the family. But despite this, he did not inherit the ability to shift.

Many of the bear communities back on the East Coast were isolated, separated by the big cities and endless urban areas. After many generations this resulted in some of the common problems that plagued small populations who married among themselves. There were many children from pure-blooded shifter families who lost that spark needed to change forms after generations of inbreeding. Hunter’s parents regarded his genetic anomaly as a defect and thus in their eyes their son was defective.

Hunter examined his features in the side view mirror. His sable brown hair almost looked blond under the harsh sunlight and his light blue eyes were washed out like dishwater. His family was right, he had neither the fierceness nor the commanding physical presence of a bear. From his kind eyes that always hinted at a smile to his wispy fine hair, everything about him was delicate, a scholar’s build rather than a predator’s.

In a way, his painful childhood had been a blessing in disguise. Hunter channeled his family’s hatred into a passion for discovery. He had dedicated his entire career to working with small communities and children with rare genetic diseases. It was as if he sought to save himself by saving others like him. The fact that UCLA happened to be one of the leading research institutes in the field didn’t hurt either. More than two-thousand miles away from his hometown, Hunter could almost make believe that he was normal. Almost.

This time his research was personal. Lake Tahoe was home to one of the biggest bear shifter communities in the country, one that stretched up all along the coast to Alaska. His trip up to the lake was just the first step in his quest to document and trace the genetic heritage of all bear shifters in North America. A genetic database would allow shifters to make better choices when they chose their mates and hopefully eliminate genetic problems in future generations.

After he passed through Carson City the vast and drab brown of endless desert gave way to lush pine forests and crisp mountain air. Hunter breathed a sigh of relief and rolled down his windows to feel the cool breeze against his skin. All he could see around him was clear blue open sky and steep rocky cliffs with snow-capped peaks that pointed into the sky.

After almost an entire day in the desert, his skin was bright red from unrelenting sun and the harsh dry air seemed to sap every last bit of moisture from his body until he was a dry husk. Though he felt better as he began to climb up the mountainside, the steep climb in elevation took its toll on his junk heap of a car. By the time Hunter reached South Lake Tahoe, his car jerked and bucked like an angry bronco and angry black smoke spewed from the hood. Shit! Thankfully the big wooden sign up ahead announced his arrival.

The Pines Resort, it read. This was where he was going to spend the next three months while he collected the data and samples he needed. The hotel and peaceful lake it sat next to was everything he imagined it would be and so much better in reality. Majestic pine trees and craggy mountains towered over the three-story log cabin resort while the sound of the waves slapping at the shore in the background. Life up here next to the lake must feel like heaven. Hunter would never have chosen a luxurious hotel like this, but his host, Mitch Carnelian, was generous enough to let him stay at his hotel for free.

Too bad he was still going to have to buy a new car. Hunter silently willed the vehicle to make it long enough to clear the last one-hundred yards into the parking lot. The last thing he needed was to call a tow-truck to haul his car off the road. He couldn’t afford it. The car sputtered and jerked wildly once more before it sputtered to a stop in a parking spot at the edge of the lot. Hunter laid his head against the steering wheel and took a deep breath. No more surprises today.

Hunter stepped out of the car and grabbed his laptop bag and box of specimen tubes from the back seat. He glanced at his watch. It was a little after ten in the morning. Leaving Los Angeles at night rather than waiting until the morning was a good idea. He had just enough time to check into his room and take a short nap before his meeting with Mitch. Not only had Mitch agreed to be his host while he was in Tahoe, but as a bear shifter, he had agreed to vouch for Hunter’s research project and introduce him to the other bear shifters in the area.

With Mitch’s help, Hunter was sure that he could gather the samples and data he needed and be back in Los Angeles within a week. He brushed aside the voice in his head that said nothing in his life ever came easily. This time was different, he could feel it in his bones.

Chapter Two

Mitch shook his head as he walked out of the kitchen and into the restaurant’s dining room. He couldn’t believe that his cousin, Jackson, was asking him for dating advice. He hadn’t been on a date since The Spice Girls were touring the world. It was like the blind leading the blind.

And as his Aunt Helen liked to remind him every year, he was almost forty and still without a mate. The clock was ticking. Back in his twenties he used to troll the clubs, but now that he was older he wanted more. He’d even set up profiles on all the shifter dating sites. As a tall, good looking, still relatively young black bear shifter with his own successful business, and a full head of silky raven hair with piercing golden eyes, men should have been swarming all over him like bees over honey.

Why was dating so difficult?

His grandfather started and built The Pines Resort, a log cabin hotel that stood next to the lake with