Pacific Northwest Werebears(105)

“Grand gesture? What the hell does that mean?” Conner looked between the two Alphas.

“That’s for you to figure out, dipshit,” his brother advised.

Okay, grand gesture, Dax had no idea what that meant. He’d have to Google it.

“I will give you some advice,” Dax started. “I would make sure that you are the one doing the chasing. Show her what lengths you’ll go to for her. I think at this point she’s willing to be miserable and alone rather than give you another chance.”

“Fair enough,” Conner said. He could do this, he could get his mate and make her happy. There was no longer any other choice for him. It was love or nothing.

* * * * *

The three brothers and Dax all went up to their latest cut as there had been some suspicious activity. No damaged equipment, but odd items left out by the site. An empty wine bottle, a guide to hunting big game, not totally strange items in and of themselves. But for an area that never even saw even a backpacker, it meant that someone had been there. The Rochon crew would never leave trash lying around. These items were a little too specific for Cage’s taste. That’s why he called Dax back up, thinking Tony was still in the area.

The four men walked along the perimeter. The crew was working close to the road so they pushed further into the woods.

Dax held up a hand and gestured to the other three to sniff the air. He was there or had recently been there. Nothing compared to that oily smell. They’d decided that Tony had given up bathing a long time ago.

Following the scent, they spread out to cover more ground, Dax and Conner taking the right and Wyatt and Cage taking the left flank.

Conner could pick up other smells now, gasoline, what smelled like gin, and more unwashed body smell. He gave Dax a look that got him a nod in return. They must be close to where he was camped out.

Crouching down, Conner moved forward until he could see a tent in the distance. There was a motorbike parked next to it, but no sign of Tony.

Sure his brothers had already figured out that they were honing in on the elusive Tony, he opted to move closer. As he was almost on the camp he heard a twig snap and his head shot to Dax. Not more than ten feet behind him stood Tony. The man was haggard, unshaven, with month’s worth of beard growth. His clothes were filthy, and Conner could see he was completely unhinged.

“Down on your knees, freak!” Tony shouted, spitting as he spoke.

Conner watched as Dax held his hands up and slowly got to his knees. Conner was trying to calculate how fast he could get to Tony. But the simple fact was, no matter how fast a shifter was, a bullet was faster.

“You’re Tony? Right,” Conner asked, putting his hands up to show him he was unarmed.

“Figured that out did ya?” Tony sneered, keeping his eyes on Dax.

Conner wasn’t sure what the best approach was for negotiating with a deranged individual so he decided to just keep him talking. Maybe his brothers could get the jump on him.

“Dax told us about you, what happened to your brother. That was a tragic accident,” Conner started.

Tony had started moving around to the front of Dax, keeping his gun trained on his head. He kept moving backwards until he was next to his tent and motorbike. Switching his gun into one hand, Tony pulled in the clutch on his motorbike and kick started it. Letting out the clutch he left it idling. Smart move on his part, Conner thought.

“We’re sorry about your brother,” Dax offered. “You know how much we liked him.”

“You killed him!” Tony screeched out, “You sickos killed him!”

“Tony, I don’t know why your brother got into that grape press. He knew better, he knew how dangerous it was,” Dax explained calmly.

“He told me! He found me and told me what you are. He wanted me to run with him, to get away from that hell hole and I didn’t believe him! I let him go off on his own. Then he died. I saw what you were after that. He was right, you’re monsters!”

Conner noticed that Tony’s hand was growing increasingly shakier. They needed to get the jump on this guy and fast. Cage and Wyatt must have come around to get behind Tony before he moved. They would be circling back again to stay behind him.

“Tony, we understand how much you must be hurting. But you’ve hurt us too, you almost killed two of our family members. Your actions hurt two people and you have to pay for those crimes. You come with us quietly and we will try to get you the help you need. Explain to the police what you’ve gone through, yeah?” Conner was trying to be tactful enough to get him to put the gun down. “Why don’t you set your gun down and we can talk about this.”

“Talk about what? That you’re a bunch of fucking animals! That you ain’t natural! You all deserve to die, people need to know what you are,” Tony yelled.