Sharon’s Wolves(59)

“Do they usually gather in such numbers?” Cooper asked into her mind.

She shook her head subtly. “Never heard of there being more than one in a location. In fact, I couldn’t have even told you how many there were in existence.”

“Apparently at least six,” Cooper muttered. “What are they doing?”

“I don’t know, but the better question is why were they hanging around here before we even arrived?” Spirits, in her experience, revealed themselves very specifically to certain shifters, or even humans, to bring attention to whatever had them riled up. Melinda had never heard of an instance where they hovered in an area where no one was available to detect them.

“They’re agitated,” Cooper commented.

He wasn’t kidding. She would say they were almost always agitated. That was generally the reason they made themselves present. But this was different. They were truly out of sorts, shaking and floating around the equipment, paying particular attention to one of the enormous drills in the center of the site.

It seemed so obvious to Melinda. Like Sharon and Cooper had told her after visiting this spot on Saturday, it was hard to keep in mind that things couldn’t be as simple as they appeared.

After all, the fracking site rested on the epicenter of the series of tremors shaking the land. That, in and of itself, was blatant. They needed to get these people away from the site before the big one came and killed all of them.

But every member of Melinda’s family and the Masters knew there was more to it. There was always more to it.

She continued to watch, the fur on her back standing on end. The spirits were reminiscent of ghosts hovering around a location in order to annoy any unwanted human or protect their loved ones.

Seconds ticked by. She couldn’t move. As though rooted to her spot, she felt a heavy sense of dread. Her heart pounded, and she fought a growl that wanted to bubble up through her throat and escape.

Suddenly, the ground shook beneath her paws. She braced herself, expecting the worst. What if she and Cooper didn’t make it off this mountain and died with all these souls working in her line of sight?

But the shaking didn’t increase in intensity. It lasted several seconds, long enough to send men scrambling around the various drills in an attempt to grab loose items and hold on to anything they could reach. They would have been through this several times lately.

Before the tremor subsided, one of the drills near the center of the site broke free and teetered to one side with a loud metallic shriek. As if in slow motion, it wobbled back and forth several times while men ran from the base, and then it fell over.

An explosion ensued. Plumes of smoke or steam billowed out of the hole in the ground and rose into the air, followed by what looked like a geyser.

“What is that?” she asked rhetorically.

Cooper answered her anyway. “It’s the water from the well.”

“Did the earthquake cause that?”

“Indirectly. The dislodged drill did. It had probably grown weak from so many tremors.”

She stared in disbelief. The tremor subsided, leaving a water spout shooting into the air where the drill had once stood reaching deep into the earth’s surface.

“Maybe that was it,” Cooper commented offhandedly.

“No. That was definitely not it. That was just the beginning.”

He shrugged his pack off and quickly shifted into human form. It didn’t take him long to dress and reach for his camera inside the bag. He nodded and pointed at the binoculars also sitting just inside the bag. “You gonna help?” he teased out loud now, giving her half a grin.

Melinda followed his lead and returned to human form also. She slipped her clothes on just as quickly and grabbed the binoculars to get a closer look.

Cooper snapped pictures. “Do you suppose we’ll be able to see the spirits in the photos?”

“No idea. Never heard of anyone trying it or even having the wherewithal to think of such a thing while experiencing the shock of spying on one.” She glanced back and forth at the dozens of men scrambling to secure the area and the spirits hovering at the edge of the geyser.

“See if you can spot anything particular with the binoculars and direct me.”

She held the small black compact field glasses up to her face and scanned the area. Not for the first time in her life, the small hairs along her spine jumped to attention, and she froze.

Someone or something was behind her. It unnerved her to realize she couldn’t identify quite what. Slowly, she lowered the lenses and turned around.

Two men stepped out from deeper in the forest and sidled up next to her and Cooper. These had to be the two men Sharon described seeing around here on Saturday.