Chapter 73 - What is Both Strange and Familiar [https://cdn.midjourney.com/00109927-5df2-4258-8586-084a4ced4a73/0_0.png]

Arm looped around Jeremiah, she supported him even with twelve new stitches in her thigh. Her family limped away from the middle camp. Before they’d left, the Wolf representative had found them and brought the Vet some materials to stitch Kennedy’s wound back together. Kennedy had promised to assist with the planned damage control. As Terry had tended to her, the smallest bear’s family had come to them with gifts of water and traveling food. Old Joe had visited them last, supported by Snow. The old man had the balls to ask them to stay. Her family hadn’t had to vote on their answer. They were leaving.

David walked sullenly with them. His normally cheerful face slumped with sorrow. Unusually quiet, he kept his grip on his co-father, Jeremiah, but said nothing. Terry kept ranging forward and circling back. Even with his ability to heal quickly, the damage he had endured was extensive and would take a few weeks to resolve.

“Is there a trail to follow?” Kennedy asked when Terry returned.

Lifting his hand and spreading his fingers open, the Vet gave a small uncertain shrug.

Kennedy’s nose was blown out by the smell of gasoline and burned tires. Maybe, when they got further, finding his scent would be easier. Kennedy said, “How will we bring the body home?”

Jeremiah gritted his teeth. “I will carry him on my back. Whatever we find of him. In this life, he has carried me so many times. I would be dead without him. This is something I owe him, little mother.”

He could barely support himself. Swallowing roughly, fighting back tears, Kennedy said, “We will find a way. The road isn’t that far.” She nodded her agreement, not believing a word of what she had just said.

Further and further, the Vet ranged ahead of them, following false trails. They must have carried his body away from the camp and dumped it. If they had dragged him, there would have been more sign, more scent. In the distance, they heard Terry whistle. He’d found something.

Struggling forward, they broke through the trees to find him standing next to a clump of bloody clothing. Gray faced, he held up the fabric and signed bear. Red had somehow managed to change. She hadn’t dared to consider that a possibility.

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Within her, a spark of hope lit, and she gripped it hard to put out the flame. She had watched him withstand the force of so many shots. No one could survive that. The blood loss alone would kill any living thing.

It spoke to his strength that he had turned. Impossible, but he had. After a nod from Jeremiah, Terry raced ahead, following a trail that was visible now, blood, broken tree limbs. The Vet froze ahead of them, his arms came out wide in a warning to them. Ahead, she could hear the low warning growls. Not a bear, bears. How many? Was one of them Red? Was he in pieces?

Concerned, she released Jeremiah, letting his weight shift onto David. Kennedy approached Terry. Beyond him, four bears, smelling of kind, stood in a small clearing. When their shaggy heads turned Kennedy’s way, their eyes held blankness. They were lost in their shapes. On the ground, motionless, Red lay amongst them in his familiar dark furred bear shape. One notched ear identified him. When she tried to step past Terry, he stopped her.

The bears swayed back and forth, staying close to the body as if they were protecting him and guarding one of their own. She slipped her over sized shirt off of her body, undressing with as little motion as possible. The one female lifted onto her hind legs, mouth gaping open in warning.

Ignoring Terry’s hand signals to stop, Kennedy released her body into change. Splitting swiftly, she settled into her bear shape. She was taking Red’s body home. He would not be eaten on her watch. When she pushed past Terry, he followed her lead, shrugging out of his shirt as she took cautious steps forward.

Spooked, the female bear dropped to all fours, ears flickering. Her nostrils flared as she took in the approaching stranger’s scent. Kennedy came forward and three of the bears retreated, inching backward.

Behind her, Kennedy felt the snap and crackle of change in the air. The female bear lingered close to Red, behind him now. There was no way Kennedy was going to leave him behind. The Lost bear swept the air above Red with heavy shining black claws, trying to warn the people away. A low rumble rose in Kennedy’s chest, a claiming sound, an owning sound.

When Red’s chest rose and fell, Kennedy stumbled with shock. Alive. Impossible. On either side of the body, the two bears stared at each other. Breathing in the scent of Red and the strange bears, she felt the night settling around them. Familiarity held her motionless. The female bear smelled like her, like family. Dim in the black of her great dark eyes, Kennedy saw the faintest spark of recognition in the bear behind Red. Her mother? A cousin?

The shaggy female bear gave a low huff and retreated, taking the males with her. With not even one look back, they sank into the shadows of the woods. The sound of their retreat made her limbs feel weak with relief. Terry stepped into place beside her, and she continued forward, closing the gap.

When she touched her nose to Red’s mangled hip, she breathed in the scent of his life, burning faintly in him. If he hadn’t changed and stopped the blood flow, he’d be dead. He would probably still die. She could sense the extensive brokenness in him. The burn of the bullets within him and their surrounding damage caused her heart to sink into her belly. He should not be alive.