Mated to the Wilde Bear novel Chapter 28

She turned back to Gerald. “These complaints, are they because the crew is made up of shifters?” she asked him.

Gerald didn’t meet her eyes for a long time. When he did, regret was etched in the lines that had deepened around his mouth and eyes. “Yes,” he said finally. “Whoever this is, they aren’t happy to have shifters in positions of authority in this town.”

“You don’t know who made the complaints?” she asked.

Gerald shook his head. “They’re all anonymous. It’s one of the reasons I’m being so diligent. Could be anyone, including someone in our department. Hell, for all I know, it’s Kemp.” Gerald grunted, and Laurel felt his temperature rise.

“Alan Kemp?” she asked. “Doesn’t he run the public transportation system?”

“Yep. Asshole wants my job and hasn’t made it a secret for a while now. If he can prove the Blue Bear Search and Rescue are unsafe, he’ll have my title pulled along with theirs. I’m the one who approved them, after all.”

The radio at Laurel’s hip squawked, cutting off the rest of her questions. A crackly voice came through.

“Patrol one to base, copy?” Laurel’s limbs almost became liquid as Xavier made contact.

“Base, go ahead,” she said.

“Two of the four hunters located and in custody,” Xavier said. “I’ve got Lucas with me to help bring them in. One has a gunshot wound, upper right thigh. Nash and Jake split up to track the other two. They’ll radio in when they’ve got something.”