An Alpha's Tempest (Water Bear Shifters 4) (13 page)

Ben held his breath as he silently crept through the damp darkness of the underground caverns. His bear senses were on high alert, taking in even the smallest sounds and smells as he made his way along the narrow passageway. Walking directly in front of him was Alan, the Northern Lights Bear who had spent significant time trapped in these caves. Alan knew the caves fairly well, but he had cautioned that the scientists may have tried to change or block several of the passageways. The Northern Lights Clan itself had completely closed off one of the main entrances years ago after they had a showdown with their enemy clan, the Blizzards, outside of these caves. Still, Alan seemed to have a fairly good idea of where they were going, and Neal seemed to trust him completely. Ben trusted Neal’s judgment, so he wasn’t worried about whether they would find the greenhouse room they were searching for. He was just impatient. The long hike through the caverns felt like it was taking forever, and Ben could hardly wait to let loose all of his pent up fury on the scientists.

It felt surreal to Ben that he was finally going to have the chance to get revenge on the scientists for what they had done to his clan. After all these years, he had to pinch himself to believe that this moment was really happening. The faces of his fallen clan members kept flashing across his mind, and he could feel the anger within him burning hotter with every step he took.

Behind him, dozens of bear shifters silently plodded along, lost in their own thoughts of why they wanted revenge on the scientists. Several members of Sawyer’s clan were here for the big attack, eager for the chance to avenge the death of their clan member, Evan. And, of course, the other three panda alphas—Brett, Ace, and Lance—were here as well. Their clans had suffered the same fate as Ben’s, and their anger burned just as hot as his.

Each shifter wore a backpack with supplies. They had all packed extra clothes, since they would lose the ones they were wearing when they shifted and attacked the scientists. They had also packed plenty of food and water, in case the group ended up being in the caverns for several days. The group members had all agreed that they weren’t leaving the caverns until they found the scientists, even if that meant several days of searching. Ben didn’t want to think about the possibility that they had been wrong, and that the scientists weren’t actually hiding down here. He didn’t think he could take the disappointment if that was the case. And, deep inside of him, he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be disappointed. His bear had grown increasingly restless over the last hour, and Ben felt like they must be getting close to
something
. He kept plodding along after Alan, staying alert and hoping that their search efforts would be rewarded soon.

About thirty minutes later, Alan stopped and held up his hand as a silent signal to stop. He breathed in deeply, and then turned to Ben.

“Do you smell that?” he asked in a low voice.

Ben breathed in deeply as well, and caught just the faintest hint of an earthy, herbal scent.

“Yeah,” Ben said, breathing in again to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. “It smells like plants.”

Alan grinned and nodded. “We’re getting close to the greenhouse, I think. The scent is still from somewhere pretty far away, but at least we know we’re heading in the right direction.”

Alan turned to continue walking, and Ben felt his heart beginning to race with adrenaline. He needed to stay calm and conserve his energy for the upcoming fight, but that was much easier said than done. The more they walked, the stronger the plant scent became. Alan had told the group that there were several passageways that led to the greenhouse—at least, that had been the case when Alan was trapped in the caves years ago. No one could be sure what modifications the scientists may have made to the cave. If the shifters were correct, and the scientists’ main laboratory was located in or near the greenhouse room, then it was highly likely that most of the passageways had been closed to keep the area more secure.

Alan stopped in front of Ben again, pausing to breathe in deeply and assess the situation.

“Do you smell that?” Alan asked, furrowing his brow as he looked back at Ben.

Ben breathed in deeply. The smell of plants had become overwhelmingly strong, and, mixed in with that, Ben could smell the scent of bear thanks to the numerous shifters behind him. Obviously, that was not the smell that Alan was referring to. Ben breathed in again, doing his best to pick out any unfamiliar scents. He thought he picked up a faint aroma of metal and gunpowder, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Yeah,” Ben said, still sniffing the air. “Smells like a gun, right? But that shouldn’t be that surprising. We are expecting them to be heavily armed.”

“Right,” Alan said, still looking worried. “But I think the scent is too close. It smells strange, like someone tried to cover the scent but didn’t completely succeed.”

Ben breathed in once more, trying to see how far away the smell seemed to be. To him, the gun scent didn’t seem that close, but it did smell weird. Alan was right, something was definitely off. “Maybe we should send a warning down the line,” Ben said. “If everyone is aware of the scent and watching out for its possible source, then hopefully we should be able to figure out where it’s coming from before we get there and are unpleasantly surprised.”

Alan nodded, and started to say something. But before he could get the words out, chaos broke out in the ranks of the shifters behind them. Several loud roars echoed across the walls of the cave as gunshots began to ring out. Before Ben had time to react, the roars were followed by bursts of energy. The ranks behind them were beginning to shift, which could only mean one thing: they were under attack. Ben tossed his backpack aside, and let out a loud roar of his own. Moments later, his clothes turned to shreds as his human form disappeared and was replaced by the form of a fearsome giant panda.

Ben swung his bear head back and forth, trying to figure out where the attackers were. But the passageway had become a scene of mass chaos. Smoke filled the air, along with the scent of blood. The roars of bears mixed with human screaming, and Ben ran towards the back of the line to try to help stop whoever it was that was shooting from harming any more bears. He ran past tufts of fur and slumped, lifeless bodies of both humans and bears. He felt an indignant anger rising in his chest as his massive paws quickly covered the distance to the back of the shifter ranks. He had had enough of this. He had seen enough shifters die at the hands of these bastards, and he was going to end this today or die trying. As he ran, he started running into other shifters, who were running in the opposite direction as him.

At first, he was angry with them. Were they running away from the attackers like a bunch of cowards? But then, he realized that the gunfire had ceased, and the smell of smoke had intensified. He stopped, and breathed in to find that his nostrils filled with the scent of fire. Whoever had attacked them must have set fire to the passageway to try force the bears forward. There didn’t appear to be any humans left alive, but Ben had a feeling that there would be many more guards waiting for them once they reached the end of this passageway. Ben turned and began running in the other direction with a loud roar.

If they thought that they were going to be able to take down this entire group of shifters with a couple of guns and a puny little fire, then they were in for a surprise. Ben ran full speed, with the adrenaline in his body pushing him forward faster and faster with each passing second. He ran past all of the other shifters, despite the fact that they were running as quickly as they could as well. Ben’s alpha genes had taken over, and he had become a fearsome, angry creature, hell-bent on the destruction of anyone even remotely connected to the scientists.

When he reached the front of the line again, he found his fellow panda alphas leading the pack. They grunted in acknowledgment as he joined their ranks, and then continued to charge full speed ahead. The smell of both plants and gunpowder became stronger, and soon Ben could hear what sounded like a raging river. The sound became almost deafening moments before the group burst into the greenhouse room. The room was massive, with row after row of strange looking plants poking up through dense soil. In the middle of the room stood a small shed. A small river ran across the room right in front of the shed. It appeared to be supplied with water by a system of pipes, one of which had burst and was shooting a wild stream of water into the room, accounting for the deafening waterfall noise. The fire behind the shifters would be no match for this flood.

Ben ran forward into the room, searching for any guards or workers who might be in there. But the room was empty, abandoned in a rush. The smell of fire hit his nose again, and that’s when he realized that the small shed was starting to burn. With a frustrated grunt, he ran to the shed and stomped out the flames that had been struggling to gain momentum. He peered into the shed and saw an elaborate filing system and several electronic gauges that seem to be monitoring things like water and air temperature. The scientists had clearly tried to destroy this shed and their data before abandoning the area in fear. The guards who had attacked the shifters from behind must have somehow radioed a warning to this room to let them know that an army of bears was coming.

Ben roared in anger and frustration and took off at a full speed run toward the only other entrance to the greenhouse room that he could see. He had come so close to the chance to rip his enemies to shreds, but now he could feel his chance slipping away. He wasn’t sure how much of a head start the scientists had, but he was desperate to stop them. He hadn’t come this far and worked this hard to let them slip away again. Behind him, he heard several answering roars that echoed his own frustrations. The small army of shifters sprinted after the escaping scientists, determined to catch them and hoping they hadn’t missed their chance.

* * *

Rhythm paced back and forth in front of the cabins that belong to the Northern Lights Clan. Her frustration over being assigned to the group in charge of protecting the cabins was eating at her. She wanted to be part of the action, and there was no action happening here. Things had been completely quiet since the other groups had left to storm the caverns. Not even a full day had passed yet, and Rhythm was already feeling like a cooped up animal.

On top of her frustration over not being able to go to the caves, she was dealing with worry about whether Ben was okay. She would have felt much better if she was fighting alongside him, and could clearly see whether or not he was in harm’s way. She knew that because of her lifemate bond with Ben, she should be able to sense if he was in serious danger. But the whole concept of a lifemate bond was new to Rhythm, and she didn’t yet trust completely that she would know if Ben was in trouble.

The rest of the group assigned to guard the cabins tried in vain to get Rhythm to stop pacing. They told her to relax because Ben was an alpha and could take care of himself. And they told her that guarding the cabins was a very important job. Rhythm knew that both of these things were true, but it didn’t change the fact that she wanted to fight the scientists in person instead of waiting around for some sort of news.

After several hours of pacing, one of the shifters finally convinced Rhythm to at least take a break and eat some lunch. Rhythm grudgingly agreed, and joined one of the other shifters in eating a bowl of fresh chili. She had to admit that the food was delicious and well worth the break. As she finished scooping the last bites of food into her mouth, one of the other shifter guards came bursting into the cabin.

“We just heard from the group stationed outside the caves,” the man said excitedly. “They said that there is smoke coming from the entrance where our guys entered the caverns. It sounds like someone set off a huge fire somewhere inside. But that’s not all. They’ve been keeping an eye on the whole tundra by using night vision binoculars that are capable of seeing for several miles. They just saw what appears to be a group of humans driving vehicles up from what must be another cave entrance. They think that the scientists are escaping!”

Rhythm dropped her spoon into her bowl with a loud clang. “Where are the shifters who went into the caves?”

“No one knows. We haven’t heard anything from them on the radio, although that’s not surprising if they’re still in the caves because the radio signal doesn’t work very well down there.”

Rhythm frowned. She had to trust that Ben was okay, because she didn’t sense otherwise. But hearing that the scientists might be escaping was unbearable news. If they got away now, who knows how long it would take to find them again. Rhythm jumped to her feet, the legs of her chair loudly scraping against the cabin’s wooden floor.

“We can’t let them get away,” she said, gesturing wildly with her arms.

“Well, I agree with that sentiment,” the shifter guard said. “But what are we supposed to do? They’re miles away from the group on the surface, and we don’t know where they’re heading so we don’t know if we can catch them. Whatever vehicles they have are extremely fast. The guy I was talking to on the radio said that they’re trying to chase them but they’re not having much luck with closing the big gap between them.”

“So, what?” Rhythm said, her voice rising. “We just give up? Just like that, after coming so far and getting so close to stopping them? We have to at least try. Think. Where would they be going? Is there another location around here that they might use as a hiding place?”