Five Years Later

Kaddian watched as Kyrrian pinned yet another one of his "best" warriors to the ground in hand to hand combat. Watching her now, you would have never guessed how frail and weak she had been all those years ago. She now had her fair share of warrior tattoos covering her body. The small tribal cuffs she had on her arms and neck were depictions of her most proud victories. That night had changed everything for both of them.

"Kyrrian, come here" Kaddian yelled. His sister delievered a quick roundhouse to the jaw of Jarren, and sent him sprawling into unconsciousness.

"Yes?" she asked, slightly out of breath as she grabbed the towel and water bottle resting on the banister.

"Your roundhouse is weak" Kaddian said.

Used to her brother's constantly emotionless face, Kyrrian knew when he was teasing and when he was serious. Turning to look backwards, she laughed dryly, "Obviously not".

They stared each other down before she cracked a smile and he unfurrowed his brow and a smile hinted at the corner of his mouth. She walked up the steps and he grabbed her close, palming the back of her head so he could kiss the top. The two walked into the house, looking every bit as twins as they were.

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"I appreciate you leaving me outside, passed out" Jarren said with a mouth full of apple.

"You were fine" Kyrrian smirked, leaning casually against the counter. She wore her signature all black, pants and razor-back alike.

Kaddian continued to slice meat at the cabinet while simultaneously monitoring the vegetables in the pan on the stove.

"Kaddian, tell her that you can't just leave someone blacked out on the ground" Jarren yelled. His honey brown hair was tousled and unkempt, as per usual, and the joking slob had his feet propped up on the table.

"You should not have let her knock you out" Kaddian said, stirring the vegetables.

"See" Kyrrian added with a smirk and pushed herself off the cabinet. She walked toward Jarren, never breaking eye contact with the loud-mouthed slacker. He became visibly more nervous with each step she took.

"I'm always right" Kyrrian whispered as she took the apple from his hand and took a bite. She grabbed his legs and flipped him backwards out of his chair, then leaned down and put the apple back in his mouth.

"I'll be back" Kyrrian said, waving without turning around and going out the back door.

"Howy Sit" Jarren exhaled, removing the apple from his mouth. He stared, upside down, at the place where Kyrrian last stood before flipping over abruptly.

"How old are you two again?" Jarren asked quickly.

"She's not your mate" Kaddian said with conviction.

"I'm just saying maybe she is! How am I supposed to be sure whether someone is or isn't my mate until she's hit twenty-five?" Jarren pressed.

"Trust me, you would know. But if you want to keep your hopes high until next month, knock yourself out" Kaddian said.

"And how would you know what finding your mate is like, you don't have one" Jarren said, stupidly forgetting that Kaddian was not just his friend, but his Alpha.

Kaddian growled low in warning, giving Jarren a side look that sent shivers down Jarren's spine.

Jarren threw his hands up in surrender, and waited for Kaddian's reaction.

Finally, he said "I'm your Alpha, I just know".

Jarren stared at Kaddian's back, watching as the giant man's muscles rippled doing even the daintiest of things, like cooking. Jarren looked down at his own smaller, narrower arms and sighed. He was a lithe, lean man, which was ridiculous considering he shifted into a bear. If he wasn't so much taller than the average human man, you wouldn't know he was a were-bear at all.

"Who else is coming over for food?" Jarren asked.

"BB, Lizbet, and Porter" Kaddian said.

"Oh, I-" but Jarren was interrupted by a knock on the door. "They're here already?"

"They shouldn't be" Kaddian said, turning slowly. He grabbed a towel and wiped his hands, heading to the front door in the process. He opened the door slowly at first, then with more gusto upon seeing who it was.

"Sheriff Hale" he said, his facial expression relaxing.

"Mr. Grayson" she said with a nod and bright smile, "Can I come in?".

"Of course" Kaddian opened the door for the woman walk in.

"I hate to just barge in on you like this" Lauren said in her typical, quirky accent, "but something interesting has popped up lately in the woods and I need some advice" she hefted a large file up and waved it a few times.

Kaddian looked at the file, then back at her face. Her brown, wavy hair was tousled from the sheriff's hat she had no doubt removed before walking to the house.

"Mr. Grayson?" She repeated, looking upwards at his face.

"I apologize, yes, I can tell you what I know" Kaddian said. Jarren poked his head around the corner of the doorway.

"Hey Ms. H!" Jarren said happily.

"Hello Jarren, you're happy today" Lauren said with a smile, "how is your father? I haven't been home lately so I haven't seen him".

The Redd's, Jarren and his father, lived in town, coincidently right next door to the sheriff. Everyday on his way to the local junior college, the hyperactive twenty year old waved hello to the frazzled looking sheriff who seemed to never get enough sleep.

"He's good! Grouchy, but good!" Jarren could think of no other description to describe the bear of a man... no pun intended.

"Sheriff, would you like something to drink?" Kaddian asked, halfway into the kitchen.

"Well sure, anything you've got is fine" she said.

Kaddian went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, filling it with lemonade from the fridge. He stopped to stir his vegetables and said, at a volume that would carry, "your hair is shorter". When he turned around, Lauren Hale was directly behind him. Kaddian stopped abruptly and looked down at the brunette.

"Oh, yeah, I cut it on my birthday. You know, something different" she said shyly, fingering the ends of her hair. She looked at the floor distantly before shaking her head and taking the glass from Kaddian's extended hand. She made her way to the table and sat down, opening the file. She quickly began to prattle on while Kaddian stood there staring at the back of her head.

Jarren leaned against the door frame and watched Kaddian before furrowing his own brow and straightening up, gesturing to the table. The movement seemed to snap Kaddian out of his reverie and upon seeing Jarren's raised eyebrows, he grimaced and gave the thin boy a cold glare.

"So the authorities called me because they heard that I was having similar cases pop up and now it looks like a darn epidemic" Lauren said.

Kaddian sat down in a chair and began looking at the images Sheriff Hale was laying out.

Each picture was of a different location in the woods, some he recognized, others he did not. Large red 'X's were painted on one tree in each image with a body propped against the base of the tree.

"Now the 'X's are written in blood, but never the blood of the person sitting at the foot of the tree. None of the people found dead were reported missing, which makes me think they may be like you..." she looked up at Kaddian, "you know, all fluffy, and that they like their privacy, so they never reported them missing. All of the individuals who are taken are deposited in places no where near their home location. Here is the weird thing, now I would hope that you trust me enough to tell me if one of your own went missing, but even if you didn't, I would know, because five of the eleven bodies found have been found in these woods. The other three in a forested area three counties over. Even those would be too close to home to fit this M.O. These people were from the East Coast. What do you know about... people like you... on the East Coast?"

Kaddian looked at every single picture and did not see a single familiar face.

"I don't recognize anyone, but that means nothing. I have not spoken to our Eastern brethren in years. Since I was a child" he said.

"Well that was just my guess. I asked the doctors when the tests came back whether there was anything odd about their blood and they looked at me like I was ten shades of crazy" Sheriff Hale said, posing her comment as a question.

"They would not find anything odd at all in the blood of these people. It's coded into our genes to keep our secret. Only if they retrieved blood from one of us mid transition would they find odd DNA. When we are people, we are people, bears, bears" Kaddian explained.

"Oh, well, that's me being fanciful. I guess I wanted to find out if you knew these people and if not, maybe you could discover who they are? I also wanted to warn you, can't have any of my citizens dying" she said, exhibiting her genuine care for the people under her watch.

"I thank you for your attention, and I will look into it" Kaddian said, helping her gather up the images. She quickly threw everything haphazardly into the folder and laughed nervously.

"Well, thank you. I'm sorry I interrupted your uh... dinner plans" Lauren said, heading toward the door.

"He cooks food for his sister and anyone in the Sleuth who wants to eat" Jarren added, having somehow remained silent the entire time until that moment.

"Sleuth, right, I always want to say that it's a pack of bears but that's not right, huh?" Sheriff Hale asked, turning toward Kaddian.

"No, packs are for wolves. A Sleuth is group of bears" Kaddian said with a nod. Sheriff Hale stared at him for a moment before nodding quickly and heading out the door towards her beat up squad car.