Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series) Read Online Free

Mason’s gut spread in a numbing chill to his limbs. “Is it transferrable to shifters beyond lycan?”
    When he received no answer, he clenched his jaw, forcibly trying not to go berserk. Roar at the top of his lungs. Break something.
    Sandy’s eyes filled with tears. “We tested it on my blood. The cell rate of death was nearly the same as a lycan’s.”
    Rage boiled in his blood. He paced, disgusted, beside himself with fear for his kind. “What do we do?”
    “As of now, the heaviest concentration of this rabies strain is farther north on the trail.” Tyce sighed heavily. “I’m in touch with a doctor up there. As far as I’ve been told, the lycan are aware of this curse. Painfully aware. Few of their kind roam the wild as they used to. But for now, every wolf must be treated with extreme caution, shifter or not. We are all at risk.”
    Mason swallowed. “You’re right. All of us are in danger. No matter what species. Even birds of prey could happen on a carcass to pick it clean and…”
    There was no need for him to finish. All three of them knew with dreadful certainty that any type of shifter may face extinction with this wretched strain.
    Taking a haggard breath, Mason asked, “Have you talked to other shifter species? Do they know? Should we sound an alarm?”
    “Only the elders have that power,” Sandy replied softly. “But you know them, Mason. They believe we’re immune, impervious to traditional mortal plagues. If we take this to them now, they’ll demand undeniable proof werebears can contract the virus.”
    “Stubborn old bears,” Mason muttered through clenched teeth. “Is there any way to stop it? Some kind of vaccine?”
    “Working on it,” Tyce said, arching an eyebrow, “when you so gracefully barged through my door.”
    “From now on,” Mason stated, “the antidote is your sole mission. Unless a human is broken or poisoned or on his deathbed, your skills are dedicated to fighting this thing.”
    “That’s the plan,” Tyce said.
    “In the meantime, I pray to the Ancestors we won’t have an example to show the elders as proof of this virus’s toxicity. I have no desire to place the infested dead of our kind at their feet. Hell, by that time it could already be too late for all of us.”
    “We know.” Two tears tracked down Sandy’s cheeks. “Sorry, excuse me.” She raced from the clinic.
    Jaw clenched, determination pumping through him, Mason straightened. “I’m going on an expedition.”
    “Is that wise?” Tyce cautioned.
    “It’s necessary,” Mason said flatly. “Does Bryon at the next post have a heads-up about what you’ve discovered?”
    Tyce nodded. “I’ve been meaning to send a sample up to him to verify in his medic lab.”
    “Get it ready. I’ll bring it with me. My brother will want to know about this.”
    A frown on his lips, Tyce eyed him warily. “That could be exceedingly dangerous, should anything happen to the vial in transit.”
    “I’ve guarded the woods along the North Carolina trail for twenty-five years. You know me, Tyce. Better than anyone. When the stakes are high, I make sure every decision counts.”
    Tyce bowed his head. “The Ancestors be with you.”
    “They will.” They had to be. How could their Ancestors allow this pestilence to destroy them?
    Protecting Steph on the trail, learning more from other shifters on the way, and taking the sample to the next post became his intertwined priorities.
    Nobody messed with a bear, damn it.
    Nobody .
    Mason walked out to the lodge’s main room and found it empty except for the junior Guardian. He stopped short. “Did Stephanie leave?”
    Quinn wagged his eyebrows suggestively. “The sexy cutie with the red hair? Yeah, about two minutes ago.” He grinned like a grizzly with his hand in a honey pot. “Hate to watch her go, but love to watch her leave.”
    “Did she leave alone?”
    The young man shrugged. “Far as I could tell. I asked who she was with, like you wanted me