Read Online Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series) by Christine Julian - Free Book Online

even know until one turns on our kind and bam!” Mason slammed a fist against his palm, causing Ollun to startle. “We’re decimated.”
    Looking drawn, and a little less haughty, the owl shifter blinked his wide eyes. “Our own naturally-wild kind could turn on us.” He folded his long fingers and started pacing. “This is most disturbing.”
    “Yeah.” Mason huffed. “Welcome to my world.”
    When Ollun sent him a droll look, Mason chuckled at his unintended pun.
    “What of the purer shifter strains, such as you and myself? Could we be immune?” Ollun asked.
    “Not sure. It’s possible, but I doubt it. One of my clan of a lesser bloodline tested the virus on her blood in the lab. The results weren’t bad—they were devastating.”
    Finally appearing to grasp the implications, Ollun shook his head despairingly, his long hair skimming his shoulders. A cloud of dismay hovered over his features.
    “I have a vial of the strain with me.” Mason glanced in the direction of the cave, and the sudden untamable need to protect Steph slammed into his chest. “I’m taking it to my brother’s post for further investigation. The worst of the strains were found in wolves from the northern trail. But it’s only a matter of time before it reaches our borders.”
    “And wreaks havoc on us all,” Ollun finished. His eyebrows lowered. “Who else knows? How have other shifter races responded?”
    “You’re the first to get the news. Lucky you,” Mason said without humor, slapping his palm on Ollun’s shoulder.
    The owl shifter cringed under Mason’s heavy hand.
    “Sorry,” Mason said. “I forgot about the whole hollow bones thing.”
    The curl of disgust returned to Ollun’s upper lip. “Do not mistake my interest as an invitation for an ally.”
    Mason rolled his eyes. “Right. Why would I? You’re so much more advanced, and yet my people discovered the strain. Chew on that tonight, along with regurgitated mouse entrails.”
    “You bears are indelicate idiots.”
    “You owls are pompous pricks.”
    To Mason’s surprise, his comment made Ollun grin. “True. But no one says it to our faces.”
    Grinning back, Mason shrugged. “What can I say? Bears tell it like it is.”
    “A quality I may come to appreciate. Slowly,” Ollun added with a stern look.
    “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You won’t friend me on Facebook.”
    The comment drew a puzzled expression from Ollun.
    “Never mind. Will you at least accept the ally part of this cooperative? Strategically, we’re better off working together.”
    Ollun nodded. “I will speak with my flock, but yes. We are on the same side.” He wrinkled his nose. “I never imagined I would say such a thing to a bear.”
    “We’re all shifters,” Mason reminded him. “And you may not care that much, but that bond matters to me. I hope you’ll treat it with the respect I intend to.”
    “It is done, then.”
    They clasped each other’s forearms in a known gesture to shifters of camaraderie. “Done,” Mason said.
    “Before we part ways, may I take a sample from your vial back with me so my scientists can investigate the virus as well?”
    “Um…this is seriously toxic stuff. How will you transport it?”
    “I’ll empty a container holding one of my potions, of course.”
    That gave Mason a second’s pause. Potions? Well, who was he to judge? “Follow me.”
    Without a word, they both shifted into animal form to hasten the trip back. Ollun must’ve used his heightened senses to pick up on Mason’s tracks and scent, because he was perched on top of the rocky ledge waiting, by the time Mason strutted up to the mouth of the cave in human form.
    “What?” Mason retorted, annoyed by the look of superiority on Ollun’s face.
    Ollun smiled glibly. “I’ll decline to comment.”
    “Smart,” Mason said.
    “Yes, I know.”
    Insufferable, arrogant, holier than thou— Mason cut off that train of thought, before he proved Ollun’s assumptions right about werebear