Chapter 4

Jaxson lay there in the dark, listening for what woke him. Being what he was, he had exceptional hearing and his night vision was very good.

A sound. Just above a whisper. "oooohhhhh." A low moan came from the direction of the bed. Jaxson threw his sleeping bag open and stood and walked over to the bedside. The girl was tossing and turning in her sleep. Probably reliving her torture. Realizing that if he didn't wake her, she could very possibly tear her stitches.

Hesitating only briefly, he reached down and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. Squatting down so that he could whisper in her ear, he leaned in and said, "Shhh. You're safe. I found you where you were left."

She stilled immediately. "You're okay. You'll be in a great deal of pain for a while, but you'll heal. But, I need you to settle down and not move so much, okay? You'll tear your stitches. Doc spent about three hours cleaning and stitching up your stab wounds, the two gunshot wounds and your head wound."

Turning towards him, she whispered in a harsh voice, "Water?"

Jaxson reached for the bottle that he had placed on the nightstand by her bed before going to sleep. Uncapping the body, he reached for her and said, 'I'm going to put my arm under your shoulders. Don't try to help me, just let me lift you." Seeing her nod, he did as he had said he would. "Slowly. If you drink it too fast, it might make you sick."

Watching her, he held the bottle and let her drink her fill. Laying her back down, he tells her that he is getting her some more pain medication. Uncapping the bottle, he shook out two pills and put them to her lips. Jaxson watched her mouth open as she wrapped her lips around his fingertips, without realizing it. It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen or felt. He almost growled as he realized the direction of his thought. Shaking his head, he once more touched the bottle to her lips. He watched as she swallowed the pills and water. He laid her back down and watched as sleep overtook her.

Standing, he turned, only to notice Henry standing at the doorway, watching. Jaxson had to work hard to growl at the other man for being so close to the girl. As he came closer to the door, the doctor raised an eyebrow.

"You know Jaxson, I have seen a lot of things. Unexplainable things. Things that shouldn't exist. Men that became animals. Animals that would morph into men. Almost always large men, with lots of muscle, great strength, exceptional hearing and eyesight."

Jaxson didn't know what to say. Shifters were supposed to be a secret. Their very existence exposed could cause so much trouble. Labs would do things to them, such as drain them of their life's blood and use it for all kinds of research. Jaxson knew without a doubt that they would even try to make their own, or change a human to use as soldiers. What they didn't know, was that most shifters were very willing to serve their country in the military and law enforcement and that a lot of them did.

Henry looked up at the man who he knew was a shifter. He had known almost as soon as he had met him. As a doctor and a soldier himself, his observational skills were how he made his living. "Your secret is safe. I have known since you came to town two years ago. I also know that most of the town are shifters. I just never asked what kind."

"Bears," Jaxson replied, barely above a whisper.

"Bears. Wow." Jaxson looked over at the doctor where they now sat at his kitchen table. Dawn was breaking through the window over the sink and the smell of coffee filled the air. "How long have you or your....clan...troupe," Henry stopped and looked at Jaxson in a questioning manner.

"Bears have clans. Wolves have packs, foxes have dens, etc. It pretty much follows nature." He got up and fixed two cups of coffee and set one in front of the doctor.

"I saw how you took care of her, you know. You're a natural. You have a natural feel for how to treat a patient." Henry needed some help with his office. If he could talk Jaxson into helping him, he could take nursing school classes at the local college, within a 15 minute drive from their town.

"I have reason to be gentle with her." He left that hanging while he got up and went to check on her again. Coming back to the kitchen, he asked Henry to call Bill.

"Surely in all of the things that Bill found in her motel room, something had to have her name on it. I hate calling her Jane Doe or the patient or the girl. She is a woman. A small woman, but a woman, nonetheless. A girl doesn't have curves like that." Realizing how creepy he sounded he felt his face becoming hot as he blushed. Something he hadn't done since before going in the military several years ago.

Henry smiled as he raised his mug to his lips, knowing better than to laugh at his host. He watched as Jaxson put together a breakfast for them. In a short amount of time, Jaxson had whipped up pancakes, sausage, eggs and grabbed some fruit that he had in his fridge.

After their breakfast, Henry offered to wash the breakfast dishes, but Jaxson asked him to go call the sheriff instead while he washed up. After cleaning the kitchen. he went to check on the mysterious young woman in his guest room. She lay where he had left her, sleeping on her back. As he watched she moved slightly to one side and frowned in her sleep. Going over to her bedside, he squatted down and whispered in her ear.

"Easy little mate. Your body needs to heal. Try not to move around so much." Jaxson inspected her face, noticing that her bruises were darker than yesterday. He knew that tomorrow they would start the process of healing and begin to fade. It would be a slow process, but he was relatively sure that they would heal completely. Pulling down the covers a little bit, he checked the bruising on her ribs and wondered how they weren't broken. Realizing that there was a small almost invisible scar on one of her ribs under her arm, he ran his finger over it and felt a small raised area.

When he felt Henry's presence behind him, he swallowed his possessiveness and pointed out the raised area. "What do you make of it?" Jaxson asked.

"Honestly?" At Jaxson's nod, he spoke. "It feels like something is under the skin. It's small whatever it." Looking over at Jaxson, Henry felt his eyes get wide.

"She's hiding something. Remember how Mave was telling anyone who would listen how she was terrified and watched everyone come and go when she came to the diner? What if she stumbled across something? Something, not just damaging, but that would make someone want to kill her for the information, or torture her to find out if she took something. "

Bill entered the bedroom as Henry had finished speaking. "It's entirely possible."

Bill walked further into the room and handed Jaxson a driver's license. The girl in the photo was definitely the young woman lying in his guest bed. Her hair was a bit shorter in the picture and her eyes were the deepest blue he had ever seen. They looked like dark sapphires. Charlotte Wilson. Age 23, brown hair, blue eyes and small build. Jaxson, pulled his eyes away from the photo to look at the sheriff.

"She's been missing for about two weeks now. She worked at some big firm in Tampa where they handle international shipments. Evidently, she stumbled across exactly what was in some of those "shipments."

"Drugs would be my guess." Henry said, coming to join the other men and shooing them out of the room so that his patient could rest.

"No. Turns out they were smuggling guns and even some artwork that were stolen from wealthy black-market purchasers. After all, who in their right mind is going to report that someone stole your painting from you." Bill handed him a thick file to read. Sitting down on the sofa, he began to go through the folder. Acquainting himself with his enemy. When he got to the last photo, he felt like he had been shot. He raised his head and looked Bill square in the eye.

Nodding, he answered the question that was on Jaxson's face. "Yes, that's him. How he went from CIA analyst to arms dealer is beyond me. But, with his time at the agency, he most likely has a whole lot of contacts to do business with."

"How are we going to protect her?" Henry asked.

"You won't have to. I will." Jaxson stood and walked back to the guest room to check on Charlotte and then returned.

"It's like that, is it?" Bill asked with a half smile on his face.

"Yes. I knew it the minute I touched her. But, I didn't allow myself to hope, in case she didn't make it." Jaxson said quietly.

"Jaxson, what are you and Bill talking about?" Henry asked, confused.

"Charlotte, it appears, is Jaxson's soulmate." When Henry's look of confusion deepened, Bill went on to explain.

"Shifters have a soulmate. Every one of them. They are the perfect person for them. If they're lucky and something happens to their mate, sometimes, they will find what they call a second chance mate. But, they are always the perfect match for each other." Bill paused to let the information soak into Henry's brain. "Not only that, any children they have will most likely be shifters as well."

Henry opened his mouth to say something when a terrified scream rent the air. Before Henry could even move, Jaxson was beside Charlotte's bed, quietening her.

"Shhhh. You're safe Charlotte. No one can hurt you here. No one even knows this place still exists anymore outside of the townsfolk." Bill and Henry could hear her mumbling to the big bear kneeling down by her bed.

"No Charlotte. He won't find you. He thinks you're dead and what information you may have has gone to your grave with you. As far as he knows, the wolves and bears ate your body." Seeing her start to get agitated, Henry decided to give her a shot of something to calm her down. Just as he was coming back into the room, she stilled. Jaxson was literally sitting behind her and she was lying right up next to him, and his arm draped over her side. Looking up at the doctor, Jaxson shrugged.

The two men withdrew from the room and left the couple to quietly get acquainted. Short minutes passed when they heard a soft giggle.

"Your patient is going to be fine, Henry. The thing with mates. They love. Unconditionally. She could have been a drug addict and prostitute, but Jaxson would still have loved her. It's just the way we are."

Bill watched the other man's eyes get wide. "We?" Bill nodded." Yep. Most of us in this town are some kind of shifter. After World War 1, Jaxson's great-grandfather settled here. He wanted to have someplace quiet, green, wooded. Somewhere his bear could live and be in peace. Knowing he was a shifter, several other soldiers followed him. Many were from different countries. Some, even the so-called enemy. They all had one thing in common. They wanted, no, needed peace. They were tired of war and death. They wanted somewhere to live where they could be themselves without worrying about outsiders. Somewhere their animals could run free and be themselves. This town is unique in the shifter world. It's only one of a few of its kind."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"I mean, shifters don't normally get along with other shifters. Bears, cats, foxes, wolves. They don't usually get along with each other. Wolves are territorial, bears like to roam, so do foxes and cats. But here, the bears and others get to roam all over this mountain. But to the wolf, this is home. They are territorial. But, not to kin or clan."

Jaxson came out of Charlotte's room and walked up to Henry. "What can she eat? She's hungry. And she would like a bath."

Henry frowned. "Food is not a problem. Something light. Broth, soft scrambled eggs, soupy grits, that kind of thing. A bath, well, that's another story altogether. She has so many stitches that getting them wet would not be a good idea. She can take a sink bath if she has someone to help her. I can get.."

At Jaxson's growl, he stopped. "No one. I will help her and only me." Stalking off to the kitchen to fix his mate some food.