Blackstone Ranger Guardian - Alicia Montgomery Page 0,1

to him and his bear. They were entrusted by the chief and the Blackstone Dragons to keep everyone here safe, and so that’s what they would do. He was very good at following orders, after all.

The wind, which had already been whipping when he left his little cabin, had now picked up. As the minutes and hours passed, it grew stronger, blowing sleet across the mountains. Not good, Krieger thought. A freak snowstorm, perhaps.

The CB radio he had in his cabin was the only form of communication he had to the outside world. He relied on it for information, from which ranger worked what area to alerts for lost hikers, but more important, weather for the day. The dispatcher hadn’t said anything about a storm coming this morning, so it must have blown in from out of nowhere.

Need to turn back, he told his bear. Sure, if things got rough, they could probably dig a den in the ground and hold up until it passed, but why bother when he knew exactly where they were and how far the walk back to the cabin was? Despite the nearly white-out conditions, his keen sense of direction was like a compass, keeping him oriented at all times.

The bear lumbered around, but halted halfway. What the hell—

There.

His grizzly picked up on it before he did. The sound was faint, but it was there.

Small, slowing faint footsteps of four paws trudging through snow.

A pathetic scritch-scratch sound.

A heartbeat.

Someone was out there. And they were in trouble.

Bear and man were one in body and mind as they focused their senses. Nearby, for sure. The bear followed the sounds, like a beacon in the white vastness of the storm. The footsteps had stopped now. Then the little panting sounds. Until finally it was just the patter of the heartbeat, slowing down to a near halt.

Six feet to the left, about two feet below the snow.

How he and his bear knew where the sounds came from, Krieger didn’t question. There was only the need to find out whatever it was and help them. The layer of snow was no match for the bear’s paws as it dug through the ice like it was paper. Finally, buried underneath all that white, bits of red fur began to appear. Krieger had to slow his animal down, directing its sharp claws to dig around the poor, half-frozen creature, and pull it out.

Huh.

It was so small in his giant paws, but it was obvious now what it was, from the reddish and gray fur, pointed snout and ears, plus the black-tipped paws. A fox. Its bushy red tail hung down, limp, like the rest of its body.

Poor thing. Its ragged breaths and faintly beating heart told him the creature was still alive, but just barely. Shifter, his animal instinct whispered.

His bear roared loudly, a garbled sound his ears couldn’t decipher. It was as if it was trying to catch his attention, telling him something.

Need to get out of the cold. Get it warm and dry in the cabin. He usually avoided dealing directly with hikers and other shifters, but there was no time to contact HQ, nor would he leave this creature out in the cold to freeze to death. Carefully tucking it into the crook of its arm, the bear got onto two feet and began the long walk back to their den.

The fox didn’t stir or make any more sounds in their arms. Out cold. Shifters were stronger than their human or animal counterparts, but they still had their limits. Maybe this little creature overestimated theirs or it, too, had been caught in the sudden storm. He could imagine that it got lost, then turned around when the storm came in.

Finally, he spied the light of his cabin in the distance. By now, the storm was in full force, and if he didn’t have his sense of direction or keen senses, he would have been lost too. His strength, though, had dwindled from all that work, so he shifted back as he trudged up the porch steps, now fully human as his hand reached for the doorknob and staggered inside.

The lights flickered overhead before dying, plunging the cabin into darkness. Got here just in time, thank fuck.

He was bone-tired, but he still had his little friend to think about. The fox remained tucked into the crook of his arm. It looked bigger than he initially thought, a full-grown adult, he reckoned. Still, it didn’t move. The breathing was more even