An Alpha's Thunder (Water Bear Shifters 3) by Sloane Meyers Page A

related to Lance right now. She just wanted to relax and enjoy her drink. When the baseball game was interrupted for a commercial break, Caroline found her attention wandering to the hushed conversation of the men right behind her.
    “How can we be sure it’s someone from the Coast Guard?” the younger man asked.
    Caroline perked up, and shifted imperceptibly in her seat to try to hear better. She was always interested in stories involving the Coast Guard, and something in the man’s tone sounded sinister and intriguing.
    “We can’t be sure,” the older man answered. “Whoever got to Kevin did a really good job of cleaning up after themselves. We didn’t find any fingerprints or traces of DNA in his car or his condo. Everything had been wiped clean. They took his laptop and surveillance equipment, and destroyed any records that were left behind. But the last several transmissions we received from before he disappeared all involved the Coast Guard. Specifically the Coast Guard rescue swimmers and their crews.”
    Caroline was trying so hard to hear what the men were saying that she was holding her breath. DNA? Fingerprints? These guys definitely sounded like they were involved in something shady.
    “But that could have been coincidence, right? I mean, Kevin was also looking at the Navy. Maybe one of those guys got him.”
    “Anything’s possible. But we just discovered something somewhat concerning,” the older man said, then paused and lowered his voice so much that Caroline could barely catch what he was saying. “One of our agents up in Glacier Point, who is keeping an eye on the old warehouse up there that we were using, saw someone dressed in a Coast Guard uniform fly in to Glacier Point for one day. The guy who met him at the airport is a confirmed polar bear shifter.”
    “Seriously?” the younger man said, his voice rising a little in excited concern. “Do you think the shifters down here are in contact with the ones up there?”
    “It looks like it. Our guy got a grainy photograph of the Coast Guard visitor. It wasn’t much but it was all we had to work with. After a lot of digging around, we figured out who he is. Ace Grimes, helicopter pilot for a Coast Guard rescue crew.”
    There was slight whooshing sound as the man slid a photograph across the table. Caroline shifted slightly in her seat, trying to see the photograph without making her interest obvious. It was an eight by ten glossy photo of a man with dark brown hair and eyes staring sternly into the camera and wearing a Coast Guard uniform.
    “The guy looks like he could be a bear. Grizzly, maybe? Definitely brawny enough.”
    Caroline furrowed her brow. What were these guys talking about? Polar bear shifter? A man who looked like he could be a grizzly bear?
    “Naw, I don’t think he’s a grizzly. He doesn’t have the right eyes for it. Black bear is my guess. I’d almost say panda, but I don’t think there are any of them left.”
    Caroline stared down into her empty beer mug. Was she hearing things incorrectly? She had only had one beer, so it couldn’t be the alcohol making her misinterpret what the men were saying. They were really sitting here talking about bear shifters and the Coast Guard. Were they drunk? Caroline carefully looked them over out of the corner of her eye, but they looked completely sober. And the two beer mugs in front of them looked untouched. But they were definitely sitting there talking about shifters like that was something that actually existed. Maybe they were just certifiably crazy. They probably had a dozen conspiracy theories about the government and how it was using shapeshifters to spy on people or something like that.
    Caroline almost giggled, but stifled her laugh at the last second. She had never met someone who actually believed that shifters existed, and it was funny to watch these two burly men talking about folklore like it was reality. Their whole conversation was pretty entertaining, and