Avenge the Bear by T. S. Joyce Page B

local history section, but came up with nothing on him.
    “I only have a few minutes before I have to be at work,” she said as she followed Samantha down the narrow hallway, painted in a soothing lavender-gray color with white trim.
    “This won’t take long.”
    Muriel was lying on her back on Samantha’s bed, round belly pointing up at the ceiling, studying an old book of some kind. Rolling to her side, she said, “Reese, I don’t think Ethan did it.”
    “What? How do you know?”
    “He’s in my dad’s hunter journal,” Samantha explained, sinking onto the mattress beside Muriel and drawing an ankle under her. “Look.” She pointed to what looked like an unorganized lineage chart. “When we became lower in our numbers, the hunters started keeping track of the bears in the clans and rogues as well. We found Ethan’s name right here.” She pointed.
    Ethan Brenner , the passage read. And right above him were DJ and Marsha Brenner. And in the column beside their names was written a small note in different colored ink.
    Died in a house fire. Survived by their son, Ethan.
    “Oh my gosh,” Reese whispered.
    No wonder he hadn’t wanted to talk about his parent’s death. And now his freaking out over the soot on her face made sense—and the horror in his eyes when he saw all that ash in the bed. His parents died by fire. Of course he would be wary of it.
    “Was he there?” she asked, but she already knew the answer. This was what broke him apart from his bear all those years ago.
    “It doesn’t say,” Samantha answered in a sad tone. “That’s not all, Reese. There’s an entire page on the Cress alphas, and Ethan is on there too.”
    Shaking her head, Reese frowned. “I don’t understand.”
    Muriel turned a few of the thin, crackling journal pages and pointed to a list that split off into several forks. “His grandmother was born to a woman named Lenora Cress. Never married or mated, and whoever made this chart obviously didn’t know who the father was. Ethan is a Cress just as surely as Trent and Bron, just not in name. Only by blood.”
    “Ethan’s a Cress alpha?” she murmured. “Do you think he knows?”
    Samantha shrugged. “Maybe if his parents told him before they passed. He was young though, and Muriel said he barely even talked when he came to the Seven Devils clan. He never mentioned it as far as she knows. And that’s something pretty huge to leave out if he knew about his lineage.”
    “That’s why his eyes look so much like Trent’s did,” Reese breathed. “He’s related to him. And Bron. Jesus, two Cress alphas are running the last two bear shifter clans in the world. Has there ever been two at once before?”
    Muriel shook her head. “Not that I know of. It’s always been one legendary Cress each generation. This generation has two by default.”
    It was too much. All of this information was overwhelming and Reese laid back on the bed by Muriel. “So, you don’t think he murdered Trent. Why not?”
    “He doesn’t feel right for this,” Muriel said softly. “Someone is trying to kill off the Cress line, and the reason Ethan is still standing is because whoever is doing this doesn’t know about his lineage. Yet. I just can’t think of a single reason that makes any sense for him to kill off his own family. Not when he’s lost his parents. I think there is something dark going on with Ethan, but I’m not convinced it had anything to do with Trent’s death.”
    The grandfather clock in Samantha’s living room chimed and Reese shot up. “I’m late. Trinity is going to kill me!” She ran for the door. “I’ll talk to you about this more when I get off work,” she called over her shoulder.
    A quick drive down East First Street and she spun out trying to turn into Buckeye’s back parking lot. Parked and strapped in her apron, Reese rushed to check in for her shift and grabbed a couple of menus for two men waiting to be seated. With her plastered upon smile,