Loyal To The Bear (Second Chance Shifters 2)
constantly made fun of her complaints about the frozen tundra that was Boston during the winter. Carly longed to be back in San Francisco, closer to her mom, but she knew it was the right decision for her to leave. Even though San Francisco was her home, everything reminded her of him , and he was no longer allowed to be in her thoughts.
    “This just in, we have some breaking news.” Carly shook her head quickly to stop the thoughts of his beautiful brown eyes, and she reached for the remote to turn the volume on the feed up.
    “This morning, the Boston Police Department found another victim of the Shifter Killer,” Avery announced. “The victim was a 28 year old woman found near the Freedom Trail this morning at 5 o’clock am. The woman was found with wounds on her wrists and neck. Like the other four victims, ‘Death to all shifters’ was written in what is assumed to be the victim’s blood on the ground near her body. The Boston Police Department, along with the new Search and Rescue team, is currently working on leads as to who this shifter killer is to bring them to justice.”
    Carly muted the feed and a cold shiver ran through her body. Shifters , she thought. How am I always surrounded by them? She forced her eyes shut to will away the frightening memories that she knew would inevitably come.
    The campfire was roaring, and her father and mother had busted out the marshmallows for s’mores. She could see their huge smiles, and Carly felt a pang, remembering that her mother used to be that happy. It had been a surprise camping trip for her fifth birthday since Carly had loved being outdoors. Carly was happily sitting between her mother and father while burning her marshmallow on the stick.
    A loud rustle in the bushes caught Carly’s attention, and she scooted closer to her father, hoping it wasn’t a wild animal. Her father looked down at her, smiled, and wrapped his arm tightly around her. The rustles in the bushes grew louder and Carly’s father began to take notice. He instructed Carly’s mother to pick her up and take her to the car.
    Suddenly, a crazed man burst through the clearing and started yelling. He was tall and slender, and had yellow eyes that darted between Carly and her parents.
    “Give me the child!” the man demanded.
    Carly’s mother quickly backed away, holding Carly, as her father used his police training to try and calm the man down. But he wouldn’t listen. His rants about needing to take Carly became incoherent, and he violently fell to the ground. Carly could hear his bones crack, and she shoved her head into her mother’s neck and started to cry. When it grew quiet, she peeked through the strands of her mother’s hair and watched as her father leaned down over the man to try and help. To Carly, it looked like he was dead. When her father gently touched the man’s shoulder, a loud roar came from the man’s throat, and he amazingly transformed into a huge cougar. The cougar swiped at Carly’s father, knocking him down on the ground. Carly let out a loud wail when she saw the big cat drag her father’s limp body out of the clearing.
    “Carly, you’re on in the next segment.” Carly jumped in her seat and almost spilled her coffee all over her blouse. She looked up and realized she was no longer five and at the campsite with her parents. Her producer, Jenny, placed a hand on her shoulder and looked down at her with concern.
    “You all right?” Jenny said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
    “I’m fine, Jenny,” Carly said. “You just startled me, that’s all.” Jenny smiled, and Carly quickly stood up and glanced at her appearance again in the mirror. She quickly patted her cheeks to regain some of her color and tried to force the terrible memory from her mind.

2
    Carly
    A fter her weather broadcast , Carly taped a few segments for the evening news and tracked the weather patterns that were coming in the next week. Carly truly loved being a meteorologist.

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