Page 4 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Bear

Working as an animal rescuer hadn’t been on his bucket list, but since he moved to Colorado seven years ago and found work at the Green Sanctuary, he’d never been happier. Quitting his job as a mechanic back in Maine was still one of the best decisions he’d ever made in all forty-four years of his life. Being an animal rescuer was the perfect job for him, especially since he was surrounded by fellow shifters.

And more than anything else, it was just what he’d needed after Melissa abandoned him.

He tried not to think about it, but even though ten years had passed since it happened, the memory still remained fresh in his mind. If he closed his eyes now, he could still see the look of horror and disgust on her face just before she took off.

I can’t do this, she’d told him. I can’t marry you, Cal.

The words clawed at his heart now, and his jaw clenched. How many times had he tried to reach out to her after that? She’d ignored all his calls and texts, resisted all his attempts to get through to her. And in a matter of days, she’d simply disappeared. She’d blocked his number, moved out of her apartment, leaving behind a devastated Calvin.

In the past ten years, he hadn’t seen or heard from her.

Whoever said time heals all wounds clearly hadn’t been abandoned on their wedding day. The months that followed had been agonizing. He’d reached out to Melissa's friends and family, hoping for any information that might lead him to her. But they’d either been unable to help him or had simply refused, insisting Melissa wanted nothing to do with him. Cal wasn’t sure which hurt worse, the fact that she’d taken off at their wedding or her refusal to explain why.

Not that it was hard to figure out why she’d left him. Looking back on it now, maybe revealing his shifter nature to a human just weeks before their wedding hadn’t been such a great idea. Most humans had no idea that supernaturals existed. The ones who did tended to go off the rails. It was a pattern that had repeated itself throughout history: witches burned at the stake, shifters and vampires hunted down and slaughtered. Humans fear the supernatural because they don’t understand it.

And what they fear, they destroy.

He’d known that sharing the truth with Melissa was a huge risk. But at the time, he’d been beyond certain about her. Besides, he couldn’t stand the idea of keeping something so fundamental from someone he loved.

Fat lot of good that had done him.

At least he still had a head on his shoulders. If anything, he should be grateful all she’d done was run from him.

Working here at the sanctuary certainly helped take his mind off his past, but it hadn’t healed him. Cal was self-aware enough not to assume he’d gotten over his pain. All he’d done so far was learn to manage it. And helping animals as a shifter, living among other shifters, certainly helped.

Once he’d cleaned up, Cal marched back to the big house, heading straight for the kitchen. The aroma of roast lamb immediately reached him before anything else. Henry was already seated at the table, digging into his food. A tall man with long brown hair stood working by the stove. He turned just as Cal sat down, and set a plate before him.

“Here you go, Cal,” Bryon said. “Hope you haven’t already lost your appetite.”

Cal most certainly had, but he didn’t say it. He picked up his fork, poking gently at his food.

Bryon took a seat across from him, lifting a piece of lamb to his mouth. “Henry told me about your trip to the woods. Another dead animal. Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you that we’ve got a new vet. They’ll be arriving today. Just got word from the boss that someone’s applied for the position.”

Cal’s jaw clenched slightly. Certainly, a new veterinarian was in order, but that wasn’t all that bothered him. “There’s something not right about what’s going on in the woods. I don’t think those attacks are random. That doe looked like she’d been bitten.”

“So did the other animals we found,” Henry pointed out. “The woods are full of wild animals. There have been at least two bear sightings in the last month.”

“Animals don’t kill for sport. They kill to eat. We all know this.”

“It could be a shifter.”

“We don’t kill to eat either,” Bryon said with a pointed look at Henry. His jaw clenched slightly. “Or, at least, we ordinarily wouldn’t. If there’s a shifter behind this, they’ve got a twisted sense of humor. Too bad the boss isn’t around.”

The founder of the sanctuary, Theon Gardener, had been out of town for the past month, leaving the sanctuary in their hands. So far, Cal thought they were doing a great job of running the place, except for the growing number of carcasses in Paradise Woods.

The doorbell rang then, and Bryon shot to his feet.

“I’ll get it,” he announced, shuffling out of the kitchen.

“We’ll figure this out on our own,” Henry said, lifting a forkful of food to his lips. “I’m sure it’s nothing too serious.”

“Nothing too serious?” Cal scoffed. “There are animals dying in the woods, Henry. I had to bury another of them, and we still don’t know who or what’s killing them. How long until there aren’t any left?”

Henry held up both hands as if in surrender. “Hey, take it easy, man. I’m just trying to stay positive.”

“We’re animal rescuers.” Cal’s fork clattered onto his plate. “If we can’t keep the animals in the woods out of harm’s way, then what the heck are we even doing?”

Henry regarded him for a moment, then stared at his plate. Of all the animal rescuers, he’d always been the least serious. He joked, took almost everything with a pinch of salt, and tried to maintain a positive outlook on things. It was one of the qualities Cal appreciated about the dragon shifter—when the lives of animals weren’t at stake.