Sleuth

Weak

The plaid clad men grabbed knives and ran to the now unconscious she bear while Brian stumbled blindly in the background, terrified and shocked. One of the mystery men shoved his blade under the skin of Kyrrian's left leg and slid it upward, making the first of many cuts needed to remove her pelt. As the second of the mystery men went to apply pressure to the knife he held to the inside of her other foot, a bang on the door of the triple enforced cellar made everyone jump.

"Damn it" he growled.

"There's no time to finish" the first one said.

"We have to, we haven't had a catch in months!" the second growled, hesitating with his knife, not convinced of the things he was saying. Another bang showed the door give way as bolts fell from the metal barrier.

"You know what's on the other side of that door" man one said quietly.

"He may not-" but the second man quit speaking as movement near the door caught his attention.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" a terrified, blubbering Brian mewled as he crawled toward the door.

"What are you doing?! No!" man one yelled, but far too late. Brian shakily unbolted the door and slid open the magnetic lock. The final dead bolt was nothing compared to the brute force of the massive, dark brown bear that ripped through the door like tissue paper. The door knocked Brian down to the floor. The bear rambled in and stepped on the door, taking time only to swipe his massive, clawed paw across the once living man's head, mutilating his face and killing him instantly. The other two men attempted to escape through a trap door behind a tool rack. The massive animal rammed the first man against the wall and slid his claws along his throat, barely leaving the man's head attached to his body. The second man shot the bear once with silver filled shot gun before the creature pinned him down and nawed his face off. With one last bellow, the bear turned quickly to Kyrrian, nosing her face gently. Alpha Grayson quickly shifted to his nude human form and crouched down, placing his hand on the nape of his sister's neck.

"I can't carry you like this, shift back" he said gruffly, his brow in its usual drawn together position. She did not answer, move, or for that matter appear to be breathing.

"Kyrrian, shift!" a deeper undertone took to Kaddian's voice and his eyes flashed gold as he used his Alpha tone, an order she could not deny even unconsciuos. Slowly, her body began to retract to the small version that was her human figure. Kaddian checked her pulse and found it faint but there. He quickly scanned her body, searching for any injuries, and stopped short on her calf. Angry at himself for not noticing the bleeding injury sooner, he gently laid the flayed skin back to her body, knowing it would heal but would most likely scar.

A noise at the open doorway of the basement had the Alpha cradling his sisters body close to his own while he growled at the intruder and bared his exposed canines. The local sheriff stood in the door in full uniform, holding her gun at the twins sitting in each others arms, surrounded by chaos, blood, and bodies.

"What the-" she began but shut her mouth and shook her head, "I knew those bastards were doing something illegal" she mumbled. The young woman had recently been appointed as sheriff, and with her appointment came a whole horde of mysterious disturbances, animal attacks, and poaching incidents. "Kaddian Grayson? That's your name, right?" Kaddian narrowed his eyes at the woman who appeared to be completely unfazed by the wreckage she currently traipsed her way through.

Returning to his human thought processes, Kaddian grunted yes.

"I don't know what happened, but I'm gonna need an explanation real quick if you expect me to help you" Sheriff Hale said quietly once she reached the two individuals. She crouched down and got eye level with the panting, naked man and said "because this looks like it was done by some sort of animal". She reached out and touched Kaddian on the arm. He looked down at her hand with a furrowed brow, then stood up slowly, not needing her hand there to help, but leaving it there none the less. He bent down and scooped up his sister before walking out the door of the basement.

"M-my car is out front" she called out to his retreating figure.

Looking around the basement one more time, Sheriff Lauren Hale exhaled with a whistle and said, "that man is more naked than babe on it's birthday" before shaking her head and following the two out to her car.

They drove in silence, the only thing Kaddian had said was that they were going to his house.

Once inside the Grayson home, Sheriff Hale couldn't help herself any longer.

"I'm puttin' my neck out on the line here taking you from a crime scene, I need an explanation, quick" she said.

Kaddian Grayson took note of her thick accent and turned around to say, "I plan to bandage my sisters leg, put her to bed, and put on clothes before I speak to you, or would you prefer we talk while she lies bleeding, unconscious on the floor and I sit in my 'bare-naked babe' nudity?"

"I- you're right, I'll wait here" the sheriff quickly replied. The massive man trudged upstairs and returned about twenty minutes later in gray sweats and a black shirt. His hair was wet and the blood that had covered his arms and face earlier was gone. Kaddian Grayson was a handsome man, black hair and tan skin that he and his sister both shared. His sharp, angular jaw was always set in a stubborn line and his brow was never unfurrowed. She had seen him occasionally around town, but had never had a reason to speak to the intimidating man until now.

"What's going on here?" Hale asked again.

Alpha Grayson looked into Lauren Hale's blue eyes and searched for some sort naivety or idiocy that he could exploit and found none. It was about time he had told the human police force about himself and his Sleuth. He needed some sort of human in power who knew what was going on and could help cover up the mysterious events. That had been the town doctor until he passed away three years ago. Things had gotten difficult with the previous sheriff after that as the man was convinced Kaddian and his Sleuth were drug dealers. Idiot of a man had gone asking questions around known offenders in the big city and gotten himself killed.

"My name is Kaddian Grayson and I am the Alpha of the Northwest Bear Sleuth" he began. Sheriff Lauren Hale took her hat off and slowly sat down as Alpha Grayson began explaining his past, present, and the future that she had just entangled herself into.