by Elle Thorne
Lance reared and bucked, shoving at Cross, trying to take him down. They both lost balance, falling to the ground with enough force to knock the breath out of them and cause the air to vibrate.
A scream brought their battle to a pause. Thunder boomed. Lightning crashed in the background, behind the cabin.
Lance looked up.
Mae was on the porch, her hands over her mouth. She was the one that released the scream.
She strode toward them. Her normally dark brown eyes were a midnight turbulent blue.
“You will stop now.”
Behind her, as if accentuating her words, thunder rolled.
Lance backed away. He shifted to his human form, out of respect for Mae. He swiped at his face, pulled back a bloody hand.
Cross’s bear growled, then he morphed into his human body.
“Never again. I will find someone who has an answer. This is not allowed to happen. I didn’t agree to take the both of you into my home so you could kill one another. We will find an answer to this.”
Snow began to swirl around her dark hair. Tiny flakes catching to her clothing, then melting.
“Not now, we won’t.” Lance had to find Mac.
He fished his keys out of his pocket, ignoring the pain from the scuffle with his brother.
He’d find her.
He got in his truck and drove off without glancing back at Mae, Cross, or the assembly of humans and shifters that had gathered on the porch, looking between his departing truck and Cross.
In Lance’s mind, one scene kept playing over and over…
Four years, three weeks ago…
Lance and MacKenzie had the most amazing afternoon. Greatest sex ever—then again, every time was the greatest sex ever. Then he’d left to give his bear a run. He’d shifted in the forest and given the bear free will. Lance had a decision to make. His goal was simple. He wanted retribution to be doled out on those who had killed his parents. He was confident the information was somewhere with the Shifter Council in New York. And Cross had just gone to work for them as an Enforcer.
Lance would too. He’d get the information he needed. He’d already talked to their recruiter. The guy said Lance was made for the position of Enforcer. That his personality was a perfect match.
Except there was one problem.
A major one.
Enforcers had a high mortality rate. Quite a few didn’t survive the first four-year tour. They suggested shifters who enlisted not be involved. That worrying about someone back home would make them less effective.
That having someone back home who might lose them was not recommended.
So Lance made a hard decision.
He’d rather break MacKenzie’s heart now, than to have her heart broken when he was killed.
He walked.
And regretted it every step of the way.
His whole mission had turned to shit. There was no information about who killed his parents. There was no retribution.
Nope. Just one loser who walked away from the best thing he ever had.
He pulled into the driveway, looked at her darkened cottage.
No lights.
No sign of life.
No tire marks.
Nothing.
Mac hadn’t been here yet.
Maybe she wasn’t coming? Maybe she had someone else she would go to. Maybe she had a life that didn’t involve Lance, and maybe, just maybe, it was his imagination that she still had feelings for him—other than feelings of hate.
Here he was. Looking for the woman whose heart he’d split in two, himself a broken man, four years wasted, thinking of what he shouldn’t have done. And here—now—she’d left the gathering, and he couldn’t find her.
He made a U-turn in the clinic’s parking lot and headed back out.
Where? He started back toward the mountains. He’d give it another shot, then he’d head up to Devil’s Horn. He had no business being out, not when a storm was clearly setting in.
He called Mae, hoped she’d not discuss his fight with Cross.
“Lance. Where are you?”
Not a question he wanted to answer right now. “You guys should consider getting out while you can. It’s pretty bad in the valley already. Blankets of snow.”
Man, was he glad for four-wheel drive.
“We left early, right after you did. Where are you?”
In a special hell of my own creation. “Driving.” He didn’t like lying to Mae. He wouldn’t.
“Be safe.”
“Will do. You too.”
He’d almost pressed the button to end the call when he heard Mae’s voice again.
“Lance?”
He put the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”
“It may be nothing, but Mac’s not answering her phone.”
Fuck.
That’s not nothing.
Chapter Nine
Lance lost track of how long he’d been driving. Where the hell was she? He’d traced all but one road that led from Astra and Kane’s.
He was on the last road. It was dark as hell outside, the fucking snow wouldn’t stop falling, and the goddamned wind sounded like a banshee.
Yeah, safe to say Lance was in a bad mood. Bad would have been an understatement at this point.
How could a woman vanish from the side of a mountain like that?
Then he saw it.
Her Jeep.
Flipped.
Off the road.
His heart refused to beat. His lungs were paralyzed.
He slammed on the brakes and shifted into park, jumping out, uncaring about the temperature or the fact he didn’t have on a coat.
The Jeep was laying on its side. He ran to it, pulled the door open. She was lying there, a laceration on her head. Her face was pale, lips a shade of light blue and her body was shaking.
“MacKenzie. I’m going to cut you loose.”
“So cold.”
I know, baby.
Shit. He couldn’t say that. “Hang on.”
Lance pulled out his pocket knife, flicked it open and slashed through the tough fabric quickly. Carefully and awkwardly he lifted her out of the vehicle. He barely managed to get his truck door open while holding Mac in a fireman’s carry.
He situated her in the bench seat, laying her across, then strode to his side and got in. Lance cranked the heat up while he pushed her short hair out of the way.
When did she decide to cut her hair? He liked it. Probably because he’d once asked her to keep her hair long.
Maybe she cut it out of spite or anger. It didn’t matter, he loved it.
Who am I kidding. I love her. Any way she was, he’d always love her.
And with that, he shifted into reverse.
He couldn’t take her to her cottage. He’d never make it there. Closest place was his cabin.
She’s going to kill me.
At least she’d be alive.
Yeah, but he could call Mae to help. Or—
No. He needed to talk to her. He owed her an explanation. No, he owed her more than that. He owed her an apology.
If there was one thing he’d learned over the last four years, he had fucked up royally. So he owed her an explanation and an apology. Not that it would change the way she felt about him, but maybe it would change the self-loathing he felt.
She was still shaking, though the truck’s cabin was warm.
Warm enough to make this grizzly shifter sweat.
Lance pulled up as close as he could to his front door, killed the engine, and carried her through the wind and swirling snow.
What the fuck kind of freak snow storm was this? The forecasters had foretold some weather—but he didn’t figure it’d be like this.
Once inside, he slid her onto his bed.
The only bed in the place, of course. He grimaced. He’d take the couch while the storm blew over.
And now to get the heat on. And to get things going. He still had a cooler and a lockbox of supplies in the back of the truck.
Grabbing the first aid kit from the pantry, washcloths, and a bowl of water, he headed toward his bedroom.
Mac had rolled over and was lying on her side.
Lance nudged her gently, turning her to face him. He dampened the washcloth, placed it on the laceration on her face. Tucking her hair behind her ear, he leaned over her.
Was that blood?
He dampened another washcloth and began to rub away at the blood on the side of her neck near where it met her shoulder. Near…
Yeah, he pushed that thought away—
On the exact spot where he’d couplebond marked her, all those years ago.
That isn’t blood.
He pushed the high neckline of her top away.
A tattoo covered a two-inch span, right over the spot where he’d marked her.
What the hell?
It was a tattoo of a claw mark, complete with tiny drops of blood.
She put a tattoo over our couplebond mark?
Yeah, like it meant so much to you that it kept you from walking away?
Lance knew those were his own thoughts, but it echoed the sentiments of his bear. His bear had never forgiven him for leaving MacKenzie behind. Lance had been sure his bear was going to get him killed while on assignments, that’s how angry his beast was.
The grizzly just didn’t get it that Lance had to go. He had to find out who killed his parents. He’d been certain the answers were in the records in New York. With the Shifter Council.
He heaved a sigh.
Some questions may never be answered. Some revenges may never be achieved.
And he threw everything he had with MacKenzie away for those unattainable things.
His bear roared.
I’d tell you to stifle it, but you saved my life already once today, with Cross’s bear.
His bear snarled, not arguing the point.
“What have you done, MacKenzie. Why? Why this tattoo?”
Chapter Ten
Mac heard Lance’s voice in the fogginess that surrounded her. A miserable cold had settled into her bones. Her head ached from being hit.
She could feel herself healing though, healing because of the couplebond with Lance that had made her a shifter’s mate. Shifter’s mates couldn’t do the hibernation heal, but they didn’t take as long to recuperate as humans.
The cold had sapped her energy, left her in a lethargic state of inaction. She’d passed out, unable to get out of the seatbelt, unable to reach her phone, completely and totally helpless.
Then the door had opened, what seemed like an eternity later. Lance’s voice had seeped through the cold’s fierce grasp on her body and mind.
Her body had moved. Warm air surrounded it, but still she couldn’t move, captive to the cold that had set in.
Another eternity later, Lance’s voice cut through the cold unconsciousness.
Mac’s mind flew to a cognizant state of being. Her body didn’t respond, as if cold still held it, unwilling to give up the prisoner.
Lance was there—as if in her dreams. He was asking about the tattoo. Wait—how—when did he find out about the tattoo?
Her body, so in tune to his, still, picked up the vibrations of his confusion and frustration. She sensed his questions, felt his sorrow, commiserated with his confusion.
Mac sunk back into cold’s clutch. It was easier to be in the shackles of unfeeling cold than to feel the array of emotions bombarding Lance.
He wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t understand what had driven that decision, all those years ago.
That one sunny day, years ago…
It had started out as just another day at the clinic, on the computer, analyzing data on migration patterns.
Until the phone rang.
A ranger near Coeur d’ Alene had called about a grizzly.
Grizzly.
Mac sighed.
She still thought of Lance. And though half of her hated him, the other half missed him greatly. He’d been gone almost two years.
Yes, she knew to the minute how long he’d been gone—but she was trying to break herself of counting those days—minutes—seconds.
Damn. Him. Damn the heartbreaking soulless bastard.
“I’ll bring my medical supplies,” Mac told Raven, her ranger friend.
“You won’t need them. Just thought you’d want to come see.”
“See what?”
Raven laughed. “Just get here.”
Mac drove toward the national park, taking the roads above the speed limit.
What could Raven want her to see?
Mac met Raven a little over two years ago, not long after Lance had vanished. They’d both been called in to Olympic National Park.
As she recalled it, that was for a grizzly-related matter as well.
Mac loved her job, loved that part of the perks included being invited to sites and situations that involved wildlife.
She thanked her lucky stars she’d interned under the same professor as Raven’s older sister, Sky. When Professor Muata had asked her if she’d like to be considered for the Bear Canyon Wildlife Reserve, that they had an opening, she’d jumped for the chance.
Getting paid to do what she loved? Hell, yes!
She’d come to the valley.
She’d met Lance.
She’d lost Lance.
Now she was headed to Coeur d’ Alene.
My life could be summed up in bullet points.
She pulled into the wooded area near the park.
Raven’s vehicle, a Cherokee 4X4, was one of several vehicles.
Raven stepped out of the trees. She put a finger to her lips.
Mac nodded, raised her shoulders in question.
“Grizzly babies,” Raven whispered.
“No mama?” she asked.
“Nope.” Raven’s tone was filled with sadness.
“What?” No way. She would never believe that. No mama bear would abandon her babies.
Unless she was dead.
“They’re special.”
Mac cocked her head. “Special?” she whispered.
“We’re taking them to new homes.”
Homes.
Odd word choice.
“What about the mother?”
“Dead. Father brought them this far. Then died.”
“Wait. What—” That’s not how grizzlies work.
“We knew you’d be the perfect one.”
“Perfect what?”
“To monitor them, to keep up with them. After they are placed with their families.”
I’m so confused.
She silently followed Raven into the woods.
Her confusion didn’t last long.
Those baby grizzlies?
They were shifter babies.
A man and a woman stood in front of the grizzly toddlers, their backs to Mac.
She stared as two little girls, toddlers really, dressed in dirty, once pink and green outfits—twins clearly—sat next to each other on a log, staring at the grownups surrounding them.
The little girls roared, then shifted into young cubs. The cubs cuddled each other, their eyes wide.
“Oh my,” Mac whispered. She didn’t know what else to say. Yeah, she did.
She turned to Raven. “Why me?”
“Because—”
The man and the woman turned to face Mac. She knew one of them.
“Mae?” What was Mae doing here?
“You were chosen because you are mated to a shifter,” the man said. He was older, wideset shoulders, and sported a scar that split his eyebrow and extended clear down to his jaw.
“Do… I—I don’t know you.” That’s all Mac could think to say, but she kept her eyes glued on Mae.
“We need you to take records of their existence. Of their lives. Their whereabouts,” the man continued to speak, as if she hadn’t just said she had no clue who he was.
“Raven? Mae? Care to explain?”
Mae stepped closer to Mac. “You were chosen. You are a grizzly shifter’s mate.”
“I’m not his mate. I thought that was public knowledge.”
“You’ll always be his mate,” the man said.
“I don’t think so.” Mac wasn’t going to admit it, but his proclamation made a vein of fury run through her body. “I’ve looked into shifter lore. I know there’s a way to nullify the couplebond. I’m going to find someone to do it.”
The man glanced at Mae.
Mae shook her head. “I wish you wouldn’t. Lance is your true mate. He’s been foolish, but that will pass. He will be back. He can’t help himself.”
“Oh, and I’ll be sweet Becky Homecky, just waiting for that big strong man to come back to me. After four years. That’s the deal? Really?” Mac couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice. She couldn’t keep it from her heart either.
“No.” Mae reached for Mac. “Don’t say that.”
Mac backed up. She wanted no comforting. She wanted no excuses. There were no amends.
A lightbulb went off in her mind. “My position with the Bear Canyon Wildlife Reserve? That has something to do with…”
She didn’t want to believe it.
Please don’t let them say it’s because of Lance. I didn’t even know him back then. I didn’t…
“It’s because of you,” the man said. “You were the right one for the job. So you were given it.”
“Raven?” Mac looked at the woman she’d known, the woman whose sister she’d gone to school with. “Are you a part of this?”
“There’s really no this,” the man interjected. “There’s you—the right woman for the job—who met her mate. You’re still the right one for the job.”
Now Mac was even more pissed. “What do you know about the Bear Canyon Wildlife Reserve?”
“I fund it.” The man’s words were blunt. “I sign your paycheck.”
Mac never saw the checks, they were direct deposited, but what reason would he have to lie?
Mae nodded. “MacKenzie, it’s true.”
The little girls had shifted out of their bear forms and were sitting on the log, cooing to each other.
Realization hit—the man was her boss; she should be respectful. “Do they have names?” Mac asked. “Why are they here, instead of in a home?”
