by Elena Aitken
Nat’s blood ran cold because they both knew what that meant.
A challenge.
“Liam.” She shook her head. “Don’t do this.”
He turned and, without bothering to remove his clothes, crouched down to the ground. A moment later, when he jumped up, Natalia watched as he shifted into his bear.
She shook her head once more, but there was no help for it. If she wanted to live, she was going to have to fight her brother.
Natalia wasn’t as practiced at shifting as her big brother, who no doubt ran his bear a lot more regularly than she had the chance to. She needed a running start. There was no time to shed her clothes, so as she took off and allowed her bear to burst free from the confines of her human self, her clothes shredded around her.
The moment she shifted, she turned her huge body around to face Liam. He stood on his hind legs, presenting a massive form to her, and roared. The noise shook the trees, and would’ve been heard for miles around.
Would Ryker and her cousins hear? Would it matter?
If she was going to lead the Jackson clan, she had to be strong enough to face a challenge. She had to be a leader. She had to fight.
It was the last thing she wanted to do, but there was no other choice. Natalia growled and charged her brother. Her huge head hit him in the stomach and knocked him backward to the ground.
You’re weak.
His voice permeated her thoughts as he slipped to the side and hit her across the face with a massive paw. The impact knocked her back, but she stayed on her feet and returned his hit with one of her own.
The blow glanced off him, and he tipped his head back in a laugh. What did I say?
I’m not weak!
She hit him again, and again, but still, he wasn’t fazed by her attack.
That’s all you’ve got? He taunted her. Weak.
It wasn’t all she had. But he was her brother and she loved him, and as angry as she was, she refused to hurt him. And she knew in her heart, he wouldn’t hurt her either. It wouldn’t solve anything.
No. She sat back and shook her head. I’m not doing this.
Liam’s golden eyes assessed her for a moment before he lifted his right paw.
Nat looked instinctively to his long, sharp claws. She shook her head. No, Liam. I told you. I’m not doing this.
He growled and took a step toward her. Like I said, you’re weak, Nat.
She should have turned to run, or ducked or otherwise dodged the blow. But in her heart, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She knew it.
Nat looked him directly in his eyes, willing her big brother to come to his senses. We don’t need to do this, Liam. We can talk about this. It seemed impossible, but after a moment, he dropped his paw to his side and sat back.
She let out the breath she’d been holding; the stress melted from her body, and the adrenaline subsided just enough to clear her thoughts. The instant she let her guard down, her instincts alerted her to something else.
Cyrus.
He was there. He was close. Her heart leapt in her chest.
I knew it. You’re weak. Liam’s voice pushed into her thoughts again. You’ll always choose him. She turned back to her brother but it was too late.
A roar ripped from Liam’s throat as he lunged toward her, his paw once again outstretched, claws bared. The blow hit her before she could even comprehend what was happening. She’d reached him; she’d calmed him down, but then…it was Cyrus. It was her mate. Liam would never accept it.
Hot, searing pain raced through her as his claws tore at her skin. She heard a noise, a guttural scream. The sound of an animal dying. Was it her? The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth and she stumbled backward.
Unable to maintain her bear in the face of such red-hot pain, she shifted back and fell into the snow. But she didn’t feel the cold.
She was so hot. Her entire body was on fire, but tired.
“Nat!” A voice. It was familiar. “Natalia! You’re going to be okay, baby.” Cyrus. “Everything is going to be okay. I’ve got you.” Vaguely, she felt herself being lifted from the snow. “Hold on, love. I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.” Soothing words. Calming words. And then they were different, directed to someone else. “What did you do?”
So tired. She needed to sleep. Her thoughts made no sense.
But then, before she closed her eyes and gave in to the exhaustion that relentlessly tried to claim her, she heard it. “I’m sorry.” Liam’s voice. “I didn’t mean to…oh God, Nat. I’m so sorry.”
Chapter Seventeen
She was pale. Too pale.
But she was alive.
Barely.
But she was.
If he hadn’t have been there…if he hadn’t have come…
No.
He couldn’t think like that.
He couldn’t allow himself to think about what could have been if he’d ignored his instincts that something was wrong.
That his mate was in trouble.
Cyrus hadn’t moved from her side since carrying her into the house. Nat’s mother Kristine had rushed in, along with another woman he hadn’t met. They’d gotten to work cleaning and tending to her wounds.
And they were major wounds.
Shifters had an innate healing ability and could heal from their injuries very quickly. But there were some injuries that were harder to recover from than others. And Liam had sliced her from high on her neck, just under her ear, all the way down and across her breast. And his mark.
The cuts had been deep and there had been a lot of blood.
She was too pale.
Cyrus looked up from his mate, and met Phillip’s eyes. He stood just inside the doorway of the room, where he’d been standing since they’d brought her in. Acting as both a bodyguard, and a concerned friend. Cyrus was glad for his presence.
“She’ll be okay,” Phillip said for what had to be at least the twentieth time. He’d lost count.
“She lost so much blood.” Cyrus turned back to Nat and studied her still face. Her eyelids didn’t even flutter. They’d closed in the forest and they hadn’t opened again.
Would they ever open again? Would he ever gaze into those beautiful deep green eyes again? Would he ever hear that sweet voice? Would he be able to hold her and tell her how sorry he was and how he’d never leave her side again, not for anything? Would he get the chance?
Yes, his bear insisted.
Yes. She would be okay. She would wake up and look him in the eyes and they’d talk and hug and laugh and live happily ever after. Together.
He believed it. He had to.
Because the alternative was too horrible to comprehend.
“You’ll be okay, my love.” He stroked her cheek lightly with one hand and held her with the other. His fingers laced between hers so he could hold on tight, as if she’d slip away.
The instant Cyrus had seen the grizzly hit her, and seen her scarlet blood stain the blanket of snow beneath her, everything had become crystal-clear. No matter what else there was in this life—whatever clan he was supposed to lead, whatever contracts needed to be signed, deals to be made—nothing came remotely close to being as important as this woman was to him.
He’d give it all up. Everything. Just as long as Natalia was okay.
“Just open your eyes for me, love. Please.” Still, there was no movement. “Please.” He leaned closer and whispered the word over and over, but still, nothing. Hot tears fell from his eyes and Cyrus dropped his head to the pillow next to her. “Please.”
When Cyrus lifted his head again, he couldn’t be sure how much time had passed, whether he’d fallen asleep or whether it had only been seconds. He had no sense of time passing, but his neck was sore, with a kink in it. He sat up and rubbed at his sore muscles.
“You should get something to eat, Cyrus. Some water. Something.” Phillip was still standing by the door and he watched him with concern. “It might be awhile,” he said. “Her body has a lot of healin
g to do. It will take time.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
“Axel was asking for you.”
He turned to look at his friend.
“The guys have Liam.”
Just the sound of the man’s name had Cyrus’s bear growling with objection. After the attack, Cyrus only had eyes for his mate. Only one thing on his mind: getting her to safety and getting her help. But he had registered Liam, the grizzly who’d tried to kill her. Her own brother.
“He wants to know how she is,” Phillip said. “He’s—”
“I don’t care what he wants. Or what he thinks or what he feels.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “If I ever see him again, I’ll kill him myself.”
“He’s her brother, Cyrus.” Phillip was always the voice of reason, a quality Cyrus usually liked and respected in the man. “You can’t just—”
“I can,” he interrupted with a growl. “And I will.”
“Cyrus?”
Phillip was saying something else, but Cyrus wasn’t listening, his attention pulled completely back to the woman in front of him.
Who’d just opened her eyes.
Everything hurt. Natalia’s entire body felt as if she’d been caught in an avalanche and buried with rocks.
She ached. In an intense, muscle-burning way.
And she was hot. Really hot. Her neck felt as though it were on fire. She tried to lift her hand to touch it, but something stopped her.
No, not something. Someone.
Cyrus.
“Hey, love.” He took her hands in his and held them so she couldn’t reach for her neck.
“It hurts.”
“I know.”
He bent down and his face was so close to hers she could breathe in his breath. It gave her strength. He was there. He was with her. He hadn’t left.
“You’re here.”
“I’m here.”
Cyrus lifted his head just enough that she could look into his ice-blue eyes. Eyes she’d come to love in such a short time. Eyes she wasn’t sure she’d ever see again.
“Why…what…”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t worry about it now. Just worry about healing. I’ll fill you in on everything later. But right now you just need to heal, okay?”
She nodded a little, but the movement hurt. Pain shot through her and a gasp escaped her lips.
“Don’t move.” Cyrus jumped to his feet and grabbed something. A moment later, he was back, pressing something cool to her neck. “Try not to move, Nat. You’re not healed enough yet.”
Healed? From what? What exactly had happened?
She closed her eyes, the effort to keep them open too much. Even if it was to look at Cyrus. She must have drifted off again, because as soon as she closed her eyes, the pain was gone. And she stood in a forest.
It was the forest behind her grandfather’s house, where she’d first learned to shift. Where she’d first discovered her bear and the magic that goes along with their lifestyle. She turned in a slow circle and took it all in. The trees that, to the unknowing eye, would all look the same, but to her, were all distinct and special. She knew every one of those trees. Which ones you could hide behind in a game of hide-and-seek, which ones were the easiest to climb, which ones were the best for lying under on a hot day and daydreaming.
Slowly, she walked over to her favorite tree. It was her favorite because she’d always been able to climb its low branches, which were wide enough for her to lay back against the trunk and stare up at the sky. When she was young, she could spend all afternoon in that tree, dreaming about what life would be like when she was older and had found her mate.
Natalia reached up and wrapped her hand around the rough bark. With little effort, she lifted herself easily onto the first branch and then up onto the next until she sat on her perch. Just like she had as a child, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
But before she could sink into the daydream that she knew would come, a voice beneath her commanded her eyes open.
“Natalia. You need to come down.”
She didn’t want to look. She squeezed her eyes tighter. “No.” She thrashed her head from side to side. “I won’t.”
“You must.”
No. If she left her tree, she would be hurt. She knew that instinctively. If she left the familiar shelter of the tree, she wouldn’t be able to return. It would hurt and she wouldn’t be able to escape. “I can’t.”
“You can,” the voice commanded. “You need to come down, Natalia. You’re needed here.”
She opened her eyes, but still wouldn’t look beneath her.
“It’s not time, Natalia.” The voice softened and when it spoke again, it was hardly more than a whisper. “Not for you.”
That was enough. Natalia peeked her head over the edge of the thick branch and looked to the ground at her grandfather below. He was old, but he no longer looked sick. He looked as she remembered him before she’d left Jackson Valley the last time.
“What do you mean?”
“Come down,” he said again.
This time, she listened.
Slowly, Nat pushed herself up from sitting and made her way branch by branch down the tree until she stood on the forest floor in front of her grandfather. “What are you doing… are you okay?”
“It’s time.”
“What? Time for what?”
“Natalia, your family needs you.” He reached out and took her hand in his. She looked intently at their joined hands. He was no longer frail. His grip was strong as he held hers in his. “It’s time for me to go.”
“No!” She shook her head. The pain she knew would be waiting for her started to seep in, starting with her toes and working its way up her body. “You can’t go. No. I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough. We need you.”
“You are strong enough.” He smiled. “You’ve always been strong enough. You are the only one who knows what to do now.”
Along with the pain, panic had begun to fill her body, cell by cell.
“I’m not. I don’t.” She shook her head frantically.
“You are, Natalia. You always have been.” Her grandfather’s grip on her hands started to lessen. She looked from their joined hands to his face. It was fuzzy. Blurry. He was leaving.
“No! Don’t go.”
“I love you, Natalia.” And as he faded away completely, his final words floated on the air between them. “Trust your instincts.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Something’s wrong.” Cyrus jumped up from Nat’s bedside, her hand still in his. “She’s…”
“She’s sleeping, Cyrus. Let her sleep.”
But she wasn’t just sleeping. He knew it. He felt it. But he also knew there was nothing he could do. Whatever was happening, he’d done all he could do. He knew that in his soul.
“Cyrus?”
He turned to see Kristine, Natalia’s mom, in the doorway. Tears ran down her face. “It’s okay.” He jumped up and moved to reassure the woman. “She’ll be fine.” He hoped he sounded convincing. “She’s just sleeping, but she was awake a moment ago and her wounds are healing. She’ll be—”
“No,” the woman interrupted him. “It’s not that.” She swallowed a sob and wiped at her face. “It’s my father. He’s gone.”
Cyrus took a stumbling step backward before turning to look at Natalia and then back to Kristine. “I’m so…”
“It’s okay.” She sniffled. “It was time. He’s at peace now.” She looked at her daughter and then back to him. “Will you tell her? When she wakes, I mean?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
But after Kristine left, and Phillip followed to help with any arrangements, only moments later, Natalia’s eyes fluttered open and before he could stop her, she sat up.
“Nat, you shouldn’t—”
“I’m fine.” She held up a hand to stop him. “I’m feeling so much stronger, and…where’s Liam?”
Cyrus bris
tled. As far as he was concerned, Nat’s brother would never be in the same room with her again. He shook his head, but the look on her face stopped him.
“Please,” she said. “Liam—”
“Tried to kill you, Nat! I can’t even tell you what it was like to see you like that. Bleeding on the snow, blood on his fur while he stood over you. Your blood.” The emotions of finding her—his mate, his life—lying there bleeding out in the snow crashed back and for the first time since it had all happened, the weight of what he’d been holding back hit him. “I was so scared, Nat.” His voice cracked with the emotion. “I thought I was going to lose you, and…I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t lose you, too.”
He pressed his hands to her cheeks and stared into her eyes. “I love you, Natalia. I need you. I won’t ever turn away from you again. Not ever. No matter what.” It wasn’t a pledge he made lightly. He wasn’t one to ever outwardly demonstrate his emotions, but when it came to his mate, all bets were off. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought of what could have been. “If I hadn’t gotten there when I did…if he’d…”
“But he didn’t.” She placed her hands over his and gently took them away from her face. “And you did get there.” Her smile was soft. “You’re here.”
“And I’ll never be anywhere else.”
She chuckled softly before her voice grew serious again. “I’m sorry, Cyrus. For pushing you away.”
“No. It wasn’t you; it was—”
“Both of us.”
He nodded. They were both alphas. Strong-willed, hardheaded. “I need to learn to control my Kodiak instincts when it comes to you.”
She grinned. “Well, maybe not all of them.”
He kissed her then. Tenderly, because she was still healing. But there was no mistaking the intent behind it. “Definitely not all of them.”
There would be plenty of time to explore that later, but for now, Cyrus sat back. Just far enough that he wouldn’t be tempted, but not too far. He’d never go too far again.