"I think they found me," Daisy said.

"I should have known this was going to happen."

"I'm sorry," she said, putting her warmest clothes back on.

Fifi yipped from under the bed and Cyrus grabbed his shotgun off the rack over the mantle.

"I'm going to take care of this."

Cyrus peered out the window, scanning the yard to count the men out there. He counted six, all equipped with shotguns and military grade body armor.

“Are you going to shoot them all?" Disney asked.

“Send out the girl!” one of them yelled.

He hated how scared she looked. The smell of her fear wafted through the cabin.

"Not a chance," Cyrus yelled out through a crack in the front door.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Cyrus," the man yelled.

Cyrus peered out the window again, taking in the group of men approaching his cabin. When his eyes focused on the man who’d just spoken, his heart sank into his stomach. He couldn't believe his eyes. He hasn't seen this man in years. Not since the war. Of all the betrayals one could experience, the betrayal of his brother-in-arms was the worst. It was Pierce Evert, the wolf shifter who had shot him in the back, quite literally, during the war. And left him for dead.

"Get off my land, or I'll kill you all," Cyrus barked.

“You asked for it, buddy," Pierce said.

The men had been in the same regiment during the Great War. Pierce had been like a brother to him, and he had trusted him like a brother. But that trust had been misplaced. In the chaos of war, there were no consequences.

"Pierce Evert," Cyrus yelled out the crack in the front door. "This one's for you."

Cyrus pointed the muzzle of his shotgun out of the crack in the door, aiming with his shifter senses for absolute precision. He pulled the trigger and the bullets flew. It hit Pierce’s left shoulder, cutting through his body armor with a loud thwack.

"So, you want to play this the hard way," Pierce said.

"The next bullet will land right between your eyes."

"Take cover, men," Pierce ordered.

"That's right," Cyrus yelled. "Run."

"Don't flatter yourself," Pierce growled right back.

Cyrus shut the front door and turned to Daisy. He crossed the space between them and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"Someone I used to know," Cyrus said.

"Who is he?"

"We fought in the war together."

"Why is he here?"

"He’s here for you."

Cyrus grimaced, angry to the core. He couldn’t even look into his mate’s eyes. It hurt to have the beautiful moment they had just shared broken like this.

"Can you beat them?" she asked.

"I’m outgunned and outnumbered. Those men are all shifters. Five hyenas and Pierce, who is a wolf.”

"I never meant to bring them to your door, Cyrus. I'm so sorry."

"This is not your fault, Daisy," he said.

"I should give myself up."

"Never. I would die first."

Cyrus tensed up and crossed the room. Anger, fueled by love, flashed inside him. He looked out the window again, motioning to Daisy to duck below the line of fire under the window.

A round of bullets riddled the cabin and Daisy screamed, covering her head with her arms.

Cyrus aimed his gun at the dark shadows at the edge of the forest where he knew Pierce was hidden. He opened fire on the shadow, sending a dozen bullets through the air. There was a scream and a grunt as someone was hit.

A grenade flew and landed right outside of his cabin. The flashbang went off in a blazing cacophony of sounds and light. Cyrus fell back as bullets riddled his cabin again.

"This is your last chance," Pierce yelled. "Give up the girl, and I will let you live."

"There's your mistake," Cyrus yelled. “If you let me live, I'll spend the rest of my life hunting down every last one of you."

"Then we'll just have to kill you," Pierce said.

"You can try," Cyrus said, gritting his teeth.

He shot out the door several more times, aiming for any sign of movement in the yard. He would protect Daisy with his last breath. If that meant giving his life to take down these men that’s what he would do. But that wasn’t his intention. His intention was to live a long happy life with her on the mountain. Far away from men like Pierce.

A second grenade crashed against the wall. Tools and dishes fell on the floor and shattered. Daisy screamed. He had to get her out of here. He couldn’t believe that after all this time that he was being tested by a man like Pierce, but he had something more important to do than to prove himself better than that traitor. Cyrus crawled across the floor to Daisy and sat beside her while she huddled over her barking little dog.

“Daisy, we’re going to make a run for it. I need you to listen closely to me. We’re going to run out the back window, and once we get out of sight of the cabin, I’m going to shift and you are going to ride me down the mountain, back to Timber Bear Ranch. Do you understand?”

She nodded her head vigorously, tears running down her cheeks.

Daisy put Fifi in her carrier and gripped the handle.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go,” he said.

He used the butt of his gun to break the window flinching at the harsh noise and then helped Daisy out to the other side. He jumped out himself a moment later and grabbed her hands, pulling her into the forest behind his cabin.

The bullets continue to fly behind them, but he didn’t look back. He held her hand tight and ran as fast as she could manage. Daisy was surprisingly quick and agile for a human and was able to follow him through the thick forest to a sheltered thicket where he stopped.

“You are going to ride on my back now,” he said.

“Okay,” she said weakly, clutching Fifi’s bag in both of her hands. Cyrus quickly removed his leathers and handed them to Daisy. She folded them up and put them in a compartment under Fifi’s case. Cyrus stretched out his body and shifted, falling on his big grizzly paws with a light grunt. He motioned for Daisy to climb on his back. She stepped on his knee and grabbed his fur to lift herself. When she was securely on top of him with her fingers threaded through his fur, and Fifi’s case slung over her shoulder, he started through the forest.