Sometimes, what saves us isn’t our skill, and it isn’t preparation or strength.

Sometimes, we’re saved by pure luck.

That’s what happened for Magnus and Kristina when Ben Stormstout burst through her front door. It was always Kristina’s habit to put her jacket on a hook next to her front door whenever she came in, and that night had been no exception. In fact, there were two jackets hanging since Magnus had put his borrowed leather jacket next to hers.

It was this leather jacket that saved them as Ben, going through his change, burst through her front door. His violent entrance was so chaotic that it set the jackets flying, with Magnus’s bomber jacket landing on his head while Kristina’s lighter jacket landed at his feet. Ben’s feet slipped out from underneath him, and he went flying, landing on his back.

He was only down for a second at most, but it was enough for Kristina to scramble off the couch and run for the back door, Magnus hot on her heels. They knew if there were any chance for them to fight Ben, they had to get outdoors, where Magnus’s speed and agility could counter Ben’s greater strength.

Kristina jumped first, bursting through her back door as she triggered her own change, her mind shutting down for the few seconds that she was used to as her body rippled and grew. When she opened her eyes again, she was taller, nearly ten feet tall, and broad, her eyes sharp and her ears more sensitive than anything technology could develop.

She saw Magnus roll as the last remnants of his jeans clung to his fur as he crouched, his ears up and his snout curling in a growl even as Ben burst through, tearing an even bigger hole in the back of Kristina’s house.

You’re still here?

Kristina could hear the change in Magnus’s voice, but it was still him, and she growled back. Here.

We work together. Your strength, my speed.

I’ll follow you to hell if you want me to.

Magnus’s reply was a wave of emotion as he sprang at Ben, his claws already extended. Ben roared back, a scream that had made more than a few enemies quiver in fear even before the fight had properly begun.

Ben swung back, but Magnus wasn’t there. Somehow, in midair, he’d twisted his body, his paw pulling back and his body sliding to the side so that he slashed at Ben with his teeth, opening up a six-inch-long gash in Ben’s right shoulder. Ben roared again in pain and fury, but Magnus was already out of reach, dancing and growling, his eyes glowing in the darkness.

Steam rose from their mouths as the two of them circled, and Kristina saw her opening. She charged Ben, swinging her own paw as Ben’s attention was diverted, and she caught the older, larger bear in the head, jerking it to the side and ripping four massive furrows in his flesh. Ben was ready, though, and his left paw swung at an angle a regular bear’s arm shouldn’t have been able to move, catching her in the chest and sending her flying. Kristina tumbled through the air, somersaulting twice as she felt her sternum crack under the force of the piledriver paw.

Hitting the ground, Kristina groaned in pain, and Magnus was there. You okay?

I’ll heal. Take him!

Magnus darted in again, slashing at Ben’s left leg and ripping another gash in the muscle. Kristina could feel her bones knit as Ben wheeled back toward Magnus, barely missing him with his own teeth.

As Kristina gasped, letting her body heal, she watched as Magnus and Ben fought in something like a dance. Magnus would dart in, slashing or clawing at Ben, using ballet like moves and his Lycan sense of balance to avoid Ben’s powerful swipes and jaws.

The logic was simple. Magnus had to wear Ben down, to bleed him deeply enough and greatly enough to drain his strength before Ben could land even a single powerful blow. It had been the way of combat between Lycan and bear for centuries, since the first Lycans had come to North America and the two groups had discovered each other.

Magnus charged again, but this time, Ben was ready. He’d fought Lycans before and anticipated Magnus’s maneuver. His paw caught Magnus in the ribs, sending him tumbling, a shriek of pain coming from his mouth even as Kristina felt him cry out over the link.

She was on her feet in an instant, charging at Ben and body-checking him, sending him flying into her house and breaking through the wall of her bedroom. She pounced after him, landing all of her now nearly one ton of weight on Ben’s body, swinging a paw to try and tear his head off. You will not touch my mate!

She got a single swipe in on Ben before his larger arms and more powerful body sent her flying, half in and half out of the wreck that was her house, landing on top of her and searching for her throat. Kristina struggled to hold him off, but he was stronger, and her chest still hurt from the first blow he’d given her.

Slowly, inexorably, Ben’s jaws neared her throat, and she was nearly resigned to her fate when Magnus came out of the darkness, not in his Lycan form but in his human body, augmented with as much of his Lycan strength as he could. He jumped on Ben’s back, his right hand seizing Ben by his upper teeth even as he pushed on the back of his neck with his left forearm. Kristina watched as Magnus twisted, desperate to turn Ben’s teeth away from her body, applying more and more pressure until, with a crackling snap, Ben’s neck broke.

Ben tumbled off her, Magnus rolling with him, but the damage was too much. He started shifting, rippling as he quickly reassumed human form, his body shrinking even as Magnus knelt, trying desperately to save him.

“It’s . . . too late,” Ben rasped, his hand twitching but unable to reach up to stop Magnus. His breath was labored, and Kristina knew what had happened. His spinal column was broken, his nerves destroyed. Magnus hadn’t known it, but his twist had destroyed the part of an Aklark’s brain that controlled not only their automatic nervous system, but also their bear.

“Ben, I’m sorry,” Magnus said, letting up. “What can we do?”

“Kill Pauline,” Ben said, tears trickling from the corner of his right eye. “Kristina can do it, female Aklark strength with male Lycan spirit.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Magnus swore, taking his hand. “And the Aklark?”

“Tell Edward . . . tell him I’m sorry. I may have been under Pauline’s influence, but I killed my own wife. Tell him—” Ben said, but before he could finish, he started convulsing, his lungs finally realizing they weren’t getting signals from his brain anymore and shutting down, his heart following a moment later. He jerked spasmodically twice, and then a third time before dropping back, dead.

Kristina shifted back to human form, kneeling next to Ben’s body and closing his eyes. “May you find peace in the next life, Ben Stormstout.”

Magnus’s body ached as he got to his feet, looking at Kristina, who was also naked, but there was no sense of victory, no sense of triumph. “The job’s not finished,” he said, his ribs still aching and his heart still pounding in his chest. “Pauline’s still out there.”

Kristina, whose own chest still ached, nodded. “He said it’s my job.”

Magnus hummed. “We’ll both go. Even if he was telling the truth, I’ll have your back.”

Kristina nodded and sighed. “You ready, then? We need to change if we’re going to find her. Any idea where she’d be?”

Magnus nodded, squatting down. “She was using his house. Odds are, she’ll be there still.”

Kristina nodded and closed her eyes again. Her bear was tired, though, and it wasn’t ready to come out.

Time to hibernate, it’s too cold.

No. It’s time to fight.

Last fight nearly got us killed.

One more. Then you can hibernate all you want. This is for our mate.

At that, her bear awakened, and she felt the instant her mind faded out, only to come back when she was larger and stronger, and despite the pain in her body, she felt better.

She opened her eyes to see Magnus in his wolf form, his eyes glowing as he looked at her, his tongue lolling out as he panted. His ribs must still be aching, and it took her a second to re-establish their link.

Hey, are you okay?

Magnus nodded and turned his head, heading toward the woods. It’ll be easier for us to go through the woods. The snow’s packed, and we can make good time along the game trails.

He started off at an easy, loping lupine trot that ate up the ground, Kristina following behind him. How are the ribs?

Not too bad, Magnus replied. Actually, most of the pain is from my change. I prefer to spend at least a few hours in a form before switching back and forth.

Well, if it helps any . . . you’re one sexy wolf.

Magnus chuckled and glanced over his shoulder at Kristina, his mouth stretched into what could only be called a wolfish leer. After Pauline’s finished . . . I’m going to show you just what I can do in my wolf form. Because if you give me half a chance, I’m going to mount a bear.

Kristina chuckled. Go for it.

Magnus soon picked up the pace, the three miles disappearing in just minutes as they approached Ben Stormstout’s home. The lights were on this time, and they could see Pauline inside, quickly packing. Guess she figured out what happened.

Succubi probably have some sort of link with their victims, Magnus replied. Come on, I’ll drive her out the front, and you take care of her there.

Kristina nodded, ambling out to the front of Ben’s home. The lights in the rest of Container Village were barely visible through the line of shrubbery that Ben had planted, and she noted the beauty of the night sky above. It was a proper Canadian winter night, and while they were too far south to see the Aurora Borealis, Kristina knew just how far she’d have to go to see it again.

In the few moments that she had, she wondered what would happen once Pauline was defeated or run off. The Aklark were now leaderless, and the Kenai were in shambles. Was her homeland now so tainted that there was no redemption possible?

Her questions were driven from her mind as from the back of the house, Magnus lifted his head to the sky and let forth a long, sonorous howl, the howl of a Lycan on the hunt. Even Kristina’s hair was raised on end as the notes rose and fell in an ancient language that predated the written word by millennia. For the first time, however, Kristina could understand the words themselves, born of instinct and carried over her link to bloom in her mind.

Here I am. The bringer of death, the harbinger of your doom. Honor alone compels me to give you this single warning. Prepare yourself.

The reaction from both Pauline and from the Container Village was immediate. She heard doors burst open as Aklark heard a Lycan voice so close to their village, a direct violation of the century-long treaty between their peoples, while inside, Pauline ran. Kristina raised up on her back legs, her paws ready as Pauline burst forth through the door, her eyes wide. She skidded to a stop when she saw Kristina, and her face twisted, the supernatural beauty being replaced by the demon that was inside her.

“Out of my way, bear,” Pauline growled as she walked down the steps. “You cannot hurt me.”

Kristina’s only response was a roar of combat as she swung her paw for Pauline’s head. Pauline was fast, though, and Kristina noted as she pivoted that Magnus was right . . . she didn’t leave footprints on the snow.

Kristina pivoted, her claws catching Pauline in the shoulder and knocking her to the ground, but there was no blood, no damage to her other than moving her off her feet. Kristina pounced, pinning Pauline down and trying to bite her, but again . . . there was no damage.

Magnus! It’s not working!

I’m coming!

Kristina expected Magnus to go around the house, or maybe through it, but instead, he leapt over the whole house, landing between them and the road and wheeling on his back legs even as a more chilling sound came to Kristina’s ears . . . the sound of other Aklark approaching in bear form.

I hear them too, Magnus said, wheeling to face the new threat. You keep trying. Rip the bitch’s head off if you have to!

Kristina darted her head down, hoping to do just that, but Pauline got her hands up, her fingers now transformed into sharp claws that raked her face, the blood immediately flowing into her eyes and blinding her. Kristina reared up, keeping Pauline down by sheer mass only as she howled in pain, unable to see.

Magnus!

There was no reply, but suddenly, in her mind’s eye, she saw a hazy image form. It jerked around. Magnus’s head was whipping back and forth as he tried to both give Kristina a view of her fight as well as watch their asses.

Kristina . . . focus, Magnus said over the link. She’s right there. Now . . . with me . . .

Kristina wanted to argue, wanted to tell Magnus that she could hear her people coming and they only had seconds, but instead, she trusted her heart and let Magnus in as deeply as she could. She felt him in her mind as much as she was, their minds becoming one for an instant as she lowered her jaws again and caught Pauline’s head between her teeth.

The succubus howled in pain and fury, clawing at Kristina with her hands, but Kristina didn’t care, clamping down with jaws that could tear through steel if she wanted.

There was a moment of resistance. Pauline’s resistance to injury was huge even with the combined Lycan and Aklark essence, and Kristina clamped down harder, using the strength Magnus was giving her over the link to add even more pressure.

Pauline’s screams rose to a piercing wail that echoed through Kristina’s skull before, with a flash of light and a smell of brimstone and what Kristina could only call sex, Pauline’s head shattered in an explosion of blood and bone. Even though she tried not to, Kristina was so surprised that she swallowed some by pure instinct, the dark flesh rolling down her throat and into her stomach in an instant.

She gagged, trying to cough up Pauline’s remains, but she couldn’t. It was already working its way into her body, and she could feel the urge for sex and darkness whisper in her mind. She blinked, shaking her head as she staggered, looking up to see Magnus turning away from her, his growl piercing the night as four Aklark, all men, emerged from the trees, shaggy behemoths that dwarfed even the house behind her.

Magnus!

Get ready to run, Magnus said as he got to his back legs, his body rippling. I’ll hold them off.

Stop! she said, and she was surprised when, instead of Magnus stopping . . . the four Aklark stopped.

Perplexed, she got to her feet, walking over to the frozen Aklark, and realized they were all men. She knew them, and deep in her mind, in a part separate from her link with Magnus, she realized they were obeying her. What the fuck is this?

You’ve inherited Pauline’s powers, Magnus said wonderingly. How?

Her blood, Kristina said, sniffing the nearest Aklark. The man growled deeply in his shaggy chest, and Kristina blushed as she saw his cock emerge from its sheath between his legs. His growl was one of lust. They think I’m her.

Then send them home, Magnus said, dropping back down to his forepaws and looking them over. Do they even realize what’s going on?

I don’t think so, Kristina said. I think . . . I think their minds might be gone right now.

Then send them home. We’ll deal with this in the morning.

Kristina nodded, suddenly exhausted. She looked at the Aklark men and jerked her head toward Container Village. Go home. Change. Sleep.

The bears dropped to their four legs and turned as one, heading back toward their houses, and Kristina was suddenly exhausted. She shuddered, and without realizing it, she shifted back to her human form, dropping to the snowy ground nearly unconscious. She felt shaggy arms pick her up, but before she could do anything, darkness enveloped her and she passed out.