Ella put the baby down for a nap in her bedroom, but she couldn’t sleep. She felt restless and unsettled. Why had she sent Tate away? Having him close to her had made her feel safer than she had in such a long time. Why did she insist on denying him the one thing he wanted? She sighed and looked in the fridge. She grabbed a bottle of soda and sat down on the couch, flipping on the TV with the remote.

Might as well see what was on satellite TV as long as she was in her parents’ house. It was a comfortable middle class place with a western style, typical of homes in Alaska. It felt good to be home. She sipped the cold soda and flipped through the channels. With a hundred channels to pick from, she still couldn’t find anything to watch on TV. She finally settled on a movie she’d been meaning to watch on one of the movie channels.

As the opening credits rolled, Ella heard a loud crash coming from the back of the house. What the hell? She shot up from her seat and headed toward the sound. It had woken Andrew, and he wailed from the bedroom. She bit her lip and knit her brow, worried about the baby and whatever had made the sound.

It had sounded like a combination of breaking glass and a metal pipe clanging against wood. She turned the corner in the hallway toward her parents’ bedroom at the back of the house. Slowly, she pushed the door open, the soda can still absentmindedly gripped in her hand.

By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late. The growling face of the leader of the Glacier wolves snarled in front of her. She threw her soda can at him, but he grabbed her as she tried to run away. The rest of the wolves were piling through the window. One of them pushed past her and through the bedroom door to where Andrew slept.

The baby wailed more loudly, and she struggled against the wolf shifter’s iron grip on her wrist.

“Let me go!” she screamed, tugging toward Andrew. The second wolf had her baby in his arms, a sadistic smile on his face. Why had she been so stupid? Why had she let Tate leave her alone with these psychos on the loose?

“I knew we’d find you if we just waited long enough,” the leader said. “Like sniffing out a rabbit in her hole.”

“Please, let me go to my baby,” she screamed.

He loosened his grip on her arm and she ran to Andrew, sweeping him into her arms. The second man let her take the baby, laughing at her cruelly. “What do you want?” she stammered, backing toward a wall as she tried to calm her child.

“As if you don’t know,” the leader said.

“We know what you saw in Fairbanks. We know you’re connected to the Montgomery clan.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Lies won’t save you, sweetheart,” he said, pulling a pistol from his back waistband. She gasped loudly as she saw the silver barrel of the gun moving through the air to point at her.

“You wouldn’t harm a mother and her child,” she pleaded.

“You have no idea, honey. Get on your knees,” the leader said. “Maybe if you’re a good little girl, I’ll spare your life.”

The other men around them laughed. Ella sank to her knees, sobbing hysterically. She couldn’t stop shaking. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably. Her entire life flashed before her eyes. Her childhood. The day she’d met Tate. At that moment, she realized that she’d felt something that day. She’d known he was hers the moment she’d laid eyes on him.

Her eyes grew wide with the new knowledge. Now that she knew she and Tate belonged together, it was too late. She was going to die for being so stubborn, and her baby was going to die along with her. A lifetime of regret washed over her. She’d been so stupid, running away from the man who loved her. Why had she been so childish? With every wish of her heart, she prayed he would come find her and save her from these brutal men.

The sound of tires crunching on the gravel outside barely registered in her frantic mind.

“Hello?” She heard Tate’s voice outside the front door as he knocked.

“Tate!” she screamed. The wolf pack alpha picked her up by the shirt and shoved her and the baby into her bedroom. The men barred her inside. She heard the front door crash open and the sound of a grizzly bear roaring in the living room. Gunshots fired and wolves howled. There was growling and roaring so violent she knew someone had died.

Please let Tate survive.

Please let Tate survive.

Please let Tate survive.

She repeated it in her mind like a mantra as she held her crying baby. Andrew wouldn’t calm down. She looked at the window and ran to it, flipping open the latch. She didn’t plan to wait around to let her baby be murdered by these psychopaths.

Stepping on the bed, she pushed the screen out with her foot and slowly maneuvered herself out the first story window and into the bushes. Just as she was running to her car, which Tate must have driven up here, half a dozen state troopers’ vehicles sped to a stop in the driveway.

“You’ve got to help him!” she screamed.

Shaw Montgomery was there, helping her into an ambulance before she knew what was happening. It was warm inside and an EMT began checking her and the baby.

“Have you sustained any injuries, ma’am?” the EMT asked her.

“No. I don’t know. Is Tate all right?”

“I’m worried about you and the baby right now. We’re going to take care of you.” He put a warm blanket around her shoulders and checked Andrew again.

“I’m okay. I think my baby is okay, too.”

There was shouting and gunshots. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She didn’t know what she would do if something happened to Tate. It was all her fault. She should have listened to him. She should have gone home with him and let him take care of her. Tears slid down her face as the EMT checked her pulse with a stethoscope.

Outside the crack in the door of the ambulance, she saw Shaw Montgomery walk past with a man in handcuffs behind his back. She needed to know what was happening. She had to know that Tate was all right. Ella handed Andrew to the EMT and hurried out of the ambulance.

“Ma’am. I can’t let you do that. Ma’am!”

She didn’t listen. Ella threw open the doors and jumped to the ground. As her feet hit the gravel, she looked up at the front door and saw Tate walk out, a blanket around his shoulders, his face bloody. Thank God! She ran to him and threw her arms around him. The troopers quickly took them both away from the scene and brought Tate to the ambulance where the EMT was holding Andrew.

Ella took the baby while the EMT checked Tate for injuries. Blood seeped from several deep wounds on his chest and hips. The EMT began to patch him up as Ella watched.

“These are going to need stitches,” he said.

“Just patch me up. I’m a shifter. I don’t need stitches.”

“Whatever you say, sir,” the EMT said, wrapping bandages over the wounds.

“Thank God you’re okay,” Ella whimpered. “I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you.”

“Ella. I’d give my life to protect you. When are you going to realize that?”

“I do, Tate. I do.”

“Really?”

“I’ve always known it. I’ve been so stubborn.”

Shaw opened the doors of the ambulance and looked at his cousin Tate. “Brock is here to drive you guys back to Tate’s house. Are you good with that Ella?”

“Yes.”

“I’m afraid your parents’ house is now a crime scene.”

“I know. They’re going to be pissed,” she said, a half giggle escaping her lips. “How did you know they were here?”

“You’re parents’ alarm system was still armed. We got it all on camera. We’ve got everything we need to book these guys now, Ella. They won’t be bothering you again. I’m only sorry that it took us so long to convince the Shifter Council that these men were a danger to good people like you and your child.”

Shaw helped her out of the ambulance. Brock’s truck was there and Ginger helped her put the baby in his car seat in the back. Tate climbed in beside her, and Brock turned the truck around and drove down the road toward town.

“Well, that sucked,” Ginger said, rubbing her swollen belly in the front seat.

“That is the understatement of the century,” Ella said, a nervous laugh bursting from within. Everyone laughed at that and the car went silent. There was so much to say. She had so much to tell Tate. She could barely keep it inside, but she didn’t want to tell him in front of his brother and sister-in-law. This required privacy, time, space for them to be together.

Brock and Ginger helped Ella, Tate, and the baby get inside. They made sure everyone was okay before taking off in the truck.

Ella put the baby down for a nap. The poor little guy was exhausted. As soon as he was down, she sat beside Tate on the couch and fell into his arms. She wanted to cry so hard it would soak his fresh shirt, but she had to hold herself together.

Now was not the time for crying. Now was time to be brave, to tell him the truth, to finally come clean.

“Tate. I realized something today.”

“Ella, you don’t have to explain anything. I understand. I’ve felt the way you have myself at times.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. Who wants to be told who they’re supposed to love? Even shifters have doubts sometimes.”

“You do? I always thought you were all one hundred percent sure about those kinds of things.”

He chuckled and then winced from pain. “No. We definitely aren’t one hundred percent sure about mating. Why do you think there are people like Babs Bula in the world, tirelessly meddling in other people’s love lives?”

“Babs talked to me when I first came to town. She was really rude.”

“That’s what I’ve heard about Babs. Sometimes she’s your best friend, like she was for Ginger. Sometimes she’s just a jerk.”

They both chuckled for a moment and went silent, staring into each other’s eyes. “Tate. When I had the gun pointed at my head, I had a memory of the day we met. I remembered that when I first saw you, I knew we belonged together. I knew you were meant for me. I must have blocked it out somehow. I forgot. Until today.”

“It only took a gun in your face to realize you love me,” Tate teased.

“I’m a stubborn idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot. I’m just teasing you.”

“I deserve it.”

“No. You deserve only the best. Now, come here my mate. Let me hold you.”

She snuggled into his arms, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. It was pure heaven. It had taken her all this time and all this trouble to realize that fate really did know best. Finally, she felt safe and content to let it work for her.