At two thirty, the air was unbearably cold, and the Ramble was dark and lightless. Winnie stood huddled close to Cattail, with a couple of new shifters—Asher and Brittany? She’d already forgotten their names, she was so nervous—standing in front of her. Ash was handsome as sin, and the woman beside him was as beautiful as a bouquet.

“Are all shifters better-looking than humans?” Winnie asked Cat in a whisper. She was trying to distract herself from the worry that threatened to overwhelm her.

“I think so,” Cat whispered back, half-smiling. “But I’m biased.”

“It’s just—look at those two. It’s ridiculous.”

Cat tilted her head, considering them. “The man is very handsome. I’d let him stud me. The girl is pretty, very pretty, but every fox has a face like that, Tam.”

“So basically, yes. They’re better-looking than us.”

Cat shrugged, grinning.

Hyssop and West were standing in a small, unlit clearing a dozen yards in front of them, waiting for Stone and Kiefer to arrive. The air smelled like snow.

Anxiously, Winnie threaded her arm through Cat’s. Cat yawned.

“What?” she asked when Winnie looked at her reproachfully. “Men fight each other for dominance all the time. It’s normal.”

“Not where she comes from,” the new girl shifter—Brittany? It wasn’t Brittany. Bethany?—said. “The President of the U.S. isn’t elected via fistfight. Humans decide leadership differently.”

Cat giggled. “Well, I’m not talking about human men.”

“I’m sorry,” Winnie said softly. “I think I forgot your name. Bethany?”

“Betony,” the girl corrected crisply.

“I’m sorry. Betony. You’re a fox?”

“I just told you she was a vixen,” Cat said. “I could smell that much right off.”

Betony tossed her hair. It was red, of course. “She’s right. I’m a fox.”

What a strange new world I’ve fallen into. “And did you come from a fox . . . pack?” Win asked.

“Well, in the perfect tradition, we’re called a skulk,” Betony said, speaking in the same brusque voice. “But these days, people usually use the word ‘clan.’ I’m from Nova Scotia.”

“Oh. Lovely,” Winnie said, because she couldn’t think what else to say. She wasn’t sure if she was annoying this girl or if the girl just didn’t like humans. Maybe she could figure it out with a well-constructed question. “Why are you living in New York? It’s full of . . . um . . . people.”

Betony smiled thinly. “Yes. Full of humans. But aside from that, it’s fun.”

“Shh,” said Asher, focusing totally on the clearing. “Someone’s coming.”

Sure enough, several men broke through the thick cover of sycamores, willow oaks, and black cherry trees that made up the woods of the Ramble.

One was bent and used a stick. That was Stone.

The other was straight-backed and broad-shouldered. That was Kiefer.

“You’ll really see something now,” Cat whispered pleasantly to Winnie. “A grizzly fight.”

“I’m scared,” Winnie said, clutching Cat tighter. “I’m scared, Cat. What if something happens to West? What if he loses?”

“Watch and find out,” Cat said, and Winnie realized at that moment that Cat truly was half an animal. She saw the dance of dominance beginning in the clearing as not only normal, but acceptable—necessary. More than that, in some primal way, she seemed to like it. It thrilled her savage heart.

“Cat!”

“Don’t be afraid,” Cat said, rubbing Winnie’s arm. Her smile was feral. “Trust your man’s strength.”

“Bulls,” Stone intoned, his voice carrying cold and clear on the night air. “You fight for dominance of Clallam Bay. One of you will be Alpha. One of you will be nothing.” He lifted his staff. Tam’s breath caught.

“Fight!” he cried, slamming it onto the frozen earth. The sound echoed off the frozen trees.

Things happened fast—almost too fast. Win clutched at Cat like her life depended on it, and Cat let her.

The men changed. Kiefer swelled, bigger and humpier, until he was a grizzly bear. And West turned, too. One minute, he was a handsome, well-dressed young man standing fearlessly in front of an animal, and the next minute, he was an animal.

Win gasped. West’s grizzly form was huge, bigger than Kiefer’s, bigger than any bear she’d ever seen. His round, muscular shoulders were at least six feet off the ground.

The two bears advanced on each other. Kiefer was growling and moaning, but West was silent, impassive. Kiefer huffed, working himself up for something, and then he struck, locking jaws with West.

They struggled, half wrestling, half grappling. Kiefer continued to huff and growl as he and West moved backward and forward, pushing each other or being pushed. Winnie buried her face in Cattail’s neck, afraid.

“Watch, Tam!” Cat demanded. “If you’re a shifter’s woman, nothing can scare you! He wants you to watch him! He needs you to watch him!”

Win knew it was true. She knew it in her core. She had to watch.

So she lifted her face and watched, vowing to herself that she would not be scared. She would not look away. She would not cry out. She could be a shifter’s mate. She could be brave.

The bears shifted around, and now West could see her. His great golden eyes could see her watching him. She let go of Cattail completely, standing alone.

I believe in you. You’ll win.

And she knew—suddenly, completely—that he would.

West reared up, roaring, and Kiefer rose to meet him. Their great clawed paws smacked and scratched, and then they were gripping and biting each other, fighting on their hind legs. Kiefer grunted and bellowed, but West got a firm hold of his rival’s head with his teeth and started to force him to the ground.

Kiefer howled, resisting, but West was as powerful as any machine. He forced his rival to all fours, then lower, onto his elbows, then lower, onto his side—and then, with a deep, gripping bite to the neck, he turned him viciously onto his back and held him down.

You’re Alpha. You’ve always been an Alpha.

You’re my man, and you’ll win, West!

Kiefer struggled, trying to kick at West’s stomach, but it was useless. She could see West’s jaw tightening more and more. Any more and Kiefer’s throat would be pierced to the bone. He would die.

Finally, panting and whining, Kiefer’s legs went slack. He stopped fighting. West had won.

He let go, and Kiefer rolled onto his side, shrinking into a man. He managed to get onto his knees, put his palms on the ground, and touch his forehead to the frozen, muddied grass. Blood from his wounds sparkled in the light of a streetlamp.

West roared at a bone-rattling volume. Winnie didn’t have to be a bear to understand what it meant. I am the winner.

Stone let out a feral howl, unmistakably anguished. His choice for Alpha had been defeated, reduced to a slavering, sweating heap.

West was the Alpha of the Clallam Bay clan now.

Bear-West rose onto its hind legs, growling, and melted down into the dense, muscular shape of a man. He had no injuries at all. Winnie pushed past Cattail and Asher and ran into West’s arms, locking her hands tightly around his hard, sweat-slick waist.

“Well?” West asked Stone with cold authority. “Was it worth it to challenge me?”

Stone looked ready to tear his hair out or weep blood tears. “You cannot—you cannot lead us,” he hissed in a strangled voice. “You’re as good as human.”

“I’m not, and I resent your saying so. Look what’s at my feet—a weaker man. A weaker bull.”

Winnie ran her hand up West’s damp chest, loving how rough his chest hair was on her palm. He smelled like salt and sweat, a dizzyingly masculine smell, and she pressed her face to the side of his neck to take it in.

“What will you do now?” Stone whispered. Kiefer was crawling backward, disappearing into the shadows of the Ramble, eager to leave.

“What does the clan need me to do?” West asked, squeezing Winnie around the middle. “Easy as this was to take, I never wanted it.”

“They need an Alpha to guide them,” Stone said, sinking to the ground. His staff fell from his hands. “If it’s not you, Croft, then it’s no one. It’s no one.” He closed his eyes. “There’s no one to lead the clan. We’re a weak clan, we’ll breed weak men, and we’ll perish.”

Winnie couldn’t help herself. She startled back. “Weak men? West is one of your men! He’s a tank!”

West gripped Winnie’s hair, tilting back her head for a deep, rough kiss. It was an animal kiss, fierce, hard, insistent. Her body lit up like a Christmas tree.

“What good is his strength if he’s abandoned us?” Stone asked, head in his hands. “What good is the strength of a man mated to a human woman?”

West pulled back from Winnie. “Listen, Elder,” he said, in a slow, steely voice. “Get off the ground. I command it.”

Reluctantly, almost against his will, Stone rose.

“Now,” West continued as Winnie ran a hand over his front again. His muscles were deliciously hard under her fingers. “Come with me.”