Cage’s animal was enjoying the cool night air. His brothers had quickly stripped out of their clothes and raced each other into the woods. It had been too long since his animal was given reign. He let his bear come forward in a shower of sparks. The huge brown Kodiak bear roared and chuffed, scenting the air and reveling in being free.

His brothers’ bears, both large grizzlies, were pawing around him. Each shifter’s bear spirit came to them when they were young. The universe pairing the bear spirit with the right soul on earth. Cage knew the day he saw his Kodiak in a dream that he was destined to be an Alpha, to become the leader and protector of his clan.

His uncle on his father’s side still acted as Alpha for his family. Once Cage claimed his mate, the honor would switch to him. His uncle had wanted to retire for quite awhile. Cage was sure he received a call from the hospital from his mother after she found out about Sophie.

Cage let his bear take back over his thought process and his instincts flared. Taking off at a lumber, Wyatt and Conner’s bears followed.

A few hours later the boys were heading back to the cabins. They had fished and tramped through the forest, sharpening their claws on the trees, rolling in the pine needles, and generally enjoying being bears.

As they neared the houses, Cage’s bear picked up an unfamiliar smell. It wasn’t family, that was for sure. It smelled of grease and dirt. Not the dirt on the ground, but of unwashed bodies and something else. Someone was near their homes that didn’t belong.

Taking off at a run, Cage urged his bear faster. He needed to check on Sophie.

As they came into the clearing, Cage heard the piercing, terrified scream of the woman he loved. His bear roared its anger and he took off towards his house.

Inside the cabin, Sophie’s scream had the intruder rushing off the porch. Jumping up and grabbing the fireplace poker, she ran to the door, unlocked it and swung it open ready to pummel whoever was on the other side. She wasn’t going down without a fight now that her initial fear had left to be replaced with pissed off woman.

What she saw instead was a man in a black ski mask facing off with one of the biggest bears Sophie had ever seen. She didn’t know bears got that big! This animal was mad, his head was dropped and he was making a huffing sound. Out of the brush behind him, two more bears came running into the clearing, smaller than the first, but still incredibly big.

The man and bear were at a standoff and Sophie was glued to the porch. The huge bear took a moment and swung his head towards her, yellow eyes glinting in the porch light that had tripped on as the intruder ran down the steps.

The bear was looking at her, like he was assessing. Those eyes looked familiar, but Sophie was too scared to ponder it for long.

As the bear swung back to the intruder, no one was prepared for the man to pull a small handgun from his jacket and wildly fire a shot at the big bear. The bear roared and rose up on his hind legs. He must have been nine feet tall.

The intruder turned and ran for the woods. One of the smaller bears took off after him while the smallest bear trotted up to the giant and growled. The big bear had dropped back to the ground and Sophie could see blood dripping from his upper shoulder.

The smaller bear started to shimmer and right before Sophie’s eyes, a very naked, very human Wyatt kneeled by the bear.

“Man, are you okay? Talk to me, can you shift?” he urgently asked the large bear.

The bear on the ground started to shimmer, then stopped. It started again and this time, lying on the cold hard ground was Cage, bleeding from his upper arm.

Wyatt pushed a hand over the wound and Cage didn’t even flinch. His eyes were on Sophie. He wanted to take off after the man and tear him apart, but his need to see to Sophie overrode his instinct for revenge. The shot in his arm was nothing compared to the horror on his woman’s face.

Sophie was staring back at the man she loved, who seconds before was a very large, very angry bear. Her brain couldn’t even begin to process what she was seeing. She realized she was still holding the fireplace poker. Letting it drop with a clatter to the wood of the deck, Sophie took a step back.

“Sophie, please, honey, let me explain,” Cage pleaded trying to get up. He shook his brother off his arm and stood.

“No, don’t,” Sophie whispered, stepping back until her back hit the door frame. “I don’t understand, I don’t…” she trailed off shaking her head back and forth. Tears had started streaming down her face.

“I understand you’re confused, just let me hold you, it will be all right,” he said quietly, stepping towards her like she was a skittish colt.

“No, no, this isn’t real. This doesn’t happen!” She started to sob. Her breath catching as the tears poured down her face. Turning, she ran into the house and into the bedroom she’d first slept in, slamming the door.

Cage made to go after her but his brother’s hand on his arm stopped him. Cage turned and growled menacingly at his brother. “Let me go,” he said pouring his Alpha timbre into the command.

Wyatt immediately let go, but said, “Think, man, she’s freaked. Rushing in there now, bloody and naked is not going to help you make your case. Give her a little time. Get cleaned up then try to talk to her.”

“What if she leaves me?” Cage asked, despair causing his bear to whimper inside.

“She won’t, she just needs time to think this through. She loves you man, we can all see that. But you need to take this carefully. Go slow, let her settle, then go to her.”

Knowing his brother was right, and his arm was starting to hurt like a bitch, he nodded. They both went into the house to clean up. Conner returned to tell them he’d lost the guy in the woods. He’d had a dirt bike stashed and rode off. Conner was pissed he didn’t get a chance to take a chunk out of him.

Once his arm was bandaged by Conner, who assured him it was barely a flesh wound and he was a big sissy for bleeding so much, they both took off back to their own homes.

Before they left his brothers each gave him a manly hug. Wyatt gave him a look that told him to go slow and Cage nodded. Message received.