Brenna snuggled deeper into the warmth that surrounded her. The morning sounds from the nearby forest filtered into her sleep-laden mind, but the comfort of her surroundings repeatedly tugged her under, like the whirlpool in the ocean pulled on a swimmer.

She rested her head against a solidness which rose and fell in a rhythm that matched her own breathing. Frowning, still confused, she opened her eyes.

And found herself looking into Calder’s eyes with their darker flame that she knew now was his bear. Her lips were tender from a night spent kissing into the early morning hours. Calder had been tender with her, and it was a tenderness she hadn’t expected from a man of his people, a man that also was a bear.

Whispers entered her subconsciousness, and for a brief second, she believed she might be hearing things. Or hallucinating.

Then she recognized the voice.

Freyja!

She listened closely to the words filling her mind, but couldn’t understand them. This was not a language native to Brenna. The foreign words were chanted, and they grew louder and louder. Brenna couldn’t have said what made her realize that the voices were in her head. The chanting became so loud that it eclipsed her own thinking.

Seconds later, Brenna’s world erupted into chaos. The sounds of men yelling, cursing, and women screaming filled the air.

Calder grabbed his head, an expression of sheer pain etched into his handsome features. Tendons on his neck and forehead popped out from the utter agony he was experiencing.

He grunted. “Brenna,” his voice was a growl of anguish. “What is happening to me?”

He rose to his feet, barely able to manage that. Brenna stood, put his arm around her shoulders. “I need to get you out of here.”

“My bear, something is happening to him.”

Brenna gave him a sideways glance. Could she tell him about Freyja? She wasn’t sure she could. Then she noticed—

Brenna gasped. “You’re bleeding.”

Tears of blood flowed down his face.

What was Freyja doing? Would this kill him?

Brenna couldn’t have said what instinct drove her next move; she had no experience with witchery or shifters, but somehow, it came to her.

“We have to get you out of here. Away from Freyja. Away from the sound of her chanting voice.”

“I hear no chanting. Only yelling and screaming,” he managed to say around the cloud of pain that must have ruled his existence at that moment.

“I know. I know you don’t hear it, but…” She grabbed his other arm, and tugging him along, pulled him out of the hut.

The village was mass chaos. Men fighting each other, and at the same time appearing to fight ghosts while women came upon them and managed to stab, hit, and club them with anything that could be used as a weapon while the men were incapacitated and holding their heads.

In front of the village’s central fire, Freyja stood, clad in a black robe, face upraised, arms lifted to the sky, her lips moved soundlessly. Her eyes were unfocused, looking at nothing in particular.

This was the time. Brenna knew instantly and instinctively she had to get Calder out of there.

Freyja was the most powerful of witches, that was no secret, and whatever she was doing to the men would not end well for them. And by default, that included Calder.

Brenna found herself wishing she had knowledge of how witchcraft worked. How to avoid it, how to circumvent it. But she knew naught about the mystical arts.

She glanced at Calder. Blood streamed from his eyes like uncontained tears of crimson, more than before. She gasped.

He raised a brow. “What is it?”

She shook her head. She couldn’t tell him that the bleeding had gotten worse.

“I need to help them.” He pointed to his clansmen.

“You can’t.”

“I must.” He made to go toward the melee.

Brenna grabbed his arm, held tightly. “You must come with me. Now.”

“Why?” he asked, but he followed her, allowing her to lead him at a sprint, toward a nearby grove of trees.

Once in the cover of the trees, Brenna turned to survey the fracas they’d left behind. More and more of the men had fallen.

“What is happening to my people?” Calder swiped at his face, then stared at his bloody hand. “What in the curses is happening to me?”

“Your people have made a mistake. They’ve trifled with the wrong witch. This village is one that belongs to Freyja. It’s her daughter’s village. She’s wreaking her vengeance on your kind. The others will not survive. I need to help you.”

He shook his head. Blood flew from his face. “No. I have to help my brother. My men.”

“No.” She refused to release his arm. “For the sake of our baby.”

He scowled. “What is this madness you speak of, woman? You cannot know you are with child the next day after a coupling.”

She would have to tell him about her dream. She hadn’t really had a chance to process the meaning herself yet.

“We will have a son. He will be the start of a new breed of people. I will not let you put that in jeopardy.”

“Are you saying…”

She shook her head. “I do not know what I am saying. I do not know if the gods are revealing a child that will come this year or in the next few years. All I know is that we are destined.”

Calder put his hands on her face, cupping her cheeks, his eyes locked with hers. “I know not of what you speak, woman. I only know that my heart calls for you. My mind calls for you. My bear needs you.”

Brenna tried not to let her emotions get carried away. This wasn’t the time to tell him how much he meant to her. How he’d become engrained in her very soul. “Then you must come with me. You must let me save you.”

He gave her a nod and they took off at a sprint with only the clothes on their bodies, an axe in his hand, a knife in hers. She led him to a mountain, winding their way up, she knew of a cave, one she’d found ages ago when she’d visited the village as a young girl and explored the area.

At the cave’s entrance, she paused. “This is where we will stay.” She thought for a moment, then added, “For now.”

He was pale, the hand holding the axe shaking.

She led him into the depths, sitting him against a wall. Uncertain what to ask or how to say it, she relayed what was on her mind. “What is it that you’re feeling?”

“That my bear is chained. He cannot come forward. I cannot shift into my bear.” He leaned forward. “I’ll start a fire.”

She stayed his hand. “No. Not until we know we are safe.”

“Safe from whom?”

“From the other women. From Freyja.” She didn’t want to tell him that the other men would be dead without a doubt, including his brother.

“They are mere women,” he scoffed.

“You’d be ill-advised to think they are mere anything. You know not who Freyja is.”

His chest puffed out in defiance, his jaw set firmly.

“Please, Calder. Please, listen to me.”

He gave her a nod.

“I’ll be back,” she told him.

“Where are you going?”

“Just to the entrance.” She hadn’t told him she’d heard a noise behind them. She didn’t tell him she wondered why his inner bear had not picked up that there was someone—or something—following them. “I won’t be long.”

“Don’t go far.” His eyes fluttered closed, his face a visage of pain.

“I won’t.” She wiped the blood from his cheeks with her sleeve.

She picked up the axe he’d set nearby, and with one final glance in his direction, she made her way toward the entrance.

Brenna hadn’t been wrong. There was someone following them. She caught a glimpse of a shadow moving within the trees not far from the entrance. Moving to the side of the entrance, she made her way out, and circled around to behind where the shadow had last been.

A tiny sound, a leaf being crushed beneath a careful footfall alerted Brenna. She whirled around, the bladed weapon in her hand at the ready, raising it above her shoulder, poised to strike.

Just as Brenna was bring the weapon down on the figure that had stepped out of the trees’ cover, she froze.

“Eerika,” Brenna hissed.

Eerika’s eyes were wild. “Hush. One of them escaped.”

Brenna narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“One of those bastards. He came this way. He’s not traveling alone. He’s with—” Eerika paused. Her eyes took in the axe Brenna wielded.

Brenna knew she could see this belonged to one of the captors, it was clearly of their people.

Next, Eerika’s gaze traveled to Brenna’s bloody sleeve. Her stare turned hard and cold. “You are…” She rubbed at her head. “You’re not traveling with…”

Brenna dropped the axe and pulled the knife from her hip and lunged forward. “Say no more.”

“You’d kill me?” Eerika’s voice was tinged with incredulity.

“I owe you my life for the lie you told when they were going to kill me.”

Eerika licked her lips nervously, her eyes dropping to the blade at her throat. “How do you know about that?”

“Astrid told me. I owe you. Take yourself away. Now.”

“But…” Eerika’s head tilted inquisitively. “You are harboring him?” Horror was etched in her features. “Why? Did you not see what his people did to us?”

“His people. Not him. Calder is different.”

“You trust me not to go back to the village and get the women? We could outnumber and overpower you.”

Brenna nodded. “I realize this. I do. But I know you won’t do that.”

“How do you know?”

“Astrid. We both love her. We wouldn’t put her in a position to choose between our friendships.”

Eerika’s anger and concern faltered. “True.” She glanced around Brenna, toward the cave’s entrance. “You love him?”

I do. More than life itself. But it was so much more than that for Brenna. Mere love did not convey the depth of the emotions she felt for Calder. “He is my destiny.”