When I was fourteen years old, the authorities in the Mars colony put my brother Calvin and me in an orphanage. It had been more like a labor camp. Use the parentless to do labor no one else would do. I pushed away the memory. They’d arrested my uncle on some trumped up charge of pirating—the new mayor of the place didn’t like his cut of the spoils—and kept us there until things were sorted out. After he’d been freed, my uncle picked us up and we’d gone on like nothing had happened at all.

Only, there were things that happened there, things that took place when adults weren’t paying close enough attention, that had really shaped Calvin and me. My brother decided he needed to be the toughest guy in the room at all times, and I wanted nothing more than somewhere quiet where I could be left alone. After Cal went to jail and I had to take the piloting job with the Union to buy him out of his situation, I’d sworn I was almost to the place I wanted to be.

Little did I know I had to make this bear detour first.

One thing I’d learned in the orphanage was how to convince people I was asleep when I wasn’t. I lay still in the bed and waited. The bears could hear better than me. I didn’t even want to imagine how much more they could make out with their ears than mine, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be sneaky if I was careful.

I’d gotten into the house when Finn had been in the shower. After I’d eaten Cole’s delicious salmon, I’d taken a shower and gotten in the way too big bed that seemed to have been given to me. Or maybe I’d just assumed it was mine. In any case, I was using it for now. I kept the door to the room cracked, and every time I heard either Cole or Finn speak, I listened carefully. Rylan, it seemed, was still out in the North woods. Cole headed out to go search for him and bring him back. Finn needed to speak to the elders, whoever they were, about humans and why they’d been told we smelled badly.

I waited until I heard him leave. He crossed the downstairs, and not quietly, before he closed a door to communicate with whomever he needed to speak. My hair was still wet, but it was warm outside. I wouldn’t freeze. I carefully made my way down the stairs. If Rylan and Cole were north, I’d head south.

It would be that easy. I stood at the threshold of the door that would lead me from the house, and I didn’t move. What was the matter with me? I should just go. I put my hand on the wood. Truth was, I was tired. Bone weary. I was too young to be so tired. I just felt stretched thin.

I stepped back. Not tonight. I’d go to sleep and find another time to run when I had more energy.

“I’m glad you changed your mind.” Rylan, in his human form, stood on the other side of the room. Cole came through the other door behind him. “It’s not safe out there at night. I mean, I know you made it on your own, but I don’t know how long you could have done that. There are bears—clanless bears that live in the woods. They wouldn’t hesitate to harm you. I wouldn’t let them. We’d kill anyone who came near you.”

I cleared my throat. “In this scenario, I’ve run away.”

“Couldn’t happen. You’re deep in our blood now. You evaded capture, a feat well done, and I suspect it’s because we have all just come out of a torpor period. It makes us all a little bit off. That’s why you didn’t get shot down. That’s why you lasted in the woods. But we’re getting back to our normal rhythms. And we’d never lose your scent now. I’d rather not chase you tonight. I’d rather you just went to bed.” He put out his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you back up.”

Cole stepped past him. “You’re really beautiful. This whole thing has been so bizarre I don’t think we told you. You’re beautiful. All that blond hair and those blue eyes. I wouldn’t care what you looked like, but I love how you look. If that makes sense.”

My cheeks heated. “I’m. . .I’m not beautiful.”

Literally no one in my life had ever said that to me. My nose was too big. My eyes were slightly too far apart. It had never mattered. I’d never had boyfriends. How and when would I? And my one sexual experience had taught me I really didn’t care for the intimacy anyway. What was the big deal?

I walked around Cole, who took my hand to stop me. “Sure, you are.”

“What difference does it make?” I snapped at him. I did that a lot. Maybe they’d get rid of me for it. I was too volatile to be their mate.

He shook his head. “None.”

Okay, he’d answered like I’d asked a reasonable question. What was I supposed to do with that? Rylan nudged me when he walked by. “Come on. Back to bed. It’s been a long day. You’re safe here.” They kept reiterating that to me like it was going to make some kind of difference. “You can sleep. Nothing will happen to you.”

I pointed out the window. “You just told me there are dangerous, non-clanned—whatever that means—bears in the wood. I think that negates the safety.”

Still, I let him lead me upstairs like I couldn’t find my own way.

Rylan answered my accusation. “They wouldn’t dare come in here. If I didn’t kill them, or Cole didn’t kill them, Finn would make them wish they’d never been born. We can leave our doors unlocked because most of the time, except when beautiful blondes named Jessica stumble their way into our lives, no one would dare come in here uninvited.”

Cole walked the other way down the long hall. “And we almost never invite anyone. We’re bears. We like our own company.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know that considering you now seem to think I belong to you.”

Cole’s smile was huge. “You now constitute part of being us. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the idea. My bear is sure of it.”

I went back into my bedroom. This time, because I was at least spending the night, I took off my shoes. I grabbed a bar of the gold from my backpack and put it under my pillow. If any of them came at me, I could at least get a good whack in with the gold. It would hurt, even if I lost.

The bed was warm, and I’d rolled around in it, looking for a comfortable spot, when a knock sounded on the door. “Come in.”

Cole poked his head in. “Sorry, you need the pain medicine.” He held out a shot in his hand. “We don’t have a lot of this. If a bear can’t shift we give them this until they can. It lets them relax. I think this should be a low enough dose for you. I don’t think there’s any reason you shouldn’t have it.”

Bear pain killers? “I don’t know.”

“When we look like humans, our physiology is very close. I’d never give you anything unsafe. Hold out your arm.”

I’d always hated injections, but I did as he asked. I really did need relief from my constant headache. It pinched but worked fast. My head was first a dull ache, and then I couldn’t feel any pain at all. My neck felt weak. I leaned back on the pillow. “Thanks.”

He gave me a small smile. “That is my pleasure. We’ll all take care of you. Always.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t have any fight left. I’d just float for a while. That sounded perfect.

I dreamed. Usually, I didn’t recognize dreams as dreams when I was having them, but this one was clear. Was it something to do with the painkiller? I didn’t know. I ran through the woods. Dangerous bears were everywhere. They chased me, swatting me with their claws. I ran straight into my uncle. He held me still.

“You’re such a fuck up, girl. You’re supposed to take care of Calvin. He’s going to die in that jail because of you.”

I cried out. “I’m going to get to him.”

“You’re not. You’re never getting away from the bears. They’re going to slaughter you right now.”

I screamed, sitting up straight, the yell still in my throat. I was drenched in sweat. This had to be the painkiller. I never made a noise in my sleep. I’d learned in the orphanage the importance of silence. The door swung open, and Rylan was there.

He was quickly by the side of my bed. “Nightmare?”

I nodded. “Sorry. I don’t remember when I last had one. I’m just screwed up.”

He scooted in next to me. “I can’t remember when I had one either.” I moved over in the very large bed and let Rylan lie down on the side I’d moved from. “You’re shaking.” He put a hand on the top of my head. “You’re okay. Must have been a bad one.”

“It was a lot of things. My uncle yelling at me. My brother is in jail. I have to get him out. I have to pay for that.” I choked on my words. Why was I telling him? I never talked about this. Not that I had all that many close friends. But even with the few I spoke to about my life, I didn’t speak of my brother’s situation. “And then there were all these bears that were going to kill me.”

His voice was low in the darkness, his hand on my head. “That last part is my fault. I shouldn’t have told you about the clanless.”

“I have to know what’s out there. It’s not your fault. I have to protect myself.”

Rylan scooted slightly closer to me. “No, you don’t. That’s our job. Finn, Cole, and I will always see to it that you are never harmed.”

“For the next seventy-five years, if I’m lucky. Probably less. My family tends to get killed in particularly explosive ways. But let’s say I live to be old. For the next seventy-five years you’ll keep me safe?”

He sucked in his breath. “Is that all you could live? Seventy-five years?”

“Yes. That would make me one hundred years old. That’s about all I could ask for. Truth is, that would be lucky. If I make it to my sixties, I made it a good long time.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not acceptable. That’s not enough time.”

“How old will you become?” I knew he was almost one hundred and his brothers were older.

“Three hundred fifty, maybe four hundred. No, you can’t only have thirty-five more years. Now I’m going to have nightmares.” He drew me to him. “We have to really hurry up the you getting over your fear. Every day has to count.”

I groaned. “I can’t stay. I’ve just told you about my brother. Maybe I’m the wrong mate. Maybe it’s a human thing. Maybe hundreds and hundreds of years ago, your ancestors realized that humans gave off a false mating signal. So, they decided to get rid of humans from the planet. Maybe every bear I encounter will think I’m their mate. You’d do best to send me off and find your true mate.”

He was quiet. A pang pressed against my heart. I didn’t want to be forced to stay because they wanted me to be their mate. But I didn’t want their love of how I smelled to be because all humans tasted like chocolate cake to their nostrils.

“If any bear outside of this clan tried to take you, they would die. I wouldn’t even wait for them to be dead to tear at them. I don’t remember everything when I shift. But I would know that. We won’t let anyone take you from us.” He was quiet. “After you fell asleep, Cole reminded Finn and me that you’re not a shifter. You’re human. Maybe that’s too savage. But it’s true.”

It should have been too much. But there in the dark, all I did was tug on his shirt and let him hold me tightly. I’d wonder why tomorrow.

Not tonight.

The door flung open, and a bear walked in. I gasped. I’d only seen Rylan shifted, and he was next to me. Which one was this? “Is it one from the woods?”

“No, they’d never come here. They’d be dead by now. That’s Finn. I’m shocked he’s shifted. I can’t remember the last time he was.”

He jumped up on the other side of the bed, and I gasped, throwing myself into Rylan’s arms. The bear grunted.

“He has claws out.”

Rylan kissed my hair. “We don’t retract them. Ever. It’s okay. He’s. . .tired. I can smell it. He’s just here to sleep.”

The bear lay down on his side, and the bed dipped. No wonder they had to be so big. He grunted again and then hit me with his nose, nuzzling like Rylan had done. He closed his eyes.

Rylan laughed, a low sound. “A million people would kill to see my brother like this. He’s never this relaxed.”

“I’m going to sleep in a bed with a bear.”

Rylan’s smile was fast. This close, I could see it through the low light of the door. “Two. You’re going to sleep with two. And you’ll never be better protected in your life.”

If he said so. Still, the bed was warm, and with two of them there, it didn’t feel quite so big. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep.

I didn’t have any more dreams.

I woke up, light filling the room, and the sounds of two snoring males filling the quiet. One was a bear. The other wore a human form. And both of them snored, loudly.

I lay there listening. Yesterday hadn’t been a dream. Rylan’s head was near mine in the bed, and Finn in bear shape had his chin on the top of my pillow. I had some big problems. The first was I was really starting to like these guys. They were bear shifters, and they were some of the nicest individuals I’d ever encountered. How did I reconcile the two in my head?

They were deeply asleep. Did that have to do with what Rylan said earlier about torpor? They slept more in the winter, but not through the whole winter? Was this winter? It was kind of pleasant.

I needed to pee, so I sat up slightly to slide out of the bed. Finn’s body shifted, the change going in reverse of what I’d seen Rylan do, to become a human again. He was still in the clothes he’d been in the day before. Maybe they were absorbed and recreated in the process. Or something. His eyes flew open. “Where are you going?”

I pointed to the bathroom. “That okay?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Yes, sorry. I wake up always ready for action. Go, of course.”

I almost snapped about needing permission, but I was really tired of having to battle when there wasn’t one. Maybe some things could just be simple. I got out of bed, afraid of jarring Rylan, but he never moved.

I took care of my needs, including washing my face, and came back out to find both of them asleep, Finn in his human form this time. I stared at the bed. The spot for me was right there. I shouldn’t still be tired. It wasn’t like I was a bear. They might need to sleep a lot during the winter months, but I should be fine. It wasn’t even that cold.

I climbed back into the bed, and Finn’s eyes flew open. He wrapped an arm around me. Not pulling me to him, just holding on. “Sorry. Once every five years we all go through this torpor. We’re coming out of it now. It’s getting warm, although today, I think, will be cold. That’s how you managed to get down onto the planet unbothered. That’s how you beat Rylan and the other bears in the chase through the woods. That’s how you got in here without me knowing it. We’re all off. Once every five years. If the wolves knew, they’d invade. It’s a secret.”

If it was such a secret, they shouldn’t tell me. I was a stranger. They thought I was their mate, and probably that was what mates did, they told secrets. The truth was I’d never tell. “Sleep if you need to. I’m still surprisingly tired myself. Weird. I’m a pretty high energy person.”

“You’ve had a long couple days, and you’re hurt.” He looked at my forehead. “Pain?”

“Little bit but not like yesterday.”

Finn started to move, and it occurred to me he was going to go get that shot. I grabbed his arm. “That medicine gave me weird nightmares. I’d rather have the pain.”

He made a low noise in his throat, and then he made it again. His eyes flashed bear then returned to their human look. Finn retook his place in the bed, his arm around my waist again. “I can’t think of anything I hate more than you in pain.”

“That’s. . .sweet.” It really was. Even Calvin had been less than concerned when I got injured. We were more like a rub some dirt in it and move on kind of a family.

He smirked. “I can be sweet. Sometimes. To you, I will be. Just don’t tell anyone. I made an announcement to the bear population last night that you are our mate. That will put an end to any of your fears.”

“What?” I squeaked, trying not to wake Rylan. He still didn’t budge. “Are you crazy? I can’t be your mate. Not really. I have to go. My brother is in prison.” I’d already told Rylan, I might as well go all in and tell Finn. “I have to pay to get him out. That’s why I was flying. That’s the only thing I’m good at. I can’t leave him there. He is the only family I have. Plus, there is the whole we are two different species problem.”

His eyes were hooded. “We have excellent hearing. When you screamed last night, Rylan got to you first because he was closest. But Cole and I listened, or at least I assume he did, from where we were. I heard you tell Rylan. I heard you come downstairs and hesitate about leaving too. That second part is an assumption. Then Rylan straight out asked you. Never mind. I’m digressing. Don’t worry about your brother. I think we’re pretty much the same species.”

“Don’t worry about my brother? Are you kidding?”

Finn put a hand on my shoulder. “For now, don’t worry.”

I expected my temper to rise. I should be shoving him away, ranting and raving. But his hand felt nice. I’d gotten used to the sound of Rylan’s snores; they were sort of rhythmic. Finn was keeping his voice low and soft. For just then, I wouldn’t worry.

I closed my eyes.

I woke up hours later. Rylan wasn’t snoring, but he was still there. Finn was gone, and I didn’t know where Cole was. I hadn’t seen him since he drugged me. My head felt pretty good and. . .

Rylan’s body was close to mine. So close, in fact, that I could feel that a certain part of his anatomy was hard. Very hard. I looked over my shoulder at him, and his eyes were only slightly open. He gave me a lazy grin.

“Hi, Jessica.”

I swallowed. “Hi, Rylan. Thanks for coming in last night.”

“Always will if you need me.” He rubbed the back of my neck, and then my shoulders. I sighed. “You smell so good.”

That pushed me out of my daze. “I don’t think that’s possible. I’m wearing the same clothes I was in when I got here, and they’re all blood stained. They have to stink by now.”

“Hard to tell because your overall scent is so intoxicating. You could probably be bathed in mud and I’d love it. You poor thing. You showered and had to put that back on. Wait here.” He got out of the bed, and I got a look at of his very erect cock pushing through a slit in his shorts before he left the room, seemingly unconcerned with it. My mouth went dry. Wow, okay. I wasn’t sure at all what to do with that. He’d made no move, applied no pressure, but he was clearly turned on.

Or maybe he just always had an erection first thing in the morning. I sighed. I loathed sex, and I wasn’t going to do it with them, particularly since I was leaving. Crazy bears in the woods or not, I was going.

Even if they had been really sweet the night before.

I got out of bed and nearly collided with Cole when I went out in the hall. He grabbed my shoulders, a smile on his face. “Hey there, sorry. You need clothes. I’ll get some today. You can come with me, if you want. I go check on the bears that live on our lands. One of them is a seamstress for all of us who live around here.” He tugged on his shirt. “She made this. She can dress you.”

Heat infused my cheeks. It was one awkward conversation after another. “Cole, I’m not staying. You can’t make me clothes. You could get me a ride off the planet or call my people. Or something. But clothes might be a waste.”

His eyes darkened, and for the first time, I saw the bear in his eyes. Was he about to shift? He blinked, and the bear vanished. “Sorry about that. I don’t like when you say you’re leaving. Leaving is a foreign concept to us, to an extent. We don’t leave. Female shifters do. They go to their new clan when they mate. But leaving, to a degree, is death. I have to keep reminding both sides of myself that you aren’t talking about death.”

“Cole. . .” I wasn’t even sure what to say.

“I’m getting you clothes.” His eyes changed again, and this time, he rushed away from me to stare downstairs from the balcony. “Someone comes.”

Finn leaned against the doorway to his office. “Yes. I was counting on it. You don’t make an announcement like I did and not anticipate a response. This will be the first of many.”

Rylan, still in his boxers, came out of the kitchen. He took a long pull of water. “And eventually, war.”

Wait. What?

Cole made a huffing sound. “It was about time anyway.”