They told her on a rainy afternoon that the marriage would go ahead in less than a week, as soon as the bear arrived. Apparently he lived out of state and was summoned by his family to marry here. Sickness bloomed in Jada’s stomach every time she thought about it.

She’d known most of her life that she was destined to marry a stranger, but it never felt real until a few days earlier when her mother reminded her—conveniently on the morning of Jada’s eighteenth birthday—that it was time to do her duty for the family. At first she hadn’t even connected the dots or understood her mother’s meaning, until her father brought out the paperwork that sealed the alliance with the bears.

Jada sat in her art studio and stared at the blank paper in front of her. She hadn’t been able to paint or so much as mix watercolors since her parents made her sign the agreement and affirm her intent to marry the bear, and it was a shame—she’d gotten some wonderful Winsor & Newton paints, the real professional ones instead of student colors, with some birthday money. They just sat on her table and mocked her.

It felt like all art and creativity and wonder left her soul as all her plans went out the window, devoured by a bear she didn’t know.

She put down her brushes and got up to pace. Maybe she wasn’t being fair. He could be a kind man. Jada didn’t want to think her parents would throw her at just anyone and expect her to deal with it the rest of her life—after dropping as many cubs as possible before it killed her. But she knew in her heart all they focused on was protecting the leopards and keeping the clan going, regardless of the cost. The war with the wolves stretched back generations, and no one could imagine a future where the leopards and the bears didn’t align against the packs.

Jada figured no one had enough imagination to think about what could be, instead of what had always been. She didn’t know why the alpha from all three groups didn’t just sit down and figure out a way to divide the mountains and rivers, and then everyone could live their lives in peace and do what they wanted to do. And no one would have to marry someone they didn’t love. Even if it was just once a generation, it was too often. Particularly when it was her life.

She glanced out the window and started to growl; one of her cousins guarded the door, and a few more loitered outside the studio. No doubt her parents feared she’d run. Disappointment in her cousins for their betrayal filled Jada until she didn’t want to see any of them ever again. Despite playing with her cousins since birth, and viewing them more as brothers, not one of them stood up for her. Not one offered to help her escape, and instead they helped keep her a prisoner until they could sell her to a stranger.

Jada turned on the stereo and cranked it up, knowing it would annoy them. Bastards deserved it.

Escaping from one man later would be easier than escaping from the family compound, that was for sure. She just had to bide her time, pretend to be meek and afraid, and wait for her opportunity. The only thing worrying her was what she’d have to endure at the hands of the bear before she get could free.

She went back to where the paper stretched on a board, ready for inspiration or at least a facile attempt at art, and picked up a brush. She closed her eyes and let her breathing grow deep and even. It felt like meditation, when the inspiration really struck, and sometimes she woke up an hour later with no idea of what she’d painted until she saw it. Jada tried to remember what she knew of the bears, since they never really socialized with anyone.

The rest of the leopards claimed the bears were aggressive and barbaric and plain uncouth. They lived in dirt houses and ate garbage and were basically animals even when in human form. She didn’t know whether to believe them, but the worst case situation had always seemed to happen no matter what Jada was doing. She dipped her brush in paint and kept going, letting the brush decide where the paint ended up, spritzing more water on the paper as she went.

She could survive anything for a little while, if it meant finally being free of everything in the compound. If the bear lived out of state, maybe he’d take her back wherever he came from. The more distance she got from the mountains, the better.

A headache brewed behind her eyes, another consequence of a really good creative rush, and Jada finally took a step back to really look at her work. She nearly dropped the brush.

Instead of the dark thunderstorm she meant to create, a grizzly bear stared out at her from the paper with mournful eyes and fluffy ears. She blinked. He didn’t look like just a bear—something human waited in the eyes, in the expression on the broad, intimidating face. Jada’s heart jumped as she stared into the bear’s still-damp eyes, feeling lost. As if she knew him.

Which was impossible, of course. Her cousins were allowed to socialize with the bears, but because Jada had to marry one of them, she never left the compound. Eighteen years in a cage.

Maybe the bear would be the key to getting out. She really hoped he wasn’t cruel or loud. She only had a few days left to be herself on her own, then she’d have to hew to a stranger and obey his rules. The thunder rolled through and rain slashed down in sheets until she couldn’t even see where her cousins hunkered down to guard the little detached studio. Jada hopped over to the comfortable chair and pulled out a book.

It seemed like a fitting punishment for their betrayal that they’d have to stand outside in the rain for a while, until she decided to face the weighing-and-measuring gazes of the rest of the leopard clan in the main house. She had a lot of reading to catch up on.

But as she put her feet up and opened up a new book, her attention drifted back to the bear she’d painted. Maybe that was what she hoped her husband would be—kind and soft and quiet, protective and strong.

She looked out the window and took a deep breath. She didn’t even know his name.